Eutychius of Melitene

Holy Martyr Eutychius of Melitene is commemorated in the company of martyrs around the Holy Martyr Hieron, who suffered at Melitene. The calendar page we rely on tells their martyrdoms together and says nothing in particular about Eutychius, so we give the event in brief.

Hieron was born in Tyana in the second Cappadocia, of a pious mother named Stratonike, in the time of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, worshippers of idols and persecutors of Christians. The emperors sent Agricolaus to Armenia and Lysias to Cappadocia, with orders to put to death Christians who would not worship idols and to enrol in the army all strong men. Lysias heard of Hieron, a sturdy and fearless man, and sent soldiers for him. Hieron refused to serve alongside idolaters, took up a piece of wood and put the soldiers to flight. They came back with more comrades, and Hieron, with eighteen Christians, hid in a nearby cave and defended himself from there. No one dared approach until his friend Cyriacus persuaded him to come out, saying he could be taken only with gentleness. Hieron took leave of his mother, an old, blind widow, and set out with the soldiers for Melitene, accompanied by relatives, among them Victor, Matronianus and Antonius.

In the night Hieron had a vision, someone in white garments who told him that he was going on the right road and would soon receive honour and glory from the heavenly King. At Melitene he was shut in prison, with thirty-⁠three other Christians, and told his companions not to bow to idols but to offer God the sacrifice of praise. All agreed. The next day Lysias tried them. Hieron confessed that he had beaten the soldiers, and Lysias ordered his hand cut off to the elbow, while the others were beaten for a long time. Victor, a relative of Hieron, frightened by the tortures, bribed an official to strike his name from the list and died soon after, losing both his life and the crown of martyrdom. Hieron mourned him and gave Antonius and Matronianus his last will: his property in Pisidia to his sister Theotimia, the rest and his severed hand to his mother.

On the fifth day Lysias again forced them to worship idols and, failing with threats and with gentleness, condemned them to be beheaded. The martyrs, led by Hieron, went to the place of execution singing the psalm "Blessed are the undefiled in the way." Arriving, they knelt and prayed to the Lord to receive their souls, and then their heads were cut off. Hieron's head was ransomed with gold by a rich man, Chrysaphius, who later built a church on the place of the martyrdom. Antonius and Matronianus took Hieron's hand to his mother, who bathed it with tears and laid it where Hieron had indicated.

Eutychius is commemorated on 20 November (new style), that is 7 November by the old calendar.