Church History 10.5.8 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The same freedom is given to all others, so that no religion is diminished.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:474

ὅπερ ἐπειδὴ ἀπολελυμένως αὐτοῖς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν δεδωρῆσθαι, θεωρεῖ ἡ σὴ καθοσίωσις, καὶ ἑτέροις δεδόσθαι ἐξουσίαν τοῖς βουλομένοις τοῦ μετέρχεσθαι τὴν παρατήρησιν καὶ θρησκείαν ἑαυτῶν· ὅπερ ἀκολούθως τῇ ἡσυχίᾳ τῶν ἡμετέρων καιρῶν γίνεσθαι φανερόν ἐστιν, ὅπως ἐξουσίαν ἕκαστος ἔχη τοῦ αἱρεῖσθαι καὶ τημελεῖν ὁποῖον δʼ ἂν βούληται θεῖον. τοῦτο δὲ ὑφʼ ἡμῶν γέγονεν, ὅπως μηδεμιᾷ τιμῇ μηδὲ θρησκείᾳ τινὶ μεμειῶσθαί τι ὑφʼ ἡμῶν δοκοίη.

English · Claude translation

And since your devotion sees that this has been granted to them by us without restriction, it perceives that power has also been given to others who wish to follow their own observance and religion; which clearly accords with the tranquility of our times, so that each may have freedom to choose and worship whatever deity he wishes. This has been done by us so that we may not seem to have diminished any honor or any religion.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:474 · 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

Lactantius, Mort. 48.6 (On the Deaths of the Persecutors) · echo, high confidence

Topics

Persecution

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.5.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/5/8/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.5.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/5/8/).