📖 Biblical Definition
Eutychus was a young man at Troas who, sinking into deep sleep during Paul’s extended midnight discourse on the first day of the week, fell from a third-story window and was taken up dead (Acts 20:7-12). Paul went down, embraced him, and declared "his life is in him"; the boy was brought up alive — to no small comfort. The narrative preserves a wry humor (Paul preached so long the boy slept) and a clear miracle (the boy was dead). Luke specifies the meeting day ("the first day of the week") and the purpose ("to break bread") — one of the earliest explicit New Testament records of Christian Lord’s Day worship as the church’s settled pattern.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
EUTYCHUS — a Greek proper name (“fortunate”) belonging to a young man raised after a fatal fall during Paul's preaching.
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Webster 1828 omits this proper name. The Acts narrative is famous and pastoral: a long sermon, many lamps, a deep sleep, a fatal fall, a quiet miracle, and a return to the upper room where the bread was broken and the word continued until daybreak. The boy's name — fortunate — was vindicated by the apostle's arms.
📖 Key Scripture
Acts 20:9 — "And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead."
Acts 20:10 — "But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.”"
Acts 20:11 — "Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed."
Acts 20:12 — "And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The story is read as a joke about long sermons; it is a record of resurrection power and faithful preaching.
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Pulpits sometimes use Eutychus to apologize in advance for short messages. The text does the opposite: Paul preached on, raised the boy, broke bread, and preached until dawn. The miracle did not curtail the message; it confirmed it.
The corruption is the assumption that long preaching is the problem. The young man fell because he was tired; the apostle picked him up because the word is life. The right response to Eutychus is not shorter sermons — it is more reverent listening and the confidence that the God of Paul still raises the fallen.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
From Greek Eutychos (G2161), eu (well) + tychē (fortune); paired with egeirō (raise).
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G2161 — Eutychos — Eutychus; the young man of Troas
G3503 — neanias — young man, youth
G5258 — hypnos — sleep — the deep slumber that overtook him
Usage
"A certain young man named Eutychus… fell down from the third story (Acts 20:9)."
"His life is in him (Acts 20:10)."
"They were not a little comforted (Acts 20:12)."