Venerable Euthymius the Great

Euthymius was born in 377 in Melitene in Armenia, the long-awaited son of Paul and Dionysia, and was raised by the city's bishop, Otreius. Ordained priest, he left for Palestine at about thirty. He lived as a hermit with his friend Theoctistus in a gorge east of Jerusalem, where they founded a monastery, and in 428 Euthymius founded his own laura; each year he went deeper into the desert from mid-January until Palm Sunday.

He baptized an Arab chieftain, Aspebetus, who took the name Peter and became bishop of the Christian Arab encampments. In the disputes that followed the Council of Chalcedon he accepted its decisions, and the widowed Empress Eudocia, who had opposed them, returned to communion with the Patriarch of Jerusalem on his advice. He died on 20 January 473, aged 97. His Life was written by Cyril of Scythopolis.