Church History 3.25.7 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Heretical books differ in style and teaching from the apostles and must be rejected outright.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:117

πόρρω δέ που καὶ ὁ τῆς φράσεως παρὰ τὸ ἦθος τὸ ἀποστολικὸν ἐναλλάττει χαρακτὴρ, ἥ τε γνώμη καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς φερομένων προαίρεσις, πλεῖστον ὅσον τῆς ἀληθοῦς ὀρθοδοξίας ἀπᾴδουσα, ὅτι δὴ αἱρετικῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀναπλάσματα τυγχάνει σαφῶς παρίστησιν· ὅθεν οὐδʼ ἐν νόθοις αὐτὰ κατατακτέον, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἄτοπα πάντη καὶ δυσσεβῆ παραιτητέον. ἴωμεν δὴ λοιπὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐξῆς ἱστορίαν.

English · Claude translation

Moreover, the character of their style differs widely from apostolic usage, and their thought and the purpose of their contents, being utterly at variance with true orthodoxy, clearly show that they are fabrications of heretics. Hence they are not even to be placed among the spurious books, but rejected as altogether absurd and impious. Let us go on now to the history that follows.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:117 · 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

Scripture and canon, Heresy

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.25.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/25/7/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.25.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/25/7/).