Primary source · Koine Greek
Against Marcellus · Ecclesiastical Theology
Eusebius of Caesarea · c. AD 336–338
What this text is
Eusebius's last theological works, commissioned to refute Marcellus of Ancyra — the anti-Arian who, his critics held, had dissolved the Son into a mere word of God.
Profile of Marcellus of Ancyra →
Public-domain translations
Literal gloss of the Greek
Marcellus dared to call the Son of God a mere word, having no proper existence of his own, but posited in the Father — as it were a word lying quiet in a man's heart until spoken. This is Sabellius come again in new dress.
Manuscript witnesses
Greek tradition of the late dogmatic works
medieval copiesContra Marcellum and De ecclesiastica theologia, Eusebius's final doctrinal statements.
Provenance
Caesarea, c. AD 336–337 — against Marcellus of Ancyra
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Eusebius Werke IV: Gegen Marcell (GCS 14)Erich Klostermann, rev. G. C. Hansen, 1972The critical edition.
- Contra Marcellum: Marcellus of Ancyra and Fourth-Century TheologyJoseph T. Lienhard, 1999The standard study of the controversy.