Church History 5.16.12

Summary: The writer answers the charge of killing prophets: none of the Montanist prophets suffered as the true prophets did.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:217

“ἐπειδὴ τοί- “νυν καὶ προφητοφόντας ἡμᾶς ἀπεκάλουν, ὅτι μὴ “τοὺς ἀμετροφώνους αὐτῶν προφήτας ἐδεξάμεθα, “(τούτους γὰρ εἶναί φασιν, οὕσπερ ἐπηγγείλατο τῷ “λαῷ πέμψειν ὁ κύριος), ἀποκρινάσθωσαν ἡμῖν πρὸς “θεοῦ, ἔστι τις, ὦ βέλτιστοι, τούτων τῶν ἀπὸ Μον- “τανοῦ καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν λαλεῖν ἀρξαμένων, ὅστις “ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων ἐδιώχθη ἢ ὑπὸ παρανόμων ἀπεκτάν- “θη; οὐδείς. οὐδέ γέ τις αὐτῶν κρατηθεὶς ὑπὲρ τοῦ “ὀνόματος ἀνεσταυρώθη. οὐ γὰρ οὖν. οὐδὲ μὴν “οὐδὲ ἐν συναγωγαῖς Ἰουδαίων τῶν γυναικῶν τις “ἐμαστιγώθη ποτὲ ἢ ἐλιθοβολήθη. οὐδαμόσε οὐδα- “μῶς.

English · Claude translation

“Since, then, they also called us prophet-killers because we did not receive their prophets who speak beyond measure (for they say these are the ones the Lord promised to send to the people), let them answer us before God: is there anyone, good sirs, of these who began to speak from Montanus and the women, who was persecuted by the Jews or killed by the lawless? Not one. Nor was any of them seized and crucified for the Name. Certainly not. Nor indeed was any of the women ever scourged in synagogues of the Jews or stoned. Nowhere at all.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:217 · 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

Matt 23:34 · allusion, high confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Anon. Mont. (Anonymous Treatise against the Montanists) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Heresy, Persecution

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.16.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/16/12/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.16.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/16/12/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:217

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage