BIOGRAPHY

1.

Hence, in both natures, there appears one and the same Christ, the Son of the living God, known inseparably and unmerged.

2. And so, being an impassible God, He did not disdain to be a passionate man, and, being immortal, suffered to submit to the laws of death, in order to grant us an ascent to Himself by such merciful condescension and voluntary exhaustion. Wherefore, sending His disciples for the salvation of our race, He said: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, making them stand in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. XX VIII, 19); but they, having accepted this commandment and having passed through the whole world, preached piety in word and deed — teaching in word, and confirming the word in deed and life — going through all difficulties, persecuted, sorrowful, naked, needing the most necessary things in the end, despised death, imitating the Lord in all things. From this the understanding of God shone forth to the world, from this the nature of mankind was enlightened and freed from the work of the devil, from here came the desperate saving grace, which in various ways and in many ways benefited all: from here from all nations grew up hosts of holy martyrs, competing with whose feats, many after persecution, like lamps, shone forth in the monastic life; they have made their lives an image of apostolic virtue, and the following words of Scripture are applicable to them: "Walking in mercy, and in goatskins, destitute, sorrowful, embittered, wandering in the wilderness, and in the mountains, and in caves, and in the abysses of the earth" (Heb. XI, 36).

3. Having partaken of this immaculate life, our great father Euthymius, who was dedicated to God from infancy and was zealous for the life of the saints, appeared to be pleasing to God and to famous people. Having received the command to write the life in the flesh of this holy father, without any delay I obey the command, Thee, honorable Father George. Thou commandest that which is sweet and beneficial to the soul, and worthy of thy holiness, because it is just, verily, that which has passed by time and is known to few, to be inscribed in words, and not to be darkened in the abyss of oblivion, but to offer as a common benefit, and an image, and an example, to those who later wish to think of their salvation. And so, having now called upon the Son of God and the Word, who is placed at the head of this Scripture, I will begin the narrative of Euthymius.

4. The heavenly Euthymius had parents Paul and Dionysia, who were not only not unknown, but even very noble and adorned with all the virtue of God; their homeland and place of residence was Melitene, the glorious metropolis of the Armenians. Blessed Dionysia, living for many years with her husband and being barren, did not give birth. Through this, both lived in great sorrow and often diligently prayed to God to grant them a child. Arriving at the church of the glorious and victorious Martyr Polyeuctus, which was close to the city, they dwelt for many days in prayer, as relates the story of the elders, which has come down to us. And when they were praying each one separately, a divine vision appeared to them, saying: "Be comforted, be comforted! Behold, God has given you a child of the same name as consolation, because at his birth God gives consolation to his churches, who gives you a child." Noticing the time of the vision, they returned to their home, and by the time of conception they knew that what had been revealed by the vision was the truth.

5. When the child was born, the parents named him Euthymius and promised to dedicate him to God. He was born, as we have learned, in the month of Augustus of the fourth consulship of Gratian (377); and let the readers understand that the vision was true: in the time of the tyrant Julian and Valens, who reigned after him in the East, the holy churches were in sorrow for almost forty years, the champions of the Orthodox faith were expelled, the Arians, from the time of Constantius, committed violence, and the persecution of the Orthodox was imminent.

At that time, the first year from the birth of Euthymius was not yet fulfilled.

6. When the third year had already come, his father Paul died, and Blessed Dionysia had a very learned brother, named Eudoxius, who governed the local diocese and lived with the bishop; taking him as her counsellor and intercessor, she brought her son to the great Otrius, who at that time governed the holy church of Melitene, who shone forth at the holy Council of Constantinople; the mother fulfilled her vow and dedicated it to God as an acceptable sacrifice, just as the famous Hannah consecrated Samuel (1 Samuel 1).

7. The great Otrius, the most holy bishop, seeing the child and learning from the scholastic Eudoxius about the vision that had appeared to his parents, that his mother had promised him before his birth, without fear of the future, and that his conception was a matter of prayer, was amazed and said: "Truly the spirit of God rested on this lad." Having received the child, having baptized him and tonsured him, he made him a reader of the church subject to him, and, taking him into the diocese and in some way adopting him, he brought him up; Blessed Dionysia, as one who was diligent to God and the divine, he ordained to the deaconess of the most holy church. When Euthymius was numbered among the ecclesiastical rank, the great Theodosius received the Roman sceptre; in it God bestowed upon the Roman power and the holy churches a divine gift, full of all consolation; and then it happened that the deeds coincided with the names, because it was fitting that the vision of Euthymius' parents about him should be fulfilled.

8. But after a short time, the bishop, judging that he had already passed the age of childhood and that he needed to study it, handed him over to the teachers of the Holy Scriptures. At that time there were two youths among the readers, honored for their nobility and chastity and adorned with every meaning, named Acacius and Synodius: after many monastic feats, they received, each in his own time, the episcopate of the most holy church of Melitene. Each of them led a worthy life, fitting for the episcopacy, and the children of Melitene tell about them many wonderful things that truly correspond to the episcopacy.

9. They, having received Euthymius from the hand of the bishop, taught him the highest piety; this Euthymius in a short time surpassed many of his contemporaries in love of God of soul and love of learning; in particular, his readiness surpassed his age, so that Acacius marveled at his enlightened mind. In this way this holy youth is trained in the first age in the episcopate, and is formed, by studying the Divine Scriptures, by an excellent and purest education, which, as the divine Gregory says, the divine David beautifully calls daytime, and the opposite of night (Psalm 1:11). I, 2). He strove to be an imitator of the divine and virtuous men mentioned in the Scriptures, and was grieved when any idle talk disturbed or distracted him from divine words.

He knew that "learn in the law of the Lord day and night, you will be as a tree planted by the outflowing waters, which will yield its fruit in its season" (Psalm 1:2). and he brought forth to God at every time the fruit that was fitting for him: in the time of anger he bore fruit of love and patience, and in the time of desire for food, abstinence; when thoughts of some carnal pleasure came upon him, chastity immediately grew in him. He chose friends and peers not from among the most unbridled, but from among the most chaste, with whom intimacy is most useful for the aspirant to piety. And thus, striving for podvig all his days, he corrected the abstinence of the tongue and the belly, the ultimate lack of acquisitiveness, true humility and bodily purity: taking great care of chastity, he kept unquenchable the lamp of virginity, adorned with the oil of mercy and compassion.