Saint Eleutherios of Illyricum, the early Christian martyr and bishop, is especially venerated in the Orthodox Church not only for his apostolic life and courageous martyrdom, but also for the incorrupt relics that God has granted as a sign of His grace resting upon the Saint.
According to Orthodox ecclesiastical tradition, the holy relics of Saint Eleutherios were preserved intact after his martyrdom in Rome and became a source of blessing and miracles for the faithful. From the earliest centuries, Christians gathered at his martyrion near the Xerolophos in Constantinople, where his synaxis was celebrated, venerating his body as a tangible witness to the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.
In Orthodox theology, the incorruption of a saint’s relics is not understood as an automatic or universal mark of sanctity, but as a particular gift of God. In the case of Saint Eleutherios, whose life was marked from youth by purity, ascetic struggle, and fullness of the Spirit, the incorruption of his relics was perceived by the Church as a confirmation of the holiness already manifest in his life and miracles. As the Apostle teaches, “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19), and in the saints this truth is revealed even beyond death.
The relics of Saint Eleutherios became especially renowned for their wonderworking grace. Faithful Christians approached them with prayer and faith, receiving healing from illnesses and deliverance from afflictions. Most notably, Saint Eleutherios has been venerated as a protector and helper of women in childbirth, who invoke his intercessions with confidence, both through prayer and through contact with his holy relics.
The presence of the Saint’s incorrupt relics within the Church continues to proclaim a central Christian truth: that death has been overcome in Christ, and that the human body, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, is destined not for corruption but for resurrection and glory. Thus, the relics of Saint Eleutherios are not objects of curiosity, but living signs of the Kingdom of God already at work in the midst of the Church.
The Relics of Saint Eleutherios in the Orthodox Church
At present, according to the Roman Catholic Church, the relics of Saints Eleutherios of Illyricum and his mother Anthia are located in the Italian cities of Troia and Rieti (where their authenticity has been officially recognized by the Roman Church), apart from small particles of them in other cities of Italy (for example, in Terracina) and beyond its borders (for example, a finger of Eleutherios in Antwerp, Belgium). They were transferred to these places after being originally located on the Via Salaria near Rome.
Concerning the relatively early veneration of Saint Eleutherios and his relics in Constantinople, there are two testimonies. The first belongs to Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (9th century), who in the Canon for Eleutherios speaks of “streams of healings” flowing from his reliquary. The second testimony is found in the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople at the end of the 10th century, where mention is made of a church dedicated to Eleutherios in the quarter of Xerolophos. This church was built under Emperor Arcadius (395–408) by the patrician Basil (Janin, Églises et monastères, p. 110).
However, connected with Constantinople was the Holy Martyr Eleutherios the Cubicularius, an official in Constantinople who had retired along the Sangarios River and was arrested from there, but was most likely buried in Constantinople (then Byzantium), from where, according to his Life, he originated. This Saint Eleutherios is also commemorated by the Orthodox Church on December 15th.
As for which of the two Holy Martyrs is the Eleutherios associated with Constantinople, scholars today tend to identify Eleutherios the Cubicularius with the relics in Constantinople, while the relics of Eleutherios the Bishop of Illyricum are in Italy and the West.
Somehow the relics of Saint Eleutherios which were in Constantinople arrived in Inepoli (Ionopolis, or in Turkish İnebolu) of Pontus, a coastal town along the Black Sea. This may be due to the fact that the relics of the Holy Martyr Eleutherios the Cubicularius were returned to the area he had retired to along the Sangarios River, near Inepoli. When the Greeks were expelled from Inepoli in Pontus in 1922, they settled in the Athenian neighborhood of Nea Ionia. When fleeing Pontus, they brought with them the incorrupt relics of Saint Eleutherios along with other relics, vessels and icons, and they built a church in Pefkakia of Nea Ionia identical to the one from their homeland and dedicated it to the Dormition of the Theotokos to house these sacred relics, vessels and icons in 1923. This church was the first thing the refugees built upon their arrival, even before their own houses.
Due to customs regulations, the government held on to the relics of Saint Eleutherios upon their arrival for three years, and they were not transferred to the new church until 1926. Initially the relics of the Saint were hidden in the church, because the refugees feared they would be taken and placed in the Church of Saint Eleutherios in Athens known as the "Little Metropolis". When the Metropolitan heard about this, he assured them he would not transfer the relics of Saint Eleutherios. For this reason they built a chapel to the right of the church in Nea Ionia to house the sacred relics.
According to Orthodox ecclesiastical tradition, the holy relics of Saint Eleutherios were preserved intact after his martyrdom in Rome and became a source of blessing and miracles for the faithful. From the earliest centuries, Christians gathered at his martyrion near the Xerolophos in Constantinople, where his synaxis was celebrated, venerating his body as a tangible witness to the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.
