Eusebius of Samosata, St.
EUSEBIUS OF SAMOSATA, ST.
Opponent of arianism; d. 380. Eusebius is mentioned as bishop of Samosata in 361 at the synod of Antioch that elected Meletius as successor to Bishop Eudoxius. When the Arians attempted to seize the acts of the synod, Eusebius met them with heroic and successful refusal (Theodoret of Cyr, Histoire ecclesiastique 5.4.8). In 372, with gregory of nazianzus, he aided in the election of basil of caesarea and later received several letters from both Basil and Gregory. A sensitive and zealous apostle, he was exiled in Thrace by the Arianinfluenced Emperor Valens from 374 to 378; but he was recalled by gratian. A short while later he was killed by a brick thrown by an Arian woman.
Feast: June 21.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum June 5:204–208. p. bedjan, ed., Acta martyrum, 7 v. (Paris 1890–97) 6:335–377. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, ed. h. thurston and d. attwater (New York 1956) 2:607–608. h. r. reynolds, A Dictionary of Christian Biography, ed. w. smith and h. wace, (London 1877–87) 2:369–372. m. spanneut, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Paris 1912–) 15:1473–75. f. l. cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (London 1957) 475. g. bardy, Histoire de l'église depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours, ed. a. fliche and v. martin (Paris 1935) 3:261–283.
[j. hamrogue]