Church History 5.1.10 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:185

τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸ βῆμα καταβοησάντων αὐτοῦ, (καὶ γὰρ ἠν ἐπίσημος), καὶ τοῦ ἡγεμόνος μὴ ἀνασχομένου τῆς οὕτως ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ δικαίας προταθείσης ἀξιώσεως, ἀλλὰ μόνον τοῦτο πυθομένου, εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς εἴη Χριστιανὸς, τοῦ δὲ λαμπροτάτῃ φωνῇ ὁμολογήσαντος, ἀνελήφθη καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὸν κλῆρον τῶν μαρτύρων, παράκλητος Χριστιανῶν χρηματίσας, ἔχων δὲ τὸν παράκλητον ἐν ἑαυτῷ, τὸ πνεῦμα πλέον τοῦ Ζαχαρίου, ὃ διὰ τοῦ πληρώματος τῆς ἀγάπης ἐνεδείξατο, εὐδοκήσας ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἀπολογίας καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θεῖναι ψυχήν. ἦν γὰρ καὶ ἔστι γνήσιος Χριστοῦ μαθητὴς, ἀκολουθῶν τῷ ἀρνίῳ ὅπου ἂν ὑπάγῃ.

English · Claude translation

Those around the tribunal shouted him down (for he was a man of distinction), and the governor would not allow the just request he had put forward, but only asked whether he too was a Christian. When he confessed it in a most clear voice, he too was taken up into the lot of the martyrs. He was called the advocate of the Christians, but he had the Advocate in himself, the Spirit, more fully than Zacharias, which he showed by the fullness of his love, being well pleased to lay down even his own life in defence of the brothers. For he was and is a true disciple of Christ, “following the Lamb wherever he goes.”

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:185 · 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)

Scripture

Rev 14:4 · quotation, high confidence
John 14:16 · allusion, medium confidence
1 John 3:16 · allusion, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Ep. Lugd. (Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

Quotation from the Letter of Vienne and Lyons. The play on παράκλητος (“advocate” / the Paraclete) alludes to John 14:16; the quotations are Rev 14:4 and, for laying down one's life, 1 John 3:16. Whether Vettius was executed at once is not stated.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/10/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/10/).