The Miraculous and Prophetic Birth of Saint Euthymios the Great

 

 By Cyril of Scythopolis

Euthymios, the heavenly citizen, had parents whose names were Paul and Dionysia. They were not undistinguished but of most noble birth and adorned with every godly virtue, while as fatherland and home they had Melitene, the famous metropolis of Armenia. Blessed Dionysia, after cohabiting with her husband for many years, had not given birth, being sterile. As a result they were much disheartened, and the two of them continued for a long time to entreat God earnestly to give them a child. Going to the shrine near the city there of the glorious and victorious martyr Polyeuktos, they persevered for many days in prayer, as the account of the ancient monks that has come down to me has made known; and one night, as they were praying alone, a divine vision appeared to them and said, "Be tranquil, be tranquil; for behold, God has granted you a child who will bear the name of tranquil (euthymia), since at his birth he who grants you him will give tranquility to his churches." Noting the hour of the vision, they returned home.

Chapel of Saint Euthymios the Great in Thessaloniki

The Chapel of Saint Euthymios is attached to the east side of the south wing of the transept of the Basilica of Saint Demetrios in Thessaloniki. It is in the form of a small three-aisled basilica, and is decorated with an interesting ensemble of wall-paintings. The wall-paintings of the chapel are representative examples of Palaiologan art of the early 14th century in Thessaloniki, and follow the iconographic program typical of the period, though atypical of a chapel for its grand scale, with scenes from the Twelve Great Feasts, the Miracles and Teachings of Christ, and from the Synaxarion of Saint Euthymios. The scenes are unfolded as a narrative, one next to the other, and are not divided into separate panels. According to an inscription on the north wall, the cost for the decoration was defrayed in 1302-1303 by the protostrator Michael Doukas Glavas Tarchaneiotis, who was the founder of the Pammakaristos Monastery in Constantinople, and his wife Maria Palaiologina.

That We Should Attend the Divine Liturgy with Awe and Reverence

By Cyril of Scythopolis,

(Life of St. Euthymios, 28)

The great and inspired Euthymios returned from Rouba to the lavra after two years. One holy Sunday he was offering the bloodless sacrifice to God, while Domitian was standing to the right of the altar and holding the liturgical fan. As he was performing the anaphora, Terebon the Saracen, who was standing near the altar with his hands resting on the sanctuary rails, suddenly beheld fire descend from heaven, which spread out over the altar rather like a veil and concealed the great Euthymios and the blessed Domitian, remaining there from the start of the doxology of the Trisagion till its completion. No one saw this miracle save those within the fire and Terebon and also Chrysippus' brother Gabrielius, a eunuch from birth, who after twenty five years had now for the first time advanced forward into the church as was related to me by Abba Kyriacos the anchorite, who received an accurate account of this from Terebon and Gabrielius.

Translation of the Sacred Relic of Saint Euthymios the Great in 473 A.D.

Translation of the Relic of St. Euthymios the Great (Feast Day - May 7)

By St. Cyril of Scythopolis

(Life of Euthymios, 40, 42)

The death of Euthymios occurred on 20 January of the eleventh indiction, in the year 5965 since the creation of the world, from when time began to be measured by the course of the sun, and in the year 465 [or 473] since the Word of God became man from the Virgin and was born in the flesh, according to the chronologies composed by the holy fathers Hippolytus the Ancient, disciple of the Apostles, Epiphanios of Cyprus, and Heron the philosopher and confessor. The chronology of his life in the flesh is as follows. Born following a revelation, he was consecrated to God at the age of three at the beginning of the reign of Theodosius the Great; on progressing through all the ecclesiastical grades, he came to Jerusalem in the twenty-ninth year of his life; he spent sixty-eight years in the desert and died at the age of ninety-seven in the fifth consulship of the emperor Leo and the sixteenth year of his reign.

Saint Gabriel, Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Stephen in Jerusalem (+ c. 490)

St. Gabriel of the Monastery of Saint Stephen in Jerusalem (Feast Day - January 26);
Photo shows the Monastery of Saint Stephen in Jerusalem

Verses

With Gabriel the first-rank invisible intelligence,
So also the new Gabriel stands before Christ.

