Our father among the saints Eustathios, Archbishop of Antioch

Saint Eustathios of Antioch
القديس إفستاثيوس أسقف أنطاكيّة

Today in the Holy Orthodox Church we venerate and revere our most treasured and wise Holy Father Eustathios. Called ‘foremost’ among the Fathers of the First Œcumenical Council at Nicæa, a combatant of the spirit against the hæresy of Arius, he was a bold and worthy confessor of the Orthodox faith in Antioch. For this he was deposed and exiled from his native city.

Saint Eustathios [Gk. Ευστάθιος, Ar. ’Ifstâṯiyyûs إفستاثيوس] was – according to Saint Jerome – an Ionian Greek, born around the year 270 in the town of Side in Pamphylia, on the south-central coast of Asia Minor. It is presumed he became a monk early in his life. Eustathios was elected bishop of Berœa – modern-day Aleppo – around the year 320, and he was invited to participate by Emperor Saint Constantine the Great in the First Œcumenical Council at Nicæa in 325.

Saint Eustathios distinguished himself at the Council with his spirited defence of what would become Orthodox Christology – that the Son was begotten of the Father and consubstantial and coëternal with Him. He was among the most strident, including Saint Athanasios and Saint Nicholas, among the Council’s critics and denouncers of Arianism. When the Council found in favour of the position that would become the Nicene Christology, Saint Eustathios was recognised for his contributions by being elevated to the archbishopric of Antioch.

Saint Eustathios’s six-year archpastoral rule in Antioch, from 325 to 331, was mostly spent in polemics and quarrels with the Arian party, which was wealthy and influential in Eastern Rome at the time. As a bishop firmly devoted to the doctrines of orthodoxy as laid down in Nicæa, he steadfastly maintained the Christological truths that were laid down in that council. And, as a public man concerned with the welfare of the common people, Saint Eustathios would not be bought or tempted by lucre, though Arian priests occasionally attempted to buy their way into his good graces.

In addition, Saint Eustathios – though not a native of Antioch himself – became in his own right a chief proponent of the literary socio-historical Antiochian school of Scriptural exegesis. This was at the very height of the rivalry – sometimes friendly, sometimes bitter – between the socio-historical Antiochian school of exegesis and the philosophical-allegorical Alexandrian school. Insofar as these two very broad tendencies in early Christian thought may be safely categorised, the Antiochians tended to place more emphasis on the humanity and particularity of Christ Incarnate; while the Alexandrians tended to place more emphasis on Christ’s omniscient Godhead.

The one complete text we still have to the name of Saint Eustathios, De Engastrimytho contra Origenes, is an exegetical commentary on 1 Samuel which takes issue with the allegorical interpretation put forward by Origen Adamantius, and indeed with Origen’s exegetical method overall. It stands as a fine, if rather fierce-spirited, exemplar of the Antiochian school of exegesis. The point of the tale of the witch of Endor in 1 Samuel, Eustathios insists, was that she was goading and deceiving Saul with illusions of his kingdom’s fall – not that her words carried some sort of deeper significance or profounder symbolic meaning. Eustathios takes issue with Origen seeming to allegorise everything in the Hebrew Scriptures from the digging of wells to the wearing of earrings, such that he misses the prosaic significance of these events and images which would be readily apparent to a Jew reading these stories as literary works rather than as philosophical tracts.

In this way the formidable Eustathios managed to garner enmities both among the hæretical Arians such as Eusebios of Nicomedia, and among the partizans of the Alexandrian school of exegesis such as Church historian Eusebios Pamphílou of Cæsarea (who is venerated as a saint among the Copts). These two parties together managed to force a council, really more of a kangaroo trial, to be held at Antioch. Saint Eustathios himself appeared and his enemies – primarily those among the Arian party – aired vicious slanders against him. At this council Saint Eustathios was ludicrously accused of holding to opinions of Patripassianism, the hæretical doctrine of Sabellius. To give an idea of the frivolous and vicious nature of this council, the Arians also wantonly and baselessly accused Eustathios of grave personal sins and vices, including insulting the mother of the Emperor in Jerusalem and sleeping with a certain Antiochian courtesan, who was had been paid to bear witness that Saint Eustathios had fathered her child. This poor courtesan, herself a victim of the Arians’ artifice and spite, later repented and publicly confessed her false witness. The council, which was primarily composed of Arian or Arian-sympathetic bishops, condemned Saint Eustathios, deposed him from his see and had him exiled to Illyria.

