Following Evelyne Patlagean’s and Angeliki Laiou’s work on holiness, family and aristocracy during the middle byzantine period, I study the cult of saint Eudokimos, a Charsianon’s military chief, in Cappadocia, under the reign of the emperor Theophilus (829-842). It presents three distinctive features. First, Saint Eudokimos is mentioned as a member of the Maleinos and Phokas families starting in the second half of the 10th century. This reveals the wish of some aristocratic families to promote their own holiness. The byzantine Church admits Saint Eudokimos’ cult early in the 10th century: the saint’s feast on July 31 appears in the Synaxarion of Constantinople and the Typikon of the Great Church. Finally, the Vita of saint Eudokimos is one the rare saints Lives of this period to be included in the metaphrastic menologium, although Eudokimos’ claims to holiness are slim. This article shows what is at stake behind the promotion of this cult. Locally, it is significant that the cult should appear at the time the Charsianon region becomes a theme. The cult strengthens the dominance of Eudokimos’s kinship in the region. More importantly, the recognition of the cult in Constantinople shows the importance of the two families in the capital. Like the Macedonian emperors, these aristocratic families promote their holy man either to imitate the imperial family or to compete with it. Can we go as far as to suggest that they claimed a part of the divine election on which the emperor’s power is based?