Euthymius of Sardis

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Miniature representation: The martyrdom of Euthymios of Sardis in the Madrid illuminated manuscript of the Skylitzes

Euthymios of Sardis ( Greek Εὐθύμιος Σάρδεων ; * 751 or 754 in Uzara; † December 26, 831 ) was metropolitan of Sardis from approx. 785 to 804 and a leading admirer of images during the Byzantine iconoclasm . He died a martyr's death in 831 and is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church. His feast day is December 26th.

Life

Euthymios in a representation from the late 15th century.

Euthymios was born in 751 or 754 in Ouzara, which was perhaps in Lycaonia in the center of Asia Minor . He joined a monastery at a young age and was appointed Metropolitan of Sardis by the Constantinople Patriarch Tarasios sometime between 784 and 787 . In this capacity he participated in 787 at the Second Council of Nicaea , where he took a leading role in condemning the Byzantine iconoclasm. Euthymios gave several speeches and called for the reinstatement of the bishops Theodoros of Amorium and Basileos of Ankyra, defended the worship of icons as demanded by Tarasios and Pope Hadrian I , denounced the iconoclasts and called for the excommunication of the iconoclasts and their supporters. According to his hagiography , he is said to have taken part in a diplomatic trip to the Abbasid court in Baghdad between 787 and 790 , where he is said to have succeeded in reaching a peace settlement with the caliphate. Such a mission or even a peace treaty is nowhere documented for this time.

Under the Byzantine Emperor Nikephorus I (reign 802-811), Euthymius fell out of favor around 804, was deposed and banished to the island of Pantelleria off Sicily . According to his hagiography, the hostility of Nikephorus is said to be due to Euthymius convincing a woman whom the emperor had desired to become a nun. The real motive was probably Euthymios' support for the uprising of General Bardanes Turkos in 803. Thanks to an intervention by Patriarch Tarasius, Euthymios was soon allowed to return, but was not called back to his old office.

When iconoclasm under the Byzantine emperors Leo V (reign 813-820) and Michael II (reign 820-829) was again elevated to the state doctrine, Euthymius again campaigned for the worship of icons and condemned iconoclasm and was arrested for it . He was flogged and exiled in Thasos , returned, but was arrested again in 814 and exiled again. He was persecuted particularly vehemently by the later Patriarch John VII Grammatikos . The story of his death can be found in the Byzantine historians Ioseph Genesios , Johannes Skylitzes and Theophanes Continuatus . Accordingly, Euthymios was flogged to death on December 26, 824 on the orders of Michael II. Modern research, however, dates the death to December 26th, 831 on the island of Hagios Andreas off the Bythnian coast south of Constantinople during the reign of Michael's successor Theophilos . There Euthymios is said to have been tortured, interrogated and beaten so cruelly by Patricius Kosmas that he died eight days later as a result of the abuse.

Euthymius' hagiography was written by the Constantinople Patriarch Methodios I. Several letters from the Byzantine abbot and doctor of the church Theodor Studites and a poem of praise by a certain monk Metrophanes have also been preserved.

Euthymios' bones were venerated in Constantinople until the city fell to the Ottomans in 1453. His remains were brought to the Crimean peninsula. Today the bones rest in the Euthymios Church in Piraeus , consecrated in 1936 .

literature

  • Aristeides Papadakis: The Unpublished Life of Euthymius of Sardis: Bodleianus Laudianus Graecus 69 . In: Traditio . No. 26, pp. 63-89 (1970)
  • Jean Gouillard: La vie d'Euthyme de Sardes († 831), une œuvre du patriarche Méthode . In: Travaux et Mémoires 10 . 1987, pp. 1-101
  • Alexander Kazhdan: Euthymios of Sardis . In: Alexander Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6 , p. 756
  • Friedhelm Winkelmann, Ralph-Johannes Lilie: Euthymios (# 1838) . Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period: Section I (641–867) , Volume 1: Aaron (# 1) - Georgios (# 2182) . Walter de Gruyter, 1999, ISBN 3-11-015179-0 , pp. 577-579 ( corrected version online at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences)

Web links

Commons : Euthymius of Sardis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kazhdan (1991), p. 756
  2. ^ Winkelmann, Lilie (1999), p. 577
  3. ↑ Kazhdan (1991), p. 756
  4. ^ Winkelmann, Lilie (1999), p. 577
  5. ^ Winkelmann, Lilie (1999), p. 577
  6. ^ Winkelmann, Lilie (1999), pp. 577, 579
  7. ↑ Kazhdan (1991), p. 756
  8. ^ Winkelmann, Lilie (1999), p. 577
  9. ^ Winkelmann, Lilie (1999), p. 577
  10. ↑ Kazhdan (1991), p. 756
  11. ^ Winkelmann, Lilie (1999), p. 578
  12. ↑ Winkelmann, Lilie (1999), pp. 578, 579
  13. ↑ Kazhdan (1991), p. 756
  14. ↑ Ilse Rochow: The 2nd Council of Nicaea (787) in Byzantine chronicles and lives of saints . In: Christian-Friedrich Collatz (Hrsg.): Dissertatiunculae criticae: Festschrift for Günther Christian Hansen . Könighausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1998, p. 427
  15. ↑ Euthymios of Sardis , Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints, accessed on March 24, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Euthymius of Sardis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Euthymius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Sardis and saint
DATE OF BIRTH 751 or 754
PLACE OF BIRTH Uzara
DATE OF DEATH December 26, 831