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search"Eusebius" redirects here. Eusebius of Caesarea (c 263 – 339?[1]) (often called Eusebius Pamphili, "Eusebius
[the friend] of Pamphilus") became the bishop of Caesarea
Palaestina c 314.[1] He is often referred to as the Father of Church
History because of his work in recording the history of the early Christian
church, especially Chronicle and Ecclesiastical History[1].
Doctrine
From a dogmatic
point of view, Eusebius stands entirely upon the shoulders of Origen and Arius. 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. God sent Christ into the world that it may partake of the
blessings included in the essence of God. Christ is 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.
SBT Note the self-existence of Jesus. Jesus is Yahweh’s first son according to His Own Testimony Of Himself (Also see
Jesus.htm)
The Fact is Jesus never said He was God-(Jesus said He was God’s Son not
GodTheSon)-So Based on
Jesus’
Own Testimony Of Himself
any other verse that may seem to Imply that
Jesus is God has to be perceived that Jesus is
God’s Spokesman in some
sense or another- Heb 1-3 It is that Simple.-This Is Not Arius Talking 58.htm-This is
THE
Denying
Jesus a real individual.Life as
you have Life Is Denying Jesus-Owenship--
God owns Jesus
1cor3.htm#foot10 23 and you to Christ, and Christ to God. Prov 8-22.
Can You Distinguish the difference between Jesus’ words
and men make doctrices ?-58.htm TS
The Nicene
Creed Makes could not distinguish
the difference between scripture and a Imaginary-Concept
of
God’s head. Termed now as Homoousion-Sustance-3 In1 God- Theology. The
word Godhead is not an original manuscrip
word—original word is Divine Nature open Godhead.
Godhead -A--pro Nicene--Creed- Mental
Imaginary-Concept
SonOfGod-and-God’SonVerses-Vs-GodTheSon-Verses.htm—
Another way to say It is The Fact is Jesus
never said He was God---any other way of explaining Jesus
Other then Hisown Testimony Of Himself is strickyly a Mental-Imaginary-Concept of God’s head- Homoousion Theology
Compare
Chart in 0A1.htmand
GODSupreme Use The Real Strong’s Numbers in biblos-2316 theosgod-+What Is a Lexicon
Open Lexicons.htm 42k
Open-
Similar pages Read This about Thayer’s inplacing StrongsNumbers-Here Definitions--(Many Listed in
open Coms.htm Open T-O’S- T-O’S Stand
for The-Trinitarian/Oneness
movemet of 325 plus.
Here is a Very Important Note.
Always
Keep In Mind That Most all If Not all Proclaimed Christian
Groups and individuals Base their
Statement
of Faith (s) and/or STATEMENTs-Beliefs.htm)*from* the Bible Translations They Rely Upon *for *Truth.There
There Two Types of Christian Bibles Open and Study BiblesTwoTypes.htm -FREE-WILL.htm
SBT Is Mostly
About Bibles–The
Translation Work-Open and Study-1SMALLintroduction-GOD-IFCS-What Is a god.
And Improving On --The Best Way a Common Person Can Check On This Work and Understand This Work Today.
Ecclesiastical Doctrines.
Without
good Foot-Notes it is almost impossible to pass on good Interpretation of some
verses from Generation to the next
Generation.
Get the details is in Footer Jpg.
Read BestBiblesPlus that have good Footer Jpg.
Eusebius was intent upon emphasizing the difference of the persona of the Trinity and maintaining the subordination of the Son (Logos, or
Word) to God (he never calls him theos) because in all contrary attempts he suspected polytheism or Sabellianism.
The Son (Jesus), as Arianism asserted, is a creature of God whose generation,
for Eusebius, took place before time. Jesus acts as the organ or instrument of
God, the creator of life, the principle of every revelation of God, who in his
absoluteness and transcendent is enthroned above and isolated from all the
world. This Logos, as a derivative creature and not truly God as the Father is
truly God, could therefore change (Eusebius, with most early theologians,
assumed God was immutable), and he assumed a human body without altering the
immutable divine Father. 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 teachers Arius and
Origen. The lack of originality in his thinking shows itself in the fact that
he never presented his thoughts in a system. After nearly being excommunicated
for his heresy by Alexander of Alexandria, Eusebius submitted and agreed to the
Nicene
Creed at the First Council of Nicaea.
