There is a record of Gothic persecution of Christians in the third century. According to Basil of Caesarea, some prisoners taken captive in a Gothic raid on Cappadocia around 260 preached the gospel to their captors and were martyred. One of their names was Eutychus. Bishop Dionysius of Caesarea sent messengers to the Goths to ransom captives and there was still a written record of these attempts in Basil's time. [1]
Two main outbreaks of persecution of Christians by the 4th-century Gothic authorities are recorded, in 347/8 under Aoric (according to Auxentius of Durostorum) and between 367 and 378 under Aoric's son, the iudex ( kindins ) Athanaric. [2] The persecution of Christians under Athanaric shows that Christians were still a minority among the Tervingi in the 370s, but that they had become numerous enough to be considered a threat to Gothic culture. It is remarkable that Athanaric did not persecute Christians in general, but specifically converted Goths, while Christian foreigners were left alone. Athanaric's motive was thus the protection of the Gothic nation and its gods and not the persecution of Christianity as such. [3]
The Terving ruler Athanaric opposed the spread of Christianity among the Goths, fearing that the new faith would destroy Gothic culture. According to the historiographer Sozomenos (Eccl. Hist. 6.37), Athanaric appointed Winguric (Wingureiks, Wingourichos, also Jungeric) to eradicate the Christian faith from the Gothic lands. In Crimea, Winguric placed an idol in a chariot and paraded it before a tent used by Christians for their church service; those who worshipped the idol were spared, and the rest were burned alive in the tent. A total of 308 people died in the fire, of which only 21 are known by name. This happened in or close to the year 375. A few years later, during the reign of Valentinian and Theodosius (383–392), Gaatha, the widow of a peer of Winguric's, and her daughter Dulcilla (or Duclida, Duklida) gathered the remains of twenty-six martyrs and with The help of some priests and a layman named Thyellas transferred them to Cyzicus.
The martyrs who died under Athanaric's persecution known by name are three clerics and 18 laypeople (11 men, 7 women). To this are added the four children of Wereka and Batwin (two sons and two daughters), plus an anonymous man who came to the tent and confessed Christ as Winguric was about to burn it and was martyred together with the others, to arrive at the number of "twenty-six martyrs" whose remains were transported by Gaatha. The 21 martyrs known by name are recorded with multiple variants in manuscript tradition:
The list includes Syrian, Cappadocian and Phrygian names, even though the victims were all Goths. This may reflect the Christian practice of assuming a new "Christian name" at baptism, and in any case documents the close connection of the Gothic church with those of Asia Minor (where the invading Goths in the mid 3rd century first came into contact with Christianity). [3]
The "26 Gothic martyrs" are commemorated in Orthodox Christianity on 26 March, but in the Gothic calendar fragment on 29 October (gaminþi marwtre þize bi Werekan papan jah Batwin bilaif. aikklesjons fullaizos ana Gutþiudai gabrannidai "remembrance of the martyrs who with Werekas the priest and Batwin the bilaif were burned in a crowded church among the Goths"). The same fragment for 23 October proscribes remembrance of "the many martyrs among the Gothic people, and of Fridaric" (þize ana Gutþiudai managaize martwre jah Friþareikeis), Fridaric being an otherwise unknown Gothic martyr.
Eastern Orthodox martyrologies enumerate "Twenty-six Martyred Goths", listing the 21 names given above, but adding one Constans as a twelfth layman, plus queen Gaatha along with her daughter Dulcilla and her son Agathon.
Sabbas the Goth was martyred in 372 in what is now the Wallachia region of Romania. Nicetas the Goth was also martyred in 372.
The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe.
Ulfilas, also known as Ulphilas and Orphila, all Latinized forms of the unattested Gothic form *𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌰 Wulfila, literally "Little Wolf", was a Goth of Cappadocian Greek descent who served as a bishop and missionary, is credited with the translation of the Bible into Gothic, and participated in the Arian controversy. He developed the Gothic alphabet – inventing a writing system based on the Greek alphabet – in order for the Bible to be translated into the Gothic language. Although traditionally the translation of the Bible into the Gothic language has been ascribed to Ulfilas, analysis of the text of the Gothic Bible indicates the involvement of a team of translators, possibly under his supervision.
The 360s decade ran from January 1, 360, to December 31, 369.
The 340s decade ran from January 1, 340, to December 31, 349.
Sep. 14 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - Sep. 16
July 30 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - Aug. 1
Gothic Christianity refers to the Christian religion of the Goths and sometimes the Gepids, Vandals, and Burgundians, who may have used the translation of the Bible into the Gothic language and shared common doctrines and practices.
Alexander of Jerusalem was a third century bishop who is venerated as a martyr and saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Roman Catholic Church. He died during the persecution of Emperor Decius.
Sabbas the Goth is a Christian martyr and saint.
Aphian is venerated as a martyr by the Catholic Church and by the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is said to have died during the persecutions of the Emperor Galerius on April 2 in or around the year 305.
The Thervingi, Tervingi, or Teruingi were a Gothic people of the plains north of the Lower Danube and west of the Dniester River in the 3rd and the 4th centuries.
Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the 1st century in the Roman province of Judea, from where it spread throughout and beyond the Roman Empire.
Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by Constantine the Great and the First Council of Nicaea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), and in its late stage by the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, which made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.
Christianity in late antiquity traces Christianity during the Christian Roman Empire – the period from the rise of Christianity under Emperor Constantine, until the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The end-date of this period varies because the transition to the sub-Roman period occurred gradually and at different times in different areas. One may generally date late ancient Christianity as lasting to the late 6th century and the re-conquests under Justinian of the Byzantine Empire, though a more traditional end-date is 476, the year in which Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustus, traditionally considered the last western emperor.
Nicetas is a Christian martyr of the 4th century, venerated particularly in the Russian Orthodox Church. His feastday is 15 September.
Gothic paganism was the original religion of the Goths before their conversion to Christianity.
Athanaric or Atanaric was king of several branches of the Thervingian Goths for at least two decades in the 4th century. Throughout his reign, Athanaric was faced with invasions by the Roman Empire, the Huns and a civil war with Christian rebels. He is considered the first king of the Visigoths, who later settled in Iberia, where they founded the Visigothic Kingdom.
Aoric was a Thervingian Gothic king who lived in the 4th century. Aoric was son of Ariaric and father of Athanaric, he was raised in Constantinople, where a statue was erected in his honour. He was recorded by Auxentius of Durostorum leading a persecution of Gothic Christians in 347/348. Herwig Wolfram noted that "alliteration, variation, and rhythm in the line of names Athanaric, Aoric, Ariaric resemble the 'ideal type' of Hadubrand, Hildebrand, Heribrand". He considered the similarities and comparison suggested that all three kings were members of the Balti dynasty.
Winguric or Wingurich, also known as Wingureiks, Wingourichos, also Jungeric was a Gothic ruler (reiks) under the Thervingian chieftain Athanaric who played a prominent role in the Gothic persecution of Christians. Around 375 he burned twenty-six Gothic Christians to death in the Crimea, who were later sanctified as martyrs by the Christian church.
Atharid was a Gothic chieftain under the Thervingian leader Athanaric. He was the son of Athanaric's sub-king Rothesteus, and played a leading role in the killing of the Christian saint Sabbas the Goth.