To Condemn a Bishop in Flight

In this chapter I critically examine the various competing narratives related to the exile and legacy of Athanasius’s chief enemy, Eusebius of Nicomedia. Even though Eusebius died the bishop of Constantinople, his memory was tied to an alternate, and theologically rich, space. We will begin by assessing how the city of Nicomedia became the significant focus within the memory making exercise of the fourth and fifth century ecclesiastical historians. Then I turn to Nicomedia’s role in how her bishop, Eusebius, would be remembered. I then attempt to reconcile why the bishop of Nicomedia’s episcopal career might pose a spatial threat to pro-Nicene historians. Finally, I conclude that Eusebius’s flight from and return to the city of Nicomedia was woven into a recognizable and effective story of failure. And so, we once again turn to the city in order to better understand the man who fled from it.