Saints Montanus the priest and his wife Maxima from Singidunum

Saints Montanus the priest and his wife Maxima from Singidunum, on Danube, are martyr saints of the harsh persecution times during Diocletian. They are celebrated as saints in the Western Church among the monastic order odf the Poor Clares nuns, but also in the East, especially in the Romanian and Serbian Churches.
On 24 February 303, the Roman co-emperors Diocletian (284-505), Galerius, his son-in-law (293-311), Maximian Hercules (286-305) and Constantius Chlorus (293-306), the father of Emperor St. Constantine the Great signed an edict against the Christians. Another two edicts were signed in the same year (april and 27 september) and the fourth in January-February 304. These imperial decisions implied the destruction of the Christian places of worship, the burning of the Christian books and archives, loss of the properties, privileges and state functions for the Christians, the punishment of the Christians who do not abjure their faith even by death and forbade the Christian assemblies. As it is to see, these decisions suggest already the specific of the Christian faith. Differently of the first centuries, they were already organized, have had worship places and privileges in some regions.
The Roman Empire was already led by the assembly of the two Augusti and two Caesars – the so-called “tetrarchy”. Of course, the laws, edicts and common decisions were respected differently in the regions led by one or another of the emperors. In any case, the eastern regions, led by Diocletian (who had his capital city in Nicomedia, in Asia Minor) and by Galerius (who leaded the Illyricum from Sirmium), the edicts were strictly applied, so that this period, the ending of the 3rd century, and the beginning of the 4th , gave the most of the Christian martyrs in the whole 2000-years history of our faith.
The martyrs celebrated today, Montanus and Maxima lived in Singidunum (the today Belgrade), in the province called Pannonia Inferior, under the leading of Galerius. St. Montanus was the priest of the Christian community here. The Romanian historians try to demonstrate the Dacian-roman ancestry of the martyrs, based on the fact that the Pannonia Inferior was strongly populated at the time by romanized Dacians. The hypothesis has in fact no real basis. The possibility that the two have been Dacians or Romans is the same as for another nationality. Their names are coming surely from the Roman tradition. In any case, they were citizens of God’s city.
 Immediately after the proclamation of the edicts, its decisions were applied by the Roman leader of Singidunum. In this conditions, Montanus fled in Sirmium, the capital of the province (today Mitrovica, about 60 kilometers west of Belgrade), after Christ’s urge “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another” (Mt. 10,23). There he was caught by the persecutors, who brought him to Probus, the Roman governor of the province. The interrogatory started immediately and St. Montanus confessed his faith in Christ and that he is a priest. After the classical process, Probus asked him to sacrifice to the Roman gods and Montanus refused. During the tortures, Probus ordained the calling of the priest’s wife, Maxima. He believed that she, as weaker being a woman, will see the harsh pains of her husband and will beg him to sacrifice. Maxima didn’t do as the governor believed; moreover she asked to be tortured too with her husband, in order to become a martyr for Christ as well. Finally, Probus ordained the both to be thrown in the river Sava. The Serbian versions speak about the beheading of the two martyrs who were later thrown in the river. After the Romanian versions, the soldiers have bound stones on their necks and so the two saints, Montanus and Maxima, were drowned. It was the day of 26 March 304.

The Veneration of the Saints

The hieronymian martyrology mentions them on 26 March and 26 April. Also the martyrical act of Montanus and Maxima are mentioned in the life of St. Pollion, the lector of the church from Cibalae (died on 28 april 304). Their original martyrical acts were not kept. But in the modern times, a Romanian priest and professor of Church History, Nicolae M. Popescu tried to reconstitute the story, following the similar act of martyrdom of St. Irenaios of Syrmium who died a few days later (on 6 April 304) in the same conditions. This text is today read with piety in the Romanian churches during their days of celebration, 26 March.

Catacomb of St. Priscilla from Rome

In 25 may 1802 the Catacomb of St. Priscilla was opened and the relics of some saints, such as Philomena (+10 August 304) were found. Later, in 1804 it were found the relics of a saint named Maxima or Maximina. The coincidence of names made some to believe that there is the wife of St. Montanus, which it would be hard to believe, because of the lack of information and of the big distance between Rome and Singidunum. In any case, the relics of saint Maximina, who probably died during the same persecution of Diocletian, were kept in Rome, by the nuns of the St. Claire’s Order, in the monastery of San Lorenzo. Later they were moved, so that today there are also in a nun’s monastery of Claire’s Order, in North Royalton, Ohio. There is told that several miraculous cures happened due her intercession. Infos about these relics can be found here and here, in the bottom of the page.

Catacomb of St. Priscilla

In the modern Serbia St. Maxima has a special devotion. Her intercession was asked especially for the peace in Kosovo, and the protection of Orthodox families and especially for priests’ wives. In Romania the monastery of Halmyris (the place of discovery of Saints Epictetus and Astion (+8 July 290) has as its second protectors, the saints Montanus and Maxima. A Romanian community in Serbia, in the village of Isacova, Tchupria community on the Valley of Morava has as its protectors the saints Montanus and Maxima.

Celebration of the Saints in the Romanian parish of Isacova, Serbia

Troparion (Hymn) of the Saints

“Thy Martyrs Montanus the priest and Maxima, O Lord, in their struggles received, crowns of incorruptibility from Thee our God: for with Thy strength they wiped out tyrants, and overcame demons, rendering them powerless. By their intercessions, O Christ our God, save our souls!”

 

Saint Symeon the New Theologian

Saint Symeon “the New Theologian” is one of the only three saints bearing the title of „theologian”, together with St. John the Apostle and Evangelist and St. Gregory of Nazianzus. In fact, the title of „new Theologian” given to St. Symeon was at the beginning just a mockery of some contemporaries, who despised the mysticism of this unusual monk of the 10th-11th century Constantinople.

In the research of his biography I have asked for the help of a my friend, the theologian Alexandru Rosu, who has just finished his PhD thesis about St. Symeon, which I am sure will lead to many debates among the theologians from Bucharest and not only.

The timeline of the life of St. Symeon is quite unclear. In any case the few biographical dates were analyzed by the church historian IrénéeHausherr in the first critical edition of the Life of St. Symeon (written by the apprentice of the saint, St. Nicethas Stethatos). In fact, it was rebuilt reverse after the date of passing into eternity of St. Symeon, on 12 March, and the bringing of his relics to Constantinople, thirty years after his death, "the end of the 5th year of indiction in the year 6560 [= 1052], "as noted by the vita of the saint.

