Eusebius

Eusebius of Cæsarea, the father of ecclesiastical history, was born probably in Palestine about 264 A.D. He took the surname of Pamphili from his friend Pamphilus, Bishop of Cæsarea, whom he faithfully attended for the two years (307-309) in which he suffered imprisonment during the persecution of Diocletian. He then went to Tyre, and afterwards to Egypt, where he was himself thrown into prison on account of his religion. He became Bishop of Cæsarea about 313, took a prominent part at the Council of Nice, and died in 340. Eusebius was the head of the semi-Arian or moderate party in the Council of Nice. That party was averse to discussing the nature of the Trinity, and would have preferred the language of Scripture to that of theology in speaking about the Godhead. Eusebius held that the promise of everlasting life was to him that believeth on the only-begotten Son, not to him that knows how He is begotten of the Father. He was very reluctant to accept the term homoousios, devised by Athanasius to describe the equality of the Son with the Father, and retained the kindest feelings towards Arius after the views of the latter were condemned (see ARIUS). His moderation and other excellent qualities procured him the favour of Constantine, who declared that he was fit to be the bishop of almost the whole world. Eusebius has the reputation of being the most learned Father of the Church, after Origen and Jerome. His Chronicon, a history of the world down to 328 A.D., is valuable as containing extracts from many ancient writers whose works are no longer extant. His Preparatio Evangelica, a collection of such statements in old heathen authors as were fitted to make the mind regard the evidences of Christianity in a favourable light, also contains specimens of writings that no longer exist; its complement is the Demonstratio Evangelica, in twenty books, ten of which are extant, intended to convince the Jews of the truth of Christianity from the evidence of their own Scriptures. His most important work, however, is the Ecclesiastical History, in ten books. This relates the principal occurrences which took place in the Christian church till the year 324, and contains the results of his studies in numerous libraries, and even in the imperial archives, the Emperor Constantine having ordered, at Eusebius' request, an examination of all documents relative to the history of martyrs. One drawback of the work is that Eusebius, on principle, withholds all account of the wickedness and dissensions of Christians, inasmuch as he did not consider such stories for the edification of the church (see CHURCH HISTORY). Besides the foregoing works may be mentioned his De Martyribus Palestine, the treatises against Hierocles and Marcellus, the Theophania (discovered in 1839), and a panegyrical Life of Constantine. The first edition of all Eusebius' works appeared at Basel in 1542; the last was commenced by Dindorf (Leip. 4 vols. 1867-71; unfinished).