What we know of our Venerable Father Gabriel comes to us from the writings of Cyril of Scythopolis, specifically from the Life of Saint Euthymios, where the following is written:

"The great Euthymios himself did not want to make his place a cenobitic house or even a lavra; when people came to him wishing to renounce the world, he would send them to the blessed Theoktistos in the monastery below, as he did with those who wished to make some offering. But when God chose to make this place inhabited, he sent first of all three brothers in the flesh, who were of Cappadocian origin and Syrian rearing, and preeminent in all spiritual knowledge - Kosmas Chrysippos and Gabriel. When these men begged to remain with him, he would not accept them; three things prevented him - his love of solitude, their youth, and the fact that Gabriel was a eunuch from birth. That night, however, he had a vision of someone saying to him, 'Accept these brothers, since God has sent them, and stop repelling those wishing to be saved.' At this the Saint accepted them, and said to Kosmas, the eldest of them, 'See, I have acted as God has commanded me. But take care not to let your youngest brother come near my cell, for because of the warfare of the enemy it is not right for a feminine face to be found in a lavra. As for you, I do not think you will stay here long, since you are destined to become in time shepherd of the Church of Scythopolis.'"

Saint Euthymios the Great (+ 473)

January 20

Saint Euthymios, Abbot

By Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73)

From his life, faithfully written forty years after his death, by Cyril of Scythopolis, a monk of his monastery, one of the best writers of antiquity, and author of the life of Saint Savvas.

The birth of this saint was the fruit of the prayers of his pious parents, through the intercession of the martyr Polyeuktos. His father was a noble and wealthy citizen of Melitene in Armenia. Euthymios was educated in sacred learning, and in the fervent practice of prayer, silence, humility and mortification, under the care of the holy bishop of that city, who ordained him priest, and constituted him his vicar and general overseer of the monasteries. The saint often visited that of Saint Polyeuktos, and spent whole nights in prayer on a neighboring mountain; as he also did all the time from the octave of the Epiphany till towards the end of Lent. The love of solitude daily growing stronger in his breast, he secretly left his own country, at twenty-nine years of age; and, after offering up his prayers at the holy places in Jerusalem, chose a cell six miles from that city, near the Lavra of Pharan. He made baskets, and procured, by selling them, both his own subsistence and alms for the poor. Constant prayer was the employment of his soul. After five years, he retired with one Theoktistos, a holy hermit, ten miles further towards Jericho, where they lived together on raw herbs in a cave. In this place he began to receive disciples about the year 411. He committed the care of his monastery to Theoktistuos, and continued himself in a remote hermitage, only giving audience on Saturdays and Sundays to those who desired spiritual advice. He taught all his monks never to eat so much as to satisfy their hunger, but strictly forbade among them all singularity in fasts or any other common observances, as savoring of vanity and self-will. According to his example, they all retired into the deserts, from the octave of the feast of the Epiphany till the week before Easter, when they met again in their monastery, to celebrate the office peculiar to Holy Week. He enjoined them constant silence and manual labors: they gained their own subsistence, and a surplus, which they devoted as first-fruits to God in the relief of the poor.

Why We Celebrate the Feast of Saint Anthony the Great on January 17th

By John Sanidopoulos

In the Synoptic Gospels we read that immediately after Jesus was baptized, He was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit in order to be tempted by the devil. The Lord spent forty days of complete abstinence in the desert, where He faced the temptations of the devil, and overcame them all.

In imitation of the Lord, Euthymios the Great in the early fifth century would annually leave his Palestinian monastery for the inner desert after the leavetaking of the feast of Holy Theophany, which was January 14th, in order to face the temptations of the devil, "sundered from all human intercourse and yearning to consort with God in solitude through prayer." He would return to his monastery from his sojourn in the desert on Palm Sunday, in order to celebrate Holy Week and Easter with his fellow monks and disciples. This is most likely the origins of the period of Great Lent, based on the forty day fast of the Lord following His baptism.