St. Symeon was born in Galata, a town in Paphlagonia (a province in the northern Asia Minor), most likely in the second half of 949. It is possible that his baptism name was George. His parents, Basil and Teofana were members of the small aristocracy of the region. At an early age, perhaps 10 years, the parents brought the child to Constantinople, in the so-called grammar school, where he learnt tachigraphy, some .concepts of rhetoric and secular culture. Later he is taken under the protection of his paternal uncle, a member of the court (koitonites, camerier), and so he begins a career in the imperial palace. Being 20 he becomes spatharokoubikoularion or „bearer of sword in the imperial bedroom", being a member of the king's bodyguards, charged with preserving and guarding the imperial insignia. Some are byzantinologists believe that this function was usually reserved for eunuchs, so that Symeon, or George at this time, was eunuch, which is in any case not very clear.

Sts. Symeon the New Theologian
 and Symeon Eulabes

The career in the imperial court dies suddenly – maybe during the political turmoil around the death of the emperor Romanos II (15 March 963) and the removal of the Prime Minister, the, eunuch Joseph Bringas, also a paphlagonian. Hausherr hypothesized that Bringas might have been the uncle, who appointed the young child as senator even at theage of 14.

In any case, after this episode, the young George went to Stoudion monastery, a centre of culture and theology in the byzantine capital, being attracted by the charismatic person of  the elder Symeon the "pious" or  Eulabes,( c 917-987), who was already his confessor and spiritual teacher. The old Symeon refuses entrance of George to the monastery,because he was too young: 14 years, according to the vita or 20, according to an autobiographical testimony in his Catechesis no. 22. George enters the service of a patrician, but still remains under the spiritual guidance of Symeon the Pious, who urges him to pray and give it to reading the mystical works of Mark the Ascetic, and Diadochos of Photice. Following these recommendations and the prayer, George gets his first mystical experience at the age of 20 (in 969/970), experience described in the same Catechesis and in the fifth chapter of his vita. Even trying once more to become a monk, he is refused for the same reason and so he continues living in the capital for six more years.

After 6 years he is sent with a commission in Paphlagonia and lives in the parental home for a while, where he reads the Ladder of Saint John. Back in Constantinople, George abandons the administrative career and goes to Stoudion. This time the Abbot Peter accepts him and leaves him in the charge of his spiritual father Symeon, by whom he lives (976 or 977).

The novice George successively defeats the demons of akedia and adultery and banishes through prayer the frightening demonic appearances. But his asceticism and the strange attachment to his spiritual father outrages the monks of Stoudion who try to make him change his behavior, but without success. Meanwhile he acquires the second vision, the sight of the divine light (vita, 19), increases in his humility and becomes to be famous for his wisdom. His behavior remains in any case outrageous and Abbot Peter casts him from Stoudion. Elder Symeon leads to the near monastery „of Saint Mamas”, entrusting him to the abbot Antony. Here he writes a farewell letter to his family, which corresponds to a third mystical experiences and is tonsured into monasticism under the name to Symeon, after his spiritual father (probably in 977)  Symeon deepens in prayer and stillness (hesychia). His vita sketches his daily program focused on extended prayer in the night, crying repentance, communion with the sacraments, fasting and silence, and working – that is copying of manuscripts.

Two years later Patriarch Nicholas II Chrysoverghis (980-992) ordains him as priest and no later Symeon becomes abbot of the monastery at the age of about 30. The abbot imposes a strict program for the monastic recovery both in material and spiritual way. The hagiographer notes that Symeon was living quite often the vision of the Holy Spirit descending in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. In this period he starts developing his Hymns of Divine Love (also called Hymns of Divine Eros), his exegetical speeches and the Catechetical Discourses and has a rich spiritual correspondence.

The strict program has a reaction: once between 995-998 it happens a spontaneous uprising of about 30 monks against him. But they are intimidated by his peace and flee in the city, causing disorder. Patriarch Sisinios II (996-998) was in in favor of the abbot who interceded that the rebels not to be punished, moreover they return to the monastery.

In 986 or 987 Symeon the Pious dies. His apprentice Symeon gives him an honor as to a saint: he writes his biography, composes his liturgical services and hymns, paints his icon and celebrates his passing into eternity, which is indirectly agreed by Patriarch Sisinios  participates at the „canonization” feast. In the next 16 years the feast of the Elder Symeon is held as a normal feast.

About in 1003, St. Symeon starts a theological dispute with Stephen, a court theologian and former metropolitan of Nicomedia, who renounced his service for that as private secretary or Synkellos of the patriarch and who probably was engaged in composing the well-known inventory of the saints - The Menologion of Constantinople . The Hymn 21 reveals the substance of the dispute:  the saint is asked if the Son is only mental or really separated from the Father. Abbot Symeon warns about introducing such distinctions in the trinitarian theology, and provides a text of St. Gregory the Theologian, concerning the doctrine of the Trinity. He denounces the false theological spirit who may start this type of pseudo-theological disputes. Other scholars believe that the disputes were caused by the unusual canonization of Symeon the Elder, without a patriarchal decision, which could have imposed new rules, a new decisions structure, in the Church. In any case, the fight makes Stephen very hostile and, influencing the new patriarch Sergius II (1001-1019), he starts an investigation in the monastery of St. Mamas. Stehpen gathers the testimonies of the monks about the strong rigorism and about the worship that St. Symeon brough to his spiritual father. The scandal ended with the banning of the cult for Symeon Eulabes. The Patriarch decides the destruction of his icon. Amid these difficulties, probably in 1005, Symeon gives up his function and places as abbot his disciple Arsenios. The resignation is not sufficient for Stephen. After a new trial,  on 3 January 1009, Symeon is exiled to Palukiton, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, where he revives the ruined skete of St. Marina. Symeon's influential friends supported his cause to the patriarch who rehabilitated him in 1010 or 1011, allowing him to return to St. Mamas, with the promise that he will not expand anymore the cult of his spiritual father outside the monastery.  The patriarch proposed him even the ordination as bishop, but Symeon preferred to remain in the hermitage of St. Marina, where he continued to lead a hesychastic life.

After doing a number of miracles, including healings, exorcisms, prophecies and levitation during prayer, Symeon gets sick from a serious disease of the womb, probably dysentery. He foretells his death and even the future displacement of his own relics and dies during his own’s requiem that himself blessed. It happened on 12 March 1022. The 129th chapter of his life relates his death and the bringing of his relics in Constantinople 30 years later, in 1052, the same day that had gone into exile on January 3.

