“The Eusebians” (ὁἱ περὶ Εὐσέβιον or more rarely ὁἱ ἀμφὶ Εὐσέβιον: lit. “the ones around Eusebius”) is the title commonly used to denote a prominent bloc within the 4th-century CE eastern church, named for their reported leader Eusebius of Nicomedia. The title originated in Nicene writers, particularly Athanasius of Alexandria, as a polemical reference to what they believed to be an “Arian” faction (Arianism) who plotted against orthodox bishops in support of their heresy. Yet the individuals named in our sources as “Eusebians” did not share the more radical doctrin…