Stachys the Apostle

Holy Apostle Stachys, first Bishop of Byzantium.

St. Stachys was one of the Seventy Apostles, greeted by name by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans. Tradition relates that he was ordained by the Apostle Andrew as the first Bishop of Byzantium, the city that would one day become Constantinople, where he shepherded the young Christian community and labored in the preaching of the Gospel.

He is honored as the first in the long line of hierarchs of the imperial city. Together with the apostles Apelles, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, and Aristobulus of the Seventy, he is commemorated on October 31.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Stachys the Apostle is commemorated on October 31. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on November 13 of the civil calendar.

Who celebrates a name day

People with these names keep their name day on this feast:

Stachys

Also commemorated on October 31

• Epimachos of Egypt

  Martyr, Επίμαχος ο Αιγύπτιος

  Holy Martyr Epimachos of Pelusium, who suffered at Alexandria.

• Nicholas the New Martyr of Chios

  Martyr, Νικόλαος ο Χίος

  Holy New Martyr Nicholas of Chios, beheaded in 1754.

• Apelles, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus and Aristobulus

  Apostle, Απελλής, Αμπλίας, Ουρβανός, Νάρκισσος και Αριστόβουλος

  Holy Apostles Apelles, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus and Aristobulus of the Seventy, companions of Saint Stachys.

• Seleukos and Stratonike

  Martyr, Σέλευκος και Στρατονίκη

  Holy Martyrs Seleukos and his wife Stratonike of Cyzicus.

  Name days: Stratoniki, Stratonike

• Spyridon and Nikodemos the Prosphora-Bakers

  Venerable, Σπυρίδων και Νικόδημος

  Venerable Spyridon and Nikodemos, prosphora-bakers of the Kiev Caves.

• John Kochurov

  Hierarch, Ιωάννης Κοτσούρωφ

  Holy Hieromartyr John Kochurov, missionary priest in America and first clergy martyr of the Bolshevik revolution.

Icon: public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.