The veneration of the Saint

St. Symeon was venerated already during his life, as the written vita shows. His apprentice Nicetas Stethatos is one of his most closed collaborators. We may say that the mystic movement of St. Symeon is nothing than the following of the spiritual movement started about two hundred years before in Stoudion by St. Theodore the Studite and others, at the beginning a struggle against the rationalism of the iconoclasts.

Symeon wrote in a the style of the traditional early Church Fathers and hesychasts, including St. Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Mark the Hermit. The”speciality” of St. Symeon consists in his transparent and open sharing of his most interior experiences. In his teaching he speaks about his direct experience of God, as something to which all Christians could and should aspire.

In any case, the common memory has “forgot” St. Symeon for a while. He was brought “back to the light” by St. Nicodemus Agiorites, a monk from Mt. Athos who compiled the Eastern florilegium of ascetical works known as “Philokalia”, printed in 1792 in Venice. Some writings of St. Symeon are included here, such as “The Three Methods of Prayer” which describes a method of practicing the Jesus Prayer, including the direction on correct posture and breathing while reciting the prayer. The same Nicodemus composed the liturgical service of St. Symeon and imposed another day of celebration than the date of his death, March 12. That happened because of the Great Lent period, so that for some centuries St. Symeon was celebrated instead on October 12. Today the both feasts are commemorated.

In 1964 the Russian theologian Vassili Krivoshein tried to identify the ruins of St. Mamas monastery, the place where the relics of St. Symeon were kept starting 30 years after his death. The identification was almost impossible. Only a wall of the former monastery of Stoudion still stands, during about St. Mamas there is known only that it was located in the southwestern part of Constantinople. Consequently there are no information about the relics of the Saint.

The mystical writings of St. Symeon influenced the further theological literature concerning the vision of the divine light and the possibility of human divinization by the common work of the divine grace and the human struggle to perfection, having St. Gregory Palamas Metropolitan of Thesalonica (1296-1359) as its principal promoter. This way of understanding theology was strongly contested especially in the West and conducted to a strong difference of approaching the divine mysteries between the East and West until today.

Troparion (hymn) of Saint Symeon

O holy father Symeon, you received divine illumination in your soul! You were shown forth to the world as a most radiant light dispelling all darkness. You call all men to seek the Grace of the Holy Spirit, which they had lost. O righteous father! Pray unto Christ, our God, the He may grant us great mercy!

Saints John Cassian and Germanus

Sts. John Cassian and Germanus, celebrated in the East on 29 (or 28) February and in the West on 23 July, are among those “pilgrim saints” who journeyed a lot during their lives and knew the realities both of the eastern and western Christian world of the 4th-5th centuries.

John Cassian and German were friends from their childhood.  The year of their birth and the place are not clearly known, but it may be around 360 in Scyhia, a province in the northern Balcanic Peninsula between Danube and the Black Sea, also known today as Dobuja, the easternmost part of Romania. Although there is no mention about this place in the writings of John Cassian, this hypothesis comes from a mention of Genadius of Marseille, an apprentice of St. John. In his De viris illustribus 62, the Gaul bishop speaks about the Scytian ancestry („natione Schytha“) of John. The hypothesis is accepted both in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, although there are some scholars to understand the demonym “schytha” as a reference to the Scetic Desert from Egypt, where they lived among the desert monks for a while, or maybe an allusion to Scythopolis (Palestine). Some others hypotheses about the origins of the two are superfluous here, including Provence or even Syria. In any case, some mentions in the works of Cassian suggest the birth in a wealthy family, and a classical education, Latin being his mother tongue.

Saint John mentions in his book Collationes that he and Germanus were brothers “not by birth, but by spirit” (Coll. 16,1). About in 378-380 the two, together with Cassian’s sister, made a pilgrimage to Bethlehem. The latter remained for the rest of her life in a nun monastery here, but the two friends remained just for a while in a cell near the Church of the Saint Sepulchre. During this time they have heard about the ascetics in Egypt so they decided to visit the monastic communities there. After about three years in Palestine, they journeyed to the desert of Sketis and Nitria situated West by the Nile Delta (probably 384-394) and visited numerous monks there, with whom they had the “interviews”, later written in Collationes. At the time, the Scetic Desert was divided among the “anthropomorphist” monks, the adepts of the literal interpretation of the Scripture and the “’origenists”, who preferred the allegory and accepted some other theories of the Church Father recently passed away, such as the theory of apokastasis, or even the pre-existence of the souls. The dispute between the two parties consisted in the fact if the contemplation of God may be seen as a material act, with other words, if the ascetics may see God, is God material “after the image and similitude of the man”, or even more, the act of contemplation is due the man or due the divine grace?  The ascetic and theological ideas promoted by Cassian in his works suggest that the two Scythian monks knew some “origenist” monks, probably Evagrius of Pont among those, with whom they shared the idea about the seven capital sins (in fact 8, by Cassian) and the triple ascetic life consisting in purification (purgatio or catharsis), illumination (illuminatio or theoria), respectively deification (unitio, or theosis).

The fight between the two ascetic visions ended about 15 years after John and Germanus came here. In 399 the “antropomorphists” helped by patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria, started a war against the “origenists” who fled in other locations. Together with the most known “origenists”, the so-called “Long Brothers”, John and Germanus left Egypt and went to Constantinople, where they appealed the archbishop St. John Chrysostomos for his protection. In the meantime Cassian was ordained deacon and Germanus priest, and they became members of the clergy from the capital city. There is a hypothesis that Cassian took the name of John just in this period, in honor of his protector. Anyway the attacks of Theophilus went further against the “origenists” and St. John Chrysostomos was condemned and deposed after the Oak council (404). One of the accusations was the fact that he accepted the origenist teachings as well.

The Latin-speaking Cassian left Constantinople for Rome in the next year together with Germanus, where they tried to find support for Chrysostomos, pleading his cause before Pope Innocent I.  After this moment there is no other mention about Germanus, so he might died in this period. Another possibility is that Germanus went later with Cassian together in the monastery of Marseille, or even that he came back home in Scythia.

