Historian of the early Church, probably born in Palestine. He became Bishop of Caesarea c.313, and in the Council of Nicaea held a moderate position between the views of Arius and Athanasius. His great work, the Ecclesiastical History, is a record of the chief events in the Christian Church until 324.
Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 275 – May 30, 339) (often called Eusebius Pamphili, "Eusebius [the friend] of Pamphilus") was a bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and is often referred to as the father of church history because of his work in recording the history of the early Christian church.
Biography
His exact date and place of birth are unknown, and little is known of his youth.
In 307, Pamphilus was imprisoned, but Eusebius continued their project. The resulting defence of Origen, in which they had collaborated, was finished by Eusebius after the death of Pamphilus and sent to the martyrs in the mines of Phaeno in Egypt. Eusebius then seems to have gone to Tyre and later to Egypt, where he first suffered persecution.
Eusebius is next heard of as bishop of Caesarea Palaestina. He succeeded Agapius, whose time of office is not known, but Eusebius must have become bishop soon after 313. When the Council of Nicaea met in 325, Eusebius was prominent in its transactions.
Eusebius was involved in the further development of the Arian controversies. For instance, in the dispute with Eustathius of Antioch, who opposed the growing influence of Origen and his practice of an allegorical exegesis of scripture, seeing in his theology the roots of Arianism, Eusebius, an admirer of Origen, was reproached by Eustathius for deviating from the Nicene faith, who was charged in turn with Sabellianism. The people of Antioch rebelled against this action, while the anti-Eustathians proposed Eusebius as the new bishop, but he declined.
After Eustathius had been removed, the Eusebians proceeded against Athanasius of Alexandria, a much more dangerous opponent. In the following year, he was again summoned before a synod in Tyre at which Eusebius presided. Constantine called the bishops to his court, among them Eusebius. Constantine died the next year, and Eusebius did not long survive him. Eusebius died (probably at Caesarea) in 340 at the latest and probably on May 30, 339.
Works
Of the extensive literary activity of Eusebius, a relatively large portion has been preserved. Although posterity suspected him of Arianism, Eusebius had made himself indispensable by his method of authorship; Hence, much has been preserved, quoted by Eusebius, which otherwise would have been destroyed.
The literary productions of Eusebius reflect on the whole the course of his life. Afterward, the persecutions under Diocletian and Galerius directed his attention to the martyrs of his own time and the past, and this led him to the history of the whole Church and finally to the history of the world, which, to him, was only a preparation for ecclesiastical history.
Then followed the time of the Arian controversies, and dogmatic questions came into the foreground. Lastly, Eusebius, the court theologian, wrote eulogies in praise of Constantine. To all this activity must be added numerous writings of a miscellaneous nature, addresses, letters, and the like, and exegetical works which include both commentaries and treatises on Biblical archaeology and extend over the whole of his life.
Works on Biblical text criticism
Pamphilus and Eusebius occupied themselves with the text criticism of the Septuagint text of the Old Testament and especially of the New Testament. An edition of the Septuagint seems to have been already prepared by Origen, which, according to Jerome, was revised and circulated by Eusebius and Pamphilus. For an easier survey of the material of the four Evangelists, Eusebius divided his edition of the New Testament into paragraphs and provided it with a synoptical table so that it might be easier to find the pericopes that belong together.
The Chronicle
The two greatest historical works of Eusebius are his Chronicle and his Church History.
The work as a whole has been lost in the original, but it may be reconstructed from later chronographists of the Byzantine school who made excerpts from the work with untiring diligence, especially George Syncellus. thus, the first part of Eusebius's "Chronicle", of which only a few fragments exist in the Greek, has been preserved entirely in Armenian.
The Church History
In his Church History or Ecclesiastical History (Historia Ecclesiastica), Eusebius attempted according to his own declaration (I.i.1) to present the history of the Church from the apostles to his own time, with special regard to the following points:
(1) the successions of bishops in the principal sees; The contents are as follows:Book i: detailed introduction on Jesus Christ Book ii: The history of the apostolic time to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus Book iii: The following time to Trajan Books iv and v: the second century Book vi: The time from Septimius Severus to Decius Book vii: extends to the outbreak of the persecution under Diocletian Book viii: more of this persecution Book ix: history to Constantine's victory over Maxentius in the West and over Maximinus in the East Book x: The reëstablishment of the churches and the rebellion and conquest of Licinius.
In its present form, the work was brought to a conclusion before the death of Crispus (July, 326), and, since book x is dedicated to Paulinus of Tyre who died before 325, at the end of 323, or in 324.
Eusebius blames the calamities which befell the Jewish nation on the Jews' role in the death of Jesus. Eccles. II.6: The Misfortunes which overwhelmed the Jews after their Presumption against Christ)
The Life of Constantine
Eusebius' Life of Constantine (Vita Constantini) is a eulogy, and therefore its style and selection of facts are affected by its purpose, rendering it inadequate as a continuation of the Church History. As the historian Socrates Scholasticus said, at the opening of his history that was designed as a continuation of Eusebius, "Also in writing the life of Constantine, this same author has but slightly treated of matters regarding Arius, being more intent on the rhetorical finish of his composition and the praises of the emperor, than on an accurate statement of facts."
