Church History 8.1.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Even in the imperial palaces, Christian wives, children, and servants were allowed to practice their faith openly and were esteemed.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:348

τί δεῖ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τοὺς βασιλικοὺς λέγειν οἴκους, καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἀρχόντων; οἱ τοῖς οἰκείοις εἰς πρόσωπον ἐπὶ τῷ θείῳ παρρησιαζομένοις λόγῳ τε καὶ βίῳ συνεχώρουν, γαμεταῖς καὶ παισὶ καὶ οἰκέταις, μονονουχὶ καὶ ἐγκαυχᾶσθαι ἐπὶ τῇ παρρησίᾳ τῆς πίστεως ἐπιτρέποντες· οὓς ἐξόχως καὶ μᾶλλον τῶν συνθεραπόντων ἀποδεκτοὺς ἡγοῦντο.

English · Claude translation

What need is there to speak of those in the imperial palaces and of the rulers over all? They allowed the members of their households, wives, children, and servants, to speak openly to their faces for the divine word and way of life, all but permitting them even to boast of their freedom in the faith; and they esteemed them especially and more highly than their fellow servants.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:348 · 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)

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/1/3/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/1/3/).