Hieromartyr Hierotheus Bishop of Athens

Conversion and Episcopate

Church tradition holds that Hierotheus was one of the learned men of the city of Athens who received Christian instruction from the Apostle Paul. Paul baptized and ordained him around the year 52–53. Some accounts describe his conversion as occurring together with that of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite.

He is widely identified as the first Bishop of Athens. A catalogue attributed to the Archbishop of Athens lists Hierotheus as the first Bishop of Athens (A.D. 52), followed by Dionysius as the second. The tradition is not uniform, however: there is disagreement as to whether Hierotheus held the rank of priest or of bishop, and some traditions instead credit Dionysius the Areopagite as the first bishop of the city.

Hierotheus is remembered as a spiritual mentor to Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, whom he frequently visited and instructed, and whom—by one account—he initiated into the mysteries of Christ more thoroughly than others did. He is said to have died a martyr's death later in the first century, and is accordingly classified as a hieromartyr.

Hymnographer and the Dormition of the Theotokos

Hierotheus is remembered as an accomplished hymnographer and musician in early Christian worship. The work On the Divine Names attributed to Pseudo-Dionysius describes him as so deeply absorbed in the sacred things he celebrated in hymnology that to those who heard, saw, and knew him he "seemed to be inspired of God, a divine hymnographer."

According to tradition, Hierotheus was present, alongside Saint Dionysius and the apostles, at the funeral of the Most Holy Theotokos. The accounts relate that he stood in the midst of the apostles and comforted them with spiritual songs and hymns. His Kontakion names him "the Hierarch of Athens" and praises him for expounding "strange and ineffable things."

Legacy and Historical Questions

By tradition, Hierotheus and Dionysius are together considered patrons of the city of Athens, alongside Saint Philothei. The teachings attributed to Hierotheus are said to have influenced the Alexandrian School, with his written works reckoned among those studied by Church Fathers including Clement and Origen of Alexandria.

Modern scholarship has raised critical questions about his historical existence. The name "Hierotheos" is noted as unique in Greek literature and absent from the wide body of proper names known from papyri, the only such record being a Greek inscription from Athens. On this basis some scholars have proposed that Hierotheus may be a fictional figure and that the works attributed to him were authored by others, such as Damascius.