During the Roman period, Cassian met the future pope Leo the Great, with whom he bound a friendship for the whole life. After a new rise in the East, in Antioch and Palestine (where probably he was ordained priest; after other sources, only after his return in Rome), he received the proposition to establish himself in Gaul and to found there a monastery after the rules he have seen in Egypt.  This thing happened around 415, when he arrived in Marseilles and founded the Abbey of St. Victor, a complex of monasteries for both monks and nuns. The church of the monastery was built on the grave of a martyr from the 3rd century. In any case, the monastic life was brought in Gaul not by Cassian. The asceticism in Provence existed already through the abbey of Menerfes founded by Bishop Castor of Apt and the one in Lerins, led by Bishop Honoratus. But the special merit of St. John Cassian is that he brought the Egyptian monastic discipline in the West, and his monastery served as a model for the later monastic development in the western Christianity. The achievements and writings of St. John Cassian influenced St. Benedict, who took some of the main ascetic principles in his monastic rule and recommended the reading of the Cassian’s corpus of writings.

The Writings of St. John Cassian

In Marseille, St. John Cassian started to write his well known works. Around 417-418 he published the Monastic institutions (De institutions coenobitorum et de octo principalium vitiorum remediis libri XII), at the request of Castor, bishop of Apt and the future Pope Leo I. This work deals with the organization of the monastic communities, discussing about clothing, prayer and rules of the monastic life (the first 4 books) and about morality and the eight vices  and their cure (gluttony, lust, avarice, hubris, wrath, envy, akedia and boasting - in the books 5 to 12).

Some years later (after 420, but no later than 426) Cassian wrote his “interviews”, also known as “Conferences”, or “Collationes” (, that means, vesperal meals, in Latin: Collationes Patrum in scetica eremo), dedicated to the archdeacon Leo, the bishop of Frejus and the monk Helladius, and who deals with “the training of the inner man and the perfection of the heart”, being in this way the second part of his work, the first being a “corporeal” training. This second book receives some completions around 426 - 429 (books 18 to 24) addressed specially to the hermit monks.

Finally, in 430 St. John wrote his third book, On the incarnation of the Lord (De incarnation Domini contra Nestorium libri VII), at the request of the archdeacon Leo, the future Pope Leo the Great. Its text may be seen as a preparing text for the third ecumenical council, dealing with the doctrine of Nestorius and mentioning about the title of Theotokos given to the Virgin Mary.  All the writings of John Cassian are in Latin; subsequently they were translated into Greek for the use of the monks, which is a great privilege and honor, no very often met in the Old Church.

Teaching of St. John Cassian

The most important teachings of St. John Cassian consist in his triple ascetic vision about purification, illumination and deification, which has been later taken into the later catholic theology about the three ways. During the first level, the monk struggle against the most “material” sins and against the desire through his ascetic life. Later, during the illumination he practices the holiness revealed in the Gospel through the teaching received from God in his Sermon on the Mount, based on the exercise of love. The final stage of the unification with God (theosis) is rarely received by a monk and described after the union of marriage from Canticum. This stage is usually accompanied with the refuge of the monk in solitude.

Another notable teaching of John Cassian implies the soteriology. He opposed Pelagius, who believed that the human receives the salvation through his own struggle, without the divine help, but also he dissagreed Augustine, who emphasized the importance of the original sin and stated for the absolute need of the divine grace in starting a holy life. Cassian adopted a middle point of view which was later condemned as semi-pelagianism, because he stated in some of his conferences that the first steps in salvation are in the power of the individual, without the need of God’s help (Conferences: book 3: with Abba Paphnutius, book 5 with Abba Serapion and book 13 with Abba Chaeremon). This position was condemned about 100 years later, at the local council of Orange (southern France) in 529, when the Augustinian theory was accepted as the normative soteriological theology for the Catholic Church. In any case his theory is accepted as normative in the Orthodox Church, who interpretes his theology quite differently, as not contradicting the work of the divine Grace in any of the phases of the human struggle.

Veneration of Sts. John Cassian and Germanus

St. Cassian died in 435 in Marseille and was buried in the church of St. Victor Monastery he built. His relics are kept until today in an underground chapel of the monastery, during his skull and right hand are in a reliquary in the main church. About St. Germanus there is no more data after the two friends came to Rome in 403. The saintness of John Cassian was generally recognized in the Church since the beginnings. In 470, when Genadius compsed his De viris illustribus, he named John Cassian as „sanctus Cassianus”, a title used by many popes speaking about him, such as St. Gregory the Great in a letter addressed to the Abbess Respecta from Marseille (PL LXXII, col. 866), or Benedict XIV who wrote that there is not permitted any doubt about his sanctity (De canonizatione sanctorum II, 29). He is also included in the Gallican and the Roman Martyrology on 23 July. Even if not included in the general Calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, the local Church of Marseille celebrates his feast day on 23 July, during the Eastern Orthodox Churches usually on 29 February in the bissextile year, or on 28, in the rest years.

The Romanian Orthodox Church canonized shortly (in 1992) also his friend, St. Germanusso that the two saints are jointly celebrated in the same day of the year. In the village Casimcea near Constanta it has been built in the last years a monastery in the honor of Saint John Cassian.  (see: http://www.crestinortodox.ro/sarbatori/sfintii-ioan-casian-gherman/manastirea-sfantul-ioan-casian-67838.html)

The Orthodox Hermeneia of Dionysios of Furna, a Greek theologian and painter (17th-18th centuries) describes that St. John Cassian shall be painted as an old monk, with sharp beard, carrying in his hands the inscription: "Too much sleep come together with the lack of abstinence, during the watchfulness rather sends away the naughtiness, such as the smoke [rushes] the bees [and, such as a fire burns]."

Troparion (Hymn) of the Saints

St. John Cassian:

The image of God was truly preserved in you, O Father, for you took up the Cross and followed Christ. By so doing you taught us to disregard the flesh for it passes away but to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal. Therefore your spirit, venerable John Cassian, rejoices with the angels!

St. Germanus:

You concerned with thy labors, with unremitting vigils, with prayer and fasting, Blessed Father Germanus, along with St. John Cassian, coming from the land of Dobrogea, and you worthly received the flows of the priestly grace through the prayer of John Chrysostom. You have earned by your zeal wealth of spiritual gifts from the Holy Land and therefore you made worthy many people to follow Christ. Therefore, Father of Dobrogea, pray Christ our God to save our souls!

Saint Tarasios, patriarch of Constantinople

Saint Tarasios, patriarch of Constantinople (784 - 806) is known in the Church history as the one who leaded the ecumenical synod which conducted to the re-establishment of the icons cult in the Byzantine Empire, being celebrated on 25 February. 

Tarasios as layman

The most important source about his life is the Life of Tarasios written by Ignatios, his deacon and secretary. Another source is the Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor and the life and the correspondence of Saint Theodore of Studion.

