Eusebius of Caesarea, the Roman Empire, and the Fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy: Reassessing Byzantine Imperial Eschatology in the Age of Constantine

Christopher Bonura

doi:10.1017/s0009640721002158

Abstract

AbstractModern scholarship often attributes to Eusebius of Caesarea (d. circa 340 AD) the view that God's heavenly kingdom had become manifest in the Roman Empire of Constantine the Great. Consequently, Eusebius is deemed significant in the development of Christian eschatological thought as the supposed formulator of a new “realized eschatology” for the Christian Roman Empire. Similarly, he is considered the originator of so-called “Byzantine imperial eschatology”—that is, eschatology designed to justify the existing imperial order under the emperors in Constantinople. Scholars advancing these claims most frequently cite a line from Eusebius's Tricennial Oration in which he identified the accession of the sons of Constantine with the prophesied kingdom of the saints in the Book of Daniel. Further supposed evidence has been adduced in his other writings, especially his Life of Constantine. This article argues that this common interpretation of Eusebius's eschatology is mistaken and has resulted from treating a few passages in isolation while overlooking their rhetorical context. It demonstrates instead that Eusebius adhered to a conventional Christian eschatology centered on the future kingdom of heaven that would accompany the second coming of Christ and further suggests that the concept of “Byzantine imperial eschatology” should be reconsidered.

Highlights

Eusebius and Byzantine EschatologyIn the summer of 336 AD, officials and churchmen from all over the Roman world gathered in the new capital on the Bosporus to celebrate the thirtieth regnal year of its namesake, Emperor Constantine
Eusebius is deemed significant in the development of Christian eschatological thought as the supposed formulator of a new “realized eschatology” for the Christian Roman Empire
It demonstrates instead that Eusebius adhered to a conventional Christian eschatology centered on the future kingdom of heaven that would accompany the second coming of Christ and further suggests that the concept of “Byzantine imperial eschatology” should be reconsidered

Summary

Introduction

In the summer of 336 AD, officials and churchmen from all over the Roman world gathered in the new capital on the Bosporus to celebrate the thirtieth regnal year of its namesake, Emperor Constantine. The great scholar of Orthodoxy John Meyendorff has suggested that: “Byzantine theocratic thought was, based upon a form of ‘realized eschatology,’ as if the Kingdom of God had already appeared ‘in power’ and as if the empire were the manifestation of this power in the world and in history.” According to the Byzantine historian Paul Magdalino, most Romans/Byzantines eventually “saw the Kingdom of Heaven as being both imminent and immanent in the Christian Empire.” He attributes this view to the increasing identification of the empire with the heavenly fifth kingdom, and further claims that this “interpretation of the Four Kingdoms prophecy in the Book of Daniel . It will show that Eusebius held that the Roman Empire was the fourth kingdom of Daniel—a worldly and mortal empire—and repeatedly expressed an expectation that an everlasting eschatological kingdom would dawn only at Christ’s second coming

Eusebius Reassessed

Pax Romana and Biblical Prophecy

The Kingdom of Heaven in the Tricennial Oration