Sophia Scriptura

Church History 7.18.4

Eusebius of Caesarea · Church History · ca. 300–325 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Eusebius notes that painted portraits of Paul, Peter, and Christ existed, a custom from pagan practice.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:316

καὶ θαυμαστὸν οὐδὲν τοὺς πάλαι ἐξ ἐθνῶν εὐεργετηθέντας πρὸς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ταῦτα πεποιηκέναι, ὅτε καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτοῦ τὰς εἰκόνας, Παύλου καὶ Πέτρου καὶ αὐτοῦ δὴ τοὐ Χριστοῦ, διὰ χρωμάτων ἐν γραφαῖς σωζομένας ἱστορήσαμεν, ὡς εἰκὸς τῶν παλαιῶν ἀπαραφυλάκτως οἷα σωτῆρας ἐθνικῇ συνηθείᾳ παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς τοῦτον τιμὰν εἰωθότων τὸν τρόπον.

English · Claude translation

And it is no wonder that those of the Gentiles who were benefited long ago by our Saviour did these things, since we have learned that likenesses of his apostles Paul and Peter, and of Christ himself, have been preserved in paintings, as the ancients were naturally accustomed, by a pagan custom, to honour them in this way as saviours without discrimination.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:316 · 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)

Notes

Translation notes

  • Eusebius treats such images as a pagan custom; his later letter to Constantia opposes images of Christ.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.18.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/18/4/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.18.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/18/4/).

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