Church History 7.9.2

Summary: An old church member, hearing the baptismal questions, realized his heretical baptism had been nothing like the church's.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:302–303

τῶν γὰρ συναγομένων ἀδελφῶν πιστὸς νομιζόμενος ἀρχαῖος καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἐμῆς χειροτονίας, οἶμαι δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς “τοῦ μακαρίου Ἡρακλᾶ καταστάσεως τῆς συναγωγῆς ‟μετασχὼν, τοῖς ὑπόγυιον βαπτιζομένοις παρατυχὼν, καὶ τῶν ἐπερωτήσεων καὶ ἀποκρίσεων ἐπακούσας, ‟προσῆλθέ μοι κλαίων καὶ καταθρηνῶν ἑαυτὸν καὶ ‟πίπτων πρὸ τῶν ποδῶν μου, ἐξομολογούμενος μὲν ‘καὶ ἐξομνύμενος τὸ βάπτισμα, ὃ παρὰ τοῖς αἱρετι- ῾κοῖς βεβάπτιστο, μὴ τοιοῦτον εἶναι, μηδὲ ὅλως ἔχειν “τινὰ πρὸς τοῦτο κοινωνίαν· ἀσεβείας γὰρ ἐκεῖνο καὶ ῾βλασφημιῶν πεπληρῶσθαι.

English · Claude translation

One of the brothers who assemble, considered a believer of long standing, a member of the congregation even before my ordination and, I think, even before the appointment of the blessed Heraclas, was present when some were being baptized recently and heard the questions and answers. He came to me weeping and lamenting himself, and falling at my feet, confessing and swearing that the baptism he had received among the heretics was not of this kind, nor had anything at all in common with it; for that was full of impiety and blasphemies.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:302–303 · 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)) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Baptism, Heresy

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.9.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/9/2/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.9.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/7/9/2/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:302–303

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage