Origins and Episcopate
Eustathius was born at Side, in the province of Pamphylia in Asia Minor. Around the year 320 he became Bishop of Beroea, the city now called Aleppo, and a few years later, about the time of the First Ecumenical Council, he was raised to the see of Antioch, one of the most ancient and honored churches of the East.
As bishop he set himself firmly against the Arian teaching that was then dividing the Church. He refused to admit Arian clergy in his diocese and wrote against their doctrine.
The Council of Nicaea
At the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea in 325, Eustathius was prominent among the opponents of Arius and his teaching. He joined with Alexander of Alexandria and with Marcellus in defending the full divinity of the Son, and he took part in shaping the council's confession of the faith.
After the council he continued to contend against the Arian leaders, opposing Eusebius of Nicomedia and charging Eusebius of Caesarea with departing from the Nicene teaching, especially concerning the key term homoousios, by which the Son was confessed to be of one essence with the Father.
Deposition and Exile
Eustathius's resolute stand made him a target of the Arian party. About 330 or 331 a synod gathered at Antioch deposed him, charging him officially with the error of Sabellianism, and according to the Orthodox account also bringing against him a false accusation of adultery. By tradition the woman who made the charge later confessed that she had lied, but the sentence stood. The Emperor Constantine I confirmed the deposition and sent Eustathius into exile at Trajanopolis in Thrace.
His supporters were ready to take up arms in his defense, but Eustathius restrained them and urged them to remain faithful, and he departed humbly for his place of exile. His removal divided the church of Antioch into rival parties, a schism that endured into the following century. He died in Thrace, about the year 337, never having returned to his see.
Writings
Eustathius was a learned and prolific writer, though most of his works are lost and known only through fragments and the testimony of later authors. His one complete surviving work is a treatise against Origen concerning the account of the Witch of Endor, known by its Latin title De Engastrimytho contra Origenem.
Relics & Shrines
Eustathius died and was buried in Thrace, the land of his exile. In the year 482 his relics were translated from Thrace back to Antioch, the city he had once governed.
Veneration
Eustathius is venerated as a saint and confessor. Belonging to the undivided Church, he is honored in both the Eastern and the Western traditions: his feast is kept on 21 February in the Orthodox East and on 16 July in the West.
