Eutychian the Monk

I have also heard about Eutychian, a devout man who flourished about the same time. He too belonged to the Novatian church, yet he was revered for working similar miracles. I will state my source for this account plainly, and I will not try to hide it, even if I offend some people. It was Auxanon, a very old presbyter of the Novatian church, who as a young man went with Acesius to the synod at Nicaea and told me what I have said about him. His life stretched from that time to the reign of Theodosius the Younger. When I was still very young he told me of the deeds of Eutychian, dwelling at length on the divine grace that was shown in him. But one incident he mentioned, which happened in the reign of Constantine, is especially worth recording. [a]

One of the military attendants whom the emperor calls his household guards, or bodyguards, was suspected of treason and fled for his life. The emperor in his anger ordered that he be put to death wherever he was found. He was arrested on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, bound with heavy and painful chains, and kept in prison near the part of Olympus where Eutychian was living a solitary life and healing the bodies and souls of many. Old Auxanon, then very young, was with him, being trained by him in the discipline of the monastic life. Many people came to Eutychian, begging him to win the prisoner’s release by interceding for him with the emperor, for the fame of Eutychian’s miracles had reached the emperor’s ears. He readily promised to go to the sovereign. But the chains caused unbearable suffering, and those who were concerned for the prisoner said that death from his chains would come before both the emperor’s vengeance and any intercession that might be made for him. So Eutychian sent to the jailers, asking them to ease the man’s suffering. They answered that they would bring danger on themselves by giving relief to a criminal. Then he went to the prison himself, with Auxanon. When the jailers refused to open it, the grace that rested on Eutychian was shown all the more plainly: the prison gates opened of their own accord, while the jailers still had the keys in their keeping. As soon as Eutychian and Auxanon had entered the prison, to the great astonishment of everyone present, the fetters fell from the prisoner’s limbs by themselves. Then Eutychian went with Auxanon to the city that was anciently called Byzantium but afterward Constantinople. There he was admitted to the imperial palace and saved the man from death, for the emperor held Eutychian in great reverence and readily granted his request. This, in fact, happened some time after the period this part of our history covers.

The bishops who had met at the Council of Nicaea drew up and recorded certain other church regulations, which they are accustomed to call canons, and then went back to their own cities. Since I think lovers of learning will value it, I will add here the names of those who were present, as far as I have been able to learn them, with the province and city over which each presided, and also the date on which this assembly took place. Hosius, who was, I believe, bishop of Cordova in Spain, as I said before. Vitus and Vincentius, presbyters of Rome. Alexander, bishop of Egypt. Eustathius of Antioch the Great. Macarius of Jerusalem. Harpocration of Cynopolis. The names of the rest are given in full in the Synodicon of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria. This synod met, as we have learned from the date written at the head of the synod’s record, in the consulship of Paulinus and Julian, on the twentieth of May, in the six hundred and thirty-sixth year from the reign of Alexander of Macedon. So the work of the council was completed. It should be noted that after the council the emperor went to the western parts of the empire. [c]