Eusebius of Emesa

EUSEBIUS OF EMESA: Bishop of Emesa; d. about 360. He came of a noble family of Edessa. Having received his first instruction at Edessa, he

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went to Palestine, where Eusebius of Caesarea and Patrophilus of Scythopolis became his teachers. But he soon turned from their allegorical elucidation of Scripture to the exegetical principles of the school of Antioch. From Antioch he went to Alexandria, where he sought to provide the philosophical foundation for his knowledge. He returned to Antioch prior to 340, having already won such a name for himself as exegete and orator that in 341 the Synod of Antioch designated him successor to the deposed Athanasius. Eusebius, however, shrank from the difficulties of this position, and he was made bishop of the small city of Emesa in Phenicia, where be spent the rest of his life. At first the Emesans took offense at his extensive learning, which embraced magic and astrology, and for a short time he was compelled to flee to Laodicea. His biography was written by his friend George of Laodicea. Only a brief extract from this work has been preserved (Socrates, Hist. eccl., ii. 9; Sozomen, Hist. eccl., iii. 6).

Jerome (De vir. ill., xci.) mentions writings of Eusebius against Jews, pagans, and Novatians, besides ten books of commentaries on the Epistle to the Galatians and homilies on the Gospels. Theodoret (Haer., I., xxv. 26) mentions polemical works against Marcionites and Manicheans; and Philoxenus of Mabug (Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, ii. 28) certain discourses and a work on faith, which is possibly the source of the dogmatic fragments preserved in Theodoret's Eranistes (Dial., iii.). Further, some exegetical fragments survive in catenae (MPG, lxxxvi. 1, pp. 545-562), and a fragment from a Lenten sermon (W. Wright, Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, ii. 837, London, 1871. Thilo (Ueber die Schriften des Eusebius von Alexandrien und des Eusebius von Emisa, Halle, 1832, pp. 64, 79), showed that the first two Latin homilies of those published by Sirmond (Opuscula XIV. Eusebii Pamphili, Paris, 1643) under the name of Eusebius of Caesarea, directed against Marcellus of Ancyra, are probably by Eusebius of Emesa. On the other hand, the Latin homilies attributed to Eusebius by Gagnaius (Paris, 1547) and Fremy in 1554 (cf. Bibliotheca maxima patrum, 28 vols., Lyons, 1677-1707, vol. vi. 618-622) are works of Western (Gallican) authors.

Meager as the extant fragments of Eusebius are, they attest him to be a writer of no mean ability, and Jerome (l.c.) depreciates him unjustly. He was one of the most influential leaders of the great theologians of Antioch, not only in his manner of exposition, but also in his Christology. He was averse to dogmatic disputations, and saw in verbal strife the main reason for ecclesiastical ruptures. In his tendency to maintain the older incompleteness of dogma against the progress of doctrinal definition he felt himself allied with semi-Arianism whose leaders included most of his friends and teachers.

G. KRUGER.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Graeca, vii. 412 sqq., Hamburg, 1801; Ceillier, Auteurs sacres, iv. 318-319; DCB, ii. 358-359.

EUSEBIUS OF LAODICEA: Bishop of Laodicea in Syria in the third century; d. there before 268. He was originally a deacon in Alexandria, where he distinguished himself during the Valerian persecution by his piety, his care for the captives, and his burial of the dead. A few years later in the Roman siege of Brucchium, a quarter of Alexandria, he and Anatolius secured permission for all non-combatants to withdraw under safe-conduct, and shortly afterward (263?) both went to Syria to take part in the controversy involving Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch. There he was appointed bishop of Laodicea, succeeding Socrates, but died before the synod which finally condemned Paul, which was held in 268 (?). Jerome's Chronicle, however, states that Eusebius was famous as a teacher about 274, and that he was succeeded by Anatolius in 279.

(EDGAR HENNEKE.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The early source is Eusebius, Hist. eccl., vii. 11, 32, NPNF, 2 ser., vol. i. Consult: Tillemont, Memoires, iv. 304; M. Le Quien, Oriens christianus, ii. 792, Paris, 1740; J. M. Neale, Patriarchate of Alexandria, i. 77, London, 1847; DCB, ii. 359.