Sophia Scriptura

Church History 1.11.5

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

Summary: Josephus (quoted): John was a good man who called the Jews to virtue and to a baptism that purified the body after the soul was cleansed by righteousness.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:36

κτείνει γὰρ τοῦτον Ἡρώ- ‘δης, ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις κελεύοντα, “ἀρετὴν ἐπασκοῦσι καὶ τὰ πρὸς ἀλλήλους δικαιοσύνῃ “ καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν εὐσεβείᾳ χρωμένοις βαπτισμῷ “συνιέναι. οὕτω γὰρ δὴ καὶ τὴν βάπτισιν ἀποδέκτην αὐτῷ φανεῖσθαι, μὴ ἐπί τινων ἁμαρτάδων παραι- “τήσει χρωμένων, ἀλλʼ ἐφʼ ἁγνείᾳ τοῦ σώματος, ἄτε “ δὴ καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς δικαιοσύνῃ προεκκεκαθαρμένης. ’

English · Claude translation

For Herod killed him, though he was a good man who commanded the Jews to practise virtue, to use righteousness toward one another and piety toward God, and so to come together for baptism. For so, he said, the baptism would appear acceptable to God, if they used it not to beg off certain sins but for the purification of the body, since the soul had already been cleansed beforehand by righteousness.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:36 · 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)
Extrabiblical texts
  • Josephus, Ant. 18.117 (Josephus (works)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Baptism

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Josephus, Ant. 18.117.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.11.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/11/5/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.11.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/11/5/).

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