EUSEB1US, Bishop of Nicomedia, was born about 324, and was related on his mother's side to the emperor Julian. Before he was made bishop of Nicomedia he had held the bishoprio of Berytus, or Beyrout, in Syria, At the council of Nicrea he joined with Eusebius of Cesarea in advocating moderate measures towards Arius ; and ho refused to sign the condemnation which the council issued against him ; but he appended his signature to the orthodox creed promulgated by the counciL Having shortly after more openly favoured the Arian doctrines, he was deposed from his bishopric and banished; but the influence of Constantin, the emperor's sister, who had embraced Arian views, speedily procured his recall and his restitution to his see. It was Eusebius of Nicomedia who was employed to administer baptism to Constantine in his last illness. He appears now to have openly taught the Arian tenets, which indeed were from him commonly styled Eusebian. He absolved Arius from the excommunication of the Alexandrian synod; and he exerted himself to procure, by means of synods specially called for the purpose, tho restoration of Arius to the full privileges of church communion. [Amts.] On the death of Alexander bishop of Constautinople, the great opponent of the Arian; 339, Eusebius procured himself, coutrary to the canon, to be named his successor, and ho obtained for the Arians permission to celebrate public, worship at Alexandria and elsewhere.
Ile died in 342. The character of Eusebius has come down to us hi is very unfavourable light : not merely is ho represented as heterodox in doctrioe, but as worldly, selfish, and dishonest io conduct. But we must remember, that, regarded as the most important advocate and patron of the Arian heresy, he was the object of abhorrence on tho part of the orthodox, on whose notices of him we are alone dependcut, and it is only fair therefore to give him the benefit of auy doubt which a critical reading of their narratives may suggest. As we have seen, during his life, and for some time subsequently, the followers of Arius were called indifferently Arians and Eusebians ; but when the party became divided, those who held what were called Homoiou elan views in opposition to strict Arianism, quoted Eusebius as their authority; aml it was the doctrines of this Eusebian section which was sanctioned by the oouucil of Seleucia in 359, and the synods of Arles and Milan. [Mims.]