favouring Eusebius, says that "in his own writings, numerous as they are, there is very little which fixes on Eusebius any charge, beyond that of attachment to the Platonic phraseology. Had he not connected himself with the Arian party, it would have been unjust to have suspected him of heresy" (Arians, p. 262). If we except the works written before the council of Nicaea, in which there is occasionally much looseness of expression, his language is for the most part strictly orthodox, or at least capable of explanation in an orthodox sense. Against the two main theses of Arius, (1) that the Word was a creature (κτίσμα) like other creatures, and (2) that there was a time when He was not, Eusebius is explicit on the orthodox side (e.g. c. Marc. i. 4, p. 22, de Eccl. Theol. i. 2, 3, pp. 61 seq., ib. i. 8, 9, 10, pp. 66 seq.). He states in direct language that the Word had no beginning (Theoph. ii. 3, cf. de Laud. Const. 2). If elsewhere he represents the Father as prior to the Son (e.g. Dem. Ev. iv. 3, 5, ὁ δὲ πατὴρ προϋπάρχει τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τῆς γενέσως αὐτοῦ προϋφέστηκεν), this priority is not necessarily intended to be temporal, and his meaning must be interpreted by his language in other passages. Nor, again, do such expressions as "second existence," "second cause," necessarily bear an Arian sense; for they may be taken to imply that subordination which has ever been recognized by the orthodox. But though his language might pass muster, "his acts," it is said, "are his confession." This is the strongest point in the indictment. His alliance with the Arian party is indisputable; but the inference drawn from it may be questioned. He may have made too great concessions to friendship. His natural temper suggested toleration, and the cause of the Arians was, or seemed to be, the cause of comprehension, and he had a profound and rooted aversion to the Sabellianism of Marcellus and others, who were acting with Athanasius. Where we have no certain information as to motives, it seems only fair to accept his own statements with respect to his opinions.[1]
While the Arian controversy was still fresh the part taken by Eusebius was remembered against him in the Greek church, and the orthodox Fathers are generally depreciatory. But as the direct interest of the dispute wore out, the tide turned and set in his favour. Hence from the 5th cent. onwards we find a disposition to clear him of any complicity in Arian doctrine. Thus Socrates (H. E. ii. 21) is at some pains to prove him orthodox; and Gelasius of Cyzicus (H. S. N. ii. 1) stoutly defends this "most noble tiller of ecclesiastical husbandry," this "strict lover of truth" (ὁ φιλαληθέστατος), and says that if there be any suggestion, however faint, of Arian heresy (μικρόν τι τὰ Ἀρείου ὑπονούμενα) in his sayings or writings, it was due to "the inadvertence of simplicity," and that Eusebius himself pleaded this excuse in self-defence. Accordingly he represents him as a champion of orthodoxy against Arian opponents. The tide turned again at the second council of Nicaea. As the Iconoclasts alleged his authority for their views, the opposite party sought to disparage him. "His own books," says Photius, "cry aloud that he is convicted of Arianism " (Ep. 73). A lasting injury was inflicted on his reputation by dragging him into the Iconoclastic dispute. In the Latin church he fared somewhat better. Jerome indeed stigmatizes the teacher to whom he was more largely indebted than perhaps to any other as "the chief of the Arians," "the standard-bearer of the Arian faction," "the most flagrant champion of the impiety of Arius." But the eminent services of Eusebius to Christian literature carried the day in the western church. Two popes successively vindicated his reputation. Gelasius declined to place his History and Chronicle on the list of proscribed works (Decret. de Libr. Apocr. 4). Pelagius II., when defending him, says: "Holy Church weigheth the hearts of her faithful ones with kindliness rather than their words with rigour" (Ep. 5. 921). Neither Gelasius nor Pelagius refers directly to the charge of Arianism. The offence which seemed to them to require apology was his defence of the heretic Origen.
A more remarkable fact still is the canonization of Eusebius, notwithstanding his real or supposed Arian opinions. In an ancient Syrian Martyrology, translated from the Greek, and already referred to, he takes his rank among the honoured martyrs and confessors of the church. Nor was it only in the East that this honour awaited him. In the Martyrologium Hieronymianum for xi. Kal. Jul. we find the entry "In Caesarea Cappadociae depositio sancti Eusebii" (Hieron. Op. xi. 578). The person intended was Eusebius, the predecessor of St. Basil [Eusebius (24)], as the addition "Cappadociae" shews, but the transcendent fame of the Eusebius of the other Caesarea eclipsed this comparatively obscure person and finally obliterated his name from the Latin calendars. The word "Cappadociae" disappeared. In Usuard the notice becomes "In Caesarea Palestinae sancti Eusebii historiographi" (with a v. l.); and in old Latin martyrologies, where he is not distinctly specified, the historian Eusebius is doubtless understood. Accordingly, in several
- ↑ "The remark has been made," writes Dr. Newman (Arians, p. 263), "that throughout his Ecclesiastical History, no instance occurs of his expressing abhorrence of the superstitions of Paganism," and that his custom is either to praise, or not to blame, such heretical writers as fall under his notice. Nothing could be more erroneous as a statement of facts than Dr. Newman's language here. Even if it had been true, that there is no abhorrence of of paganism expressed in the History, great parts of the Praeparatio and Theophania, the Tricennial Oration and the Life of Constantine, are an elaborate indictment of the superstitions and horrors of heathendom; so that the comparative silence in the History must be explained by the fact that this was not, except incidentally, his theme. On the attitude of Eusebius towards heresies, Newman's statement is still wider of the mark. It is difficult to see how language could surpass such expressions as, e.g. i. 1; ii. 1, 13; iii. 26, 27, 28, 29, 32; iv. 7, 29, 30; v. 13, 14, 16-20, etc., "grievous wolves," "most abominable heresy," "like a pestilent and scabby disease," "incurable and dangerous poison," "most foul heresy, overshooting anything that could exist or be conceived, more abominable than all shame," "double-mouthed and two-headed serpent," "like venomous reptiles," "loathsome evil-deeds": these and similar expressions form the staple of his language when he comes athwart a heresy.
