Church History 5.16.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:215

“ἐκ πλείστου ὅσου “καὶ ἱκανωτάτου χρόνου, ἀγαπητὲ Ἀουίρκιε Μάρ- “κελλε, ἐπιταχθεὶς ὑπὸ σοῦ συγγράψαι τινὰ λόγον “εἰς τὴν τῶν κατὰ Μιλτιάδην λεγομένων αἵρεσιν, “ἐφεκτικώτερόν πως μέχρι νῦν διεκείμην, οὐκ ἀπο- “ρίᾳ τοῦ δύνασθαι ἐλέγχειν μὲν τὸ ψεῦδος, μαρτυ- “ρεῖν δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, δεδιὼς δὲ καὶ ἐξευλαβούμενος “μή πη δόξω τισὶν ἐπισυγγράφειν ἢ ἐπιδιατάσσεσθαι “τῷ τῆς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου καινῆς διαθήκης λόγῳ, ᾧ “μήτε προσθεῖναι μήτʼ ἀφελεῖν δυνατὸν τῷ κατὰ τὸ “εὐαγγέλιον αὐτὸ πολιτεύεσθαι προῃρημένῳ.

English · Claude translation

“For a very long and ample time, beloved Avircius Marcellus, you have urged me to write some treatise against the heresy of those called after Miltiades, but until now I have been rather hesitant, not from lack of ability to refute the falsehood and bear witness to the truth, but from fear and caution lest I might seem to some to be adding to the writings or injunctions of the word of the new covenant of the gospel, to which one who has chosen to live according to the gospel itself can neither add nor take away.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:215 · 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

Rev 22:18 · echo, medium confidence
Deut 4:2 · echo, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

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

Topics

Heresy, Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

Quotation from the Anonymous Anti-Montanist (to 5.16.10), echoing Deut 4:2 and Rev 22:18–19. “Miltiades” is probably a Montanist leader (Eusebius elsewhere names a Christian writer Miltiades who opposed them); the reading is uncertain. Avircius Marcellus may be the Abercius of the famous inscription.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.16.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/16/3/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.16.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/16/3/).