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea (c 263 – 339?[1]) (often called Eusebius Pamphili, "Eusebius
[the friend] of Pamphilus") became the bishop of Caesarea
Palaestina c 314.[1] He is often referred to as the Father of Church
History because of his work in recording the history of the early Christian
church, especially Chronicle and Ecclesiastical History[1].
|
Contents [hide] |
[edit] Biography
His exact date and place of birth are unknown and little is known of his youth,
however it is estimated that he was born in 265[2].
He became 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 became friendly with Pamphilus of Caesarea, with whom he seems to
have studied the text of the Bible, with the aid of Origen's Hexapla
and commentaries collected by Pamphilus, in an attempt to prepare a correct
version.
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
located in modern Jordan.
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
Maritima. He succeeded Agapius, whose time of office is not certain,
but Eusebius must have become bishop soon after 313. Nothing is known about the
early years of his tenure. When the Council of Nicaea met in 325, Eusebius was
prominent in its transactions. He was not naturally a spiritual leader or
theologian, but as a very learned man and a famous author who enjoyed the
special favour of the emperor, he came to the fore among the members of the
council (traditionally given as 318 attendees). The confession that he proposed
became the basis of the Nicene Creed.
Eusebius was involved in the further development of the Arian controversies.
For instance he was involved in the dispute with Eustathius of Antioch who opposed the growing
influence of Origen, including his practice of an allegorical
exegesis of scripture. Eustathius perceived in Origen's theology the roots
of Arianism.
Eusebius was an admirer of Origen and was reproached by Eustathius for
deviating from the Nicene faith - he was even alleged to hold to Sabellianism.
Eustathius was accused, condemned and deposed at a synod in Antioch. Part of
the population of Antioch rebelled against this action and the anti-Eustathians
proposed Eusebius as its new bishop - he declined.
After Eustathius had been removed, Athanasius of Alexandria, a more powerful
opponent, was attacked by the anti-Nicene party headed by Eusebius of
Nicomedia. In 334,
Athanasius was summoned before a synod in Caesarea; he did not attend. In the
following year, he was again summoned before a synod in Tyre at which Eusebius of Caesarea
presided. Athanasius, foreseeing the result, went to Constantinople
to bring his cause before the emperor. Constantine 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 had long opposed the
ant-Nicene party and had protested against the reinstitution of Arius. He was accused
of Sabellianism and deposed in 336. Constantine died the next year, and
Eusebius did not long survive him. Eusebius date of death is unknown. It is
estimated that he died between 337 and 340
after the death of Constantine[3].
[edit] 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 original research. 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. At first, he occupied himself with works on Biblical criticism under the
influence of Pamphilus
and probably of Dorotheus of Tyre 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 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 extend over the whole of his life, and
which include both commentaries and treatises on Biblical archaeology.
[edit] Biblical text criticism
Pamphilus and Eusebius occupied themselves with the textual
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. These canon tables or "Eusebian canons" remained
in use throughout the Middle Ages, and illuminated manuscript versions are
important for the study of early medieval art.
[edit] Chronicle
Main article: Chronicon (Eusebius)
The two greatest historical works of Eusebius are his Chronicle and his Church History. The former (Greek
Παντοδαπὴ Ἱστορία (Pantodape
historia), "Universal History") is divided into two parts. The
first part (Χρονογραφία
(Chronographia), "Annals") gives an epitome of universal
history from the sources, arranged according to nations. The second part
(Χρονικοὶ Κανόνες (Chronikoi kanones),
"Chronological Canons") furnishes a synchronism of the historical
material in parallel columns, the equivalent of a parallel timeline.
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. 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. The loss of the Greek originals has given an Armenian translation
a special importance; 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 "Chronicle" as preserved
extends to the year 325. It was written before the "Church History."
[edit] Church History
Main article: Church History (Eusebius)
In his Church History or Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius
wrote what was in fact the first attempted history of the Christian Church, as
a chronologically-ordered account, based on earlier sources, and complete from the
period of the Apostles to his own epoch. The time scheme correlated the history
with the reigns of the Roman Emperors, and the scope was broad. Included were
the bishops and other teachers of the Church; Christian relations with the Jews
and those deemed heretical; and the Christian martyrs.
[edit] Life of Constantine
Eusebius' Life of Constantine (Vita Constantini) is a eulogy or panegyric,
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." The work was
unfinished at Eusebius' death.
