Church History 9.10.8 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Maximin says that, seeing officials abuse the old ban on Christian meetings, he had already decreed that anyone could practice this religion freely.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:441–442

ὁπότε τοίνυν πρὸ τούτου δῆλον γέγονε τῇ γνώσει τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ἐκ ταύτης τῆς προφάσεως, ἐξ ἧς κεκελευσμένον ἦν ὑπὸ τῶν θειοτάτων Διοκλητιανοῦ καὶ Μαξιμιανοῦ τῶν γονέων τῶν ἡμετέρων τὰς συνόδους τῶν Χριστιανῶν “ἐξῃρῆσθαι, πολλοὺς σεισμοὺς καὶ ἀποστερήσεις ὑπὸ τῶν ὀφφικιαλίων γεγενῆσθαι, καὶ εἰς τοὐπιὸν δὲ τοῦτο προχωρεῖν κατὰ τῶν ἐπαρχιωτῶν τῶν “ἡμετέρων, ὧν μάλιστα πρόνοιαν τὴν προσήκουσαν “γίνεσθαι σπουδάζομεν, τῶν οὐσιῶν τῶν ἰδίων αὐ- “τῶν κατατριβομένων, δοθέντων γραμμάτων πρὸς “τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἑκάστης ἐπαρχίας τῷ παρελθόντι “ἐνιαυτῷ ἐνομοθετήσαμεν, ἵνʼ ἐάν τις βούλοιτο τῷ “τοιούτῳ ἔθει ἢ τῇ αὐτῇ φυλακῇ τῆς αὐτῆς θρη- “σκείας ἕπεσθαι, τοῦτον ἀνεμποδίστως ἔχεσθαι τῆς προθέσεως τῆς ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ἐμποδί- “ζεσθαι μηδὲ κωλύεσθαι, καὶ εἶναι αὐτοῖς εὐχέρειαν, “ἄνευ τινὸς φόβου καὶ ὑποψίας τοῦθʼ ὅπερ ἑκάστῳ “ἀρέσκει ποιεῖν.

English · Claude translation

Since, then, it had previously become clear to our knowledge that, under the pretext by which our fathers, the most divine Diocletian and Maximian, had ordered the meetings of the Christians to be abolished, many extortions and robberies were committed by the officials, and that this was going on further against our provincials, for whom we are especially eager that due care be taken, their own property being wasted away, we issued a law last year by letters sent to the governors of each province that if anyone wished to follow such a custom or the same observance of this religion, he should hold to his purpose without hindrance, and should be hindered or prevented by no one, and that they should have freedom to do, without any fear or suspicion, whatever pleases each one.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:441–442 · 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

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.10.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/10/8/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.10.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/10/8/).