Minor historical works
Before he compiled his church history, Eusebius edited a collection of martyrdoms of the earlier period and a biography of Pamphilus.
Apologetic and dogmatic works
To the class of apologetic and dogmatic works belong:
(1) the Apology for Origen, the first five books of which, according to the definite statement of Photius, were written by Pamphilus in prison, with the assistance of Eusebius. Eusebius added the sixth book after the death of Pamphilus. (2) a treatise against Hierocles (a Roman governor and Neoplatonic philosopher), in which Eusebius combated the former's glorification of Apollonius of Tyana in a work entitled "A Truth-loving Discourse" (Greek, Philalethes logos); Eusebius considered it an introduction to Christianity for pagans. But its value for many later readers is more because Eusebius studded this work with so many fascinating and lively fragments from historians and philosophers which are nowhere else preserved. Here alone is preserved a summary of the writings of the Phoenician priest Sanchuniathon of which the accuracy has been shown by the mythological accounts found on the Ugaritic tables, here alone is the account from Diodorus Siculus's sixth book of Euhemerus' wondrous voyage to the island of Panchaea where Euhemerus purports to have found his true history of the gods, and here almost alone is preserved writings of the neo-Platonist philosopher Atticus along with so much else. Here Eusebius treats of the person of Jesus Christ. The work is merely the surviving portion (books 6-9) of the General elementary introduction to the Christian faith, now lost. (8) a supplement to the last-named work, entitled "On the Theology of the Church," in which he defended the Nicene doctrine of the Logos against the party of Athanasius.Exegetical and miscellaneous works
Of the exegetical works of Eusebius, nothing has been preserved in its original form. A more comprehensive work of an exegetical nature, preserved only in fragments, is entitled "On the Differences of the Gospels" and was written for the purpose of harmonizing the contradictions in the reports of the different Evangelists. It was also for exegetical purposes that Eusebius wrote his treatises on Biblical archeology:
(1) a work on the Greek equivalents of Hebrew Gentilic nouns; Of the letters of Eusebius only a few fragments are extant.Estimate of Eusebius
His doctrine
From a dogmatic point of view, Eusebius stands entirely upon the shoulders of Origen. but the figure of the ray is so limited by Eusebius that he expressly emphasizes the self-existence of Jesus.
Eusebius was intent upon emphasizing the difference of the persona of the Trinity and maintaining the subordination of Jesus to God (he never calls him theos) because in all contrary attempts he suspected polytheism or Sabellianism. Jesus is a creature of God whose generation, for Eusebius, took place before time. The relation of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity Eusebius explained similarly to that of the Son to the Father. No point of this doctrine is original with Eusebius, all is traceable to his teacher Origen.
His limitations
Notwithstanding the great influence of his works on others, Eusebius was not himself a great historian.
He has also been accused of dishonesty at various times, and in various connections.
Gibbon dismissed his testimony on the number of martyrs and impugned his honesty by referring to a passage in the Ecclesiastical History, book 8, chapter 2, in which Eusebius introduces his discussion of the Great Persecution under Diocletian with "We shall introduce into this history in general only those events which may be useful first to ourselves and afterwards to posterity." But the text is discussing parallels between the bible and the theories of Plato on education, and Eusebius is suggesting that the bible also contains such material. Unless it is supposed that Eusebius believes the bible to be deceptive, it is easy to see why Gibbon confined his remark to the chapter heading (which may not be authorial anyway), and why Gibbon was accused of dishonesty in his attacks on Eusebius. Swiss Historian Jacob Burckhardt dismissed Eusebius as "the first thoroughly dishonest historian of antiquity". "The manner in which Eusebius deals with his very numerous quotations elsewhere, where we can test his honesty, is a sufficient vindication against this unjust charge." But he accepts that Eusebius cannot always be relied on. 59, 1990), he says that ever since Burckhardt, "Eusebius has been an inviting target for students of the Constantinian era. Much traditional scholarship, sometimes with barely suppressed disdain, has regarded Eusebius as one who risked his orthodoxy and perhaps his character because of his zeal for the Constantinian establishment." He concludes that "the standard assessment has exaggerated the importance of political themes and political motives in Eusebius's life and writings and has failed to do justice to him as a churchman and a scholar". Averil Cameron and Stuart Hall, in their recent translation of the Life of Constantine point out that writers such as Burckhardt found it necessary to attack Eusebius in order to undermine the ideological legitimacy of the Hapsburg empire, which based itself on the idea of Christian empire derived from Constantine, and that the most controversial letter in the Life has since been found among the papyri of Egypt.While many have shared Burckhardt's assessment, particularly with reference to the Life of Constantine, others, while not pretending to extol his merits, have acknowledged the irreplaceable value of his works.
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