Book 1 — Chapter 4 — The Religion Proclaimed by Yahushua Was Neither New nor Strange
Eusebius answers the accusation that the Way is recent by identifying righteous people before Mosheh who lived according to the same essential knowledge of the Creator. Avraham, Noach, Chanokh, Iyov, and others are said to have known one Elohim, practiced righteousness, avoided idolatry, and received divine testimony before the later national institutions of Yisra'el were established. Eusebius calls such figures “Christians” retrospectively in the sense that they shared what he regards as the same devotion to the divine Word, though HaSefarim preserves this as his theological classification rather than an ancient self-name used by the patriarchs. Torah given through Mosheh is treated as a later discipline adapted to a particular people after human corruption had deepened. The proclamation through Yahushua, in Eusebius's scheme, restores a more universal way of reverence toward the Creator and righteousness among the nations. Thus he claims both antiquity and universality: the assemblies may be historically recent as institutions, but the mode of life they claim to restore belongs to the oldest righteous line.