Germanus of Dacia Pontica

Saint Germanus of Dacia Pontica (Dobrogea), called Germanus the Daco-⁠Roman, was born in the mid-⁠fourth century, probably in the area of Cassian and the Caves in the diocese of Tomis (in present-⁠day Romania), and was related to Saint John Cassian (29 February). Older than Cassian, he was tonsured at a local monastery while still young; the holy bishop Theotimus I (20 April) may have been his spiritual father.

He in turn became the spiritual father, friend and teacher of John Cassian, instructing him in monastic perfection. They lived for a short time together in a monastery of Dacia Pontica and then labored together in Bethlehem from 380 to 385. Later they traveled to Egypt and visited cenobitic monasteries, the hermits of Nitria and Mount Sinai, to benefit from their example and counsel. In 399 they went to Constantinople to be near Saint John Chrysostom, and around then Germanus was ordained priest. When Chrysostom was deposed and exiled in 404, the two journeyed to Rome to plead his case before Pope Innocent I. Germanus ended his life in the early fifth century, perhaps at the monastery founded by Cassian at Marseilles, or at one of the monasteries of Dacia Pontica. He is a saint of the undivided Church, commemorated on 28 February (new style; 13 March on the old calendar).