1 St Dyonisius (or St Dennis, known as ‘the short’ or ‘the humble’) was a monk from what is now Romania, a member of the Roman Curia, who, around 500 AD, translated from Greek to Latin the decrees of Nicea and of other Councils of the early Church, as well as 401 canons and a collection of Papal decrees, with which he anticipated Gratian. He was a friend of Cassiodorus, the statesman who succeeded Boethius as mentor of Theodoric, the Gothic King of Northern Italy. Cassiodorus was notable for his attempts to bridge and reconcile the traditions of the Eastern and Western branches of the Roman Empire and the Greek and Latin branches of Christianity.