[edit] 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:
- an
epistle of the congregation of Smyrna
concerning the martyrdom of Polycarp;
- the
martyrdom of Pionius;
- the
martyrdoms of Carpus,
Papylus, and Agathonike;
- the
martyrdoms in the congregations of Vienne and Lyon;
- 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 as 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.
[edit] Apologetic and
dogmatic works
To the class of apologetic and dogmatic works belong:
- 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 Latin translation of the first book, made
by Rufinus;
- 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);
- Praeparatio
evangelica ('Preparation for the Gospel'),
commonly known by its Latin title, which 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 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.
- Demonstratio
evangelica ('Proof
of the Gospel') is closely connected to the Praeparatio
and comprised originally twenty books of which ten have been completely
preserved as well as a fragment of the fifteenth. Here Eusebius treats of
the person of Jesus Christ. The work was probably finished before 311;
- another
work which originated in the time of the persecution, entitled "Prophetic
Extracts" (Eklogai prophetikai). It discusses in
four books the Messianic texts of Scripture. The work is merely the
surviving portion (books 6-9) of the General elementary introduction
to the Christian faith, now lost.
- 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 in Greek,
but a complete Syriac translation of the Theophania survives in an
early 5th century manuscript.
- A
polemical treatises against Marcellus of Ancyra, the "Against
Marcellus," dating from about 337;
- a
supplement to the last-named work, also against Marcellus, entitled "The Ecclesiastical Theology," 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.
[edit] Exegetical
and miscellaneous works
All of the exegetical works of Eusebius have suffered damage in
transmission. The majority of them are known to us only from long portions
quoted in Byzantine catena-commentaries. However these portions are very
extensive. Extant are:
- An
enormous Commentary on the Psalms.
- A
commentary on Isaiah,
discovered more or less complete in a manuscript in Florence early in the
20th century and published 50 years later.
- Small
fragments of commentaries on Romans and 1
Corinthians.
Eusebius also wrote a work Quaestiones ad Stephanum et Marinum,
"On the Differences of the Gospels" (including solutions). This was
written for the purpose of harmonizing the contradictions in the reports of the
different Evangelists. The work existed in the 16th century, but has since been
lost. However a long epitome was discovered in the 19th century, and there are
also long quotations in the Catena on Luke of Nicetas. The original work
was also translated into Syriac, and lengthy quotations exist in a catena
in that language, and also in Coptic and Arabic catenas.
Eusebius also wrote treatises on Biblical archaeology:
- A work
on the Greek equivalents of Hebrew Gentilic nouns;
- A
description of old Judea with an account of the loss of the ten tribes;
- A plan
of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon.
These three treatises have been lost.
A work known as the Onomasticon, entitled in the main Greek
manuscript "Concerning the Place-names in Sacred Scripture",[4]
is still in existence. This is an alphabetical dictionary of Biblical place
names, often including identifications with places existing in Eusebius' own
time.
The addresses and sermons of Eusebius are mostly lost, but some 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).
Most of Eusebius' letters are lost. His letters to Carpianus and Flacillus
exist complete. Fragments of a letter to the empress Constantia also exists.
[edit] Estimate of Eusebius
[edit] Doctrine
From a dogmatic
point of view, Eusebius stands entirely upon the shoulders of Origen and Arius. 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. God sent Christ into the world that it may partake of the
blessings included in the essence of God. Christ is 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 the Son (Logos, or Word) to God
(he never calls him theos) because in all contrary attempts he suspected
polytheism or Sabellianism. The Son (Jesus), as Arianism asserted,
is a creature of God whose generation, for Eusebius, took place before time.
Jesus acts as the organ or instrument of God, the creator of life, the
principle of every revelation of God, who in his absoluteness and transcendent
is enthroned above and isolated from all the world. This Logos, as a derivative
creature and not truly God as the Father is truly God, could therefore change
(Eusebius, with most early theologians, assumed God was immutable), and he
assumed a human body without altering the immutable divine Father. 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 teachers Arius and Origen. The lack of originality in his
thinking shows itself in the fact that he never presented his thoughts in a
system. After nearly being excommunicated for his heresy by Alexander of
Alexandria, Eusebius submitted and agreed to the Nicene
Creed at the First Council of Nicaea.
[edit] Limitations
Notwithstanding the great influence of his works on others, the accuracy of
Eusebius' accounts has sometimes been questioned.
