Eusebius of Nicomedia

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Eusebius of Nicomedia († 341 ) was bishop of Nicomedia between 318 and 341 and from 338 also of Constantinople and was for a long time wrongly assigned to the 'Arians' in the first half of the 4th century. In fact, Eusebius belonged to the so-called 'Origenist middle group' in succession to Origen's theological positions , which, alongside Arius and his followers, also took part in the Council of Nicaea , but, unlike Arius , had signed the Nicene Confession .

Life

Eusebius came from Syria . Contrary to popular belief, it is by no means certain whether he and Arius were disciples of Lucian of Antioch . In Arius' letter to Eusebius, he is addressed as a Syllucianist , which in the context of the sentence in question is often translated as "Lucian's classmate"; Arius and Eusebius would have both been theological students of Lucian. The sentence passage could possibly be translated in such a way that Arius addresses Eusebius as a follower of Lukians, who died in 312, or of the martyr cult around Lukian, as Arius wanted to be. As Bishop of Berytus (today's Beirut ), he was assigned the far more important bishopric of Nicomedia, the residence of the Emperor Licinius , with whose wife Constantia , the sister of Constantine the Great , he is said to have been in high favor - according to tradition he was allegedly even related to the imperial family.

When Arius was condemned for his theological positions in Alexandria by a church synod convened by Alexander of Alexandria in 319, he fled to Caesarea , where he was well received by Eusebius of Caesarea . From there he asked Eusebius of Nicomedia for assistance. Eusebius of Nicomedia wrote many letters to support or protect Arius against Alexander of Alexandria and the synod condemnation. In a letter to Paulinus, Bishop of Tire , which has also survived, Eusebius described the Arian doctrine in detail.

There were sweeping letters from Alexander of Alexandria on the one hand and Eusebius of Nicomedia on the other. Emperor Constantine I , now Roman sole ruler, tried to mediate in the autumn of 324 and, when that failed, convened the first Council of Nicaea (325), on which Eusebius was probably the leading person Arius against Alexander of Alexandria and his condemnation of Arius supported.

Like the other representatives of the 'Origenist Middle Group', Eusebius signed the Nicaenum , the concluding confession of the council. After the Council of Nicaea, he campaigned for the anathema against Arius to be lifted , after which he was banished by Emperor Constantine. In 327 Eusebius and Arius were rehabilitated by Emperor Constantine, Arius after he had made a 'orthodox confession'. The majority of the bishops in the east of the Roman Empire, which became clear in the years following the Nicene Council through the ongoing disputes about Christology and the doctrine of the Trinity , belonged to the 'Origenist middle group'.

The 'anti-Arian' patriarch Eustathios of Antioch was allegedly deposed on charges brought by the Eusebians and banished for allegedly disrespectful remarks about the emperor's mother. Athanasius , influential and energetic bishop of the second Eastern Patriarchate of Alexandria since 328, defamed deviating theological positions as 'Arian' and thus came into conflict with the imperial efforts to achieve a theological balance, for example by Constantius II , between the various currents.

On May 22, 337, Emperor Constantine died in Nicomedia after he had been baptized by the local bishop Eusebius. The Roman Empire was divided among his sons Constantine II , Constantius II and Constans , who pursued different ecclesiastical and theological-Christian positions. For Eusebius, the new government in the eastern part of the Roman Empire with Constantius II brought a stronger official orientation towards the 'Origenist middle group', which dominated the eastern part of the empire anyway, and from which the Homoer movement developed from 358 onwards. In addition, Eusebius was assigned the task of taking care of the education of the future emperor Julian , who was a cousin of Constantius II and a survivor of the murders after the death of Constantine .

In 338 Eusebius became Bishop of Constantinople . He consecrated the Goth Wulfila in Antioch as the “Bishop of Christians in the Gothic Land”, who thus took up and spread the doctrine of the Trinity of the “Origenistic Middle Group” and later the “Homöer” as part of this movement.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Jan Rohls : God, Trinity and Spirit (History of Ideas of Christianity, Volume III / 1). Mohr Siebeck , Tübingen 2014, p. 126f.
  2. ↑ Hanns Christof Brennecke : Lukian of Antioch in the history of the Arian controversy , in: Hanns Christof Brennecke, Ernst Ludwig Grasmück, Christoph Markschies (ed.): Logos. Festschrift for Luise Abramowski on July 8, 1993 . Walter de Gruyter , Berlin and New York 1993, pp. 170–192, here p. 177.
  3. ^ Letter from Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia to Bishop Paulinus of Tire , online in the Library of the Church Fathers , accessed on June 27, 2019.
  4. ↑ Jan Rohls: God, Trinity and Spirit ( History of Ideas of Christianity , Volume III / 1). Mohr Siebeck , Tübingen 2014, pp. 130f.
  5. ^ Wolf-Dieter Hauschild , Volker Henning Drecoll : Textbook of Church and Dogma History. Volume 1. Old Church and Middle Ages . Fifth, completely revised new edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus , Gütersloh 2016, p. 75f.
  6. ↑ Knut Schäferdiek : The supposed Arianism of the Ulfila Bible , in: Zeitschrift für antikes Christianentum , Volume 6 (2002), Heft 2, S. 320ff.
predecessor Office successor
Paulus I. Patriarch of Constantinople
338–341 		Paulus I.
personal data
SURNAME Eusebius of Nicomedia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Nicomedia and Patriarch of Constantinople
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH 341