Eusebius

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA

I: Life.

Becomes Prominent in the Arian Controversy (§ 1).

II. Works.

Works on Biblical Text Criticism

The "Chronicle" (§ 2).

The "Church History" (§ 3).

Minor Historical Works (§ 4).

Apologetic and Dogmatic Works (§ 5).

Exegetical and Miscellaneous Works (§ 6).

III. Estimate of Eusebius

His Doctrine (§ 1).

His Excellencies and Limitations (§ 2).

Eusebius of Casearea (often called

Eusebius Pamphili,

"Eusebius [the friend of] Pamphilus "; see

PAMPHILUS), bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, the

father of church history, was born about 275 or

280, place unknown; d. at Caesarea (?), at the latest

340, most probably May 30, 339.

I. Life

Little is known of his youth. He be

came acquainted with the presbyter Dorotheus in

Antioch and probably received exegetical

instruction from him. In 296 he was in Palestine and

saw Constantine who visited the country with

Diocletian. He was in Caesarea when Agapius was

bishop and made the acquaintance of Pamphilus,

who became his intimate friend. With him he

pursued studies which seem to have related chiefly

to the preparation of a correct text of the Bible,

with the aid of Origen's Hexapla, and

commentaries collected by Pamphilus. In 307 Pamphilus

was thrown into prison, but Eusebius continued

his intercourse and studies. The fruit of their

common labors was an apology for Origen in which

Pamphilus and Eusebius collaborated, which was

finished by Eusebius after the death of Pamphilus

and sent to the martyrs in the mines of Phaeno in

Egypt. (see below, IL, § 5). After the death of

Pamphilus, Eusebius seems to have gone to Tyre

and later to Egypt, where apparently he first

suffered persecution. The charge that he purchased

his liberty by sacrificing to the gods is unfounded.

1. Becomes Prominent in the Arian Controversy

Eusebius is next heard of as bishop of Caesarea.

He succeeded Agapius, whose time of office is not

known, but Eusebius must have become bishop

soon after 313. Nothing is known about the first

years of his official activity, but with the

beginning of the Arian controversies he becomes

prominent. Arius appealed to him as his protector, and

from a letter of Eusebius to Alexander it is

evident that he aided the exiled presbyter (see ARIUS).

When the Council of Nicaea met in 325, Eusebius

was prominent in its transactions. He was not

naturally a leader or a deep thinker,

but as a very learned man and well

trained in history, at the same time a

famous author who enjoyed the

special favor of the emperor, he came to

the front among the 300 members of

the council. The confession which he

proposed became the basis of the Nicene formula

(see Nicaea, COUNCIL OF). Eusebius was variously

implicated in the further development of the

Arian controversies, as, for instance, in the dispute

with Eustathius of Antioch (q.v.). Eustathius

combated the continually growing influence of

Origen and his allegorizing exegesis, seeing in his

theology the roots of Arianism. Eusebius, on the

other hand, was an admirer of Origen, and

employed the same principles in his exegesis.

Eustathius reproached Eusebius for deviating from the

Nicene faith, and was charged in turn with

Sabellianism. Eustathius was accused, condemned and

deposed at a synod in Antioch. The people of

Antioch, always prone to disturbances, 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, a much more

dangerous opponent. In 334 he was summoned

before a synod in Caesarea; he did not attend,

however, distrusting his opponents. In the following

year he was again summoned before a synod in

Tyre at which Eusebius presided. Athanasius,

divining the result, went to Constantinople to bring

his cause before the emperor. The emperor called

the bishops to his court, among them Eusebius.

Athanasius was condemned and exiled at the end

of 335. At the same synod, another opponent

was successfully attacked. Marcellus of Ancyra

(q.v.) had long opposed the Eusebians, and had

only lately protested against the reinstitution of

Arius. He was accused of Sabellianism and

deposed in the beginning of 336. Constantine died

the next year and Eusebius did not long survive

him.

II. 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; his

comprehensive and careful excerpts from original sources

saved his successors the painstaking labor of

research. Hence much has been preserved which

otherwise would have been destroyed. The

literary productions of Eusebius reflect on the whole

the course of his life. At first he occupied himself

with works on Biblical criticism, under the

influence of Pamphilus and probably of Dorotheus of

the School of Antioch. 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. Christianity at last found

recognition by the State; and this brought new

problems-- apologies of a different sort had to be

prepared. Lastly, Eusebius, the court theologian,

wrote eulogies in praise of the first "Christian"

emperor. 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 archeology and extend over the whole of

his life.

1. Works on Biblical Text Criticism

Pamphilus and Eusebius occupied themselves

with the text criticism of the Old Testament

(Septuagint) 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 which belong together (see

BIBLE TEXT, II., § 4).

2. The "Chronicle"

The two greatest historical works of Eusebius

are his "Chronicle" and his "Church History."

The former (Gk. Pantodape historia, "Universal

History ") is divided into two parts. The first

part (Gk. Chronographia, "Annals") purports to

give an epitome of universal history from the

sources, arranged according to nations. The

second part (Gk. Chronikoi kanones,

"Chronological Canons") attempts to furnish a synchronism

of the historical material in parallel

columns. 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 Georgius Syncellus. The tables

of the second part have been completely preserved

in a Latin translation by Jerome, and both parts

are still extant in an Armenian translation, but

these translations do not possess great value on

account of numerous interpolations. The

"Chronicle" as preserved extends to the year 325. It

was written before the " Church History."

3. The "Church History"

In his "Church History," 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;

(2) the history of Christian teachers;

(3) the history of heresies;

(4) the history of the

Jews;

(5) the relations to the heathen;

(6) the

martyrdoms (L, i. 1-3).

