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Primary sources for the history of Christianity

Read Church History at the Sources

EcclesiasticalHistory.com brings together primary sources for the history of Christianity, beginning with the great ecclesiastical historians. Explore the original Greek texts passage by passage, search the corpus, consult word-level lexical aids, and follow new English translations as they are prepared.

6original-language works online
4,821indexable reading units
467,361words in current default editions

Flagship collection

The Ecclesiastical Historians

From Eusebius in the fourth century to Evagrius in the sixth, these historians preserve some of the fullest surviving narratives of the early Church, its councils, controversies, bishops, emperors, and communities.

Ecclesiastical historian

Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History in the original Greek.

Open Eusebius

Ecclesiastical historian

Rufinus of Aquileia

Rufinus will be added when a suitable Latin source has been prepared and verified.

Source preparation

Ecclesiastical historian

Socrates Scholasticus

Socrates Scholasticus’s Ecclesiastical History in the original Greek.

Open Socrates

Ecclesiastical historian

Sozomen

Sozomen’s Ecclesiastical History in the original Greek.

Open Sozomen

Ecclesiastical historian

Theodoret of Cyrus

Theodoret of Cyrus’s Ecclesiastical History in the original Greek.

Open Theodoret

Ecclesiastical historian

Evagrius Scholasticus

Evagrius Scholasticus’s Ecclesiastical History in the original Greek.

Open Evagrius

View the complete Ecclesiastical History hub

Read and study

Built for close reading, not just browsing

Original-language texts

Read the Greek texts passage by passage in clearly identified editions. Latin sources, beginning with Rufinus, will join the library as suitable texts are prepared.

Lexical & morphological tools

Tap or click a Greek word to examine its lemma, possible morphology, lexicon material, and usage across the historians where data is available.

New English translation

A new EcclesiasticalHistory.com translation will appear alongside the original text passage by passage as units are translated, reviewed, and approved.

Stable research pages

Each work and passage has a permanent address, clear navigation, edition information, and links to surrounding material for reading and citation.

A growing primary-source library

Beyond the seven historians

The Ecclesiastical Histories form the heart of the collection, but the library will continue to grow. Planned additions include the Apostolic Fathers, councils and canons, martyrdom accounts, other patristic works, Latin sources such as Rufinus, historical English collections, and tools for comparing ancient accounts of the same people and events.

Ancient historiansApostolic FathersCouncils & canonsPatristic sourcesLatin corpusCompare ancient accounts