Church History 2.17.22
Summary: Philo describes night vigils, responsive hymns, sleeping on straw, and a diet of bread, water, salt, and hyssop, which Eusebius equates with the Christian Easter vigil.
Greek text · Dindorf 4:69
ἃ καὶ ἐπʼ ἀκριβέστερον αὐτὸς, ὃν καὶ εἰς δεῦρο τετήρηται παρὰ μόνοις ἡμῖν τρόπον, ἐπισημηνάμενος ὁ δηλωθεὶς ἀνὴρ τῇ ἰδίᾳ παραδέδωκε γραφῇ· καὶ μάλιστά γε τὰς τῆς μεγάλης ἑορτῆς παννυχίδας καὶ τὰς ἐν ταύταις ἀσκήσεις, τούς τε λέγεσθαι εἰωθότας πρὸς ἡμῶν ὕμνους ἱστορῶν, καὶ ὡς ἑνὸς μετὰ ῥυθμοῦ κοσμίως ἐπιψάλλοντος οἱ λοιποὶ καθʼ ἡσυχίαν ἀκροώμενοι τῶν ὕμνων τὰ ἀκροτελεύτια συνεξηχοῦσιν, ὅπως τε κατὰ τὰς δεδηλωμένας ἡμέρας ἐπὶ στιβάδων χαμευνοῦντ ἐς οἴνου μὲν τὸ παράπαν, ὡς αὐτοῖς ῥήμασιν ἀνέγραψεν, οὐδʼ ἀπογεύονται, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τῶν ἐναίμων τινὸς, ὕδωρ δὲ μόνον αὐτοῖς ἐστι ποτὸν, καὶ προσόψημα μετʼ ἄρτου ἅλες καὶ ὕσσωπον.
English · Claude translation
These the man mentioned has noted with particular accuracy and recorded in his own writing, in the manner kept to this day by us alone: especially the all-night vigils of the great feast and the exercises in them, and the hymns customarily said by us; and how, while one sings in an orderly way with rhythm, the rest, listening in silence, join in the closing refrains of the hymns; and how on the days mentioned they sleep on the ground on beds of straw, and, as he wrote in these very words, do not taste wine at all, nor anything with blood, but water alone is their drink, and their relish with bread is salt and hyssop.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The source is Philo, Contempl. 64–89 (especially 73, 80, 83–89).
Cite this passage
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.17.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/17/22/).
Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.17.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/17/22/).
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