Saint Euthymius I of Constantinople

Euthymius I Syncellus (Greek: Εὐθύμιος ὁ Σύγκελλος, c. 834 – 5 August 917) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from February 907 to 15 May 912. A monk since his youth, he became spiritual father of the future emperor Leo VI the Wise, and was raised by him to the high ecclesiastical office of syncellus. Despite his turbulent relationship with Leo VI, in 907 he was appointed to the patriarchate and held the post until his deposition shortly before or after Leo VI's death in 912. Euthymius was born in Seleucia in Isauria c. 834 and became a monk at an early age. According to his funeral oration, composed by Arethas of Caesarea, he was a relative of the "miracle-worker" Gregory of Dekapolis. Following stints at the monastic community of Mount Olympus and a monastery near Nicomedia, Euthymius came to the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, where he entered the monastery of St. Theodore, in the capital's outskirts. Euthymius had a relationship with the Patriarch Ignatius, whom he alludes to as his master, and it is probably during Ignatius' second tenure on the patriarchal throne (867–877) that he was appointed as the spiritual father of the prince Leo, the son of Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) and future emperor as Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912). Indeed, the historian Shaun Tougher argues in his study of Leo's reign that Euthymius was possibly the spiritual father of all of Basil's sons. Euthymius supported Leo in his conflict with his father over his affair with Zoe Zaoutzaina. According to Euthymius I's hagiography, the Vita Euthymii, he helped Leo survive his imprisonment in 883–886, while the young prince constantly requested his advice, forcing him to stay in Constantinople rather than his monastery. At the time of Basil I's death in 886, Euthymius was a monk in the monastery of the Theotokos of the Spring.