Tarasios was born in Constantinople around 730, being the son of the eparch Georgios and his wife Enkrateia. At the time when Constantine VI and his mother, Irene took the throne of the Byzantine Empire (780), Tarasios was a functionary in the bureaucratic apparatus (protasekretis) of the imperial court. Later he attained the rank of senator, and finally became imperial secretary (asekretis) to the Emperor Constantine VI the Porphyrogenetos.

The Eastern Empire was at the time influenced by the oriental iconoclastic doctrines, imposed by the Isaurian Dynasty, came from the regions at the borders with the new Islamic world. The iconoclastic fight was with no means easier than the one of the ancient Roman emperors against the Christians. The ikonodouloi (defenders of the icons) were beaten and even killed, and many churches were vandalized. The Church in Rome refused to remain in communion with the patriarch of Constantinople, who at that time was a partisan of the official politics. Only after the death of Leo IV (775/780) and the beginning of the reign of his minor son Constantine VI (780/797) under the regency of his mother, Irene, the situation of the icons started to change.

The latter iconoclastic patriarch Paulos IV repented for his former iconoclasm and resigned of his throne (31 August 784), living as a simple monk. In this situation, the empress called a local council at her palace of Magnaura and after consulting the former patriarch, the people and the noblemen, she decided to propose Tarasios for this position, who at the time was a simple layman. The Chronicle of Theophanes reproduces the discourse of Tarasios who refused, but anyway he let himself convinced.

Nevertheless, like all educated Byzantines, Tarasios was well versed in theology, and the election of qualified laymen as bishops was not the first in the history of the Church (similar cases being St. Ambrose and probably St. Nicholas of Myra). Tarasios accepted the function on condition that church unity would be restored with the other Patriarchates and Rome, and that it will be held a synod for the restoring of the icons. During the next days he was ordained deacon and then priest. The consecration as bishop and patriarch was held on the Christmas day in 784.

Icon of the seventh Ecumenical Council

The 7^th Ecumenical Council

As patriarch, Tarasios persuaded Empress Irene to write to Pope Hadrian I, inviting him to send delegates to Constantinople for a new council, in order to repudiate the iconoclastic heresy. The answer came on 26 October 785. The pope argued that the election of a layman as patriarch was against the canons, but finally he accepted the situation, in order to reestablish the ecclesiastical communion. The Pope agreed to send delegates, and it was convened that the synod will be held in the Church of the Holy Apostles on August 17, 786. During the last preparatory reunion, on 31 July, in the absence of the patriarch some rebel soldier troops, faithful to the former iconoclastic emperor Constantine V, distorted the calm and insulted the bishops and monks chasing them away. Anyway the patriarch and the empress maintained their position to hold the council.  The situation repeated during the inaugural seating. Tarasios and the Abbot Plato of Sakkoudion (the mentor of St. Theodore of Stoudion) have held discourses, but they couldn’t go with the chaos created by the soldiers. Later, the mutinous troops were removed from the city: the empress motivated the danger of a Muslim attack and sent them in Asia Minor, bringing instead some favorable troops from Thracia, known as iconodules. The situation still did not make possible the synod, which was held only a year later, starting on 24 September 787 in the cathedral of St. Sophia from Nicaea, and not in the capital city. 

icon of the seventh Ecumenical Council

The synod is recognized as the 7th Ecumenical Council or as the Second Council of Nicaea. Even if called as usually by the emperor, no crowned head participated to the reunions. The Patriarch served as acting chairman of the 365 reunited bishops who condemned the iconoclasm and formally approved the veneration of icons.  The official closing of the reunion happened on 23 October in the Magnaura Palace, the residence of Irene. Tarasios and Irene accepted easily the re-integration of the formal iconoclastic bishops who repented and to all those who promised they will change their opinions. This clemency was strongly criticized by the monks from Stoudion, the strongest partisans during the iconoclastic disputes. In any case, the politics of the Patriarch made that in the next period there wasn’t any iconoclast resistance. 

Irene - Image from Pala d'Oro - Venice, 10th century

The latter years

Seven years later Tarasios involved in the controversy started by Constantine VI who divorced his wife, Maria of Amnia, accusing her of trying to poison him. Tarasios approved tacitly the situation and the constantinopolitan monks were scandalized by the patriarch's consent. Abbot Plato of Sakkoudion and his nephew Theodore the Studite were exiled because of their position, but the uproar continued. Much of the anger was directed at Tarasios for allowing the marriage of the emperor to Theodota, although he had refused to officiate himself. Only later, after Constantine VI lost his throne in favor of his mother (18 august 797), and under severe pressure from Theodore, Tarasios excommunicated Joseph, the priest who had conducted this illegitimated marriage.

The last years of his patriarchate were marked by a new usurpation. Nikephoros, a patrician from Seleucia, appointed finance minister by Irene, contrived to dethrone and exile Irene, with the help of the patricians and eunuchs. He was chosen as Emperor in her stead on 31 October 802, and Tarasios crowned him against the public opinion, doing later the same with Staurakios as co-emperor in 803.

Saint Theodore from Stoudion Monastery

Tarasios had had a weak personality, but he served the three imperial regimes of Constantine, Irene and Nikephoros with loyalty. Anyway, his reputation suffered from criticism of his alleged tolerance of the elected bishops through simony, although he published an official document condemning this practice. In spite of these weak organizational skills, Tarasios lived a very austere life and spent his money on God-pleasing ends, feeding and giving comfort to the aged, to the impoverished, and to widows and orphans. Every year on Easter, he set out a meal for them, that he served himself. He commanded the building of a monastery on the European shore of Bosporus Strait which later took his name. He died on 25 February 806 and was buried in his monastery.

The Veneration

Though some scholars have been critical of Tarasios’ weakness before imperial power, the patriarch was revered in the Eastern Orthodox Churches for his defense of the use of icons, and his struggle for the peace and unity of the Church. His feast day is celebrated on February 25 both in the Eastern and the Western Churches.

Troparion (hymn) of Saint Tarasios

You shone forth as a light of the Spirit, adorned with an exemplary life and clothed in hierarchical vesture. You stilled the turbulence of heresy and became a pillar and foundation of the Church, which praises your struggles, holy Father Tarasios!

