Apostolikos Thronos: Rival Accounts of Roman Primacy in Eusebius and Athanasius

The essence of Roman primacy, as well as the scope of the pope's teaching and jurisdictional power, have long been sources of confusion and controversy between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Different theological interpretations of the Petrine office of the Roman pontiff, like the Petrine office of the Roman pontiff, permit of historical unfolding, and the fourth-century Arian conflict represents a crucial step in the evolution of both.

Apostolikos Thronos by D. Vincent Twomey uncovers two opposing Eastern narratives of Roman supremacy in the works of rival fourth-century bishops Eusebius of Caesarea and Athanasius of Alexandria. Twomey examines successive versions of Eusebius' Church History in the first part, demonstrating how Eusebius comes to replace his earlier apostolic ecclesiology with a novel imperial ecclesiology tied to Constantine's embrace of Christianity, a shift that both reflects and contributes to a lasting change in the East's consciousness toward the See of Rome. The second section delves into Athanasius' historical and apologetic works, which were written in response to his deposition from the See of Alexandria and reveal how Athanasius preserves the traditional apostolic ecclesiology of early Eusebius while also displaying a deepening theological appreciation for the preeminence of the church and bishop of Rome, anticipating later articulations of theology of the papacy.

Hardcover. 656 pages.