Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History 6.23
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/104
Text
Ἐξ ἐκείνου δὲ καὶ Ωριγένει τῶν εἰς τὰς θείας γραφὰς ὑπομνημάτων ἐγίνετο ἀρχὴ, Ἀμβροσίου εἰς τὰ μάλιστα παρορμῶντος αὐτὸν μυρίαις ὁσαισοῦν προτροπαῖς, οὐ ταῖς διὰ λόγων καὶ παρακλήσεσιν αὐτὸ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀφθονωτάταις τῶν ἐπιτηδείων χορηγίαις. ταχυγράφοι γὰρ αὐτῷ πλείους ἢ ἑπτὰ τὸν ἀριθμὸν παρῆσαν ὑπαγορεύοντι, γορεύοντι, χρόνοις τεταγμένοις ἀλλήλους ἀμείβοντες· βιβλιογράφοι τε οὐχ ἥττους, ἅμα καὶ κόραις ἐπὶ τὸ καλλιγραφεῖν ἠσκημέναις· ὣν ἀπάντων τὴν δέουσαν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἄφθονον περιουσίαν ὁ Ἀμβρόσιος παρεστήσατο, ναὶ μὴν καὶ ἐν τῇ περὶ τὰ θεῖα λόγια ἀσκήσει τε καὶ σπουδῇ προθυμίαν ἄφατον αὐτῷ συνεισέφερεν, ᾗ καὶ μάλιστα αὐτὸν προύτρεπεν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ὑπομνημάτων σύνταξιν. τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐχόντων Οὐρβανὸν ἐπισκοπεύσαντα τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἔτεσιν ὀκτὼ διαδέχεται Ποντιανὸς, τῆς δ’ Ἀντιοχέων μετὰ Φιλητὸν Ζεβῖνος. καθ’ οὓς Ὠριγένης ἐπειγούσης χρείας ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ἕνεκα πραγμάτων ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα στειλάμενος τὴν διὰ Παλαιστίνης πρεσβυτερίου χειροθεσίαν ἐν Καισαρείᾳ πρὸς τῶν τῇδε ἐπισκόπων ἀναλαμβάνει. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τούτῳ περὶ αὐτοῦ κεκινημένα, τά τε ἐπὶ τοῖς κινηθεῖσι δεδογμένα τοῖς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν προεστῶσιν, ὅσα τε ἄλλα ἀκμάζων περὶ τὸν θεῖον εἰσενήνεκται λόγον, ἰδίας δεόμενα συντάξεως, μετρίως ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ ἧς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πεποιήμεθα ἀπολογίας ἀνεγράψαμεν.1
Translation
Starting from that time also Origen’s commentaries on the divine Scriptures had their beginning, at the instigation of Ambrose, who not only plied him with innumerable verbal exhortations and encouragements, but also provided him unstintingly with what was necessary. For as he dictated there were ready at hand more than seven shorthand-writers, who relieved each other at fixed times, and as many copyists, as well as girls skilled in penmanship; for all of them Ambrose supplied without stint the necessary means. Furthermore he contributed to Origen a vast amount of zeal in the earnest study of the divine oracles, a zeal which more than anything else acted as an incentive to him to compose his commentarieses. Such was the state of affairs when Pontianus succeeded Urbanus, who had been bishop of the Church of the Romans for eight years, and Zebennus came after Philetus as [bishop] of the [Church] of the Antiochenes. In their day Origen journeyed to Greece through Palestine because of an urgent necessity in Church matters, and received the laying-on of hands for the presbyterate at Caesarea from the bishops there. The agitation that was set on foot concerning him on this account, and the decisions made by those who presided over the churches on the matters agitated, as well as the other contributions that he made as he was reaching his prime to the study of the divine Word, require a separate composition, and we have given a fairly full account of them in the second [book] of the Apology that we have written on his behalf.2
Translation Note
Translation corrected and adapted from its source.Corrigenda Note
Inaccuracies found in the transcription of the electronic text compared to its printed source have been corrected.Works Cited
- 1 Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia ecclesiastica: Machine Readable Text, ed. Wilhelm Dindorfius (Leipzig: University of Leipzig, 2014), section: 6.23.
- 2 Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia ecclesiastica [English Translation]: Machine Readable Text, trans. Kirsopp Lake (Leipzig: University of Leipzig, 2014), section: 6.23.
Additional Bibliography
- Eusebius of Caesarea, Eusebii Caesariensis opera, ed. Wilhelm Dindorf, vol. 4, Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1867), section: 6.23.
- Eusebius of Caesarea, The Ecclesiastical History: Books 1-5, trans. Kirsopp Lake, vol. 1, 2 vols., Loeb Classical Library 153 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926), section: 6.23.
How to Cite This Entry
William L. Potter et al., “Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History 6.23,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published April 29, 2020, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/104.
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Bibliography:
William L. Potter et al., “Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History 6.23.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2020. Entry published April 29, 2020. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/104.About this Entry
Entry Title: Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History 6.23
Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:
- Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
- Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
- David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editors, “Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History 6.23”
- William L. Potter and Joseph L. Rife, entry contributors, “Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History 6.23”
Additional Credit:
- TEI encoding by William L. Potter
- Electronic text added by William L. Potter
- Testimonia identified by Joseph L. Rife