Church History 5.18.11

Summary: Apollonius: true prophets do not dye their hair, use make-up, gamble, or lend at interest, as the Montanist prophets do.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:223–224

πάλιν τε αὖ ἐν ἑτέρῳ τοῦ συγγράμματος περὶ ὧν αὐχοῦσι προφητῶν ἐπιλέγει ταῦτα “ἐὰν ἀρνῶνται δῶρα τοὺς προφήτας αὐτῶν εἰληφέναι, τοῦτο ὁμολογησάτωσαν, ὅτι ἐὰν “ἐλεγχθῶσιν εἰληφότες, οὐκ εἰσὶ προφῆται, καὶ μυρίας ἀποδείξεις τούτων παραστήσομεν. ἀναγκαῖον “δέ ἐστι πάντας καρποὺς δοκιμάζεσθαι προφήτης, εἰπέ μοι, βάπτεται; προφήτης στιβίζε- “ται; προφήτης φιλοκοσμεῖ; προφήτης τάβλαις “κύβοις παίζει; προφήτης δανείζει; ταῦτα ὁμολογη- “σάτωσαν πότερον ἔξεστιν ἢ μὴ, ἐγὼ δὲ ὅτι γέγονε “παρʼ αὐτοῖς δείξω.’’

English · Claude translation

And again in another part of the work he says this about the prophets they boast of: “If they deny that their prophets have taken gifts, let them confess this: that if they are convicted of taking them, they are not prophets; and we shall bring countless proofs of this. But all the fruits of a prophet must be tested. Tell me: does a prophet dye his hair? Does a prophet paint his eyelids? Does a prophet love finery? Does a prophet play at gaming-tables and dice? Does a prophet lend money at interest? Let them confess whether these things are permitted or not; I will show that they have happened among them.”

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:223–224 · 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

Apollonius (Apollonius, Against the Montanists) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Heresy, Ethics

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.18.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/18/11/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.18.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/18/11/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:223–224

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage