Sophia Scriptura

Church History 3.28.2

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

Summary: Gaius (quoted): Cerinthus forged revelations teaching an earthly thousand-year kingdom of fleshly pleasures.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:119

“ἀλλὰ καὶ Κήρινθος “ὁ διʼ ἀποκαλύψεων ὡς ὑπὸ ἀποστόλου μεγάλου γε- “γραμμένων τερατολογίας ἡμῖν ὡς διʼ ἀγγέλων αὐτῷ “δεδειγμένας ψευδόμενος ἐπεισάγει λέγων μετὰ τὴν “ἀνάστασιν ἐπίγειον εἶναι τὸ βασίλειον τοῦ Χρι- “στοῦ, καὶ πάλιν ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ ἡδοναῖς ἐν Ἱερου- “σαλὴμ τὴν σάρκα πολιτευομένην δουλεύειν. καὶ “ἐχθρὸς ὑπάρχων ταῖς γραφαῖς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀριθμὸν “χιλιονταετίας ἐν γάμῳ ἑορτῆς, θέλων πλανᾶν, λέγει “γίνεσθαι.”

English · Claude translation

“But Cerinthus too, by revelations as if written by a great apostle, falsely brings in marvels to us as though shown to him by angels, saying that after the resurrection the kingdom of Christ will be on earth, and that the flesh, living again in Jerusalem, will be enslaved to desires and pleasures. And being an enemy to the Scriptures of God, wishing to deceive, he says that there will be a period of a thousand years in wedding festivity.”

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:119 · 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
  • Gaius of Rome, Gaius, Dial. Procl. (Gaius of Rome, Gaius, Dialogue with Proclus (fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Heresy, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Gaius, Dialogue with Proclus. Gaius may mean that Cerinthus wrote the Apocalypse under John's name; this is disputed.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.28.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/28/2/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.28.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/28/2/).

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