Saints Bretanion and Theotimus, Bishops of Tomis

The Christianity has been spread in Scythia Minor, as Eusebius of Caesarea noted in his Ecclesiastical Story (3,1), through the preaching of Andrew the Apostle. This tradition came from Origenes (Commentary on Genesis 24,9, PG 12, 92). In any case, there are early mentions about the Christian life in this province, so that there are known the Martyrical Acts of Epictetus and Astion (died 290) and together with their martyrium there is also known that 14 days after their death Evangelicus, the first bishop of Tomis, came in Halmyris in order to baptize the parents of saint Astion. There is no more information about this bishop. Anyway, an inscription discovered in 1974 in Constanta (the modern city built on the ruins of Tomis) confirms the existence of a bishop named Titus or Philus during the persecution of Licinius (308-324) who might have died martyrically and who is commemorated on Jaunary 3.  Another bishop named Gordian might have died also during the persecution of Licinius, around 324, together with Sts. Macrobius, Helias, Zoticus, Lucian and Valerian, being commemorated on September 13. In the Roman Martyrology, Gordian (named here as bishop) is commemorated together with Macrobius and Valerian on September 15.  There is also an anonymous Scythian bishop who participated at the first ecumenical synod from Nicaea (325), as Eusebius writes (Life of Constantine III, 7). More information there is known about the next bishops of Tomis, Bretanion and Theotimus.


Saint Bretanion

Saint Bretanion of Tomis, also known as Brettanio, Bretanio or Vetranion is the fourth known bishop of the city at the shore of the Black Sea  (the first being Evangelicus, 295-300), celebrated from the old times on January 25 (Acta Sanctorum Januarii, tom III, Paris 1873, p. 235). He was originally from Cappadocia, being born in a Christian family. There is unknown how he came to be bishop in Tomis, but he was already in his office in 369, when Valens (364-378) knew him personally during his way to Noviodunum, where the emperor closed an armistice with the Goths. Valens stopped in Tomis and visited the cathedral of the capital city of Scythia Minor, moment which he met the bishop and tried to impose to him the arian beliefs. The historian Sozomenos (Historia Ecclesiastica 6,21, Migne, PG 67, 1343-1345) tells about this episode:  “It is said that … the Scythians adhered with firmness to their faith. There are in this country a great number of cities, villages, and fortresses. The metropolis is called Tomi; it is a large and populous city, and lies on the sea-shore to the left of one sailing to the sea, called the Euxine. According to an ancient custom which still prevails, all the churches of the whole country are under the sway of one bishop. Vetranio ruled over these churches at the period that the emperor visited Tomi. Valens repaired to the church, and strove, according to his usual custom, to gain over the bishop to the heresy of Arius; but this latter manfully opposed his arguments, and after a courageous defense of the Nicene doctrines, quitted the emperor and proceeded to another church, whither he was followed by the people. Almost the entire city had crowded to see the emperor, for they expected that something extraordinary would result from this interview with the bishop. Valens was extremely offended at being left alone in the church with his attendants, and in resentment, condemned Vetranio to banishment. Not long after, however, he recalled him, because, I believe, he apprehended an insurrection; for the Scythians were offended at the absence of their bishop. He well knew that the Scythians were a courageous nation, and that their country, by the position of its places, possessed many natural advantages which rendered it necessary to the Roman Empire, for it served as a barrier to ward off the barbarians. Thus was the intention of the ruler openly frustrated by Vetranio. The Scythians themselves testify that he was good in all other respects and eminent for the virtue of his life.” Theodoret of Cyrus tells the same story in his Historia Ecclesiastica (IV,35).
The bishop might be the author of a letter knew as the martyrical act of Saint Sabbas (Sava) from Buzau, celebrated on April 372, who died as a martyr by the hand of the Goths in 372, in the region situated northern of Danube. Saint Basil of Caesarea asked Iunius Soranus, the dux of Scythia Minor, for the relics of the Saint, which probably remained for a while in Tomis in their way to Cappadocia. Anyway there are some voices denying the possible tomitan paternity of this text, because it was written “from the will of the presbytery”, that means a college, which could be only situated in the northern territories: in all Scythia was only one bishop, as cited below. There is one more hypothesis that Bretanion would be the receiver of St. Basil’s thanking letters no. 164 and 165 for the transportation of these Relics, but the evidence (the mention of Ascholius from Thessaloniki) stays against such an hypothesis.
Saint Bretanion probably died on January 25, when he was celebrated and had as his successor the Bishop Gerontius, also known as Terentius or Terennius, who participated at the second Ecumenical Council from Constantinople (381).

Worship of Saint Bretanion

The byzantine synaxaries don’t mention about this saint, but the Roman Martyrology does, commemorating him on January 25. Today he is celebrated in the Romanian Orthodox Church at this date and there is a monastery dedicated to him in the village “23 August” near Constanţa.


