Euthymius

Saint Euthymius, generally known as Euthymius the Great, was a central figure of Palestinian desert monasticism in the fifth century. The chief narrative source is the Life composed in the mid-sixth century by Cyril of Scythopolis, a monk of the Judean wilderness who wrote from local monastic tradition and earlier records. According to that account, Euthymius was born in 377 at Melitene in Armenia to Christian parents named Paul and Dionysia, who had been childless and dedicated the child to God. After his father's death his mother placed him with Bishop Otreius of Melitene. Raised in the church, he was made a lector, later ordained priest, and given charge of monasteries in the diocese. Seeking a stricter and more hidden ascetic life, he left for Palestine in the early fifth century, traditionally dated around 406, visited Jerusalem, and settled in the desert.

There he joined the monk Theoctistus. Their cave east of Jerusalem became the core of a coenobium, while Euthymius developed the lavra pattern in which hermits lived apart during the week and assembled for Saturday and Sunday liturgy. He combined personal austerity with a wide ministry of spiritual direction. Palestinian tradition credits him with the conversion of Arab pastoral groups in the wilderness, including the phylarch Aspebetos, baptized Peter, who later served as a bishop. In 428 Euthymius founded his own lavra on a site in the desert between Jerusalem and Jericho. Among those formed in his circle was Sabas, later founder of the Great Lavra. The Life presents Euthymius as a defender of the Christological definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451) and as opposed both to Nestorian teaching and to anti-Chalcedonian positions then current in parts of the Palestinian church.

He remained at his lavra until his death on 20 January 473. Cyril states that he was in his ninety-seventh year. He was buried in the monastery church. The tomb and lavra became a pilgrimage centre and continued as an important Judean monastery for centuries; the site is identified with the ruins at Khan al-Ahmar. His feast is kept on 20 January in the Byzantine and Roman calendars. Veneration is ancient and liturgical; there was no later papal process of beatification or canonization of the medieval or modern type. Formal patronages of particular places, professions, or causes are not securely attested in the early sources. Other holy men named Euthymius (patriarchs of Constantinople, Euthymius of Athos, Euthymius of Tarnovo, and others) are distinct figures.