1,1 We have discussed the various, multiform, much divided, rash teachings of the crooked counsels of our opponents, have distinguished them by species and genus, and, by God’s power, have exposed them as stale and worthless. We have sailed across the shoreless sea of the blasphemies of each sect, with great difficulty crossed the ocean of their blasphemous, shameful, repulsive mysteries, (2) given the solutions to their <hosts> of problems, and passed their wickedness by. And we have approached the calm lands of the truth, after negotiating every rough place, enduring every squall, foaming, and tossing of billows, (3) and, as it were, seeing the swell of the sea, and its whirlpools, its shallows none too small, and its places full of dangerous beasts, and experiencing them through their words.
And now, sighting the haven of peace, we make supplication to the Lord once more in prayer as we hasten to land in it. (4) Now, as we recover from all our fear, distress and illness, as we inhale the mainland breezes with the utmost relief, as we <have come to> safety and won our way to the calm harbor, we rejoice already in our spirits. (5) If the truth must be told, we have borne many hardships in [all of ] this, and no light ill treatment, and have marched and sailed, as it were, across land and sea—the earth’s rugged mountains and desert wastes, and the perils of the deep which we have mentioned. (6) Let us hasten to the city the moment we spy it—the holy Jerusalem and Christ’s virgin and bride, the firm foundation and rock, our holy mother <but> Christ’s bride. At this most auspicious moment let us ourselves say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and the house of the God of Jacob. And he shall teach us his way,” and so on.
2,1 Now then, children of Christ and sons of God’s holy church, who have read through this compilation of the eighty sects or a part of them, who have joined me in plowing through such a mass of their wicked doc- trines and marching across such a vast desert, fearful and dryly set down! (2) As though we were in Mara and thirsty from the fearful, trackless waste, let us call upon the Lord of all, for we have always been in need of him and in every part of these Sects, in our continual encounters with their obscurities. (3) Let us cry out ourselves, “Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God,” and again, “When shall I come to appear before the presence of God?” (4) Therefore let us ourselves be quick to call upon him—not as he called the bride, for he is her Bridegroom, Lord, Master, King, God and Champion. (5) But let us call upon him as his servants and ourselves say, in unison with him, “Hither from Lebanon, O bride, for thou art all fair and there is no spot in thee.”
2,6 [She is] the great Builder’s garden, the city of the holy king, the bride of the unspotted Christ, the pure virgin betrothed in faith to one husband alone—she who is illustrious and “breaketh forth as the dawn, fair as the moon, choice as the sun, terrible as serried ranks;” she who is called blessed by the “queens,” and hymned by the “concubines.” She is praised by the daughters and “cometh from the wilderness,” “made white and leaning upon her sister’s son.” She exudes myrrh and “cometh from the wilderness, exuding, like pillars of smoke, myrrh, and frankincense from the powders of the perfumer” who has given his own sweet savor—(7) he whom she foresaw and said, “Ointment poured out is thy name; therefore the maidens have loved thee.”
She “standeth at the king’s right hand clad in fringed garments, cunningly adorned with garments interwoven with gold.” There is no darkness in her though once she was “blackened.” (8) But now she is “fair” and “made white.” Thus, on entering you, we shall recover from the hateful pains of the deeds of the sects that once shot through us, shall have respite from the tossing of their billows, and be truly refreshed in you, our holy mother the church, in the sacred doctrine that is in you, and God’s sole true faith.
2,9 But I shall begin describing the wonders of this holy city of God. For glorious things have been spoken of her, as the prophet said, “Glorious things have been spoken of thee, O city of God.” They are beyond the reach of all and inaccessible to unbelievers, but are obtainable in part, with the promise of fullness, by the faithful and true, [and] will be provided by their Master in the kingdom of heaven, where, with her own heavenly bridegroom, his holy virgin and heiress has herself obtained her portion and inheritance.
3,1 In the first place, the God who is over all is God to us who have been born of this holy church. This is the first proof of the truth, and “the ground of the faith” of this only, virgin, holy and harmless “dove” (2) whom the Lord revealed in the Spirit to Solomon in the Song of Songs and said, “There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and maidens without number, but one is my dove, my perfect one”— with the addition of “my” and “my.” (3) For she is his “dove” and his “perfect one,” since the others are said to be and are not, while she herself is named twice. He did not say, “They are my eighty concubines,” of the others. He awarded the queens their honorable connection with him through the glorious name; but of the concubines he declared their complete foreignness.
3,4 When I note their numbers I am obliged to investigate the pas- sage by the anagogical method of spiritual interpretation, so as not to pass them by. I am not exaggerating but truly comparing words with their true spiritual senses, by means of the true scriptures. (5) For < it is plain > that the number of each thing in scripture is unalterable, and that nothing which is assigned a number can be without value or be reduced to number in the scripture for no good reason. Now “queens” are the ones named earlier on in a genealogy. (6) For vast throngs accompany a king, but the king is still their head. So just as one man will be identified by his head although there are many members in a body, the entire throng of the king’s subjects will be reckoned as one through the one king.
4,1 Now a generation in Christ is called a “queen,” not because the whole generation ruled, but because the one generation which knew the Lord is elevated < to > the royal rank and status by the name of its husband. For example, Adam and his whole generation are to be counted as this, a “queen”—both his rule, and the ruling family which reigned with him—because of his knowledge of God, his privilege of being the first man created, and because he was given the first penance, as the sequel shows. (2) Then after him came Seth and all humankind with him, and Enosh, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah; these holy men have been listed individually by number, one generation after another, and the number of them is given in Matthew. (3) For in Matthew there are sixty-two generations and lineages, listed under the names of their finest men, who had the knowledge of God or shared the royal glory and dignity because of some other excellence. The roll of the number <of them> goes on until the incarnation of Christ.
4,4 For ten generations passed between Adam and Noah and another ten between Noah and Abraham. But there were fourteen generations from Abraham until David, fourteen generations from David until the captivity, and fourteen generations from the captivity until Christ, so that there are sixty-two generations from Adam to Christ, and they are rounded off to sixty. (5) For although there were seventy-two palm trees in the wilder- ness, scripture called them seventy. And although the seventy men were called to the mount, with Eldad and Medad they are seventy-two. And there were seventy-two translators under Ptolemy, but to round this off we customarily speak of the Septuagint version.
