Ecclesiasticae historiae

work by Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos

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June 25, 2026

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Ecclesiasticae historiae ("Church History") is a 23-volume work by the Byzantine historian and litterateur Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos, of which 18 volumes survive. Written around the 13th and 14th centuries, it covers the period from the origins of Christianity up to the year 610 CE.1

The work is a significant source for understanding early Christianity, its doctrinal disputes, and Christological heresies. It also includes hagiographical, liturgical, and legendary texts from Byzantine culture. Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos compiled this history using manuscripts from the library of the Hagia Sophia basilica in Constantinople. His work drew upon earlier ecclesiastical histories, including those by Evagrius Scholasticus and Eusebius of Caesarea. The Ecclesiasticae historiae was dedicated to Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus and aimed to promote Greek culture and Orthodoxy.1

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Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos
His 23-volume Ecclesiasticae historiae (“Church History”), of which only the first 18 volumes survive, constitutes a significant documentary source for material on primitive Christianity, its doctrinal controversies and Christological heresies, and for hagiographical, liturgical, and legendary texts from Byzantine culture.
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His 23-volume Ecclesiasticae historiae (“Church History”), of which only the first 18 volumes survive, constitutes a significant documentary source for material on primitive Christianity, its doctrinal controversies and Christological heresies, and for hagiographical, liturgical, and legendary texts from Byzantine culture.
Read More