Eutychus
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. 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 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.[1][2] Regardless of the result of the fall, the implication of the passage is Eutychus' complete recovery, whether by resurrection, by healing or by neither. Interestingly, the accident did not prevent those present from resuming their assembly as a group.
The name Eutychus means "fortunate".
Homeric tradition
The story may be based on the story of Elpenor from Homer’s Odyssey according to Dennis R. MacDonald of the Iliff School of Theology. MacDonald cites many other similar stories in Greco Roman mythology and storytelling, Er, Misenus, Palinurus and Thespesius are examples. [3]
References
Further reading
- Arndt, William & Gingrich, F. W. (1967), Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (University of Chicago Press).
- Barclay, William (1955), The Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press).
- Bruce, F.F. (1977), Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans).
- Oster, Richard (1979), The Acts of the Apostles, Part II (Austin, Texas: Sweet Publishing Company).
External links
- The Case of Eutychus, Christian Courier
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