Church History 3.36.12

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

Summary: Irenaeus (quoted) cites Ignatius's words: “I am God's wheat, ground by the teeth of beasts.”

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Greek text · Dindorf 4:129–130

οἶδε δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ μαρτύριον καὶ ὁ Εἰρήναιος, καὶ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν αὐτοῦ μνημονεύει λέγων οὕτως “ ὡς εἶπέ τις τῶν ἡμετέρων διὰ τὴν πρὸς θεὸν μαρτυρίαν κατα- “κριθεὶς πρὸς θηρία, ὅτι σῖτός εἰμι θεοῦ, καὶ διʼ ‘ὀδόντων θηρίων ἀλήθομαι, ἵνα καθαρὸς ἄρτος εὑ- “ ρεθῶ.”

English · Claude translation

Irenaeus too knew of his martyrdom and mentions his letters, speaking thus: “As one of ours said, condemned to the beasts because of his witness to God: I am God's wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found pure bread.”

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:129–130 · 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. 5.28.4 (Irenaeus, Against Heresies) · quotation, high confidence
Ign. Rom. 4.1 (To the Romans) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

Quotation from Irenaeus, Haer. 5.28.4, citing Ign. Rom. 4.1.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.36.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/36/12/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.36.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/36/12/).

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