Saint of the Day – 21 June – Saint Eusebius (Died c379) Bishop and Martyr of Samosata in Syria. Died by being hit on the head by a thrown roof tile which caused a fractured skull and his death and the glory of the Palm of Martyrdom. His life had been a zealous one of defending the One True Faith against Arianism and of the intense pastoral care of his flock.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “St Eusebius, the Bishop of Samosata, who, in the time of the Arian Emperor Constantius, disguised himself under a military dress and visited the Churches of God, to confirm them in the Faith. He was banished by Valens into Thrace but when peace was restored to the Church in the reign of Theodosius, he was recalled. As he again visited the Churches, an Arian woman struct him with a tile which fractured his skull and honoured him with the Palm of Martyrdom.”
Eusebius was one of the most zealous defenders of orthodoxy in the 4th Century. All which is definitely known of Eusebius is gathered from the letters of St Basil the Great and of St Gregory Nazianzen and from some incidents in the “Ecclesiastical History” of Theodoret.
In around 361 he became the Bishop of the ancient Syrian City of Samosata. Eusebius had been entrusted with the official recording of the election (360) of Bishop St Meletius of Antioch, who was supported by the Arian Bishops, who were under the mistaken notion that he would prove sympathetic to their cause.
When St Meletius expounded his orthodoxy, the Bishops persuaded the Roman Emperor, Constantius II, a staunch Arian, to extort the record from Eusebius and destroy it. Constantius threatened Eusebius with the loss of his right hand because he refused to surrender the record but the threat was withdrawn when Eusebius offered both hands.
It was chiefly due to the concerted efforts of Eusebius and St Gregory Nazianzen that, in 370, St. Basil was elected Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia.
During the persecution of orthodox Christians under Julian the Apostate, Eusebius travelled incognito throughout Syria, Palestine and Phoenicia, disguised as a military officer, Ordaining Presbyters and Deacons and celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation for the faithful.
Orthodox Christians experienced a short respite during the brief reign of Jovian but in 374 the Emperor Valens, an Arian, banished Eusebius to Thrace, in the Balkan Peninsula. Bishop Eusebius asked the messenger to keep the imperial order confidential saying:
“If the people should be apprised, such is their zeal for the Faith, they would rise in arms against you and your death might be laid to my charge.”
Although advanced in years, Eusebius left that evening. After the Emperor’s death in 378, Eusebius was restored to his See of Samosata. While in Dolikha to consecrate a Bishop, he was killed after being struck on the head by a roof tile thrown by an Arian woman.
Our lovely zealous St Eusebius is remembered today, 21 June in the Roman Martyrology as a Martyr. We have no extant sermons or writings by St Eusebius bar that little quote above which appears in St Gregory’s letters.
AnaStpaul 