The Plot Against Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch

Eusebius, as I have already said, seized the see of Constantinople by force. Having gained great power in that city, he often visited the emperor and spent time with him on familiar terms. So he grew confident and began plotting against those who were foremost in defending the truth. First he pretended he wanted to go to Jerusalem to see the famous buildings put up there. The emperor, deceived by his flattery, let him go with the greatest honor, and provided him with carriages and everything else needed for his journey and his retinue. Theognis, bishop of Nicaea, who, as I said before, was his partner in his evil designs, traveled with him. When they reached Antioch, they put on the mask of friendship and were received with the greatest respect. Eustathius, the great champion of the faith, treated them with brotherly kindness. When they reached the holy places, they met with those who shared their views: Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea; Patrophilus, bishop of Scythopolis; Aetius, bishop of Lydda; Theodotus, bishop of Laodicea; and others who had taken in the Arian views. They told them of the plot they had hatched, and went with them to Antioch. The pretext for their journey was that due honor might be paid to Eusebius, but their real motive was their war against religion. [a]

They bribed a common prostitute to sell them her tongue. Then they went to the council, and when all the onlookers had been ordered out, they brought in the wretched woman. She held a baby in her arms, and she loudly and shamelessly declared that Eustathius was its father. Eustathius, knowing he was innocent, asked her whether she could bring any witness to prove what she claimed. She said she could not. Yet these fair-minded judges let her take an oath, although the law says, “On the testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be established,” and the apostle says, “Do not accept an accusation against an elder except on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” But they despised these divine laws and accepted the charge against this great man with no witnesses at all. When the woman had again sworn that Eustathius was the baby’s father, these truth-loving judges condemned him as an adulterer.

The other bishops, who held to the apostles’ teaching, knew nothing of these schemes. They openly opposed the sentence and advised Eustathius not to submit to it. So the authors of the plot hurried to the emperor and tried to persuade him that the charge was true and the sentence of deposition just. They succeeded in having this champion of piety and chastity banished as an adulterer and a tyrant. He was taken across Thrace to a city of Illyricum.