Church History 10.4.63

Summary: Paulinus arranged his people like parts of the church building: the simple faithful as the wall, door-keepers at the entrances, beginners learning the Gospels, and catechumens near the inner hall.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:469–470

δικαιοσύνῃ δῆτα οἰκοδομῶν κατʼ ἀξίαν τοῦ παντὸς λαοῦ διῄρει τὰς δυνάμεις, οἷς μὲν τὸν ἔξωθεν αὐτὸ μόνον περιφράττων περίβολον, τὴν ἀπλανῆ πίστιν περιτειχίσας, πολὺς δὲ ὁ τοιοῦτος καὶ μέγας λεὼς, οὐδὲν κρεῖττον φέρειν οἰκοδόμημα διαρκῶν), οἷς δὲ τὰς ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον ἐπιτρέπων εἰσόδους, θυραυλεῖν καὶ ποδηγεῖν τοὺς εἰσιόντας κατατάττων, οὐκ ἀπεικότως τοῦ νεὼ πρόπυλα νενομισμένους, ἄλλους δὲ πρώτοις τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἀμφὶ τὴν αὐλὴν ἐκ τετραγώνου κίοσιν ὑπεστήριζε, ταῖς πρώταις τῶν τεττάρων εὐαγγελίων τοῦ γράμματος προβολαῖς ἐμβιβάζων, τοὺς δʼ ἤδη ἀμφὶ τὸν βασίλειον οἶκον ἑκατέρωθεν παραζεύγνυσιν, ἔτι μὲν κατηχουμένους καὶ ἐν αὔξῃ καὶ προκοπῇ καθεστῶτας, οὐ μὴν πόρρω που καὶ μακρὰν τῆς τῶν ἐνδοτάτω θεοπτίας τῶν πιστῶν διεζευγμένους·

English · Claude translation

Building, then, in righteousness, he divided the whole people according to their capacities. With some he fenced only the outer enclosure, walling them about with unerring faith (such people are a great multitude, able to bear no better building); to others he entrusted the entrances to the house, appointing them to keep the doors and to guide those who enter, who are not unfittingly regarded as the gateways of the temple; others he supported with the first outer pillars around the four-sided court, introducing them to the first elements of the letter of the four Gospels; and others he joins to the royal house on either side, those still catechumens and in growth and progress, yet not far or widely separated from the divine vision of the faithful within.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:469–470 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Topics

Church office, Baptism

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.4.63 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/4/63/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.4.63 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/4/63/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:469–470

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage