Potamius of Agrigento

Saint Potamius of Agrigento, hierarch (also Potamion), was bishop of Agrigento in Sicily around 560-570, when the island was part of the Byzantine Empire. He was, according to some sources, the third bishop of Agrigento. He is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Churches, and since the 11th century also in the Western Church; his day in the calendar of the Church of Agrigento is 29 January.

The news of him comes from the Life of Bishop Gregory II of Agrigento, written by the hegumen Leontius. According to it, Potamius baptized the young Gregory, had him instructed, and received him among the clergy; he gave him the rank of reader while he was still a boy. The image of the old bishop and the young man appears in paintings.

After Arab rule the diocese of Agrigento ceased to exist. When the Normans defeated the Arabs they restored the diocese and resumed, with the Latin rite, the veneration of Potamius.