Church History 3.24.5

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

Summary: Of all the disciples, only Matthew and John wrote Gospels, and that out of necessity.

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Greek text · Dindorf 4:113

οὐκ ἄπειροι μὲν οὖν ὑπῆρχον τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ οἶ λοιποὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν φοιτηταὶ, δώδεκα μὲν ἀπόστολοι, ἑβδομήκοντα δὲ μαθηταὶ, ἄλλοι τε ἐπὶ τούτοις μυρίοι. ὅμως δʼ οὖν ἐξ ἀπάντων τῶν τοῦ κυρίου διατριβῶν ὑπομνήματα Ματθαῖος ἡμῖν καὶ Ἰωάννης μόνοι καταλελοίπασιν, οὓς καὶ ἐπάναγκες ἐπὶ τὴν γραφὴν ἐλθεῖν κατέχει λόγος.

English · Claude translation

The rest of our Saviour's followers too, the twelve apostles, the seventy disciples, and countless others besides, were not unacquainted with the same things. Yet of all the Lord's disciples only Matthew and John have left us memoirs, and tradition holds that they came to writing of necessity.

About this passage

Source: Dindorf 4:113 · 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)
Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.24.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/24/5/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.24.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/24/5/).

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