Name Day Celebrations: Who Celebrates on April 6, 2025?

Today, being the Fifth Sunday of Lent (April 6, 2025), the Church highlights the example of Saint Mary of Egypt. According to tradition, the feast day also honors Saint Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople. The names celebrated today include Eutychius, Euthyche, Eutychia, Eutychoula, Eutychitsa, and Efie. Saint Eutychius was born in 512 AD during the reign of Emperor Justinian I the Great. He came from the city of Theia Komē in Phrygia and was the son of Alexander, a scholar under General Belisarius, and Synesia. He was taught the Holy Gospel and baptized as a Christian by Priest Hesychius, who served in the Church of Augusta Polis and was his grandfather. Hesychius held the office of sacristan and was known for his holiness and miracles. Eutychius was ordained as a reader by the Bishop of Amaseia at the church of the Most Holy Theotokos Ourvikiou. Later, he became a deacon and priest, entering a monastery in Amaseia founded by Bishops Meletius and Seleucus, eventually becoming its abbot. During this time, the Church faced unrest due to heretical teachings from Origenists and crypto-monophysites. In 543 AD, an Endemousa Synod convened in Constantinople under Patriarch Menas to condemn heresies. Emperor Justinian issued edicts condemning the errors of Origen, his writings, and other doctrines like the ‘Three Chapters.’ When Patriarch Menas passed away in 552 AD, Saint Eutychius moved from Amaseia to the capital and was elected Patriarch of Constantinople. Despite ongoing conflicts with heretics, the Fifth Ecumenical Synod in 553 AD confirmed the condemnation of the ‘Three Chapters.’ However, monophysites remained divided. In 564 AD, Emperor Justinian enforced aphthartodocetism, a doctrine denying Christ’s physical suffering. Refusing this decree, Saint Eutychius was deposed in 565 AD but later reinstated in 577 AD after the death of Patriarch John III. Known for his orthodoxy, he saved people from a deadly epidemic through prayer. His relics are preserved in Venice’s Monastery of St. George.