Sophia Scriptura

Church History, Book 5, preface 1

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

Summary: Eusebius dates Book 5 by the succession of Eleutherus at Rome and the renewed popular persecution under Marcus Aurelius, which produced countless martyrs.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:182

[Προοίμιον.] Ὁ μὲν οὖν τῆς ῾Ρωμαίων ἐκκλησίας ἐπίσκοπος Σωτὴρ ἐπὶ ὄγδοον ἔτος ἡγησάμενος τελευτᾷ τὸν βίον. τοῦτον δωδέκατος ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων Ἐλεύθερος διαδέχεται· ἔτος δʼ ἦν ἑπτακαιδέκατον αὐτοκράτορος Ἀντωνίνου Οὐήρου, ἐν ᾧ κατά τινα μέρη τῆς γῆς σφοδρότερον ἀναρριπισθέντος τοῦ καθʼ ἡμῶν διωγμοῦ ἐξ ἐπιθέσεως τῶν κατὰ πόλεις δήμων μυριάδας μαρτύρων ἀνὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην διαπρέψαι, στοχασμῷ λαβεῖν ἔνεστιν ἀπὸ τῶν καθʼ ἓν ἔθνος συμβεβηκότων, ἃ καὶ γραφῇ τοῖς μετέπειτα παραδοθῆναι, ἀλήστου μνήμης ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐπάξια ὄντα, συμβέβηκε.

English · Claude translation

Soter, bishop of the church of the Romans, died after presiding for eight years. He was succeeded by Eleutherus, the twelfth from the apostles. It was the seventeenth year of the emperor Antoninus Verus, in which, in certain parts of the world, the persecution against us was fanned up more violently through the attacks of the populace in the various cities; and one may infer from what happened in a single nation that tens of thousands of martyrs distinguished themselves throughout the world. These events, truly worthy of undying remembrance, happened to be handed down in writing to those who came after.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:182 · 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
Persecution, Martyrdom, Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Antoninus Verus” is Marcus Aurelius; his seventeenth year is AD 177.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.0.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/0/1/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.0.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/0/1/).

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