Sophia Scriptura

Church History 2.1.8

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

Summary: After Stephen's death the Jerusalem church was scattered, and some preached as far as Antioch, but only to Jews.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:46

καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὡς ἐξ ἀρχαίων ἱστορίας εἰρή- σθω, μετίωμεν δʼ αὖθις ἐπὶ τὴν θείαν γραφήν. γενο- μένου δῆτα ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Στεφάνου μαρτυρίᾳ πρώτου καὶ μεγίστου πρὸς αὐτῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων κατὰ τῆς ἐν ῾Ιερο- σολύμοις ἐκκλησίας διωμοῦ, πάντων τε τῶν μαθη- τῶν πλὴν ὅτι τῶν δώδεκα μόνων ἀνὰ τὴν ᾿Ιουδαίαν τε καὶ Σαμάρειαν διασπαρέντων τινὲς, ᾗφησιν ἡ θεία γραφὴ, διελθόντες ἕως Φοινίκης καὶ Κύπρου καὶ ᾿Αντιοχείας, οὔπω μὲν ἔθνεσιν οἷοί τε ἦσαν τοῦ τῆς πίστεως μεταδιδόναι λόγου τολμᾶν, μόνοις δὲ τοῦτον ᾿Ιουδαίοις κατήγγελλον.

English · Claude translation

Let these things be said as from ancient accounts; let us return again to divine Scripture. When the first and greatest persecution by the Jews themselves arose against the church in Jerusalem at the martyrdom of Stephen, and all the disciples except the Twelve alone were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, some, as the divine Scripture says, went as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch; they could not yet venture to share the word of faith with the Gentiles, but proclaimed it to Jews alone.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:46 · 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
Topics
Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • Allusion to Acts 8:1 and Acts 11:19.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.1.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/1/8/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.1.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/1/8/).

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