Shortly after Euthymios 1's death his Vita was composed by Methodios 1, a prisoner with Euthymios 1 when he died: Vita Euthym. Sard., and see on the author (not named in the tradition) J. Gouillard, "La Vie d' Euthyme de Sardes (+831), une oeuvre du patriarche Méthode", in TM 10 (1987), pp. 11ff.

Euthymios 1 was born in 754 and died aged seventy-seven on 26 December 831 (see below). According to a late akolouthia he was a native of a place called Ouzara in Lykaonia and went to Alexandria to pursue his studies (a literary topos): Akolouthia, pp. 22-23, cf. Gouillard, op. cit., pp. 3-4.

In 787 he was a monk and archbishop of Sardis (μοναχὸς καὶ ἀρχιεπίσκοπος τῆς καθ' ἑαυτὸν Σάρδεων προεδρείας) and attended the Second Council of Nikaia: Vita Euthym. Sard. 3. He was installed as bishop one Easter by the patriarch Tarasios 1, according to a panegyric composed by the monk Metrophanes, of uncertain date: Metrophanes, Bita Euthym. Sard., BHG 2146, 7-8 (= ed. Papadakis, pp. 71-72 with n. 11). This would give the date 785, 786 or 787, but the source is rhetorical and not reliable; see Gouillard, op. cit., p. 4.

Bishop of Sardis; in 787 he attended the Second Council of Nikaia (the Seventh Ecumenical Council) and was probably present at all eight sessions, from 24 September to 23 November: Mansi XII 994-XIII 486. In the lists of those present at the first and seventh sessions he is styled Εὐθυμίου ἐπισκόπου Σάρδης (Σάρδεων, XIII 365): Mansi XII 994, XIII 365. Elsewhere he is styled Εὐθύμιος ὁ ὁσιώτατος ἐπίσκοπος Σάρδης (or Σάρδεων), or similar: Mansi XII 1011, 1015, 1039, 1087, 1147, XIII 37, 136, 172. During the first session he approved of the readmission of the bishop of Myra, Theodoros 83, and later spoke in favour of readmitting iconoclast bishops who had repented: Mansi XII 1011, 1015. He asked for statements to be read from canonical sources about the readmission of bishops ordained by heretics: Mansi XII 1039. At the second session he supported the traditional veneration of icons as described in statements from pope Hadrian I (Hadrianos 1) and condemned iconoclasts: Mansi XII 1087. At the third session he accepted as orthodox the statements of the faith contained in the letter from Tarasios 1 to the eastern patriarchs and in their reply and rejected communion with those who disagreed: Mansi XII 1147. At the fourth session he asked the former iconoclast bishops Gregorios 38 of Neokaisareia and Theodosios 14 of Amorion why when texts were produced at the iconoclast council they had not insisted on seeing the complete copies; he then produced a work by Maximos 10 Homologetes from which a passage was read out to the Council: Mansi XIII 37. After the anathemas at the fourth session, Euthymios 1 read out for the Council a statement recording its adherence to traditional orthodoxy, setting out the faith and accepting the traditional veneration of icons: Mansi XIII 129-133. Later at this session he subscribed statements read out from the Fathers in support of the veneration of icons: Mansi XIII 136. At the fifth session he characterised the so-called Itineraries of the Apostles as a fit work for the iconoclasts to have used as evidence: Mansi XIII 172.

One of his seals as metropolitan bishop of Sardis is extant: Zacos and Veglery 1332 = Laurent, Corpus V 2, no. 1607. The name and title read: Εὐθυμίῳ μητροπολίτῃ Σάρδης.

At some point in the reign of Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) and Eirene 1, Euthymios 1 was sent to Syria on an embassy to the caliph in order to make peace (εἰρήνης διαλλακτής): Vita Euthym. Sard. 3. This was perhaps the embassy to Harun al-Rashid (Harun 1) of 798; see Gouillard, op. cit., pp. 4-5. It was perhaps on this occasion that he visited the city of Edessa and there saw and did veneration to the icon of Christ not made by hands: Vita Euthym. Sard. 9.

In late 803 Euthymios 1 was exiled by the new emperor Nikephoros 8 to the island of Patallarea (Pantelleria, between Sicily and Africa) with his fellow bishops Theophylaktos 37 of Nikomedeia and Eudoxios 2 of Amorion; all were accused of involvement in the revolt of the usurper Bardanes Tourkos (Bardanes 3); they were soon recalled, but Euthymios 1 was not allowed to return to his see; according to the Vita he had incurred the personal anger of Nikephoros 8 by consecrating as a nun a young woman whom Nikephoros 8 had planned to marry: Vita Euthym. Sard. 5-6, cf. also 4 (for the nun). He remained legitimate bishop of Sardis until his death twenty-eight years later, but was never allowed to reoccupy it; the efforts of Nikephoros 8 to have him deposed were resisted by Tarasios 1 (so before February 806): Vita Euthym. Sard. 5, 6.

An attempt to restore him to his see under Michael I (Michael 7) was a failure, in spite of the support of the patriarch Nikephoros 2, although a challenge to his priestly status was overcome; there was perhaps a rival candidate for the see (see Ioannes 461 and Gouillard, op. cit., p. 6, with note 36): Vita Euthym. Sard. 7.

