Sophia Scriptura

Church History 6.19.2

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

Summary: Even Porphyry, attacking Scripture, could only slander its interpreters, especially Origen.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:261–262

τί δεῖ ταῦτα λέγειν, ὅτε καὶ ὁ καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἐν Σικελίᾳ καταστὰς Πορφύριος, συγγράμματα καθʼ ἡμῶν ἐνστησάμενος, καὶ διʼ αὐτῶν τὰς θείας γραφὰς διαβάλλειν πεπειραμένος, τῶν τε εἰς αὐτὰς ἐξηγησα- μένων μνημονεύσας, μηδὲν μηδαμῶς φαῦλον ἔγκλημα τοῖς δόγμασιν ἐπιβαλεῖν δυνηθεὶς, ἀπορίᾳ λόγων ἐπὶ τὸ λοιδορεῖν τρέπεται καὶ τοὺς ἐξηγητὰς ἐνδιαβάλλειν, ὧν μάλιστα τὸν Ὠριγένην·

English · Claude translation

Why need I say this, when even Porphyry, who settled in Sicily in our own time and composed writings against us, trying through them to slander the divine Scriptures, and mentioning those who had interpreted them, being unable to bring any serious charge against the doctrines, for lack of arguments turned to abuse and slandered the interpreters, above all Origen?

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:261–262 · 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
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • Porphyry's Against the Christians (15 books, late 3rd century) survives only in fragments.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.19.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/19/2/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.19.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/19/2/).

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