Church History 9.3.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Theotecnus set up a cult image of Zeus Philios at Antioch and claimed its oracle ordered the Christians expelled.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:422–423

Πλεῖστα δʼ οὗτος καθʼ ἡμῶν στρατευσάμενος, καὶ πάντα τρόπον τοὺς ἡμετέρους, ὥσπερ τινὰς φῶρας ἀνοσίους, ἐκ μυχῶν θηρεῦσαι διὰ σπουδῆς πεποιημένος, πάντα τε ἐπὶ διαβολῇ καὶ κατηγορίᾳ τῇ καθʼ ἡμῶν μεμηχανημένος, καὶ θανάτου αἴτιος μυρίοις ὅσοις γεγονὼς τελευτῶν εἴδωλόν τι Διὸς φιλίου μαγγανείαις τισὶ καὶ γοητείαις ἱδρύεται, τελετάς τε ἀνάγνους αὐτῷ καὶ μυήσεις ἀκαλλιερήτους, ἐξαγίστους τε καθαρμοὺς ἐπινοήσας, μέχρι καὶ βασιλέως τὴν τερατείαν διʼ ὧν ἐδόκει χρησμῶν ἐκτελεῖν ἐπεδείκνυτο· καὶ δὴ καὶ οὗτος κολακείᾳ τῇ καθʼ ἡδονὴν τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἐπεγείρει κατὰ Χριστιανῶν τὸν δαίμονα, καὶ τὸν θεὸν δὴ κελεῦσαί φησιν, ὑπερορίους τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῶν ἀμφὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀγρῶν ὡσὰν ἐχθροὺς αὐτῷ Χριστιανοὺς ἀπελάσαι.

English · Claude translation

This man, having waged war against us in every possible way and zealously hunted our people out of their hiding places like unholy thieves, and having contrived everything for slander and accusation against us, and having caused the death of countless people, at last set up by certain tricks and sorceries an image of Zeus the Friend. He devised impure rites for it, ill-omened initiations, and abominable purifications, and displayed his wonder-working even to the emperor by oracles that he pretended to deliver. This man too, flattering the ruler's pleasure, stirred up the demon against the Christians, and said that the god had ordered the Christians to be driven out beyond the borders of the city and its surrounding country, as being his enemies.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:422–423 · 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

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/3/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/3/1/).