St. Euthymius the Great

An Armenian priest from Melitene who went to Palestine in 406 and became the father of the monks of the Judaean desert, founding lavras where hermits lived alone in the week and came together on Saturday and Sunday. He baptised an Arab chieftain and his tribe, who settled beside the lavra and were given a bishop of their own. After Chalcedon, when most of the monks of Palestine rejected it, he held to it almost alone, and it was his counsel that brought the Empress Eudocia back into communion. His disciples included St Sabbas. He died in 473 aged ninety-six. Feast: January 20.