Hypatius of Gangra

The Holy Hieromartyr Hypatius was bishop of the city of Gangra in Paphlagonia, in Asia Minor (modern Çankırı, in Turkey), and a participant in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, in 325. There he upheld the right faith against the heresy of Arius, beside Saint Athanasius the Great. He suffered a martyr's death at the hands of heretics.

Little is known of his life. According to his life he was born in Cilicia. His name appears on the list of those who took part in the Council of Gangra and, according to some accounts, he lived until the time of the emperor Constantius II. He was known everywhere for his pious life and wonderworking; it is said that the emperor Constantius ordered his likeness made in his lifetime and kept it in his palace as a weapon against enemies.

Returning from Nicaea or Constantinople toward Gangra, around 326 (or later), he was attacked in a desolate place by followers of Novatus and Felicissimus, Novatian heretics, who wounded him with swords and stakes and threw him from a high bank into a swamp. A woman among the attackers struck him on the head with a stone, dealing the fatal blow. Immediately after, she went mad and began to hit herself with the same stone. The woman was healed only after she was brought to the saint's tomb and prayed there; she then lived in repentance. The saint's body was found by some Christians, who ran to Gangra, and the inhabitants came and buried their beloved archpriest. After his death his relics became famous for many miracles, for which he is called a wonderworker. The Roman Martyrology speaks of his death by stoning, after his return from Nicaea.

One of the best known Russian monasteries, the Trinity-⁠Ipatiev in Kostroma, is named for him, founded around 1330 by the Tatar murza Chet, ancestor of the Godunovs, who was healed after a vision of the Mother of God, the Apostle Philip and Saint Hypatius. At Novgorod he was venerated as patron of the posadniks; he is also patron of the abbey at Grottaferrata. Abkhaz legends often mention him, because of a confusion between Gangra and Gagra. His feast is on 31 March in the Orthodox Church and on 14 November in the Catholic Church.