RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eusebius of Emesa Eustasius
at a synod held under Meletius of Antioch, accepted the formula homoousios. He seems to have been a member of the right wing of the Eastern opposition party, in substantial agreement with Meletius (q.v.), like whom he became, after 363, a representative of neo-Nicene orthodoxy. He was in close relations with Basil, whose elevation to the see of Caesarea he did much to further, to whom in later conflicts and in his relations with the West he was a faithful friend up to the time of his banishment in 374. He was sent first to Cappadocia and then to Thrace, where he lived through the Gothic war, his return being made possible by the death of Valens. He was at the synod held in Sept., 379, nine months after Basil's death. According to Theodoret he was killed at Doliche, whither he had gone to attend the consecration of Bishop Maris, by a stone thrown by an Arian woman, on which ground he was honored as a martyr. Some other details of his life, as given by Theodoret, are obviously legendary. But this may safely be said to his credit — that he is one of the few bishops of the fourth century of whom nothing but good is known.
(F Loofs.)
Bibliography: Sources are: The " Letters " of Gregory Nazianzen and of Basil, in NPNF, 2d ser., vols, vii.viii; Theodoret, Hist, eccl., ii. 27-28, iv. 12, v. 4. Consult: ASB, June iv. 235-242; V Ernst, in ZKG, xvi (1896), 626-664; F. Loofs, Eustathius von Sebaste und die Ckrorwlogie der Basilius-Briefe Halle, 1898; DCB ii. 369-372.
EUSEBIUS OF THESSALONICA: Bishop of Thessalonica c. 600. He wrote a polemic work in ten books against one Andrew, a monk belonging to the Aphthartodocets. That the Eusebius to whom Photius (Bibliotheca, codex clxii.) ascribes the work was Eusebius of Thessalonica is clearly shown by one of a number of letters which Gregory the Great wrote to this Eusebius (Epist.. xi. 55 [74]). G. Kruger.
Bibliography: Ceillier, Auteurs sacres, xi. 527; DCB, 373- 374.
EUSEBIUS OF VERCELLI: Bishop of Vercelli, one of the most determined opponents of Arianism in the reign of Constantius; d. 370. He was a Sardinian by birth; but what the traditional Vita relates as to his parents, his baptism by Pope Eusebius, his ordination by Pope Marcus, and his consecration by Pope Julius I. is either false or untrustworthy. All known is that he was a reader in Rome, and sent from that position to be bishop of a city entirely strange to him, probably some time before 354. He was the first bishop of Vercelli, besides which Novara, Ivrea and Tortona seem to have been under his jurisdiction. Practically nothing is known of his administration before 354, unless Tillemont's conclusion from the words of Ambrose (Epist., lxiii.) may be accepted, that the erection of a quasi-monastic house in Vercelli, in which Eusebius lived with his clergy, belongs to that period. This, at least, Ambrose says definitely, that Eusebius was the first in the West to combine the life of city clergy with monastic discipline. After the Synod of Aries (353), Liberius of Rome desired to see the weak concession of his legates repaired by another synod, and Eusebius was a member of the embassy, headed by
Lucifer of Cagliari, which approached the emperor with a petition to that effect. The new synod was held in Milan, probably in the spring of 355. Eusebius at first remained away; and when he appeared, in company of the Roman legates, the synod had practically reached its conclusion. Eusebius, required to assent to the condemnation of Athanasius, asked for a discussion of the faith of the council, declaring himself willing to agree to any action which should be prefaced by an acceptance of the Nicene decrees. Dionysius of Milan was about to subscribe such a document when Valens snatched the pen and paper from his hand and withdrew with his party to the palace. The outcome of the proceedings for Eusebius was his banishment, first to Scythopolis in Palestine, then to Cappadocia, and finally to the neighborhood of Alexandria. After Julian's accession he took part in the Alexandrian synod of 362, and then went as a special envoy to the church of Antioch, where he was unable to prevent a schism, as Lucifer had already consecrated Paulinus. Not long after, he returned to Italy, where, with Hilary of Poitiers, he took a decided stand against the few Arians found in the West, especially Auxentius, the bishop of Milan. The legend which attributes his death to stoning at the hands of the Arians, although his epitaph calls him a martyr, is untrustworthy.
(F. Loofs.)
Bibliography: The three " Letters " of Eusebius are in Gallandi, Bibliotheca, v. 78, and in MPL, xii. Sources for a biography are: Jerome, De vir. ill., xcvi.; Socrates, Hist, eccl., iii. 5-6, 9, and Sozomen, Hist, eccl., iv. 9, v. 13 (both in NPNF, 2 ser., vol. ii.). F. Ughelli, Italia sacra, iv. 747-748, Venice, 1719; Tillemont, Memoires, vii. 529-563, 771-780, Venice, 1732; DCB, ii. 374-375; KL, iv. 1013-15.
EUSTACHIUS, yu-ste'ki-Tjs (EUSTATHIUS), SAINT: According to a late tradition, a Roman martyr who, with his family, was put to death in 118. Before his baptism he was called Placidus, and he is said to have been converted by a vision as he was hunting in the forest, of a cross between the antlers of the stag he was pursuing, while a voice cried to him: " Why persecutest thou me? " After being exposed in vain to the lions in the amphitheater, Eustachius and his family are said to have been burned to death in an oven shaped like a stag. In the Western Church the martyrdom of Eustachius had been commemorated on Sept. 20 since the early Middle Ages, while the Greek Church appoints Nov. 20 for this feast. A basilica of St. Eustachius existed in Rome in the eighth century and apparently even in the time of Gregory the Great, and relics of the saint were taken thence to various places, including St. Denis and Paris. Eustachius is the patron saint of Madrid, and he is also one of the fourteen " helpers in need" (q.v.), being the special protector of pious hunters. (O. Zockler|. )
Bibliography: ASB, Sept., vi. 106-137; Analecta Bollandiana, iii. 66-112, Paris, 1884; Nicephorus Callistus, Hist, eccl., iii. 29; M. Armellini, Le Chiese di Roma, pp. 234- 236, Rome, 1887; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte Roms, iii. 578-583, Stuttgart, 1895-96, Eng. trans!., iii. 553-556, iv. 420, 458, London, 1895-96; DCB, ii. 380-381.
EUSTASIUS, yu-ste'shi-us. Second abbot of Luxeuil; d. 629. He was of noble family, nephew
Eustasius Euthalius