Saint Theotimus

Another bishop of Tomis commemorated as saint is Theotimus, who was in office in the second half of the 4th century and the beginning of the next one, being contemporary to some of the Great Fathers such as St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Gregory of Nazianzus. There are no information about his birth and the place where he acknowledged his theological formation but, as contemporary of the locals St. John Cassian and St. Germanus, he might have lived together with them in the cave monasteries of the Cassians. As bishop of Tomis he was elected around 380-395 years after the death of his predecessor, Gerontius, though this fact is also a hypothesis.
 There are some details about him in the works of some contemporary church writers. St.  Jerome is the first who mentions him in his „De viris illustribus”, chapter 131, as in 392 bearing the title "Scythiae Tomorum episcopus." He says that: „Theotimus, bishop of Tomis in Scythia, wrote small treatise in dialogue-form, in old-style eloquence; I hear that he writes other works also”
Among the Greek-speaking Writers, the historian Sozomenos called him „the Scythian Theotimus” which shows that he was a local. Later, Nicephorus Callistus, in the 14th century calls him as „man from Scythian nation and barbarian” (Hist. Eccl. XII, 45, Migne PG 146, col. 908).
Description: Church historian Sozomenos makes a portrait of a great moral sensibility and literary beauty, and also featuring the work of missionary held among barbarian Huns. Here's what he wrote: “The church of Tomi, and indeed all the churches of Scythia, were at this period under the government of Theotimus, a Scythian. He had been brought up in the practice of philosophy; and his virtues had so won the admiration of the barbarian Huns, who dwelt on the banks of the Ister, that they called him the god of the Romans, for they had experience of divine deeds wrought by him. It is said that one day, when traveling toward the country of the barbarians, he perceived some of them advancing towards Tomi. His attendants burst forth into lamentations, and gave themselves up at once for lost; but he merely descended from horseback, and prayed. The consequence was that the barbarians passed by without seeing him, his attendants, or the horses from which they had dismounted. As these tribes frequently devastated Scythia by their predatory incursions, he tried to subdue the ferocity of their disposition by presenting them with food and gifts. One of the barbarians hence concluded that he was a man of wealth, and, determining to take him prisoner, leaned upon his shield, as was his custom when parleying with his enemies; the man raised up his right hand in order to throw a rope, which he firmly grasped, over the bishop, for he intended to drag him away to his own country; but in the attempt, his hand remained extended in the air, and the barbarian was not released from his terrible bonds until his companions had implored Theotimus to intercede with God in his behalf.
It is said that Theotimus always retained the long hair (Kometes) which he wore when he first devoted himself to the practice of philosophy. He was very temperate, had no stated hours for his repasts, but ate and drank when compelled to do so by the calls of hunger and of thirst. I consider it to be the part of a philosopher to yield to the demands of these appetites from necessity, and not from the love of sensual gratification."(Sozomenos, Hist. Eccl. 7,26, in Migne, PG 67, 1497-1500).
This description makes us realize the missionary zeal and the gift of miracles that Theotimus had, but also the harsh circumstances of his mission at Tomis.
Saint Theotimus possessed and practiced the „monastic philosophy” and loved the „asceticism”, which in the Greek culture was associated with the philosophy. On the other hand, the term designating the long hair, „cometes” reminds about the „comati”, the title of which the noble Dacians (locals) were designated.
Another Christian writer, Socrates, said about Saint Theotimus that he was „a bishop celebrated for his piety and rectitude of life” (Socrates, Hist. Eccl. 6,12, Migne, PG 67,701)
During this period there are known some monasteries and hermitages in Scythia Minor, which were famous through their asceticism and who became in the 5th and 6th cnturies known throughout the empire because of the famous „Scythian monks” spread both in the regions situated between Danube and theCarpathians, and in Jerusalem, Constantinople, Rome and Africa. The ruins of their basilicas can be seen until today, being large and beautifully decorated with mosaics. This shows indirectly an impressive number of believers in the Scythian regions in these centuries.
Emperor Arcadius of the Eastern Roman Empire have heard about Theotimus, because of his friendship with St. John Chrysostom. The archbishop of Constantinople sent in 399 some missionary monks „for the nomadic Scythians of the Ister”, probably being asked by Theotimus (Theodoret of Cyrus, Hist. Eccl. 5, 31). These nomads may be in fact the huns and there is supposed that the mission was successfub, because Jerome mentioned that „the Huns learn the Psalter and the coldness of Scythia is warmed by the heat of the faith” (Jerome, Letter 107).
In 399 or 400, Theotimus took part in a local synod of Constantinople, convened by Saint John Chrysostomus against the bishop Antoninus of Ephesus who was condemned for heresy (Palladius of Helenopolis, Life of St. John Chrysostom, in Migne, PG 47, 179). He was very appreciated among other bishops, and this result from the fact that Theotimus is mentioned the first in the list of those who signed the documents of the council.

A few years later it arose a division among the theologians about the religious orthodoxy of the writings of Origenes, who died as a martyr about 150 years before (in 254). Renowned theologians and bishops as Theophilus of Alexandria and Epiphanius of Salamis claimed that Origen's work contains heretical teachings and as such, he must be condemned. Epiphanius came just in Constantinople, trying to convince John Chrysostomus to sign the condemnation of Origenes, but John refused. In the midst of these discussions, Theotimus came in Constantinople and participated at the Synod of the Oak, near Chalcedon, in 403, where he defenced the position of St. John Chrysostomus, blamed for supporting the Origenist monks. Sozomenos wrot that „Theotimus, bishop of Scythia, strongly opposed the proceedings of Epiphanius, and told him that it was not right to cast insult on the memory of one who had long been numbered with the dead; nor was it without blasphemy to assail the conclusion to which the ancients had arrived on the subject, and to set aside their decisions” (Sozomenos, Hist. Eccl. 8,14 in Migne, PG 67,334, cf. Socrates, Hist. Eccl. 6,12, Migne PG 67,701). From these words we can believe that Theotimus enjoyed a great prestige among the theologians, as Socrates reproduces only his opinion on the work of Origenes. Moreover, this history ends his account of Theotimus with the words: „a bishop celebrated for his piety and rectitude of life” cited above (Socrates, Hist. Eccl. 6,12, Migne, PG 67,701)
Jerome attested the written works of Theotimus, but there are not kept until today. Anyway there are some small sentences atributed to Theotimus in a writing of St. John from Damasus (+749) with the title „The saint parallels” (Ta hiera parallela/Sacra parallela): "the one who sins in thought, by the very fastness of the thought, he commits the sin completely, while the deeds of the body can be broken through many barriers” (John of Damascus, Holy parallels, 2,9 in Migne, PG 96, 241 A);”The bad thing is not to suffer harshly, but to suffer according to the righteousness” (ibid, 520B); „Remembering truly about God is to remember the life, and forgetting Him is to die” (ibid, 520B)
The saint died probably in the first years of the 5th century, after the Synod at the Oak held in July 403, where his friend, St. John Chrysostomus was condemned and deposed from his seat.

Worship of  Saint Theotimus 

According to Acta Sanctorum (tom II/Xi, p. 753, Paris, 1866), St. Theotimus is commemorated on April 20 for „his holiness and his miracles”.  Probably the date of the commemoration is the day he might have died. There is a monastery dedicated to St. Theotimus in Murfatlar, near Constanta.
In the both cases of Sts. Bretanion and Theotimus there are no relics known to be held anywhere.

Monastery of St. Theotimus in Constanta

The troparion (hymn) of the both saints is the usual troparion to a hierarch: 

“The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, a model of meekness and a teacher of abstinence wherefore thou hast attained the heights through humility and riches through poverty. O hierarch Bretanion (*Theotimus) our father, entreat Christ God that our souls be saved!”

St. Martyrs Ermil (Ermilus) and Stratonicus

The Martyr Saints Ermil and Stratonicus, in Greek ῞Ερμυλος and Στρατόνικος, or in Serbian Свети мученици, Eрмил и Cтратонjк бэлгрaдски (Sts. Martyrs Ermil and Stratonic of Belgrade) lived in 3rd – 4th centuries in the Roman province Illyricum, located on the middle course of the Danube, and received their martyrdom at Singidunum (the today Belgrade), being celebrated on January 13, their day of passage to the Lord. Their life and martyrdom are found in three variants, the earlier probably released in the late sixth century (according to a study published in the introduction to their lives in Analecta Bollandiana, vol 30, pp. 156 ff., and in Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, N. 744 - 745b). Anyway the five manuscripts of this version are, perhaps from the 10th century. Another biography, which is the current used in the Orthodox churches was processed by Simeon Metaphrastes in his Vitae Sanctorum in the 9th century in Constantinople. It is found in volume 114 of JP Migne's Patrologia Graeca, cols. 554-566. A major study on the three different versions of the biography wrote F. Halkin in Trois textes grecs inédits sur les SS. Hermyle et Stratonice martyrs à Singidunum in Analecta Bollandiana vol 89, 1971, pp. 5-45.

