dispute that so rocked the church during the first quarter of the fourth century. At the Council of Nicea he occupied the place at the right hand of Emperor Constantine, who presided over the Council, and he made the opening oration on behalf of the 318 bishops assembled and in praise of the emperor who had convened the assembly.b Eusebius was fully in sympathy with Constantine’s purpose: to restore among professed Christians the unity that they manifested while being persecuted but that was now so sadly deteriorating under the sunny climate of Constantine’s protection. Eusebius proposed his own creed, which actually ignored all the issues involved. While the majority were in favor of it, they not seriously caring one way or the other, the extremists would not yield and in the end the trinitarians won out.

Toward which faction did Eusebius lean? Very obviously toward the Arians; his very compromise creed was a slap in the face of the trinitarians. In fact, he had taken the side of Arius years before on that very issue. Besides, the bone of contention was the Greek term homoousios, meaning “that the Son of God is of the same essence or substance with the Father,” a term which Eusebius studiously avoided. How he felt about the subject can be seen from the following quotations as recorded by his biographer Valesius:

“As not inquiring into truths which admit of investigation is indolence, so prying into others, where the scrutiny is inexpedient, is audacity. Into what truths ought we then to search? Those which we find recorded in the Scriptures. But what we do not find recorded there, let us not search after. For had knowledge of them been incumbent upon us, the Holy Spirit would doubtless have placed them there . . . Let not anything that is written be blotted out . . . Speak what is written and the strife will be abandoned.” Other quotations could be given of similar import.

Yet in spite of such convictions, what did Eusebius do at the Council of Nicea? He eventually subscribed to the Nicene Creed that featured the very homoousios to which he was so opposed. Did he do so because Athanasius had convinced him? or to please Constantine? or to escape the banishment and persecution that came upon Arius and the two bishops that refused to compromise?

While only God can read the heart, the subsequent facts all indicate that Eusebius subscribed to the Nicene Creed because of policy, not principle. As Valesius well observes, Eusebius remained the ardent friend of Arius and the bitter foe of Athanasius. Signing that creed obviously changed neither his heart nor his course of action—an act of expediency seldom, if ever, does.

Revealing also is the fact that Eusebius, in his Life of Constantine, while taking note of the Council of Nicea, entirely ignores the trinitarian controversy that raged in it. Why did he ignore the very heart and soul of that event? Why did he not even record any of his own speeches at the assembly regarding the nature of Christ? He pronounced it a success on the basis of its having agreed on when Easter should be celebrated! Was he thereby resorting to irony to show his contempt for the entire trinitarian business?

Perhaps, but it appears that more was involved, for in his Ecclesiastical History he entirely ignores that Council; which he could only do by stopping his history with the year A.D. 324. Why stop a history of the (professed) Christian religion just prior to the most important event of the history’s last two hundred years? Only one reason can be adduced: he was not proud of the part he played at that Council. So he left it to other historians to record its proceedings, including his own speeches and lengthy explanation as to why he subscribed to the Nicene Creed. While because of that fact trinitarians like to claim Eusebius Pamphili as their own, at heart he had not changed; Jerome was right in terming him an avowed champion of Arianism.

Eusebius was so highly esteemed by Constantine that he declared that Eusebius could be bishop of well-nigh the whole world. And the one who at last baptized Constantine, just before his death, was an intimate friend of Eusebius Pamphili, namely, Eusebius of Nicomedia, who had even stronger Arian sympathies and who only at the very end subscribed to the Nicene Creed. It is not inconceivable therefore that had Eusebius Pamphili been as ardent a champion for the Scriptural position as was Arius, had he had the courage of his convictions, the Council of Nicea might have decided against instead of for the trinity, especially since so many of the bishops present did not feel strongly on the subject.

But Eusebius Pamphili was more concerned with policy than with principle, with gaining the approval of Constantine than with gaining the approval of Jehovah God. He sacrificed truth for the sake of expediency. He must therefore take his place among such as Nicodemus, who dared to come to Jesus only under the cover of night, and with Joseph of Arimathea, “who was a disciple of Jesus but a secret one out of his fear of the Jews.”—John 3:1, 2; 19:38.

Truly the facts regarding Eusebius underscore the Scriptural and logical weakness of the Nicene Creed. And they leave no doubt that Eusebius secretly often regretted his compromise at the Council of Nicea, in which he serves as a warning to all Christians: The punishment of having to live with a guilty conscience should make us ever sensitive and alert to the danger of compromising.

Questions From Readers

● Who are the writers of the publications of the Watch Tower Society, and what are their educational qualifications?—M.D., U.S.A.

The literature published by the Watch Tower Society is published in the name of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Regardless of who may write certain articles, they are checked carefully by members of the governing body before they are published; so they are properly viewed as coming from the Society. Our publishing work is not done to glorify any men or to give them a name of prominence before this world, depending upon the name of men in order to induce a study of God’s Word with the aid of the Watch Tower Society’s publications. We avoid all kinds of creature worship and anything that would stimulate to creature worship. In harmony with this endeavor the Society does not identify the writers of the various books, booklets, magazines, or articles that it publishes. They prefer to remain anonymous, not because of their educational background but in order that the students of the literature may concentrate on the truths and the facts presented instead of upon the identity of the writer and being influenced by who he is. They prefer that the Society and not the individual contributor to its publications