Today is the feast of St Eustathius, Patriarch of Antioch. A champion of the struggle against Arianism, he was born c. A.D. 270, became bishop of Berœa (now Aleppo in Syria) c. 320. He took an active part in the 1st Œcumenical Council in 325, combatting the Arian heresy, and was elevated to the see of Antioch by the Fathers of the Council. The Arians, however, forced him out of his see in 331, accusing him of Sabellianism and adultery, and the Emperor Constantine exiled him to Trajanopolis in Thrace, where he died in 337.
The refusal of his supporters to recognise the election of St Meletius (feast on 12 February) to the see of Antioch in 360 because of the participation of Arians in his election gave rise to the Meletian Schism in Antioch, which was not healed until 485 and which hindered the struggle against Arianism for a century.
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