L’exception scythe d’après Sozomène et les exceptions scythes d’après l’histoire et l’archéologie paléochrétiennes
The Scythian exception according to Sozomen and the Scythian exceptions according to early Christian history and archaeology

Summary/Abstract: The Scythian exception according to Sozomenos VI.21. In Book VI of the Historia Ecclesiastica Sozomenos writes: The metropolis (of Scythia) is called Tomis... According to an ancient custom, which is still current, all the churches in the country (Scythia) are under the authority of a bishop. Indeed, according to the first two episcopal lists which have been preserved, there is only one bishop in the province of Scythia alone-the bishop of the capital Tomis. This proves that Sozomenos and subsequent historians of the Church rightly wrote about the so-called “Scythian exception”. Based on the results of Christian historiography and archeology in recent decades, we have registered seven other Scythian exceptions. 1. In a bishop list published by C. de Boor (or also No. 3 according to J. Darouzes) from the end of the 8th-middle of the 9th century with a prototype for Scythia from the second half of the 6th century, appear the bishop/archbishop of Tommy as metropolitan with 14 suffragan bishops. In our opinion this happened after the middle of the sixth century, and has no analogue in episcopal organization in the empire. 2. The so-called exception of Sozomen it may be due to the importance of the Tomis capital. This is the city where, according to various sources, dozens of Christian martyrs were killed-a case without parallel in the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire in the 2nd–4th centuries. In hagiographic sources we have information about more than 30 more Scythian martyrs-a total of more than 100! This is also a kind of Scythian exception. 3. It is closely connected with our so-called second Scythian exception. In this province alone, a large group of large crypts for holy relics built under the altar tables has been studied. In the 58 churches discovered so far in Scythia, dating from the middle (?) of the 4th to the beginning of the 7th century, large crypts with an area of about 2 m2 and even more have been documented in 15 basilicas. They are of such dimensions that not only small reliquaries can be placed there, but also coffins with the dismembered bodies of martyrs or larger reliquaries 4. Apart from the fact that Scythia is the province with the largest crypts under the altar tables of the basilicas, it is also the only one in the Balkans with a group of hypogea crypts entirely located in the space of the apse. 5. Half a century ago J.-P. Sodini singled out the so-called group IV, in which he counted crypts with a staircase from the south in the early Christian basilicas of the Balkans. Here it includes the crypts in basilicas C and D of the Tropaeum Traiani, the basilica with the crypt in Histria, the crypt in the basilica of Island Thassos and the crypt under the altar of the Basilica of Saint Demetrius, in Thessaloniki. We dispute the idea that the crypt in St. Demetrius is a prototype of this group, since according to the latest research it was built in the church no earlier than the 8th century. At this stage of research, the earliest is the crypt of Basilica No. 4 in Zaldapa from the third quarter of the 4th century. It is noteworthy that during the early Christian era 4th–6th centuries, almost all crypts with an approach from the south are in Scythia. 6. We associate it with the absence of synthrons in almost all 58 early Christian basilicas in Scythia, including the cathedrals of Tomis, Histria, Сallatis, Zaldapa and Tropaeum Traiani. The only undisputed exception is the sintron with deambulatories of Basilica No. 2 in Zaldapa, which is currently under investigation by the Bulgarian-French-Canadian archaeological team. And this exception is in contradiction with the reality in the neighboring dioceses of Second Mysia and Chersones, where syntrons are registered not only in cathedrals, but also in dozens of other churches. 7. The seventh Scythian exception consists in the fact that in no basilica in the province of Scythia has been found a privileged tomb or tomb of a bishop, priest, patron, etc., “special people” in churches.

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