- In the Ecclesiastical
History, book 8, chapter 2, in which he introduces his discussion of
the Great Persecution under Diocletian with: "Wherefore we have
decided to relate nothing concerning them except the things in which we
can vindicate the Divine judgment. [...] We shall introduce into this
history in general only those events which may be useful first to
ourselves and afterwards to posterity."
- In the Martyrs
of Palestine, chapter 12, in which Eusebius provides a list of events
which are omitted from the text: "I think it best to pass by all
the other events which occurred in the meantime: such as [...] the lust of
power on the part of many, the disorderly and unlawful ordinations, and
the schisms among the confessors themselves; also the novelties which were
zealously devised against the remnants of the Church by the new and
factious members, who added innovation after innovation and forced them in
unsparingly among the calamities of the persecution, heaping misfortune
upon misfortune. I judge it more suitable to shun and avoid the account of
these things, as I said at the beginning."
- In his Praeparatio evangelica (xii,
31), Eusebius declares that it is "lawful and fitting" to
use fictions (pseudos) as medicine[5].
- His
treatment of source documents is also in doubt, since his Ecclesiastical
History quotes extensively from a fictional exchange of letters
between Abgar V of Edessa and Jesus[6].
- The
panegyrical tone of the Vita, plus the omission of internal
Christian conflicts in the Canones, suggests to many that his
writings should be trusted with caution.[7].
These and other issues have invited controversy and the condemnation of
historians. Gibbon noted that "He indirectly confesses that he has
related whatever might redound to the glory, and has suppressed all that could
tend to the disgrace, of religion".[8],
while the Swiss historian Jacob
Burckhardt was considerably blunter and dismissed Eusebius as "the
first thoroughly dishonest historian of antiquity".
In response, Eusebius' supporters have noted as follows:
- With
reference to Gibbon's comments, Joseph Barber Lightfoot (theologian
and former Bishop of Durham) pointed out[9] that Eusebius' statements indicate his honesty in
stating what he was not going to discuss, and also his limitations as a
historian in not including such material. He also discusses the question
of accuracy. "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." Lightfoot
also notes that Eusebius cannot always be relied on: "A far more
serious drawback to his value as a historian is the loose and uncritical
spirit in which he sometimes deals with his materials. This shews itself
in diverse ways. He is not always to be trusted in his discrimination of
genuine and spurious documents."
- Averil
Cameron (professor at King's College and Oxford) and Stuart Hall
(historian and theologian), 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[10].
- In Church
History (Vol. 59, 1990), Michael J. Hollerich (assistant professor at
the Jesuit Santa Clara University, California) replies to Burckhardt's
criticism of Eusebius, that "Eusebius has been an inviting target
for students of the Constantinian era. At one time or another they have
characterized him as a political propagandist, a good courtier, the shrewd
and worldly adviser of the Emperor Constantine, the great publicist of the
first Christian emperor, the first in a long succession of ecclesiastical
politicians, the herald of Byzantinism, a political theologian, a
political metaphysician, and a caesaropapist. It is obvious that these are
not, in the main, neutral descriptions. 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." Hollerich 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".
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 which may
principally reside in the copious quotations that they contain from other
sources, often lost.
[edit] See also
|
Preceded by |
Bishop
of Caesarea |
Succeeded by |
[edit] References
- ^ a
b
c
Wetterau, Bruce. World history. New York: Henry Holt and company. 1994.
- ^ Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Published in 1992, English Version,
page 299
- ^ The Essential Eusebius page 31. Published by Mentor-Omega Book in New
yYork and Toronto. Year of publication 1966
- ^ C. Umhau Wolf [1971]
(2006). The Onomasticon of
Eusebius Pamphili Compared with the Version of Jerome and Annotated.
The Tertullian Project, p. xx. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
- ^ "Data for discussing the
meaning of pseudos and Eusebius in PE XII, 31".
tertullian.org. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ The Legend of Abgar http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01042c.htm
- ^ Burgess, R. W., and Witold Witakowski. 1999. Studies in Eusebian and
Post-Eusebian chronography 1. The "Chronici canones" of
Eusebius of Caesarea: structure, content and chronology, AD 282-325 -- 2.
The "Continuatio Antiochiensis Eusebii": a chronicle of Antioch
and the Roman Near East during the Reigns of Constantine and Constantius
II, AD 325-350. Historia (Wiesbaden, Germany), Heft 135. Stuttgart:
Franz Steiner. Page 69.
