Church History 6.19.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Porphyry, who knew Origen in youth, unwittingly commends him while mixing truth and lies.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:262

ὃν κατὰ τὴν νέαν ἡλικίαν ἐγνωκέναι φήσας διαβάλλειν μὲν πειρᾶται, συνιστῶν δὲ ἄρα τὸν ἄνδρα ἐλάνθανε, τὰ μὲν ἐπαληθεύων, ἐν οἶς οὐδʼ ἑτέρως αὐτῷ λέγειν ἦν δυνατὸν, τὰ δὲ καὶ ψευδόμενος, ἐν οἷς λήσεσθαι ἐνόμιζε, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν ὡς Χριστιανοῦ κατηγορῶν, τοτὲ δὲ τὴν περὶ τὰ φιλόσοφα μαθήματα ἐπίδοσιν αὐτοῦ διαγράφων.

English · Claude translation

He says he knew him in his youth and tries to slander him, but without realizing it he actually commends the man, telling the truth where he could not speak otherwise, and lying where he thought he would escape detection; now accusing him as a Christian, now describing his proficiency in philosophical studies.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:262 · 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)

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.19.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/19/3/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.19.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/19/3/).