Eutychus Meaning in the Bible

Eutychus means "fortunate" or "lucky" in Greek — a name that proved deeply ironic and then profoundly true in his brief but memorable appearance in Acts 20. He was a young man in Troas who fell asleep during Paul's extended sermon, fell from a third-story window, and was raised from the dead.

Paul was preaching in an upper room, and "continued his speech until midnight." The room was filled with lamps (and their heat), and Eutychus, "being fallen into a deep sleep," sat in a window and "fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead."

Paul went down, "fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him." The young man was restored to life, and the narrative adds with understated humor: "they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted." Meanwhile, Paul continued talking until daybreak.

Eutychus's story is both miraculous and endearingly human. It acknowledges that even apostolic preaching can put people to sleep, while affirming that God's power extends to the consequences of our most ordinary failures — including dozing off in church.