St. Sabbas the Goth suffered the martyrdom for Christ in the
east Carpathian Dacia, being drowned in Buzău river on 12 April 372, from the
order of Atharid, a leader of the non-christianized Goths.
Information about his life and passion on theactual homeland
of the Romanians were kept in his act of martyrdom, composed as a letter of the
Gothic Church from north-Danubian Dacia to the church in Cappadocia, as an
answer to the request of St. Basil (379)
made to Iunius Soranus, the “most brilliant governor (dux) of Scythia Minor”, a
relative of Basil who was a Christian, for sending these relics in Caesarea.
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| Adăugaţi o legendă |
The relics of St. Sabbas the Goth were accompanied by the text
of his holy martyrdom, probably composed in Greek by St. Bretanion, the bishop
of Tomis. This letter is also a document about the spread of the Christianity
in the Carpathian Dacia among the Dacians, Romans and Goths, in the second half
of the fourth century, bearing the long title: “The Church of God who lives in
Gothia to the Church of God from Cappadocia and to all the communities of the
Holy Universal Church”. St. Basil the Great also thanks in two letters to his
fellow friend, Archbishop of Thessalonica Ascholius because he took care of
sending the relics of St. Sabbas the GothtoCaesarea (Epistolae no. 164 and 165
in Migne, PG vol 32, cols. 633-641).
The Martyrical Acts of St. Sabbas the Goth are important to
confirm the existence of the Christianity northern from Danube since the fourth
century. This speaks not only about the existence of sporadic Christian
missionaries, but also about an organized Church in villages and cities, with
bishops, priests and simple believers, who led its life in connection with the Churches
in the Roman provinces from the southern Danubian Region and the Church in Asia
Minor.
The life and martyrdom of Saint Sabbas
St. Sabbas apparently was born in 334. The Martyrical Act
shows that he was “got by birth and lived in Gothia”, being a Christian, living
in virtue since his childhood, reaching the adut age in purity. ,
Already child, he used to sing psalms in the village church,
where served as priest Sansalas. Sabbas was a peaceful and modest young man
living in virginity and loving the prayer.
At one point the Goths have started a persecution against the
Christians, forcing them to eat from the meats offered to the idols. Some
non-Christians wanted to escape their Christian relatives from death and gave
them to eat publically un-sacrificed meat, thus tricking the persecutors. St. Sabbas
opposed this action, and because of that his fellow villagers chased him from the
village. After a while he came back.
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| Adăugaţi o legendă |
During the second persecution, some villagers wanted to
swear that there’s no Christian in their village. But St. Sabbas opposed,
saying: “For me swear no one, because I am Christian”. Then he stood
voluntarily in front of the persecutor, who saw him and his poor clothes, and
because of that he said: “Such a man can neither be useful nor hurt”. During
this persecution, Sansalas the priest fled from Gothia in Romania, (that was at
that time the name of the Roman Empire).
Later ith has been started a third persecution, in 372. St. Sabbas
wanted at that time to celebrate the Easter into the city, together with the
Gothian priest Guththicas. But on the way Sabbas had a vision and saw a tall
and light-faced man, who ordered him to return to Sansalas, who in the meantime
returned to celebrate the Easter together with his community.
Thus St. Sabbas turned back and found Sansalas in the
village, so they celebrated Easter together. But the third night after the Easter,
it came in their village Atharid, the son of a local governor called Rothesteu,
with a band of robbers and arrested them. Sansalas was put in a cart, but St. Sabbas,
naked, was carried by feet through the recently burned valleys, being strongly
whipped. The next day the persecuted laid him on the ground and bound his hands
on an axle, and his legs on another one. They beat him and nearly all night.
After the servants went to sleep, a host-woman who had woke up to prepare food
for the “guests” untied him, but he, instead to escape, helped the woman with
her work.
Finding out what happened, Atharid commanded to hang the
saint of a beam of the house, which shows that people here were certainly Dacians
or Romans, because the Goths were living in tents. After this, the servants of
Atharid brought food from the gods’ sacrifices and forced Sabbas and Sansalas to
eat from these, but they refused. Atharid full of anger ordered the execution
of Saint Sabbas. Letting Sansala bound Sthere, the servants took Sabbas to the Mousaios
river (today Buzău) in order to drown him there. At one point, the wanted to
release him, but St. Sabbas told: “Why do not accomplish what you were
commanded to do? Here are those who came to receive me, in front of us,
standing in glory” (the angels).
Then they immersed him in water, put a timber over his neck
and pushed him into deeper. St. Sabbas died as a martyr being 38 years old, in
the Saturday after Easter, the day before the Ides of April, i.e. on April 12, 372, during the reign of the emperors
Valentinianus (372-392, in the West) and
Valens ( 364-378, in the East).
His unharmed body was taken and buried by the faithful
Christians. Then, after the persistence of Iunius Soranus, governor of Scythia
Minor, (the actual region of Dobrogea, situated between Danube and Black sea),
the holy relics were taken and sent to Cappadocia, and were deposited in a
church in Caesarea, where St. Basil the Great (+ 379) was bishop.
The Martyrdom of Saint Sabbas tells nothing about what
happened further with Sansalas the priest.
Veneration of St. Sabbas
Basil asked for his relics in 374, just 12 years after his
death, which shows the saint’s high worship, which spread very quickly. The
Synaxarion of the Church from Constantinople mentions the martyrdom of St. Sabbas
the Goth on 17 April. In this version, Saint Sabbas was burned on the roof of a
house, during the persecution of Athanaric, the chief the Goths and he was not
drowned in the river Buzău, as shows his Martyrical Act. Bibliotheca graeca
hagiographica mentions St. Sabbas the Goth on April 12, 15 and 17. The Greek
synaxaries from the Minologion (The liturgical book consisting in the daily
services) celebrate St. Sabbas on April 18, and this date appears also in the Romanian
Minologion, while the Slavic Churches celebrate him on April 15. On June 20,
1992, the Romanian Orthodox Church officially stated in the national calendar
“the saints from other nations who have preached and were martyred in our
country”, among which is also the Holy Martyr Sabbas from Buzău, called “the
Goth”, celebrated since then on April 12.
In the West, the
Roman Catholic Calendar commemorates St. Sabbas on April 28.
The hymn of the saint
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| St. Sava Cathedral in Buzău |
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