From the Trajanic period to the fourth century, the definition of Roman place in scythia minor continued to evolve within its now Christian metageography. starting with the events at Adrianople in 378, scythia’s economic history went into sharp decline until the end of the fifth century, as a result of barbarian incursions.
By imperial custom, as determined in particular at the Council of Nicaea in 325, each city in the empire, at the level of polis, was to have its own episcopate together with a territorium. But the installation of bishops in each city of scythia Minor was both dangerous and prohibitively expensive due to invasions of Goths and Huns, who damaged churches and instigated widespread poverty. Therefore, as of the mid-fifth century, the province had but a single episcopal see, Tomis, as reported by sozomen (HE 7.19): “There are in this country a great number of cities, villages, and fortresses. The metropolis is called Tomis; it is a large and populous city, and lies on the seashore to the left of one sailing to the sea, called the Euxine. According to an ancient custom that still prevails all the churches of the whole country are under the sway of one bishop.” This policy was confirmed by a constitution of Zeno (476-491), isssued in 480, that designated only a single episcopal see for scythia Minor, in Tomis, with authority over the entire province:
But considering the status of the holy churches under the jurisdiction of Tomis in the province of scythia, these holy churches have been troubled by continuous incursions of the barbarians, or have otherwise been afflicted by want, and they cannot be preserved except by the care of the blessed bishop of Tomis, which city is also the capital of the people.798
A century of excavations across Dobrudja has revealed an enormous amount of data for Late Antiquity. In the early sixth century, under the reign of Anastasius, an economic renewal, more like a basilica building boom, began for Scythia Minor that continued under Justin I (518-527) and Justinian I.799 The archaeological evidence is presented in the following chart:
Vasile Parvan, the founder of archaeology in Romania, proposed an interesting hypothesis, that independent bishoprics might have existed in the areas where non-Romanfoederati were settled.801 if so, it would be an interesting question as to whether these bishoprics had official recognition from the church hierarchy. Parvan’s idea was proposed before World War I and without the benefit of substantial archaeological or historical research. His hypothesis, which he himself did not explore further, is worth revisiting. A sixth-century inscription from Callatis (modern Mangalia) reads, “Hic facta est oratio episcoporum Stefani (“Here a prayer of the bishops was made _ of Stefanus”).802 This dedication to Stefanus, who is presumed to have been a bishop, is broken after his name, but for the first time we have epigraphic evidence of a bishop in a city other than Tomis.
No one is suggesting that all of the cities in Table 18.1 were episcopal sees, but, given all the aforementioned construction to rebuild the ecclesiastical map of Scythia Minor over such an extensive period of time, it does seem improbable that this province would only have a single episcopate at Tomis. if there were other bishoprics, the best candidates, based on the archaeological remains found to date, would seem to be Callatis, Tropaeum Traiani, Histria, and Axiopolis. What is clear, moreover, is that these renovation and construction programs after periods of decline extended Roman horizontal and vertical space, with additional imperial palimpsests.
World History
