Sophia Scriptura

Church History 7.31.1

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

Summary: Mani arose, claiming to be the Paraclete and choosing twelve disciples like Christ.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:339

Ἐν τούτῳ καὶ ὁ Μανεὶς τὰς φρένας, ἐπώνυμός τε τῆς δαιμονώσης αἱρέσεως, τὴν τοῦ λογισμοῦ παρατροπὴν καθωπλίζετο, τοῦ δαίμονος, αὐτοῦ δήπου τοῦ θεομάχου σατανᾶ, ἐπὶ λύμῃ πολλῶν τὸν ἄνδρα προβεβλημένου. βάρβαρος δῆτα τὸν βίον αὐτῷ λόγῳ καὶ τρόπῳ, τήν τε φύσιν δαιμονικός τις ὢν καὶ μανιώδης, ἀκόλουθα τούτοις ἐγχειρῶν, Χριστὸν αὐτὸν μορφάζεσθαι ἐπειρᾶτο, τοτὲ μὲν τὸν παράκλητον καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀνακηρύττων, καὶ τυφούμενός γε ἐπὶ τῇ μανίᾳ, τοτὲ δὲ, οἷα Χριστὸς, μαθητὰς δώδεκα κοινωνοὺς τῆς καινοτομίας αἱρούμενος.

English · Claude translation

At this time too the madman Mani, as his name implies, eponym of the demon-inspired heresy, was arming himself with the derangement of reason, the demon, Satan himself, the adversary of God, having put the man forward for the ruin of many. A barbarian in life, in speech and conduct, and demonic and maniacal in nature, he set about things to match, trying to impersonate Christ: at one time proclaiming himself the Paraclete and the Holy Spirit himself, and being puffed up in his madness; at another, like Christ, choosing twelve disciples as partners in his innovation.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:339 · 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

Notes

Translation notes

  • Eusebius puns on Mani and μανία (“madness”); his description is hostile.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.31.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/31/1/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.31.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/31/1/).

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