Evodius
early Christian bishop of Antioch
Evodius (Ancient Greek: Ευωδίας, Euōdias; fl. c. 50–70) was an early Christian identified by some Christian writings as the first bishop of Antioch. In some traditions, he is seen as succeeding Peter. He is regarded as one of the first identifiable post-apostolic Christians and is venerated as a saint.
Biography
Little is known of the life of Evodius. In the first century (1–100 AD), Antioch was an opulent and cosmopolitan city, the former capital of the Seleucid Empire that had maintained its status as a trade center in the era of Roman Syria. It seems to have had a strong community of Hellenistic Jews, who spoke Greek and were among the earliest audience that Jewish Christians sought to spread their message to. However, no writings attributed to Evodius are extant; if he wrote anything, it was lost and not preserved.
The main surviving writings about Evodius are from centuries later, where he is often reduced to a simple name on a page as the first bishop of Antioch. Various early Christian writings indicate Peter visited Antioch, and some indicate he may have served as leader of the Antiochene Christians, although others do not, and others are unclear. This is complicated because some ancient authors distinguished apostles from bishops, where the apostles (such as Peter) could create bishops but were not bishops themselves in this view.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Evodius” is early Christian bishop of Antioch. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Evodius, early and Christian, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q709251. VIAF identifies the subject as 91148933634954302261. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Evodius” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.