Martyr Evangelicus Bishop of Tomis

Evangelicus, also rendered Evangelus, is honored as the first known bishop of Tomis, a Greek city on the Black Sea coast of Scythia Minor (also called Dacia Pontica or Dobrogea), in present-day Constanta, Romania. He was active near the mouths of the Danube toward the end of the third century, with his episcopate generally placed around 290-300. He is commemorated on July 7.

The Christian tradition of the region traces its origins to the preaching of the Apostle Andrew, of whom Evangelicus is described as a follower or successor. As bishop he is remembered for converting many of the still-pagan Dacians and Scythians of the province to Christianity and for founding churches in the area, work that established the see of Tomis as a center of Christian life on the lower Danube.

It is believed that Evangelicus suffered martyrdom during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian (284-305); one account relates that he was beheaded. Much of what is preserved about him survives only in connection with the martyrdom narrative of Saints Epictetus and Astion, and the details of his own life remain few.