Eusebius of Samosata

Eusebius of Samosata was a fourth-century bishop of Samosata, a city on the Euphrates in Commagene in Roman Syria (near modern Samsat in southeastern Turkey). He is remembered as a resolute defender of the Nicene faith during the Arian controversies that divided the Eastern churches. Little is known of his early life, family, or place of birth; the principal ancient accounts, above all the Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret of Cyrrhus and the letters of Basil of Caesarea, present him already as bishop and as a figure of moral authority among Nicene Christians. His episcopate is generally placed from about the early 360s until his death around 379. He was neither bishop of Rome nor patriarch of any of the ancient patriarchal sees; his importance lies in his local episcopate and in the network of Nicene bishops who resisted imperial Arianism in the Syrian East.

In the early 360s Eusebius became involved in the disputed election of Meletius as bishop of Antioch. According to Theodoret, the written act of that election was entrusted to Eusebius for safekeeping. When the emperor Constantius II, then aligned with Arianizing court bishops, demanded the document after Meletius had preached in a clearly Nicene sense, Eusebius refused to surrender it. Threatened with the loss of his right hand, he is said to have extended both hands rather than betray his trust. The emperor, impressed by this firmness, did not press the matter further. The episode established Eusebius’s reputation for courage and fidelity to the doctrine of Nicaea.

During the reign of the Arian emperor Valens (364–378), Eusebius worked to preserve an orthodox clergy in Syria and neighboring provinces. Theodoret relates that he traveled in disguise, sometimes in military dress, through Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, ordaining priests, deacons, and bishops who held the faith of Nicaea, so that orthodox communities would not be left without pastors. Valens eventually banished him from Samosata to Thrace and an Arian bishop was installed in his place; the people of Samosata are described as remaining loyal to Eusebius and refusing communion with the intruder. After Valens died at Adrianople in 378, the Western emperor Gratian permitted the return of exiled Nicene bishops, and Eusebius came back to his see.

In the months that followed, Eusebius joined other restored bishops in filling vacant sees with Nicene incumbents. While at Doliche in Commagene, where he had gone to install an orthodox bishop (named Maris in some accounts), he was struck on the head by a tile thrown from a rooftop by an Arian woman. He died of the wound shortly afterward, having asked that his assailant not be punished. Because he died in the act of restoring Nicene order and at the hands of an opponent of that doctrine, later tradition numbered him among the martyrs. His body was taken back to Samosata. He is commemorated on 21 June in the Roman Martyrology and on 22 June in the Byzantine liturgical calendar.

Eusebius’s standing among his contemporaries is attested by the correspondence of Basil the Great, who addressed numerous letters to him, seeking counsel and describing him as a father and fellow-combatant in defense of the churches. Gregory of Nazianzus also wrote concerning him. Beyond these witnesses, details of his birth, inner life, and any possible marriage or children are not preserved in reliable sources.