Church History 1.4.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The ancient Hebrew writings record godly men before and after the flood, and Abraham their forefather.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:17–18

οὐ νέον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἀρχαιότητι τετιμημένον ἔθνος, τοῖς πᾶσι καὶ αὐτὸ γνώριμον, τὸ Ἑβραίων τυγχάνει. λόγοι δὴ παρὰ τούτῳ καἲ γράμματα παλαιοὺς ἄνδρας περιέχουσι, σπανίους μὲν καὶ ἀριθμῷ βραχεῖς, ἀλλʼ ὅμως εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ δικαιο- σύνῃ καὶ πάσῃ τῇ λοιπῇ διενεγκόντας ἀρετῇ, πρὸ μέν γε τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ διαφόρους, δὲ καὶ τοῦτον ἑτέρους τῶν τε τοῦ Νῶε παίδων καὶ ἀπογόνων, ἀτὰρ καὶ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ, ὃν ἀρχηγὸν καὶ προπάτορα σφῶν αὐτῶν παῖδες Ἑβραίων αὐχοῦσι.

English · Claude translation

The Hebrew nation is not new, but honoured by all men for its antiquity, and it too is known to all. Its accounts and writings contain ancient men, rare indeed and few in number, but distinguished in godliness and righteousness and every other virtue: several before the flood, and others after it among the children and descendants of Noah, and also Abraham, whom the children of the Hebrews boast of as their founder and forefather.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:17–18 · 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)

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.4.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/4/5/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 1.4.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/1/4/5/).