The Relationship Between St. Gerasimos of Jordan and St. Euthymios the Great

By St. Cyril of Scythopolis

Euthymios Delivers Gerasimos from the Influence of a Monophysite

When the news had circulated, as people reported that the great Euthymios had accepted the definition of the faith proclaimed at Chalcedon, all the monks were about to accept it, had they not been prevented by one Theodosius, in appearance a monk but in reality a precursor of Antichrist... Noting Theodosius’ utter shamelessness, the great Euthymios told the fathers not to share in his apostasy and so departed to the utter desert; on hearing of this, many anchorites adopted the same policy. At that time there was a great anchorite of Lycian origin, called Gerasimos, who after succeeding in the monastic life in his own homeland and displaying many combats against the spirits of wickedness had recently left his homeland and was practicing the anchoritic life in the desert by the Jordan. He with the other anchorites had been seduced by the false teaching of Theodosius; but on hearing from almost all the anchorites of the resplendent grace of the great Euthymios he went to him at Rouba, and after staying with him for a considerable time was persuaded to assent to the definition issued by the Synod of Chalcedon and break off his association with Theodosius, as did other anchorites also.

Saint Euthymios the Great Resource Page

St. Euthymios the Great (Feast Day - January 20)

Verses

What common thing about your life was there Euthymios?
You carried off to the Angels those with an unusual life.
Your life ceased on the twentieth well-bearded Euthymios.

 

Saint Euthymios the Great

  

Saint Euthymios the Great (+ 473)

 

Translation of the Sacred Relic of Saint Euthymios the Great in 473 A.D.

 

Saint Euthymios the Great as a Model for our Lives

 

January: Day 20: Teaching 1: Venerable Euthymios the Great 

 

Venerable Euthymios the Great in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church 

 

A Saint Worthy of Emulation: Saint Euthymios the Great

 

The Miraculous and Prophetic Birth of Saint Euthymios the Great 

 

The Teachings of St. Euthymios the Great 

 

That We Should Attend the Divine Liturgy with Awe and Reverence 

 

Testimony of How a Demon Possessed Monk Was Healed at the Tomb of St. Euthymios the Great 

 

Saint Theoktistos, Fellow Ascetic of Saint Euthymios the Great 

 

The Relationship Between St. Gerasimos of Jordan and St. Euthymios the Great 

 

Saint Gabriel, Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Stephen in Jerusalem (+ c. 490) 

 

The Monastery of Saint Euthymios the Great in Israel (video) 

 

5th Century Byzantine Monastic Church On Masada 

 

The Miracle of Saint Euthymios the Great in Pronia of Nafplio 

 

Chapel of Saint Euthymios the Great in Thessaloniki 

 

Why We Celebrate the Feast of Saint Anthony the Great on January 17th

Saint Theoktistos, Fellow Ascetic of Saint Euthymios the Great

St. Theoktistos the Great (Feast Day - September 3)

Verses

You are, Father, he who God the Creator,

Chose before all His creatures.

Our Venerable Father Theoktistos loved God from his youth, and for this reason he departed his native land and went to the holy places of Jerusalem. Arriving at the Lavra of Pharan, six miles outside of Jerusalem, he found a cell, in which he enclosed himself, and bravely battled against the passions and the demons.

A Saint Worthy of Emulation: Saint Euthymios the Great

By Metropolitan Panteleimon of Antinoes

Blessed are those who have abandoned the world and the things of the world for the love of the Savior Christ. Blessed are those who struggle to gain communion with God by means of pure prayer. Blessed are those who struggle in this life to acquire the virtues. Blessed are those who repent and abhor the works of sin. Blessed are those who "die in the Lord" because their wage will be much in heaven.

Today our Holy Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of our Venerable Father Euthymios the Great. Saint Euthymios was born in 377 in the Armenian city of Melitene near the Euphrates River during the reign of Roman Emperor Gratian. His parents, Paul and Dionysia, were noble and virtuous, but they did not have children. They begged God daily to give them a child and cease their pain.