Early in the reign of Leo V (Leo 15) he was living in the Opsikion theme; he was called from there by Ioannes 5 and Antonios 3 who tried for two months to win his support for the iconoclast cause, promising him the patriarchate of Constantinople if he agreed; he resisted and at the meeting with the emperor (in December 814) spoke out vehemently against iconoclasm, recalling his visit to Edessa (see above); he was then (in 815) exiled to the island of Thasos near the Strymon: Vita Euthym. Sard. 8-10. His role at this time is recorded in other sources also. In early 815, still bishop of Sardis, he was an outspoken defender of image worship against the emperor Leo V (Leo 15) and the iconoclasts, citing Scripture in his support: Georg. Mon. Cont. 767 (ὁ ἱερὸς ἐπίσκοπος Σάρδης Εὐθύμιος παρρησιασάμενος λέγει), Leo Gramm. 209. Bishop of Sardis, named in the Life of Niketas of Medikion (Niketas 43) among those who defended the veneration of icons at a meeting with Leo V (Leo 15) in the imperial palace (late 814): Vita Nicetae Medicii 35 (the date of his exile preceded the banishment of the patriarch Nikephoros 2). According to the Life of Theophylaktos (Theophylaktos 37), he was one of the bishops summoned to Constantinople by the patriarch Nikephoros 2 to oppose the emperor Leo V's support for iconoclasm; it is implied that he was one of those who rebuked Leo after the exile of Nikephoros 2 and was himself then sent into exile: Vita S. Theophylacti 12-14. While in exile he received two letters from Theodoros 15 (Theodore the Stoudite); he is styled ἡ ὁσιότης (p. 194, line 2) and τῇ μακαριότητί σου (p. 230, line 2): Theod. Stud., Ep. 74, pp. 194-195 (January/April 816); 112, pp. 230-231 (a. 816) (both addressed Εὐθυμίῳ Σάρδης).

Under Michael II (Michael 10) Euthymios 1 was recalled to Constantinople and took part in a meeting arranged by the emperor to try to reconcile the opposing parties, iconophile and iconoclast; the intransigent attitude of Euthymios 1 so enraged the emperor that he lost his temper, stripped him of most of his clothing and then exiled him, but quickly repented and recalled him again; Euthymios 1 was then allowed to live in freedom but not to return to his see: Vita Euthym. Sard. 11-12.

In September/November 826 he was the addressee of another letter from Theodoros 15 (Theodore the Stoudite); he was apparently then engaged in teaching in Constantinople: Theod. Stud., Ep. 545, pp. 823-825 (addressed Εὐθυμίῳ Σάρδης).

Early in the reign of the emperor Theophilos (Theophilos 5) a pamphlet was issued foretelling the emperor's death; similar documents had preceded the deaths of Leo V (Leo 15) and Michael II (Michael 10), and Methodios 1 was connected with their composition; suspicions of another conspiracy led to the examination of, among others, Euthymios 1; he was arrested and repeatedly asked by Theophilos 5 himself to give the names of those people who had visited him; he refused to name anyone and was again exiled, this time to the island of St Andreas off Cape Akritas, where Methodios 1 himself was already imprisoned; he was entrusted to the deacon Konstantinakios 3 and after a brief meeting with Ioseph 3 was taken off to St Andreas: Vita Euthym. Sard. 13-15. Soon after his arrival on the island his inquisitors arrived and he was tortured and beaten to extract information; he refused to name any names, but was so badly hurt by his tormentors that, in spite of the devoted care of his attendants and Methodios 1, he died eight days later, on Tuesday, 26 December 831; at that time he was in his seventy-eighth year: Vita Euthym. Sard. 16-21. After three days his body was placed in a wooden coffin and a relative, a nephew who was a spatharios, came with his family to view it (τῶν αὐτῶν οἰκείων καὶ προσγενῶν, λέγω δὴ τοῦ μᾶλλον υἱοῦ ἤπερ ἀνεψιοῦ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σπαθαρίου καὶ τῶν ἀμφ' αὐτόν): Vita Euthym. Sard. 29. On the precise date of his death, 26 December 831, see Gouillard, op. cit., p. 10. According to the Acta Davidis, Symeonis et Georgii 229, 10ff., 238, 4-16, he died after excessive beatings inflicted by Kosmas 27; he was then eighty years old.

A detailed account of the forty days between his death and his burial is given: Vita Euthym. Sard. 41-48. In Theophanes Continuatus and Zonaras he is said to have been the bishop of Sardis who was exiled for refusing to abandon the veneration of icons and who was delivered over to the emperor's son Theophilos 5, who had him so badly beaten that he died: Theoph. Cont. II 8 (p. 48), II 28 (p. 83), Zon. XV 22. 18-19. This is a misdated version of the account given in the Vita; it mentions him with Methodios 1 but does not specify that he was sent to St Andreas with Methodios 1. He was beaten on the orders of the emperor Theophilos 5, so severely that he died of his injuries: Genesius II 14.

He is included among the confessors and archbishops acclaimed for their support of icons in the Synodikon of Orthodoxy: Gouillard, "Synodikon", p. 53, line 121.

He was a large man and tended to corpulence: Vita Euthym. Sard. 30 (σῶμα πληθωρικὸν καὶ ἡλικίωσιν τελείαν).

Euthymios is also recorded in Synax. Eccl. Const. 345, 1-38 (26 December), Typicon Mateos 160 (26 December).

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