Hieromartyr Hierotheus, Bishop of Athens

Before his conversion to Christ, the Hieromartyr Hierotheus held the office of thesmothete — one of the nine judges of the Athenian Areopagus, responsible for the codification of laws. He was converted by the preaching of the Apostle Paul in Athens together with Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts 17:34) and, according to tradition, was consecrated by the Apostle Paul as the first Bishop of Athens around the year 52.

According to tradition reflected in the Corpus Areopagiticum (the writings attributed to Dionysius), Hierotheus was Dionysius's spiritual mentor, who initiated him "more perfectly" into the mysteries of Christ; Dionysius calls him a "divinely inspired hymnographer," whose exposition of sacred truths seemed inspired from above. The hymnographic works attributed to Hierotheus (including a mentioned treatise "On Hymns") have not survived independently of the Corpus Areopagiticum.

According to tradition, Hierotheus, together with Dionysius and the apostles, was miraculously present at the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, participating in the sacred hymnody of that event.

Sources disagree on the hierarch's death: some speak of a peaceful death in extreme old age while still shepherding his flock, others of martyrdom; the Orthodox Encyclopedia honestly notes that the Byzantine and Slavic synaxaria contain no information about his martyrdom, yet the entire Orthodox liturgical tradition consistently calls him "hieromartyr" (not "hierarch" or "apostle of the 70") — this established title has been retained as the entry's category.

MERGE: the duplicate entry "hierotheus" (which contained the same biography under a different, internally inconsistent category of "righteous") has been merged here — both entries described the same person.