Theotimos (bishop of Tomi)
Christian writer
Theotimus was a writer and friend of St. John Chrysostom. He was bishop of the Scythian diocese of Tomi, near the Black Sea, from 392 to 403 (or 407, when he died), who tried to convert the Huns. He published brief and epigrammatical treatises, in the form of dialogues, and in olden style.
Life
Theotimus was a native of Dacia Pontica, and was part Roman.
Church government
Chapter 26 of Book VII of the Ecclesiastical History, written by Sozomen, states: "The church of Tomi, and indeed all the churches of Scythia, were at this period under the government of Theotimus, a Scythian. He had been brought up in the practice of philosophy; and his virtues had so won the admiration of the barbarian Huns, who dwelt on the banks of the Ister, that they called him the god of the Romans, for they had experience of divine deeds wrought by him. It is said that one day, when traveling toward the country of the barbarians, he perceived some of them advancing towards Total. His attendants burst forth into lamentations, and gave themselves up at once for lost; but he merely descended from horseback, and prayed. The consequence was, that the barbarians passed by without seeing him, his attendants, or the horses from which they had dismounted.
The public source identifies “Theotimos (bishop of Tomi)” as christian writer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Theotimos, bishop and Tomi.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q10381056. VIAF identifies the subject as 10236750. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Theotimos (bishop of Tomi)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.