BOOK ONE

...let us make our beginning from the Word Word: From the Armenian "Բան" (Ban), translating the Greek "Logos," referring to Christ as the eternal reason and speech of God., so that the course of this history may be established firmly. Through this, the antiquity original: "կանխութիւն" (kankhut'iun) — meaning precedence or priority in time. Eusebius is arguing that Christianity is not a new invention but has roots older than time itself. of our Christian piety and its god-befitting merits will be clearly shown to those who think it is new, strange, and foreign.

But concerning the birth, honorary glory, essence, and nature of Christ, there is no word 2 sufficient to tell of it, as the Spirit of God said through the prophet: Who shall declare his generation? A quotation from Isaiah 53:8, frequently used by early Church Fathers to argue that the divine nature of the Son is beyond human explanation. And also: No one knows the Father except the Son; and no one worthily knows the Son of God, except the Father who begat him. For who can piously contemplate that intelligible light which existed before the world, and that essential wisdom existing before all ages—the living Word of God, who was in the beginning with his Father—except the Father alone? He is prior to all existence, both visible and invisible, the firstborn and only-begotten Son, the leader and head of the rational and immortal heavenly powers, the angel of the great counsel...

...now let us make a beginning of our discourse from the antiquity of his divinity. Let this henceforth be a complete and full history in my arrangement. By this very antiquity and blessing, Christianity is recognized as having appeared; for it was previously wonderful and glorified before God, and is not, as some suppose, something that has only recently appeared as a novelty.

But concerning the birth and honorary glory of Christ's existence, there is no word sufficient to tell of it. As the Spirit of God said through the prophecy: Who shall declare his generation? For just as no one knows the Father except the Son, so no one can know the Son—as to what he truly is—except only the Father who begat him. But as for the light which is before the ages, and the perfect Wisdom in person, and the living Word of God—he who was in the beginning with his Father—who can contemplate him with holiness and modesty, except the Father?

He himself is the sole offspring of the Godhead, who is prior to all creatures, both visible and invisible, the commander-in-chief of the immortal heavenly powers. He himself is wonderful and counselor, the creator of the Father's hidden will. He himself is the fashioner of all things along with his Father. He himself is the cause of all things that have come to be. He himself is the Son...

This lower section of the page appears to be a parallel or slightly expanded version of the text above, common in scholarly editions that compare different manuscript traditions of the Armenian translation of Eusebius.