St. Eutychius

Eutychius was the son of Alexander, a general in the imperial Byzantine army of Belisarius and a monk at Amasea in Pontus (in modern Turkey) at age 30. He was named the archimandrite of a monastery in Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey). Justinian the Great named him Patriarch of Constantinople from 552, and was confirmed in this position by Pope Vigilius. With Apollinarius of Alexandria and Domnus III of Antioch, he called and led a council from 5 May to 2 June 553 to deal with the Three-Chapter Controversy, and Eutychius composed the decree against the Chapters. He consecrated the re-building of the Hagia Sophia church in 562.

Beginning in 564, Eutychius came into theological conflict with emperor Justinian who began to believe the Aphthartodocetae who taught that Jesus’s body was incorrupt, not subject to pain, and thus that he was not fully human as well as fully God. Bishop Eutychius began to speak and write against this heresy, which led to his arrest, while celebrating Mass, on 22 January 565. Justinian tried to have a show trial, but Eutychius refused to cooperate, which led to him being exiled for over 12 years.

In October 577, with the support of emperor Justin II, Eutychius was recalled and resumed his seat as patriarch of Constantinople. He was welcomed back to the city by Christians who were so happy to see him that there was a festival and banquets; the Communion line at his first Mass lasted six hours. Toward the end of his life, Eutychius got it into his head that the return of Christ would be spiritual, with no physical return, which is heretical, but he later returned to orthodox thinking on the matter. A surviving biography of his life was written by his chaplain, Eustathius of Constantinople.

He died on 6 April 582 in Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) of natural causes. His memorial is kept on April 6.