Church History 9.2.1

Summary: Within six months Maximin undermined the peace, banning meetings in cemeteries and prompting Antioch, led by Theotecnus, to petition for the Christians' expulsion.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:421–422

Ταῦτα δʼ οὐκέτι οἷός τε φέρειν ὁ τύραννος, μισόκαλος ἐς τὰ μάλιστα καὶ πάντων ἀγαθῶν ἐπίβουλος ὑπάρχων, ὃν ἔφαμεν τῶν ἐπʼ ἀνατολῆς ἄρχειν μερῶν, οὐδʼ ὅλους ἐπὶ μῆνας ἓξ τοῦτον ἐπιτελεῖσθαι τὸν τρόπον ἠνέσχετο· ὅσα δʼ οὖν πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν τῆς εἰρήνης μηχανώμενος πρῶτον μὲν εἴργειν ἡμᾶς τῆς ἐν τοῖς κοιμητηρίοις συνόδου διὰ προφάσεως πειρᾶται, εἶτα διά τινων πονηρῶν ἀνδρῶν αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ καθʼ ἡμῶν πρεσβεύεται, τοὺς Ἀντιοχέων πολίτας παρορμήσας ἐπὶ τὸ μηδαμῶς τινα Χριστιανῶν τὴν αὐτῶν οἰκεῖν ἐπιτρέπεσθαι πατρίδα ὡς ἐν μεγίστῃ δωρεᾷ παρʼ αὐτοῦ τυχεῖν ἀξιῶσαι, καὶ ἑτέρους δὲ ταὐτὸ ὑποβαλεῖν διαπράξασθαι· ὧν πάντων ἀρχηγὸς ἐπʼ αὐτῆς Ἀντιοχείας ἐπιφύεται Θεότεκνος, δεινὸς καὶ γόης καὶ πονηρὸς ἀνὴρ, καὶ τῆς προσωνυμίας ἀλλότριος· ἐδόκει δὲ λογιστεύειν τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν.

English · Claude translation

But the tyrant, who, as we said, ruled the eastern regions, being a hater of good in the highest degree and a plotter against everything good, could no longer bear this, and did not allow things to go on in this way for even six whole months. Devising every means to overthrow the peace, he first tried on some pretext to keep us from meeting in the cemeteries; then through certain wicked men he sent embassies to himself against us, urging the citizens of Antioch to ask of him as a very great favor that no Christian at all be permitted to live in their city, and arranging for others to make the same suggestion. The ringleader of all these sprang up at Antioch itself: Theotecnus, a violent man, a sorcerer and a scoundrel, and a stranger to his name; he appeared to hold the office of curator of the city.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:421–422 · 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. 9.2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/2/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/2/1/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:421–422

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage