The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Eustathius of Sebaste
c. AD 300 – c. 377 · Bishop of Sebaste · Ascetic pioneer · Pneumatomachian · Sebaste, Armenia Minor
The Nicene Age
Who Eustathius of Sebaste was
The magnetic ascetic who first drew Basil to the monastic life — and broke his heart: condemned at Gangra for his extremists, restless through every creed of the age, he ended denying the Spirit's divinity, and Basil's On the Holy Spirit answers, without naming, the mentor of his youth.
Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees and desert fathers & mothers.
Common questions
When did Eustathius live?
Eustathius of Sebaste is dated c. AD 300 – c. 377 in the archive, which places Eustathius in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did Eustathius write?
Eustathius of Sebaste has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Letters against Basil (fragments).
Which early sources mention Eustathius?
Eustathius of Sebaste is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Basil the Great, Epiphanius of Salamis and Sozomen. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Eustathius from?
The archive associates Eustathius of Sebaste with Sebaste, Armenia Minor. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Writings (1)
Letters against Basil (fragments)
His late broadsides survive in the quotations of the friend they wounded[Basil answers the circulating letter point by point in Letters 223 and 226]Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Letter 223 (against Eustathius)
c. AD 375I spent much time on vanity… then I read the Gospel, and saw that the great means of perfection was the selling of one's goods. And finding certain men in my own country attempting to copy that citizenship — much I conversed with Eustathius, and loved him. What has now become of those hopes, God knows.Basil the Great · source text
Panarion 75.1 (named as Aerius's master)
c. AD 375Church History III.14 (the ascetic pioneer weighed)
c. AD 445Connected in the archive
People
- Basil the Great
- Macrina the Elder
- Meletius of Antioch
- George of Laodicea
- Basil of Ancyra
- Aerius of Sebaste
Events in this lifetime
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put Eustathius, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.
- 1Sebaste
- 2Armenia Minorprovince only