Eutychus

Paul raiseth Eutychus to life, from Figures de la Bible, 1728.
Not to be confused with Eutychius or the early Christian theologian Eutyches.

Eutychus was a young man of Troas tended to by St. Paul. Eutychus fell asleep due to the long nature of the discourse Paul was giving and fell from his seat out of a three story window.[1] Paul then picked him up, insisting that he was not dead, and carried him back upstairs; those gathered then had a meal and a long conversation which lasted until dawn. After Paul left, Eutychus was found to be alive. This is related in the New Testament book of Acts of the Apostles 20:9-12.

It is unclear whether the story intends to relate that Eutychus was killed by the fall and Paul raised him, or whether he simply seemed to be dead, with Paul ensuring that he is still alive. Recent translations of the text differ on this point.[2][3] Regardless of the result of the fall, the implication of the passage is Eutychus' complete recovery, whether by resurrection, by healing or by neither.

The name Eutychus means "fortunate".

Homeric tradition

One scholar from the Iliff School of Theology has proposed a Homeric origin of the account. According to Dennis MacDonald, Eutychus may be a retelling of the story of Elpenor from the Odyssey. He also notes the account's resemblance to numerous other stories from Greco-Roman mythology, such as Misenus, Palinurus, and Thespesius.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Arndt, William & Gingrich, F. W. (1967), Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (University of Chicago Press).
  2. ↑ The Case of Eutychus
  3. ↑ Eutychus (WebBible Encyclopedia) - ChristianAnswers.Net
  4. ↑ Luke's Eutychus and Homer's Elpenor

Further reading

External links