Sophia Scriptura

Church History 10.4.38

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

Summary: A great east-facing gateway lets passers-by, even unbelievers, see inside and be moved to enter.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:462

πρόπυλον δὲ μέγα καὶ εἰς ὕψος ἐπηρμένον πρὸς αὐτὰς ἀνίσχοντος ἡλίου ἀκτῖνας ἀναπετάσας, ἤδη καὶ τοῖς μακρὰν περιβόλων ἔξω ἱερῶν ἑστῶσι τῆς τῶν ἔνδον παρέσχεν ἀφθονίαν θέας, μονονουχὶ καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων τῆς πίστεως ἐπὶ τὰς πρώτας εἰσόδους ἐπιστρέφων τὰς ὄψεις, ὡς ἂν μὴ παρατρέχοι τις, ὅτι μὴ τὴν ψυχὴν κατανυγεὶς πρότερον μνήμῃ τῆς τε πρὶν ἐρημίας, καὶ τῆς νῦν παραδόξου θαυματουργίας, ὑφʼ ἧς τάχα καὶ ἑλκυσθήσεσθαι κατανυγέντα, καὶ πρὸς αὐτῆς τῆς ὄψεως ἐπὶ τὴν εἴσοδον προτραπήσεσθαι ἤλπισεν.

English · Claude translation

He opened a great gateway, raised high, toward the very rays of the rising sun, and so gave even those standing far outside the sacred enclosures an abundant view of what is within, all but turning the eyes even of those who are strangers to the faith toward the first entrances, so that no one might pass by without first having his soul pierced by the memory of the former desolation and of the present marvelous work; by which he hoped that such a person, being pierced, might perhaps be drawn and moved by the very sight to enter.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:462 · 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)

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (stray raised dot in the digital text): πρὶν· ἐρημίας → πρὶν ἐρημίας.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.4.38 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/4/38/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.4.38 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/4/38/).

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