Sophia Scriptura

Church History 6.29.3

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

Summary: At the election a dove settled on Fabian's head, recalling the Spirit's descent on Christ.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:273–274

τῶν γὰρ ἀδελφῶν ἁπάντων χειροτονίας ἕνεκεν τῆς τοῦ μέλλοντος διαδέξασθαι τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας συγκεκροτημένων, πλείστων τε ἐπιφανῶν καὶ ἐνδόξων ἀνδρῶν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐν ὑπονοίᾳ ὑπαρχόντων, ὁ Φαβιανὸς παρὼν οὐδενὸς μὲν ἀνθρώπων εἰς διάνοιαν ᾔει, ὅμως δʼ οὖν ἀθρόως ἐκ μετεώρου περι- στερὰν καταπτᾶσαν ἐπικαθεσθῆναι τῇ αὐτοῦ κεφαλῇ μνημονεύουσι, μίμημα ἐνδεικνυμένην τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν σωτῆρα τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐν εἴδει περιστερᾶς καθόδου.

English · Claude translation

For when all the brothers had assembled in the church for the election of the one who was to succeed to the episcopate, and very many eminent and distinguished men were in the minds of most, Fabian, who was present, came into no one's mind; yet they record that suddenly a dove flew down from above and settled on his head, showing an imitation of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Saviour in the form of a dove.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:273–274 · 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
Topics
Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • Cf. Matt 3:16.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.29.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/29/3/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.29.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/29/3/).

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