Defense of the Nicene Faith
Eusebius stood firmly for the Orthodox Confession of Faith proclaimed at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, and he suffered persecution by the Arians throughout his episcopate, being repeatedly deprived of his see and banished.
He had been entrusted with the official record of the 360 election of Meletius of Antioch. When Meletius proved to be Orthodox rather than sympathetic to the Arian cause that had expected to favor him, Arian bishops persuaded the Arian-supporting Emperor Constantius II to compel Eusebius to surrender the document. According to the synaxarion, when threatened with the loss of his hands he stretched out both, replying that they might be cut off but that he would not give up the conciliar decree; the emperor marveled but did not harm him.
Clandestine Ministry and Exile
During the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363), Eusebius concealed his identity and traveled in the garb of a soldier through Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia, ordaining presbyters and deacons and consecrating bishops who renounced Arianism.
In 374 the Arian emperor Valens banished him to Thrace. After the death of Valens in 378, the exiled Orthodox hierarchs were recalled, and Eusebius returned to Samosata and resumed the work of building up the Church.
Martyrdom
While consecrating an Orthodox bishop at Dolikha, Eusebius was struck on the head by a roof tile thrown by an Arian woman. According to the synaxarion, as he lay dying he asked for wine and begged those around him not to harm the woman who had wounded him.
The sources place his death around 379-380, in the years following the restoration of the Orthodox hierarchs.
Veneration
As a saint of the undivided Church who reposed before the Council of Chalcedon, Eusebius is venerated in both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions. In the Orthodox calendar he is commemorated on June 22.
