Sophia Scriptura

Church History 3.29.1

Eusebius of Caesarea · Church History · ca. 300–325 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: The short-lived Nicolaitans, mentioned in Revelation, claimed descent from the deacon Nicolaus; Clement tells his story.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:120–121

Ἐπὶ τούτῳ δῆτα καἲ ἡ λεγομένη τῶν Νικολαϊτῶν αἵρεσις ἐπὶ σμικρότατον συνέστη χρόνον, ἧς δὴ καὶ ἡ τοῦ Ἰωάννου Ἀποκάλυψις μνημονεύει. οὗτοι Νικόλαον ἔνα τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸν Στέφανον διακόνων πρὸς τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ἐνδεῶν θεραπείᾳ προκεχειρισμένων ηὔχουν. ὅ γε μὴν Ἀλεξανδρεὺς Κλήμης ἐν τρίτῳ στρωματεῖ ταῦτα περὶ αὐτοῦ κατὰ λέξιν ἱστορεῖ

English · Claude translation

At this time, too, the so-called heresy of the Nicolaitans arose for a very short time, which the Apocalypse of John also mentions. These boasted of Nicolaus, one of the deacons with Stephen appointed by the apostles for the service of the needy. Clement of Alexandria, in the third book of the Miscellanies, relates these things about him word for word:

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:120–121 · 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
Topics
Heresy, Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • Allusions to Rev 2:6, 15 and Acts 6:5.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.29.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/29/1/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.29.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/29/1/).

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