Frumentius
Bishop of Aksum, ordained by Athanasius of Alexandria. Rufinus tells how he came from Tyre as a boy to a royal court in a land he calls India, helped to govern it during a regency, and returned there as bishop.
Rufinus, who had the story from Frumentius’s companion Aedesius, says that the two were boys travelling with a philosopher of Tyre when their ship was attacked at a port on the way home from “India”. They were taken to the king, and Frumentius was put in charge of the royal accounts and records. After the king’s death he helped the queen to govern, and used his position to gather the Christians among the foreign merchants and give them places to worship (Rufinus, Church History 10.9 (book 1, chapter 9 in Migne)). When the heir came of age Frumentius went to Alexandria, where Athanasius ordained him bishop and sent him back (Rufinus, Church History 10.9–10 (book 1, chapter 9 in Migne)).
Rufinus does not say which kingdom this was. Athanasius does: he calls Frumentius “Bishop of Auxumis” and quotes a letter in which the emperor Constantius II, about 356, demands that the rulers of Aksum send him to Egypt to be examined (Athanasius, Defence before Constantius 29, 31). See King Ezana of Aksum Becomes Christian.
In the timeline
- c. AD 330–356, estimated dateKing Ezana of Aksum Becomes Christian
Ezana, king of Aksum in the Ethiopian highlands, sets up an inscription that opens in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A letter of the emperor Constantius II names Frumentius, ordained by Athanasius of Alexandria, as bishop of Aksum.