Titus

Holy Martyr Titus was bishop of Tomis (present-⁠day Constanța) in Scythia Minor at the beginning of the fourth century and died drowned in the Black Sea in the time of the persecution of Licinius. The Church commemorates him on 3 January.

After the martyrdom of Bishop Ephraim, Titus (Titus, Filius) succeeded to the see of Tomis, and preached and defended the Orthodox faith in Scythia Minor for more than ten years. He catechized and baptized many Daco-⁠Romans and above all "barbarians", Goths and other peoples beyond the Danube. He was protector and spiritual father of many martyrs, local ones and from the whole Roman Empire, exiled to the mouths of the Danube and then killed there by the emperors Diocletian, Galerius and Licinius, up to the year 323. Denounced to the emperor Licinius, the blessed bishop was seized, tortured and drowned in the Black Sea. His disciples took his holy relics and buried them at Tomis. A fragment of a tombstone was recently discovered at Constanța, believed to be his, with the inscription: "Here rests the martyr of Christ and bishop...".

On the see of Tomis he was succeeded by Saint Gordian, who continued his work. Titus and Gordian were probably natives of Cappadocia in Asia Minor.