Sophia Scriptura

Church History 3.39.13

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

Summary: Eusebius thinks Papias unintelligent but influential, leading Irenaeus and others into the same view.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:135

σφόδρα γάρ τοι σμικρὸς ὢν τὸν νοῦν, ὡσὰν ἐκ τῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων τεκμηράμενον εἰπεῖν, φαίνεται· πλὴν καὶ τοῖς μετʼ αὐτὸν πλείστοις ὅσοις τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν τῆς ὁμοίας αὐτῷ δόξης παραίτιος γέγονε, τὴν ἀρχαιότητα τἀνδρὸς προβεβλημένοις, ὥσπερ οὖν Εἰρηναίῳ, καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τὰ ὅμοια φρονῶν ἀναπέφηνεν.

English · Claude translation

For he appears to have been a man of very small intelligence, if one may judge from his own words; yet he was responsible for very many churchmen after him holding the same opinion as he, since they put forward the man's antiquity, as for example Irenaeus, and anyone else who appeared with like views.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:135 · 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
  • Papias (Papias (fragments)) · allusion, high confidence
  • Irenaeus, Irenaeus, Haer. 5.33 (Irenaeus, Against Heresies) · allusion, medium confidence
Topics
Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • Eusebius's judgment reflects his opposition to millenarianism.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.39.13 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/39/13/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.39.13 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/39/13/).

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