- ^ Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. 1, chapter 16
- ^ "J.B. Lightfoot,
Eusebius of Caesarea". tertullian.org. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ Averil Cameron, Stuart G. Hall, Eusebius' Life of Constantine.
Introduction, translation and commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1999. Pp. xvii + 395. ISBN 0-19-814924-7.
Reviewed in BMCR
[edit] References
- Initial
text from Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religion, subjected to
edits for style.
[edit] External links
[edit] Texts online
- Opera
Omnia by Migne Patrologia Graeca with analytical indexes Complete
Greek text of all his works.
[edit] Translations online
- Writings of Church Fathers
Extensive collection of Eusebius's works online in English.
- Historia
Ecclesiastica (English translation for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers)
- Eusebius
Pamphili of Caesarea at the Tertullian Project (English translation)
- Letters
at the Patristics In English Project (English Translation From Various
Sources)
[edit] Other links
- "Article on
Eusebius in the New Advent Catholic Encylopeida"
- Eusebius of Caesarea
at the Tertullian Project
- EarlyChurch.org.uk
Extensive bibliography.
- Chronological
list of Eusebius's writings.
- The
formation of the New Testament canon, part 6 - An attack on the
scholarship of the early Christian historians - at Infidels.org
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius_of_Caesarea"
Categories: Roman era historians | Patristic historical writings
| Church Fathers | Chronologists | Caesarea (Israel) | Amillennialism | Arian bishops | 4th century bishops | 4th century philosophers | 270s births | 339 deaths | Anti-Gnosticism | Ancient Roman Christians
|
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius_of_Caesarea"
Categories: Roman era historians | Patristic historical writings
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From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius#Church_History
[edit] Doctrine
From a dogmatic
point of view, Eusebius stands entirely upon the shoulders of Origen and Arius. 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. God sent Christ into the world that it may partake of the
blessings included in the essence of God. Christ is 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 the Son (Logos, or Word) to God
(he never calls him theos) because in all contrary attempts he suspected
polytheism or Sabellianism. The Son (Jesus), as Arianism
asserted, is a creature of God whose generation, for Eusebius, took place
before time. Jesus acts as the organ or instrument of God, the creator of life,
the principle of every revelation of God, who in his absoluteness and
transcendent is enthroned above and isolated from all the world. This Logos, as
a derivative creature and not truly God as the Father is truly God, could
therefore change (Eusebius, with most early theologians, assumed God was
immutable), and he assumed a human body without altering the immutable divine
Father. 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 teachers Arius and Origen. The
lack of originality in his thinking shows itself in the fact that he never
presented his thoughts in a system. After nearly being excommunicated for his
heresy by Alexander of Alexandria, Eusebius submitted and agreed to the Nicene
Creed at the First Council of Nicaea.
[edit] Limitations
Notwithstanding the great influence of his works on others, the accuracy of
Eusebius' accounts has sometimes been questioned.
- In the Ecclesiastical
History, book 8, chapter 2, in which he introduces his discussion of
the Great Persecution under Diocletian with: "Wherefore we have
decided to relate nothing concerning them except the things in which we
can vindicate the Divine judgment. [...] We shall introduce into this
history in general only those events which may be useful first to ourselves
and afterwards to posterity."
- In the Martyrs
of Palestine, chapter 12, in which Eusebius provides a list of events
which are omitted from the text: "I think it best to pass by all
the other events which occurred in the meantime: such as [...] the lust of
power on the part of many, the disorderly and unlawful ordinations, and
the schisms among the confessors themselves; also the novelties which were
zealously devised against the remnants of the Church by the new and
factious members, who added innovation after innovation and forced them in
unsparingly among the calamities of the persecution, heaping misfortune
upon misfortune. I judge it more suitable to shun and avoid the account of
these things, as I said at the beginning."
- In his Praeparatio evangelica (xii,
31), Eusebius declares that it is "lawful and fitting" to
use fictions (pseudos) as medicine[5].
- His
treatment of source documents is also in doubt, since his Ecclesiastical
History quotes extensively from a fictional exchange of letters
between Abgar V of Edessa and Jesus[6].
- The
panegyrical tone of the Vita, plus the omission of internal
Christian conflicts in the Canones, suggests to many that his
writings should be trusted with caution.[7].
These and other issues have invited controversy and the condemnation of
historians. Gibbon noted that "He indirectly confesses that he has
related whatever might redound to the glory, and has suppressed all that could
tend to the disgrace, of religion".[8],
while the Swiss historian Jacob
Burckhardt was considerably blunter and dismissed Eusebius as "the
first thoroughly dishonest historian of antiquity".
