Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

Eastern Orthodox Christian theologian, historian, philosopher, and cultural commentator.

            

Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome

CARPOPHORUS, EXANTHUS, CASSIUS, SEVERINUS, SECUNDUS, and LICINIUS, Martyrs of Como, six soldiers martyred circa 295 in Como in the north of Italy during the reign of Emperor Maximian (r. 286–305). According to one legend SS. Carpophorus and Exanthus, were members of the legendary Theban Legion.

DONAT (DUNWYD), (Date Unknown), according to the Menology of England and Wales St. Donat is the patron saint of St. Donat’s, or Llandunwyn, in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. There is no further information on his life extant.

DONATIAN of CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE, (Date Uncertain), a disciple of, and successor to St. Memmius of Châlons-sur-Marne (5th August), and second Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne (present-day Châlons-en-Champagne north-eastern France).

DONATUS and HILARY (HILARINUS) of AREZZO, (Fourth Century), St. Donatus, the second Bishop of Arezzo in Tuscany (central Italy), and St. Hilary, a monk, were martyred during the reign of Julian the Apostate (r. 361–363). St. Gregory the Dialogist (3rd September) and others have attributed numerous miracles to these saints.

DONATUS, a Frankish aristocrat, baptised by St. Columbanus (23rd November). He received monastic tonsure at the Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul of Luxeuil (abbaye Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul de Luxeuil), and in time consecrated Bishop of Besançon (eastern France). A great supporter of monasticism, St. Donatus founded the Abbey of St. Paul of Besançon (abbaye Saint-Paul de Besançon). He is also known for the Regula Donati, a monastic rule he wrote for the community founded by his mother after she was widowed. St. Donatus reposed circa 660.

FAUSTUS of MILAN, though there are no particulars of his life extant, tradition has it that he was a soldier who was tortured and eventually killed for the Faith in Milan (north-west Italy) during the reign of Emperor Commodus (r. 180–192).

PETER, JULIAN, and COMPANIONS, though listed in all of the ancient martyrologies, no details of their lives are extant. SS. Peter, Julian, and Companions are said to have been a group of at least twenty martyred in Rome circa 260 during the persecutions by Emperor Valerian and his son and co-Emperor Gallienus (r. 253–268).

VICTRICIUS (VICTRICE) of ROUEN, the son of a Roman legionnaire who followed his father into military service. However, after becoming a Christian, St. Victricius found military service incompatible with his Faith, and refused to continue his military service. He was flogged and sentenced to be executed, however the sentence was commuted, to discharge from the military. St. Victricius became a missionary evangelising the people of Flanders, Hainault, and Brabant (north-eastern France / south-western Belgium). He was consecrated the eighth Bishop of Rouen (Normandy, northern France) circa 386 or 393. He was, at one point, accused of heresy, and was defended from that charge by Pope Innocent I (r. 401–417). St. Victricius was also a respected author and his works include De Laude Sanctorum, based upon a sermon he gave in 396 to welcome a gift of relics from St. Ambrose of Milan (7th December) which is an invaluable source of information on various aspects of religious practices of his day. St. Victricius reposed in 417.

Prior to the Schism the Patriarchate of Rome was Orthodox, and fully in communion with the Orthodox Church. As Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco +1966 said “The West was Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable Liturgy is far older than any of her heresies”.

Details of British Saints excerpted from Orthodox Saints of the British Isles.
Details of continental saints from these sources.

In many cases there are several spelling versions of the names of saints from the British Isles. I use the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography version as the primary version with the more prevalent version in parenthesis e.g. Ceadda (Chad) of Lichfield.