Church History 5.1.9 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:184–185

μετέπειτα δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν ἡγεμόνα “ἀχθέντων αὐτῶν, κἀκείνου πάσῃ τῇ πρὸς ἡμᾶς “ὠμότητι χρωμένου, Οὐέττιος Ἐπάγαθος, εἷς ἐκ τῶν “ἀδελφῶν, πλήρωμα ἀγάπης τῆς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ “πρὸς τὸν πλησίον κεχωρηκὼς — οὑ καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἠκρίβωτο ἡ πολιτεία, ὡς καίπερ ὄντα νέον συνεξισοῦσθαι τῇ τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου Ζαχαρίου μαρτυρίᾳ· “πεπόρευτο γοῦν ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἐντολαῖς καὶ δικαιώ- ῾μασι τοῦ κυρίου ἄμεμπτος, πάσῃ τῇ πρὸς τὸν πλη- “σίον λειτουργίᾳ ἄοκνος, ζῆλον θεοῦ πολὺν ἔχων, “καὶ ζέων τῷ πνεύματι — τοιοῦτος δή τις ὢν τὴν ‘οὕτως καθʼ ἡμῶν ἀλόγως γινομένην κρίσιν οὐκ ἐβά- “στασεν, ἀλλʼ ὑπερηγανάκτησε, καὶ ἠξίου καὶ αὐτὸς ἀκουσθῆναι ἀπολογούμενος ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, ὅτι μηδὲν ἄθεον μηδὲ ἀσεβές ἐστιν ἐν ἡμῖν.

English · Claude translation

Afterwards, when they were brought before the governor and he treated us with every cruelty, Vettius Epagathus, one of the brothers, who had attained the fullness of love toward God and toward his neighbour (his manner of life was so exact that, though young, he was reckoned equal to the testimony of the elder Zacharias: he “walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless,” was tireless in every service to his neighbour, had great zeal for God, and was “fervent in spirit”) — being such a man, he could not bear the judgment so unreasonably passed against us, but was exceedingly indignant, and asked that he too be heard in defence of the brothers, that there is nothing godless or impious among us.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:184–185 · 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

Luke 1:6 · quotation, high confidence
Rom 12:11 · quotation, high confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Ep. Lugd. (Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

Quotation from the Letter of Vienne and Lyons, citing Luke 1:6 (of Zechariah) and Rom 12:11.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (transposed letters in the digital text): Οὐέττοις → Οὐέττιος.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/9/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/9/).