Eugene of Chersonesus

Holy Hieromartyr Eugene of Chersonesus was a bishop and one of the seven bishops of Chersonesus who brought the Gospel to the northern lands of the Black Sea, between the Danube and the Dnieper, and received martyrdom in the fourth century.

After the martyrdom of Bishop Basil, in 309, Eugene, with Elpidius and Agathodorus, left the preaching in the Hellespont region and came to Chersonesus to carry on his work. They laboured much for the salvation of people and all three shared the fate of their predecessor: enraged pagans stoned them to death on 7 March 311. Later Eferius and Capito served at Chersonesus, and the preaching of all these saints strengthened the faith of the city, which became a spiritual centre from which Christianity spread toward Rus; there in the year 987 Saint Prince Vladimir was baptized.

Saint Eugene is commemorated on 7 March, with the other bishops of Chersonesus, that is 20 March in the new style, and on 28 December in the Synaxis of the Saints of Crimea.