4,6 Here too, I believe, it says sixty queens with the omission of the first and the last, because of the <suitability of the> middle sixty for types and an anagogical treatment of the entire subject. For since <the length of time between Adam and Christ is counted> by six tens, but the time of the creation was correspondingly over in <six days>, <the number six seems a suitable one> for the linking of <a throng> of holy souls from every generation, who have reigned in God by faith. (7) Thus there are six stone water jars at Cana of Galilee, which were emptied and filled again. By holding two or three firkins apiece they <symbolize> the amounts of the Old and New Testaments, and the whole of the Trinity. They were changed from water into unmixed wine, and filled for the good cheer of a wedding and the sons of men. (8) And so the pagan writings speak of a hexagon, which is multiplied to twenty-one by three and seven. The significance of this hexagon is the same as the whole visible vault (of the universe), since its rectangular base has a fourfold <“side”>, as it were, and the covering over the vaulting on top makes six.
5,1 But not to go on too long, I rest content, once more, with what I have said about the sixty queens counted up until Christ’s incarnation. But after Christ and until now there are still generations, as is known only to the Lord. (2) No one has reported or arranged the numbers by generation any further, because the number of this sort of thing has been sealed and closed by the number of the queens, which is counted up to the incarnation itself. (3) For the rest, the later authors, rhetoricians, annalists or historians, no longer count generations but successions and times of the emperors, according to the number of the years of each emperor’s reign.
From all this the wise will easily understand that, even without this inquiry, all time is divided into the sixty-two generations up until Christ—(4) for after Christ the world’s time periods are no longer counted by lineages in this way, since <the number> [of them] is summed up in one unified whole which, by God’s good pleasure, indicates an unshakeable stay. This [unity] will make it < evident > that the end of the age is separate from time, and will be over at the transition to the age to come.
5,5 This is why he says, “One is my dove, my perfect one.” All things are completed in her, whether <they are> times and seasons, years and intervals of generations, and whether the age counts its dates by emperors, consuls, Olympiads or governorships. (6) But there are eighty concubines, who were to be found among the queens even before the earthly reign, that is, the reign of the faith and this bride and virgin herself, who is unspotted and a “dove,” the “only daughter of her mother, even of her that bore her.”
6,1 For the church is engendered by one faith and born with the help of the Holy Spirit, and is the only daughter of the only mother, and the one daughter of her that bore her. And all the women who came after and before her have been called concubines. They have not been entire strangers to the covenant and inheritance, but have no stated dowry and are not receptacles of the Holy Spirit, but have only an illicit union with the Word. (2) For the Hebrew language gave a good explanation of the concubine by calling her “pilegeshtha.” “Peleg” means “half,” and “ishtha” is a wife, which is as much as to say that she is “half a wife.” (3) Insofar as she has come to the Lord, he called all to the light of liberty by saying, “While ye have the light with you, walk in the light.” And the holy apostle says, “Ye are children of the day and children of the light.” And again <it is said> in the sacred scripture, “He that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh unto the light.” (4) And similarly even though concubines—who are not acknowledged or full wives, and are not married with a dowry by their husbands—have carnal relations with the husbands, they cannot have the honor, title, security, marriage portion, wedding gifts, dowered status and legitimacy of the free wife.
And so, as I have said, the sects I have listed in succession are eighty concubines. (5) But no one need be surprised if each of them is given different names in every country. What is more, we must observe that each sect in turn has frequently divided into many parts on its own and the names [of them] are different. This is no surprise; it is the way things are. (6) But I find eighty-one—one [more than eighty] because of the one who is different from them all, but is the only one allotted to the bridegroom acknowledged by him with such a name as “One is my dove,” and again, “my perfect one.” In other words all the concubines are low-born and not reckoned as harmless, or pure and gentle.
6,7 There are concubines, then, from < the ones > that followed the so-called “Barbarism” and “Scythianism” in the beginning, down through the Massalians of whom we have just spoken—seventy-seven in all, and the source of the pagan sects, Hellenism, and Judaism, the source of <the> Jewish, and the Samaritan sect, the source of the Samaritan. When <these> three are added to the seventy-seven the sum is eighty and the one is left, (8) namely, the holy catholic church, Christianity. By the will of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit Christianity was, in fact, named from the beginning, both with Adam and—before Adam and before all the ages—with Christ, and was believed by all who have pleased God in every generation. And it was plainly revealed in the world at Christ’s com- ing. And I now sing its praises once more after all these sects, the ones <we called> concubines, following the order of the treatise.
7,1 For the Word himself counted the sects like this in the Song of Songs when he said, “Eighty queens and eighty concubines and maidens without number. But one,” he says, “is my dove, my perfect one; the one daughter of her mother, elect for her that bore her.” (2) And he later shows how all will find her the most honored of them all, the mistress of them all, and his only choice, the one whose children are the king’s heirs and legitimate children. For they are “children of the promise” and not “children of the bondmaid” or the concubine, or of the others whose description is endless.
7,3 For even though Abraham had children by the concubine Keturah, Keturah’s children were not joint heirs with Isaac. They received gifts, however, like gifts for a governor, to make sure that the type would be preserved for the anagogical interpretation of the text, and that no one would despair of Christ’s calling. (4) For the gifts Abraham gave Ishmael and Keturah’s sons were a type of the good things to come, for the conver- sion of the gentiles to the faith and truth.
7,5 For Abraham gave Hagar, a bondmaid and cast out by Abraham— ([she was] like the Jerusalem below who was in bondage with her children, of whom it is said, “I have cast out thy mother,” and again, “I gave the bill of divorcement into her hands.”) Abraham gave this bondmaid, I mean Hagar, a skin full of water, the more of a type because of the hope of her conversion. This was to show the power of the “laver of regeneration, which has been given to unbelievers for a gift of life, and for the conversion of all the heathen to the knowledge of the truth.
7,6 But Abraham’s gifts to Keturah’s children were wealth—gold, silver, clothing, and whatever Abraham secretly hid in their wallets, the “frank- incense, myrrh and gold” of the companions of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, which <had been plundered by> Chedorlaomer’s allies. They had taken prisoners from Sodom, Gomorrah and the other towns, had made off with their horses, captured most of the people, and seized the wealth and possessions of each king and the greater part of the others. (7) Abraham brought [all] this back “from the slaughter of the kings” at that time. But he did not dare to return things already reserved for the Lord God and instead, as I find in the traditions of the Hebrews, gave them as gifts, along with his other gifts, to his sons by Keturah.
