EUTICHIO, saint, martyr. - Unknown to the earliest hagiographical documents, he is commemorated in the Hieronymian Martyrology on 2 July as buried in the cemetery of Callisto in Rome. The only source that speaks of him is the eulogy of Pope Damasus, preserved on the original slab in the basilica of S. Sebastiano in catacumbas. From it we learn that E., captured and subjected to an interrogation, was shut up in prison, where he was left for 12 days without food and forced to sleep on shards. He died as a result of his sufferings, and his body was thrown into an abyss. The martyr himself revealed its location, and, once found, he was buried with honour and venerated. He appears to have died during the persecution of Diocletian.
EUTICHIO, saint. - Patriarch of Constantinople, b. ca. 512, d. 22 Apr. 582. In 553 he was elected to the Byzantine see. He immediately intervened in the controversy over the Three Chapters (v. COSTANTINOPOLI, II Concilio Costantinopolitano). Too closely aligned with the policy of Justinian I, he presided over the sessions of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, against the will of Pope Vigilius, whose name was also erased from the diptychs by E. Later, E. fell into disgrace with Justinian due to disagreement over the aphthartodocetic question. He was therefore exiled in 565 but was recalled in 577 by Justin II. Preserved, in addition to conciliar documents, is a letter from E. to Pope Vigilius (PG 86, 2401-2406). The Greeks celebrate E. on 6 Apr.