Saint Evodius
Bishop of Antioch
Diocese	Antioch
See	Antioch
In office	c. 53-66 AD
Predecessor	Peter I
Successor	Ignatius of Antioch
Personal details
Died	c. 66 AD (traditional) Antioch,Syria,Roman Empire
Sainthood
Feast day	6 May (Catholic Church) 7 September (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Oriental Orthodoxy Assyrian Church of the East Ancient Church of the East
Attributes	Bishop

Evodius (Ancient Greek:Ευωδίας,Euōdias;fl. c. 50–70) was anearly Christian identified by some Christian writings as the firstbishop of Antioch. In some traditions, he is seen assucceedingPeter. He is regarded as one of the first identifiable post-apostolicChristians and is venerated as asaint.

Little is known of the life of Evodius. In thefirst century (1–100 AD),Antioch was an opulent and cosmopolitan city, the former capital of theSeleucid Empire that had maintained its status as a trade center in the era ofRoman Syria. It seems to have had a strong community ofHellenistic Jews, who spoke Greek and were among the earliest audience thatJewish Christians sought to spread their message to. However, no writings attributed to Evodius are extant; if he wrote anything, it was lost and not preserved.

The main surviving writings about Evodius are from centuries later, where he is often reduced to a simple name on a page as the firstbishop of Antioch. Various early Christian writings indicatePeter visited Antioch, and some indicate he may have served as leader of the Antiochene Christians, although others do not, and others are unclear. This is complicated because some ancient authors distinguished apostles from bishops, where the apostles (such as Peter) could create bishops but were not bishops themselves in this view.Eusebius's fourth-century bookChurch History includes a brief remark that "of those in Antioch, Evodius was appointed first" andIgnatius "second". TheApostolic Constitutions claims to be written by the apostles collectively, although it ispseudepigrapha by an unknown fourth-century author. Still, it is useful as a guide to fourth-century Syrian Christian traditions; it includes a list "concerning the bishops ordained by us in our lifetime". The list then includes "And of Antioch, Evodius, by me, Peter, and Ignatius by Paul". The ninth-centuryChronography ofGeorge Syncellus indicates that "Euodius" was the first Antiochene bishop and that this was around Claudius's fourth year as emperor (c. 45 AD).[1]

A few scholars such asWalter Bauer have argued that Evodius was not even Bishop of Antioch and that some ancient lines should be interpreted as claiming that Peter himself was the first Bishop with none between him and Ignatius. A homily byJohn Chrysostom praises Ignatius as the successor to Peter, for example, seemingly ignoring Evodius. A short line in Eusebius on Ignatius describes him as "second to be allotted the episcopacy of the succession of Peter in Antioch". While usually interpreted as the author excluding Peter from the episcopacy yet designating its line, Bauer prefers a reading where it is read as Ignatius directly succeeding Peter.^[1]

As Christianity became more popular in later centuries, there was a certain pious curiosity for more details on the Apostolic Age which began appearing in writings.^[1] In these later writings, Evodius is sometimes depicted as one of theseventy disciples of Christ (or 72 disciples).^[2] Peter's stay in Antioch and role in its church was expanded, with Evodius his chosen successor when Peter departed for Rome.^[3] The date of the end of his episcopacy is usually given as 66 AD when he was succeeded byIgnatius of Antioch. There are differing traditions on his death;Catholic tradition says it is likely that Evodius died of natural causes, whileEastern Orthodox tradition holds that he wasmartyred under EmperorNero.^[4]

There are three apocryphal works written in theCoptic language, probably by the same author, that arepseudepigraphically attributed to Evodius's authorship. The texts identify him as being inRome (rather than Antioch), which is not found elsewhere, but seem to be referring to the same person, given that they call him the successor of Peter. They were probably created somewhere between the 6th and 8th centuries. These includeHomily on the Dormition of the Virgin,Homily on the Passion and Resurrection, andHomily on the Life of Jesus and His Love for the Apostles.^[5][6]

• Seventy disciples
• 1st-century deaths
• Patriarchs of Antioch
• 1st-century bishops in Roman Anatolia
• Converts to Christianity from ancient Roman religions
• 1st-century Christian saints
• Saints from Roman Anatolia

• Articles with short description
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• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text