8,1 These children of Abraham by Keturah were cast out by Abraham, and settled in Magodia in Arabia. The same gifts <were offered> to Christ in Bethlehem < by > the magi who came from their land and, when they had seen the star and come, offered presents and gifts in order to share in the same hope. (2) The prophet gives plain indication of these gifts by saying, “Before the child is able to cry Father or Mother, he shall take the power of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians.” For as I said, these were taken from Damascus in Abraham’s time, and from Samaria, by the kings on their raid. (3) Now when did Christ receive them “before he could cry Father of Mother” except when the magi came and “opened their wallets”—or “treasures,” as some copies say—“and offered myrrh, frankincense and gold?”
And do you see how the truth’s expressions go, and the consequences of them? (4) These sects too are concubines, and their children have received gifts. But the concubines have received only the name, and have only been called by Christ’s name and received their few texts from thesacred scripture, so that, if they choose, they can understand the truth by these. (5) But if they prefer not to, but return to Herod—(for they are told not to return to Herod, but to go to their country by another way.) But if they do not do as they are told the gifts are no good to them, just as their coming would have done the magi no good if they had returned to Herod. For these same sects debase the teachings of God’s oracles in a way that resembles Herod’s.
9,1 These, then, are < the > eighty concubines, so numbered in scripture. And the individuals listed by generation are those queens, that is, men and patriarchs. But the young girls without number consist of the further philosophies all over the world and the ways of life, one praiseworthy and one not, of each individual. (2) For who can count the variety of this world? How many other sects have not grown up among the Greeks after the four most famous ones which we have mentioned—and further, after those sects and the ones after them, how many individuals and ideas keep arising of themselves, with seeming “youth,” in accordance with the opinion of each? (3) There are some called Pyrrhonians, for example, and many others. Since I have learned of many I shall give their names and their opinions in order below, but < this > is a fraction of the ones in the world. (4) And the ones which follow are Greek sects. As the first of them I should begin with the opinion and belief of Thales of Miletus.
9,5 For Thales of Miletus himself, who was one of the seven sages, declared that the primal origin of all things is water. For he says that everything originates from water and is resolved back into water.
9,6 Anaximander the son of Praxiades, also a Milesian, said that the infinite is the first principle of all things. For all things originate from this and all things are resolved into it.
9,7 Anaximenes the son of Eurystatus, also a Milesian, said that air is the first principle of all things, and that everything originates from this.
9,8 Anaxagoras the son of Hegesibulus, of Clazomene, said that identical particles are the first principles of all things.
9,9 Archelaus < the > naturalist, the son of Apollodorus—some say the son of Milton, but he was Athenian—says that all things have originated from earth. For this is the first principle of all things, or so he says.
9,10 Socrates the ethicist, the son of Sophroniscus the statuary and Phaenaretes the midwife, said that man must mind his own affairs but nothing more.
9,11 Pherecydes too said that earth came into being before all things.
9,12 Pythagoras of Samos, the son of Mnesarchus, said that God is the unit, and that nothing has come into being apart from this. But he said that the wise must not sacrifice animals to the gods, and must certainly not eat meat or beans, or drink wine. He said that everything from the moon down is passible, but that everything above the moon is impassible. And he said that the soul migrates into many animals. He also commanded his disciples to maintain silence for five years, and in the end pronounced himself a god.
9,13 Xenophanes the son of Orthomenus, from Colophon, said that all things are made of earth and water. All things are, or so he said, but nothing is true. Thus what is certain is not clear; all things, especially invisible things, are matters of opinion.
9,14 Parmenides the son of Pyres, an Elean, also said that the infinite is the first principle of all things.
9,15 Zeno of Elea, the controversialist. Like the other Zeno he said both that the earth is immoveable and that there is no void. He also says the following: That which must be moved is moved either in the place in which it is, or the place in which it is not. And it can neither be moved in the place in which it is, nor in the place in which it is not; therefore nothing is moved.
9,16 Melissus the son of Ithagenes, the Samian, said that everything is one, but that it is by not nature enduring; all things are potentially destructible.
9,17 Leucippus the Milesian—though some say that he was an Elean— was also a controversialist. He too said that everything is in the infinite, and that all events take place in imagination and appearance. There are no real events; they are apparent, like an oar in the water.
9,18 Democritus of Abdera, the son of Damasippus, said that the world is infinite and is situated above a void. But he also said that there is one end of all, and that contentment is best, but that pains are the boundaries of evil. And what appears just is not just; the unjust is the opposite of nature. For he said that laws are an evil invention, and < that > the wise should not obey laws, but live freely.
9,19 Metrodorus of Chios said that no one understands anything. We have no precise understanding of the things we think we know; and we should pay no heed to our senses, for all things are appearance.
9,20 Protagoras of Abdera, the son of Menander, said that there are no gods, and that God does not exist at all.
9,21 Diogenes of Smyrna, or some say he was from Cyrene, held the same opinions as Protagoras.
9,22 Pyrrho of Elis collected all the doctrines of the other sages and wrote objections to them to demolish their opinions. He was not satisfied with any doctrine.
9,23 Empedocles of Agrigentum, the son of Meto, introduced fire, earth, water and air as the four primal elements, and said that originally there was enmity between the elements. For earlier they had been separated, he said, but now, as he says, they have been united in friendship. In his opinion, then, there are two first principles and powers, enmity and love, the one of which is unitive, the other, divisive.
9,24 Heraclitus of Ephesus, the son of Bleso, said that all things come from fire and are resolved back into fire.
9,25 Prodicus calls the four elements, and then the sun and the moon, gods; for he said that the vital principle of all things comes from these.
9,26 Plato the Athenian said that there are God, matter and form, but that the world is generate and mortal while the soul is ingenerate, immortal and divine. But there are three parts of the soul, the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive. And he said that marriages and wives should be common to all, and that no one should have one spouse to himself, but that anyone who wishes may have relations with any women who are willing.
9,27 Aristippus of Cyrene. He was gluttonous and pleasure-loving, and said that the pleasure is the goal of the soul, and that whoever experiences pleasure is happy. But one who never experiences pleasure is thrice wretched, as he says, and unfortunate.
9,28 Theodoras, who is called the atheist, said that discussion of God is silly. For he believed that there is nothing divine, and therefore urged everyone to steal, forswear themselves, rob, and not die for their countries. For he said that the world is one country and that only the happy man is good, and that the unfortunate < must > be avoided even if he is wise. And a fool, if he is wealthy and an unbeliever, is preferable [to such a “wise” man].
