Saint Tikhon (Tychon) was a fifth-century bishop of Amathus, a city on the southern coast of the island of Cyprus, and is commemorated on June 16. According to the synaxarion, he was born at Amathus and raised by his parents in Christian piety and the reading of the sacred texts, and the gift of wonderworking is said to have appeared in him from an early age. He is venerated as one of the wonderworkers of Cyprus and reposed in the year 425.
Tikhon's life is preserved chiefly through the hagiographical tradition associated with his see; according to a widely repeated account, his vita was written by Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, who was himself a native of Amathus. The modern village of Agios Tychonas, near the ruins of ancient Amathus, preserves his name. Three distinct saints named Tikhon are commemorated on the same day, and this Tikhon of Amathus is the bishop and wonderworker among them.
As bishop, Tikhon labored to root out the remnants of paganism that survived on Cyprus, and the tradition relates that he destroyed a pagan temple and spread the Christian Faith among the people. He was raised to the episcopate by the universal agreement of his flock after the death of his predecessor, with Saint Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, presiding at his consecration.
