Eusebius (48), bp. of Laodicea

Eusebius (48), bp. of Laodicea, in Syria Prima; a native and deacon of Alexandria. In the persecution under Valerian, a.d. 257, when the venerable bp. Dionysius had been banished from Alexandria, Eusebius remained, ministering to those in prison and burying the martyrs, a faithful service gratefully commemorated in a letter of Dionysius (apud Eus: H. E. vii. 11). During the civil strife at the death of Valerian, when Alexandria was in revolt, a.d. 262, Aemilianus, who had assumed the purple, was driven into the strong quarter of the city called Bruchium, and besieged. Eusebius without, and his friend Anatolius within, the besieged quarter secured escape for all useless hands, including a large number of Christians, whom Eusebius received kindly, supplying them with food and medicine, and carefully tending the sick. To the synod of Antioch, a.d. 264, summoned to deal with Paul of Samosata, Dionysius bp. of Alexandria, being unable to be present through age, sent Eusebius as his representative. The see of Laodicea was then vacant, and the Laodiceans demanded Eusebius for their bishop, taking no refusal. As bp. of Laodicea he sat at the synod when Paul of Samosata was deposed, a.d. 270. He was succeeded by his old friend Anatolius. Eus. H. E. vii. 11, 32; Tillem. Mém. Eccl. iv. 304; Le Quien, Or. Christ. ii. 792; Neale, Patriarchate of Alex. i.77.

[E.V.]