Volume 86 Number 3

From the Editor’s Desk

As this issue goes to press, just over a month has passed since Robert Francis
Prevost was elected pope, taking the name Leo. While it is certainly too early
to ascertain the precise direction this pontificate will chart for the life of the
church and its engagement with the world, the absence of certainty has done little to
quell the widespread tide of speculation. Indeed, almost immediately following Pope
Leo XIV’s introduction shortly after noon on May 8, 2025 from the iconic balcony
overlooking St. Peter’s Square, ecclesial observers and pundits began meticulously
scrutinizing every facet of his past and present ministry.

The Council of Nicaea 325: Reassessing the Role of Eusebius of Caesarea

This article offers a comprehensive interpretation of the Council of Nicaea, in light of Eusebius of Caesarea’s role in the so-called Arian crisis. Given the historical-theological orientation of the study, it begins with hermeneutical caveats regarding the sources. It then examines the outbreak of the crisis, Eusebius’s theology before the controversy, the Ossius embassy, the Council of Antioch, and the Council of Nicaea itself. The article argues, first, that the key theological issue at stake was the strict eternity of the Son, which Eusebius of Caesarea denied; second, that Eusebius—not Arius—was the principal adversary of Alexander of Alexandria; third, that the Nicene theological discussions primarily revolved around Eusebius’s faith; and, fourth, that the homoousios implied the strict eternity of the Son.

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