Holy Apostle Euodios of the Seventy, Archbishop of Antioch

Saint Euodios of Antioch

Today, the seventh of September, is the feast-day of Saint Euodios, the holy successor of Saint Peter as the primate of Antioch – indeed, the second ever to hold the office.

Little is known for certain of the life of Saint Euodios [L. Evodius, Gk. Ευόδιος, Ar. ’Ifûdiyyûs إفوديوس], except that he was numbered among the Seventy Apostles of Christ (among whom he is also commemorated on the fourth of January), that he was deeply trusted by Saint Peter and that he was revered by Holy Father Ignatios the God-Bearer. He is mentioned first in the epistle of Saint Ignatios to his flock in Antioch: ‘Remember your blessed father Euodios, who was made your first pastor by the Apostles.’ For this reason it is often he, rather than Saint Peter, who is counted the first bishop of Antioch.

The Church tradition has it that it was Saint Euodios who first reclaimed the name of Christians for the followers of Christ, from Antiochians who used it against the new community as a term of abuse. Antioch had been a landing-spot for many Jews who followed Christ, as they fled persecution in places like Jerusalem (where Saint Stephen the Archdeacon was stoned to death); here they began to preach the risen Lord, and they were called ‘Christians’ largely to distinguish them from other followers of the Second Temple faith.

A homily on the Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary on the anniversary of her Dormition is attributed to Saint Euodios. In it, he asserts that she gave birth to Christ our God at the age of fifteen. Other writings of Saint Euodios are no longer extant; however, one which is attested indirectly by the fourteenth-century Byzantine Church historian Nikēphoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos is entitled The Star, or The Beacon. Saint Euodios served the Church in Antioch as bishop for twenty-seven years, between the years 39 and 66, and he was suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Nero. Holy Father Euodios, great and glorious apostle of Christ to the Antiochians, pray unto Christ our God for our salvation!