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.

10. Practicing in this way for a long time, Euphilius attained to the perfection of virtues, and God's dispensation, which made him wise and manifested him through many means, at first showed him to be glorious.

He loved this wilderness from the day of the Holy Theophany to the feast of Pascha, imitating the wisdom of Elijah and John. For this reason, as has been said, he was entrusted with the care of the monks there and their organization.

11. But the Euthymius, the Glory-hater and God-lover, believing that this concern would serve as an obstacle to virtue, left the city and fled to Jerusalem, wishing to live in this wilderness.

12.

However, he learned to weave a rope in order not to be a burden to anyone, and in order to be able to give from his labors to the needy. Having freed himself from all earthly cares, he had only one concern, how to please God in prayers and fasts; moreover, zealous for every virtue, like a skilful farmer, he dug up the thorns of the passions by the roots, purifying thoughts and every exaltation that is levied upon the mind of God (II Corinthians 10:5); he fulfilled the prophetic word, which says: "Renew your fields, and do not sow in thorns" (Jer. IV, 3).

13. He had a certain neighbor named Theoctistus, a God-bearing man, whom he loved and was so united with him in spiritual love that both had one will and way of life, and represented, as it were, one soul in two bodies. Having told each other their intention about God, they annually withdrew after the eighth day of the holy Theophany to the wilderness of Kutila, separating themselves from all human communion, wishing to prayerfully converse with God in solitude, and remained there until the feast of Vai. They constantly depressed and enslaved the body and brought spiritual food to the soul. The great Euthymius prevailed in simplicity of disposition, and meekness of life, and humility and heart, which is why he received the grace of the Holy Spirit, how to say the word of God: "On whom shall I look, but on him who is meek, and silent, and trembling at my words?" (Isaiah LXVI, 2).

14. From that hole his boldness to God grew every day. Having lived for five years in Pharan, he, together with Blessed Theoktistus, withdrew in the usual time to Kutila, and passing through the wilderness, they came to a terrible, deep and impassable stream; seeing the place and going around the cliffs that towered above it, they, as if instructed by God, found in the northern cliff of the stream a great and wonderful cave, and, having made their way dangerously along the wall, they could hardly enter it. Rejoicing, as if this place had been prepared for them by God, they settled in it, feeding on the herbs they came across; this cave was at first a den of beasts, but being tamed by the divine songs and tireless prayers of the venerable men, it received the consecration of the Church of God.