9,29 Hegesias of Cyrene. This man said that there is no such thing as love or gratitude. They do not exist; one does a favor because he is in need [of a favor], or confers a benefit because he has suffered something worse [by not conferring it]. He also said the following: Life is profitable for a bad man, but death for a good one. Hence some have called him the advocate of death.
9,30 Antisthenes, who had a Thracian mother but was Athenian him- self, was first a Socratic and then a Cynic. He said that we must not envy the good deeds of others or their shameful behavior to one another; and that the walls of a city are vulnerable to the traitor within, but the walls of the soul are unshakeable and unbreachable.
9,31 Diogenes the Cynic who was from Sinope in Pontus, agreed with Antisthenes in everything. He said that the good is natural43 to every wise man but that everything else is simply foolishness.
9,32 Crates of Thebes in Boeotia, also a Cynic, said that poverty is liberty.
9,33 Arcesilaus said that the truth is accessible to God alone, but not to man.
9,34 Carneades was of the same opinion as Arcesilaus.
9,35 Aristotle the son of Nicomachus is said by some to be a Macedonian from Stagyra, but a few say that he was Thracian. He said that there are two first principles, God and matter, and that things above the moon are subject to divine providence, but that what is below the moon is not ruled by providence but borne along at random by some unreasoned motion. But he says that there are two worlds, the world above and the world below, and that the world above is immortal while the world below is mortal. And he says that the soul is the entelechy of the body.
9,36 Theophrastus of Ephesus held the same opinions as Aristotle.
9,37 Strato of Lampsacus said that heat is the cause of all things. He said that the parts of the world are infinite, and that everything living is capable of having a mind.
9,38 Praxiphanes of Rhodes held the same opinions as Theophrastus. 9,39 Critolaus of Phasela held the same opinions as Aristotle. 9,40 Zeno of Citieum, the Stoic, said that we must not build temples for gods but keep the Godhead in our minds alone—or rather, regard the mind as God, for it is immortal. We should consign the dead to wild beasts or fire. We may indulge in pederasty without restraint. But he said that the divine permeates all things. The causes of things sometimes depend on us and sometimes do not depend on us—that is, some things are up to us while some are not.
He also said that <the soul persists for some time> after its separation from the body, and called the soul a long-lived spirit but said that is certainly not fully immortal. For it is exhausted to the point of extinction by the length of its existence, or so he says.
9,41 Cleanthes says that pleasures are the good and noble, and he called only the soul man, and said that the gods are characters in mysteries, and holy calls. And he claimed that the sun is a torch and the world <is holy, and men are> initiates, and the possessed are priests of the gods.
9,42 Persaeus taught the same doctrines as Zeno.
9,43 Chrysippus of Soli wrote infamous laws. For he said that sons must have relations with their mothers and daughters with their fathers. For the rest he agreed with Zeno of Citieum. But besides this, he said that we should eat human flesh. But he said that the goal of all is to live pleasantly.
9,44 Diogenes of Babylon said that all things consist of pleasure.
9,45 Panaetius of Rhodes said that the universe is immortal and unaging, ignored divination, and pooh poohed what is said about the gods. For he said that the discussion of God is chatter.
9,46 Posidonius of Apamaea said that man’s highest good is wealth and health.
9,47 Athenodorus of Tarsus held the same opinions as Chrysippus, and taught the same doctrines as Zeno.
9,48 Epicurus the son of Neocles, who was reared in Athens, pursued a life of pleasure and, as I said of him at the outset, was not ashamed to have relations in public with licentious women.44 He said in his turn that there are no gods, but that mere chance governs all things. And nothing in the world comes of our own will—not learning, lack of education, or anything else—but that all things happen to everyone unwilled. And it is no use to blame anyone, as he says, or to praise anyone; people do not undergo these things voluntarily.
But he said that death is not to be feared. And as I have said already, he maintained both that everything consists of atoms, and that the universe is infinite.
10,1 And these are the Greek philosophers I have learned of. But there are as many others throughout the barbarian and Greek parts of the Roman realm and the other regions of the world. (2) There are seventy-two repulsive philosophies in the Indian nation, those of the gymnosophists, the Brahmans (these are the only praiseworthy ones), the Pseudo-brahmans, the corpse-eaters, the practitioners of obscenity, and those who are past feeling. Because of the great corruption in men, and their practice of evil and < obscenity* >, I consider it unnecessary and not worth my while to speak specifically of the Indian sects and the disgusting things they do. (3) For again, it is said that there are six different sects in Media, and as many in Ethiopia—and among the Persians, or in Parthia, Elamitis, Caspia, Germany, and Sarmatia, or however many there are among the Dauni, or among the Zikchi, Amazons, Lazi, Iberians, Bosporenes, Geli, Chinese or the other nations, there are < any number > of different laws, philosophies and sects and a countless throng of varieties.
10,4 For instance, Chinese men stay at home and weave, and anoint themselves and do womanly things in readiness for their wives. And in reverse, the women cut their hair short, wear men’s underclothing, and do all the field labor. But among the Geli, on the contrary, those who do evil are held by their laws to be praiseworthy.
10,5 And how many mysteries and rites do the Greeks have? For example, the women who go to the megara, and those who celebrate the Thesmophoria, are different from each other. And there are as many others: the Eleusinian mysteries of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, and the shocking goings-on in the sanctuaries there—the unclothing of women, to put it politely, drums and cakes, the bull-roarer and the basket, the worked wool, the cymbal, and the potion prepared in the beaker.
And just as many others. The mysteries of Archemorus in Pythia (6) and others on the Isthmus, those of Athamas and Melicertes the child of Ino. And all the men who turn the phallus over, and the <women> who celebrate46 the obscene rites, and the men who serve Rhea by castrating male children and living their lives without male organs, certainly unable to be men any longer, but without having become women. (7) And other Dionysians, those who are initiated into the Curetes and their distribution of meat, who are crowned with snakes and raise the cry of “Va, Va!” Either they are still calling on that Eve who was deceived by the snake, or else they are summoning the snake to their imposture in ancient Hebrew. For by the plain interpretation “Eve” means the woman; but in the ancient language native Hebrew speakers call the snake “chawah.”
