Socrates of Constantinople, Church History 1.18.5-1.18.6
created: This entry is taken from Church History 1.18.5-1.18.6 written by Socrates of Con
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/382

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Socrates of Constantinople, Church History 1.18.5-1.18.6. This passage was written ca. ca. 439-450 C.E. possibly in Constantinople. Socrates of Constantinople, the “Scholastic,” was an otherwise unknown historian of the early 5th century. He wrote his account of the Church from 305 to 439 to continue Eusebius of Caesarea, adopting a particular perspective on the relationship between Imperial and ecclesiastical authority. In this passage, Socrates records Constantine’s correspondence with Eusebius, wherein the emperor exhorts the bishop to maintain the site of the Oak of Mambre as a place of Christian worship.

(5) Αὖθις δὲ ἑτέρας ἐκκλησίας ἐποίει, καὶ μίαν μὲν ἐν τῇ καλουμένῃ δρυὶ τῇ Μαμβρῇ, ὑφ’ ᾗ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ἐξενίσθαι πρὸς τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ οἱ ἱεροὶ λόγοι μηνύουσιν, κατεσκεύασεν. (6) Μαθὼν γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς βωμὸν ὑπὸ τῇ δρυὶ ἱδρύσθαι καὶ θυσίας Ἑλληνικὰς τελεῖσθαι ἐπ’ αὐτῷ, μέμφεται μὲν δι’ ἐπιστολῆς Εὐσεβίῳ τῷ τῆς Καισαρείας ἐπισκόπῳ, κελεύει δὲ τὸν μὲν βωμὸν ἀνατραπῆναι, πρὸς δὲ τῇ δρυὶ κατασκευασθῆναι οἶκον εὐκτήριον.

[Ed. Hussey and Bright 1893 with ref. to Hansen 1995]

(5) Again (Constantine) built other churches, one of which was erected near the Oak of Mambre, under which the Sacred Oracles declare that Abraham entertained angels. (6) For when the emperor had learned that an altar had been established under that oak and pagan sacrifices were enacted on it, he censured Eusebius bishop of Caesarea in a letter, and he ordered that the altar should be demolished and a house of prayer erected beside the oak.

[Rev. Zenos 1890 with ref. to Périchon and Maraval 2004]

Works Cited

[...] 1 18.5-18.6
[...] 22

Additional Bibliography

[...] 1 18.5-18.6
[...] 1 184-185

[* Eusebius, Life of Constantine 3.51-3.53

Genesis 18:1-7]

[Mambre (Mamre)]

[Abraham, patriarch

Constantine I, emperor

Eusebius]

[Christianity

Government and Law

Hebrew Bible

History of Israel

Paganism

Roman History]