Monastic Withdrawal at Lérins
Following a common fifth-century ascetic pattern, Eucherius withdrew with his sons Veranus and Salonius to Lérins Abbey, the island monastery founded by Saint Honoratus off Antibes. He subsequently moved to the neighboring island of Lerona, now Île Sainte-Marguerite, where he devoted himself to severe asceticism and scholarly study, probably around 428.
He consulted John Cassian, the Egyptian-trained hermit living at Marseille, regarding a possible withdrawal to the Eastern desert communities. Cassian dedicated his second set of Conferences (Collationes nos. 11–17), treating the hermit life of the Egyptian Thebaid, grace and free will, and the interpretation of Scripture, to both Eucherius and Honoratus.
Eucherius maintained scholarly contact with leading figures of Gallic Christianity, including Hilary of Arles, Saint Honoratus, Claudianus Mamertus, Agroecius, Sidonius Apollinaris, and his kinsman Valerian.
Episcopate and Legacy
Eucherius became Bishop of Lyon around 434, succeeding Sicarius, and held the see until his death about 449. He attended the first Council of Orange in 441 as Metropolitan of Lyon.
The church historian Henry Wace judged him the most distinguished occupant of the see of Lyon after Irenaeus. He is venerated in both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, with a feast day of November 16.
Writings
Eucherius was among the more accomplished writers of the early Gallic Church. His De laude Eremi ('In Praise of the Desert,' c. 428) is an epistolary essay in praise of the eremitic life, addressed to Bishop Hilary of Arles.
His Epistola paraenetica ad Valerianum cognatum, de contemptu mundi, addressed to his kinsman Valerian, expresses eschatological concern about worldly decline; it was later edited by Erasmus and published at Basel in 1520.
In the Liber formularum spiritalis intelligentiae, addressed to his son Veranius, he defended the allegorical interpretation of Scripture, employing the term anagoge for the application of a text to the heavenly Jerusalem. His Institutiones ad Salonium is a work of instruction addressed to his son Salonius.
