Yekatit 27 — March 06

Abba Eustathius, the Brave Teacher

Today we remember a holy father named Abba Eustathius (say it: yoo-STAY-thee-us). He was an archbishop in a great city called Antioch, a leader who takes care of many churches. He loved God so much that people all over the world learned about Jesus because of his teaching.

Long ago, many wise church leaders met together in a city called Nicea. We call this big meeting a Council. Abba Eustathius was one of the leaders who helped guide it. At that meeting a man named Arius was teaching something that was not true about Jesus. He said Jesus was not truly God. But the good fathers knew better: Jesus is the true Son of God. Together they wrote down the True Faith so everyone could remember it. Christians still read those holy words today.

Some men were unhappy that they had been corrected. So they made up a wicked, untrue story about Abba Eustathius, and even paid a woman to repeat it. They told the Emperor the made-up story, and the Emperor believed it. He sent the good father away to live in a faraway place, and Abba Eustathius stayed there until God called him home. He was not afraid. He had always told the truth and stayed faithful to God.

But God knows everything, and the truth could not stay hidden. After a while, the woman was very sorry. She gathered all the people of Antioch and told them what really happened: Abba Eustathius had done nothing wrong at all, and the wicked men had paid her to lie. Everyone was sad that the kind father had been treated so unfairly. Still, they were glad to know he had been good and innocent all along.

From then on, the priests said his name with love and honor in their prayers. Even a famous teacher called Saint John, nicknamed 'the Mouth of Gold' because his words were so beautiful, praised Abba Eustathius. His story teaches us something gentle and strong: always tell the truth, and trust God to take care of you, because God sees what is really true.

Saint Eustathius is innocent. He did nothing wrong at all.— the woman, telling the truth at last

Jesus is the true Son of God, the same as the Father.— the True Faith of the Council