Stachys

The holy Apostle Stachys, one of the Seventy, is regarded by tradition as the first bishop of Byzantium, ordained by the holy Apostle Andrew. The holy Apostle Paul calls him "my beloved" in the Epistle to the Romans. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 31 October, with the apostles Ampliatus, Urbanus, Narcissus, Apelles and Aristobulus, and on 4 January in the synaxis of the Seventy.

In the New Testament

Stachys is mentioned only once, in the Epistle to the Romans (16:9): "Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys." The name Stachys means "ear of grain" in Greek and was fairly common. The word "beloved" shows a close personal tie with Paul. From this verse we can understand only that Stachys was known to the Church at Rome and was a Christian worthy of praise.

According to tradition

Everything else known comes from the tradition of the Church. A writing attributed to Bishop Dorotheus of Tyre numbers Stachys among the seventy apostles of the Lord and says that the Apostle Andrew made him bishop of Byzantium, where he shepherded the flock for sixteen years until his death, around 54. The synaxarion says he preached the Gospel zealously and brought many pagans to the faith. Tradition also recalls a church founded by him at Argyroupolis in Thrace.

Historians observe that the list of the first bishops of Byzantium has no early evidence, and that the tradition of Stachys's ordination by Andrew took shape later, to give the see of Constantinople an apostolic origin through the Apostle Andrew. What is said of his life beyond the Epistle to the Romans therefore remains tradition and not sure history.

Veneration

The Church remembers him on 31 October, in the synaxis of the apostles Stachys, Ampliatus, Urbanus, Narcissus, Apelles and Aristobulus, those named in the Epistle to the Romans, and on 4 January in the synaxis of the Seventy. The Armenian Church commemorates him on 15 June. Stachys is honoured as the beginner of the pastoral care of the Church of Constantinople.