Church History 8.10.11 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Phileas wrote this letter from prison to his church before his execution, urging them to hold fast.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:364

τοιαῦται τοῦ ὡς ἀληθῶς φιλοσόφου τε ὁμοῦ καὶ φιλοθέου μάρτυρος αἶ φωναὶ, ἃς πρὸ τῆς τελευταίας ἀποφάσεως ὑπὸ τὴν δεσμωτικὴν ἔθʼ ὑπάρχων τάξιν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ παροικίαν ἀδελφοῖς ἐπεστάλκει, ἄμα μὲν τὰ ἐν οἶς ἦν ἀνατιθέμενος, ἅμα δὲ καὶ παρορμῶν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ ἀπρὶξ ἔχεσθαι καὶ μετʼ αὐτὸν ὅσον οὔπω τελειωθησόμενον τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ θεοσεβείας.

English · Claude translation

Such are the words of the martyr, truly both a philosopher and a lover of God, which he sent to the brothers in his own diocese before the final sentence, while he was still in the condition of a prisoner, at once setting before them his own circumstances and urging them to hold fast to godliness in Christ even after him, who was soon to be perfected.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:364 · 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

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.10.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/10/11/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.10.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/10/11/).