Sophia Scriptura

Church History 1.13.2

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

Summary: Abgar, king of Edessa, gravely ill, sent a letter to Jesus asking to be healed.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:39

ταύτῃ τοι βασιλεὺς Ἂβγρος, τῶν ὑπὲρ Εὐφράτην ἐθνῶν έπισημότατα δυναστεύων, πάθει τὸ σῶμα δεινῷ καὶ οὐ θεραπευτῷ ὅσον ἐπʼ ἀνθρωπείᾳ δυνάμει καταφθει- ρόμενος, ὡς καὶ τοὔνομα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πολὺ καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις συμφώνως πρὸς ἁπάντων μαρτυρουμένας ἐπύθετο, ἱκέτης αὐτοῦ πέμψας διʼ ἐπιστοληφόρου γίνεται, τῆς νόσου τυχεῖν ἀπαλλαγῆς ἀξιῶν.

English · Claude translation

So it was that King Abgar, the most distinguished ruler of the nations beyond the Euphrates, whose body was wasting away with a terrible disease incurable by human power, when he learned of the fame of the name of Jesus and of his mighty works, attested with one voice by all, sent to him by a letter-carrier as a suppliant, asking to obtain release from his disease.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:39 · 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
  • Abgar (Correspondence of Jesus and Abgar) · allusion, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The Abgar legend comes from Edessene tradition (see 1.13.5); its letters are generally regarded as legendary.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.13.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/13/2/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.13.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/13/2/).

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