stephan huller

Since it has become fashionable at this forum to denegrade the person of Eusebius, I thought I would write a post demonstrating his humanity. For the three members of the academy who question the existence of the Church before Constantine and Eusebius, you are free to view this as yet another 'myth' developed by the 'evil Empire.'

Pamphilus of Caesarea (240?–) was one of the most celebrated priest-martyrs of the early Church and the author of a single surviving work: the Apology for Origen. Pamphilus's Vita was originally composed in three books by Eusebius (d. 339), the church historian and Bishop of Caesarea, but it is no longer extant. There is sufficient evidence from antiquity, however, to reconstruct an outline of his life. Pamphilus came originally from a noble family of Beirut.1 After experiencing a deep religious conversion, he sold his property, gave the proceeds to the poor, and became a disciple of Pierius of Alexandria.

Though Eusebius is silent about this, according to some Pierius was in charge of the catechetical school of Alexandria under the bishop Theonas, ca. AD 265, and afterwards lived in Rome. He wrote several treatises that were extant in Jerome's time and are also mentioned by the Greek author and Patriarch of Constantinople, Photius (810–95). Jerome expressed the highest esteem for both Pamphilus and Pierius, calling the latter “Origen Junior” because of his eloquence. Jerome confirms that Pierius was a priest and teacher in Alexandria, a practitioner of extreme asceticism and voluntary poverty, and was knowledgeable in the art of dialectic. Photius adds the information that that Pierius was orthodox in regard to the Father and the Son, but not in regard to the Holy Spirit, because he said that his glory was less than that of the Father and the Son. Photius reports that, according to some, he himself suffered martyrdom in 303 with his brother Isidore.

After being tutored by Pierius in Alexandria, Pamphilus eventually settled in Caesarea. He reanimated the school founded by Origen, whose personal library was housed there. Pamphilus enlarged this library by transcribing the greater part of the works of Origen with his own hand. Many of Origen's writings would have been lost without the care Pamphilus took in listing and collecting them.

Jerome took pride in owning twenty-five volumes of Origen's Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets that had been copied by the hand of Pamphilus himself. Of this martyr's relic, Jerome said: “I embrace and hold on to [it] with such joy that I believe I am in possession of the riches of Croesus.” Pamphilus expanded the school of Caesarea's influence as a seat of learning. Eusebius of Caesarea acquired his education there. (The library collected by Pamphilus was destroyed when Caesarea was taken by the Arabs in the seventh century).

In Caesarea, Pamphilus had been ordained a priest by Bishop Agapius. In November 307, Pamphilus was arrested and spent the remainder of his life in prison. Eusebius frequently visited Pamphilus and describes him with deep affection and as the most illustrious of the twelve Palestinian martyrs, the only one who had been ordained to the priesthood. When Pamphilus refused to sacrifice to the emperor, the city's governor Urbanus endeavored to compel him to do so and subjected him to the severest tortures. His sides were scraped to the bone, a treatment that was also meted out to one of his servants named Porphyry, whose death preceded his own.10 In the seventh year of the persecution of Diocletian, Pamphilus was beheaded on February 16, 310, under the emperor Maximinus Daia. Thereafter Eusebius adopted the name for himself: "Eusebius [spiritual son] of Pamphilus," in honor of his martyr friend and spiritual father. http://books.google.com/books?id=YAv...wn.%22&f=false

Eusebius spent time with Pamphilus in prison and completed a defence of Origen from those who suspected him of heresy.

I see Eusebius come out of this narrative rather well. Let's face it, he did go on to rescue Origen's reputation. That shows some kind of personal character. It is also worth noting that the Greek version of the Martyrdom of Pamphilus references the idea that Pierius did indeed offer up sacrifices to the Emperor. I have always suspected that Pierius is the historical person behind Peter of Alexandria. They seem so utterly similar (i.e. lapsed leaders of the Alexandrian Church who come back in a period of relative safety). It is of course very difficult to prove this.

Doug Shaver

That is not a fashion I care to follow. One thing that enabled me to leave fundamentalism was my discovery that people could be wrong without being evil. And, for that matter, without even being stupid.

avi

Thanks, Doug, much appreciated.
avi

mountainman

"The scanty and suspicious materials of ecclesiastical history
seldom enable us to dispel the dark cloud that hangs over
the first age of the church."

~ Edward Gibbon, c. 1776 CE

Notes on The Historical Integrity of Eusebius of Caesarea

See also Arnaldo Momigliano's comments on Eusebius and the existence of the preNicaean "Universal Church" in The Classical Foundations of Modern Historiography.

Sheshbazzar

And you accept all this collected church gossip at face value?:hysterical:

stephan huller

I think that Eusebius did right by Origen.