St. Epiphanius the Bishop of Cyprus

Epiphanius was born c. 310 to a poor Jewish farming family in a village of Palestine near Eleutheropolis and became a Christian as a youth. At twenty-six he became a monk, learning the strict fasting of the monk Hilarion, and later founded a monastery of his own. In 367 he was made bishop of Salamis, the chief city of Cyprus, and he held the see for some thirty-six years.

A man of great learning who knew several languages, he wrote the Panarion, or 'Medicine Chest', a survey of the teachings he judged false. In old age he went to Constantinople and became caught up in the case against John Chrysostom; leaving by sea before it was decided, he died on board ship in 403, and was buried at Salamis.