Church History 2.13.6

Summary: Simon was the first author of all heresy; his followers, feigning Christianity, worship images of Simon and Helena.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:61

πάσης μὲν οὖν ἀρχηγὸν αἱρέσεως πρῶτον γενέσθαι τὸν Σίμωνα παρειλήφαμεν, ἐξ οὑ καὶ εἰς δεῦρο οἱ τὴν κατʼ αὐτὸν μετιόντες αἵρεσιν, τὴν σώφρονα καὶ διὰ καθαρότητα βίου παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσι βεβοημένην Χριστιανῶν φιλοσοφίαν ὑποκρινόμενοι, ἧς μὲν ἔδοξαν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα δεισιδαιμονίας οὐδὲν ἧττον αὖθις ἐπιλαμβάνονται, καταπίπτοντες ἐπὶ γραφὰς καὶ εἰκόνας αὐτοῦ τε τοῦ Σίμωνος καὶ τῆς σὺν αὐτῷ δηλωθείσης Ἑλένης, θυμιάμασί τε καὶ θυσίαις καὶ σπονδαῖς τούτους θρησκεύειν ἐγχειροῦντες.

English · Claude translation

We have received, then, that Simon was the first author of every heresy. From him, down to this day, those who follow his heresy, feigning the sober philosophy of the Christians, renowned among all for purity of life, nonetheless take up again the idolatrous superstition from which they seemed to have been freed, falling down before pictures and images of Simon himself and of Helena, mentioned with him, and undertaking to worship them with incense, sacrifices, and libations.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:61 · 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

Irenaeus, Irenaeus, Haer. 1.23.4 (Irenaeus, Against Heresies) · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Heresy

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.13.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/13/6/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.13.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/13/6/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:61

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage