Sabbas the Goth

Description

Sabbas the Goth (Romanian: Sava Gotul, Greek: Σάββας ο Γότθος; died 12 April 372) was a Christian martyr venerated as a saint.

Born in eastern Romania, Sabbas became a Christian in his youth. Fearing that Christianity would undermine Gothic culture, King Athanaric began a persecution of Christians. Sabbas refused to eat meat that had been sacrificed to the Gothic gods. He was arrested along with Sansalas the priest, and drowned. Basil of Caesarea later obtained his relics. The Passio of Sabbas gives some insight into Gothic life and culture.

Sabbas (also Saba) was born in 334[2] in a village in the Buzău river valley and lived in what is now the Wallachia region in Romania[3] and converted to Christianity as a youth.[4] His hagiography states that he was a Goth by race and may have been a cantor or a reader to the religious community there.[5]

In circa 369 the Tervingi king Athanaric began a persecution of the Christians in his territory.[6] First, a Gothic nobleman began the suppression of Christianity in Sabbas’ area. When his agents came to the village where Sabbas lived they forced the villagers to eat pagan sacrificial meat. According to the tale, non-Christian villagers wanting to help their Christian neighbours tricked the authorities by exchanging the sacrificial meat for meat that had not been sacrificed. However, Sabbas made a conspicuous show of rejecting the meat altogether. His fellow villagers exiled him but after a while, he was allowed to return.

Sometime after, the Gothic noble returned and asked if there were any Christians in the village. Sabbas stepped forward and proclaimed, “Let no-one swear an oath on my behalf. I am a Christian.” Sabbas’ neighbours then said that he was a poor man of no account. The leader dismissed him, saying, “This one can do us neither good nor harm.”