Eusebius of Nicomedia ( died 341 ) was the man who baptised Constantine the Great.

According to Eusebius, the Roman emperor Constantine I was not baptised until shortly before his death in the year 337.

Constantine was baptised into Christianity just before his death in May 337 by his distant relative Arianian Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia.

Constantine is believed to have exiled those who refused to accept the Nicean creed — Arius himself, the deacon Euzoios, and the Libyan bishops Theonas of Marmarica and Secundus of Ptolemais — and also the bishops who signed the creed but refused to join in condemnation of Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis of Nicaea.

Eusebius and Theognis remained in the Emperor's favour, and when Constantine, who had been a catechumen much of his adult life, accepted baptism on his deathbed, it was from Eusebius of Nicomedia.

He continued to lead the conflict against the Arians for the rest of his life and was engaged in theological and political struggles against the Emperors Constantine the Great and Constantius II and powerful and influential Arian churchmen, led by Eusebius of Nicomedia and others.

* Barnes, Timothy D., Constantine and Eusebius ( Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981 )

Eusebius claims, in his Life of Constantine, that the site of the Church had originally been a Christian place of veneration, but that Hadrian had deliberately covered these Christian sites with earth, and built his own temple on top, due to his hatred for Christianity.

Diocletian was conservative in matters of religion, a man faithful to the traditional Roman pantheon and understanding of demands for religious purification, but Eusebius, Lactantius and Constantine state that it was Galerius, not Diocletian, who was the prime supporter of the purge, and its greatest beneficiary.

* Barnes, Timothy D. Constantine and Eusebius.

He was baptized and instructed in the city, and lived in Palestine in 296, when Diocletian's army passed through the region ( in the Life of Constantine, Eusebius recalls seeing Constantine traveling with the army ).

Eusebius, a learned man and famous author, enjoyed the favour of the Emperor Constantine.

Constantine called the bishops to his court, among them Eusebius.

Eusebius remained in the Emperor's favour throughout this time and more than once was exonerated with the explicit approval of the Emperor Constantine.

After the Emperor's death ( c. 337 ), Eusebius wrote the Life of Constantine, an important historical work because of eye witness accounts and the use of primary sources.

Lastly, Eusebius wrote eulogies in praise of Constantine.

Eusebius ' Life of Constantine ( Vita Constantini ) is a eulogy or panegyric, and therefore its style and selection of facts are affected by its purpose, rendering it inadequate as a continuation of the Church History.

As the historian Socrates Scholasticus said, at the opening of his history that was designed as a continuation of Eusebius, " Also in writing the life of Constantine, this same author has but slightly treated of matters regarding Arius, being more intent on the rhetorical finish of his composition and the praises of the emperor, than on an accurate statement of facts.

The addresses and sermons of Eusebius are mostly lost, but some have been preserved, e. g., a sermon on the consecration of the church in Tyre and an address on the thirtieth anniversary of the reign of Constantine ( 336 ).

* Averil Cameron ( professor at King's College and Oxford ) and Stuart Hall ( historian and theologian ), in their recent translation of the Life of Constantine, point out that writers such as Burckhardt found it necessary to attack Eusebius in order to undermine the ideological legitimacy of the Habsburg empire, which based itself on the idea of Christian empire derived from Constantine, and that the most controversial letter in the Life has since been found among the papyri of Egypt.

* Church History ( Eusebius ) ; The Life of Constantine ( Eusebius ), online at ccel. org.

It was because of Eusebius that " On the whole, Constantine and his successors made life pretty miserable for Church leaders committed to the Nicene decision and its Trinitarian formula.

* Edward Gibbon ( 18th century historian ) dismissed his testimony on the number of martyrs and impugned his honesty by referring to a passage in the abbreviated version of the Martyrs of Palestine attached to the Ecclesiastical History, book 8, chapter 2, in which Eusebius introduces his description of the martyrs of the Great Persecution under Diocletian with: " Wherefore we have decided to relate nothing concerning them except the things in which we can vindicate the Divine judgment.

* Volume I. Eusebius: Church History from A. D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

* May 22 – Constantine the Great, first Christian Roman Emperor of the Western empire ( 312 – 324 ), and of the Roman Empire ( 324 – 337 ), dies in Achyron, near Nicomedia, at age 65 after he is baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia.

In 336, Eusebius of Caesarea gave a panegyric of Constantine the Great on the 30th year of his reign, in which he broke from tradition by celebrating the piety of the emperor, rather than his secular achievements.

Eusebius of Caesarea, however, mentions the age of 75, and thus the year 356 BC, making Seleucus the same age as Alexander the Great.

Pella was a base for some of the earliest church leaders ( Eusebius reports that the apostles fled there to escape the Great Jewish Revolt ).

A milestone in the rise of Christianity was the conversion of Emperor Constantine the Great ( r. 306 – 337 ) in 312, as related by his panegyrist Eusebius of Caesarea, although the sincerity of his conversion is debated.

It includes both the Eastern Fathers and those Western authors who wrote before Latin became predominant in the Western Church in the 3rd century, e. g. the early writings collectively known as the Apostolic Fathers, such as the First and Second Epistle of Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, Eusebius, Origen, and the Cappadocian Fathers Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa.

A letter from Arius to the Arian Eusebius of Nicomedia succinctly states the core beliefs of the Arians:

First he allowed Eusebius of Nicomedia, who was a protégé of his sister, and Theognis to return once they had signed an ambiguous statement of faith.

His advisor in these affairs was Eusebius of Nicomedia, who had already at the Council of Nicea been the head of the Arian party, who also was made bishop of Constantinople.

The efforts to get Arius brought out of exile on the parts of Eusebius of Nicomedia were chiefly political concerns and there is little evidence that any of Arius ’ writings were used as doctrinal norms even in the East.

At that meeting, Eusebius of Nicomedia and the other supporters of Arius deposed Athanasius.

Support for Arius from powerful bishops like Eusebius of Caesarea and Eusebius of Nicomedia, further illustrate how Arius ' subordinationist Christology was shared by other Christians in the Empire.

* Arius, “ Arius ’ letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia ”, Ecclesiastical History, ed.

* Eusebius of Nicomedia ( died 341 ), bishop of Berytus, Nicomedia and Constantinople, leader of Arianism

There are assorted notices of his activities in the writings of his contemporaries Athanasius, Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia, and Alexander of Alexandria.

It was of particular interest that Eusebius was nearly persecuted because of his close relationship to the Emperor Licinius while serving as Bishop of Nicomedia during Licinius ' reign.

Eusebius of Nicomedia is not to be confused with his contemporary Eusebius of Caesarea, the author of a well-known early book of Church History.

He granted amnesty to the Arian leaders and exiled Athanasius because of Eusebius of Nicomedia.

Initially growing up in Bithynia, raised by his maternal grandmother, at the age of seven he was under the guardianship of Eusebius of Nicomedia, the semi-Arian Christian Bishop of Nicomedia, and taught by Mardonius, a Gothic eunuch, whom Julian wrote warmly of later.

After the followers of Eusebius of Nicomedia ( who was now the Patriarch of Constantinople ) had renewed their deposition of Athanasius at a synod held in Antioch in 341, they resolved to send delegates to Constans, Emperor of the West, and also to Julius, setting forth the grounds on which they had proceeded.

Proponents attempt to associate this Christology with early church figures such as Justin Martyr, Lucian of Antioch, Eusebius of Caesarea, Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Asterius the Sophist, Eunomius, and Ulfilas, as well as Felix, Bishop of Urgell.