NICETAS OF REMESIANA, A MISSIONARY IN DACIA AND A FATHER OF THE ROMANIAN CHURCHES? REREADING PAULINUS OF NOLA, GENNADIUS OF MASSILIA AND OVID
NICETAS OF REMESIANA, A MISSIONARY IN DACIA AND A FATHER OF THE ROMANIAN CHURCHES? REREADING PAULINUS OF NOLA, GENNADIUS OF MASSILIA AND OVID

Summary/Abstract: The Romanian nationalist literature has presented Nicetas of Remesiana as a missionary in Trajan’s Dacia and therefore as a founder of the Romanian Churches. This article demonstrates, first, that Nicetas of Remesiana has an uncertain identity and, second, that he was no missionary in Trajan’s Dacia and therefore no founder of the Romanian Churches. The article proposes to reread the sources used to create the myth of Nicetas of Remesiana, i.e. Carmen XVII, Carmen XXVII and Epistula 29 by Paulinus of Nola and De viris illustribus by Gennadius. Our text also presents the first comparison between Paulinus’ Carmen XVII and Ovid’s exile poetry, showing thereby that references to Dacia in Paulinus’ text are based on poetic motives derived from Ovid.

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