RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea
280, place unknown; d. at Caesarea (?), at the latest 340, most probably May 30, 339.
I. Life: Little is known of his youth. 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 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 Phseno in Egypt (see below, II., § 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.
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, i. Becomes but as a very learned man and well
Prominent trained in history, at the same time a
in the famous author who enjoyed the spe-
Arian Con- cial favor of the emperor, he came to
troversy. the front among the 300 members of the council. The confession which he proposed became the basis of the Nicene formula (see Nicea, 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 IV.-14
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, .t, 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.
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 i. Works Eusebius and Pamphilus. For an eason Biblical ier survey of the material of the four Text Evangelists. Eusebius divided his edi- Criticism. tion 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).
The two greatest historioal 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
Eusebius of Csesarea Eusebius of Emesa