Saint Euthymios the Great as a Model for our Lives

St. Euthymios the Great (Feast Day - January 20)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Euthymios the Great was the fruit of the prayers of his pious parents Paul and Dionysia. He was born in Melitene, Armenia in 377 A.D. and received the name Euthymios, because his birth caused cheer and joy to his parents [euthymia, or εὐθυμία, in Greek means "cheer"], but also because the angel of the Lord who announced the birth to his parents told them "be cheerful, be cheerful". That is, be happy, because God has heard your prayer and you will become parents. And Saint Euthymios, like another Samuel, was dedicated to God from the womb of his mother.

Saint Euthymios the Great (+ 473)

St. Euthymios the Great (Feast Day - January 20)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Of noble and distinguished parents, Euthymius was born in the Armenian town of Melitene near the Euphrates river about the year 377 A.D. He was the only child, a son, born in answer to the prayer of his mother Dionysia, who had a heavenly vision regarding the birth of Euthymius. From his youth, he lived a life of asceticism, at first in the proximity of his town [Melitene] but then, after he visited Jerusalem at age twenty-nine, in the desert between Jerusalem and Jericho called Pharan.

He filled his days and nights with prayer, internal thoughts about God, contemplation and physical exertion. Around him many disciples gathered some of whom are glorious saints, such as Kyriakos the Hermit, St. Savvas the Sanctified, Theotictus and others.

By God's gift, Euthymius was a great miracle worker; he expelled demons, healed the gravely ill, brought water to the desert, multiplied bread and prophesied. He taught monks the love of labor saying, "If you eat bread, not of your own labor, know that you are eating of someone else's labor." When some of the younger monks wanted to fast more than others, he forbade them to do so and commanded them to come to the communal table so that they would not become prideful as a result of their excessive fasting. He also said that it was not good for a monk to move from place to place, for he said, "A tree frequently transplanted does not bear fruit. Whoever desires to do good, can do it from the place where he is."

About love, he said, "What salt is to bread, love is to other virtues." During the first week of the Honorable Fast [Lenten Season], he retreated to the desert and remained there in solitary silence and godly-thoughts until just before the Feast of the Resurrection.

During his life time, a large monastery [Lavra] was established in the proximity of his cave which later, throughout the centuries, was completely filled with monks as a beehive is filled with bees. His final command was that the monastery always adhere to hospitality and that the gates of the monastery never be closed. He died at the age of ninety-seven.

The Patriarch of Jerusalem was in attendance at his funeral. The patriarch waited all day long until the great masses of people reverenced the body of the saint and only in the evening were they able to complete the Office for Burial for the Dead. On the seventh day following his death, Euthymius appeared radiant and rejoicing to Domentian, his disciple. The Venerable Euthymius, in truth, was a true "son of Light". He died in the year 473 A.D.

Reflection From His Life

As much as the saints were so compassionate and lenient toward human weakness, so were they terribly unyielding and unbending in regard to the confession of the true dogmas of the Faith. Thus, St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia struck Arius with his fist at the First Ecumenical Council [Nicaea, 325 A.D.]. St. Anthony left his desert to come to Alexandria to publicly unmask Arius.

St. Euthymius, being greatly pressured by the Empress Eudocia and the pseudo-Patriarch Theodosius and being unable to debate rationally with them, left the monastery and hid in the desert. All other distinguished monks followed his example. Euthymius remained in the desert until the pseudo-patriarch was ousted and Orthodoxy strengthened. When, in Jerusalem, the greatest agitation surfaced in the name of the emperor against the Fourth Ecumenical Council [Chalcedon, 451 A.D.] and when the entire population was frightened by the heretics, then St. Theodosius the Great already burdened with old age, as a fearless soldier of Christ, came to Jerusalem, entered the Great Church, ascended the stairs, waved his hands and said to the people, "If anyone does not respect the Fourth Ecumenical Council as he does the four evangelists, let him be anathema." (Until this time, only four Ecumenical Councils had been convened). All of those listeners were frightened by those words and none of the heretics dared to say anything contrary to those words.

