Church History 3.11.1

Summary: After James's death and Jerusalem's fall, the surviving apostles and the Lord's relatives chose Simeon son of Clopas, the Lord's cousin, as bishop of Jerusalem.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:103

Μετὰ τὴν Ἰακώβου μαρτυρίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτίκα γενομένην ἅλωσιν τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ λόγος κατέχει τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ τῶν τοῦ κυρίου μαθητῶν τοὺς εἰσέτι τῷ βίῳ λειπομένους ἐπὶ ταὐτὸ πανταχόθεν συνελθεῖν, ἅμα τοῖς πρὸς γένους κατὰ σάρκα τοῦ κυρίου (πλείους γὰρ καὶ τούτων περιῆσαν εἰσέτι τότε τῷ βίῳ) βουλήν τε ὁμοῦ τοὺς πάντας περὶ τοῦ τίνα χρὴ τῆς Ἰακώβου διαδοχῆς ἐπικρῖναι ἄξιον ποιήσασθαι, καὶ δὴ ἀπὸ μιᾶς γνώμης τοὺς πάντας Συμεῶνα τὸν τοῦ Κλωπᾶ, οὗ καὶ ἡ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου μνημονεύει γραφὴ, τοῦ τῆς αὐτόθι παροικίας θρόνου ἄξιον εἶναι δοκιμάσαι, ἀνεψιόν γε, ὥς φασι, γεγονότα τοῦ σωτῆρος. τὸν γὰρ οὖν Κλωπᾶν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ὑπάρχειν Ἡγήσιππος ἱστορεῖ.

English · Claude translation

After the martyrdom of James and the capture of Jerusalem which immediately followed, tradition has it that those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord who were still alive came together from every quarter, with those who were related to the Lord according to the flesh (for most of these too were still alive then), and all took counsel together as to whom they should judge worthy to succeed James; and all with one mind approved Simeon the son of Clopas, who is also mentioned in the scripture of the Gospel, as worthy of the throne of the community there, being, as they say, a cousin of the Saviour. For Hegesippus relates that Clopas was the brother of Joseph.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:103 · 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)

Scripture

John 19:25 · allusion, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Hegesippus (Hegesippus, Memoirs (fragments)) · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Church office

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.11.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/11/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.11.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/11/1/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:103

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage