Sophia Scriptura

Church History 3.39.4

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

Summary: Papias (quoted): he questioned the presbyters' followers about what the apostles said and what Aristion and John the presbyter still say, preferring the living voice to books.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:133

εἰ δέ που καὶ “ κώς τις τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις ἔλθοι, τοὺς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἀνέκρινον λόγους· τίʼ ἢ τί Πέτρος εἶπεν ἢ τί Φίλιππος ἢ τί Θωμᾶς ἢ Ἰάκωβος ἢ τί Ἰωάννης “ ἢ Ματθαῖος ἤ τις ἕτερος τῶν τοῦ κυρίου μαθητῶν, “ ἅ τε Ἀριστίων καὶ ὁ πρεσβύτερος Ἰωάννης οἱ τοῦ “κυρίου μαθηταὶ λέγουσιν. οὐ γὰρ τὰ ἐκ τῶν βιβλίων “ τοσοῦτόν με ὠφελεῖν ὑπελάμβανον ὅσον τὰ “ ζώσης φωνῆς καὶ μενούσης.’’

English · Claude translation

And if anyone chanced to come who had followed the presbyters, I would inquire about the words of the presbyters: what Andrew or what Peter said, or what Philip or what Thomas or James or what John or Matthew or any other of the Lord's disciples, and what Aristion and the presbyter John, the Lord's disciples, are saying. For I did not suppose that what came from books would help me so much as what came from a living and abiding voice.”

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:133 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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)
Extrabiblical texts
  • Papias, preface (Papias (fragments)) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Papias, Expositions, preface. The digital text is damaged (κώς for παρηκολουθηκώς; τίʼ for τί Ἀνδρέας); translated as the evident sense requires.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.39.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/39/4/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.39.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/39/4/).

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