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Ecclesiastical History(Eusebius)

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TheEcclesiastical History(Ancient Greek:Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Ἱστορία,Ekklēsiastikḕ Historía;Latin:Historia Ecclesiastica), also known asThe History of the ChurchandChurch History,is a 4th-century chronological account of the development ofEarly Christianityfrom the1st centuryto the4th century,composed byEusebius,thebishop of Caesarea.It was written inKoine Greekand survives also in Latin,Syriac,andArmenianmanuscripts.[1]

An 1842 edition of Eusebius'sEcclesiastical History

Contents

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Syriac manuscript ofEcclesiastical History,X,I,4-II,1 (National Library of Russia, Codex Syriac 1)

The result was the first full-length narrative of the world history written from a Christian point of view.[2]According toPaul Maier,Herodotuswas the father of history and Eusebius of Caesarea is the father of ecclesiastical history.[3]In the early 5th century, two advocates inConstantinople,Socrates ScholasticusandSozomen,and a bishop,TheodoretofCyrrhus, Syria,wrote continuations of Eusebius's account, establishing the convention ofcontinuatorsthat would determine to a great extent the wayhistory was writtenfor the next thousand years. Eusebius'sChronicle,which attempted to lay out a comparativetimelineof pagan and Old Testament history, set the model for the other historiographical genre, the medievalchronicleoruniversal history.

Eusebius had access to theTheological LibraryofCaesareaand made use of many ecclesiastical monuments and documents, acts of the martyrs, letters, extracts from earlier Christian writings, lists of bishops, and similar sources, often quoting the originals at great length so that his work contains materials not elsewhere preserved.

It is therefore of historical value, though it pretends neither to completeness nor to the observance of due proportion in the treatment of the subject-matter. Nor does it present in a connected and systematic way the history of the early Christian Church. It is to no small extent a vindication of the Christian religion, though the author did not primarily intend it as such. Eusebius has been often accused of intentional falsification of the truth[citation needed].Other scholars, while admitting that his judging of persons or facts is not entirely unbiased, push back on claims of intentional fabrication as "quite unjust."[4]

Plan of the work

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Eusebius attempted according to his own declaration (I.i.1) to present the history of the Church from the apostles to his own time, with special regard to the following points:

  1. the successions of bishops in the principal sees;
  2. the history of Christian teachers;
  3. the history of heresies;
  4. the history of the Jews;
  5. the relations to the heathen;
  6. the martyrdoms.

He grouped his material according to the reigns of the emperors, presenting it as he found it in his sources. The contents are as follows:

  • Book I: detailed introduction on Jesus Christ
  • Book II: The history of the apostolic time to thedestruction of JerusalembyTitus
  • Book III: The following time toTrajan
  • Books IV and V: approximately the 2nd century
  • Book VI: The time fromSeptimius SeverustoDecius
  • Book VII: extends to the outbreak of the persecution underDiocletian
  • Book VIII: more of this persecution
  • Book IX: history toConstantine'svictory overMaxentiusin the West and overMaximinusin the East
  • Book X: The reestablishment of the churches and the rebellion and conquest ofLicinius.

Chronology

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Andrew Louth has argued that theEcclesiastical Historywas first published in 313CE.[5]In its present form, the work was brought to a conclusion before the death ofCrispus(July 326), and, since book x is dedicated to Paulinus,Archbishop of Tyre,who died before 325, at the end of 323 or in 324. This work required the most comprehensive preparatory studies, and it must have occupied him for years. His collection of martyrdoms of the older period may have been one of these preparatory studies.

Attitudes of the author

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Eusebius blames the calamities which befell the Jewish nation on theJews' role in the death of Jesus.This quote has been used to attack both Jews and Christians (seeAntisemitism in Christianity).

…that from that time seditions and wars and mischievous plots followed each other in quick succession, and never ceased in the city and in all Judea until finally the siege ofVespasianoverwhelmed them. Thus the divine vengeance overtook the Jews for the crimes which they dared to commit against Christ.[6]

Eusebius levels a similar charge against Christians, blaming a spirit of divisiveness for some of the most severe persecutions.

But when on account of the abundant freedom, we fell into laxity and sloth, and envied and reviled each other, and were almost, as it were, taking up arms against one another, rulers assailing rulers with words like spears, and people forming parties against people, and monstrous hypocrisy and dissimulation rising to the greatest height of wickedness, the divine judgment with forbearance, as is its pleasure, while the multitudes yet continued to assemble, gently and moderately harassed the episcopacy.[7]

He also launches into apanegyricin the middle of Book x. He praises the Lord for his provisions and kindness to them for allowing them to rebuild their churches after they have been destroyed.

