(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all mistakes found.)

Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing intially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.


THE EXTANT WORKS AND FRAGMENTS OF HIPPOLYTUS.

PART II.--DOGMATICAL AND HISTORICAL.


TREATISE ON CHRIST AND ANTICHRIST.(1)

   1. As it was your desire, my beloved brother Theophilus,(2) to be
thoroughly informed on those topics which I put summarily before you, I
have thought it right to set these matters of inquiry clearly forth to your
view, drawing largely from  the Holy Scriptures themselves as from a holy
fountain, in order that you may not only have the pleasure of hearing them
on the testimony of men,(3) but may also be able, by surveying them in the
light of (divine) authority, to glorify God in all. For this will be as a
sure supply furnished you by us for your journey in this present life, so
that by ready argument applying things ill understood and apprehended by
most, you may sow them in the ground of your heart, as in a rich and clean
soil.(4) By these, too, you will be able to silence those who oppose and
gainsay the word of salvation. Only see that you do not give these things
over to unbelieving and blasphemous tongues, for that is no common danger.
But impart them to pious and faithful men, who desire to live holily and
righteously with fear. For it is not to no purpose that the blessed apostle
exhorts Timothy, and says, "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy
trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science
falsely so called; which some professing have erred concerning the
faith."(5) And again, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that
is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me in many
exhortations, the same commit thou to faithful men,(6) who shall be able to
teach others also."(7) If, then, the blessed (apostle) delivered these
things with a pious caution, which could be easily known by all, as he
perceived in the spirit that "all men have not faith,"(8) how much greater
will be our danger, if, rashly and without thought, we commit the
revelations of God to profane and unworthy men?

   2. For as the blessed prophets were made, so to speak, eyes for us,
they foresaw through faith the mysteries of the word, and became ministers
of these(9) things also to succeeding generations, not only reporting the
past, but also announcing I the present and the future, so that the prophet
might not appear to be one only for the time being, but might also predict
the future for all generations, and so be reckoned a (true) prophet. For
these fathers were furnished with the Spirit, and largely honoured by the
Word Himself; and just as it is with instruments of music. so had they the
Word always, like the plectrum,(10) in union with them, and when moved by
Him the prophets announced what God willed. For they spake not of their own
power(11) (let there be no mistake as to that(12)), neither did they
declare what pleased themselves. But First of all they were endowed with
wisdom by the Word, and then again were rightly instructed in the future by
means of visions. And then, when thus themselves fully convinced, they
spake those things which(1) were revealed by God to them alone, and
concealed from all others. For ith what reason should the prophet be called
a prophet, unless he in spirit foresaw the future? For if the prophet spake
of any chance event, he would not be a prophet then in speaking of things
which were under the eye of aIl. But one who sets forth in detail things
yet to be, was rightly judged a prophet. Wherefore prophets were with good
reason called from the very first "seers."(2) And hence we, too, who are
rightly instructed in what was declared aforetime by them, speak not of our
own capacity. For we do not attempt to made any change one way or another
among ourselves in the words that were spoken of old by them, but we make
the Scriptures in which these are written public, and read them to those
who can believe rightly; for that is a common benefit for both parties: for
him who speaks, in holding in memory and setting forth correctly things
uttered of old;(3) and for him who hears, in giving attention to the things
spoken. Since, then, in this there is a work assigned to both parties
together, viz., to him who speaks, that he speak forth faithfully without
regard to risk,(4) and to him who hears, that he hear and receive in faith
that which is spoken, I beseech you to strive together with me in prayer to
God.

   3. Do you wish then to know in what manner the Word of God, who was
again the Son of God,(5) as He was of old the Word, communicated His
revelations to the blessed prophets in former times? Well, as the Word
shows His compassion and His denial of all respect of persons by all the
saints, He enlightens them(6) and adapts them to that which is advantageous
for us, like a skilful physician, understanding the weakness of men. And
the ignorant He loves to teach, and the erring He turns again to His  own
true way. And by those who live by faith He is easily found; and to those
of pure eye and holy heart, who desire to knock at the door, He  opens
immediately. For He casts away none of His servants as unworthy of the
divine mysteries. He does not esteem the rich man more highly than the
poor, nor does He despise the poor man for his poverty. He does not disdain
the barbarian, nor does He set the eunuch aside as no man.(7) He does not
hate the female on account of the woman's act of disobedience in the
beginning, nor does He reject the male on account of the man's
transgression. But He seeks all, and desires to save all, wishing to make
all the children of God, and calling all the saints unto one perfect man.
For there is also one Son (or Servant) of God, by whom we too, receiving
the regeneration through the Holy Spirit, desire to come all unto one
perfect and heavenly man.(8)

   4. For whereas the Word of God was without flesh,(9) He took upon
Himself the holy flesh by the holy Virgin, and prepared a robe which He
wove for Himself, like a bridegroom, in the sufferings of the cross, in
order that by uniting His own power with our moral body, and by mixing(10)
the incorruptible with the corruptible, and the strong with the weak, He
might save perishing man. The web-beam, therefore, is the pass on  of the
Lord upon the cross, and the warp on it is the power of the Holy Spirit,
and the woof is the holy flesh wrought (woven) by the Spirit, and the
thread is the grace which by the love of Christ binds and unites the two in
one, and the combs or (rods) are the Word; and the workers are the
patriarchs and prophets who weave the fair, long, perfect tunic for Christ;
and the Word passing through these, like the combs or (rods), completes
through them that which His Father willeth.(10)

    5. But as time now presses for the consideration of the question
immediately in hand, and as what has been already said in the introduction
with regard to the glory of God, may suffice, it is proper that we take the
Holy Scriptures themselves in hand, and find out from them what, and of
what manner, the coming of Antichrist is; on   what occasion and at what
time that implores one shall be revealed; and whence and from what I tribe
(he shall come); and what his name is, which is indicated by the number in
the Scripture; and how he shall work error among the people, gathering them
from the ends of the earth; and (how) he shall stir up tribulation and
persecution against the saints; and how he shall  glorify himself as God;
and what his end shall  be; and how the sudden appearing of the Lord shall
be revealed froth heaven; and what the conflagration of the whole world
shall be; and what the glorious and heavenly kingdom of the saints is to
be, when they reign together with Christ; and what the punishment of the
wicked by fire.

   6. Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied of
under the figure of a lion,(1) on account of His royalty and glory, in the
same way have the Scriptures also aforetime spoken of Antichrist as a lion,
on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to liken
himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so Antichrist is
also a lion; Christ is a king,(2) so Antichrist is also a king. The Saviour
was manifested as a lamb;(3) so he too, in like manner, will appear as a
lamb, though within he is a wolf. The Saviour came into the World in the
circumcision, and he will come in the same manner. The Lord sent apostles
among all the nations, and he in like manner will send false apostles. The
Saviour gathered together the sheep that were scattered abroad,(4) and he
in like manner will bring together a people that is scattered abroad. The
Lord gave a seal to those who believed on Him, and he will give one like
manner. The Saviour appeared in the form of man, and he too will come in
the form of a man. The Saviour raised up and showed His holy flesh like a
temple,(5) and he will raise a temple of stone in Jerusalem. And his
seductive arts we shall exhibit in what follows. But for the present let us
turn to the question in hand.

   7. Now the blessed Jacob speaks to the following effect in his
benedictions, testifying prophetically of our Lord and Saviour: "Judah, let
thy brethren praise thee: thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies;
thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp:
from the shoot, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a
lion, and as a lion's whelp; who shall rouse him up? A ruler shall not
depart from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he come for whom it
is reserved; and he shall be the expectation of the nations. Binding his
ass to a vine, and his ass's colt to the vine tendril; he shall wash his
garment in wine, and his clothes in the blood of the grapes. His eyes shall
be gladsome as with wine, and his teeth shall be whiter than milk."(6)

  8. Knowing, then, as I do, how to explain these things in detail, I deem
it right at present to quote the words themselves. But since the
expressions themselves urge us to speak of them. I shall not omit to do so.
For these are truly divine and glorious things, and things well calculated
to benefit the soul. The prophet, in using the expression, a lion's whelp,
means him who sprang from Judah and David according to the flesh, who was
not made indeed of the seed of David, but was conceived by the (power of
the) Holy Ghost, and came forth(7) from the holy shoot of earth. For Isaiah
says, "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower
shall grow up out of it."(8) That which is called by Isaiah a flower, Jacob
calls a shoot. For first he shot forth, and then he flourished in the
world. And the expression, "he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a
lion's whelp," refers to the three days' sleep (death, couching) of Christ;
as also Isaiah says, "How is faithful Sion become an harlot! it was full of
judgment; in which righteousness lodged (couched); but now murderers."(9)
And David says to the same effect, "I laid me down (couched) and slept; I
awaked: for the Lord will sustain me;"(10) in which words he points to the
fact of his sleep and rising again. And Jacob says, "Who shall rouse him
up?" And that is just what David and Paul both refer to, as when Paul says,
"and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead."(11)

   9. And in saying, "A ruler shall not depart from Judah, nor a leader
from his thighs, until he come for whom it is reserved; and he shall be the
expectation of the nations," he referred the fulfilment (of that prophecy)
to Christ. For  He is our expectation. For we expect Him,  (and) by faith
we behold Him as He comes from heaven with power.

   10. "Binding his ass to a vine:" that means that He unites His people
of the circumcision with His own calling (vocation). For He was the
vine.(12) "And his ass's colt to the vine-tendril:" that denotes the people
of the Gentiles, as He calls the circumcision and the uncircumcision unto
one faith.

   11. "He shall wash his garment in wine," that is, according to that
voice of His Father which came down by the Holy Ghost at the  Jordan.(13)
"And his clothes in the blood of the grape." In the blood of what grape,
then, but just His own flesh, which hung upon the tree like a cluster of
grapes?--from whose side also flowed two streams, of blood and water, in
which the nations are washed and purified, which (nations) He may be
supposed to have as a robe about Him.(14)

   12. "His eyes gladsome with wine." And what are the eyes of Christ but
the blessed prophets, who foresaw in the Spirit, and announced beforehand,
the sufferings that were to befall Him, and rejoiced in seeing Him in power
with spiritual eyes, being furnished (for their vocation) by the word
Himself and His grace?

   13. And in saying, "And his teeth (shall be) whiter than milk," he
referred to the commandments that proceed from the holy mouth of Christ,
and which are pure (purify) as milk.

   14. Thus did the Scriptures preach before-time of this lion and lion's
whelp. And in like manner also we find it written regarding Antichrist. For
Moses speaks thus: "Dan is a lion's whelp, and he shall leap from
Bashan."(1) But that no one may err by supposing that this is said of the
Saviour, let him attend carefully to the matter. "Dan," he says, "is a
lion's whelp;" and in naming the tribe of Dan, he declared clearly the
tribe from which Antichrist is destined to spring. For as Christ springs
from the tribe of Judah, so Antichrist is to spring from the tribe of
Dan.(2) And that the case stands thus, we see also from the words of Jacob:
"Let Dan be 'a serpent, lying upon the ground, biting the horse's heel."(3)
What, then, is meant by the serpent but Antichrist, that deceiver who is
mentioned in Genesis,(4) who deceived Eve and supplanted Adam (pterni'sas,
bruised Adam's heel)? But since it is necessary to prove this assertion by
sufficient testimony, we shall not shrink from the task.

   15. That it is in reality out of the tribe of Dan, then, that that
tyrant and king, that dread judge, that son of the devil, is destined to
spring and arise, the prophet testifies when he says, "Dan shall judge his
people, as (he is) also one tribe in Israel."(5) But some one may say that
this refers to Samson, who sprang from the tribe of Dan, and judged the
people twenty years. Well, the prophecy had its partial fulfilment in
Samson, but its complete fulfilment is reserved for Antichrist. For
Jeremiah also speaks to this effect: "From Dan we are to hear the sound of
the swiftness of his horses: the whole land trembled at the sound of the
neighing, of the driving of his horses."(6) And another prophet says: "He
shall gather together all his strength, from the east even to the west.
They whom he calls, and they whom he calls not, shall go with him. He shall
make the sea white with the sails of his ships, and the plain black with
the shields of his armaments. And whosoever shall oppose him in war shall
fall by the sword."(7) That these things, then, are said of no one else but
that tyrant, and shameless one, and adversary of God, we shall show in what
follows.

