As an exegete Eustathius was a resolute opponent of the
allegorical method of interpretation. He always based his cornmentary on the
"letter of the narrative." He made great use of Biblical parallels, and he
demonstrated that the speech of the Witch of Endor is composed of earlier
prophecies about Saul. His analysis of this text is detailed and perceptive.
Eustathius' remarks on Origen are ironic: instead of developing the image of the
long-suffering Job as a model of patience, "he is shown spending his time like
any other old man, cheerfully thinking about the names of his
daughters."
The only other aspect of the theology of Eustathius which can
be evaluated is his Christology. No definite information about his doctrine of
the Trinity has survived. Eustathius always stresses the complete humanity of
Christ. Christ has two natures. By His Divine nature Christ is consubstantial
with the Father and, although He is an "individual person," He abides immutably
with the Father. He is the Divine Word and Wisdom and through Him everything is
created. He is the "most divine Son of the living God, Who is generated from the
uncreated essence of the Father, and He is the true Image of the Father." In
opposition to the Docetists Eustathius emphasizes the reality of the
Incarnation, and to oppose the Arians he insists that Christ has a human soul.
"The intellectual soul of Jesus is consubstantial with the souls of men, just as
His flesh, which comes from Mary, is consubstantial with our human flesh." He
usually stresses the human nature of the Incarnate Word by referring to Him as
the "man Christ" or the "man of Christ." The man Christ is the "image of the
Son," the temple of the Divine Wisdom and Word, and His "human abode and
dwelling-place." God the Word "bears" upon Himself His own humanity, which
"without interruption abides in Him." At Christ's resurrection His humanity is
"elevated and glorified." This is an "acquired glory" which the "God-bearing man
of Christ" previously did not have. Apparently the emphasis of Eustathius'
soteriology is on the moral significance of Christ. In one fragment he refers to
the Savior as the "source of the most beautiful path of righteousness."
In all of these respects Eustathius is close to the later
"Antiochene" theologians, and especially to Diodore of Tarsus. The obscurity of
his language was noted even by his contemporaries. However, at the Third
Ecumenical Council (Ephesus, 431) the authority of Eustathius was used to oppose
the doctrines of the Nestorians, and this by itself invalidates any attempt to
ascribe to him the extreme views of the Antiochene dyophysites.
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