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 over the world and the flesh dispelled all suspicions of Arian sentiments, and the desire to spread them secretly, which had been rumoured (Basil. Ep. 223 [79], § 3). After Basil had retired to the banks of the Iris and commenced his own monastic life, he and his brother Gregory received frequent visits from Eustathius, who, with them, would visit Annesi, the residence of their mother Macrina, and spend there whole days and nights in friendly theological discussion (ib. § 5).

Eustathius's episcopate must have begun before 357, when Athanasius speaks of him as a bishop (Athan. Orat. in Arian. i. p. 290; Solit. p. 812). He was made bp. of Sebaste, according to the same authority, by the Arian party, who hoped to find him an able and facile instrument. His early companion Aerius was a candidate for the bishopric, and felt very mortified by his failure. Eustathius shewed him the utmost consideration, ordained him presbyter, and appointed him manager of a refuge for the poor, the foundation of which was one of the first acts of his episcopate. The final rupture between them is detailed under. Somewhere about this time we may place Eustathius's conviction of perjury in the council of Antioch (see Socr. H. E. iv. 24), and his deposition by the obscure council of Melitene in Armenia c. 357 (Basil. Ep. 263 [74]). Neither of these events appears to have entailed any lasting consequences. Eustathius was one of the prelates at the semi-Arian synod summoned at Ancyra by George of Laodicea, before Easter 358, to check the alarming spread of Anomoean doctrines, and he, with Basil of Ancyra and Eleusius of Cyzicus, conveyed the synodal letter, equally repudiating the Anomoean and Homoousian doctrines, and declaring for the Homoiousion, to Constantius at Sirmium (Soz. H. E. iv. 13, 14; Basil. Ep. 263 [74], § 3). When the council met at Seleucia on Sept. 27, 359, Eustathius occupied a prominent place in its tumultuous and indecisive proceedings, and was the head of the ten episcopal deputies, Basil of Ancyra, Silvanus of Tarsus, and Eleusius of Cyzicus being other chief members, sent to Constantinople to lay their report before Constantius. Stormy discussions followed, in which Eustathius led the semi-Arians as against the pure Arians. He vehemently denounced the blasphemies of the bold Anomoean, Eudoxius, bp. of Antioch, and produced a formulary of faith declaring the dissimilarity of the Father and the Son, which he asserted to be by Eudoxius. All seemed to augur the triumph of orthodoxy when the arrival of Valens and Ursacius from Ariminum announcing the subjugation of the Western bishops and the general proscription of the Homoousion suddenly changed the scene. Constantius was overjoyed at the unexpected success, and after a protracted discussion, compelled Eustathius and the other Seleucian deputies to sign the fatal formulary. It was then, in Jerome's words, "ingemuit totus orbis et se esse Arianum miratus est" (Hieron. in Lucif. 19). This base concession profited the recreants little. The emperor summoned a synod, of which Acacius was the ruling spirit, at Constantinople in Jan. 360. Eustathius was deposed in a tyrannical manner, with Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil of Ancyra, Eleusius of Cyzicus, and other important prelates. Eustathius was not even allowed to defend himself. His former deposition by Eulalius was held sufficient (Socr. H. E. ii. 41-43; Soz. H. E. iv. 24). Constantius confirmed the sentence, exiled the bishops, and gave their sees to others. The death of Constantius in 361 and the accession of Julian witnessed the recall of Eustathius with the other banished bishops. He immediately repudiated his signature to the creed of Ariminum, and did all he could to shew his horror of pure Arianism. Sozomen tells us that, with Eleusius, Sophronius, and others of like mind, he held several synods, condemning the partisans of Acacius, denouncing the creed of Ariminum, and asserting the Homoiousion as the true mean between the Homoousion of the West and the Anomoeon of Aetius and his followers (H. E. v. 14). With the accession of Valens in 364, Arianism once more assumed ascendancy in the East. The semi-Arian party, or Macedonians as they now began to be called, met by imperial permission in council at Lampsacus 365, under the presidency of Eleusius, and repudiated the Acacian council of Constantinople (360) and the creed of Ariminum, renewed the confession of Antioch (In Encaeniis), and pronounced sentence of deposition on Eudoxius and Acacius (Socr. H. E. iv. 2-4; Soz. H. E. vi. 7). These proceedings irritated Valens, who required them to hold communion with Eudoxius, and, on their refusal, sentenced them to fine and banishment, giving their sees to others. To escape annihilation, the Macedonians sent deputies, Eustathius being one, to the Western emperor Valentinian and Liberius, bp. of Rome, who had repented his lapse in 357, offering to unite with them in faith. Before they arrived, Valentinian had left for Gaul, and Liberius, at first looking coldly on them as Arians, refused to receive them. On their giving a written adhesion to the Nicene Creed and the Homoousion, he received them into communion, and gave them letters in his name and that of the Western church to the prelates of the East, expressing his satisfaction at the proof he had received of the identity of doctrine between East and West (Socr. H. E. iv. 12; Soz. H. E. vi. 11). No mention was made of the new Macedonian heresy concerning the Holy Spirit, now infecting the Eastern church, of which Eustathius and the other deputies were among the chief promulgators. Eustathius and his companions at once repaired to Sicily, where a synod of bishops, on their profession of orthodoxy, gave them letters of communion. They then returned to their own country. A synod of orthodox bishops was assembled in 367 at Tyana, to receive the letters of communion from the West and other documents (Soz. l.c.; Basil. Ep. 244 [82], § 5). Eustathius and his fellow-delegates, now recognized as true Catholics, were acknowledged as the rightful bishops of their sees. A council summoned at Tarsus to consolidate this happy reunion was prohibited by Valens, who, having committed himself to the Arian party, issued an edict expelling all bishops restored by Julian. Eustathius, to save himself, signed a formula at Cyzicus of Homoiousian character, which also denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Basil says tersely of Eustathius and his party, "they saw Cyzicus and returned