In the first half of the fifth century, the Eunomian layman Philostorgius (368-439) published the Ecclesiastical History, offering up a decidedly non-Nicene vision of Christian history to the educated readers of the Later Roman Empire. Living during the resolutely Nicene reign of Theodosius II (408-450), the historian not only had little hope of his work finding a welcome audience but even faced possible persecution as a heretic for the publication. Nevertheless, Philostorgius knowingly took the risk, as he desired not only to counter the Nicene representation of history by Rufinus of Aquileia (345-410), but also to reclaim the memory of the Christian past for his own faith community. Philostorgius’s narrative reveals a Christian past in which divinely inspired bishops and wonder-working missionaries actively participated in the ecclesio-political events of the Roman Empire that served as the arena for God’s activity on earth. Richard Vaggione has effectively utilized Philostorgius’s Ecclesiastical History as a source for the history of the Eunomian Christian community. Few scholars, however, have analyzed the work for its representation of Christian history, leadership, and empire, instead privileging the Nicene ecclesiastical historians. Despite significant advances in scholarship dismantling the heresy vs. orthodoxy dichotomy, Philostorgius’s work has been largely neglected or disparaged as little more than pro-Arian polemic. In an effort to restore Philostorgius to his place in late antique Christian historiography, this paper will examine his perspective on Christian leadership in the Roman Empire through his representation of missionaries.
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