Church History 5.3.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:200–201

τῶν δʼ ἀμφὶ τὸν Μοντανὸν καὶ Ἀλκιβιάδην καὶ Θεόδοτον περὶ τὴν Φρυγίαν ἄρτι τότε πρῶτον τὴν περὶ τοῦ προφητεύειν ὑπόληψιν παρὰ πολλοῖς ἐκφερομένων (πλεῖσται γὰρ οὖν καὶ ἄλλαι παραδοξοποιίαι τοῦ θείου χαρίσματος εἰσέτι τότε κατὰ διαφόρους ἐκκλησίας ἐκτελούμεναι πίστιν παρὰ πολλοῖς τοῦ κἀκείνους προφητεύειν παρεῖχον), καὶ δὴ διαφωνίας ὑπαρχούσης περὶ τῶν δεδηλωμένων, αὖθις οἱ κατὰ τὴν Γαλλίαν ἀδελφοὶ τὴν ἰδίαν κρίσιν καὶ περὶ τούτων εὐλαβῆ καὶ ὀρθοδοξοτάτην ὑποτάττουσιν, ἐκθέμενοι καὶ τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῖς τελειωθέντων μαρτύρων διαφόρους ἐπιστολὰς, ἃς ἐν δεσμοῖς ἔτι ὑπάρχοντες τοῖς ἐπʼ Ἀσίας καὶ Φρυγίας ἀδελφοῖς διεχάραξαν, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἐλευθέρῳ τῷ τότε ῾Ρωμαίων ἐπισκόπῳ, τῆς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν εἰρήνης ἕνεκεν πρεσβεύοντες.

English · Claude translation

At that very time the followers of Montanus, Alcibiades, and Theodotus in Phrygia were first spreading among many their opinion about prophesying (for the many other wonderful works of the divine gift still being performed at that time in various churches made many believe that these too were prophesying). And since there was disagreement about them, the brothers in Gaul again set out their own judgment on these matters too, a careful and most orthodox one, publishing also various letters of the martyrs who had been perfected among them, which they had written while still in bonds to the brothers in Asia and Phrygia, and also to Eleutherus, then bishop of the Romans, acting as ambassadors for the peace of the churches.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:200–201 · 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

Heresy, Church office

Notes

Translation notes

This Alcibiades is a Montanist, probably not the Gallic martyr of 5.3.2. What judgment the Gallic churches gave on Montanism is not stated; “most orthodox” is Eusebius's assessment. The digital text reads πλεπῖσται for πλεῖσται (“many”).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray letters in the digital text): πλεπῖσται → πλεῖσται.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.3.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/3/4/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.3.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/3/4/).