In Orthodox theology, the incorruption of a saint’s relics is not understood as an automatic or universal mark of sanctity, but as a particular gift of God. In the case of Saint Eleutherios, whose life was marked from youth by purity, ascetic struggle, and fullness of the Spirit, the incorruption of his relics was perceived by the Church as a confirmation of the holiness already manifest in his life and miracles. As the Apostle teaches, “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19), and in the saints this truth is revealed even beyond death.
The relics of Saint Eleutherios became especially renowned for their wonderworking grace. Faithful Christians approached them with prayer and faith, receiving healing from illnesses and deliverance from afflictions. Most notably, Saint Eleutherios has been venerated as a protector and helper of women in childbirth, who invoke his intercessions with confidence, both through prayer and through contact with his holy relics.
The presence of the Saint’s incorrupt relics within the Church continues to proclaim a central Christian truth: that death has been overcome in Christ, and that the human body, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, is destined not for corruption but for resurrection and glory. Thus, the relics of Saint Eleutherios are not objects of curiosity, but living signs of the Kingdom of God already at work in the midst of the Church.
The Relics of Saint Eleutherios in the Orthodox Church
At present, according to the Roman Catholic Church, the relics of Saints Eleutherios of Illyricum and his mother Anthia are located in the Italian cities of Troia and Rieti (where their authenticity has been officially recognized by the Roman Church), apart from small particles of them in other cities of Italy (for example, in Terracina) and beyond its borders (for example, a finger of Eleutherios in Antwerp, Belgium). They were transferred to these places after being originally located on the Via Salaria near Rome.
Concerning the relatively early veneration of Saint Eleutherios and his relics in Constantinople, there are two testimonies. The first belongs to Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (9th century), who in the Canon for Eleutherios speaks of “streams of healings” flowing from his reliquary. The second testimony is found in the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople at the end of the 10th century, where mention is made of a church dedicated to Eleutherios in the quarter of Xerolophos. This church was built under Emperor Arcadius (395–408) by the patrician Basil (Janin, Églises et monastères, p. 110).
However, connected with Constantinople was the Holy Martyr Eleutherios the Cubicularius, an official in Constantinople who had retired along the Sangarios River and was arrested from there, but was most likely buried in Constantinople (then Byzantium), from where, according to his Life, he originated. This Saint Eleutherios is also commemorated by the Orthodox Church on December 15th.
As for which of the two Holy Martyrs is the Eleutherios associated with Constantinople, scholars today tend to identify Eleutherios the Cubicularius with the relics in Constantinople, while the relics of Eleutherios the Bishop of Illyricum are in Italy and the West.
Somehow the relics of Saint Eleutherios which were in Constantinople arrived in Inepoli (Ionopolis, or in Turkish İnebolu) of Pontus, a coastal town along the Black Sea. This may be due to the fact that the relics of the Holy Martyr Eleutherios the Cubicularius were returned to the area he had retired to along the Sangarios River, near Inepoli. When the Greeks were expelled from Inepoli in Pontus in 1922, they settled in the Athenian neighborhood of Nea Ionia. When fleeing Pontus, they brought with them the incorrupt relics of Saint Eleutherios along with other relics, vessels and icons, and they built a church in Pefkakia of Nea Ionia identical to the one from their homeland and dedicated it to the Dormition of the Theotokos to house these sacred relics, vessels and icons in 1923. This church was the first thing the refugees built upon their arrival, even before their own houses.
Due to customs regulations, the government held on to the relics of Saint Eleutherios upon their arrival for three years, and they were not transferred to the new church until 1926. Initially the relics of the Saint were hidden in the church, because the refugees feared they would be taken and placed in the Church of Saint Eleutherios in Athens known as the "Little Metropolis". When the Metropolitan heard about this, he assured them he would not transfer the relics of Saint Eleutherios. For this reason they built a chapel to the right of the church in Nea Ionia to house the sacred relics.
On December 14, 2023, the sacred relics of Saint Eleutherios were transferred to a new larnax to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the transfer of the relics from Inepoli to Pefkakia. The couple Elias and Ilioula Priovolos, expatriates from America, were honored for donating the larnax.
To this day it is believed by the faithful that the relics of Saint Eleutherios in Nea Ionia (which are dressed in episcopal vestments) belong to the Bishop of Illyricum based on a tradition that goes back at least a millennium, even though we now know they are most likely those of the Cubicularius. Fortunately both the Bishop of Illyricum and the Cubicularius are commemorated together on December 15th to this day.