11,1 And “What shall I say? For the time will fail me if I tell” of the countless differences in people’s various practices, as well as in their virtue and their vice. (2) As many others in Egypt, who are initiates of Cronus and make a show of putting iron collars on their necks, having their hair loose on top, <wearing> filthy, absurd clothing, and piercing their nostrils as though for nose rings at each [festival] of Cronus in the town called Astus. (This is a small town in Egypt, the chief village of the so-called nome of Prosopitis.) This is how they follow the unclean rites of the general assembly of deluded persons, and the mad instructions of the drum beating ecstatics, if you please! But these people are hopelessly lost.
11,3 But just as many of the others! For instance, the cult of Harpo- crates near Buticus, or the little town of Butus itself. They are already elders in years, < but are children in behavior* >, and are compelled by the daemon to enact the imaginary frenzies of Horus at the sacred month. (4) But each citizen—even an elder already far along in years, together with young women of the same persuasion, and other ages from youth up—are supposedly priests of this Horus, and of Harpocrates. Their heads are shaved and they shamelessly carry the slavish, as well as accursed and childish emblem, willingly taking part in the games of the daemon’s initiates laughing madly and foolishly, and cast off all restraint. (5) First they smear their faces with porridge, flour and other vulgarities, and then they dip their faces in a boiling cauldron and deceitfully madden the crowds with their faces, for a supposed miracle; and they wipe the stuff off their faces with their hands, and give some to anyone who asks, to partake of for their health’s sake and as a remedy for their ills.
12,1 But if I were to describe the woman ecstatics in Memphis < and > Heliopolis who bewitch themselves with drums and flutes, and the danc- ing girls, and the performers at the triennial festival— and the women at Bathys and in the temple of Menuthis who have abandoned shame and womanliness—to what burdens for the tongue, or what a long compo- sition I could commit myself, by adding their countless number [itself] to the number I have already given! (2) For even though I were to take on the enormous task I would leave our comprehension of these things incomplete, since scripture says that there are “young women without number.” (3) The rites at Sais and Pelusium, at Bubastis and Abydus, the temples of Antinous and the mysteries there. The rites at Pharbetis, those of Mendesius’ goat, all the mysteries in Busiris, all the ones in Sebennytus, all the ones in Diospolis, where they sometimes perform rites for the ass in the name of Seth, or Typho, if you please, while others < worship* > Tithambro, or Hecate, and others are initiates of Senephthy, others of Thermuthi, others of Isis. (4) And how many things of this sort can be said! < If one tries > to name them specifically it will consume a great deal of time. The entire subject will be summed up by the phrase, “young women without number.”
12,5 But again, <I omit> the names of many other mysteries, heresiarchs and fomenters of schism whose leaders are called Magusaeans by the Persians but prophets by the Egyptians, and who preside over their shrines and temples. And those Babylonian magi who are called Gazarenes, sages and enchanters, and the Indians’ Evilei so-called, and Brahmans, < and > the Greeks’ hierophants and temple custodians, and a throng of Cynics, and the leaders of countless other philosophers.
13,1 As I said, then, [there are] people in Persia called Magusaeans, who detest idols but worship planets, fire, the moon and the sun. And in Greece, again, [there are] others called Abian Musi, who drink mare’s milk and live entirely in wild country. (2) And as many of all these as the human mind can take in, which are called “great” and <regarded> as praiseworthy, there are as many different “young women without number,” some praiseworthy, some not. Some, making their practice of asceticism out of their own heads and forming their own rule, appear in public with long hair. Others wear sackcloth openly, though other holy brethren sit in sackcloth and ashes at home. Still others, from their “youth,” add to their burden with extra fasts and rules <for the sake of> a perfect conscience towards the bridegroom.
13,3 But others, as I said, do not act the part of “youths” rightly but arbitrarily from some preconception, in contradiction to the truth. Zacchaeus, who has recently died in the hill country around Jerusalem, would never pray with anyone. But for the same reason he freely undertook to handle and consecrate the sacred mysteries although he was a layman. And [there was] another—and he was once one of those who seemed to have led the finest kind of life, and he lived in the hermitages in a monastery in Egypt—(4) [he], and another man, near Sinai, who were made “young” by dreaming <that> they had received bishop’s orders, and undertook to sit on thrones and perform episcopal functions.
13,5 Others, and not a few of them, have dared, from “youthfulness,” to make themselves eunuchs, if you please, contrary to the commandments. (6) But others, whose origins are orthodox, seem to behave like “youths” and venture to gather their own congregations contrary to the canons. Moreover, they rebaptize the people who come to them from the Arians, if you please, without the judgment of an ecumenical council. (7) For because the Arian and the catholic laity are still intermingled, and many are orthodox but are joined with the Arianizers from hypocrisy, the matter, as I said, has not yet been settled by a judgment—not until there can be a separation of the blasphemous sect, and then its sentence will be determined.
13,8 Of the people who rebaptize in this way by their own directive, I have heard that one is a presbyter in Lycia. And there are others as well, who each pray by themselves and never with anyone else; and others wear slave’s collars contrary to the ordinance of the church. (9) And so, at the close of the entire work, I have said that those who are “young” in their own way, to suit their own tastes, are “without number”—by no means for good, to practice the various forms of wisdom, judgment, courage, prudence and righteousness. Others of these act “young” more arbitrarily, and perversely make themselves <strangers> to the truth, so that there is no number of them.
14,1 But the one dove herself, the holy virgin, confesses that God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, a perfect Father, a perfect Son, and a perfect Holy Spirit. She confesses that the Trinity is co-essential and that the Trinity is not an identity, but that the Son is truly begotten of the Father, and that the Holy Spirit is not different from the Father and the Son, (2) but that the Trinity is everlasting, never needing addition and containing no subordination but reduced to one unity, and one sovereignty of our God and Father.
And all things have been made by this Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Once these things did not exist, and they are not contemporaneous with God and were not in being before him; they were brought from non- being into being by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
14,3 This Father, Son and Holy Spirit has always vouchsafed to appear in visions to his saints, as each was able to receive [the vision] in accordance with the gift which had been < given > him by the Godhead. This gift was granted to each of those who were deemed worthy, sometimes to see the Father as each was able, <sometimes> to hear his voice as well as he was able. (4) When he said by the mouth of Isaiah, “Lo, my beloved servant shall understand,” this is the voice of the Father. And when Daniel saw “the Ancient of Days,” this is a vision of the Father. And again, when he says in the prophet, “I have multiplied visions and been portrayed by hands of the prophets,” this is the voice of the Son. And when, in Ezekiel, “The Spirit of God took me” and “brought me out unto the plain,” this refers to the Holy Spirit.