Their martyrdom

The life and martyrdom of saints Ermil and Stratonicus and is closely related to the changing social and political situation of the early fourth century. Diocletian (384-305) is considered one of the fiercest persecutors of the Christians, but even after his death, the fate of the Christians did not change for the better. The coming in charge of Licinius (307-324) in Illyricum, province which included the regions on the middle Danube and the Western Balkans, has brought a new persecution against the Christians. Licinius was together with Constantine the Great, one of the signatories of the Edict of Tolerance (Milan, 313), but he suddenly began a new wave of persecution against Christians. Shortly after taking his office, he asked his officials to denounce the people who respected the „law of Christ” and to bring them before the judgment seat.

St. Ermil, icon in St. Aleksander cathedral from Sofia, Bulgaria

Ermil, a Christian deacon from Singidunum (a city on the Danube), was denounced by a soldier to the local authorities, that he was a Christian, being accused that he was despising the Roman gods and the official cult of the Empire. St. Simeon Metaphrastes reports that Ermil was brought before the Caesar, at his command. Ermil received the accusation with joy and said he would come to the court without opposition, so there was no need to be bound. Brought to the emperor and asked why he do not serve the pagan gods, Ermil replied that he serves „only the invisible God who made the world and not some dull and lifeless gods made with hands from wood or stone”. Hearing this, Licinius ordered that Ermil to be beaten on his face with a metal whip. Asked repeatedly to sacrifice to the Roman gods, the saint ignored the torments and refused the offer, confessing God as his savior.

After heavier tortures, the Caesar commanded that the saint to be taken to prison, where he would have three days as time to think on his final position. But here it came to him an angel of the Lord who comforted him, saying „Dare, Ermil and not be fear, for you will soon overcome the tyrant and you will receive the bright crown of martyrdom!”

After three days of prison, Ermil was brought back to the court and asked if he changed his mind. But he again confessed his Christian faith. Then he was beaten and tortured even more terrible, but he endured all without uttering a single groan. Instead he praised incessantly his Lord. At one point it was heard a voice from heaven and the soldiers who tortured him told this to Licinius. The voice announced that over three days Ermil would be free from pain. Licinius was frightened by the news came from the soldiers, but he still ordered the deacon to be taken back into the prison.

All these facts witnessed Stratonicus the prison warden where Ermil was closed. He was also secretly a Christian and knew the deacon already since long ago. He looked stealthily the wounds of the deacon.

St. Ermil was brought for the third time to trial and again he refused to deny his faith. Of course, the emperor ordered the soldiers to tear deep the deacon’s body and especially his womb with iron nails. But the saint remained steadfast in the faith.

One of the soldiers has seen that Stratonicus was crying and cared the injuries of the deacon, and defeated him to Licinius. This fact made the Caesar to ask Stratonicus to sacrifice to idols, but he also confessed that he was an old friend of Ermil and a hidden Christian who refuses the sacrifice to the fake idols. For this confession, Stratonicus was stripped of his clothes and beaten with sticks. During the beating he turned to Ermil, asking him to pray to God, in order to be kept in his faith and to be able to endure the torments.

After this torture, the two were taken back into prison and later Licinius tried once more to persuade them to deny the faith, but without success. Finally, the emperor decided Ermil to be hung in a tree and his body to be chopped with knives, and thrown into the Danube.

image from the Menologion of Basil II - Constantinople, 985

Brought to trial, Stratonicus didn’t accept the last proposal.  He confessed that he doesn’t know a happier death than enduring martyrdom for the faith in Christ and that the greatest joy for him would be to accompany in the eternal life his good friend, Ermil. So he was also killed.

The martyrdom of Ermil and Stratonicus happened on January 13, 314 or 315 (according to the Russian Orthodox encyclopedia Православнуя энциклопедия), 18 stages (about 3 km) away from Singidunum (Belgrade today). Their bodies were recovered from the waters of the Danube three days later, by the local Christians. They have put the two saints together in one coffin, in order that they would be together remembered, because they were joined in their faith in Christ and friendship.

According to some other sources, the two saints died in 303, that means before the Great Persecution of Diocletian and Galerius. This date cannot be accepted, because in this way the events would have been occurred before Licinius (307 -324).

Worship

In the old Byzantine synaxaries the celebrations of the two saints were on January 13 and June 1st. But this date is not always remembered the same. In a Palestinian-Georgian calendar from the 10th century (Sinaiticus Georgian manuscris no. 34) the memory of the saints is on January 14. The Martyrology of Jerome remembers a martyr named Hermilus on August 3, without mentioning the place of the martyrdom. In some other Western Martyrologies from the 9th century (Florus, Usuard, Adon from Vienna) the name of the martyr is written as Hermellus,and his place of death is Constantinople. Baronius, based on the Byzantine synaxarion introduced in the Roman Martyrology the memory of Ermil and Stratonicus on January 13, but also on August 3 (the memory of Hermellus from Constantinople alone). 

The nationality of the two saints is uncertain. The Romanian synaxaries attest that they would have been Daco-Romans (local Romans, maybe Romanized Dacians or Thracians), but in the meantime the Serbian ones attest a supposedly Slavic origin, which is totally improbable, because there were no Slavs in the Area at the time.

Their skulls were located in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia from Constantinople by a Russian pilgrim named Anthony, about in 1200. Today there is no mention about their relics, as far I have researched.

Today the Holy Martyrs Ermil and Stratonicus are the patron saints of the Serbian capital - Belgrade. The Museum of Belgrade celebrate Sts. Ermil and Stratonicus as patrons of the institution and a paraklis (chapel) of the Cathedral of St. Sava in Belgrade) is dedicate to these Holy Martyrs. 

Troparion (hymn) of the martyrs:

Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their struggles received crowns of incorruptibility from Thee our God: for with Thy strength they wiped out tyrants, and overcame demons, rendering them powerless. By their intercessions, O Christ our God, save our souls!