Sophia Scriptura

Church History 7.25.2

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

Summary: They ascribed it to the heretic Cerinthus, not to John.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:325

Ἰωάννου γὰρ οὐκ εἶναι λέγουσιν· ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἀποκάλυψιν εἷναι, τὴν σφοδρῷ καὶ παχεῖ κεκαλυμμένην τῷ τῆς ἀγνοίας παραπετάσματι· καὶ οὐχ ὅπως τῶν ἀποστόλων τινὰ, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὅλως τῶν ἁγίων ἢ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τούτου γεγονέναι ποιητὴν τοῦ συγγράμματος, Κήρινθον δὲ τὸν καὶ τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου κληθεῖσαν Κηρινθιανὴν συστησάμενον αἵρεσιν, ἀξιόπιστον ἐπιφημίσαι θελήσαντα τῷ ἑαυτοῦ πλάσματι ὄνομα.

English · Claude translation

For they say that it is not John's, nor even a revelation, being covered with the heavy and thick veil of ignorance; and that the author of this writing was not only none of the apostles, but none of the saints or members of the church at all, but Cerinthus, who founded the heresy called Cerinthian after him, and wished to attach a trustworthy name to his own fiction.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:325 · 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
  • Dionysius of Alexandria (Dionysius of Alexandria (letters and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon, Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Dionysius of Alexandria; compare 3.28.2.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.25.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/25/2/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.25.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/25/2/).

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