Sophia Scriptura

Church History 4.15.3

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

Summary: The Martyrdom of Polycarp (quoted) opens with Smyrna's greeting and says Polycarp's martyrdom ended the persecution.

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

Greek text · Dindorf 4:153–154

“ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ παροικοῦσα Σμύρναν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ παροικούσῃ ἐν Φιλομηλίῳ “καὶ πάσαις ταῖς κατὰ πάντα τόπον τῆς ἁγίας καθο “λικῆς ἐκκλησίας παροικίαις ἔλεος, εἰρήνη καὶ ἀγάκ “ θεοῦ πατρὸς καὶ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ πλν ‘θυνθείη. ἐγράψαμεν ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοὶ, τὰ κατὰ του “ μαρτυρήσαντας καὶ τὸν μακάριον Πολύκαρπον, ὅστι ὥσπερ ἐπισφραγίσας διὰ τῆς μαρτυρίας αὐτοῦ κα τέπαυσε τὸν διωγμόν.”

English · Claude translation

“The church of God which sojourns at Smyrna to the church of God which sojourns in Philomelium and to all the communities of the holy catholic church sojourning in every place: may mercy, peace, and love of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied. We write to you, brothers, the things concerning those who bore witness, and the blessed Polycarp, who, as it were, put a seal on the persecution by his witness and brought it to an end.”

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:153–154 · 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)
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Mart. Pol. 0–1.1 (Martyrdom of Polycarp) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Mart. Pol., inscription and 1.1 (Eusebius's text differs slightly from the manuscripts).

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.15.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/15/3/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.15.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/15/3/).

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