Church History 10.5.18

Summary: Constantine writes to Bishop Miltiades of Rome about the accusations against Caecilian of Carthage and the resulting division among African bishops and people.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:477

Ἀντίγραφον βασιλικῆς ἐπιστολῆς διʼ ἧς σύνοδον ἐπισκόπων ἐπὶ ῾Ρώμης κελεύει γενέσθαι ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἑνώσεως τε καὶ ὁμονοίας. “Κωνσταντῖνος Σεβαστὸς Μιλτιάδῃ ἐπισκόπῳ ῾Ρωμαίων καὶ Μάρκῳ. ἐπειδὴ τοιοῦτοι χάρται παρὰ Ἀνυλίνου τοῦ λαμπροτάτου ἀνθυπάτου τῆς Ἀφρικῆς πρός με πλείους ἀπεστάλησαν, ἐν οἷς ἐμφέρεται, Καικιλιανὸν τὸν ἐπίσκοπον τῆς Καρταγεννησίων πόλεως παρά τινων κολλήγων αὐτοῦ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀφρικὴν καθεστώτων ἐν πολλοῖς πράγμασιν εὐθύνεσθαι, καὶ τοῦτό μοι βαρὺ σφόδρα δοκεῖ, τὸ ἐν ταύταις ταῖς ἐπαρχίαις, ἃς τῇ ἐμῇ καθοσιώσει αὐθαίρετος ἡ θεία πρόνοια ἐνεχείρισε, (κἀκεῖσε πολὺ πλῆθος λαοῦ), ὄχλον ἐπὶ τὸ φαυλότερον ἐπιμένοντα εὑρίσκεσθαι ὡσανεὶ διχοστατοῦντα, καὶ μεταξὺ ἐπισκόπους διαφορὰς ἔχειν,

English · Claude translation

Copy of an imperial letter in which he orders a council of bishops to be held at Rome for the unity and concord of the churches. [Letter of Constantine to Miltiades:] “Constantine Augustus to Miltiades, bishop of the Romans, and to Mark. Since several documents of this kind have been sent to me by Anulinus, the most illustrious proconsul of Africa, in which it is stated that Caecilian, bishop of the city of the Carthaginians, is being called to account on many matters by some of his colleagues established in Africa; and since it seems to me very grievous that in these provinces, which divine providence has of its own accord entrusted to my devotion, and where there is a great multitude of people, the populace should be found persisting in the worse course, as though divided in two, and bishops should be at variance among themselves:

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:477 · 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

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.5.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/5/18/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.5.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/5/18/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:477

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage