Church History 6.3.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Origen boldly accompanied and kissed the martyrs on their way to death, narrowly escaping stoning.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:243–244

οὐ μόνον γὰρ ἐν δεσμοῖς τυγχάνουσιν, οὐδὲ μέχρις ὑστάτης ἀποφάσεως ἀνακρινομένοις συνῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ ταύτην τὴν ἀπαγομένοις τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ τοῖς ἁγίοις μάρτυσι πολλῇ τῇ παρρησίᾳ χρώμενος καὶ ὁμόσε τοῖς κινδύ- νοῖς χωρῶν· ὥστε ἤδη αὐτὸν προσιόντα θαρσαλέως καὶ τοὺς μάρτυρας μετὰ πολλῆς παρρησίας φιλήματι προσαγορεύοντα πολλάκις ἐπιμανεὶς ὁ ἐν κύκλῳ τῶν ἐθνῶν δῆμος σμικροῦ δεῖν κατέλευσεν, εἰ μὴ τῆς θείας δεξιᾶς βοηθοῦ καθάπαξ τυγχάνων παραδόξως διεδίδρασκεν.

English · Claude translation

For he was with the holy martyrs not only while they were in bonds, nor only while they were being examined up to the final sentence, but also after it, when they were led away to death, showing great boldness and going close to the dangers; so that, as he boldly approached and greeted the martyrs with a kiss with great boldness, the pagan crowd around, maddened, often came near to stoning him, had he not each time escaped wonderfully, finding the divine right hand as his helper.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:243–244 · 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

Martyrdom, Persecution

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.3.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/3/4/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.3.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/3/4/).