Sophia Scriptura

Church History 7.30.21

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

Summary: Aurelian died before signing his edicts, showing that persecution comes only by God's permission.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:338

μέλλοντα δὲ ἤδη καὶ σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν τοῖς καθʼ ἡμῶν γράμμασιν ὑποσημειούμενον θεία μέτεισιν δίκη, μονονουχὶ ἐξ ἀγκώνων τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως αὐτὸν ἀποδεσμοῦσα, λαμπρῶς τε τοῖς πᾶσι συνορᾶν παριστῶσα, ὡς οὔποτε γένοιτʼ ἂν ῥᾳστώνη τοῖς τοῦ βίου ἄρχουσι κατὰ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησιῶν, μὴ οὐχὶ τῆς ὑπερμάχου χειρὸς θείᾳ καὶ οὐρανίῳ κρίσει, παιδείας ἕνεκα καὶ ἐπιστροφῆς, καθʼ οὓς ἂν αὐτὴ δοκιμάζοι καιροὺς, τοῦτʼ ἐπιτελεῖσθαι συγχωρούσης.

English · Claude translation

But when he was about to do so, and was all but signing the decrees against us, divine justice overtook him, binding him, so to speak, by the elbows from his undertaking, and showing clearly to all that there could never be facility for the rulers of this life against the churches of Christ, unless the hand that defends them, by divine and heavenly judgment, for chastening and conversion, permitted it to be done at such times as it itself should approve.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:338 · 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
Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • Aurelian was assassinated in 275.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.30.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/30/21/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.30.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/30/21/).

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