St Tychon the Wonderworker, Bishop of Amathus (+425)

Saint Tychon was born in the Cypriot city of Amathus. His parents brought up their son in Christian piety and taught him Holy Scripture thoroughly. The Lord granted the saint the gift of wonderworking even in his youth.

Tychon’s father had a bakery and used to send his son to sell the bread, but he fed the poor for nothing. When his father learned of this he was angry, but the boy answered him: “Hast thou not read in the holy books that whoever lends to God receives a hundredfold in return? I am lending the bread to God.” Then he suggested that they go to the granary, and the astonished father saw that the empty storeroom had been filled to the brim with wheat.

A gardener threw out withered vine shoots from his vineyard. Saint Tychon gathered them, planted them in his own garden, and asked the Lord to make the branches grow and to grant their fruit the power of healing. God heard the young man’s prayer: the vine shoots turned green, grew, and bore wonderfully sweet clusters of a special flavour. From them the wine for the chalice was pressed both in the saint’s lifetime and after his death.

The pious young man was enrolled among the clergy and appointed reader, and then Memnon, the hierarch of Amathus, ordained him deacon as well. After Memnon’s death Saint Tychon was chosen for his see. The consecration was performed by the Cypriot bishop Epiphanius (+403; commemorated 12 May).

The holy hierarch laboured tirelessly to root out the remains of paganism on Cyprus. He feared no threats and boldly confessed Christ before the lawless. The holy hierarch was also wonderfully merciful. The doors of his house were always open to visitors.

The Lord received in peace the soul of the wonderworking bishop of Amathus in 425.