Church History 7.2.1

Summary: Stephen became bishop of Rome; Dionysius wrote to him on whether converts from heresy should be rebaptized, against the old custom of laying on hands.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:298

Κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ῥωμαίων πόλιν Κορνηλίου ἔτεσιν ἀμφὶ τὰ τρία τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν διανύσαντος Λούκιος κατέστη διάδοχος, μησὶ δʼ οὐδʼ ὅλοις οὗτος ὀκτὼ τῇ Στεφάνῳ τελευτῶν μεταδίδωσι τὸν κλῆρον. τούτῳ τὴν πρώτην ὁ Διονύσιος τῶν περὶ βαπτίσματος ἐπιστολῶν διατυποῦται, ζητήματος οὐ μικροῦ τηνικάδε ἀνακινηθέντος, εἰ δέοι τοὺς ἐξ οἵας δʼ οὖν αἱρέσεως ἐπιστρέφοντας διὰ λουτροῦ καθαίρειν, παλαιοῦ γέ τοι κεκρατηκότος ἔθους ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων μόνῃ χρῆσθαι τῇ διὰ χειρῶν ἐπιθέσεως εὐχῇ.

English · Claude translation

In the city of the Romans, when Cornelius had completed about three years in the episcopate, Lucius was appointed his successor; and he, dying after not quite eight months, handed on the office to Stephen. To him Dionysius wrote the first of his letters on baptism, since no small question had then been raised whether those turning from any heresy whatever should be purified by the washing, though an old custom had prevailed in such cases of using only prayer with the laying on of hands.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:298 · 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

Dionysius of Alexandria (Dionysius of Alexandria (letters and fragments)) · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Baptism, Heresy, Church office

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/2/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/2/1/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:298

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Notes on the original text

Cite this passage