The Holy Greatmartyr Eustathios, before his baptism, was named Placidus, meaning “calm” in Latin. He was a military commander under the emperors Titus (79-81) and Trajan (98-117). Even before he came to faith in Christ, Placidus carried out acts of charity, helping the poor and destitute. And the Lord willed not to leave this virtuous pagan in the darkness of idolatry.
One time, while hunting on horseback, he chased after a stag, which halted its run atop a high hill, and Placidus suddenly saw amidst its antlers a radiant cross, and on it the crucified Christ. In surprise Placidus heard a voice saying: “Why do you pursue me, Placidus?”
“Who are you, Master, who are speaking with me?” he asked in fear.
“I am Jesus Christ: God who became man for the salvation of mankind and chose to endure suffering and death by the cross. You have been honoring me even without knowing me, since your righteous acts and abundant alms have come to me. I have appeared here to turn you and join you to my true servants. For I do not desire that anyone who works righteousness should perish in the snares of enemies.”
Placidus responded, “Lord, I do believe that you are the God of the heavens and the earth, the Creator of all. Master, teach me what I should do.” And the divine voice came again: “Go to the Christian priest, receive baptism from him, and he will instruct you toward salvation.”
With joy Placidus returned home and told everything to his wife. She in turn told him how, the evening before, in a mysterious dream, she had been told: “You, your husband and sons will come to me tomorrow, and know me – Christ Jesus, the true God, sent for the salvation of those who love me.” The spouses then proceeded to do as they had been told.
They hastened to the Christian presbyter, who baptized all their family, and communed them all with the holy Mysteries. Placidus was baptized with the new name Eustathios, meaning “steadfast.” His wife received the Christian name Theopiste, and their sons Agapios and Theopistos.
On the following day Eustathios returned the place of his miraculous conversion, and in fervent prayer he offered up thanks to the Lord for having called him to the path of salvation.
At this time the Lord revealed to him that great tribulations were to come. “Eustathios, your faith must be revealed in deeds. Before you, like Job, there are many sorrows, so that being put to the test like gold in the fire, you may be shown forth worthy of me, and receive a crown from my hands.” Eustathios humbly answered, “Let your will be done, Lord. I am prepared to accept all things from your hands with gratitude, but let your almighty help be with me.”
Soon Eustathios was plunged into troubles: All his servants died and his cattle perished. Brought to ruin, but not despairing in spirit, Eustathios and his family abandoned their home to go live unknown, humble, and in poverty. They set off on a ship to Egypt.
During the journey a new sorrow beset the saint. The shipowner, infatuated with the beauty of Eustathios’s wife, cruelly set him ashore with his children, keeping the wife for himself. In great grief the saint continued on his way. But further temptation came: While crossing a tempestuous river ford, he went to carry his two sons; but when he had carried one son across, the other on shore was seized by a lion and carried off into the wilderness, and while he returned towards the other, a wolf dragged that one off into the forest.
Having lost everything, Saint Eustathios wept bitterly. But he realized that divine providence had sent him these troubles to prove his endurance and devotion to the will of God. In prayer, lifting up to God his inconsolable grief, Eustathios went on further, preparing for new tribulations.
In the village of Badiss he found work and spent five years in unremitting labor. But Eustathios did not know that, through the mercy of God, shepherds and farmers had saved his sons, and they lived close nearby. And he also did not know that the shameless shipowner was soon struck down and died from a terrible disease, and the wife of Saint Eustathios had surived untouched, and she lived at peaceful work.
During this time period it had become difficult for the emperor Trajan to levy an army for Rome. He then remembered the valiant regimental commander Placidus and dispatched Antiochus and Acacius, friends of Placidus, to find him.
Having gone round many of places, finally they arrived in the village where Saint Eustathios lived. The soldiers came upon Eustathios in a field, where he was guarding the grain, but they did not recognize him and they began to tell him about the man whom they sought, asking his help and promising a large reward. But Eustathios, immediately recognizing his friends, did not reveal to them his identity. He brought them to the home of his master and fed them. Gazing at him, the travelers noted that he very much resembled their regimental commander, and when they saw on his knee a peculiar mark, the scar from a deep war wound, they realized that in front of them was their friend. They embraced him with tears and said why they were seeking him.
Saint Eustathios returned to Rome and again became an imperial commandant. Many a new recruit entered the army for him, and he did not know that two young soldier-friends, to whom he often gave orders and whom he loved for their skill and daring, were actually his own grown sons, and they did not realize that they were serving under the command of their own father, nor that they themselves were brothers by birth.
One time while on campaign the army, led by Eustathios, halted at a certain settlement. The two soldiers were talking in their tent. The elder one told his story: how he had lost his mother and brother, and how in a terrifying way he had been parted from his father. And the younger brother with joy realized that in front of him was his very own brother, and told him so, and shared his own tale.
A woman working nearby overheard the soldiers’ conversation, for their tent was pitched by where she worked – and by the providence of God this woman was their mother Theopiste. She realized that these were her sons.
Still not yet identifying herself to them, and not wanting to be separated from them, she went to their commander, to ask permission to follow along with his army. And when she met this commander face to face, she recognized her husband, and with tears she told him about herself and about the two soldiers who were their sons. And so through the great mercy of the Lord, the whole family was at last happily reunited.
Soon afterward the war ended in victory. Saint Eustathios returned to Rome with honors and glory. The emperor Trajan had since died, and his successor Hadrian (117‑138) announced a celebration of victory, with a solemn offering of sacrifice to the gods of Rome. To the astonishment of everyone, his commander Eustathios did not show up at the pagan temple. By order of the emperor they searched frantically for him.
“Why do you not wish to worship the gods?” asked the emperor, “It is fitting for you before all others to offer thanks to them. They not only preserved you in war and granted you victory, but they even helped you find your wife and children.”
The saint replied, “I am a Christian and I know the one God, Christ Jesus. He is the one to whom I give reverence and thanks, and I worship him alone. He has given me everything: health, victory, the return of my family, and he has sent down his help in order to overcome tribulations.”
In rage, the emperor stripped Eustathios of his rank and summoned him with his family to trial. But there also they did not succeed in swaying the steadfast confessors of Christ into offering sacrifice to idols. The whole family of Saint Eustathios was sentenced to be torn apart by wild beasts. But the animals would not touch the holy martyrs. Then the cruel emperor in his wrath gave orders to throw them all alive into a red-hot copper ox, and here Saint Eustathios, his wife Theopiste and their sons Agapios and Theopistos, accepted a martyr’s end.
Three days later they opened the fiery grave, and the bodies of the holy martyrs were found unscathed – not one hair on their heads was singed, and their faces shone with an unearthly beauty. Many who saw this miracle came to believe in Christ, and Christians then gave burial to the bodies of the saints.
The Holy Greatmartyr Eustathios, with his wife Theopiste and sons Agapios and Theopistos, are commemorated on September 20/ October 3.
Through their prayers, O Christ our God, have mercy on us!
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Afterward: The saint’s name in another form, Eustachios, has come into modern times as Eustace.
But during western Europe’s Middle Ages, the story of Saint Eustachios was retold many times. After the fifteenth century, in Roman Catholicism the story of his seeing a deer with the cross in its antlers began to be attached to the legend of Saint Hubert, 8th-century bishop of Liège, who is popularly remembered in the west as a master hunter: This is the origin of the distinctive logo of the Jägermeister liqueur.
