Church History 10.4.11
Summary: Christ, the only good Son, took on human nature like a devoted physician and rescued humanity even from death, as no heavenly being could.
Greek text · Dindorf 4:453
ὅτι δὴ μόνος οἷα παναγάθου πατρὸς μονώτατος ὑπάρχων πανάγαθος παῖς, γνώμῃ τῆς πατρικῆς φιλανθρωπίας τῶν ἐν φθορᾷ κάτω που κειμένων ἡμῶν εὖ μάλα προθύμως ὑποδὺς τὴν φύσιν, οἶά τις ἰατρῶν ἄριστος τῆς τῶν καμνόντων ἕνεκεν σωτηρίας ὁρῇ μὲν δεινὰ, θιγγάνει δʼ ἀηδέων, ἐπʼ ἀλλοτρίῃσί τε ξυμφορῇσιν ἰδίας καρποῦται λύπας, οὐ νοσοῦντας αὐτὸ μόνον, οὐδʼ ἕλκεσι δεινοῖς καὶ σεσηπόσιν ἤδη τραύμασι πιεζομένους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν νεκροῖς κειμένους ἡμᾶς ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν μυχῶν τοῦ θανάτου αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ διεσώσατο, ὅτι μηδὲ ἄλλῳ τῳ τῶν κατʼ οὐρανὸν τοσοῦτον παρῆν ἰσχύος, ὡς τῇ τῶν τοσούτων ἀβλαβῶς διακονήσασθαι σωτηρίᾳ.
English · Claude translation
because he alone, as the only all-good Son of an all-good Father, in accordance with the will of the Father's love for mankind, most willingly put on the nature of us who lay somewhere below in corruption, and like an excellent physician, who for the sake of saving the sick “sees terrible things, touches what is unpleasant, and reaps griefs of his own from the misfortunes of others,” he saved us for himself, not only when we were sick or oppressed with terrible ulcers and wounds already festering, but even when we lay among the dead, from the very recesses of death; for no other being in heaven had so much strength as to minister unharmed to the salvation of so many.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The words about the physician quote Hippocrates, On Breaths 1.
Cite this passage
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.4.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/4/11/).
Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.4.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/4/11/).
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