Church History 7.15.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Bishop Theotecnus made Marinus choose between his sword and the Gospels; he chose the Gospels.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:314

ἐκτὸς δῆτα γενόμενον αὐτὸν τοῦ δικαστηρίου Θεότεκνος ὁ τῇδε ἐπίσκοπος ἀφέλκει προσελθὼν διʼ ὁμιλίας, καὶ τῆς χειρὸς λαβὼν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν προάγει, εἴσω τε πρὸς αὐτῷ στήσας τῷ ἁγιάσματι, μικρόν τι παραναστείλας αὐτοῦ τῆς χλαμύδος καὶ τὸ προσηρτημένον αὐτῷ ξίφος ἐπιδείξας, ἅμα τε ἀντιπαρατίθησι προσαγαγὼν αὐτῷ τὴν τῶν θείων εὐαγγελίων γραφὴν, κελεύσας τῶν δυεῖν ἑλέσθαι τὸ κατὰ γνώμην. ὡς δʼ ἀμελλητὶ τὴν δεξιὰν προτείνας ἐδέξατο τὴν θείαν γραφὴν, “ἔχου τοίνυν, ἔχου, ” φησὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Θεότεκνος, “τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ τύχοις ὧν εἵλου, πρὸς αὐτοῦ δυναμούμενος, καὶ βάδιζε μετʼ εἰρήνης.”

English · Claude translation

When he came out of the court, Theotecnus, the bishop there, came up and drew him aside in conversation, and taking him by the hand led him to the church. Standing him inside by the sanctuary itself, he drew back his cloak a little and pointed to the sword hanging at his side, and at the same time brought and set before him the writing of the divine Gospels, bidding him choose which of the two he wished. When without delay he stretched out his right hand and took the divine Scripture, Theotecnus said to him, “Hold fast, then, hold fast to God, and may you obtain what you have chosen, strengthened by him; and go in peace.”

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:314 · 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

Martyrdom, Scripture and canon, Church office

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.15.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/15/4/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.15.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/15/4/).