16
December 340 A.D. Eusebius,
Vercelli’s Bold Bishop
No sooner had the church found freedom from outside
persecution in the Roman Empire than it experienced divisions from within.
Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal. Where before a bishop had to be a lover of
Christ willing to die for truth under dreadful tortures, now the post was
coveted by many as a position of prestige, influence and easy money. Side by
side with honorable church leaders, heretics rose to power.
The foremost of the early
heresies was Arianism, a doctrine that for all practical purposes denied the
divinity of Christ. It had many powerful backers. The harmony of the empire was
endangered while the church wrangled over the true nature of the Son of God. So
troublesome did the squabble become, that Constantine called the first of the
great church councils. Held at Nicea in 325, its champions were Cyril of
Alexandria and his protégé Athanasius. The council declared that scripture
teaches that Christ is truly God and of the same substance and duration as God
the Father.
Eusebius (not the famous church
historian) grew up during these years of religious strife. He was born in
Sardinia. After his father died in prison, a martyr for the faith, Eusebius was
reared in Rome, where he was ordained as a lector --a person with
responsibility to publicly read the scriptures. Later he served at Vercelli in
Piedmont, Italy. He was so zealous that when the bishop of Vercelli died,
Eusebius was unanimously chosen by the local congregation to take his place.
Julius I, bishop of Rome, consecrated him on this day,
December 16, 340.
The council of Nicea, held in
325, had barely checked the spread of Arianism. The heresy would not go away.
Liberius, bishop of Rome, sent Eusebius to Arles to urge Emperor Constantius (a
son of Constantine) to convoke another council to settle the issue once for
all. Constantius called a synod at Milan. At first Eusebius was of a mind not
to attend. He saw plainly that the emperor was going to side with the Arians
and that they would condemn Athanasius, whom they hated for his role in
drafting the Nicean creed.
The emperor pressed Eusebius to
attend. However, when the bishop appeared, he was not permitted into the
assembly for ten days until the condemnation of Athanasius was drawn up.
Eusebius refused to join in condemning Athanasius. Instead, he attempted to
have all present sign the Nicene Creed, but the creed was torn out of the hands
of one of his allies, and his pen was broken. Constantius banished Eusebius
along with two other bishops who bravely resisted the majority.
Ironically, it was a pagan
emperor, Julian the Apostate, who ended Eusebius's exile. Eusebius returned to
Milan in 361 from Egypt, his third place of imprisonment. For the last ten
years of his life, he traveled widely, preaching the truth and seeking to
restore the Nicene creed throughout the length and breadth of the Roman Empire.
Bibliography:
1. "Eusebius of Vercelli." New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious
Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1954.
2. "Eusebius, St." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.
Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
3. Ott, Michael. "Saint Eusebius." The Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
4. Various internet articles.
Last updated May,
2007.
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