It's a tie... Bede the Venerable and Eusebius of Caesarea are both now our patron saints of historians! Bede had held a commanding lead, but Eusebius came from behind and even pulled ahead. As the buzzer sounded, Bede hit a jumper and tied the game.With thirty-seven votes cast, our two historians each managed to capture twelve votes. I find the symmetry of Western and Eastern, Latin and Greek, very pleasing and ecumenical. One thing -- Bede is considered a saint by the Roman Church, but Eusebius is not. A commentator on Gabriele's blog said Eusebius was a saint in the Orthodox Church, but I have yet to verify this. Does anyone have any information on that?
Thank you all for your participation.
8 comments:
Eusebius came from behind and even pulled ahead.
I may or may not be implicated in that "come from behind" victory.
Or what was supposed to be a come-from-behind victory. What do you mean Bede hit a jumper as the buzzer sounded!!! Not fair!
LBJ would never have let this happen.
Not that I'm from Texas.
I'm from Florida.
Really.
In the interest of transparency and democracy, I feel I should clarify a few things about Eusebius' last-minute surge in the Patron Saint of Historians Poll. A certain Boston-based blogger has tried to tie me to various voting "irregularities." But is it really "irregular" to yearn for democracy?
When our beloved leader announced that there would be no run-off between the top two vote-getters, despite the Venerable Bede not receiving a majority, my heart, admittedly, grew heavy. As Martin Luther king Jr. so beautifully said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Rahter than a vulgar term like voting "irregularities," I'd like to offer "creative voting strategies," whose sole aim - keep in mind - was the fostering of democracy and the blossoming of justice. Without going into detail on my outside-of-the-box campaigning, let me simply ask if it is wrong to encourage people, who, granted, may not know a lot about the candidates but who are still G-d's children, to vote for a worthy candidate in such an important election? After all, we're not talking about choosing a Patron Saint of Historians for some four-year term. No, we're talking about at least two terms and possibly getting his wife to run a few years later for two more. Wait, no, that's another matter. Suffice it to say, we're talking about a long, long time. There's no impeachment process for Patron Saints, as far as I know. Is it wrong to want to spurs us as a society to think long and hard and deep on the matter? To ponder and consider with all of our intellectual and spiritual faculties the merits of TWO candidates, instead of a rushed internet-age, slam-bam-thank-you-mam, yeah-sure-Bede's-great kind of election?
So, while I refute the mean-spirited and low-minded term "voting irregularities," I do realize that perhaps my efforts to spread democracy may have been a little too far outside of the box. The box was still within view. No serious limitations or moral lines were crossed, but I know even the appearance of evil should be avoided.
In that spirit, I suggest that Bede the Venerable be chosen as the official nominee for Patron Saint of Historians. Thinking it over, I see now that his election makes sense, as he's already a saint, and he wouldn't be facing a two-step process, that of Canonization - already a tricky prospect in Eusebius' case - AND examination as a Patron Saint.
Eusebius, despite all of his qualities, was ultimately second.
Sorry for any confusion.
A twofer! :-)
Well, I wondered about all those votes for Eusebius. I should have been suspicious when I saw the voter rolls filled with names like "Mickey Mouse" and "Torquemada."
Funny, a friend who is a medievalist and a member of the Society of Jesus was supporting Bede strongly. When I suggested he campaign for our venerable historian, he replied, "no, I will just let the Holy Spirit work."
There you go.
The election, however, will stand, and anyone who feels unsure about dear old Eusebius can still pray to Bede as they research their footnotes.
When I suggested he campaign for our venerable historian, he replied, "no, I will just let the Holy Spirit work."
"Politics is a Tool of the Devil." BOB DYLAN
BTW, I've gone through several books and online sources, and I can find no evidence that Eusebius of Caesarea is a Saint in any Orthodox Church. There are several saints named Eusebius - it must have been a popular name at one point (kind of like Thelonious is now) - but as far as I can tell, none of them are Eusebius of Caesarea. I may continue looking around.
There are a lot of "Orthodox" Churches, you know that? The Syriac Orthodox Church. What's up with that? I wonder if I could start the Texian Orthodox Church. Or the Brooklyn Orthodox Church - that sounds pretty good, no? "Yo, I'm Vinny Two-Pints, Patriarch of the Brooklyn Orthodox Church. How ya doin'?"
I saw the various Eusebii as well -- I think our friend is not one of them.
There are tons of Orthodox Churches, and the Syrians have one of the oldest. I went to their Church in Jerusalem, St Mark's, and heard their beautiful service in Aramaic.
There is also the "Hispanic Orthodox Church of the Mozarabic Rite" run by "Bendictine friars" (!) on Avenue C. Strange.
There is a Celtic Orthodox Church, and of course, the Orthodox Church of St John Coltrane.
Nope, this Eusebius is not a saint in the Orthodox church. He is also not a saint in either the Antiochene or Alexandrian churches.
What most people don't know is that Eusebius is incredibly useful for establishing chronology for those of using consuls and archons to date our historical scholarship.
This is why he got my vote!
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