Eustathius of Antioch, sometimes surnamed the Great, was a Christian
bishop and
archbishop of Antioch in the 4th century. His feast day in the
Eastern Orthodox Church is
February 21.
Life
He was a native of
Side in
Pamphylia. About 320 he was bishop of
Beroea, and he became
patriarch of Antioch shortly before the
Council of Nicaea in 325. In that assembly he distinguished himself zealously against the
Arians, though the ''Allocutio ad Imperatorem'' with which he has been credited is probably not by him.
His anti-Arian polemic against
Eusebius of Nicomedia
Eusebius of Nicomedia (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος; died 341) was an Arian priest who baptized Constantine the Great on his deathbed in 337. A fifth-century legend evolved that Pope Saint Sylvester I was the one to baptize Constantine, but this ...
made him unpopular among his fellow bishops in the East, and a synod convened at Antioch in 330 deposed him for adultery, which was confirmed by the emperor.
In the dispute with Eustathius of Antioch, who opposed the growing influence of Origen and his practice of an allegorical exegesis of scripture, seeing in his theology the roots of Arianism, Eusebius, an admirer of
Origen, was reproached by Eustathius for deviating from the Nicene faith, who was charged in turn with
Sabellianism. Eustathius was accused, condemned, and deposed at a synod in Antioch. The people of Antioch rebelled against this action, while the anti-Eustathians proposed Eusebius as the new bishop, but he declined. He was banished to
Trajanopolis in
Thrace, where he died, probably about 337, though possibly not until 370.
The people of Antioch, who loved and revered their patriarch, became indignant at the injustice done to him and were ready to take up arms in his defence. But Eustathius kept them in check, exhorted them to remain true to the orthodox faith and humbly left for his place of exile, accompanied by a large body of his clergy. His adherents in Antioch formed a separate community by the name of "Eustathians" and refused to acknowledge the bishops set over them by the Arians. When, after the death of Eustathius, St. Meletius became Bishop of Antioch in 360 by the united vote of the Arians and the orthodox, the Eustathians would not recognize him, even after his election was approved by the Synod of Alexandria in 362. Their intransigent attitude gave rise to two factions among the orthodox, the so-called Meletian Schism, which lasted till the second decade of the fifth century.
[Ott, Michael. "St. Eustathius." The Catholic Encyclopedia]
Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 29 July 2018
The only complete work by Eustathius is the ''De Engastrimytho contra Origenem.''
[Comprehensive critical edition of Eustathius's oeuvre in Eustathius Antiochenus, ''Opera omnia.'' J.H. Declerck (ed.), Turnhout: Brepols, 2002 (Corpus Christianorum Series Graeca, 51), CDLXII+288 p., 155 x 245 mm, 2002 ]
The
Commentary on the Hexameron attributed to him in the manuscripts is too late to be authentic.
References
*
External links
"St. Eustathius, Patriarch of Antioch, Confessor" ''Butler's Lives of the Saints''
{{authority control
3rd-century births
4th-century deaths
Doctors of the Church
Patriarchs of Antioch
Syrian Christian saints
4th-century Romans
4th-century archbishops
4th-century Christian saints