Church History 6.43.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: A Roman synod of sixty bishops excommunicated Novatian and ruled that the lapsed be restored through penance.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:289

ἐφʼ ᾧ συνόδου μεγίστης ἐπὶ Ῥώμης συγκροτηθείσης, ἑξήκοντα μὲν τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἐπισκόπων, πλειόνων δʼ ἔτι μᾶλλον πρεσβυτέρων τε καὶ διακόνων, ἰδίως τε κατὰ τὰς λοιπὰς ἐπαρχίας τῶν κατὰ χώραν ποιμένων περὶ τοῦ πρακτέου διασκεψαμένων, δόγμα παρίσταται τοῖς πᾶσι τὸν μὲν Νοουάτον ἅμα τοῖς αὐτῷ συνεπαρθεῖσι τούς τε συνευδοκεῖν τῇ μισαδέλφῳ καὶ ἀπανθρωποτάτῃ γνώμῃ τἀνδρὸς προαιρουμένους ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἡγεῖσθαι, τοὺς δὲ τῇ συμφορᾷ περιπεπτωκότας τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἰᾶσθαι καὶ θεραπεύειν τοῖς τῆς μετανοίας φαρμάκοις.

English · Claude translation

On this account a very great synod was assembled at Rome, of sixty bishops and a still greater number of presbyters and deacons, while the pastors in the other provinces deliberated separately in their regions about what should be done. A decree was passed by all: that Novatus, together with those who joined him in his arrogance and those who chose to agree with the man's brother-hating and most inhuman opinion, should be reckoned as strangers to the church; but that the brothers who had fallen into misfortune should be healed and treated with the medicines of repentance.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:289 · 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

Heresy, Church office

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.43.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/43/2/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.43.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/43/2/).