Evodius

Saint Evodius, apostle and hieromartyr, was one of the Seventy apostles and, according to tradition, the first bishop of Antioch, appointed by the Holy Apostle Peter. He is honoured in the Orthodox Church as a hieromartyr. Little is known of his life with certainty, and the writings preserved about him are from centuries later.

Bishop of Antioch In the first century Antioch was a rich and cosmopolitan city, former capital of the Seleucid empire and a great trade centre, with a strong community of Greek-⁠speaking Jews, among the first to whom the Christians brought their message. From that time no writings are preserved that are certainly attributed to Evodius. Eusebius of Caesarea, in the fourth century, says in a few words in the Church History that of those at Antioch Evodius was appointed first and Ignatius second. The Apostolic Constitutions, a fourth-⁠century writing put under the name of the apostles, says, And of Antioch, Evodius, by me, Peter, and Ignatius by Paul. The Chronography of George Syncellus, from the ninth century, places the beginning of his episcopate in the fourth year of Emperor Claudius. Saint Ignatius the God-⁠bearer is traditionally regarded as his successor; in the epistle to the Antiochenes, according to tradition, he urges them to remember their blessed father Evodius, set by the apostles as first shepherd. Some scholars, such as Walter Bauer, have argued that Evodius was not in fact a bishop and that Peter himself was the first bishop, followed directly by Ignatius.

Tradition says that he shepherded for twenty-⁠seven years. The end of his episcopate is usually put in the year 66, when Ignatius succeeded him. Orthodox tradition says that he suffered as a martyr in the time of Emperor Nero; the Catholic view holds it more likely that he died a natural death.

Writings It is said that Evodius wrote several works, one of which, called the Light or the Lamp, is mentioned by the historian Nicephorus Callistus. In a writing about the Most Holy Virgin, he tells how she was brought to the temple at three, stayed there eleven years, was entrusted at fifteen to the righteous Joseph and gave birth to Christ at fifteen. The other works were lost in the hard times of persecution. In Coptic, three homilies attributed to Evodius have been preserved, written probably between the sixth and eighth centuries by an unknown author, which are not his.

Veneration The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 4 January, in the Synaxis of the Seventy apostles, and on 7 September. The Catholic Church commemorates him on 6 May.