Church History 1.2.3

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

Summary: Only the Father truly knows the pre-existent Word, the Father's Wisdom, agent of creation and Lord of all, as John 1 proclaims.

BothGreekEnglish

Greek text · Dindorf 4:4

τό τε φῶς τὸ προκόσμιον καὶ τὴν πρὸ αἰώνων νοερὰν καὶ οὐσιώδη σοφίαν, τόν τε ζῶντα καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ τυγχάνοντα θεὸν λόγον τίς ἂν πλὴν τοῦ πατρὸς καθα- ρῶς ἐννοήσειε, πρὸ πάσης κτίσεως καὶ δημιουργίας ὁρωμένης τε καὶ ἀοράτου τὸ πρῶτον καὶ μόνον τοὐ θεοῦ γέννημα, τὸν τῆς κατʼ οὐρανὸν λογικῆς καὶ ἀθανάτου στρατιὰς ἀρχιστράτηγον, τὸν τῆς μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελον, τὸν τῆς ἀρρήτου γνώμης τοῦ πατρὸς ὑπουργὸν, τὸν τῶν ἀπάντων σὺν τῷ πατρὶ δημιουργὸν, τὸν δεύτερον μετὰ τὸν πατέρα τῶν ὅλων αἴτιον, τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ παῖδα γνήσιον καὶ μονογενῆ, τὸν τῶν γεννητῶν ἁπάντων κύριον καὶ θεὸν καὶ βασιλέα, τὸν τὸ κῦρος ὁμοῦ καὶ τὸ κράτος αὐτῇ θεότητι καὶ δυνάμει καὶ τιμῇ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑποδεδεγμένον, ὅτι δὴ κατὰ τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ μυστικὰς τῶν γραφῶν θεολογίας “ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος· πάντα διʼ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν.’’

English · Claude translation

And the light before the world, the intelligent and substantial Wisdom before the ages, the living God the Word who was in the beginning with the Father: who but the Father could clearly conceive him? The first and only offspring of God before all creation and making, visible and invisible; the commander-in-chief of the rational and immortal host of heaven; the angel of great counsel; the minister of the Father's unspeakable purpose; the maker of all things together with the Father; the second cause of the universe after the Father; the true and only-begotten child of God; the Lord and God and King of all begotten things, who has received from the Father lordship and might together with Godhead itself, power and honour; since, according to the mystical theology of the Scriptures concerning him, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came to be through him, and without him not one thing came to be.”

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:4 · 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)

Scripture

John 1:1–3 · quotation, high confidence
Isa 9:6 (9:5 LXX) · allusion, high confidence
Col 1:15 · echo, medium confidence
Josh 5:14 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Christology, Trinity

Notes

Translation notes

The quotation is John 1:1–3. “Angel of great counsel” is Isa 9:6 (9:5 LXX); “the commander-in-chief” anticipates Josh 5:14; “before all creation” echoes Col 1:15. “The second cause after the Father” reflects Eusebius's subordinationist language.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.2.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/2/3/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.2.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/2/3/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage