Church History 6.43.11 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:291–292

ὁ ἐκδικητὴς οὖν τοῦ ‟εὐαγγελίου οὐκ ἠπίστατο ἕνα ἐπίσκοπον δεῖν εἶναι ἐν καθολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἐν ᾗ οὐκ ἠγνόει πῶς γάρ;) “πρεσβυτέρους εἶναι τεσσαράκοντα ἓξ, διακόνους “ἑπτὰ, ὑποδιακόνους ἑπτὰ, ἀκολούθους δύο καὶ “τεσσαράκοντα, ἐξορκιστὰς δὲ καὶ ἀναγνώστας ἅμα “πυλωροῖς δύο καὶ πεντήκοντα, χήρας σὺν θλιβομέ- “νοις ὑπὲρ τὰς χιλίας πεντακοσίας, οὓς πάντας ‟τοῦ δεσπότου χάρις καὶ φιλανθρωπία διατρέφει. ‟

English · Claude translation

This avenger of the gospel, then, did not know that there should be one bishop in a catholic church, in which he was not ignorant (how could he be?) that there are forty-six presbyters, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolytes, fifty-two exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers, and more than fifteen hundred widows and persons in distress, all of whom the grace and kindness of the Master nourishes.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:291–292 · 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)

Extrabiblical texts

Cornelius of Rome, Cornelius (Cornelius of Rome, Letter to Fabius of Antioch) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Church office

Notes

Translation notes

Quotation from Cornelius of Rome; a valuable record of the Roman clergy about 251.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text): ἠπίστατο ἴνα ἐπίσκοπον → ἠπίστατο ἕνα ἐπίσκοπον.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.43.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/43/11/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.43.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/43/11/).