Traditionally the following main characteristics are attributed to ancientchristian philosophy of history. (1) History constitutes a whole extendingfrom creation to the second coming of Christ, which implies that time andhistory are more or less identical. (2) History evolves in a direct line fromcreation or incarnation to the second coming of Christ. Every event is tobe seen in this perspeccive. As a consequence, the goal of history is identicalto its meaning. This paper argues that although many ancient theologiansand historians may have accepted these ideas, Socrates of Constantinople(fifth century) cannot be entirely foced into this model. He sees historyevolving from a period of peace (in 324) to a new one that announces itselfin the middle of the fifth century, passing through more than a century ofwar and strife. During these periods of peace, nothing happens and no historycan be written. This implies that for Socrates, time and history are notidentical. The historian also does not limit the meaning of the events tothe way they carry us closer to the Parousia. Using the Bible as an interpretativetool, he tries to extract a moral and spiritual meaning from them.Socrates' opinions, as reconstructed here, can be used to add nuances tothe traditional view.