HYMN OF PRAISE: SAINT EUTHYMIUS

The eye which sees all, the ear which hears all,
With all travels and everywhere they travel;
Without changing place, they are in every place.
Where virtue is being kneaded, God is the yeast in the dough,
Where light is sought, He gives of Himself;
Where help is cried for, He does not absent Himself;
Quietly and silently, but always on time,
He has the time to reap and to sow the seeds,
He has the time to reproach, He has the time to reward,
To make the young old and to make the old young,
To weed, to trim and to caress fruits -
He reaches wherever He wants and He reaches when He wants.
Whenever a person alone thinks, behold, He listens,
Where two people speak, as a third party, He hears,
Where the weaver weaves the cloth, her threads He counts,
The universal fabric, in His mind He weaves,
O, who will His footsteps and paces know?
Who could enumerate His paths and places?
Eternal and Immortal, Triune and One,
In the roadless net of the universal fabric
Unseen and seen, regardless from where He is viewed
He cuts out the paths and reveals the direction.
In the roadless net, He looks at all the paths,
And does not allow not even an ant to stay.
Thoughts about Him, Saint Euthymius
For eighty years on earth, dedicated to Him.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Be glad, O barren one, that hast not given birth; be of good cheer, thou that hast not travailed; for a man of desires hath multiplied thy children of the Spirit, having planted them in piety and reared them in continence to the perfection of the virtues. By his prayers, O Christ our God, make our life peaceful.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Creation found delight and joy in thine august nativity and the good cheer of thy numberless miracles on thy divine memorial. Now bestow thereof richly on our souls and wash clean the stains of our every sin, Euthymius most righteous, that we may chant: Alleluia!

The Teachings of St. Euthymios the Great

St. Euthymios the Great (Feast Day - January 20)

By Cyril of Scythopolis

The great Euthymios was a doctor of souls, training and encouraging each one, and none of the brethren drew back from confessing his thoughts to him. He, with his plentiful experience, taught them to resist every single alien thought, saying, "Brethren, strive for what brought you out here, and do not neglect your own salvation. You must at all times stay sober and awake. As Scripture says, 'Keep awake, and pray not to enter into temptation' (Matt. 26:41). Above all recognize this: those who renounce this life must not have a wish of their own but in the first place acquire humility and obedience. They must always await and ponder the hour of death and the dread day of judgment, fear the threat of eternal fire and desire the glory of the kingdom of heaven."

Again he used to say, "In addition to keeping watch on the thoughts within, monks, especially young ones, ought to practice bodily labor, remembering the words of the Apostle, 'We labor day and night so as not to be a burden on anyone' (1 Thess. 2:9), and 'These hands ministered to me and to those with me' (Acts 20:34). While those in the world endure labor and hardship in order to support wives and children from their work, pay the first-fruits to God, do good according to their power and in addition be charged taxes, it is absurd if we are not even to meet the needs of the body from manual labor but to stay idle and immobile, reaping the toil of others, especially when the Apostle orders the idle not even to eat" (2 Thess. 3:10).

This was the teaching which our father Euthymios enlightened the community.

He also gave instructions that no one was to talk in church during the time of office, nor in the refectory while the brethren were eating. He was also displeased whenever he saw a brother in the cenobium, especially a young one, trying to surpass the community in abstinence. "Correct abstinence," he said, "is to take only just enough at meal-times, while guarding the heart and making secret warfare against hidden passions; the weapons of the monk are meditation, discernment, self-control and godly obedience." This and similar teaching inspired and stimulated the brethren to bear fruit worthy of their calling.

From The Lives of the Monks of Palestine. Cistercian Publications, 1991, pp. 12-13.

See also an article on the Monastery of St. Euthymios titled "Euthymius and His Monastery in the Judean Desert".

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Be glad, O barren one, that hast not given birth; be of good cheer, thou that hast not travailed; for a man of desires hath multiplied thy children of the Spirit, having planted them in piety and reared them in continence to the perfection of the virtues. By his prayers, O Christ our God, make our life peaceful.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Creation found delight and joy in thine august nativity and the good cheer of thy numberless miracles on thy divine memorial. Now bestow thereof richly on our souls and wash clean the stains of our every sin, Euthymios most righteous, that we may chant: Alleluia!