   16. But Isaiah also speaks thus: "And it shall come to pass, that when
the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He
will punish (visit) the stout mind, the king of Assyria, and the greatness
(height) of the glory of his eyes. For he said, By my strength will I do
it, and by the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the bounds of  the
peoples, and will rob them of their strength: and I will make the inhabited
cities tremble, and will gather the whole world in my hand like a nest, and
I will lift it up like eggs that are left. And there is no one that shall
escape or gainsay me, and open the mouth and chatter. Shall the axe boast
itself without him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself
without him that shaketh (draweth) it? As if one should raise a rod or a
staff, and the staff should lift itself up: and not thus. But the Lord
shall send dishonour unto thy honour; and into thy  glory a burning fire
shall burn. And the light of Israel shall be a fire, and shall sanctify him
in flame, and shall consume the forest like  grass."(8)

   17. And again he says in another place: "How bath the exactor ceased,
and how hath  the oppressor ceased!(9) God hath broken the yoke of the
rulers of sinners, He who smote the people in wrath, and with an incurable
stroke: He that strikes the people with an incurable stroke, which He did
not spare. He ceased (rested) confidently: the whole earth shouts with
rejoicing. The trees of Lebanon rejoiced at thee, and the cedar of Lebanon,
(saying), Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up  against us. Hell
from beneath is moved at meeting thee: all the mighty ones, the rulers of
the earth, are gathered together--the lords from their thrones. All the
kings of the nations, all they shall answer together, and shall say, And
thou, too, art taken as we; and thou art reckoned among us. Thy pomp is
brought down to earth, thy great rejoicing: they will spread decay under
thee; and the worm shall be thy covering.(10) How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!(11) He is cast down to the ground
who sends off to all the nations. And thou didst say in thy mind, I will
ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will
sit down upon the lofty mountains towards the north: I will ascend above
the clouds: I will be like the Most High. Yet now thou shalt be brought
down to hell, and to the foundations of the earth! They that see thee shall
wonder at thee, and shall say, This is the man that excited the earth, that
did shake kings, that made the whole world a wilderness, and destroyed the
cities, that released not those in prison.(1) All the kings of the earth
did lie in honour, every one in his own house; but thou shall be cast out
on the mountains like a loathsome carcase, with many who fall, pierced
through with the sword, and going down to hell. As a garment stained with
blood is not pure, so neither shall thou be comely (or clean); because thou
hast destroyed my land, and slain my people. Thou shalt not abide, enduring
for ever, a wicked seed. Prepare thy children for slaughter, for the sins
of thy father, that they rise not, neither possess my land."(2)

   18. Ezekiel also speaks of him to the same effect, thus: "Thus saith
the Lord God, Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am
God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the sea; yet art thou a man,
and not God, (though) thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God. Art
thou wiser than Daniel? Have the wise not instructed thee in their wisdom?
With thy wisdom or with thine understanding hast thou gotten thee power,
and gold and silver in thy treasures? By thy great wisdom and by thy
traffic(3) hast thou increased thy power? Thy heart is lifted up in thy
power. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast set thine heart
as the heart of God: behold, therefore I will bring strangers(4) upon thee,
plagues from the nations: and they shall draw their swords against thee,
and against the beauty of thy wisdom; and they shall level thy beauty to
destruction; and they shall bring thee down; and thou shall die by the
death of the wounded in the midst of the sea. Wilt thou yet say before them
that slay thee, I am God? But thou art a man, and no God, in the hand of
them that wound thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the
hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord."(5)

   19. These words then being thus presented, let us observe somewhat in
detail what Daniel says in his visions. For in distinguishing the kingdoms
that are to rise after these things, he showed also the coming of
Antichrist in the last times, and the consummation of the whole world. In
expounding the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, then, he speaks thus: "Thou, O
king, sawest, and behold a great image standing before thy face: the head
of which was of fine gold, its arms and shoulders of silver, its belly and
its thighs of brass, and its legs of iron, (and) its feet part of iron and
part of clay. Thou sawest, then, till that a stone was cut out without
hands, and smote the image upon the feet that were of iron and clay, and
brake them to an end. Then were the clay, the iron, the brass, the silver,
(and) the gold broken, and became like the chaff from the summer threshing-
floor; and the strength (fulness) of the wind carried them away, and there
was no place found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a
great mountain, and filled the whole earth."(6)

   20. Now if we set Daniel's own visions also side by side with this, we
shall have one exposition to give of the two together, and shall (be able
to) show how concordant with each other they are, and how true. For he
speaks thus: "I Daniel saw, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove
upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one
from another. The first (was) like a lioness, and had wings as of an eagle.
I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the
earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given
to it. And behold a second beast like to a bear, and it was made stand on
one part, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it.(7) I beheld, and lo a
beast like a leopard, and it had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl,
and the beast had four heads. After this I saw, and behold a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; it had iron teeth and daws
of brass,(8) which devoured and brake in pieces, and it stamped the residue
with the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were
before it, and it had ten horns. I considered its horns, and behold there
came up among them another little horn, and before it there were three of
the first horns plucked up by the roots; and behold in this horn were eyes
like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."(9)

   21. "I beheld till the thrones were set, and the Ancient of days did
sit: and His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure
wool: His throne was a flame of fire, His wheels were a burning fire. A
stream of fire flowed before Him. Thousand thousands ministered unto Him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood around Him: the judgment was set,
and the books were opened. I beheld then, because of the voice of the great
words which the horn spake, till the beast was slain and perished, and his
body given to the burning of fire. And the dominion of the other beasts was
taken away."(1)

   22. "I saw in the night vision, and, behold, one like the Son of man
was coming with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and
was brought near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and honour,
and the kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him: His
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His
kingdom shall not be destroyed."(2)

   23. Now since these things, spoken as they are with a mystical meaning,
may seem to some hard to understand, we shall keep back nothing fitted to
impart an intelligent apprehension of them to those who are possessed of a
sound mind. He said, then, that a "lioness came up from the sea," and by
that he meant the kingdom of the Babylonians in the world, which also was
the head of gold on the image. In saying that "it had wings as of an
eagle," he meant that Nebuchadnezzar the king was lifted up and was exalted
against God. Then he says, "the wings thereof were plucked," that is to
say, his glory was destroyed; for he was driven out of his kingdom. And the
words, "a man's heart was given to it, and it was made stand upon the feet
as a man," refer to the fact that he repented and recognised himself to be
only a man, and gave the glory to God.

   24. Then, after the lioness, he sees a "second beast like a bear," and
that denoted the Persians. For after the Babylonians, the Persians held the
sovereign power And in saving that there were "three ribs in the mouth of
it," he pointed to three nations, viz., the Persians, and the Medes, and
the Babylonians; which were also represented on the image by the silver
after the gold. Then (there was) "the third beast, a leopard," which meant
the Greeks. For after the Persians, Alexander of Macedon obtained the
sovereign power on subverting Darius, as is also shown by the brass on the
image. And in saying that it had "four wings of a fowl," he taught us most
clearly how the kingdom of Alexander was partitioned. For in speaking of
"four heads," he made mention of four kings, viz., those who arose out of
that (kingdom).(3) For Alexander, when dying, partitioned out his kingdom
into four divisions.

   25. Then he says: "A fourth beast, dreadful and terrible; it had iron
teeth and claws of brass." And who are these but the Romans? which
(kingdom) is meant by the iron--the kingdom which is now established; for
the legs of that (image) were of iron. And after this, what remains,
beloved, but the toes of the feet of the image, in which part is iron and
part clay, mixed together? And mystically by the toes of the feet he meant
the kings who are to arise from among them; as Daniel also says (in the
words), "I considered the beast, and lo there were ten horns behind it,
among which shall rise another (horn), an offshoot, and shall pluck up by
the roots the three (that were) before it." And under this was signified
none other than Antichrist, who is also himself to raise the kingdom of the
Jews. He says that three horns are plucked up by the root by him, viz., the
three kings of Egypt, and Libya, and Ethiopia, whom he cuts off in the
array of battle. And he, after gaining terrible power over all, being
nevertheless a tyrant,(4) shall stir up tribulation and persecution against
men, exalting himself against them. For Daniel says: "I considered the
horn, and behold that horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against
them, till the beast was slain and perished, and its body was given to the
burning of fire."(5)

   26. After a little space the stone(6) will come from heaven which
smites the image and breaks it in pieces, and subverts all the kingdoms,
and gives the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This is the stone
which becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth, of which Daniel
says: "I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came
with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and was brought
near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a
kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and languages shall serve Him: and His
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His
kingdom shall not be destroyed."(7) He showed all power given by the Father
to the Son,(8) who is ordained Lord of things in heaven, and things on
earth, and things under the earth, and Judge of all:(9) of things in
heaven, because He was born, the Word of God, before all (ages); and of
things on earth, because He became man in the midst of men, to re-create
our Adam through Himself; and of things under the earth, because He was
also reckoned among the dead, preaching the Gospel to the souls of the
saints,(10) (and) by death overcoming death.

   27. As these things, then, are in the future, and as the ten toes of
the image are equivalent to (so many) democracies,(11) and the ten horns of
the fourth beast are distributed over ten kingdoms, let us look at the
subject a little more closely, and consider these matters as in the clear
light of a personal survey.(1)

   28. The golden head of the image and the lioness denoted the
Babylonians; the shoulders and arms of silver, and the bear, represented
the Persians and Medes; the belly and thighs of brass, and the leopard,
meant the Greeks, who held the sovereignty from Alexander's time; the legs
of iron, and the beast dreadful and terrible, expressed the Romans, who
hold the sovereignty at present; the toes of the feet which were part clay
and part iron, and the ten horns, were emblems of the kingdoms that are yet
to rise; the other little horn that grows up among them meant the
Antichrist in their midst; the stone that smites the earth and brings
judgment upon the world was Christ.

   29. These things, beloved, we impart to you with fear, and yet readily,
on account of the love of Christ, which surpasseth all. For if the blessed
prophets who preceded us did not choose to proclaim these things, though
they knew them, openly and boldly, lest they should disquiet the souls of
men, but recounted them mystically in parables and dark sayings, speaking
thus, "Here is the mind which hath wisdom,"(2) how much greater risk shall
we run in venturing to declare openly things spoken by them in obscure
terms! Let us look, therefore, at the things which are to befall this
unclean harlot in the last days; and (let us consider) what and what manner
of tribulation is destined to visit her in the wrath of God before the
judgment as an earnest of her doom.

   30. Come, then, O blessed Isaiah; arise, tell us clearly what thou
didst prophesy with respect to the mighty Babylon. For thou didst speak
also of Jerusalem, and thy word is accomplished. For thou didst speak
boldly and openly: "Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with
fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate
as overthrown by many strangers.(3) The daughter of Sion shall be left as a
cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a
besieged city."(4) What then? Are not these things come to pass? Are not
the things announced by thee fulfilled? Is not their country, Judea,
desolate? Is not the holy place burned with fire? Are not their walls cast
down? Are not their cities destroyed? Their land, do not strangers devour
it? Do not the Romans rule the country? And indeed these impious people
hated thee, and did saw thee asunder, and they crucified Christ. Thou art
dead in the world, but thou livest in Christ.

   31. Which of you, then, shall I esteem more than thee? Yet Jeremiah,
too, is stoned. But if I should esteem Jeremiah most, yet Daniel too has
his testimony. Daniel, I commend thee above all; yet John too gives no
false witness. With how many mouths and tongues would I praise you; or
rather the Word who spake in you! Ye died with Christ; and ye will live
with Christ. Hear ye, and rejoice; behold the things announced by you have
been fulfilled in their time. For ye saw these things yourselves first, and
then ye proclaimed them to all generations. Ye ministered the oracles of
God to all generations. Ye prophets were called, that ye might be able to
save all. For then is one a prophet indeed, when, having announced
beforetime things about to be, he can afterwards show that they have
actually happened. Ye were the disciples of a good Master. These words I
address to you as if alive, and with propriety. For ye hold already the
crown of life and immortality which is laid up for you in heaven.(5)

   32. Speak with me, O blessed Daniel. Give me full assurance, I beseech
thee. Thou dost prophesy concerning the lioness in Babylon;(6) for thou
wast a captive there. Thou hast unfolded the future regarding the bear; for
thou wast still in the world, and didst see the things come to pass. Then
thou speakest to me of the leopard; and whence canst thou know this, for
thou art already gone to thy rest? Who instructed thee to announce these
things, but He who formed(7) thee in (from) thy mother's womb?(8) That is
God, thou sayest. Thou hast spoken indeed, and that not falsely. The
leopard has arisen; the he-goat is come; he hath  smitten the ram; he hath
broken his horns in pieces; he hath stamped upon him with his feet. He has
been exalted by his fall; (the) four horns have come up from under that
one.(9) Rejoice, blessed Daniel! thou hast not been in error: all these
things have come to pass.

   33. After this again thou hast told me of the beast dreadful and
terrible. "It had iron teeth and claws of brass: it devoured and brake in
pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it."(10) Already the iron
rules; already it subdues and breaks all in pieces; already it brings all
the unwilling into subjection; already we see these things ourselves. Now
we glorify God, being instructed by thee.

   34. But as the task before us was to speak of the harlot, be thou with
us, O blessed Isaiah.

Let us mark what thou sayest about Babylon. "Come down, sit upon the
ground, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit, O daughter of the Chaldeans;
thou shalt no longer be called tender and delicate. Take the millstone,
grind meal, draw aside thy veil,(1) shave the grey hairs, make bare the
legs, pass over the rivers. Thy shame shall be uncovered, thy reproach
shall be seen: I will take justice of thee, I will no more give thee over
to men. As for thy Redeemer, (He is) the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of
Israel is his name. Sit thou in compunction, get thee into darkness, O
daughter of the Chaldeans: thou shall no longer be called the strength of
the kingdom.

   35. "I was wroth with my people; I have polluted mine inheritance, I
have given them into thine hand: and thou didst show them no mercy; but
upon the ancient (the elders) thou  hast very heavily laid thy yoke. And
thou saidst, I shall be a princess for ever: thou didst not lay these
things to thy heart, neither didst remember thy latter end. Therefore hear
now this, thou that art delicate; that sittest, that art confident, that
sayest in thine heart, I am, and there is none else; I shall not sit as a
widow, neither shall I know the loss of children. But now these two things
shall come upon thee in one day, widowhood and the loss of children: they
shall come upon thee suddenly in thy sorcery, in the strength of thine
enchantments mightily, in the hope of thy fornication. For thou hast said,
I am, and there is none else. And thy fornication shall be thy shame,
because thou hast said in thy heart, I am. And destruction shall come upon
thee, and thou shalt not know it. (And there shall be) a pit, and thou
shalt full into it; and misery shall fall upon thee, and thou shalt not be
able to be made clean; and destruction shall come upon thee, and thou shalt
not know it. Stand now with thy enchantments, and with the multitude of thy
sorceries, which thou hast learned from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be
able to be profited. Thou art wearied in thy counsels. Let the astrologers
of the heavens stand and save thee; let the star-gazers announce to thee
what shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall all be as sticks for the
fire; so shall they be burned, and they shall not deliver their soul from
the flame. Because thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them; so shall it be
for thy help. Thou art wearied with change from thy youth. Man has gone
astray (each one) by himself; and there shall be no salvation for thee."(2)
These things does Isaiah prophesy for thee. Let us see now whether John has
spoken to the same effect.

   36. For he sees, when in the isle Patmos, a  revelation of awful
mysteries, which he recounts  freely, and makes known to others. Tell me,
blessed John, apostle and disciple of the Lord, what didst thou see and
hear concerning Babylon? Arise, and speak; for it sent thee also into
banishment.(3) "And there came one of  the seven angels which had the seven
vials, and  talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither;  I will show unto
thee the judgment of the great  whore that sitteth upon many waters; with
whom the kings of the earth have committed  fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her
fornication. And he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and
I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stone,(4) and
pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and
filthiness(5) of the fornication of the earth. Upon her forehead was a name
written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations
of the Earth.

