Constans of Gothia

Holy Martyr Constans of Gothia was one of twenty-⁠six Gothic martyrs, priests, monks, laymen and women, who suffered around 375 under King Ungerich, a persecutor of Christians. The Azbyka page honours them all together and says nothing particular about Constans.

The king ordered the church set on fire during the service. In the flames three hundred and eight people perished, of whom the names of twenty-⁠one martyrs are known: the priests Vafusius and Verk, the monk Arpila, the laymen Aviv, Agn, Reas, Igathrax, Iskoi, Silas, Sigetzas, Sonirila, Suimbl, Therma, Phyllos, Constans and Prince Agathon, and among the women Anna, Alla, Larissa, Moiko, Mamika, Uirko, Animais, Gaatha, queen of the Goths, and Duklida, princess of the Goths. The widow of the Gothic king, Alla, with her daughter Duklida, gathered the remains of the holy martyrs and took them to Syria. Then she returned to her homeland, where after a time she was stoned and died as a martyr together with her son Agathon.

The relics remained with Duklida, who in the time of the emperors Valentinian II and Theodosius the Great (393-395) came to Cyzicus and gave a part of the relics for the consecration of a church. Duklida died in peace.

Saint Constans is commemorated on 8 April, in the new style. Their names are not in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. The commemoration of the twenty-⁠six Gothic martyrs is also found in the Lives of the Saints by Saint Dimitry of Rostov.