The townspeople of Antioch were, quite understandably, incensed at this treatment of their patriarch and made plans to rise up in armed rebellion against the Arian party. However, before he left Antioch, Eustathios took pains to calm the fury of his supporters and turn them away from violence. He urged them instead to abide in patience and to hold true to the doctrines of Nicæa. Eustathios then left Antioch accompanied by a great number of Nicene clergy who were loyal to him; however there were those among his followers who remained behind to guide the Antiochian faithful, such as the then-deacons Diodoros and Saint Flavian. Eustathios himself ended up, not in Illyria, but instead in the town of Traïanoupolē in Thrace. He reposed either there, or in the town of Philippoi, in the year 337.

The next Orthodox Patriarch in Antioch would be Saint Meletios in the year 360, who was supported by the majority of Saint Eustathios’s followers in Antioch – including the two aforementioned deacons, Diodoros and Flavian, he had left to guide the faithful. However, a small remnant of the ‘Eustathian’ party of Orthodox Christians embraced a zealotry that refused to acknowledge Meletios on account of a chequered past that included support for Arian bishops. Instead these ‘Eustathian’ zealots appealed to Rome for, and were granted a replacement bishop, Paulinus. There thus existed a schism in Antioch between the Orthodox under Saint Meletios and the zealous ‘Eustathians’ under Paulinus, which lasted over fifty years, from 360 to 415.

Saint Eustathios was posthumously exonerated of the false and wicked charges made against him, and the Orthodox Symbol of Faith which he had fought so hard for as Patriarch of Antioch was vindicated at the Second Œcumenical Council at which Saint Meletios presided before his own passing. He came to be regarded as a saint in Philippoi, and his relics were interred with the care and veneration due to a holy man. In the year 482, the relics of Saint Eustathios were exhumed and translated reverently to Antioch, where he was greeted with celebrations and festivities by the grateful Antiochians – their beloved patriarch having returned home at last. Holy father Eustathios, well-spoken champion of Orthodoxy in Antioch, pray unto Christ our God for the salvation of us sinners!

Saint Eustathios is venerated in the Orthodox Church together with an eighth-century Italian monk, Saint Timothy of Symboli, who led a life of desert solitude in Asia Minor before settling on Mount Olympus in Greece, where he submitted himself to the discipline of Abbot Theosterikos at the Symboli Monastery. Apart from sharing the same feast-day, the two saints share a common love for Christ; a common concern for upholding the Orthodox doctrines; and a common concern for common people.

Saint Timothy dwelt in the desert for many years in strict asceticism, praying and fasting and struggling against the passions. He became able to work wonders through the purity of his devotion to Christ, and used his abilities in particular to help the poor and needy. However he fled from the company of men during his time in the desert, he nevertheless loved his neighbours and gave of himself for them. Although he did not dare to look upon a woman’s face for fear of harming his peace of mind, he nonetheless was a firm financial and moral support for women – particularly widows who were without any other means of social support. He also gave shelter and food to orphans and gave clothes to the naked.

Saint Timothy lived at a time when Iconoclasm was wracking the Church. He was, like many other monks of Eastern Rome, a firm defender of the proper veneration of icons. He publicly proclaimed himself to be an iconodule, and publicly defended the use of icons. A canon composed in his honour intimates that he was beaten with flails by the iconoclastic authorities. Nonetheless, he reposed in a venerable old age in the year 795 on Olympus, and his reliquary was said to be a fount of many wondrous healings. Holy monk Timothy, vessel of the Holy Spirit and friend to the friendless, pray unto Christ God that our souls may be saved!

O God of our Fathers,
Always act with kindness towards us;
Take not Thy mercy from us,
But guide our lives in peace
Through the prayers of Saints Timothy and Eustathios.

Saints Timothy and Eustathios