Fritigern: a Christian prior to 376?

[Alanus]

A little bit more, for anyone who cares. :whistle:

Here is the original reference in the 6th century Gothic calendar (only 300 years after the fact), "thize ana Gutthiudae managaize martyre jah Frithareikiekeis." Zeevic Rubin believed this emendation would correct it, modifying the name to "Frithigairnis reiks," or "Fritigairn the reiks." Lenski says of the calendar reference, "If Fritigern were commemorated for converting the Goths under his control, the conversion could just as easily have occurred in 376 as in ca. 372." He then gives his argument for sometime between 369 and 373.

However, even Lenski missed the context within the calendar reference, which wasn't for a conversion, but directly linking Fritigern to the Gothic martyrs... all in one sentence. When we add Basil's Epistle 155 to Junius Soranus, we find Soranus and Fritigern leading a substantial force-- perhaps the XI Claudia-- across the river to "relieve the suffering" of Fritigern's people in 373.

A relic of one of the martyrs, the left "untainted" hand of St. Nicetas, killed by one of Athanaric's squads. St. Nicetas was once in the Roman army as a Gothic federate.
[attachment=9665]nikitas-relic.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=9666]saintnikitas.jpg[/attachment]
Here's an icon of St. Nicetas as a soldier. He was tortured and thrown into a fire.


The Tyrfingi never again became a united confederation. Fritigern's element, already Christianized, moved across the river three years later. Within six to eight months, he rebelled due to Roman abuses. If he had accepted Christianity in 376, as Heather and others assert, then why didn't he abandon this new-found religion and revert to Gothic paganism in a anti-Roman backlash? But that's not what we see two years later (378) when Ammianus tells us one of Fritigern's "most trusted" confidants was a "presbyter."

After 373, Athanaric was never able to unite his remaining Tryfingi. Finally, they turned on him. He became a fugitive from his own people and ended his life as a political pawn within the mechanizations of Theodosius. 8+)