The Bishop as Architect of the Church The living temple which we all constitute, composed of living stones, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the chief cornerstone being Jesus Christ himself —-this is the greatest and truly divine sanctuary, whose inmost shrines are invisible to the multitude and are a holy of holies. Only the great High Priest of all is permitted to look within the sacred […]
Read moreCategory: Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius: Excommunication of a Heretical Bishop
[Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch,] held low and degraded views of Christ, namely, that in his nature he was a common man … During Emperor Aurelian’s reign a final synod composed of a great many bishops was held, and the leader of heresy in Antioch was detected, and his false doctrine clearly shown before all, and he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. … The pastors who had assembled […]
Read moreEusebius: Dionysius on the Apocalypse
Some before us have set aside and rejected the [Apocalypse] altogether, criticising it chapter by chapter, and pronouncing it without sense or argument, and maintaining that the title is fraudulent. For they say that it is not the work of John, nor is it a revelation, because it is covered thickly and densely by a vail of obscurity. And they affirm that none of the apostles, and none of the […]
Read moreEusebius: Constantine’s Decrees on Religion
The Edict of Milan: Granting Religious Freedom for Public Tranquility Perceiving long ago that religious liberty ought not to be denied, but that it ought to be granted to the judgment and desire of each individual to perform his religious duties according to his own choice, we had given orders that every man, Christians as well as others, should preserve the faith of his own sect and religion. But since […]
Read moreOrigen on the Authorship of New Testament Books
In his first book on Matthew’s Gospel, maintaining the Canon of the Church, [Origen] testifies that he knows only four Gospels, writing as follows: “Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for […]
Read moreThe Passover Controversy
A question of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, when the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour’s passover, on which day they should end their fast, whatever day of the week it should be. But the churches in the rest […]
Read moreEusebius on the Authorship of New Testament Books
On the Authorship of the Epistles One epistle of Peter, that called the first, is acknowledged as genuine. And this the ancient elders used freely in their own writings as an undisputed work. But his extant second Epistle does not belong to the canon; yet, as it has appeared profitable to many, it has been used with the other Scriptures. The so-called Acts of Peter, however, and the Gospel which […]
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