Bretannio

ON ST. BRETANNIO, BISHOP OF TOMIS IN SCYTHIA.

About the year of Christ 380.

Bretannio, Bishop of Tomis in Scythia (Saint)

The life of the holy Confessor Bretannio (who is also called Bretanio, Brettanio, and Britannio) was briefly described by Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, book 6, chapter 20, and from him by Nicephorus, book 11, chapter 29, and Baronius in volume 4, at the year of Christ 371, nos. 114 and 115. His birthday is assigned in the Roman Martyrology to January 25, The Life of St. Bretannio, in these words: At Tomis in Scythia, of St. Bretannio the Bishop, who flourished in the Church with wondrous holiness and zeal for the Catholic faith, under the Arian Emperor Valens, whom he resisted. His feast day. Baronius adds in the Notes to the Martyrology and in the Annals, no. 115 of the year 371, that Gerontius succeeded Bretannio — namely, the one who was present at the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople under the Emperor Theodosius, held during the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius in the month of May, 381 — from which, however, he conjectures in no. 66 of that year 381 that Bretannio the Scythian died together with St. Gregory Nazianzen, not sufficiently mindful of what he had said. The time of his death.

LIFE FROM SOZOMEN, BOOK 6, CHAPTER 20.

Bretannio, Bishop of Tomis in Scythia (Saint)

[1] They say that the Scythians persisted in the faith for a similar reason. That nation indeed has many cities, villages, and fortresses, At Tomis, the metropolis of the Scythians, but Tomis holds the preeminence, which is a great and wealthy city situated near the sea, on the left as one sails toward the Euxine Sea. There is an ancient custom, still observed there, that one Bishop presides over the Churches of that entire nation. And so at the time of which we now speak, Brettanio administered those Churches, when the Emperor also came to Tomis. After he had approached the church Bishop Bretannio and, according to his custom, had tried to persuade him to communicate with the Arians, Brettanio spoke very steadfastly and freely before the Emperor on behalf of the doctrine of the Council of Nicaea, resists the impiety of Valens: withdrew from him, and betook himself to another church. The people also followed him. And nearly the entire city flocked there, partly to see the Emperor, partly because they expected him to attempt something new.

[2] He is sent into exile: Valens therefore, left behind with his retinue, took this grievously, as though it had been done as an insult. He ordered that Bretannio be seized and led away into exile; but not long afterward he permitted him to be brought back. For seeing, he is recalled, I believe, that the Scythians bore the exile of their Bishop with ill will, he was not a little afraid that they would pursue revolution, since he saw that they were both brave and, by the very situation of their territory, necessary to the Roman Empire — inasmuch as they repelled the attacks of the Barbarians inhabiting that part of the world. And so the Emperor's designs were thus thwarted by Bretannio, a man distinguished in other respects and so remarkable for his divine virtue that even the Scythians themselves bore witness to his praise.