Eutychius

Saint Eutychius was bishop of Gortyna in Crete. His name and those of his siblings, Eutychian and Cassian, appear in no episcopal list, and placing them in the great persecutions of the early centuries has no basis, although it has passed into modern texts. The only reliable source is the strong local church tradition of many centuries, attested by Venerable John the Stranger (970 to 1027) of Sivas in Pyrgiotissa (20 September). John was born right after Arab rule and knew the tradition about the Saints Eutychianoi, that is, bishop Eutychius, the venerable martyr Eutychian and their sister Cassian, as fairly fresh; by tradition they lived in the dark time of the Arab persecution.

Eutychius, with his brother and sister, practised asceticism in the Asterousia mountains, near the Monastery of Odigitria (built much later), and on Mount Raxos, because of the persecutions, while still carrying out his episcopal duties. He buried his brother, the slain Eutychian, and, as he wished, was himself buried in the same place when he fell asleep in peace. After the burial of the two saints the whole region took their name, "at the Saints". John the Stranger, then a young ascetic, found their tombs through a revelation and built a church and a monastery there. He tells how he found them in his testament, written after the liberation of Crete by Nikephoros Phokas in 961, published by Nikolaos Tomadakis in Kritika Chronika, volume II (1948), pages 47 to 72.

In the Metropolis of Gortyna and Arcadia stands the ruined church of the saints, built by Venerable John the Stranger, and the parish church of Listaros-⁠Pyrgiotissa. On 8 May 2011 Metropolitan Makarios of Gortyna and Arcadia consecrated the newly built church in honour of Saints Eutychius, Eutychian and Cassian at the dependency of the Holy Eutychianoi, through the efforts of Archimandrite Parthenios Voulgarakis, abbot of the Odigitria Monastery. Saint Eutychius is commemorated on 17 August, in the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style).