Hieromartyr Hypatius the Wonderworker Bishop of Gangra
died c. 326
Also known as Hypatius of Gangra
Bishop of Gangra in Paphlagonia who took part in the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325. He was slain by heretics and is venerated as a wonderworker and healer.
Feast Day
March 31
Also Nov 16
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The Holy Hieromartyr Hypatius the Wonderworker, Bishop of Gangra
Come to them for
Healing
Life
Hypatius was bishop of Gangra in Paphlagonia, in Asia Minor (the region of modern Cankiri, Turkey), in the early fourth century. He took part in the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325, at which the teaching of Arius was condemned, standing with the defenders of the Nicene faith.
Returning from Constantinople to his see in 326, he was set upon and killed by adherents of the Novatian schism. He is venerated as a hieromartyr and a wonderworker, his relics being long famed for miracles of healing, and is commemorated on March 31 (with a further commemoration on November 16).
Timeline 2 moments
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325First Ecumenical Council at NicaeaAs bishop of Gangra in Paphlagonia, Hypatius took part in the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, at which the heresy of Arius was anathematized. The accounts record that he supported the Nicene cause against Arianism, the Wikipedia account naming his support for Saint Athanasius the Great.
326Martyrdom near GangraWhile returning from Constantinople to Gangra in 326, he was attacked in a desolate place by followers of the schismatics Novatus and Felicissimus. According to the synaxarion they ran him through with swords and spears and threw him into a swamp, and a woman among the attackers struck him on the head with a stone, delivering the fatal blow. Local Christians recovered his body and buried it at Gangra.
Contributions & Legacy
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Bishop and Council Father
Hypatius governed the see of Gangra, the chief city of Paphlagonia in Asia Minor. His presence among the bishops gathered at Nicaea in 325 places him among the fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, which set forth the Creed against the Arian denial of the full divinity of the Son.
The Novatians, by whose followers he was later killed, were a rigorist sect that held that sins committed after baptism could not be forgiven; the accounts identify the woman who struck the fatal blow as an Arian.
Miracles & Traditions
Historically Documented: After his death the relics of Hypatius became famed for numerous miracles, the synaxarion noting in particular the casting out of demons and the healing of the sick, from which he is honored as a wonderworker and healer.
Traditional Accounts: A tradition relates that before he left Constantinople the saint overcame a serpent or dragon that had entered the imperial treasury. The Wikipedia account further relates that the woman who killed him went mad and struck herself with the same stone, and was healed only when brought to the saint's burial place. The synaxarion also records that Hypatius was especially venerated in the Russian land, and that the Ipatiev Monastery was built at Kostroma in 1330.
