Church History 1.13.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:39–40

ἔχεις καὶ τούτων ἀνάγραπτον τὴν μαρτυρίαν, ἐκ τῶν κατὰ Ἒδεσσαν τὸ τηνικαῦτα βασιλευομένην πόλιν γραμματοφυλακείων ληφθεῖσαν. ἐν γοῦν τοῖς αὐτόθι δημοσίοις χάρταις, τοῖς τὰ παλαιὰ καὶ τὰ ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἄβγαρον πραχθέντα περιέχουσι, καὶ ταῦτα εἰσέτι νῦν ἐξ ἐκείνου πεφυλαγμένα εὕρηται- οὐδὲν δὲ οἷον καὶ αὐτῶν ἀπακοῦσαι τῶν ἐπιστολῶν, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχείων ἡμῖν ἀναληφθεισῶν, καὶ τόνδε αὐ- τοῖς ῥήμασιν ἐκ τῆς Σύρων φωνῆς μεταβληθειῶν τὸν τρόπον. ᾿Αντίγραφον ἐπιστολῆς γραφείσης ὑπὸ ᾿Αβγάρου τοπάρχου τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ, καὶ πεμφθείσης αὐτῷ διʼ ᾿Ανανία ταχυδρόμου εἰς ῾Ιεροσόλυμα.

English · Claude translation

You have the written testimony of these things too, taken from the archives of Edessa, which was then a royal city. For in the public records there, which contain ancient events and those concerning Abgar, these things too are found preserved from that time until now. But there is nothing like hearing the letters themselves, taken by us from the archives and translated word for word from the Syriac language in this way. Copy of a letter written by Abgar the toparch to Jesus and sent to him by Ananias the courier to Jerusalem.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:39–40 · 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 letters (1.13.6–10) are the Abgar correspondence, translated from the Syriac; they are generally regarded as a later legend (the Doctrina Addai preserves a fuller form).

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.13.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/13/5/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.13.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/13/5/).