Eusebius

(c. 260 - c. 339)

Having been made bishop of Caesarea in Palestine around 313, Eusebius became embroiled in a theological dispute in 318 over the Arian heresy, a belief that Jesus Christ was a created being and subordinate to the Father. For his perceived support of this view, he was excommunicated at a synod in Antioch in 325. Later that year at the Council of Nicaea—during which the Nicene Creed was written—he was exonerated by Emperor Constantine. Eusebius is also the author of Ecclesiastical History, the first major contribution to the Christian record since the Acts of the Apostles in the first century. He introduced his book by saying, “I am the first to venture on such a project and to set out on what is indeed a lonely and untrodden path.”