Eusebius of Caesarea

(c. 260–c. 340)

   Bishop and Historian.

   Eusebius was a pupil of Pamphilus who kept a theological school in Caesarea and was himself a pupil of origen. After a period of wandering, he became Bishop of Caesarea in c. 315 and attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. Initially Eusebius had been a moderate supporter of arius, but by the time of the council he had rejected his doctrines. None the less he never fully supported the stance of athanasius.

   He was present at the Council of Tyre in 331 and acted as advisor to the Emperor constantine on ecclesiastical affairs. Although he declined the Patriarchate of Antioch, he presided over the Council of Caesarea. He is mainly remembered, however, for his ecclesiastical history, which is the main source of our knowledge of the first three centuries of the Church and which is largely based on earlier documents. In addition he wrote a life of Constantine, a history of the martyrs of Palestine, a chronicle of world history, various apologetic treatises and a book on biblical topography. He has been called the ‘Father of Church History’.

   Eusebius, The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, edited and translated by G.A. Williamson (1965);

   R.M. Grant, Eusebius as Church Historian (1980);

   C. Luibheid, Eusebius of Caesarea and the Arian Crisis (1981).