Church History 6.3.8 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Put in sole charge of catechesis, Origen gave up teaching grammar.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:244

ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐώρα φοιτητὰς ἤδη πλείους προσιόντας, αὐτῷ μόνῳ τῆς τοῦ κατηχεῖν διατριβῆς ὑπὸ Δημητρίου τοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας προεστῶτος ἐπιτετραμμένης, ἀσύμφωνον ἡγησάμενος τὴν τῶν γραμματικῶν λόγων διδασκαλίαν τῇ πρὸς τὰ θεῖα παιδεύματα ἀσκήσει, μὴ μελλήσας ἀπορρήγνυσιν ἅτε ἀνωφελῆ καὶ τοῖς ἱεροῖς μαθήμασιν ἐναντίαν τὴν τῶν γραμματικῶν λόγων διατριβήν.

English · Claude translation

When he saw more pupils coming to him, and the school of catechesis had been entrusted to him alone by Demetrius, who presided over the church, he considered the teaching of grammar inconsistent with training in divine studies, and without delay broke off his grammar school as useless and contrary to sacred studies.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:244 · 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

Church office

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.3.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/3/8/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.3.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/3/8/).