   37. "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with
great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel?
I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth
her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that thou
sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go
into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder (whose name
was not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world) when
they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet shall be.(6)

   38. "And here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven
mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are
fallen, and one is, and the other is not ye come; and when he cometh, he
must continue a short space. And the beast that was and is not, (even he is
the eighth,) and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten
horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as
yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one
mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall
make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of
lords, and King of kings; and they that are with Him are called, and
chosen, and faithful.

   39. "And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore
sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten
horns which thou sawest, and(1) the beast, these shall hate the whore, and
shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her
with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to
agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall
be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which
reigneth over the kings of the earth.

  40. "After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven,
having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he
cried mightily(2) with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen,
is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold  of every
foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations
have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of
the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the
earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard
another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be
not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues: for her
sins did cleave even unto heaven,(3) and God hath remembered her l
iniquities.

  41. "Reward her even as she rewarded (you), and double unto her double,
according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her
double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much
torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and
am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in
one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned
with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the
earth, who have committed fornication, and lived deliciously with her,
shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her
burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas!
that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment
come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no
man shall buy their merchandise(4) any more. The merchandise of gold, and
silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and
silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood,  and all manner vessels of ivory,
and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and
marble, and cinnamon, and spices,(5) and odours, and ointments, and
frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and
sheep, and goats,(6) and horses, and chariots, and slaves (bodies), and
souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from
thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly have perished(7) from
thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these
things, which were made rich(8) by her, shall stand afar off for the fear
of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas! that great
city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked
with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! for in one hour so great riches
is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and
sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried, when they
saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great
city? And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing,
saying, Alas, alas! that great city, wherein were made rich all that had
ships in the sea by reason of her fatness!(9) for in one hour is she made
desolate.

   42. "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye angels,(10) and apostles,
and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a
stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with
violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found
no more at all. And the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and
trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of
whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a
millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle
shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of
the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the
great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And
in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were
slain upon the earth."(11)

   43. With respect, then, to the particular judgment in the torments that
are to come upon it in the last times by the hand of the tyrants who shall
arise then, the clearest statement has been given in these passages. But it
becomes us further diligently to examine and set forth the period at which
these things shall come to pass, and how the little horn shall spring up in
their midst. For when the legs of iron have issued in the feet and toes,
according to the similitude of the image and that of the terrible beast, as
has been shown in the above, (then shall be the time) when the iron and the
clay shall be mingled together. Now Daniel will set forth this subject to
us. For he says, "And one week will make(1) a covenant with many, and it
shall be that in the midst (half) of the week my sacrifice and oblation
shall cease."(2) By one week, therefore, he meant the last week which is to
be at the end of the whole world of which week the two prophets Enoch and
Elias will take up the half. For they will preach 1,260 days clothed in
sackcloth, proclaiming repentance to the people and to all the nations.

   44. For as two advents of our Lord and Saviour are indicated in the
Scriptures, the one being His first advent in the flesh, which took place
without honour by reason of His being set at nought, as Isaiah spake of Him
aforetime, saying, "We saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness, but His
form was despised (and) rejected (lit. = deficient) above all men; a man
smitten and familiar with bearing infirmity, (for His face was turned
away); He was despised, and esteemed not."(3) But His second advent is
announced as glorious, when He shall come from heaven with the host of
angels, and the glory of His Father, as the prophet saith, "Ye shall see
the King in glory;"(4) and, "I saw one like the Son of man coming with the
clouds of heaven; and he came to the Ancient of days, and he was brought to
Him. And there were given Him dominion, and honour, and glory, and the
kingdom; all tribes and languages shall serve Him: His dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away."(5) Thus also two
forerunners were indicated. The first was John the son of Zacharias, who
appeared in all things a forerunner and herald of our Saviour, preaching of
the heavenly light that had appeared in the world. He first fulfilled the
course of forerunner, and that from his mother's womb, being conceived by
Elisabeth, in order that to those, too, who are children from their
mother's womb he might declare the new birth that was to take place for
their sakes by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin.

   45. He, on hearing the salutation addressed to Elisabeth, leaped with
joy in his mother's womb, recognising God the Word conceived in the womb of
the Virgin. Thereafter he came forward preaching in the wilderness,
proclaiming the baptism of repentance to the people, (and  thus) announcing
prophetically salvation to the  nations living in the wilderness of the
world. After this, at the Jordan, seeing the Saviour with his own eye, he
points Him out, and says, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin
of the world!"(6) He also first preached to those in Hades,(7) becoming a
forerunner there when he was put to death by Herod, that there too he might
intimate that the Saviour would descend to ransom the souls of the saints
from the hand of death.

   46. But since the Saviour was the beginning of the resurrection of all
men, it was meet that the Lord alone should rise from the dead, by whom too
the judgment is to enter for the whole world, that they who have wrestled
worthily may be also crowned worthily by Him, by the illustrious Arbiter,
to wit, who Himself first accomplished the course, and was received into
the heavens, and was set down on the right hand of God the Father, and is
to be manifested again at the end of the world as Judge. It is a matter of
course that His forerunners must appear first, as He says by Malachi and
the angel,(8) "I will send to you Elias the Tishbite before the day of the
Lord, the great and notable day, comes; and he shall turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
lest i come and smite the earth utterly."(9) These, then, shall come and
proclaim the manifestation of Christ that is to be from heaven; and they
shall also perform signs and wonders, in order that men may be put to shame
and turned to repentance for their surpassing wickedness and impiety.

   47. For John says, "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and
they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth."(10) That is the half of the week whereof Daniel spake. "These
are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the Lord
of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire will proceed out of their
mouth, and devour their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in
this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in
the days of their prophecy; and have power over waters, to turn them to
blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. And
when they shall have finished their course and their testimony," what saith
the prophet? "the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make
war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them,"(1) because they
will not give glory to Antichrist. For this is meant by the little horn
that grows up. He, being now elated in heart, begins to exalt himself, and
to glorify himself as God, persecuting the saints and blaspheming Christ,
even as Daniel says, "I considered the horn, and, behold, in the horn were
eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things; and he opened
his mouth to blaspheme God. And that born made war against the saints, and
prevailed against them until the beast was slain, and perished, and his
body was given to be burned."(2)

   48. But as it is incumbent on us to discuss this matter of the beast
more exactly, and in particular the question how the Holy Spirit has also
mystically indicated his name by means of a number, we shall proceed to
state more clearly what bears upon him. John then speaks thus: "And I
beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns, like
a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exercised all the power of the
first beast before him; and he made the earth and them which dwell therein
to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he did great
wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the
sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those
miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them
that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which
had the wound by a sword and did live. And he had power to give life unto
the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and
cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be
killed. And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and
bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead; and that
no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, the name of the beast,
or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding
count the number of the beast; for if is the number of a man, and his
number is six hundred threescore and six."(3)

   49. By the beast, then, coming up out of the  earth, he means the
kingdom of Antichrist; and  by the two horns he means him and the false
prophet after him.(4) And in speaking of "the horns being like a lamb," he
means that he will make himself like the Son of God, and set himself
forward as king. And the terms, "he spake like a dragon," mean that he is a
deceiver, and not truthful. And the words, "he exercised all the power of
the first beast before him, and caused the earth and them which dwell
therein  to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed,"
signify that, after the manner of the law of Augustus, by whom the empire
of Rome was established, he too will rule and govern, sanctioning
everything by it, and taking greater glory to himself. For this is the
fourth beast, whose head was wounded and healed again, in its being broken
up or even dishonoured, and partitioned into four crowns; and he then
(Antichrist) shall with knavish skill heal it, as it were, and restore it.
For this is what is meant by the prophet when he says, "He will give life
unto the image, and the image of the beast will speak." For he will act
with vigour again, and prove strong by reason of the laws established by
him; and he will cause all those who will not worship the image of the
beast to be put to death. Here the faith and the patience of the  saints
will appear, for he says: "And he will cause all, both small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in
their forehead; that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,
the name of the beast, or the number of his name." For,  being full of
guile, and exalting himself against the servants of God, with the wish to
afflict them and persecute them out of the world, because they give not
glory to him, he will order incense-pans(5) to be set up by all everywhere,
that no man among the saints may be able to buy or sell without first
sacrificing; for this is what is meant by the mark received upon the right
hand. And the word--"in their forehead"--indicates that all are crowned,
and put on a crown of fire, and not of life, but of death. For in ibis
wise, too, did Antiochus Epiphanes the king of Syria, the descendant of
Alexander of Macedon, devise measures against the Jews. He, too, in the
exaltation of his heart, issued a decree in those times, that "all should
set up shrines before their doors, and sacrifice, and that they should
march in procession to the honour of Dionysus, waving chaplets of ivy;" and
that those who refused obedience should be put to death by strangulation
and torture. But he also met his due recompense at the hand of the Lord,
the righteous Judge and all-searching God; for he died eaten up of worms.
And if one desires to inquire into that more accurately, he will find it
recorded in the books of the Maccabees.(6)

   50. But now we shall speak of what is before us. For such measures will
he, too, devise, seeking to afflict the saints in every way. For the
prophet and apostle says: "Here is wisdom, Let him that hath understanding
count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man, and his
number is six hundred threescore and six." With respect to his name, it is
not in our power to explain it exactly, as the blessed John understood it
and was instructed about it, but only to give a conjectural account of
it;(1) for when he appears, the blessed one will show us what we seek to
know. Yet as far as our doubtful apprehension of the matter goes, we may
speak. Many names indeed we find,(2) the letters of which are the
equivalent of this number: such as, for instance, the word Titan,(3) an
ancient and notable name; or Evanthas,(4) for it too makes up the same
number; and many others which might be found. But, as we have already
said,(5) the wound of the first beast was healed, and he (the second beast)
was to make the image speak,(6) that is to say, he should be powerful; and
it is manifest to all that those who at present still hold the power are
Latins. If, then, we take the name as the name of a single man, it becomes
Latins. Wherefore we ought neither to give it out as if this were certainly
his name, nor again ignore the fact that he may not be otherwise
designated. But having the mystery of God in our heart, we ought in fear to
keep faithfully what has been told us by the blessed prophets, in order
that when those things come to pass, we may be prepared for them, and not
deceived. For when the times advance, he too, of whom these thing are said,
will be manifested.(7)

   51. But not to confine ourselves to these words and arguments alone,
for the purpose of convincing those who love to study the oracles of God,
we shall demonstrate the matter by many other proofs. For Daniel says, "And
these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of
the children of Ammon."(8) Ammon and Moab(9) are the children born to Lot
by his daughters, and their race survives even now. And Isaiah says: "And
they shall fly in the boats of strangers, plundering the sea together, and
(they shall spoil) them of the east: and they shall lay hands upon Moab
first; and the children of Ammon shall first obey them."(10)

   52. In those times, then, he shall arise and meet them. And when he has
overmastered three horns out of the ten in the array of war, and has rooted
these out, viz., Egypt, and Libya, and Ethiopia, and has got their spoils
and trappings, and has brought the remaining horns which suffer into
subjection, he will begin to be lifted up in heart, and to exalt himself
against God as master of the whole world. And his first expedition will be
against Tyre and Berytus, and the circumjacent territory. For by storming
these cities first he will strike terror into the others, as Isaiah says,
"Be thou ashamed, O Sidon; the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the
sea hath spoken, saying, I travailed not, nor brought forth children;
neither did I nurse up young men, nor bring up virgins. But when the report
comes to Egypt, pain shall seize them for Tyre."(11)

   53. These things, then, shall be in the future, beloved; and when the
three horns are cut off, he will begin to show himself as God, as Ezekiel
has said aforetime: "Because thy heart has been lifted up, and thou hast
said, I am God."(12) And to the like effect Isaiah says: "For thou hast
said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of heaven: I will be like the Most High. Yet now thou shall
be brought down to hell (Hades), to the foundations of the earth."(13) In
like manner also Ezekiel: "Wilt thou yet say to those who slay thee, I am
God? But thou (shall be) a man, and no God."(14)

   54. As his tribe, then, and his manifestation, and his destruction,
have been set forth in these words, and as his name has also been indicated
mystically, let us look also at his action. For he will call together all
the people to himself, out of every country of the dispersion, making them
his own, as though they were his own children, and promising to restore
their country, and establish again their kingdom and nation, in order that
he may be worshipped by them as God, as the prophet says: "He will collect
his whole kingdom, from the rising of the sun even to its setting: they
whom he summons and they whom he does not summon shall march with him."(15)
And Jeremiah speaks of him thus in a parable: "The partridge cried, (and)
gathered what he did not hatch, making himself riches without judgment: in
the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a
fool."(16)

   55. It will not be detrimental, therefore, to the course of our present
argument, if we explain the art of that creature, and show that the prophet
has not spoken(1) without a purpose in using the parable (or similitude) of
the creature.  For as the partridge is a vainglorious creature, when it
sees near at hand the nest of another partridge with young in it, and with
the parent-bird away on the wing in quest of food, it imitates the cry of
the other bird, and calls the young to itself; and they, taking it to be
their own parent, run to it. And it delights itself proudly in the alien
pullets as in its own. But when the real parent-bird returns, and calls
them with its own familiar cry, the young recognise it, and forsake the
deceiver, and betake themselves to the real parent. This thing, then, the
prophet has adopted as a simile, applying it in a similar manner to
Antichrist. For he will allure mankind to himself, wishing to gain
possession of those who are not his own, and promising deliverance to all,
while he is unable to save himself.

