Między zwolennikami anomeizmu a homejczykami - biskupie peregrynacje Eudoksjusza z Germanikei

Abstract

Eudoxius of Germanicea's career should be placed during the reigns of at least several emperors starting from Constantine the Great. We are informed that during this over forty years period of active participation in the Church life, he was elected bishop of Germanicea, later Antioch and finally Constantinople. Both Eudoxius' long career as well as his personality defy an easy evaluation. On the one hand, he appears to have been a career-oriented man of no morale and thus able to pick his way between the two religious factions. On the other hand he was a man of the centre, avoiding extremism and happy to co-operate with all parties. He was condemned a number of times and subsequently deprived of his position. Many a time did he also break the Church law which spoke against transmission of bishops from one episcopal throne to another. However, thanks to Constantius' and Valens' favours, he rose to the position of one of the most influential counsels of the two emperors. Was he a genuine Anomaean (which is suggested on the basis of his activities in Germanicea and Antioch) or was he just a man incessantly searching for his own religious convictions? It is also certain that Eudoxius, as the bishop of Constantinople, stuck to the principle of similarity of the Father and the Son, so he supported the Homaeans. Was it just another manoeuvre of the skilful politician or a genuine adherence to the doctrine, however, is still to be decided.