He grouped his material

according to the reigns of the emperors, presenting

it as he found it in his sources. The contents are

as follows: After a detailed introduction, which

treats of Jesus Christ (book i.), comes

the history of the apostolic time to

the capture of Jerusalem (book ii.);

then the following time to Trajan

(book iii.); books iv. and v. treat of

the second century; book vi. of the time from

Severus to Decius; book vii. extends to the

outbreak of the persecution under Diocletian; book

viii. treats of this persecution; book ix. brings the

history to the victory over Maxentius in the West

and over Maximinus in the East; book x. relates

the reestablishment 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. This work

required the most comprehensive preparatory studies,

and it must have occupied him for years. His

collection of martyrdoms of the older period (see

below, § 4) may have been one of these preparatory

studies. The authenticity of Eusebius's "Church

History" is beyond dispute. Every new

discovery shows anew the conscientious, careful and

intelligent use of the libraries of Caesarea and

Jerusalem.

4. Minor Historical Works

Before he compiled his church history, Eusebius

edited a collection of martyrdoms of the earlier

period and a biography of Pamphilus. The

martyrology has not survived as a whole, but it has

been preserved almost completely in parts. It

contained

(1) an epistle of the

congregation of Smyrna concerning the

martyrdom of Polycarp;

(2) the martyrdom of Pionius;

(3) the martyrdoms of Carpus, Papylus, and

Agathonike;

(4) the martyrdoms in the congregations

of Vienne and Lyons;

(5) the martyrdom of

Apollonius.

Of the life of Pamphilus only a

fragment survives. A work on the martyrs of

Palestine in the time of Diocletian was composed after

311; numerous fragments are scattered in

legendaries which still have to be collected. The life

of Constantine was compiled after the death of the

emperor and the election of his sons at Augusti

(337). It is more a rhetorical eulogy on the

emperor than a history, but is of great value

on account of numerous documents incorporated

in it.

5. 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.

We possess only a translation of the first book,

made by Rufinus;

(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 " (Gk. Philalethes

logos);

(3) and (4) the two prominent and closely

connected works commonly known by the Latin

titles Praeparatio evangelica

and Demonstratio evangelica,

the first attempts to prove the

excellence of Christianity over every pagan religion

and philosophy. The Praeparatio

consists of fifteen books which have

been completely preserved.

Eusebius considered it an introduction

to Christianity for heathen. The

Demonstratio comprised originally

twenty books of which ten have been

completely preserved and a fragment of the fifteenth.

Here Eusebius treats of the person of Jesus

Christ. The work was probably finished before

311;

(5) another work which originated in the

time of the persecution, entitled "Prophetic

Extracts" (Eklogai prophetikai). It discusses in four

books the Messianic texts of Holy Scripture;

(6) the treatise "On Divine Manifestation"

(Peri theophaneias), dating from a much later

time. It treats of the incarnation of the Divine

Logos, and its contents are in many cases identical

with the Demonstratio evangelica.

Only fragments are preserved;

(7) the polemical treatise "Against

Marcellus," dating from about 337;

(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.

A number of writings, belonging in

this category, have been entirely lost.

6. Exegetical and Miscellaneous Works.

Of the exegetical works of Eusebius nothing has

been preserved in its original form. The so-called

commentaries are based upon late manuscripts

copied from fragments of catenae. 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,

viz.:

(1) a work on the Greek equivalents of

Hebrew Gentilic nouns;

(2) a description of old Judea

with an account of the lots of the ten tribes;

(3) a

plan of Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon.

These three treatises have been lost. A work

entitled " On the Names of Places in the Holy

Scriptures," an alphabetical list of place names, is still

in existence. Further mention is to be made of

addresses and sermons some of which have been

preserved, e.g., a sermon on the consecration of

the church in Tyre, and an address on the thirtieth

anniversary of the reign of Constantine (336). Of

the letters of Eusebius only a few fragments are

extant.

III. Estimate of Eusebius

1. His Doctrine.

From a dogmatic

point of view, Eusebius stands entirely upon the

shoulders of Origen. Like Origen, he started from

the fundamental thought of the absolute

sovereignty (monarchia) of God. God is the cause of

all beings. But he is not merely a cause; in him

everything good is included, from him all life

originates, and he is the source of all virtue. He is

the highest God to whom Christ is subject as the

second God. God sent Christ into the world that

it may partake of the blessings

included in the essence of God. Christ

is the only really good creature, he

possesses the image of God and is a ray

of the eternal light; 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, it is true, took place before time. Jesus

is in his activity the organ of God, the creator of

life, the principle of every revelation of God, who

in his absoluteness is enthroned above all the

world. This divine Logos assumed a human body

without being altered thereby in any way in his

being. 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. The lack of originality in his thinking

shows itself in the fact that he never presented his

thoughts in a system. He lacked a leading idea.

2. His Excellencies and Limitations

The limitations of Eusebius are closely connected

with his gifts. His time justly considered him its

most learned man. A list of the sources he used

for his church history would show what an amount

of work had to be done to elaborate and sift the

mass of material. But the learning of Eusebius

can not be measured with that of Origen. Origen

was a productive spirit, Eusebius a compiler.

Eusebius, however, distinguished himself

by his carefulness. A man like

Eusebius was not without weight in the

time when barbarian nations began to

invade the Church in large masses.

In the time which followed nobody

excelled him in learning. Church historians were

able to copy him, but they could not supply his

place.

As a writer he can not be highly estimated.

His style is without grace and brilliancy, his

phraseology often monotonous, and his rhetoric cumbrous.

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Initial text from Schaff-Herzog Encyc of Religion