Church History 4.14.7

Summary: Irenaeus (quoted): Polycarp called Marcion “the firstborn of Satan”; the apostles avoided all contact with heretics, as Paul teaches.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:152–153

καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Πολύκαρπος “Μαρκίωνί ποτε εἰς ὄψιν αὐτῷ ἐλθόντι καὶ φήσαντι “῾ ἐπιγινώσκεις ἡμᾶςʼ ἀπεκρίθη ἐπιγινώσκω “ πρωτότοκον τοῦ σατανᾶ.’ τοσαύτην οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ “οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτῶν ἔσχον εὐλάβειαν πρὸς τὸ μηδὲ ῾ μέχρι λόγου κοινωνεῖν τινὶ τῶν παραχαρασσόντων “τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὡς καὶ Παῦλος ἔφησεν ‘αἱρετικὸν ἄν- “θρωπον μετὰ μίαν καὶ δευτέραν νουθεσίαν παραι- “τοῦ, εἰδὼς ὅτι ἐξέστραπται ὁ τοιοῦτος, καὶ ἁμαρτά- “νει ὢν αὐτοκατάκριτος.’

English · Claude translation

And Polycarp himself, when Marcion once met him and said, ‘Do you recognize us?’, answered, ‘I recognize the firstborn of Satan.’ Such caution did the apostles and their disciples have, not to communicate even in word with any of those who falsify the truth; as Paul too said, ‘After a first and second admonition, have nothing to do with a heretical man, knowing that such a one is perverted and sins, being self-condemned.’

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:152–153 · 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

Titus 3:10–11 · quotation, high confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Irenaeus, Irenaeus, Haer. 3.3.4 (Irenaeus, Against Heresies) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Heresy

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.14.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/14/7/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.14.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/14/7/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:152–153

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage