Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata, and Others

I think all who have not heard it until now should hear of the courage and good sense Eusebius showed after he received the imperial edict ordering him to leave for Thrace. [a]

The man carrying this edict arrived in the evening, and Eusebius urged him to keep quiet and conceal why he had come. The bishop explained: “The people have been brought up in divine zeal, and if they learn why you have come they will drown you, and I will be held responsible for your death.” After saying this, and leading the evening service as he usually did, the old man set out alone on foot when night had fallen. He told his plans to one of his household servants, who followed him carrying nothing but a cushion and a book. When he reached the bank of the river (for the Euphrates runs right along the walls of the town), he got into a boat and told the oarsmen to row to Zeugma. By daybreak the bishop had reached Zeugma, and Samosata was full of weeping and wailing. For the servant just mentioned told Eusebius’s friends the orders he had been given, and told them whom the bishop wanted to travel with him and which books they were to bring. Then the whole congregation mourned the loss of their shepherd, and the river was crowded with people sailing after him. [b]

When they came to where he was and saw their beloved pastor, they shed floods of tears with lamentation and groaning, and tried to persuade him to stay and not abandon the sheep to the wolves. But it was all no use. He read them the apostle’s law, which plainly tells us to be subject to rulers and authorities. When they had heard him, some brought him gold, some silver, some clothes, and others servants, as though he were setting out for some strange and distant land. The bishop refused to take anything but a few small gifts from his closer friends. Then he gave the whole company his teaching and his prayers, and urged them to stand up boldly for the decrees of the apostles. [c] Then he set out for the Danube, while his friends returned to their own town and encouraged one another as they waited for the attacks of the wolves.

I think I would be wronging them if the warmth and sincerity of their faith were not remembered in my history, so I will now describe it. The Arian party, having robbed the flock of their excellent shepherd, set up another bishop in his place. But not one inhabitant of the city, whether he lived in poverty or shone with wealth, not a servant, not a craftsman, not a farmhand, not a gardener, neither man nor woman, young or old, came to the church gatherings as they used to. The new bishop lived all alone. Not a soul looked at him or exchanged a word with him. Yet the report is that he behaved with courtesy and moderation, and here is one example of it. On one occasion he wanted to bathe, so his servants shut the doors of the bathhouse and kept out everyone who wanted to come in. When he saw the crowd in front of the doors, he ordered them to be thrown open and told everyone to use the bath freely. He did the same in the halls inside. Seeing certain men standing near him while he bathed, he asked them to share the hot water with him. They stood silent. Thinking they hesitated out of respect for him, he quickly got up and went out. But these men really believed that even the water was defiled by the pollution of his heresy, and so they let it all run down the drains and ordered a fresh supply to be provided for themselves. When he was told of this, the intruder left the city, for he judged it senseless and absurd to go on living in a city that hated him and treated him as a common enemy. When Eunomius (for that was his name) left Samosata, Lucius, an unmistakable wolf and enemy of the sheep, was appointed in his place. But the sheep, shepherdless as they were, shepherded themselves, and steadfastly kept the teaching of the apostles in all its purity. How the new intruder was hated, the following story will show.

Some boys were playing ball in the marketplace and enjoying their game when Lucius was passing by. It happened that the ball fell and rolled between the feet of his donkey. The boys raised an outcry, because they thought their ball had been polluted. Seeing this, Lucius told one of his attendants to stop and find out what was going on. The boys lit a fire and tossed the ball through the flames, thinking that in this way they were purifying it. I know, of course, that this was only a childish act and a survival of ancient ways; but it is still enough to prove how much the town hated the Arian party.

Lucius, however, did not follow the mildness of Eunomius. He persuaded the authorities to banish many others of the clergy, and sent the most distinguished champions of the divine doctrines off to the farthest borders of the Roman empire. Evolcius, a deacon, was sent to the Oasis, to an abandoned village. Antiochus was sent to a distant part of Armenia; he had the honor of being related to the great Eusebius, for he was his brother’s son, and he was distinguished as well by his own honorable character, and held the rank of priest. How boldly this Antiochus fought for the divine decrees will be seen from what follows. When the divine Eusebius, after his many struggles, every one of them a victory, had died a martyr’s death, the people held their usual assembly, and among others came Jovinus, then bishop of Perrha, who for some little time had been in communion with the Arians. Antiochus was chosen unanimously to succeed his uncle. When he was brought before the holy table and told to kneel there, he turned around and saw that Jovinus had put his right hand on his head. He pulled the hand away and told him to leave the company of the consecrating bishops, saying that he could not bear a right hand that had received mysteries celebrated in blasphemy. [d] These events happened somewhat later. At the time I am speaking of, Antiochus was taken away into the interior of Armenia. The divine Eusebius was living by the Danube, where the Goths were ravaging Thrace and besieging cities, as is told in his own writings.