Church History 3.36.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: On his way through Asia, Ignatius warned the churches against heresies and urged them to hold to apostolic tradition, also in writing.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:128

οὗτος δὴ οὖν τὴν διʼ Ἀσίας ἀνακομιδὴν μετʼ ἐπιμελεστάτης φρουρῶν φυλακῆς ποιούμενος τὰς κατὰ πόλιν αἷς ἐπεδήμει παροικίας ταῖς διὰ λόγων ὁμιλίαις τε καὶ προτροπαῖς ἐπιρρωννὺς, ἐν πρώτοις μάλιστα προφυλάττεσθαι τὰς αἱρέσεις ἄρτι τότε πρῶτον ἀναφυείσας καὶ ἐπιπολαζούσας παρῄνει, προύτρεπέ τε ἀπρὶξ ἔχεσθαι τῆς τῶν ἀποστόλων παραδόσεως, ἣν ὑπὲρ ἀσφαλείας καὶ ἐγγράφως ἤδη μαρτυρόμενος διατυποῦσθαι ἀναγκαῖον ἡγεῖτο.

English · Claude translation

As he made the journey through Asia under the most careful guard of soldiers, he strengthened the communities in each city where he stayed with spoken homilies and exhortations, above all urging them to be on guard against the heresies which had just then first sprung up and were prevailing, and exhorting them to hold fast to the tradition of the apostles, which, for safety's sake, he thought necessary, now that he was a martyr, to set down also in writing.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:128 · 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

Heresy, Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.36.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/36/4/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.36.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/36/4/).