Criticism

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The accuracy of Eusebius's account has often been called into question. In the 5th century, the Christian historianSocrates Scholasticusdescribed Eusebius as writing for "rhetorical finish" in hisVita Constantini( "Life ofConstantine") and for the" praises of the Emperor "rather than the" accurate statement of facts. "[8]The methods of Eusebius were criticised byEdward Gibbonin the 18th century.[9]In the 19th centuryJacob Burckhardtviewed Eusebius as a liar, the "first thoroughly dishonest historian of antiquity."[9]Ramsay MacMullenin the 20th century regarded Eusebius's work as representative of early Christian historical accounts in which "Hostile writings and discarded views were not recopied or passed on, or they were actively suppressed... matters discreditable to the faith were to be consigned to silence."[10]As a consequence this kind of methodology in MacMullen's view has distorted modern attempts, (e.g. Harnack, Nock, and Gustave Bardy), to describe how the Church grew in the early centuries.[11]Arnaldo Momiglianowrote that in Eusebius's mind "chronology was something between an exact science and an instrument of propaganda".[12]

Translations

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The work was translated into other languages in ancient time (Latin, Syriac, Armenian).Codex Syriac 1housed at theNational Library of Russiais one of the oldest Syriac manuscripts, dated to the year 462.[13]The first English translation was byMary Basset,the granddaughter ofSir Thomas More,made between 1544 and 1553; the first version to be printed was byMeredith Hanmer,in 1576.

English translations

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  • Eusebius,Christian Frederic Crusé,and Henry de Valois.The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus.London: G. Bell and Sons, 1897.
  • Eusebius, and Roy Joseph Deferrari.Eusebius Pamphili Ecclesiastical History.Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1969.
  • Eusebius, Arthur Cushman McGiffert, and Earnest Cushing Richardson.Eusebius.New York: The Christian Literature Co, 1890.
  • Kirsopp Lake (†), J. E. L. Oulton, Hugh Jackson Lawlor.Eusebius: The Ecclesiastical History, in Two Volumes.London: W. Heinemann, 1926–1942.
  • Louth, A., and G. A. Williamson.Eusebius: The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine.London: Penguin, 1965.
  • Maier, Paul L., ed.Eusebius: The Church History; A New Translation with Commentary.Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999.

See also

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Other early church historians:

References

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Citations

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  1. ^Eusebius of Caesarea,Church History(manuscripts), Tertullian.org.
  2. ^Chesnut, Glenn F (1986), "Introduction",The First Christian Histories: Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and Evagriussummarizes Eusebius's influence onhistoriography.
  3. ^Paul Maier, Eusebius - The Church History, Grand Rapids, Kregel Publications, 2007, p. 9 (ISBN 978-0-8254-3307-8)
  4. ^"Ecclesiastical History",Catholic Encyclopedia,New Advent.
  5. ^Louth, Andrew (1990). "The date Of Eusebius'Historia Ecclesiastica".Journal of Theological Studies.41(1): 111–123.doi:10.1093/jts/41.1.111.JSTOR23964888.
  6. ^"The Misfortunes which overwhelmed the Jews after their Presumption against Christ".Christian Classics Ethereal Library.Retrieved2008-01-29.
  7. ^"The Events which preceded the Persecution in our Times".Christian Classics Ethereal Library.Retrieved2008-01-29.
  8. ^"Also in writing the life of Constantine, this same author has but slightly treated of matters regarding Arius, being more intent on the rhetorical finish of his composition and the praises of the emperor, than on an accurate statement of facts". Socrates Scholasticus,Historia Ecclesiastica,Book 1, Chapter 1.
  9. ^abDrake 2002, p. 365-66
  10. ^”Christianizing the Roman Empire: A.D 100-400, Ramsay MacMullen, p. 6, Yale University Press, 1984,ISBN0-300-03642-6
  11. ^”Christianizing the Roman Empire: A.D 100-400”, Ramsay MacMullen, p. 7, Yale University Press, 1984,ISBN0-300-03642-6
  12. ^Drake 2002, p. 359
  13. ^Wright, W (1898),The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius in Syriac,Cambridge, pp. V–VII{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).

Sources

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Further reading

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  • R. M. Q. Grant,Eusebius as Church Historian(Oxford University Press) 1980. Discusses the dependability of Eusebius as a historian.
  • Doron Mendels,The Media Revolution of Early Christianity:An Essay on Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History ( Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) 1999
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