In response, Eusebius' supporters have noted as follows:
- With
reference to Gibbon's comments, Joseph Barber Lightfoot (theologian and
former Bishop of Durham) pointed out[9] that Eusebius' statements indicate his honesty in
stating what he was not going to discuss, and also his limitations as a historian
in not including such material. He also discusses the question of
accuracy. "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." Lightfoot
also notes that Eusebius cannot always be relied on: "A far more
serious drawback to his value as a historian is the loose and uncritical
spirit in which he sometimes deals with his materials. This shews itself
in diverse ways. He is not always to be trusted in his discrimination of
genuine and spurious documents."
- Averil
Cameron (professor at King's College and Oxford) and Stuart Hall
(historian and theologian), 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[10].
- In Church
History (Vol. 59, 1990), Michael J. Hollerich (assistant professor at
the Jesuit Santa Clara University, California) replies to Burckhardt's
criticism of Eusebius, that "Eusebius has been an inviting target
for students of the Constantinian era. At one time or another they have
characterized him as a political propagandist, a good courtier, the shrewd
and worldly adviser of the Emperor Constantine, the great publicist of the
first Christian emperor, the first in a long succession of ecclesiastical
politicians, the herald of Byzantinism, a political theologian, a
political metaphysician, and a caesaropapist. It is obvious that these are
not, in the main, neutral descriptions. 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." Hollerich 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".
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 which may
principally reside in the copious quotations that they contain from other
sources, often lost.
[edit] See also
|
Preceded by |
Bishop
of Caesarea |
Succeeded by |
[edit] References
- ^ a
b
c
Wetterau, Bruce. World history. New York: Henry Holt and company. 1994.
- ^ Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Published in 1992, English Version,
page 299
- ^ The Essential Eusebius page 31. Published by Mentor-Omega Book in New
yYork and Toronto. Year of publication 1966
- ^ C. Umhau Wolf [1971]
(2006). The Onomasticon of Eusebius
Pamphili Compared with the Version of Jerome and Annotated.
The Tertullian Project, p. xx. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
- ^ "Data for discussing the
meaning of pseudos and Eusebius in PE XII, 31".
tertullian.org. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ The Legend of Abgar http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01042c.htm
- ^ Burgess, R. W., and Witold Witakowski. 1999. Studies in Eusebian and
Post-Eusebian chronography 1. The "Chronici canones" of
Eusebius of Caesarea: structure, content and chronology, AD 282-325 -- 2.
The "Continuatio Antiochiensis Eusebii": a chronicle of Antioch
and the Roman Near East during the Reigns of Constantine and Constantius
II, AD 325-350. Historia (Wiesbaden, Germany), Heft 135. Stuttgart:
Franz Steiner. Page 69.
- ^ Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. 1, chapter 16
- ^ "J.B. Lightfoot,
Eusebius of Caesarea". tertullian.org. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ Averil Cameron, Stuart G. Hall, Eusebius' Life of Constantine.
Introduction, translation and commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1999. Pp. xvii + 395. ISBN 0-19-814924-7.
Reviewed in BMCR
[edit] References
- Initial
text from Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religion, subjected to
edits for style.
[edit] External links
[edit] Texts online
- Opera
Omnia by Migne Patrologia Graeca with analytical indexes Complete
Greek text of all his works.
[edit] Translations online
- Writings of Church Fathers
Extensive collection of Eusebius's works online in English.
- Historia
Ecclesiastica (English translation for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers)
- Eusebius
Pamphili of Caesarea at the Tertullian Project (English translation)
- Letters
at the Patristics In English Project (English Translation From Various
Sources)
[edit] Other links
- "Article on
Eusebius in the New Advent Catholic Encylopeida"
- Eusebius of Caesarea
at the Tertullian Project
- EarlyChurch.org.uk
Extensive bibliography.
- Chronological
list of Eusebius's writings.
- The
formation of the New Testament canon, part 6 - An attack on the
scholarship of the early Christian historians - at Infidels.org
|
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius_of_Caesarea"
Categories: Roman era historians | Patristic historical writings
| Church Fathers | Chronologists | Caesarea (Israel) | Amillennialism | Arian bishops | 4th century bishops | 4th century philosophers | 270s births | 339 deaths | Anti-Gnosticism | Ancient Roman Christians
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