EUTYMIUS the GREAT, saint. — Outstanding ascetic, born at Melitene in Armenia in 377, died in Palestine in 473. He received his name because his parents, asking God for a son, were encouraged by a divine voice to be of good cheer (ἐνθυμένος). He was entrusted to the bishops Ottreia and Acacius at Melitene, was ordained priest, and had charge of the monasteries. In 460 he moved to Jerusalem and, seeking solitude, dwelt for five years in the Laura of Pharan, then in a cave and in various inhospitable places where the fame of his miracles forced him to withdraw. Yet around him new lauras continually flourished, and it is for this reason that he is regarded as the founder of this type of monasticism in Palestine. The church of the principal one, which later took his name, was consecrated by Patriarch Juvenal in 429. There he was on terms of friendship with St. John the Silent, St. Cyriacus, and St. Sabas. He died almost a centenarian during the reign of Leo I the Thracian.
His life was written in the 6th century by the monk Cyril, highly esteemed by Baronius. His feast is celebrated on January 20 both in the East and in the West.
He converted many Arians to the true faith, rejoiced at the condemnation of Nestorius at the First Council of Ephesus (431), but especially labored for the Council of Chalcedon (451), opposing Theodotus, the pseudo-bishop of the Eutychians in Jerusalem, whose calumnies were spreading among the monks. To him is also due the return to the faith of Empress Eudoxia, who summoned him for consultation.