[gothic-l] Christianisation of Crimean Goths

[andreas.schwarcz at UNIVIE.AC.AT]

Dear Dirk,
This is what I wrote in my article "Cult and religion among the 
tervingi and the Visigoths and their conversion to Christianity" in: 
The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century, 
ed. Peter Heather. San Marino 1999, p.451 f.:
But we find already a bishop Theophilus of 
Gothia in the lists of this first oecumenical 
council, whom Socrates calls the teacher of 
Wulfila.(Patrorum Nicaenorum nominum LXIV 
(ed.Heinrich Gelzer, Heinrich Hilgenfeld, Otto 
Cuntz). Socrates, Historia ecclesiastica, 2, 41, 
23.) This has been a point of discussion for a 
long time, because Philostorgios called Wulfila 
the first bishop of the Goths,(Philostorgios, 
Historia ecclesiastica, 2, 5.) which led Jacques 
Zeiller and Ludwig Schmidt to suppose the see of 
Theophilus in the Crimea, near Bosphoros and 
Chersonesos, a choice lately favoured also by 
Peter Heather.(Jacques Zeiller, Les origines 
chrétiennes dans les provinces danubiennes. 
Paris 1918, 409414. Ludwig Schmidt, Die 
Ostgermanen. Geschichte der deutschen Stämme bis 
zum Ausgang der Völkerwanderung 2. 2nd ed. 
München 1941, 233 f. Peter Heather, Goths and 
Romans. 332489. Oxford 1991, 93.) The 
traditional view, shared by Wolfram, was 
recently emphasized once again by Knut 
Schäferdiek, who also indicates that Theophilus' 
theological point of view may not have been 
totally different from Wulfila's, bearing in 
mind the developements after 325. He supposes 
Theophilus to have been a member of the broad 
socalled middle party around Eusebius of 
Nikomedia, finally sharing the chisological 
convictions of the second aantiochenian formula 
of 341.(Hippolyte Delehaye, Saints de Thrace et 
de Mésie. Analecta Bollandiana 31 (1912) 
161300, esp.284 f. Wolfram, Die Goten, 87. 
Schäferdiek, Gotien, 37 and 49.) Schäferdiek's 
view is underlined by modern archeology, which 
finds the first signs of permanent Gothic 
settlements in the Crimea only in the last 
quarter of the fourth century and a second wave 
of Goths after the end of Attila's reign.(Karl 
von der Lohe in his summary of recent 
excavations at the Caputh conference 1995.) The 
localisation of Theophilus in Tomi, once again 
brought into discussion by Evangelos Chrysos, 
was already rejected by Schmidt and is firmly 
and finally done so by Schäferdiek.(Evangelos K. 
Chrysos, To Byzantion kai hoi Gotthoi. 
Thessalonike 1972, 8588. Schmidt, Ostgermanen, 
233. Schäferdiek, Gotien, 37 with n.13.) 
Personally I think, while sharing in the main 
the view of Wolfram and Schäferdiek that 
Theophilus was a predecessor of Wulfila, that 
there might have been a difference in their 
mandate. Both were episcopi intra gentes, but 
Wulfila was clearly designed for the federated 
Goths under treaty with the Empire, i.e. the 
Tervingi, whereas Theophilus' Gothia, not so 
strictly connected with imperial policy, may 
also have included the southern regions of the 
Greuthungi, where Christian beginnings from the 
same roots, i.e. prisoners, and from the poleis 
on the Black Sea coast are also possible. This 
difference may explain Philostorgios' remark. 
Anyway, christianity among the Goths before 
Wulfila is also attested by St. Athanasius, who 
counted the Goths among the peoples whom the 
word of the Gospel had already 
reached.(Athanasius, De incarnatione, 51, 2. 
Schäferdiek, Germanenmission, 498. Schwarcz, 
Anfänge, 107.)

To sum up this passage, Theophilus of Gothia was 
not bishop of the Crimean Goths and the first 
signs of permanent settlement of the latter in 
the Crimea are from the end of the fourth 
century.
Kind regards
            Andreas Schwarcz
Ao.Univ.Prof.Dr.Andreas Schwarcz
Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung
Universität Wien
Dr.Karl Lueger-Ring 1
A-1010 Wien
Österreich
Tel.0043/1/42-77/272-16
Fax 0043/142-77/92-72

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