Scythian Monks - History

History

Based on article History of Christianity in Romania.

Scythia Minor was part of the Roman Empire since the 1st century, incorporating the local Christian elements into the religious life of the Roman, and later East Roman Empire. According to a tradition first recorded in the 3rd century AD, Saint Andrew, brother of Saint Peter, passed through the region in the 1st century with his disciples. However Christianity became widespread only in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Several remains of early Christian churches are found throughout the region, and ecclesiastic histories record martyrs in all the major urban centres.

Bishop Ephrem, killed on 7 March 304 in Tomis (modern Constanţa), was the first known Christian martyr of this region, persecution continuing under the emperors Diocletian, Galerius, Licinius and Julian the Apostate. A large number of dioceses and martyrs are first attested during the times of Ante-Nicene Fathers.

A major archaeological attestation of Christian martyrs came during the 1971 digs under the paleo-Christian basilica in Niculitel (near ancient Noviodunum), when a martyrium was discovered. Besides Zoticos, Attalos, Kamasis and Filippos, who suffered martyrdom under Diocletian (304–305), the relics of two previous martyrs, who witnessed and died during the repression of Emperor Decius (249–251), were unearthed under the crypt.

By the late 5th century, Tomis had became a metropolitan bishopric, with as many as 14 bishoprics attested in the 6th century.