Saint Vetranion of Tomis

Saint Vetranion (or Bretanion) lived during the IV century, and was the Bishop of Tomis, (now Constanța, Romania) in the Province of Scythia Minor.1 Little is known about his life except that he came from Cappadocia, and was elected to the See of Tomis about the year 360.2 He confessed the Orthodox Faith, and suffered a great deal from the heretical Emperor Valens (364 – 378), an adherent of the Arian heresy, and who persecuted the Church. During his reign, many Orthodox Christians were put to death.

Saint Vetranion, who possessed every virtue, was Bishop of all the cities of Scythia. According to Sozomen (a Church historian of the V century), when the Emperor Valens was campaigning against the Goths of Scythia, he stopped at Tomis and ordered its citizens to become Arians and to reject the Nicene Creed. Filled with divine zeal, the courageous hierarch rebuked Valens for distorting the Faith, and for his unjust persecution of the saints.Then the Saint repeated the following words of the Prophet-King David: “I spoke of thy testimonies before kings, and was not ashamed” (Psalm 118/119:46).3

As a result, Saint Vetranion was sent into exile. Later, Valens was forced by the public outcry against the Bishop's banishment to let him return to his flock.

In 373 or 374, Saint Basil the Great requested Junius Soranus, the ruler of Scythia Minor, to send him some relics of the Saints from that region. Junius sent the relics of Saint Savva the Goth (April 15) to Saint Basil along with a letter: the Epistle of the Church of God in Gothia to the Church of God in Cappadocia, and to all the local churches of the holy catholic Church. The sending of the relics and the writing of the letter have been attributed to Bishop Vetranion. The letter, written in Greek, is the oldest known document written on what is now Romanian soil.

Perhaps Bishop Vetranion did represent Tomis at the Third Ecumenical Council in 381; but it could be that his name was confused with that of Bishop Gerontius (or Terentius) of Tomis.


1 (Greek) ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ: Ὁ Ἅγιος Βρετάννιος ὁ Ὁμολογητής. 25 Ιανουαρίου.
2 (Romanian) Vetranion - Dictionarul Teologilor Romani
3 Theodoret of Cyrrhus, A History Of The Church In Five Books, Chapter 35.