   56. He then, having gathered to himself the unbelieving everywhere
throughout the world, comes at their call to persecute the saints, their
enemies and antagonists, as the apostle and evangelist says: "There was in
a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and there was a
widow in that city, who came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though
I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will
avenge her."(2)

   57. By the unrighteous judge, who fears not God, neither regards man,
he means without doubt Antichrist, as he is a son of the devil and a vessel
of Satan. For when he has the power, he will begin to exalt himself against
God, neither in truth fearing God, nor regarding the Son of God, who is the
Judge of all. And in saying that there was a widow in the city, he refers
to Jerusalem itself, which is a widow indeed, forsaken of her perfect,
heavenly spouse, God. She calls Him her adversary, and not her Saviour; for
she does not understand that which was said by the prophet Jeremiah:
"Because they obeyed not the truth, a spirit of error shall speak then to
this people and to Jerusalem."(3) And Isaiah also to the like effect:
"Forasmuch as the people refuseth to drink the water of Siloam that goeth
softly, but chooseth to have Rasin and Romeliah's son as king over you:
therefore, lo, the Lord bringeth up upon you the water of the river, strong
and full, even the  king of Assyria."(4) By the king he means
metaphorically Antichrist, as also another prophet  saith: "And this man
shall be the peace from me, when the Assyrian shall come up into your land,
and when he shall tread in your mountains."(5)

   58. And in like manner Moses, knowing beforehand that the people would
reject and disown the true Saviour of the world, and take part with error,
and choose an earthly king, and set the heavenly King at nought, says: "Is
not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? In the
day of vengeance I will recompense (them), and in the time when their foot
shall slide."(6) They did slide, therefore, in all things, as they were
found to be in harmony with the truth in nothing: neither as concerns the
law, because they became transgressors; nor as concerns the prophets,
because they cut off even the prophets themselves; nor as concerns the
voice of the Gospels, because they crucified the Saviour Himself; nor in
believing the apostles, because they persecuted them. At all times they
showed themselves enemies and betrayers of the truth, and were found to be
haters of God, and not lovers of Him; and such they shall be then when they
find opportunity: for, rousing themselves against the servants of God, they
will seek to obtain vengeance by the hand of a mortal man. And he, being
puffed up with pride by their subserviency, will begin to despatch missives
against the saints, commanding to cut them all off everywhere, on the
ground of their refusal to reverence and worship him as God, according to
the word of Esaias: "Woe to the wings of the vessels of the land,(7) beyond
the rivers of Ethiopia: (woe to him) who sendeth sureties by the sea, and
letters of papyrus (upon the water; for nimble messengers will go) to a
nation(8) anxious and expectant, and a people strange and bitter against
them; a nation hopeless and trodden down."(9)

   59. But we who hope for the Son of God are persecuted and trodden down
by those unbelievers. For the wings of the vessels are the churches; and
the sea is the world, in which the Church is set, like a ship tossed in the
deep, but not destroyed; for she has with her the skilled Pilot, Christ.
And she bears in her midst also the trophy (which is erected) over death;
for she carries with her the cross of the Lord.(10) For her prow is the
east, and her stern is the west, and her hold(11) is the south, and her
tillers are the two Testaments; and the ropes that stretch around her are
the love of Christ, which binds the Church; and the net(1) which she bears
with her is the layer of the regeneration which renews the believing,
whence too are these glories. As the wind the Spirit from heaven is
present, by whom those who believe are sealed: she has also anchors of iron
accompanying her, viz., the holy commandments of Christ Himself, which are
strong as iron. She has also mariners on the right and on the left,
assessors like the holy angels, by whom the Church is always governed and
defended. The ladder in her leading up to the sailyard is an emblem of the
passion of Christ, which brings the faithful to the ascent of heaven. And
the top-sails(2) aloft(3) upon the yard are the company of prophets,
martyrs, and apostles, who have entered into their rest in the kingdom of
Christ.

   60. Now, concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall
upon the Church from the adversary, John also speaks thus: "And I saw a
great and wondrous sign in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she,
being with child, cries, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for
to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man-
child, who is to rule all the nations: and the child was caught up unto God
and to His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath
the place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two
hundred and threescore days. And then when the dragon saw it, he persecuted
the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given
two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where
she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time,  from the face of
the serpent. And the serpent cast (out of his mouth water as a flood after
the  woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And
the earth helped the woman, and opened her mouth, and swallowed up the
flood which the dragon cast) out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth
with the  woman, and went to make war with the saints of her seed, which
keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus."(4)

   61. By the woman then clothed with the sun," he meant most manifestly
the Church, endued wth the Father's word,(5) whose brightness is above the
sun. And by the "moon under her feet" he referred to her being adorned,
like  the moon, with heavenly glory. And the words, "upon her head a crown
of twelve stars," refer to the twelve apostles by whom the Church was
founded. And those, "she, being with child, cries, travailing in birth, and
pained to be delivered," mean that the Church will not cease to bear from
her heart(6) the Word that is persecuted by the unbelieving in the world.
"And she brought forth," he says, "a man-child, who is to rule all the
nations;" by which is meant that the Church, always bringing forth Christ,
the perfect man-child of God, who is declared to be God and man, becomes
the instructor of all the nations. And the words, "her child was caught up
unto God and to His throne," signify that he who is always born of her is a
heavenly king, and  not an earthly; even as David also declared of old when
he said, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I
make Thine enemies Thy footstool."(7) "And the dragon," he says, "saw and
persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman
were given two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the
wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time,
from the face of the serpent."(8) That refers to the one thousand two
hundred and threescore days (the half of the week) during which the tyrant
is to reign and persecute the Church,(9) which flees from city to city, and
seeks conceal-meat in the wilderness among the mountains, possessed of no
other defence than the two wings of the great eagle, that is to say, the
faith of Jesus Christ, who, in stretching forth His holy hands on the holy
tree, unfolded two wings, the right and the left, and called to Him all who
believed upon Him, and covered them as a hen her chickens. For by the mouth
of Malachi also He speaks thus: "And unto you that fear my name shall the
Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings."(10)

   62. The Lord also says, "When ye shall see the abomination of
desolation stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand),
then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains, and let him which
is on the housetop not come down to take his clothes; neither let him which
is in the field return back to take anything out of his house. And woe unto
them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for
then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the
world. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be
saved."(1) And Daniel says, "And they shall place the abomination of
desolation a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that
waiteth, and cometh to the thousand two hundred and ninety-five days."(2)

   63. And the blessed Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says:
"Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and our gathering together at it,(3) that ye be not soon shaken in
mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letters as
from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no man deceive you by
any means; for (that day shall not come) except there come the falling away
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped:
so that he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And
now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth (will
let), until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: (even him) whose
coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying
wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish; because they received not the love of the truth. And for this cause
God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that
they all might be damned who believed not the truth,  but had pleasure in
unrighteousness."(4) And Esaias says, "Let the wicked be cut off, that he
behold not the glory of the Lord."(5)

   64. These things, then, being to come to pass, beloved, and the one
week being divided into two parts, and the abomination of desolation being
manifested then, and the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord having
finished their course, and the whole world finally approaching the
consummation, what remains but the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ from heaven, for whom we have looked in hope? who shall bring the
conflagration and just judgment upon all who have refused to believe on
Him. For the Lord says, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then
look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."(6) "And
there shall not a hair of your head perish."(7) "For as the lightning
cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the
eagles be gathered together."(8) Now the fall(9) took place in paradise;
for Adam fell there. And He says again, "Then shall the Son of man send His
angels, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds of
heaven."(10) And David also, in announcing prophetically the judgment and
coming of the Lord, says, "His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and His circuit unto the end of the heaven: and there is no one hid from
the heat thereof."(11) By the heat he means the conflagration. And Esaias
speaks thus: "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chamber, (and) shut thy
door: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation of
the Lord be overpast."(12) And Paul in like manner: "For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who hold the truth of God in unrighteousness."(13)

   65. Moreover, concerning the resurrection and the kingdom of the
saints, Daniel says, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall arise, some to everlasting life, (and some to shame and everlasting
contempt)."(14) Esaias says, "The dead men shall arise, and they that are
in their tombs shall awake; for the dew  from thee is healing to them."(15)
The Lord says, "Many in that day shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live."(16) And the prophet says, "Awake, thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."(17)
And John says, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection: on such the second death hath no power."(18) For the second
death is the lake of fire that burneth. And again the Lord says, "Then
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun shineth in his glory."(19) And
to the saints He will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."(20) But what
saith He to the wicked? "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels, which my Father hath prepared." And
John says, "Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and
murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever maketh and loveth a lie; for your
part is in the hell of fire."(1) And in like manner also Esaias: "And they
shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed
against me. And their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be
quenched; and they shall be for a spectacle to all flesh."(2)

   66. Concerning the resurrection of the righteous, Paul also speaks thus
in writing to the Thessalonians: "We would not have you to be ignorant
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which
have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say
unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive (and) remain unto
the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the
Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice and
trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are
alive (and) remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."(3)

   67. These things, then, I have set shortly before thee, O Theophilus,
drawing them from Scripture itself,(4) in order that, maintaining in faith
what is written, and anticipating the things that are to be, thou mayest
keep thyself void of offence both toward God and toward men, "looking for
that blessed hope and appearing of our God and Saviour,"(5) when, having
raised the saints among us, He will rejoice with them, glorifying the
Father. To Him be the glory unto the endless ages of the ages. Amen.


EXPOSITORY TREATISE AGAINST THE JEWS.

   1. Now, then, incline thine ear to me, and hear my words, and give
heed, thou Jew. Many a time dost thou boast thyself, in that thou didst
condemn Jesus of Nazareth to death, and didst give Him vinegar and gall to
drink; and thou dost vaunt thyself because of this. Come therefore, and let
us consider together whether perchance thou dost not boast unrighteously, O
Israel, (and) whether that small portion of vinegar and gall has not
brought down this fearful threatening upon thee, (and) whether this is not
the cause of thy present condition involved in these myriad troubles.

   2. Let him then be introduced before us who speaketh by the Holy
Spirit, and saith truth--David the son of Jesse. He, singing a certain
strain with prophetic reference to the true Christ, celebrated our God by
the Holy Spirit, (and) declared clearly all that befell Him by the hands of
the Jews in His passion; in which (strain) the Christ who humbled Himself
and took unto Himself the form of the servant Adam, calls upon God the
Father in heaven as it were in our person, and speaks thus in the sixty-
ninth Psalm: "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I am
sunk in the mire of the abyss," that is to say, in the corruption of Hades,
on account of the transgression in paradise; and "there is no substance,"
that is, help. "My eyes failed while I hoped (or, from my hoping) upon my
God; when will He come and save me?"(1)

   3. Then, in what next follows, Christ speaks, as it were, in His own
person: "Then I restored that," says He, "which I took not away;" that is,
on account of the sin of Adam I endured the death which was not mine by
sinning. "For, O God, Thou knowest my foolishness; and my  sins are not hid
from Thee," that is, "for I did not sin," as He means it; and for this
reason (it is added), "Let not them be ashamed who want to see" my
resurrection on the third day, to wit, the apostles. "Because for Thy
sake," that is, for the sake of obeying Thee, "I have borne reproach,"
namely the cross, when "they covered my face with shame," that is to say,
the Jews; when "I became a stranger unto my brethren after the flesh, and
an alien unto my mother's children," meaning (by the mother) the synagogue.
"For the zeal of Thine house, Father, hath eaten me up; and the reproaches
of them that reproached Thee are fallen on me," and of them that sacrificed
to idols. Wherefore "they that sit in the gate spoke against me," for they
crucified me without the gate. "And they that drink sang against me," that
is, (they who drink wine) at the feast of the passover. "But as for me, in
my prayer unto Thee, O Lord, I said, Father, forgive them," namely the
Gentiles, because it is the time for favour with Gentiles. "Let not then
the hurricane (of temptations) overwhelm me, neither let the deep (that is,
Hades) swallow me up: for Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (Hades);
neither let the pit shut her mouth upon me,"(1) that is, the sepulchre. "By
reason of mine enemies, deliver me," that the Jews may not boast, saying,
Let us consume him.

   4. Now Christ prayed all this economically(2) as man; being, however,
true God. But, as I have already said, it was the "form of the servant"(3)
that spake and suffered these things. Wherefore He added, "My soul looked
for reproach and trouble," that is, I suffered of my own will, (and) not by
any compulsion. Yet "I waited for one to mourn with me, and there was
none," for all my disciples forsook me and fled; and for a "comforter, and
I found none."

   5. Listen with understanding, O Jew, to what  the Christ says: "They
gave me gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to  drink."
And these things He did indeed endure from you. Hear the Holy Ghost tell
you also what return He made to you for that little portion of vinegar. For
the prophet says, as in the person of God, "Let their table become a snare
and retribution." Of what retribution does He speak? Manifestly, of the
misery which has now got hold of thee.

   6. And then hear what follows: "Let their eyes be darkened, that they
see not." And surely ye have been darkened in the eyes of your soul with a
darkness utter and everlasting. For now that the true light has arisen, ye
wander as in the night, and stumble on places with no roads, and fall
headlong, as having forsaken the way that saith, "I am the way."(4)
Furthermore, hear this yet more serious word: "And their back do thou bend
always;" that means, in order that they may be slaves to the nations, not
four hundred and thirty years as in Egypt, nor seventy as in Babylon, but
bend them to servitude, he says, "always." In fine, then, how dost thou
indulge vain hopes, expecting to be delivered from the misery which holdeth
thee? For that is somewhat strange. And not unjustly has he imprecated this
blindness of eyes upon thee. But because thou didst cover the eyes of
Christ, (and(5)) thus thou didst beat Him, for this reason, too, bend thou
thy back for servitude always. And whereas thou didst pour out His blood in
indignation, hear what thy recompense shall be: "Pour out Thine indignation
upon them, and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them;" and, "Let their
habitation be desolate," to wit, their celebrated temple.

   7. But why, O prophet, tell us, and for what reason, was the temple
made desolate? Was it on account of that ancient fabrication of the calf?
Was it on account of the idolatry of the people? Was it for the blood of
the prophets? Was it for the adultery and fornication of Israel? By no
means, he says; for in all these transgressions they always found pardon
open to them, and benignity; but it was because they killed the Son of
their Benefactor, for He is coeternal with the Father. Whence He saith,
"Father, let their temple be made desolate;(6) for they have persecuted Him
whom Thou didst of Thine own will smite for the salvation of the world;"
that is, they have persecuted me with a violent and unjust death, "and they
have added to the pain of my wounds." In former time, as the Lover of man,
I had pain on account of the straying of the Gentiles; but to this pain
they have added another, by going also themselves astray. Wherefore "add
iniquity to their iniquity, and tribulation to tribulation, and let them
not enter into Thy righteousness," that is, into Thy kingdom; but "let them
be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the
righteous," that is, with their holy fathers and patriarchs.

