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“Eusebius of Caesarea - Rain sent from Heaven in answer to Christian prayers - original Greek Text with English translation”

From Historia Ecclesiastica, 5. 5. Eusebius relates how a miracle happened in response to the prayers of Christians in the Roman army.

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Click here to read at earlychurchtexts.com in the original Greek (with dictionary lookup links). The English translation below is from the NPNF series.

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Relevant books
available at Amazon

Eusebius studies and translations
with links to Amazon

Several also below

TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

History of the Church

Andrew Louth ed.

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Cameron and Hall

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In Praise of Constantine: Historical Study and New Translation of Eusebius' Tricennial Orations (University of California publications, classical studies ; v. 15)

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W. J. Ferrar

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Eusebii Pamphili Evangelicae Praeparations, Tomus I (Greek Edition)
Edwin Hamilton Gifford

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Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea - the Ecclesiastical History and the Martyrs of Palestine. Two Volumes

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Eusebius ... On the Theophania Or Divine Manifestation of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Tr. with Notes: To Which Is Prefixed a Vindication of the ... of That Distinguished Writer, by S. Lee

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Notley and Safrai

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STUDIES

 

Eusebius, Christianity and Judaism

Harold W. Attridge

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Constantine and Eusebius

Timothy Barnes

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Glenn Chesnut

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Robert Grant

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Eusebius of Caesarea Against Paganism

Aryeh Kofsky

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 Eusebius of Caesarea and the Arian Crisis

C. Luibheid

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Christ as Mediator: A Study of the Theologies of Eusebius of Caesarea, Marcellus of Ancyra, and Athanasius of Alexandria

Jon M. Robertson

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 Eusebius of Caesarea

Wallace-Hadrill

 

1. It is reported that Marcus Aurelius Cæsar, brother of Antoninus, being about to engage in battle with the Germans and Sarmatians, was in great trouble on account of his army suffering from thirst. But the soldiers of the so-called Melitene legion, through the faith which has given strength from that time to the present, when they were drawn up before the enemy, kneeled on the ground, as is our custom in prayer, and engaged in supplications to God. This was indeed a strange sight to the enemy, but it is reported that a stranger thing immediately followed. The lightning drove the enemy to flight and destruction, but a shower refreshed the army of those who had called on God, all of whom had been on the point of perishing with thirst. This story is related by non-Christian writers who have been pleased to treat the times referred to, and it has also been recorded by our own people. By those historians who were strangers to the faith, the marvel is mentioned, but it is not acknowledged as an answer to our prayers. But by our own people, as friends of the truth, the occurrence is related in a simple and artless manner. Among these is Apolinarius, who says that from that time the legion through whose prayers the wonder took place received from the emperor a title appropriate to the event, being called in the language of the Romans the Thundering Legion. Tertullian is a trustworthy witness of these things. In the Apology for the Faith, which he addressed to the Roman Senate, and which work we have already mentioned, he confirms the history with greater and stronger proofs. He writes that there are still extant letters of the most intelligent Emperor Marcus in which he testifies that his army, being on the point of perishing with thirst in Germany, was saved by the prayers of the Christians. And he says also that this emperor threatened death to those who brought accusation against us. He adds further: “What kind of laws are those which impious, unjust, and cruel persons use against us alone? which Vespasian, though he had conquered the Jews, did not regard; which Trajan partially annulled, forbidding Christians to be sought after; which neither Adrian, though inquisitive in all matters, nor he who was called Pius sanctioned.” But let any one treat these things as he chooses; we must pass on to what followed.
 



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Roman Army
Battle saved
Rain sent in answer to prayer
Melitene legion
Thundering Legion
Marcus Aurelius Caesar
battle with the Germans and Sarmatians
Antoninus Pius
Eusebius
Μελιτηνῆς
Κεραυνοβόλον
Κεραυνοβόλος
Μελιτηνῆς οὕτω καλουμένης λεγεῶνος
Original Greek text
Migne Greek Text
Patrologiae Graecae Cursus Completus
Patrologia Graeca

 

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