Saint Eustathius, Archbishop of Antioch (323-331) was born in Side Pamphylia in the second half of the third century. He was bishop of the city of Beria, enjoyed the love and respect of the people and, at the request of the flock, was elevated by the fathers of the First Ecumenical Council (325) to the See of Antioch.
Saint Eustathius was a deeply educated theologian, and was also distinguished by his extensive knowledge of secular sciences. When the heresy of Arius began to spread in the East, who did not recognize the Consubstantiality of the Son of God with the Father, St. Eustathius zealously fought – verbally and in writing – for the purity of the Orthodox faith. In 325, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine the Great (306-337) convened the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. The first chairman of this Council was St. Eustathius.
The Council condemned the teachings of Arius and set out the Orthodox confession in the Creed. The frantic Arius, as St. Eustathius called him, who did not want to give up his error, and his like-minded people, the Council, having defrocked, excommunicated from the Church. However, among the bishops who signed the Nicene Symbol, there were also those who sympathized with the heresy of Arius and signed the acts of the Council not out of conviction, but out of fear of excommunication. After the Council, their intrigues against St. Eustathius began. With great cunning, they obtained his consent to convene a Local Council in Antioch. Having bribed one harlot, they persuaded her to come to the Cathedral with a baby and perjure herself that St. Eustathius was the father of the baby. Violating the apostolic rules that an accusation against a clergyman should be accepted with the confirmation of two witnesses, the Arians declared St. Eustathius deposed. He was exiled to Thrace without trial. But the falsity of the accusation was soon revealed: seriously ill after the slander, the woman repented, called the clergy and confessed her sin in the presence of many people. However, by this time Saint Constantine the Great had died, and his son Constantius (337-361), who shared the heretical views of Arius and patronized the Arianist bishops, ascended the throne. Saint Eustathius, even in exile, still zealously fought for Orthodoxy. He died in exile, in the city of Philippi or Traianopolis, in 337.
The Second Ecumenical Council, held in Constantinople in 381, confirmed the Orthodox Creed, which St. Eustathius so zealously defended. The Arian false doctrine was once again anathematized as heresy.
In 482, the relics of St. Eustathius were honorably transferred from Philippi to Antioch, to the great joy of the Antiochians, who did not cease to honor and love their patriarch confessor.
St. Eustathius was honored by the great saints of the IV century Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Athanasius of Alexandria, Epiphanius of Cyprus, Anastasius of Sinai and Jerome of Stridon. The famous church historian Bishop Theodoret of Kirsk calls St. Eustathius a pillar of the Church and piety on a par with St. Athanasius of Alexandria and other bishops, the main champions of Orthodoxy.