   8. What sayest thou to this, O Jew? It is neither Matthew nor Paul that
saith these things, but David, thine anointed, who awards and declares
these terrible sentences on account of Christ. And like the great Job,
addressing you who speak against the righteous and true, he says, "Thou
didst barter the Christ like a slave, thou didst go to Him like a robber in
the garden."

   9. I produce now the prophecy of Solomon, which speaketh of Christ, and
announces clearly and perspicuously things concerning the Jews; and those
which not only are befalling them at the present time, but those, too,
which shall befall them in the future age, on account of the contumacy and
audacity which they exhibited toward the Prince of Life; for the prophet
says, "The ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright," that
is, about Christ, "Let us lie in wait for the righteous, because he is not
for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings and words, and
upbraideth us with our offending the law, and professeth to have knowledge
of God; and he calleth himself the Child of God."(7) And then he says, "He
is grievous to us even to behold; for his life is not like other men's, and
his ways are of another fashion. We are esteemed of him as counterfeits,
and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and pronounceth the end
of the just to be blessed."(1) And again, listen to this, O Jew! None of
the righteous or prophets called himself the Son of God. And therefore, as
in the person of the Jews, solomon speaks again of this righteous one, who
is Christ, thus: "He was made to reprove our thoughts, and he maketh his
boast that God is his Father. Let us see, then, if his words be true, and
let us prove what shall happen in the end of him; for if the just man be
the Son of God, He will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his
enemies. Let us condemn him with a shameful death, for by his own saying he
shall be respected."(2)

   10. And again David, in the Psalms, says with respect to the future
age, "Then shall He" (namely Christ) "speak unto them in His wrath, and vex
them in His sore displeasure."(3) And again Solomon says concerning Christ
and the Jews, that "when the righteous shall stand in great boldness before
the face of such as have afflicted Him, and made no account of His words,
when they see it they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be
amazed at the strangeness of His salvation; and they, repenting and
groaning for anguish of spirit, shall say within themselves, This is He
whom we had sometimes in derision and a proverb of reproach; we fools
accounted His life madness, and His end to he without honour. How is He
numbered among the children of God, and His lot is among the saints?
Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of
righteousness bath not shined unto us, and the sun of righteousness rose
not on us. We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction;
we have gone through deserts where there lay no way: but as for the way of
the Lord, we have not known it. What hath our pride profited us? all those
things are passed away like a shadow."(4)

THE CONCLUSION IS WANTING.(5)


AGAINST PLATO, ON THE CAUSE OF THE UNIVERSE.(1)

   1. And this is the passage regarding demons.(2) But now we must speak
of Hades, in which the souls both of the righteous and the unrighteous are
detained. Hades is a place in the created system, rude,(3) a locality
beneath the earth, in which the light of the world does not shine; and as
the sun does not shine in this locality, there must necessarily be
perpetual darkness there. This locality has been destined to be as it were
a guard-house for souls, at which the angels are stationed as guards,
distributing according to each one's deeds the temporary(4) punishments for
(different) characters. And in this locality there is a certain place(5)
set apart by itself, a lake of unquenchable fire, into which we suppose no
one has ever yet been cast; for it is prepared against the day determined
by God, in which one sentence of righteous judgment shall be justly applied
to all. And the unrighteous, and  those who believed not God, who have
honoured as God the vain works of the hands of men, idols fashioned (by
themselves), shall be sentenced to this endless punishment. But the
righteous shall obtain the incorruptible and un-fading kingdom, who indeed
are at present detained in Hades,(6) but not in the same place with the
unrighteous. For to this locality there is one descent, at the gate whereof
we believe an archangel is stationed with a host. And when those who are
conducted by the angels(7) appointed unto the souls have passed through
this gate, they do not proceed on one and the same way; but the righteous,
being conducted in the light toward the right, and being hymned by the
angels stationed at the place, are brought to a locality full of light. And
there the righteous from the beginning(1) dwell, not ruled by necessity,
but enjoying always the contemplation of the blessings which are in their
view, and delighting themselves with the expectation of others ever new,
and deeming those ever better than these. And that place brings no toils to
them. There, there is neither fierce heat, nor cold, nor thorn;(2) but the
face of the fathers and the righteous is seen to be always smiling, as they
wait for the rest and eternal revival in heaven which succeed this
location. And we call it by the name Abraham's bosom. But the unrighteous
are dragged toward the left by angels who are ministers of punishment, and
they go of their own accord no longer, but are dragged by force as
prisoners. And the angels appointed over them send them along,(3)
reproaching them and threatening them with an eye of terror, forcing them
down into the lower parts. And when they are brought there, those appointed
to that service drag them on to the confines or hell.(4) And those who are
so near hear incessantly the agitation, and feel the hot smoke. And when
that vision is so near, as they see the terrible and excessively glowing(5)
spectacle of the fire, they shudder in horror at the expectation of the
future judgment, (as if they were) already feeling the power of their
punishment. And again, where they see the place of the fathers and the
righteous,(6) they are also punished there. For a deep and vast abyss is
set there in the midst, so that neither can any of the righteous in
sympathy think to pass it, nor any of the unrighteous dare to cross it.

   2. Thus far, then, on the subject of Hades, in which the souls of all
are detained until the time which God has determined; and then(7) He will
accomplish a resurrection of all, not by transferring souls into other
bodies,(8) but by raising the bodies themselves. And if, O Greeks, ye
refuse credit to this because ye see these (bodies) in their dissolution,
learn not to be incredulous. For if ye believe that the soul is originated
and is made immortal by God, according to the opinion of Plato,(9) in time,
ye ought not to refuse to believe that God is able also to raise the body,
which is composed of the same elements, and make it immortal.(10) To be
able in one thing, and to be unable in another, is a word which cannot be
said of God. We therefore believe that the body also is raised. For if it
become corrupt, it is not at least destroyed. For the earth receiving its
remains preserves them, and they, becoming as it were seed, and being
wrapped up with the richer part of earth, spring up and bloom. And that
which is sown is sown indeed bare grain; but at the command of God the
Artificer it buds, and is raised arrayed and glorious, but not until it has
first died, and been dissolved, and mingled with earth. Not, therefore,
without good reason do we believe in the resurrection of the body.
Moreover, if it is dissolved in its season on account of the primeval
transgression, and is committed to the earth as to a furnace, to be moulded
again anew, it is not raised the same thing as it is now, but pure and no
longer corruptible. And to every body its own proper soul will be given
again; and the soul, being endued again with it, shall not be grieved, but
shall rejoice together with it, abiding itself pure with it also pure. And
as it now sojourns with it in the world righteously, and finds it in
nothing now a traitor, it will receive it again (the body) with great joy.
But the unrighteous will receive their bodies unchanged, and unransomed
from suffering and disease, and unglorified, and still with all the ills in
which they died. And whatever manner of persons they (were when they) lived
without faith, as such they shall be faithfully judged.(11)

   3.(12) For all, the righteous and the unrighteous alike, shall be
brought before God the Word. For the Father hath committed all judgment to
Him; and in fulfilment of the Father's counsel, He cometh as Judge whom we
call Christ. For it is not Minos and Rhadamanthys that are to judge (the
world), as ye fancy, O Greeks, but He whom God the Father hath glorified,
of whom we have spoken elsewhere more in particular, for the profit of
those who seek the truth. He, in administering the righteous judgment of
the Father to all, assigns to each what is righteous according to his
works. And being present at His judicial decision, all, both men and angels
and demons, shall utter one voice, saying, "Righteous is Thy judgment."(13)
Of which voice the justification will be seen in the awarding to each that
which is just; since to those who have done well shall be assigned
righteously eternal bliss, and to the lovers of iniquity shall be given
eternal punishment. And the fire which is un-quenchable and without end
awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which dieth not, and which
does not waste the body, but continues bursting forth from the body with
unending pain. No sleep will give them rest; no night will soothe them; no
death will deliver them from punishment; no voice of interceding friends
will profit them.(1) For neither are the righteous seen by them any longer,
nor are they worthy of remembrance. But the righteous will remember only
the righteous deeds by which they reached the heavenly kingdom, in which
there is neither sleep, nor pain, nor corruption, nor care,(2) nor night,
nor day measured by time; nor sun traversing in necessary course the circle
of heaven, which marks the limits of seasons, or the points measured out
for the life of man so easily read; nor moon waning or waxing, or inducing
the changes of seasons, or moistening the earth; no burning sun, no
changeful Bear, no Orion coming forth, no numerous wandering of stars, no
painfully-trodden earth, no abode of paradise hard to find; no furious
roaring of the sea, forbidding one to touch or traverse it; but this too
will be readily passable for the righteous, although it lacks no water.
There will be no heaven inaccessible to men, nor will the way of its ascent
be one impossible to find; and there will be no earth unwrought, or
toilsome for men, but one producing fruit spontaneously in beauty and
order; nor will there be generation of wild beasts again, nor the
bursting(3) substance of other creatures. Neither with man will there be
generation again, but the number of the righteous remains indefectible with
the righteous angels and spirits. Ye who believe these words, O men, will
be partakers with the righteous, and will have part in these future
blessings, which "eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love
Him."(4) To Him be the glory and the power, for ever and ever. Amen.


AGAINST THE HERESY OF ONE NOETUS.(1)

   1. Some others are secretly introducing another doctrine, who have
become disciples of one Noetus, who was a native of Smyrna,(2) (and) lived
not very long ago.(3) This person was greatly puffed up and inflated with
pride, being inspired by the conceit of a strange spirit. He alleged that
Christ was the Father Himself, and that the Father Himself was born, and
suffered, and died. Ye see what pride of heart and what a strange inflated
spirit had insinuated themselves into him. Froth his other actions, then,
the proof is already given us that he spoke not with a pure spirit; for he
who blasphemes against the Holy Ghost is cast out from the holy
inheritance. He alleged that he was himself Moses, and that Aaron was his
brother.(4) When the blessed presbyters heard this, they summoned him
before the Church, and examined him. But he denied at first that he held
such opinions. Afterwards, however, taking shelter among some, and having
gathered round him some others(5) who had embraced the same error, he
wished thereafter to uphold his dogma openly as correct. And the blessed
presbyters called him again before them, and examined him. But he stood out
against them, saying, "What evil, then, am I doing in glorifying Christ?"
And the presbyters replied to him, "We too know in truth one God;(6) we
know Christ; we know that the Son suffered even as He suffered, and died
even as He died, and rose again on the third day, and is at the right hand
of the Father, and cometh to judge the living and the dead. And these
things which we have learned we allege." Then, after examining him, they
expelled him from the Church. And he was carried to such a pitch of pride,
that he established a school.

   2. Now they seek to exhibit the foundation for their dogma by citing
the word in the law, "I am the God of your fathers: ye shall have no other
gods beside me;"(7) and again in another passage, "I am the first," He
saith, "and the last; and beside me there is none other."(1) Thus they say
they prove that God is one. And then they answer in this manner: "If
therefore I acknowledge Christ to be God, He is the Father Himself, if He
is indeed God; and Christ suffered, being Himself God; and consequently the
Father suffered, for He was the Father Himself." But the case stands not
thus; for the Scriptures do not set forth the matter in this manner. But
they make use also of other testimonies, and say, Thus it is written: "This
is our God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of
Him. He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto
Jacob His servant (son), and to Israel His beloved. Afterward did He show
Himself upon earth, and conversed with men."(2) You see, then, he says,
that this is God, who is the only One, and who afterwards did show Himself,
and con-versed with men." And in another place he says, "Egypt hath
laboured; and the merchandise of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, men of stature,
shall come over unto thee, (and they shall be slaves to thee); and they
shall come after thee bound with manacles, and they shall fall down unto
thee, because God is in thee; and they shall make supplication unto thee:
and there is no God beside thee. For Thou art God, and we knew not; God of
Israel, the Saviour."(3) Do you see, he says, how the Scriptures proclaim
one God? And as this is clearly exhibited, and these passages are
testimonies to it, I am under necessity, he says, since one is
acknowledged, to make this One the subject of suffering. For Christ was
God, and suffered on account of us, being Himself the Father, that He might
be able also to save us. And we cannot express ourselves otherwise, he
says; for the apostle also acknowledges one God, when he says, "Whose are
the fathers, (and) of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over
all, God blessed for ever."(4)

   3. In this way, then, they choose to set forth these things, and they
make use only of one class of passages;(5)  just in the same one-sided
manner that Theodotus employed when he sought to prove that Christ was a
mere man. But neither has the one party nor the other understood the matter
rightly, as the Scriptures themselves confute their senselessness, and
attest the truth. See, brethren, what a rash and audacious dogma they have
introduced, when they say without shame, the Father is Himself Christ,
Himself the Son, Himself was born, Himself suffered, Himself raised
Himself. But it is not so. The Scriptures speak what is right; but Noetus
is of a different mind from them. Yet, though Noetus does not understand
the truth, the Scriptures are not at once to be repudiated. For who will
not say that there is one God? Yet he will not on that account deny the
economy (i.e., the number and disposition of persons in the Trinity). The
proper way, therefore, to deal with the question is first of all to refute
the interpretation put upon these passages by these men, and then to
explain their real meaning. For it is right, in the first place, to expound
the truth that the Father is one God, "of whom is every family,"(6) "by
whom are all things, of whom are all things, and we in Him."(7)

