St. Eutychius, Archbishop of Constantinople

Eutychius was born around 512 in Phrygia and became a monk at Amaseia in Pontus, was ordained priest, and was later raised to the patriarchal throne of Constantinople in 552 by the Emperor Justinian. He convened and presided over the Fifth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 553, which addressed the so-called "Three Chapters" controversy — the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Ibas of Edessa that were suspected of Nestorian tendencies.

Some years after the council, Justinian — in extreme old age — began to favor the Aphthartodocetic heresy (the doctrine that Christ's earthly body had been incorruptible). Eutychius refused to subscribe and was for this deposed and exiled in 565. He spent twelve years in exile on a remote monastic island, during which Justinian died and his successor Justin II eventually requested his return. Eutychius came back to Constantinople in triumph in 577 and resumed the patriarchate.

He died in peace at the patriarchal residence in 582. His feast falls on April 6.