Church History, Book 8, preface 1

Summary: Eusebius introduces Book 8, which turns from the succession of the apostles to the events of his own lifetime.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:348

Προοίμιον. Τὴν τῶν ἀποστόλων διαδοχὴν ἐν ὅλοις ἑπτὰ περιγράψαντες βιβλίοις ἐν ὀγδόῳ τούτῳ συγγράμματι τὰ καθʼ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς, οὐ τῆς τυχούσης ἄξια ὄντα γραφής, ἕν τι τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων ἡγούμεθα δεῖν εἰς γνῶσιν καὶ τῶν μεθʼ ἡμᾶς παραδοῦναι, καὶ ἄρξεταί γε ὁ λόγος ἐντεῦθεν ἡμῖν.

English · Claude translation

Preface. Having described the succession from the apostles in seven whole books, in this eighth work we consider it one of the most necessary things to hand down, for the knowledge also of those after us, the events of our own time, which deserve no ordinary record; and from this point our account will begin.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:348 · 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)

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.0.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/0/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.0.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/0/1/).