Sophia Scriptura

Church History 6.43.17

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

Summary: Novatian was ordained presbyter only by the bishop's special favour, over objections to his clinical baptism.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:293

ὑπερβὰς δʼ ὀλίγα τούτοις πάλιν ἐπιφέρει λέγων ‟καταλιπὼν ‟γὰρ ὁ λαμπρὸς οὗτος τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐν ᾗ πιστεύσας κατηξιώθη τοῦ πρεσβυτερίου κατὰ ‟χάριν τοῦ ἐπισκόπου τοῦ ἐπιθέντος αὐτῷ χεῖρα εἰς “πρεσβυτερίου κλῆρον, ὃς διακωλυόμενος ὑπὸ παντὸς ‟τοῦ κλήρου, ἀλλὰ καὶ λαικῶν πολλῶν, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐξὸν ‟ἦν τὸν ἐπὶ κλίνης διὰ νόσον περιχυθέντα, ὥσπερ ‟καὶ οὗτος, εἰς κλῆρόν τινα γενέσθαι, ἠξίωσε συγχωρηθῆναι αὐτῷ τοῦτον μόνον χειροτονῆσαι.”

English · Claude translation

Passing over a few things, he adds again: “For this illustrious man forsook the church of God, in which, after believing, he was deemed worthy of the presbyterate by the favour of the bishop who laid his hand on him for the order of presbyter; who, when the whole clergy and many laymen objected, since it was not lawful for one who had been baptized by affusion on his bed because of illness, as this man was, to be admitted to any order, asked that he be allowed to ordain this one man only.”

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:293 · 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
  • Cornelius of Rome, Cornelius (Cornelius of Rome, Letter to Fabius of Antioch) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Church office, Baptism

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Cornelius of Rome.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.43.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/43/17/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.43.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/43/17/).

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