Church History 6.20.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Gaius of Rome, arguing against a Montanist, counted only thirteen letters of Paul, excluding Hebrews.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:266

ἦλθε δὲ εἰς ἡμᾶς καὶ Γαίου λογιωτάτου ἀνδρὸς διάλογος, ἐπὶ Ῥώμης κατὰ Ζεφυρῖνον πρὸς Πρόκλον τῆς κατὰ Φρύγας αἱρέσεως ὑπερμαχοῦντα κεκινημένος, ἐν ᾧ τῶν διʼ ἐναντίας τὴν περὶ τὸ συντάττειν καινὰς γραφὰς προπέτειάν τε καὶ τόλμαν ἐπιστομίζων τῶν τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἀποστόλου δεκατριῶν μόνων ἐπιστολῶν μνημονεύει, τὴν πρὸς Εβραίους μὴ συναριθμήσας ταῖς λοιπαῖς, ἐπεὶ καὶ εἰς δεῦρο παρὰ Ῥωμαίων τισὶν οὐ νομίζεται τοῦ ἀποστόλου τυγχάνειν.

English · Claude translation

There has also come to us a dialogue of Gaius, a very learned man, held at Rome in the time of Zephyrinus with Proclus, a champion of the Phrygian heresy. In it, curbing the rashness and daring of his opponents in composing new scriptures, he mentions only thirteen letters of the holy apostle, not counting the one to the Hebrews with the rest; for even to this day it is not considered to be the apostle's by some of the Romans.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:266 · 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

Gaius of Rome, Gaius, Dial. Procl. (Gaius of Rome, Gaius, Dialogue with Proclus (fragments)) · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Scripture and canon, Heresy

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.20.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/20/3/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.20.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/20/3/).