14,5 And there are many things of this kind that could be said. I have mentioned parts of a few of them in passing, and quoted the two texts to show what the church is like. But there are a million and more like them in the sacred scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments. (6) And [we find in the scriptures] that the Lord himself formed Adam’s body and “breathed the breath of life into him” to make “a living soul” for him. God himself, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the one Godhead, gave the Law to Moses. The prophets were sent by the same Godhead. He himself is our God, the God of Jews and Christians, and has called those Jews to justification who do not deny our Lord Jesus’ advent, and saves all who live by his true faith and do not deny the truth of the proclamation of God’s true Gospel doctrine. (7) For the Only-begotten has come! Come! And this is what our mother the church is like—the calm haven of peace, the good cheer redolent of the blossoming58 of the vine, which bears the “cluster of blessing”59 for us and daily grants us the drink that soothes all anguish, the blood of Christ, unmixed, true.
15,1 [And there are texts to show] that Christ was truly born of Mary the ever-virgin, by the Holy Spirit’s agency, not by the seed of a man. No, he took his body from the holy Virgin herself, truly and not in appearance—truly flesh, truly body, with bones, sinews and everything of ours. He was no different from ourselves except for the glory of his holiness and Godhead, and the holiness and righteousness of his vessel. He had the fullness of everything without sin, and possessed a true human soul, a true human mind—not that I affirm the concreteness of the mind, as others do. (2) But he possessed them all unstained by sin, a “mouth” that did not lie, “lips that spoke no guile,” a heart not inclined to rebellion, a mind not perverted to wrong, flesh that did not did not indulge in fleshly pleasure. He was perfect God from on high, but had not come to dwell in a man; he himself became wholly incarnate, without changing his nature but including his own manhood together with his Godhead.
15,3 He truly entered the Virgin’s womb, was carried for the usual time, and was born without shame, unstained, undented, through the birth canals. He was nursed, was embraced by Simeon and Anna, was borne in Mary’s arms. He learned to walk, went on journeys, became a boy and grew up in full possession of all human characteristics. His age was counted in years and his gestation in months, (4) for he was “made of a woman, made under the Law.”
He came to the Jordan and was baptized by John. This was not because he needed cleansing but, in keeping with his manhood under the Law, not to confuse what was right, and so that “all righteousness might be fulfilled,” as he himself said—and to show that he had taken true flesh, true manhood. He went down into the water to give, not to receive; to provide generously, not from need; to enlighten the water, and empower it to become a type of those who would be perfected in it. Thus those who truly believe in him and hold the faith of the truth would learn that he had truly become man and truly been baptized, (5) and would therefore come themselves with his assent, receive the power of his descent, and be illumined by his illumination. This is the fulfillment of the oracle in the prophet about a change of power, about the giving of the power of salvation of the bread which is taken from Jerusalem, and of the strength of the water. (16,1) But the power of the bread and the strength of the water are here made strong in Christ, so that not bread, but the power of bread will be our power. Indeed, the bread is food, but the power in it is for the generation of life. [And the water is strength], not merely so that the water will cleanse us, but so that, by the strength of the water, sanctifying <power> may become ours for the achievement of our salvation through faith, work, hope, the celebration of the mysteries, and the naming [of the Trinity].
16,2 He came up out of the Jordan and heard the Father’s voice, <for the Father bore witness> in the hearing of the disciples who were present, to show who it was for whom he was testifying. And as I have said in many Sects, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove to prevent the Trinity’s being thought an identity, since the Spirit appears in his own person. The Spirit settled and “came upon him” so that the Object of his testimony be seen; to testify that his holy flesh is dear to the Father and the Holy Spirit and approved by them; to declare the Father’s approval of the Son’s incarnation; to show that the Son is a true Son; and, in fulfillment of the scripture, “And after these things he appeared on the earth and consorted with men.”
16,3 He came up out of the Jordan, was plainly and truly tempted by the devil in the wilderness, and grew hungry afterwards in keeping with and because of the reality of his human nature. (4) He chose disciples, preached truth and healed diseases; he slept, grew hungry, made journeys, performed miracles, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, strengthened the lame and the palsied. He preached the Gospel, the truth, the kingdom of heaven, and the lovingkindness of himself, the Father and the Holy Spirit.
17,1 He truly underwent the passion for us in his flesh and perfect manhood. He truly suffered on the cross in company with his Godhead, though this was not changed to passibility but was impassible and unalterable. The two inferences can clearly be perceived: Christ suffered for us in the flesh”; but he remained impassible in his Godhead. (2) It is not that the manhood is a separate thing and the Godhead a separate thing; the Godhead accompanies the manhood and yet, because of the purity and incomparability of its essence, does not suffer. < Christ > suffered in the flesh, however, and was put to death in the flesh, though he lives forever in Godhead and raises the dead.
17,3 But his body was truly buried and remained lifeless for the three days without breath and motion—wrapped in the shroud, laid in the tomb, shut in by the stone and the seal of those who had imposed it. Yet the Godhead was not shut in, the Godhead was not buried; (4) it descended to the underworld with the holy soul, took the captive souls from there, broke the “sting of death,” “shattered” the bars and the unbreakable “bolts,” and by its own authority “loosed the pains of hades.”
It ascended with the soul, for “the soul had not been left in hell, nor had the flesh seen corruption;” (5) the Godhead had raised it or the Lord himself, the divine Word and Son of God, had risen with soul, body and entire vessel, with the vessel at last united with spirit. His body itself was spirit though it had once been tangible, had been subjected to scourging by the free consent of the Godhead, had consented to temptation by Satan and had experienced hunger, sleep, weariness, grief and sorrow. (6) The holy body itself was at last united with the Godhead, though the Godhead had always been with the holy body which underwent such sufferings. For Christ had risen and united his body with himself, as one spirit, one unity, one glory, his own one Godhead.
17,7 For he truly appeared and was handled by Thomas, ate and drank with the apostles and consorted with them for forty days and forty nights. Indeed, he “entered where doors were barred,” and after entering dis- played sinews and bones, the mark of the nails and the mark of the lance. For it was indeed the body itself, (8) since it had been joined to one unity and one Godhead, with no further expectation of suffering, no further death, as the holy apostle says, “Christ is risen, he dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” What had been passible remains forever impassible, the divine nature with body, soul, and all its human nature. (9) He is very God and has ascended into the heavens and taken his seat at the Father’s right hand in glory, not by discarding his body but by uniting it to spirit in the perfection of one Godhead, just as our own bodies, though “sown as natural bodies” for now, “will be raised spiritual; though sown in corruption for now, will be raised in incorruption; though sown in mortality for now will be raised in immortality.”
