Eusebius of Caesarea

Bishop of Caesarea · Church Historian · c. 270–340

Eusebius was bishop of Caesarea in Palestine during the reign of Constantine and became one of the emperor’s closest advisers and greatest admirers. His Ecclesiastical History, completed about 323, became the principal source for the history of the church from the first century to Constantine.1

The whole human race was freed from the oppression of the tyrants. We especially, who had fixed our hopes upon the Christ of God, had gladness unspeakable.2 Eusebius of CaesareaChurch History, on the end of persecution

Eusebius set out his estimate of the canon, distinguishing the books accepted by all, those accepted by most but disputed by some (James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude), and the spurious. In the Arian debate he would fully endorse neither Arius nor Athanasius. He related Constantine’s reign to the Messianic banquet and was among the first to abandon the church’s premillennial hope.3

His Legacy

Mark Galli notes that Eusebius’s praise of Constantine as “resplendent with every virtue that godliness bestows” became “the classic image that prevailed in Eastern Christianity for more than a thousand years.” That marriage of church and empire shaped Christendom, East and West, and the Reformers inherited it. His careful record of the disputed books also helped the church recognize the New Testament canon.4

Church Fathers

Notes

  1. Mark Galli and Ted Olsen, eds., 131 Christians Everyone Should Know (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000), “Timeline.,” for the date; Galli and Olsen, 131 Christians, “Constantine.” Summarized. ↩
  2. Galli and Olsen, 131 Christians, “Constantine.,” quoting Eusebius. ↩
  3. Michael J. Vlach, “Historical Theology I: A.D. 100–1600” (course notes, TH 507, The Master’s Seminary, Fall 2007), “New Testament Canon,” “Ecclesiology,” and “Eschatology.” Summarized. ↩
  4. Galli and Olsen, 131 Christians, “Constantine.” ↩