Church History 7.32.31 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Peter of Alexandria, bishop for twelve years, was beheaded in the ninth year of the persecution (311).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:347

μετὰ δὲ Θεωνᾶν ἐννεακαίδεκα ἔτεσιν ἐξυπηρετησάμενον διαδέχεται τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν τῶν ἐπʼ Ἀλεξανδρείας Πέτρος, ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα καὶ αὐτὸς διαπρέψας ἐφʼ ὅλοις δυοκαίδεκα ἐνιαυτοῖς, ὧν πρὸ τοῦ διωγμοῦ τρισὶν οὐδʼ ὅλοις ἔτεσιν ἡγησάμενος τῆς ἐκκλησίας, τὸν λοιπὸν τοῦ βίου χρόνον εὐτονωτέρᾳ τῇ συνασκήσει ἑαυτόν τε ἦγε, καὶ τῆς κοινῆς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ὠφελείας οὐκ ἀφανῶς ἐπεμέλετο. ταύτῃ δʼ οὖν ἐνάτῳ ἔτει τοῦ διωγμοῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποτμηθεὶς τῷ τοῦ μαρτυρίου κατεκοσμήθη στεφάνῳ.

English · Claude translation

After Theonas had served nineteen years, Peter succeeded to the episcopate of the Alexandrians. He too was very distinguished during twelve whole years; he led the church for not quite three years before the persecution, and for the rest of his life he disciplined himself with a more rigorous asceticism and took care, not obscurely, of the common good of the churches. So in the ninth year of the persecution he was beheaded and adorned with the crown of martyrdom.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:347 · 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

Church office, Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.32.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/32/31/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.32.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/32/31/).