Eusebios of Caesarea

   Church historian and apologist; bishop of Caesarea Maritima (qq.v.), and biographer of Constantine I the Great (q.v.). His Church History is of inestimable importance for the history of early Greek Christianity. It describes in great detail, for example, the impact of the Great Persecution (q.v.) in Palestine under Maximinus Daia (qq.v.). The same can be said about his Vita Constantini (Life of Constantine [qq.v.]), which remains at the core of any attempt to understand an emperor (q.v.) whose reign Eusebios describes as the high point of all human history. In the Vita Constantini is found the famous story the emperor told Eusebios about a miraculous vision he saw in the sky of a luminous cross and the words "By This Conquer!" Eusebios's other works include the Chronicle, in which he demonstrates how deep into antiquity are the roots of Christianity, and two apologetical works, his Preparation for the Gospel and Proof of the Gospel. He tolerated Arianism, a heresy (qq.v) he was persuaded to renounce at the Council of Nicaea (q.v.) in 325. He died in 339.