Apostle of the Seventy Stachys, Apostle of the Seventy, Bishop of Byzantium

Apostle Stachys, one of the Seventy Apostles, lived in the 1st century AD. He is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans (16:9) as "Stachys, my beloved." According to church tradition, St. Andrew the First-Called, while preaching in Byzantium, ordained Stachys as the first bishop of that city. He served as bishop for sixteen years, from 38 to 54 AD, zealously preaching the Gospel among the pagans. Together with the Apostle Andrew, Stachys built a church in the outskirts of Byzantium, around which a community of believers gathered. The Church of Constantinople particularly venerates Apostle Stachys as the first hierarch of its see, from which the later Patriarchate of Constantinople traces its succession. His relics, together with those of Apostles Amplias and Urban, were later transferred to Constantinople. His memory is kept twice a year: on October 31/November 13, together with Apostles Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, Apelles, and Aristobulus, and on January 4/17, as part of the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles.