Church History 9.8.15 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Having shown his anger at the persecutors, God again gave the Christians peace, showing that he disciplines his people and then shows mercy.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:432–433

ἐφʼ οἷς τοῦτον ἐπιτελουμένοις τὸν τρόπον ὁ μέγας καὶ οὐράνιος Χριστιανῶν ὑπέρμαχος θεὸς τὴν κατὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων διὰ τῶν δεδηλωμένων ἐπιδειξάμενος ἀπειλὴν καὶ ἀγανάκτησιν ἀνθʼ ὧν εἰς ἡμὰς ὑπερβαλλόντως ἐνεδείξαντο, τὴν εὐμενῆ καὶ φαιδρὰν τῆς αὐτοῦ περὶ ἡμᾶς προνοίας αὖθις ἡμῖν αὐγὴν ἀπεδίδου, ὡς ἐν βαθεῖ σκότῳ παραδοξότατα φῶς ἡμῖν ἐξ αὐτοῦ καταλάμπων εἰρήνης, ἐκφανές τε τοῖς πᾶσι καθιστὰς, θεὸν αὐτὸν τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἐπίσκοπον διὰ παντὸς γεγονέναι πραγμάτων, μαστίζοντα μὲν καὶ διὰ τῶν περιστάσεων κατὰ καιρὸν ἐπιστρέφοντα τὸν αὐτοῦ λαὸν, πάλιν δʼ αὖ μετὰ τὴν αὐτάρκη παιδείαν ἵλεων καὶ εὐμενῆ τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν τὰς ἐλπίδας ἔχουσιν ἀναφαινομενον.

English · Claude translation

When these things had been done in this way, God, the great and heavenly champion of the Christians, having shown through what has been described his threat and indignation against all people for what they had done to us beyond measure, restored to us again the kind and bright radiance of his providence toward us. Most unexpectedly he shone on us the light of peace from himself, as in deep darkness, and made it plain to all that God himself had been the overseer of our affairs throughout, scourging his people and turning them back by afflictions from time to time, but again, after sufficient discipline, showing himself merciful and kind to those who put their hope in him.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:432–433 · 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. 9.8.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/8/15/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.8.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/8/15/).