   4. Let us, as I said, see how he is confuted, and then let us set forth
the truth. Now he quotes the words, "Egypt has laboured, and the
merchandise of Ethiopia and the Sabeans," and so forth on to the words,
"For Thou art the God of Israel, the Saviour." And these words he cites
without understanding what precedes them. For whenever they wish to attempt
anything underhand, they mutilate the Scriptures. But let him quote the
passage as a whole, and he will discover the reason kept in view in writing
it. For we have the beginning of the section a little above; and we ought,
of course, to commence there in showing to whom and about whom the passage
speaks. For above, the beginning of the section stands thus: "Ask me
concerning my sons and my daughters, and concerning the work of my hands
command ye me. I have made the earth, and man upon it: I with my hand have
stablished the heaven; I have commanded all the stars. I have raised him
up, and all his ways are straight. He shall build my city, and he shall
turn back the captivity; not for price nor reward, said the Lord of hosts.
Thus said the Lord of hosts, Egypt hath laboured, and the merchandise of
Ethiopia anti the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and
they shall be slaves to thee: and they shall come after thee bound with
manacles, and they shall fall down unto thee; and they shall make
supplication unto thee, because God is in thee; and there is no God beside
thee. For Thou art God, and we knew not; the God of Israel, the
Saviour,"(8) "In thee, therefore," says he, "God is." But in whom is God
except in Christ Jesus, the Father's Word, and the mystery of the
economy?(1) And again, exhibiting the truth regarding Him, he points to the
fact of His being in the flesh when He says, "I have raised Him up in
righteousness, and all His ways are straight." For what is this? Of whom
does the Father thus testify? It is of the Son that the Father says, "I
have raised Him up in righteousness." And that the Father did raise up His
Son in righteousness, the Apostle Paul bears witness, saying, "But if the
Spirit of Him that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He
that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."(2) Behold, the word spoken by
the prophet is thus made good, "I have raised Him up in righteousness." And
in saying, "God is in thee," he referred to the mystery of the economy,
because when the Word was made incarnate and became man, the Father was in
the Son, and the Son in the Father, while the Son was living among men.
This, therefore, was signified, brethren, that in reality the mystery of
the economy by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin was this Word, constituting
yet one Son to God.(3) And it is not simply that I say this, but He Himself
attests it who came down from heaven; for He speaketh thus: "No man hath
ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of
man which is in heaven."(4) What then can he seek beside what is thus
written? Will he say, forsooth, that flesh was in heaven? Yet there is the
flesh which was presented by the Father's Word as an offering,--the flesh
that came by the Spirit and the Virgin, (and was) demonstrated to be the
perfect Son of God. It is evident, therefore, that He offered Himself to
the Father. And before this there was no flesh in heaven. Who, then, was in
heaven(5) but the Word unincarnate, who was despatched to show that He was
upon earth and was also in heaven? For He was Word, He was Spirit, He was
Power. The same took to Himself the name common and current among men, and
was called from the beginning the Son of man on account of what He was to
be, although He was not yet man, as Daniel testifies when he says, "I saw,
and behold one like the Son of man came on the clouds of heaven."(6)
Rightly, then, did he say that He who was in heaven was called from the
beginning by this name, the Word of God, as being that from the beginning.

   5. But what is meant, says he, in the other passage: "This is God, and
there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of Him?"(7) That said
he rightly. For in comparison of the Father who shall be accounted of? But
he says: "This is our God; there shall none other be accounted of in
comparison of Him. He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath
given it unto Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved." He saith well.
For who is Jacob His servant, Israel His beloved, but He of whom He crieth,
saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye
Him?"(8) Having received, then, all knowledge from the Father, the perfect
Israel, the true Jacob, afterward did show Himself upon earth, and
conversed with men. And who, again, is meant by Israel(9) but a man who
sees God? and there is no one who sees God except the Son alone, the
perfect man who alone declares the will of the Father. For John also says,
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father, He hath declared(10) Him."(11) And again: "He who came
down from heaven testifieth what He hath heard and seen."(12) This, then,
is He to whom the Father hath given all knowledge, who did show Himself
upon earth, and conversed with men.

   6. Let us look next at the apostle's word: "Whose are the fathers, of
whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for
ever."(13) This word declares the mystery of the truth rightly and clearly.
He who is over all is God; for thus He speaks boldly, "All things are
delivered unto me of my Father."(14) He who is over all, God blessed, has
been born; and having been made man, He is (yet) God for ever. For to this
effect John also has said, "Which is, and which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty."(15) And well has he named Christ the Almighty. For in this
he has said only what Christ testifies of Himself. For Christ gave this
testimony, and said, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father;"(16)
and Christ rules all things, and has been appointed(17) Almighty by the
Father. And in like manner Paul also, in setting forth the truth that all
things are delivered unto Him, said, "Christ the first-fruits; afterwards
they that are Christ's at His coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have
put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For He must reign, till He
hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed
is death. For all things are put under Him. But when He saith, All things
are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted which did put all
things under Him. Then shall He also Himself be subject to Him who put all
things under Him, that God may be all in all."(1) If, therefore, all things
are put under Him with the exception of Him who put them under Him, He is
Lord of all, and the Father is Lord of Him, that in all there might be
manifested one God, to whom all things are made subject together with
Christ, to whom the Father hath made all things subject, with the exception
of Himself. And this, indeed, is said by Christ Himself, as when in the
Gospel He confessed Him to be His Father and His God. For He speaks thus:
"I go to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God."(2) If
then, Noetus ventures to say that He is the Father Himself, to what father
will he say Christ goes away according to the word of the Gospel? But if he
will have us abandon the Gospel and give credence to his senselessness, he
expends his labour in vain; for "we ought to obey God rather than men."(3)

   7. If, again, he allege His own word when He said, "I and the Father
are one,"(4) let him attend to the fact, and understand that He did not
say, "I and the Father am one, but are one."(5) For the word are(6) is not
said of one person, but it refers to two persons, and one power.(7) He has
Himself made this clear, when He spake to His Father concerning the
disciples, "The glory which Thou gavest me I have given them; that they may
be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one; that the world may know that Thou hast sent me."(8)
What have the Noetians to say to these things? Are alI one body in respect
of substance, or is it that we become one in the power and disposition of
unity of mind?(9) In the same manner the Son, who was sent and was not
known of those who are in the world, confessed that He was in the Father in
power and disposition. For the Son is the one mind of the Father. We who
have the Father's mind believe so (in Him); but they who have it not have
denied the Son. And if, again, they choose to allege the fact that Philip
inquired about the Father, saying, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us," to whom the Lord made answer in these terms: "Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me?"(10) and if they choose to maintain that their dogma is ratified by
this passage, as if He owned Himself to be the Father, let them know that
it is decidedly against them, and that they are confuted by this very word.
For though Christ had spoken of Himself, and showed Himself among all as
the Son, they had not yet recognised Him to be such, neither had they been
able to apprehend or contemplate His real power. And Philip, not having
been able to receive this, as far as it was possible to see it, requested
to behold the Father. To whom then the Lord said, "Philip, have I been so
long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father." By which He means, If thou hast seen me, thou mayest
know the Father through me. For through the image, which is like (the
original), the Father is made readily known. But if thou hast not known the
image, which is the Son, how dost thou seek to see the Father? And that
this is the case is made clear by the rest of the chapter, which signifies
that the Son who "has been set forth(11) was sent from the Father,(12) and
goeth to the Father."(13)

   8. Many other passages, or rather all of them, attest the truth. A man,
therefore, even though he will it not, is compelled to acknowledge God the
Father Almighty, and Christ Jesus the Son of God, who, being God, became
man, to whom also the Father made all things subject, Himself excepted, and
the Holy Spirit; and that these, therefore, are three. But if he desires to
learn how it is shown still that there is one God, let him know that His
power(14) is one. As far as regards the power, therefore, God is one. But
as far as regards the economy there is a threefold manifestation, as shall
be proved afterwards when we give account of the true doctrine. In these
things, however, which are thus set forth by us, we are at one. For there
is one God in whom we must believe, but unoriginated, impassible, immortal,
doing all things as He wills, in the way He wills, and when He wills. What,
then, will this Noetus, who knows(1) nothing of the truth, dare to say to
these things? And now, as Noetus has been confuted, let us turn to the
exhibition of the truth itself, that we may establish the truth, against
which all these mighty heresies(2) have arisen without being able to state
anything to the purpose.

   9. There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the
Holy Scriptures, and from no other source. For just as a man, if he wishes
to be skilled in the wisdom of this world, will find himself unable to get
at it in any other way than by mastering the dogmas of philosophers, so all
of us who wish to practise piety will be unable to learn its practice from
any other quarter than the oracles of God.(3) Whatever things, then, the
Holy Scriptures declare, at these let us took; and whatsoever things they
teach, these let us learn; and as the Father wills our belief to be, let us
believe; and as He wills the Son to be glorified, let us glorify Him; and
as He wills the Holy Spirit to be bestowed, let us receive Him. Not
according to our own will, nor according to our own mind, nor yet as using
violently those things which are given by God, but even as He has chosen to
teach them by the Holy Scriptures, so let us discern them.

   10. God, subsisting alone, and having nothing contemporaneous with
Himself, determined to create the world. And conceiving the world in mind,
and willing and uttering the word, He made it; and straightway it appeared,
formed as it had pleased Him. For us, then, it is sufficient simply to know
that there was nothing contemporaneous with God. Beside Him there was
nothing; but(4) He, while existing alone, yet existed in plurality.(5) For
He was neither without reason, nor wisdom, nor power, nor counsel(6) And
all things were in Him, and He was the All. When He willed, and as He
willed,(7) He manifested His word in the times determined by Him, and by
Him He made all things. When He wills, He does; and when He thinks, He
executes; and when He speaks, He manifests; when He fashions, He contrives
in wisdom. For all things that are made He forms by reason and wisdom--
creating them in reason, and arranging them in wisdom. He made them, then,
as He pleased, for He was God. And as the  Author, and fellow-Counsellor,
and Framer(8) of  the things that are in formation, He begat(9) the  Word;
and as He bears this Word in Himself,  and that, too, as (yet) invisible to
the world  which is created, He makes Him visible; (and) uttering the voice
first, and begetting Him as Light of Light,(10) He set Him forth to the
world as its Lord, (and) His own mind;(11) and whereas He was visible
formerly to Himself alone, and invisible to the world which is made, He
makes Him visible in order that the world might see Him in His
manifestation, and be capable of being saved.

   11. And thus there appeared another beside Himself. But when I say
another,(12) I do not mean that there are two Gods, but that it is only as
light of light, or as water from a fountain, or as a ray from the sun. For
there is but one power, which is from the All;(13) and the Father is the
All, from whom cometh this Power, the Word. And this is the mind(14) which
came forth into the world, and was manifested as the Son(15) of God. All
things, then, are by Him, and He alone is of the Father. Who then adduces a
multitude of gods brought in, time after time? For all are shut up, however
unwillingly, to admit this fact, that the All runs up into one. If, then,
all things run up into one, even according to Valentinus, and Marcion, and
Cerinthus, and all their fooleries, they are also reduced, however
unwillingly, to this position, that they must acknowledge that the One is
the cause of all things. Thus, then, these too, though they wish it not,
fall in with the truth, and admit that one God made all things according to
His good pleasure. And He gave the law and the prophets; and in giving
them, He made them speak by the Holy Ghost, in order that, being gifted
with the inspiration of the Father's power, they might declare the Father's
counsel and will.

   12. Acting then in these (prophets), the Word spoke of Himself. For
already He became His own herald, and showed that the Word would be
manifested among men. And for this reason He cried thus: "I am made
manifest to them that sought me not; I am found of them that asked not for
me."(1) And who is He that is made manifest but the Word of the Father?--
whom the Father sent, and in whom He showed to men the power proceeding
from Him. Thus, then, was the Word made manifest, even as the blessed John
says. For he sums up the things  that were said by the prophets, and shows
that  this is the Word, by whom all things were made. For he speaks to this
effect: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made."(2) And beneath He says, "The world was made by Him, and the world
knew Him not; He came unto His own, and His own received Him not."(3) If,
then, said he, the world was made by Him, according to the word of the
prophet, "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made,"(4) then this is
the Word that was also made manifest. We accordingly see the Word
incarnate, and we know the Father by Him, and we believe in the Son, (and)
we worship the Holy Spirit. Let us then look at the testimony of Scripture.
with respect to the announcement of the future manifestation of the Word.

   13. Now Jeremiah says, "Who hath stood in the counsel(5) of the Lord,
and hath perceived His Word?"(6) But the Word of God alone is visible,
while the word of man is audible. When he speaks of seeing the Word, I must
believe that this visible (Word) has been sent. And there was none other
(sent) but the Word. And that He was sent Peter testifies, when he says to
the centurion Cornelius: "God sent His Word unto the children of Israel by
the preaching of Jesus Christ. This is the God who is Lord of all."(7) If,
then, the Word is sent by Jesus Christ, the will(8) of the Father is Jesus
Christ.

   14. These things then, brethren, are declared by the Scriptures. And
the blessed John, in the testimony of his Gospel, gives us an account of
this economy (disposition) and acknowledges this Word as God, when he says,
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God." If, then, the Word was with God, and was also God, what follows?
Would one say that he speaks of two Gods?(9) I shall not indeed speak of
two Gods, but of one; of two Persons however, and of a third economy
(disposition), viz., the grace of the Holy Ghost. For the Father indeed is
One, but there are two Persons, because there is also the Son; and then
there is the third, the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the Word executes,
and the Son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The
economy(10) of harmony is led back to one God; for God is One. It is the
Father who commands,(11) and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who
gives understanding:(12) the Father who is above all,(13) and the Son who
is through all, and the Holy Spirit who is in all. And we cannot otherwise
think of one God,(14) but by believing in truth in Father and Son and Holy
Spirit. For the Jews glorified (or gloried in) the Father, but gave Him not
thanks, for they did not recognise the Son. The disciples recognised the
Son, but not in the Holy Ghost; wherefore they also denied Him.(15) The
Father's Word, therefore, knowing the economy (disposition) and the will of
the Father, to wit, that the Father seeks to be worshipped in none other
way than this, gave this charge to the disciples after He rose from the
dead: "Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."(16) And by this He showed,
that whosoever omitted any one of these, failed in glorifying God
perfectly. For it is through this Trinity(17) that the Father is glorified.
For the Father willed, the Son did, the Spirit manifested. The whole
Scriptures, then, proclaim this truth.

