Church History 8.13.7

Summary: Eusebius names Peter of Alexandria and other Egyptian martyrs, leaves the full record to eyewitnesses, and promises a separate work on the martyrs he saw himself.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:369–370

τῶν δʼ ἐπʼ Ἀλεξανδρείας καθʼ ὅλης τε Αἰγύπτου καὶ Θηβαΐδος διαπρεπῶς τελειωθέντων πρῶτος Πέτρος, αὐτῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐπίσκοπος, θεῖόν τι χρῆμα διδασκάλων τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ θεοσεβείας, ἀναγεγράφθω, καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ πρεσβυτέρων Φαῦστος καὶ Δῖος καὶ Ἀμμώνιος, τέλειοι Χριστοῦ μάρτυρες, Φιλέας τε καὶ Ἡσύχιος καὶ Παχύμιος καὶ Θεόδωρος, τῶν ἀμφὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐκκλησιῶν ἐπίσκοποι, μυρίοι τε ἐπὶ τούτοις ἄλλοι διαφανεῖς, οἱ πρὸς τῶν κατὰ χώραν καὶ τόπον παροικιῶν μνημονεύονται, ὧν ἀνὰ τὴν πᾶσαν οἰκουμένην ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείας ἠγωνισμένων γραφῇ παραδιδόναι τοὺς ἄθλους, ἐπʼ ἀκριβές τε ἕκαστα τῶν περὶ αὐτοὺς συμβεβηκότων ἱστορεῖν, οὐχ ἡμέτερον, τῶν δʼ ὄψει τὰ πράγματα παρειληφότων ἴδιον ἂν γένοιτο. οἷς γε μὴν αὐτὸς παρεγενόμην, τούτους καὶ τοῖς μεθʼ ἡμᾶς γνωρίμους διʼ ἑτέρας ποιήσομαι γραφής.

English · Claude translation

Of those who were gloriously perfected at Alexandria and throughout all Egypt and the Thebaid, let first be recorded Peter, bishop of Alexandria itself, a divine example among teachers of godliness in Christ, and of the presbyters with him Faustus, Dius, and Ammonius, perfect martyrs of Christ; and Phileas, Hesychius, Pachymius, and Theodore, bishops of the churches in Egypt; and besides these countless other illustrious men, who are remembered by the churches of their own country and region. To commit to writing the contests of those who strove throughout the whole world for piety toward God, and to relate accurately each thing that befell them, would not be our task but the proper work of those who saw the events with their own eyes. Those, however, at whose trials I was myself present I shall make known to those after us in another writing.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:369–370 · 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, Church office

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.13.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/13/7/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.13.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/13/7/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:369–370

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage