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having culled suitable sayings from the ancient writers themselves, we shall attempt to give it substance through a historical narrative, being content if we might preserve the successions, if not of all, at least of the most illustrious of the apostles of our Savior in the most distinguished churches that are still remembered even now. 1.1.5 And I consider it most necessary for me to labor upon this subject, because I have known of no ecclesiastical writer up to the present who has made an effort concerning this part of the writing; but I hope that it will also appear most useful to those who are zealous for the useful learning of history. 1.1.6 Now I have already made a summary of these things previously in the Chronological Canons which I drew up, but nevertheless at the present time I have undertaken to make a most complete narrative of them. 1.1.7 And my account, as I said, will begin for me from the economy and theology concerning Christ, conceived as higher and greater than is human. 1.1.8 For indeed it would be necessary for one who is about to commit to writing the history of the ecclesiastical narrative to begin from the very first economy concerning Christ himself — since it is from Him we have been deemed worthy of the name — an economy more divine than what seems so to the many. 1.2.1 And since the nature concerning him is twofold, the one like the head of a body, by which he is conceived as God, the other compared to feet, by which he put on the human nature subject to the same sufferings as ourselves for the sake of our salvation, our narration of what follows would from this point be complete, if we should make our exposition of the whole of his history begin from the most chief and sovereign points of the account; and in this way also the antiquity and divine character of Christianity will be demonstrated to those who suppose it to be new and foreign, having appeared yesterday and not before. 1.2.2 Now as to the origin and dignity, the very substance and nature of Christ, no account would be sufficient for its expression, since the divine Spirit also says in the prophecies, "Who shall declare his generation?" for indeed no one has known the Father, except the Son, nor again has anyone ever known the Son as he deserves, except only the Father who begot him, and who but the Father could purely conceive the Light before the world, 1.2.3 and the intellectual and essential Wisdom before the ages, the living God the Word who was in the beginning with the Father, before all creation and foundation, both visible and invisible, the first and only offspring of God, the captain of the rational and immortal host of heaven, the messenger of the great counsel, the minister of the ineffable purpose of the Father, the creator of all things with the Father, the second cause of the universe after the Father, the true and only-begotten Son of God, the Lord and God and King of all created things, who has received from the Father authority and power, with divinity itself and might and honor, for indeed according to the mystical theologies of the scriptures concerning him, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, 1.2.4 and without him was not even one thing made." This indeed even the great Moses, as the most ancient of all the prophets, describing by the divine spirit the constitution and arrangement of the universe, teaches that the framer of the world and creator of the universe entrusted the creation of subordinate things to Christ himself and to no other than his own divine and first-born Word, and communed with him upon the creation of man. For he says, "God said, 'Let us make man in our image and after 1.2.5 our likeness.'" And another of the prophets confirms this saying, speaking of God in hymns thus: "He spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created," introducing the Father and maker as a universal ruler commanding with a royal nod, but the divine Word, second to him, none other than the one proclaimed by us, to the fatherly

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ἐπιτηδείους αὐτῶν τῶν πάλαι συγγραφέων ἀπανθισάμενοι φωνάς, δι' ὑφηγήσεως ἱστορικῆς πειρασόμεθα σωματοποιῆσαι, ἀγαπῶντες, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἁπάντων, τῶν δ' οὖν μάλιστα διαφανεστάτων τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀποστόλων τὰς διαδοχὰς κατὰ τὰς διαπρεπούσας ἔτι καὶ νῦν μνημονευομένας ἐκκλησίας 1.1.5 ἀνασωσαίμεθα. ἀναγκαιότατα δέ μοι πονεῖσθαι τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἡγοῦμαι, ὅτι μηδένα πω εἰς δεῦρο τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν συγγρα φέων διέγνων περὶ τοῦτο τῆς γραφῆς σπουδὴν πεποιημένον τὸ μέρος· ἐλπίζω δ' ὅτι καὶ ὠφελιμωτάτη τοῖς φιλοτίμως περὶ 1.1.6 τὸ χρηστομαθὲς τῆς ἱστορίας ἔχουσιν ἀναφανήσεται. ἤδη μὲν οὖν τούτων καὶ πρότερον ἐν οἷς διετυπωσάμην χρονικοῖς κανόσιν ἐπιτομὴν κατεστησάμην, πληρεστάτην δ' οὖν ὅμως αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ὡρμήθην τὴν ἀφήγησιν ποιήσασθαι. 1.1.7 Καὶ ἄρξεταί γέ μοι ὁ λόγος, ὡς ἔφην, ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπινοουμένης ὑψηλοτέρας καὶ κρείττονος ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρω1.1.8 πον οἰκονομίας τε καὶ θεολογίας. καὶ γὰρ τὸν γραφῇ μέλλοντα τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ὑφηγήσεως παραδώσειν τὴν ἱστορίαν, ἄνωθεν ἐκ πρώτης τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν τὸν Χριστόν, ὅτιπερ ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς προσωνυμίας ἠξιώθημεν, θειοτέρας ἢ κατὰ τὸ δοκοῦν τοῖς πολλοῖς οἰκονομίας ἀναγκαῖον ἂν εἴη κατάρξασθαι. 1.2.1 διττοῦ δὲ ὄντος τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν τρόπου, καὶ τοῦ μὲν σώματος ἐοικότος κεφαλῇ, ᾗ θεὸς ἐπινοεῖται, τοῦ δὲ ποσὶ παραβαλλομένου, ᾗ τὸν ἡμῖν ἄνθρωπον ὁμοιοπαθῆ τῆς ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἕνεκεν ὑπέδυ σωτηρίας, γένοιτ' ἂν ἡμῖν ἐντεῦθεν ἐντελὴς ἡ τῶν ἀκολούθων διήγησις, εἰ τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν ἱστορίας ἁπάσης ἀπὸ τῶν κεφαλαιωδεστάτων καὶ κυριωτάτων τοῦ λόγου τὴν ὑφήγησιν ποιη σαίμεθα· ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ τῆς Χριστιανῶν ἀρχαιότητος τὸ παλαιὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ θεοπρεπὲς τοῖς νέαν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐκτετοπισμένην, χθὲς καὶ οὐ πρότερον φανεῖσαν, ὑπολαμβάνουσιν ἀναδειχθήσεται. 1.2.2 Γένους μὲν οὖν καὶ ἀξίας αὐτῆς τε οὐσίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ φύσεως οὔτις ἂν εἰς ἔκφρασιν αὐτάρκης γένοιτο λόγος, ᾗ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ θεῖον ἐν προφητείαις «τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ» φησὶν «τίς διηγήσεται;» ὅτι δὴ οὔτε τὸν πατέρα τις ἔγνω, εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός, οὔτ' αὖ τὸν υἱόν τις ἔγνω ποτὲ κατ' ἀξίαν, εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ γεννήσας αὐτὸν πατήρ, τό τε φῶς τὸ προκόσμιον καὶ τὴν πρὸ 1.2.3 αἰώνων νοερὰν καὶ οὐσιώδη σοφίαν τόν τε ζῶντα καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ τυγχάνοντα θεὸν λόγον τίς ἂν πλὴν τοῦ πατρὸς καθαρῶς ἐννοήσειεν, πρὸ πάσης κτίσεως καὶ δημιουργίας ὁρωμένης τε καὶ ἀοράτου τὸ πρῶτον καὶ μόνον τοῦ θεοῦ γέννημα, τὸν τῆς κατ' οὐρανὸν λογικῆς καὶ ἀθανάτον στρατιᾶς ἀρχιστράτηγον, τὸν τῆς μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελον, τὸν τῆς ἀρρήτου γνώμης τοῦ πατρὸς ὑπουργόν, τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων σὺν τῷ πατρὶ δημιουργόν, τὸν δεύτερον μετὰ τὸν πατέρα τῶν ὅλων αἴτιον, τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ παῖδα γνήσιον καὶ μονογενῆ, τὸν τῶν γενητῶν ἁπάντων κύριον καὶ θεὸν καὶ βασιλέα τὸ κῦρος ὁμοῦ καὶ τὸ κράτος αὐτῇ θεότητι καὶ δυνάμει καὶ τιμῇ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑποδεδεγμένον, ὅτι δὴ κατὰ τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ μυστικὰς τῶν γραφῶν θεολογίας «ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος· πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, 1.2.4 καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν». τοῦτό τοι καὶ ὁ μέγας Μωυσῆς, ὡς ἂν προφητῶν ἁπάντων παλαιότατος, θείῳ πνεύματι τὴν τοῦ παντὸς οὐσίωσίν τε καὶ διακόσμησιν ὑπογράφων, τὸν κοσμοποιὸν καὶ δημιουργὸν τῶν ὅλων αὐτῷ δὴ τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ οὐδὲ ἄλλῳ ἢ τῷ θείῳ δηλαδὴ καὶ πρωτογόνῳ ἑαυτοῦ λόγῳ τὴν τῶν ὑποβεβηκότων ποίησιν παραχωροῦντα διδάσκει αὐτῷ τε κοινολογούμενον ἐπὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπογονίας· «εἶπεν γὰρ» φησὶν «ὁ θεὸς ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' 1.2.5 ὁμοίωσιν». ταύτην δὲ ἐγγυᾶται τὴν φωνὴν προφητῶν ἄλλος, ὧδέ πως ἐν ὕμνοις θεολογῶν «αὐτὸς εἶπεν, καὶ ἐγενήθησαν· αὐτὸς ἐνετείλατο, καὶ ἐκτίσθησαν», τὸν μὲν πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν εἰσάγων ὡς ἂν πανηγεμόνα βασιλικῷ νεύματι προστάττοντα, τὸν δὲ τούτῳ δευτερεύοντα θεῖον λόγον, οὐχ ἕτερον τοῦ πρὸς ἡμῶν κηρυττομένου, ταῖς πατρικαῖς