Euthymius the Great

Life events

1. Born — 377

   Euthymius was born in Melitene in Lesser Armenia in 377, to parents Paul and Dionysia, who named him Euthymius — meaning 'good cheer' in Greek — following his birth after prayer at the church of Saint Polyeuctus in Melitene.

2. Ordained — 396

   Bishop Otreius of Melitene educated Euthymius, then ordained him and placed him in charge of all the monasteries in the Diocese of Melitene.

3. Pilgrimage — 405

   In 405 or 406, at around twenty-nine or thirty years of age, Euthymius set out secretly on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and remained for five years in an anchoritic cave cell near the laura of Pharan, at Ein Fara in Wadi Kelt, about six miles east of Jerusalem.

4. Other — 411

   Euthymius withdrew into the wilderness with the hermit Theoctistus in 411, establishing a community in a cavern on the banks of a torrent; as disciples gathered, they converted it into a church and then a coenobium — the first communal monastic settlement of its kind in the Judaean Desert.

5. Other — 428

   The church of the Laura of Euthymius was dedicated on 7 May 428 by Archbishop Juvenal of Jerusalem, with other heads of the Jerusalem church present; the laura accommodated up to fifty monks and operated under a rule modelled after that of Pharan, which mirrored Egyptian monastic practice.

6. Council — 451

   During the Monophysite takeover of the Jerusalem bishopric following the Councils of Ephesus (449) and Chalcedon (451), Euthymius withdrew into the desert with a small group of monks; upon returning in 453, his support for the Chalcedonian decrees proved decisive in bringing most of the eastern recluses to accept them, and the Empress Eudoxia was converted to Chalcedonian Orthodoxy through his personal efforts.

7. Other — 457

   Sabbas arrived in Palestine in 457 as a young man and was directed by Euthymius to the coenobium of Theoctistus; Sabbas later became a renowned archimandrite of the hermits in the region.

8. Died — 473

   Euthymius died on 20 January 473, aged 94, having remained in good health until that point; he was buried in a specially built tomb inside his monastery. His feast is celebrated on 20 January — falling on 2 February in the Gregorian calendar for Eastern Orthodox Christians observing the Julian calendar.

Relationships

Documented claims

• The primary vita of Euthymius was written by Cyril of Scythopolis, who describes him as founder of several monasteries in the Judaean Desert while characterising him as a solitary monk in the tradition of Egyptian monasticism. (likely)
• Euthymius is credited with bringing the Saracen chief Aspebetus (a Persian title, likely 'spahbed') and his entire tribe to Christianity after curing Aspebetus's son Terebon; Aspebetus was baptised as Peter and eventually consecrated Bishop of Parembolae, attending the Council of Ephesus in 431. (plausible)
• Cyril of Scythopolis characterised Euthymius as a philésychos (Greek φιλήσυχος, 'one who loves quiet'), a quality that drove his repeated withdrawals from growing monastic communities back into deeper wilderness. (likely)
• Euthymius's ecclesiastical authority was sufficiently recognised that the Empress Eudoxia was converted to Chalcedonian Orthodoxy through his personal efforts after the Council of Chalcedon (451). (plausible)
• Following notoriety from the healing of Terebon, Euthymius retreated with his companion Domitian to a remote mountain near the Dead Sea called Marda by the Byzantines — identified with the ancient Masada of Roman-era history. (plausible)