17,10 Now if such is the case with our [own] bodies, how much more with that holy, inexpressible, incomparable, pure body united with God, the one body in its final uniqueness? The apostle also testifies to this and says, “Even if we knew Christ after the flesh, now know we him no more.” (11) It is not that he separated his flesh from his Godhead; <he displayed it> as it was and united with his Godhead, no longer fleshly but spiritual, as the scripture says, “according to the Spirit of holiness after the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ.” At the same time [he displayed] this flesh divine, impassible and yet having suffered—and hav- ing been buried, having risen, having ascended in glory, coming to judge the quick and the dead as the scripture truly says, “Of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
18,1 For our mother, the holy church herself, believes as has been truly preached to her and enjoined upon her, that we shall all fall asleep and be raised with this body, with this soul, with our whole vessel, “that each may receive according to that he hath done.” (2) It is true that the resurrection of the dead, eternal judgment, the kingdom of heaven, and repose <are in store> for the righteous, and the inheritance of the faithful and an angelic choir is awaiting those who have kept the faith, purity, hope and the Lord’s commandments. And it has been proclaimed, certified and believed that “These shall rise to life eternal,” as we read in the Gospels.
18,3 For whatever the apostle and all the scriptures say is true, even though it is taken in a different sense by unbelievers and those who mis- understand it. (4) But this is our faith, this is our honor, this is our mother the church who saves through faith, who is strengthened through hope, and who by Christ’s love is made perfect in the confession of faith, the mysteries, and the cleansing power of baptism—(5) for < he says >, “Go, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” [Baptize, that is], in the name of the divine Trinity, for the name admits of no distinction; God is preached and proclaimed to us as one in the Law, the Prophets, the Gospels and the Apostles, in the Old and New Testaments, and is believed in as one—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (6) The Godhead is no identity but truly a perfect Trinity. The Father is perfect, the Son is perfect, the Holy Spirit is perfect, one Godhead, one God, to whom be glory, honor and might, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
19,1 This is the faith, the process of our salvation. This is the stay of the truth; this is Christ’s virgin and harmless dove. This is life, hope and the assurance of immortality. (2) But I beg all you readers to pardon my mediocrity and the feebleness of my very limited mind—torpid and ill as it is from a heavy dose of the sects’ poison, like the mind of a man vomit- ing and nauseated—for the expressions I have been brought to use in referring to certain persons <with harshness> or severity or calling them “offenders,” “scum,” “dupes” or “frauds.” (3) Though I do not readily make fun of anyone, I have had to dispose of them with expressions like these to dispel certain persons’ notions. Otherwise they might think that, since I have publicly disclosed the things the sects say and do, I have some measure of agreement with the heresy of each of the sects.
19,4 I also composed a brief Proem at the beginning of the work to give advance assurance of this and ask for pardon, so that no one would suppose that I turn to mockery because I am beaten, and fault me for unpleasantness. In the Proem I also indicated which sects I would cover, into how many Volumes I had divided the whole work, and how many sects, and which ones, I had spoken of in each Volume. Here again I remind us of these things, to do the readers good at every point.
20,1 There are three Volumes, and seven Sections. In Volume One there are forty-six Sects, enumerated by name and arranged consecutively < throughout the > Volume from the first and the second until the last. For Volume One contains forty-six Sects in three Sections, Volume Two contains twenty-three Sects in two Sections, but Volume Three, eleven in two. (2) I beg and plead with all of you who are sharing my labor and reading with patient effort, reap the benefit but put the sects’ odious doctrines out of your minds. I have not made them public to do harm but to do good, and to make sure that no one falls under their spell.
20,3 As you go through the whole work, or even parts of it, pray for me and make request that God will give me a portion in the holy and only catholic and apostolic church and the true, life-giving and saving < faith >, and deliver me from every sect. (4) And if, in my humanity, I cannot reach the full measure of the incomprehensible and ineffable Godhead, but am still pressed to offer its defense <and> compelled to speak for God in human terms, and have been led by daring [to do so], you yourselves pardon me, for God does. (5) And once more, pray that the Lord may give me the portion in his holy faith which I have asked for, the only faith free of all inconsistency, and grant the pardon of my own sins, which are many, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.
21,1 I have spoken briefly of the tenets of the faith of this only catho- lic church and harmless dove, her husband’s only wife as the scripture says, “One is my dove.” have likewise spoken of the countless “young women without number,” the co-essentiality of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the fleshly and perfect advent of Christ, and other parts of the faith. (2) But as to her ordinances, I must once more partially describe, in a few words, as many ordinances as have actually been observed and are being observed in the church, some by commandment, others by voluntary acceptance. For God rejoices in the excellence of his church.
21,3 And to begin with, the basis and, as it were, the foundation in the church is the virginity which is practiced and observed by many, and held in honor. But for most monks and nuns, the single life is the concomitant of this virginity. (4) After virginity is continence, which sets out on the same course. Next comes widowhood with all soberness and a pure life. (5) Following these orders, lawful wedlock is held in high esteem, especially marriage to one partner only and with the observance of the commandments. (6) But if a person’s wife or husband dies <and he [or she] wants> a spouse, it is allowable to marry a second wife or husband after the death of the first husband or wife.
21,7 But the crown, or, as it were, the mother and begetress of all these, is the holy priesthood, which is drawn mostly from virgins, but if not from virgins, from once-married men. (8) If there are not enough once-married men to serve, it is composed of men who abstain from relations with their own wives, or widowers who have had only one wife. But beginning with the episcopal order and including presbyters, deacons and sub-deacons, it is not permissible to receive a twice-married person for priesthood in the church, even if he is continent <or> a widower. (9) Then, after this priesthood, comes the order of readers which is composed of all the orders— that is, of virgins, once-married men, the continent, widowers, and men who are still in lawful wedlock—if necessary, even of men who have married a second wife after the death of the first. For a reader is not a priest; he is like a scribe of the Law.
21,10 Deaconesses are also appointed—only to assist women for modesty’s sake, if there is a need because of baptism or an inspection of their bodies. (11) Then, after these, come exorcists and translators <from> one language to another, either in readings or in sermons. But finally there are undertakers, who enshroud the bodies of those who fall asleep; and door- keepers, and the whole good order [of the laity].
