Righteous 9th century

Righteous Eudocimus of Cappadocia

9th century

Also known as Eudokimos

A young Cappadocian noble and imperial official who lived in purity, chastity, and secret almsgiving, doing good to all and reposing in holiness in the flower of his youth; his relics were found incorrupt.

Feast Day

July 31

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Commemorated as

The Righteous Eudocimus of Cappadocia

Life

Eudocimus was a Cappadocian noble and imperial official of the ninth century, venerated in the Orthodox Church as a righteous layman who attained holiness in the midst of public service. The synaxarion places his life during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Theophilus (829-842) and records that he was the son of pious Christian parents, Basil and Eudokia, of an illustrious family known to the emperor.

By tradition Eudocimus devoted his life to pleasing God and serving his neighbor while holding civil office. Having vowed to remain unmarried and chaste, he is said to have avoided conversation with women and to have practiced his charity in secret. The emperor valued his virtue and abilities and appointed him governor of Chorziane in Armenia, where, according to his life, he governed the people justly and with kindness and acted as a defender of the common people, caring for the unfortunate, orphans, and widows.

The synaxarion relates that Eudocimus died young, in his thirty-third year. On his deathbed he asked to be buried in the clothes in which he died and that no one witness his passing. After his repose miracles were reported at his grave and many of the sick were said to have been healed. When his grave was opened some eighteen months later, his face was found bright as if alive and untouched by decay, and he came to be honored as one of the incorrupt righteous. His relics were afterward translated to Constantinople by a hieromonk named Joseph and placed in a silver reliquary in a church of the Most Holy Theotokos that his parents had built. He is commemorated on July 31.

Timeline 5 moments Read Hide

829-842 Reign of Emperor Theophilus Eudocimus serves as an imperial official during the reign of the emperor Theophilus.
9th century Governor of Chorziane Appointed by the emperor as governor of Chorziane in Armenia, where he is remembered for just and kindly rule and care for the poor.
9th century Repose at age 33 Eudocimus dies in his thirty-third year, asking to be buried without ceremony.
c. 18 months after his death Relics found incorrupt His grave is opened and his body is found untouched by decay.
9th century Translation to Constantinople The hieromonk Joseph brings his relics to Constantinople, where they are enshrined in a church of the Theotokos built by his parents.

Contributions & Legacy

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Office and Manner of Life

Eudocimus belongs to the comparatively small number of Orthodox saints honored as righteous laymen who pursued sanctity not in monastic withdrawal but within the structures of the Byzantine state. His life presents him as a model of an official who used the powers of his office for justice and the relief of the poor rather than for personal advancement, governing his province with what the tradition describes as fairness and mildness.

Alongside his public duties the saint is remembered for a hidden ascetic discipline: a vow of celibacy, reserve toward the company of women, and almsgiving carried out without display. The synaxarion presents these private virtues as the foundation of the public ones, so that his external service flowed from an interior life of self-restraint and charity that, in the words of his life, was known only to God.

Repose, Incorrupt Relics, and Translation

Eudocimus reposed at the age of thirty-three, having asked to die without ceremony and to be buried as he was. The veneration that grew up around him followed his death rather than any prominence in life: healings reported at his tomb drew the faithful, and the opening of his grave roughly a year and a half later revealed his body incorrupt, which the tradition took as a sign of his sanctity.

According to his life, his mother first wished to bring the relics to Constantinople, but the people of the Kharsian district would not let their holy one be taken from them. Only later did the hieromonk Joseph, who had served at the grave, bring the relics to the capital and enshrine them in a silver reliquary within a church dedicated to the Theotokos that his parents had founded. This translation fixed his cult in Constantinople and accounts for his place in the Byzantine and later Orthodox calendars on July 31.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints