Sophia Scriptura

Church History 8.5.1

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

Summary: At Nicomedia a prominent Christian tore down the posted edict in the presence of two emperors and died for it calmly.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:354

Αὐτίκα γοῦν τῶν οὐκ ἀσήμων τις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄγαν κατὰ τὰς ἐν τῷ βίῳ νενομισμένας ὑπεροχὰς ἐνδοξοτάτων, ἅμα τῷ τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἐν τῇ Νικομηδείᾳ προτεθῆναι γραφὴν, ζήλῳ τῷ κατὰ θεὸν ὑποκινηθεὶς, διαπύρῳ τε ἐφορμήσας τῇ πίστει, ἐν προφανεῖ καὶ δημοσίῳ κειμένην ὡς ἀνοσίαν καὶ ἀσεβεστάτην ἀνελὼν σπαράττει, δυοῖν ἐπιπαρόντων κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν πόλιν βασιλέων, τοῦ τε πρεσβυτάτου τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τοῦ τὸν τέταρτον ἀπὸ τούτου τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπικρατοῦντος βαθμόν. ἀλλʼ οὗτος μὲν τῶν τηνικάδε πρῶτος τοῦτον διαπρέψας τὸν τρόπον, ἄμα τε τοιαῦτα, οἷα καὶ εἰκὸς ἦν, ὑπομείνας ὡσὰν ἐπὶ τοιούτῳ τολμήματι, τὸ ἄλυπον καὶ ἀτάραχον εἰς αὐτὴν τελευταίαν διετήρησεν ἀναπνοήν.

English · Claude translation

Immediately, at any rate, as soon as the decree against the churches was posted in Nicomedia, a man not obscure but most highly honored in the eminences of this life, moved by zeal for God and rushing on with burning faith, seized it as it lay posted in a conspicuous public place and tore it to pieces as unholy and most impious, while two emperors were present in the same city, the eldest of them and the one who held the fourth rank of rule after him. This man, the first of those at that time to distinguish himself in this way, after enduring such things as were to be expected for so daring a deed, kept himself free of grief and undisturbed to his very last breath.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:354 · 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
Persecution, Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

  • The two emperors are Diocletian and Galerius.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.5.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/5/1/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.5.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/5/1/).

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