22,1 On the apostles’ authority services are set for the fourth day of the week, the eve of the Sabbath, and the Lord’s Day. But we fast till the ninth hour on the fourth day and the eve of the Sabbath, because the Lord was arrested at the beginning of the fourth day and crucified on the eve of the Sabbath. (2) And the apostles taught us to keep fasts on these days in fulfillment of the saying, “When the bridegroom is taken from them, that shall they fast on those days.” (3) Fasting is not enjoined upon us as a favor to Him who suffered for us, but so that we may confess that the Lord’s passion to which he consented for us <has become> our salvation, and that our fasts may be acceptable to God for our sins. (4) And < this > fasting is observed throughout the year in this holy catholic church— I mean fasting till the ninth hour on the fourth day and the eve of the Sabbath—(5) with the sole exception of the full Pentecost of fifty days, during which neither kneeling nor fasting is enjoined, but services are held in the early morning hours as on the Lord’s Day, in place of those at the ninth hour on the fourth day and the eve of the Sabbath. (6) But moreover, there is no fasting <or kneeling> during the fifty days of Pentecost, as I said, or on the Day of the Epiphany when the Lord was born in the flesh, even though it may be the fourth day or the eve of the Sabbath.
22,7 But the church’s ascetics fast with a good will every day except the Lord’s Day and Pentecost, and hold continual vigils. (8) This holy catholic church regards all the Lord’s Days as days for enjoyment, however, and holds services at dawn, <but> does not fast; it is inappropriate to fast on a Lord’s Day. (9) The church also observes the forty days before the seven days of the holy Passover with fasts every day, but never fasts on Lord’s Days, or on the actual fortieth day [before Easter].
22,10 All of the laity eat dry fare every day—I mean by taking only bread, salt and water in the evening—during the six days of the Passover.
(11) Moreover, the zealous do two, three and four times more than this, and some [fast] the entire week until cockcrow at the dawn of the Lord’s Day, and keep vigil on all six days. Again, they hold services from the ninth hour until evening during these six days, and on the whole fortieth day [before the Passover]. (12) But in some places they hold vigils only from the dawn of the day after the fifth until the eve of the Sabbath, and the Lord’s Day. (13) In some places the liturgy is performed at the ninth hour of the fifth day at the close of the vigil, but they are still on dry fare. (14) In other places there is no liturgy except at dawn on the Lord’s Day when the vigil closes at about cockcrow on the Day of the Resurrection, and with a festal assembly on the principal day of the Passover, as has been prescribed. But the other mysteries, baptism and the private mysteries, are performed in accordance with the tradition of the Gospel and the apostles.
23,1 They make memorials for the dead by name, offering prayers and the liturgy. There are always hymns at dawn and prayers at dawn in this holy church, as well as psalms and prayers at lamp-lighting time.
23,2 Some of the church’s monks live in the cities, but some reside in monasteries and retire far from the world. (3) Some, if you please, see fit to wear their hair long as a custom of their own devising, though the Gospel did not command this, and the apostles did not allow it. For the holy apostle Paul has forbidden this style.
23,4 But there are other, excellent disciplines which are observed in this catholic church, I mean abstinence from meat of all kinds—four- footed animals, birds, fish, eggs and cheese; and various other customs, since “Each shall receive his reward according to his labor.” (5) And some abstain from all of these, while some abstain only from four-footed animals, but eat birds and the rest. Others also abstain from birds, but eat eggs and fish. Others do not even eat eggs, while others eat only fish. Others abstain from fish too but eat only cheese, while others do not even eat cheese. And at the present time still others abstain from bread, and others from fruits and vegetables.
23,6 Many monks sleep on the ground, and others do not even wear shoes. Others wear sackcloth under their clothing—the ones who wear it properly, for virtue and repentance. It is inappropriate to appear publicly in sackcloth, as some do; and, as I said, it is also inappropriate to appear in public wearing collars, as some prefer to. But most monks abstain from bathing.
23,7 And some monks have renounced their means of livelihood, but devised light tasks for themselves which are not troublesome, so that they will not lead an idle life or eat at others’ expense. (8) Most are exercised in psalms and constant prayers, and in readings, and recitations by heart, of the holy scriptures.
24,1 The custom of hospitality, kindness, and almsgiving to all has been prescribed for all members of this holy catholic and apostolic church. (2) The church has baptism in Christ in place of the obsolete circumcision, <and> rests in the Great Sabbath instead of on the lesser sabbath.
24,3 The church refrains from fellowship with any sect. It forbids fornication, adultery, licentiousness, idolatry, murder, all law-breaking, magic, sorcery, astrology, palmistry, the observation of omens, charms, and amulets, the things called phylacteries. (4) It forbids theatrical shows, hunting, horse <races>, musicians and all evil-speaking and slander, all quarreling and blasphemy, injustice, covetousness and usury. (5) It does not accept actors, but regards them as the lowest of the low. It accepts offerings from people who are not wrongdoers and law-breakers, but live righteously.
24,6 It continually enjoins prayers to God at the appointed night hours and after the close of the day, with all frequency, fervor, and bowing of the knee. (7) In some places they also hold services on the Sabbaths, but not everywhere. By the command of the Savior the best refrain entirely from swearing, abuse and cursing, and certainly from lying, as far as this is in their power. But most sell their goods and give to the poor.
25,1 Such is the character of this holy <mother of ours>, together with her faith as we have described it; and these are the ordinances that obtain in her. For this is the character of the church, and by the will of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit it is drawn from the Law, the Prophets, the Apostles and the Evangelists, like a good antidote compounded of many perfumes for the health of its users. (2) These are the features of this chaste bride of Christ; this is her dowry, the covenant of her inheritance, and the will of her bridegroom and heavenly <king>, our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom and with whom be glory, honor and might to the Father with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
25,3 All the brethren who are with me greet your Honors, especially Anatolius whose task, with much labor and the utmost good will, has been to transcribe and correct the work against these sects, I mean the eighty, in shorthand notes. (4) His most honored fellow deacon Hypatius also [greets you], who copied the transcription from notes to quires [of papyrus]. Please pray for them, my most honored and truly beloved brethren. (5) The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and his grace, and his truth in accordance with his commandment, be with you all, my most scholarly beloved brethren! Amen.
Максимологија 