Church History 4.23.7

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

Summary: Dionysius urged Pinytus of Cnossus not to impose celibacy on the brothers as a necessity, but to consider the weakness of the many.

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Greek text · Dindorf 4:173

ταύταις ἄλλη ἐγκατείλεκται πρὸς Κυωσσίους ἐπιστολὴ, ἐν ᾑ Πινυτὸν τῆς παροικίας ἐπίσκοπον παρακαλεῖ μὴ βαρὺ φορτίον ἐπάναγκες τὸ περὶ ἁγνείας τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἐπιτιθέναι, τῆς δὲ τῶν πολλῶν καταστοχάξεσθαι ἀσθενείας.

English · Claude translation

To these is added another letter, to the Cnossians, in which he urges Pinytus, bishop of the community, not to lay on the brothers as a necessity the heavy burden of chastity, but to have regard to the weakness of the many.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:173 · 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

Dionysius of Corinth, Letter to the Cnossians (Dionysius of Corinth (letters)) · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Marriage, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

“Chastity” (ἁγνεία) here probably means sexual continence or celibacy. The digital text has Κυωσσίους for Κνωσσίους.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.23.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/23/7/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.23.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/23/7/).

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