A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

EUSEBIUS EMISENUS.

THIS EUSEBIUS, was of Edessa, a City of Mesopotamia, of a considerable Family. He had Learn'd from his Infancy the Holy Scriptures according to the Custom of his Country, and * 1.1 then he Studied the Greek and Humane Learning, and came to Palaestine to perfect himself in the Knowledge of the Scripture; he was the Disciple of Eusebius of Caesarea, and of Patrophilus of Scy∣thopolis. The Eusebians would have chosen him Bishop of Antioch, after the Deposition of Eusta∣thius; and afterwards would have plac'd him in the See of Alexandria, in the room of St. Athana∣sius, but he would not accept of these contested Bishopricks. He was afterwards Ordain'd Bishop of Emesa, near Mount Libanus, but the People made so great Resistance against him, that he was forc'd to retire to Laodicea, where he was well receiv'd by George, Bishop of that Church, who re-establish'd him in Emesa. He was very dear to Constantius, who carried him with him, to the Per∣sian War. He died in the Year 359, when his Successor, Paul of Emesa, assisted at the Council of Seleucia, as we learn from St. Epiphanius. He is plac'd in some Martyrologies, among the number of Saints. St. Jerom, gives this Account of the Writings of this Bishop:

Eusebius, Bishop of Emesa, who was well skill'd in Rhetorick, and had the Air of an Orator, wrote an infinite Number of Books; he applied himself Chiefly, to give the Historical Sence of Scripture; and therefore those who would Learn to Preach, read his Books with great Attention.

His principal Pieces were against the Jews, against the Gentiles, against the Novatians, Two Books of Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Galatians, and many short Homilies upon the Gospels. Theodoret, has preserv'd in his Third Dialogue, Two Fragments, to prove, That the Divinity of Jesus Christ did not suffer, which are taken out of some of those Books that we have already spoken of; and there are in the Greek Catena's upon the Scriptures, several Fragments which are attributed to Eusebius of Emesa. The Homilies which we have at present under his Name, are none of his, tho' they are cited under his Name in the Eleventh Century, by Guitmondus, and in the Twelfth, by Gratian, but they were all written by some Latin Authors, much later than Eusebius of Emesa a 1.2; some of them by St. Eucherius, others by Faustus Rhedonensis, and Caesarius of Arles, and many other French-men. Petrus Diaconus, Library-Keeper of Mount-Cassin, attributes these Homilies upon the Gospels, and upon the Feasts of the several Seasons, and of the Saints of the Year, to Bruno, Bishop of Signi; and this is confirm'd by the Catalogues in the Manuscripts of the Vatican, and Mount-Cassin, where these Homilies are attri∣buted to the same Author. They were Publish'd by Gagneus, and Printed apart, and also in the Fifth Volume of the Bibliotheca Patrum at Cologne.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Eusebius Emisenus.
• a 1.2

  But they were all written by some Latin Authors, much later than Eusebius of Emesa.] The Stile is of a latin Author that understood no Greek: And it ap∣pears by the Homilies of St. Blandina, Epiphodius, A∣lexander of St. Genest, that the Author was a French∣man. There is a Sermon of St. Maximus the Second Abbot of Lerins, which mentions also St. Honoratus Abbot of Lerins. And afterwards Bishop of Arles, who liv'd long after the Death of Eusebius of Emesa. There is also a Sermon of the Rogation-days institu∣ted by St. Mamertus. The Author calls himself the Disciple of St. Maximus Abbot of Lerins, which makes me believe that these Sermons belong to St. Eucherius of Lyons, under whose Name they have been printed. The Author of the Homilies about Easter opposes the Heretick Pelagius, and cites St. Gregory the Great.