   15. But some one will say to me, You adduce a thing strange to me, when
you call the Son the Word. For John indeed speaks of the Word, but it is by
a figure of speech. Nay, it is by no figure of speech.(1) For while thus
presenting this Word that was from the beginning, and has now been sent
forth, he said below in the Apocalypse, "And I saw heaven opened, and
behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him (was) Faithful and True; and
in righteousness He doth judge and make war. And His eyes (were) as flame
of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written that
no man knew but He Himself. And He (was) clothed in a vesture dipped in
blood: and His name is called the Word of God."(2) See then, brethren, how
the vesture sprinkled with blood denoted in symbol the flesh, through which
the impassible Word of God came under suffering, as also the prophets
testify to me. For thus speaks the blessed Micah: "The house of Jacob
provoked the Spirit of the Lord to anger. These are their pursuits. Are not
His words good with them, and do they walk rightly? And they have risen up
in enmity against His countenance of peace, and they have stripped off His
glory."(3) That means His suffering in the flesh. And in like manner also
the blessed Paul says, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak,
God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be shown in us, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."(4) What Son of His own, then,
did God send through the flesh but the Word,(5) whom He addressed as Son
because He was to become such (or be begotten) in the future? And He takes
the common name for tender affection among men in being called the Son. For
neither was the Word, prior to incarnation and when by Himself,(6) yet
perfect Son, although He was perfect Word, only-begotten. Nor could the
flesh subsist by itself apart from the Word, because it has its
subsistence(7) in the Word.(8) Thus, then, one perfect Son of God  was
manifested.

   16. And these indeed are testimonies bearing on the incarnation of the
Word; and there are also very many others. But let us also look at the
subject in hand,--namely, the question, brethren, that in reality the
Father's power, which is the Word, came down from heaven, and not the
Father Himself. For thus He speaks: "I came forth from the Father, and  am
come."(9) Now what subject is meant in this sentence, "I came forth from
the Father,"(10) but just the Word? And what is it that is begotten of Him,
but just the Spirit,(11) that is to say, the Word? But you will say to me,
How is He begotten? In your own case you can give no explanation of the way
in which you were begotten, although you see every day the cause according
to man; neither can you tell with accuracy the economy in His case.(12) For
you have it not in your power to acquaint yourself with the practised and
indescribable art(13) (method) of the Maker, but only to see, and
understand, and believe that man is God's work. Moreover, you are asking an
account of the generation of the Word, whom God the Father in His good
pleasure begat as He willed. Is it not enough for you to learn that God
made the world, but do you also venture to ask whence He made it? Is it not
enough for you to learn that the Son of God has been manifested to you for
salvation if you believe, but do you also inquire curiously how He was
begotten after the Spirit? No more than two,(14) in sooth, have been put in
trust to give the account of His generation after the flesh; and are you
then so bold as to seek the account (of His generation) after the Spirit,
which the Father keeps with Himself, intending to reveal it then to the
holy ones and those worthy of seeing His face? Rest satisfied with the word
spoken by Christ, viz., "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit,"(15)
just as, speaking by the prophet of the generation of the Word, He shows
the fact that He is begotten, but reserves the question of the manner and
means, to reveal it only in the time determined by Himself. For He speaks
thus: "From the womb, before the morning star, I have begotten Thee."(16)

   17. These testimonies are sufficient for the believing who study truth,
and the unbelieving credit no testimony.(1) For the Holy Spirit, indeed, in
the person of the apostles, has testified to this, saying, "And who has
believed our report?"(2) Therefore let us not prove ourselves unbelieving,
lest the word spoken be fulfilled in us. Let us believe then, dear(3)
brethren, according to the tradition of the apostles, that God the Word
came down from heaven, (and entered) into the holy Virgin Mary, in order
that, taking the flesh from her, and assuming also a human, by which I mean
a rational soul, and becoming thus all that man is with the exception of
sin, He might save fallen man, and confer immortality on men who believe on
His name. In all, therefore, the word of truth is demonstrated to us, to
wit, that the Father is One, whose word is present (with Him), by whom He
made all things; whom also, as we have said above, the Father sent forth in
later times for the salvation of men. This (Word) was preached by the law
and the prophets as destined to come into the world. And even as He was
preached then, in the same manner also did He come and manifest Himself,
being by the Virgin and the Holy Spirit made a new man; for in that He had
the heavenly (nature) of the Father, as the Word and the earthly (nature),
as taking to Himself the flesh from the old Adam by the medium of the
Virgin, He now, coming forth into the world, was manifested as God in a
body, coming forth too as a perfect man. For it was not in mere appearance
or by conversion,(4) but in truth, that He became man.

   18.(5) Thus then, too, though demonstrated as God, He does not refuse
the conditions proper to Him as man,(6) since He hungers and toils and
thirsts in weariness, and flees in fear, and prays in trouble. And He who
as God has a sleepless nature, slumbers on a pillow. And He who for this
end came into the world, begs off from the cup of suffering. And in an
agony He sweats blood, and is strengthened by an angel, who Himself
strengthens those who believe on Him,  and taught men to despise death by
His work.(7) And He who knew what manner of man Judas was, is betrayed by
Judas. And He, who formerly was honoured by him as God, is contemned by
Caiaphas.(8) And He is set at nought  by Herod, who is Himself to judge the
whole earth. And He is scourged by Pilate, who took upon Himself our
infirmities. And by the soldiers He is mocked, at whose behest stand
thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads of angels and archangels. And
He who fixed the heavens like a vault is fastened to the cross by the Jews.
And He who is inseparable from the Father cries to the Father, and commends
to Him His spirit; and bowing His head, He gives up the ghost, who said, "I
have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again;"(9) and
because He was not overmastered by death, as being Himself Life, He said
this: "I lay it down of myself."(9) And He who gives life bountifully to
all, has His side pierced with a spear. And He who raises the dead is
wrapped in linen and laid in a sepulchre, and on the third day He is raised
again by the Father, though Himself the Resurrection and the Life. For all
these things has He finished for us, who for our sakes was made as we are.
For "Himself hath borne our infirmities, and carried our diseases; and for
our sakes He was afflicted,"(10) as Isaiah the prophet has said. This is He
who was hymned by the angels, and seen by the shepherds, and waited for by
Simeon, and witnessed to by Anna. This is He who was inquired after by the
wise men, and indicated by the star; He who was engaged in His Father's
house, and pointed to by John, and witnessed to by the Father from above in
the voice, "This is my beloved Son; hear ye Him."(11) He is crowned victor
against the devil.(12) This is Jesus of Nazareth, who was invited to the
marriage-feast in Cana, and turned the water into wine, and rebuked the sea
when agitated by the violence of the winds, and walked on the deep as on
dry land, and caused the blind man from birth to see, and raised Lazarus to
life after he had been dead four days, and did many mighty works, and
forgave sins, and conferred power on the disciples, and had blood and water
flowing from His sacred side when pierced with the spear. For His sake the
sun is darkened, the day has no light, the rocks are shattered, the veil is
rent, the foundations of the earth are shaken, the graves are opened, and
the dead are raised, and the rulers are ashamed when they see the Director
of the universe upon the cross closing His eye and giving up the ghost.
Creation saw, and was troubled; and, unable to bear the sight of His
exceeding glory, shrouded itself in darkness.(1) This (is He who) breathes
upon the disciples, and gives them the Spirit, and comes in among them when
the doors are shut, and is taken up by a cloud into the heavens while the
disciples gaze at Him, and is set down on the right hand of the Father, and
comes again as the Judge of the living and the dead. This is the God who
for our sakes became man, to whom also the Father hath put all things in
subjection. To Him be the glory and the power, with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, in the holy Church both now and ever, and even for evermore. Amen.


AGAINST BERON AND HELIX.

FRAGMENTS OF A DISCOURSE, ALPHABETICALLY DIVIDED,(1) ON THE DIVINE
NATURE(2) AND THE INCARNATION, AGAINST THE HERETICS BERON AND HELIX,(3) THE
BEGINNING OF WHICH WAS IN THESE WORDS, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD OF
SABAOTH, WITH VOICE NEVER SILENT THE SERAPHIM EXCLAIM AND GLORIFY GOD."

FRAGMENT I.

   By the omnipotent will of God all things are made, and the things that
are made are also preserved, being maintained according to their several
principles in perfect harmony by Him who is in His nature the omnipotent
God and maker of all things,(4) His divine will remaining unalterable by
which He has made and moves all things, sustained as they severally are by
their own natural laws.(5) For the infinite cannot in any manner or by any
account be susceptible of movement, inasmuch as it has nothing towards
which and nothing around which it shall be moved. For in the case of that
which is in its nature infinite, and so incapable of being moved, movement
would be conversion.(6) Wherefore also the Word of God being made truly man
in our manner, yet without sin, and acting and enduring in man's way such
sinless things as are proper to our nature, and assuming the
circumscription of the flesh of our nature on our behalf sustained no
conversion in that aspect in which He is one with the Father, being made in
no respect one with the flesh through the exinani-tion.(7) Burns He was
without flesh,(8) He remained without any circumscription. And through the
flesh He wrought divinely(9) those things which are proper to divinity,
showing Himself to have both those natures in both of which He wrought, I
mean the divine and the human, according to i that veritable and real and
natural subsistence,(10) (showing Himself thus) as both being in reality
and as being understood to be at one and the same time infinite God and
finite man, having the nature(11) of each in perfection, with the same
activity,(12) that is to say, the same natural properties;(13) whence we
know that their distinction abides always according to the nature of each,
and without conversion. But it is not (i.e., the distinction between deity
and humanity), as some say, a merely comparative (or relative) matter,(14)
that we may not speak in an unwarrantable manner of a greater and a less in
one who is ever the same in Himself.(15) For comparisons can be instituted
only between objects of like nature, and not between objects of unlike
nature. But between God the Maker of all things and that which is made,
between the infinite and the finite, between infinitude and finitude, there
can be no kind of comparison, since these differ from each other not in
mere comparison (or relatively), but absolutely in essence. And yet at the
same time there has been effected a certain inexpressible and irrefragable
union of the two into one substance,(16) which entirely passes the
understanding of anything that is made. For the divine is just the same
after the incarnation that it was before the incarnation; in its essence
infinite, illimitable, impassible, incomparable, unchangeable,
inconvertable, self-potent,(1) and, in short, subsisting in essence alone
the infinitely worthy good.

FRAGMENT II.

   The God of all things therefore became truly, according to the
Scriptures, without conversion, sinless man, and that in a manner known to
Himself alone, as He is the natural Artificer of things which are above our
comprehension. And by that same saving act of the incarnation(2) He
introduced into the flesh the activity of His proper divinity, yet without
having it (that activity) either circumscribed by the flesh through the
exinanition, or growing naturally out of the flesh as it grew out of His
divinity,(3) but manifested through it in the things which He wrought in a
divine manner in His incarnate state. For the flesh did not become divinity
in nature by a transmutation of nature, as though it became essentially
flesh of divinity. But what it was before, that also it continued to be in
nature and activity when united with divinity, even as the Saviour said,
"The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."(4) And working and
enduring in the flesh things which were proper to sinless flesh, He proved
the evacuation of divinity (to be) for our sakes, confirmed as it was by
wonders and by sufferings of the flesh naturally. For with this purpose did
the God of all things become man, viz., in order that by suffering in the
flesh, which is susceptible of suffering, He might redeem our whole race,
which was sold to death; and that by working wondrous things by His
divinity, which is unsusceptible of suffering, through the medium of the
flesh He might restore it to that incorruptible and blessed life from which
it fell away by yielding to the devil; and that He might establish the holy
orders of intelligent existences in the heavens in immutability by the
mystery of His incarnation,(5) the doing of which is the recapitulation of
all things in himself.(6) He remained therefore, also, after His
incarnation, according to nature, God infinite, and more,(7) having the
activity proper and suitable to Himself,--an activity growing out of His
divinity essentially, and manifested through His perfectly holy flesh by
wondrous acts economically, to the intent that He might be believed in as
God, while working out of Himself(8) by the flesh, which by nature is weak,
the salvation of the universe.

FRAGMENT III.

   Now, with the view of explaining, by means of an illustration, what has
been said concerning the Saviour, (I may say that) the power of thought(9)
which I have by nature is proper and suitable to me, as being possessed of
a rational and intelligent soul; and to this soul there pertains, according
to nature, a self-moved energy and first power, ever-moving, to wit, the
thought that streams from it naturally. This thought I utter, when there is
occasion, by fitting it to words, and expressing it rightly in signs, using
the tongue as an organ, or artificial characters, showing that it is heard,
though it comes into actuality by means of objects foreign to itself, and
yet is not changed itself by those foreign objects.(10) For my natural
thought does not belong to the tongue or the letters, although I effect its
utterance by means of these; but it belongs to me, who speak according to
my  nature, and by means of both these express it  as my own, streaming as
it does always from my intelligent soul according to its nature, and
uttered by means of my bodily tongue organically, as I have said, when
there is occasion. Now, to institute a comparison with that which is
utterly beyond comparison, just as in us the power of thought that belongs
by nature to the soul is brought to utterance by means of our bodily tongue
without any change in itself, so, too, in the wondrous incarnation(11) of
God is the omnipotent and all-creating energy of the entire deity(12)
manifested without mutation in itself, by means of His perfectly holy
flesh, and in the works which He wrought after a divine manner, (that
energy of the deity) remaining in its essence free from all
circumscription, although it shone through the flesh, which is itself
essentially limited. For that which is in its nature unoriginated cannot be
circumscribed by an originated nature, although this latter may have grown
into one with it(13) by a conception which circumscribes all
understanding:(14) nor can this be ever brought into the same nature and
natural activity with that, so long as they remain each within its own
proper and inconvertible nature.(15) For it is only in objects of the same
nature that there is the motion that works the same works, showing that the
being(1) whose power is natural is incapable in any manner of being or
becoming the possession of a being of a different nature without
mutation.(2)

FRAGMENT IV.

   For, in the view of apostles and prophets and teachers, the mystery of
the divine incarnation has been distinguished as having two points of
contemplation natural to it,(3) distinct in all things,  inasmuch as on the
one hand it is the subsistence  of perfect deity, and on the other is
demonstrative of full humanity. As long, therefore,(4) as the  Word is
acknowledged to be in substance one,  of one energy, there shall never in
any way be known a movement s in the two. For while God, who is essentially
ever-existent, became by His infinite power, according to His will, sinless
man, He is what He was, in all wherein God is known; and what He became, He
is in all wherein man is known and can be recognised. In both aspects of
Himself He never falls out of Himself,(6) in His divine activities and in
His human alike, preserving in both relations His own essentially
unchangeable perfection.

FRAGMENT V.

   For lately a certain person, Beron, along with some others, forsook the
delusion of Valentinus, only to involve themselves in deeper error,
affirming that the flesh assumed to Himself by the Word became capable of
working like works with the deity(7) by virtue of its assumption, and that
the deity became susceptible of suffering in the same way with the flesh(8)
by virtue of the exinanition;(9) and thus they assert the doctrine that
there was at the same time a conversion and a mixing and a fusing(10) of
the two aspects one with the other. For if the flesh that was assumed
became capable of working like works with the deity, it is evident that it
also became God in essence in all wherein God is essentially known. And if
the deity by the exinanition became susceptible of the same sufferings with
the flesh, it is evident that it also became in essence flesh in all
wherein flesh essentially can be known. For objects that act in like
manner,(11) and work like works, and are altogether of like kind, and are
susceptible of like suffering with each other, admit of no difference of
nature; and if the natures are fused together,(12) Christ will be a
duality;(13) and if the persons(14) are separated, there will be a
quaternity,(15)--a thing which is altogether to be avoided. And how will
they conceive of the one and the same Christ, who is at once God and man by
nature? And what manner of existence will He have according to them, if He
has become man by a conversion of the deity, and if he has become God by a
change of the flesh? For the mutation(16) of these, the one into the other,
is a complete subversion of both. Let the discussion, then, be considered
by us again in a different way.

FRAGMENT VI.

   Among Christians it is settled as the doctrine of piety, that,
according to nature itself, and to the activity and to whatever else
pertains thereunto, God is equal and the same with Himself,(17) having
nothing that is His unequal to Himself at all and heterogeneous.(18) If,
then, according to Beron, the flesh that He assumed to Himself became
possessed of the like natural energy with them, it is evident that it also
became possessed of the like nature with Him in all wherein that nature
consists,--to wit, non-origination, non-generation, infinitude, eternity,
incomprehensibility, and whatever else in the way of the transcendent the
theological mind discerns in deity; and thus they both underwent
conversion, neither the one nor the other preserving any more the
substantial relation of its own proper nature.(19) For he who recognises an
identical operation(20) in things of unlike nature, introduces at the same
time a fusion of natures and a separation of persons,(21) their natural
existence(22) being made entirely undistinguishable by the transference of
properties.(23)

FRAGMENT VII.

   But if it (the flesh) did not become of like nature with that (the
deity), neither shall it ever become of like natural energy with that; that
He may not be shown to have His energy unequal with His nature, and
heterogeneous, and, through all that pertains to Himself, to have entered
on an existence outside of His natural equality and identity,(1) which is
an impious supposition.

FRAGMENT VIII.

   Into this error, then, have they been carried, by believing, unhappily,
that that divine energy was made the property of the flesh which was only
manifested through the flesh in His miraculous actions; by which energy
Christ, in so far as He is apprehended as God, gave existence to the
universe, and now maintains and governs it. For they did not perceive that
it is impossible for the energy of the divine nature to become the
property(2) of a being of a different nature(3) apart from conversion; nor
did they understand that that is not by any means the property of the flesh
which is only manifested through it, and does not spring out of it
according to nature; and yet the proof thereof was clear and evident to
them. For I, by speaking with the tongue and writing with the hand, reveal
through both these one and the same thought of my intelligent soul, its
energy (or operation) being natural; in no way showing it as springing
naturally out of tongue or hand; nor yet (showing) even the spoken thought
as made to belong to them in virtue of its revelation by their means. For
no intelligent person ever recognised tongue or hand as capable of thought,
just as also no one ever recognised the perfectly holy flesh of God, in
virtue of its assumption, and in virtue of the revelation of the divine
energy through its medium, as becoming in nature creative.(4) But the pious
confession of the believer is that, with a view to our salvation, and in
order to connect the universe with unchangeableness, the Creator of all
things incorporated with Himself(5) a rational soul and a sensible(6) body
from the all-holy Mary, ever-virgin, by an undefiled conception, without
conversion, and was made man in nature, but separate from wickedness: the
same was perfect God, and the same was perfect man; the same was in nature
at once perfect God and man. In His deity He wrought divine things through
His all-holy flesh,--such things, namely, as did not pertain to the flesh
by nature; and in His humanity He suffered human things,--such things,
namely, as did not pertain to deity by nature, by the upbearing of the
deity.(7) He  wrought nothing divine without the body;(8) nor did the same
do anything human without the participation of deity.(9) Thus He preserved
for Himself a new and fitting method(10) by which He wrought (according to
the manner of) both, while that which was natural to both remained
unchanged;(11) to the accrediting(12) of His perfect incarnation,(13) which
is really genuine, and has nothing lacking in it.(14) Beron, therefore,
since the case stands with him as I have already stated, confounding
together in nature the deity and the humanity of Christ in a single
energy,(15) and again separating them in person, subverts the life, not
knowing that identical operation(16) is indicative of the connatural
identity only of connatural persons.(17)


THE DISCOURSE ON THE HOLY THEOPHANY.

   1. Good, yea, very good, are all the works of our God and Saviour--all
of them that eye seeth and mind perceiveth, all that reason interprets and
hand handles, all that intellect comprehends and human nature understands.
For what richer beauty can there be than that of the circle(1) of heaven?
And what form of more blooming fairness than that of earth's surface? And
what is there swifter in the course than the chariot of the sun? And what
more graceful car than the lunar orb?(2) And what work more wonderful than
the compact mosaic of the stars?(3) And what more productive of supplies
than the seasonable winds? And what more spotless mirror than the light of
day? And what creature more excellent than man? Very good, then, are all
the works of our God and Saviour. And what more requisite gift, again, is
there than the element(4) of water? For with water all things are washed
and nourished, and cleansed and bedewed. Water bears the earth, water
produces the dew, water exhilarates the vine; water matures the corn in the
ear, water ripens the grapecluster, water softens the olive, water sweetens
the palm-date, water reddens the rose and decks the violet, water makes the
lily bloom with its brilliant cups. And why should I speak at length?
Without the element of water, none of the present order of things can
subsist. So necessary is the element of water; for the other elements(1)
took their places beneath the highest vault of the heavens, but the nature
of water obtained a seat also above the heavens. And to this the prophet
himself is a witness, when he exclaims, "Praise the Lord, ye heavens of
heavens, and the water that is above the heavens."(2)

   2. Nor is this the only thing that proves the dignity(3) of the water.
But there is also that which is more honourable than all--the fact that
Christ, the Maker of all, came down as the rain,(4) and was known as a
spring,(5) and diffused Himself as a river,(6) and was baptized in the
Jordan.(7) For you have just heard how Jesus came to John, and was baptized
by him in the Jordan. Oh things strange beyond compare! How should the
boundless Rivers that makes glad the city of God have been dipped in a
little water! The illimitable Spring that bears life to all men, and has no
end, was covered by poor and temporary waters! He who is present
everywhere, and absent nowhere--who is incomprehensible to angels and
invisible to men--comes to the baptism according to His own good pleasure.
When you hear these things, beloved, take them not as if spoken literally,
but accept them as presented in a figure.(9) Whence also the Lord was not
unnoticed by the watery element in what He did in secret, in the kindness
of His condescension to man. "For the waters saw Him, and were afraid."(10)
They wellnigh broke from their place, and burst away from their boundary.
Hence the prophet, having this in his view many generations ago, puts the
question, "What aileth thee, O sea, that thou reddest; and thou, Jordan,
that thou wast driven back?"(11) And they in reply said, We have seen the
Creator of all things in the "form of a servant,"(12) and being ignorant of
the mystery of the economy, we were lashed with fear.

   3. But we, who know the economy, adore His mercy, because He hath come
to save and not to judge the world. Wherefore John, the forerunner of the
Lord, who before knew not this mystery, on learning that He is Lord in
truth, cried out, and spake to those who came to be baptized of him, "O
generation of vipers,"(13) why look ye so earnestly at me? "I am not the
Christ;"(14) I am the servant, and not the lord; I am the subject, and not
the king; I am the sheep, and not the shepherd; I am a man, and not God. By
my birth I loosed the barrenness of my mother; I did not make virginity
barren.(15) I was brought up from beneath; I did not come down from above.
I bound the tongue of my father;(16) I did not unfold divine grace. I was
known by my mother, and I was not announced by a star.(17) I am worthless,
and the least; but "after me there comes One who is before me"(18)--after
me, indeed, in time, but before me by reason of the inaccessible and
unutterable light of divinity. "There comes One mightier than I, whose
shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost,
and with fire."(19) I am subject to authority, but He has authority in
Himself. I am bound by sins, but He is the Remover of sins. apply(20) the
law, but He bringeth grace to light. teach as a slave, but He judgeth as
the Master. I have the earth as my couch, but He possesses heaven. I
baptize with the baptism of repentance, but He confers the gift of
adoption: "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." Why
give ye attention to me? I am not the Christ.

   4. As John says these things to the multitude, and as the people watch
in eager expectation of seeing some strange spectacle with their bodily
eyes, and the devil(21) is struck with amazement at such a testimony from
John, lo, the Lord appears, plain, solitary, uncovered,(22) without
escort,(23) having on Him the body of man like a garment, and hiding the
dignity of the Divinity, that He may elude the snares of the dragon. And
not only did He approach John as Lord without royal retinue; but even like
a mere man, and one involved in sin, He bent His head to be baptized by
John. Wherefore John, on seeing so great a humbling of Himself, was struck
with astonishment at the affair, and began to prevent Him, saying, as ye
have just heard, "I have  need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to
me?"(1) What doest Thou, O Lord? Thou teachest things not according to
rule.(2) I have preached one thing (regarding Thee), and Thou performest
another; the devil has heard one thing, and perceives another. Baptize me
with the fire of Divinity; why waitest Thou for water? Enlighten me with
the Spirit; why dost Thou attend upon a creature? Baptize me, the Baptist,
that Thy pre-eminence may be known. I, O Lord, baptize with the baptism of
repentance, and I cannot baptize those who come to me unless they first
confess fully their sins. Be it so then that I baptize Thee, what hast Thou
to confess? Thou art the Remover of sins, and wilt Thou be baptized with
the baptism of repentance? Though I should venture to baptize Thee, the
Jordan dares not to come near Thee. "I have need to be baptized of Thee,
and comest Thou to me?"

   5. And what saith the Lord to him? "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."(3) "Suffer it to be so now,"
John; thou art not wiser than I. Thou seest as man; I foreknow as God. It
becomes me to do this first, and thus to teach. I engage in nothing
unbecoming, for I am invested with honour. Dost thou marvel, O John, that I
am not come in my dignity? The purple robe of kings suits not one in
private station, but military splendour suits a king: am I come to a
prince, and not to a friend? "Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh
us to fulfil all righteousness:" I am the Fulfiller of the law; I seek to
leave nothing wanting to its whole fulfilment, that so after me Paul may
exclaim, "Christ is the fulfilling of the law for righteousness to every
one that believeth."(4) "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to
fulfil all righteousness." Baptize me, John, in order that no one may
despise baptism. I am baptized by thee, the servant, that no one among
kings or dignitaries may scorn to be baptized by the hand of a poor priest.
Suffer me to go down into the Jordan, in order that they may hear my
Father's testimony, and recognise the power of the Son. "Suffer it to be so
now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Then at length
John suffers Him. "And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out
of the water: and the heavens were opened unto Him; and, lo, the Spirit of
God descended like a dove, and rested upon Him. And a voice (came) from
heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom  I am well pleased."(5)

   6. Do you see, beloved, how many and how great blessings we would have
lost, if the Lord had yielded to the exhortation of John, and declined
baptism? For the heavens were shut before this; the region above was
inaccessible. We would in that case descend to the lower parts, but we
would not ascend to the upper. But was it only that the Lord was baptized?
He also renewed the old man, and committed to him again the sceptre of
adoption. For straightway "the heavens were opened to Him." A
reconciliation took place of the visible with the invisible; the celestial
orders were filled with joy; the diseases of earth were healed; secret
things were made known; those at enmity were restored to amity. For you
have heard the word of the evangelist, saying, "The heavens were opened to
Him," on account of three wonders. For when Christ the Bridegroom was
baptized, it was meet that the bridal-chamber of heaven should open its
brilliant gates. And in like manner also, when the Holy Spirit descended in
the form of a dove, and the Father's voice spread everywhere, it was meet
that "the gates of heaven should be lifted up."(6) "And, lo, the heavens
were opened to Him; and a voice was heard, saying, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased."

   7. The beloved generates love, and the light immaterial the light
inaccessible? "This is my beloved Son," He who, being manifested on earth
and yet unseparated from the Father's bosom, was manifested, and yet did
not appear.(8) For the appearing is a different thing, since in appearance
the baptizer here is superior to the baptized. For this reason did the
Father send down the Holy Spirit from heaven upon Him who was baptized. For
as in the ark of Noah the love of God toward man is signified by the dove,
so also now the Spirit, descending in the form of a dove, bearing as it
were the fruit of the olive, rested on Him to whom the witness was borne.
For what reason? That the faithfulness of the Father's voice might be made
known, and that the prophetic utterance of a long time past might be
ratified. And what utterance is this? "The voice of the Lord (is) on the
waters, the God of glory thundered; the Lord (is) upon many waters."(9) And
what voice? "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This is He
who is named the son of Joseph, and (who is) according to the divine
essence my Only-begotten. "This is my beloved Son"--He who is hungry, and
yet maintains myriads; who is weary, and yet gives rest to the weary; who
has not where to lay His head,(1) and yet bears up all things in His hand;
who suffers, and yet heals sufferings; who is smitten,(2) and yet confers
liberty on the world;(3) who is pierced in the side,(4) and yet repairs the
side of Adam.(5)

   8. But give me now your best attention, I pray you, for I wish to go
back to the fountain of life, and to view the fountain that gushes with
healing. The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the
world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and the Spirit; and
He, begetting us again to incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us
the breath (spirit) of life, and endued us with an incorruptible panoply.
If, therefore, man has become immortal, he will also be God.(6) And if he
is made God by water and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the
layer(7) he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ(8) after the
resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye
kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism. I bring good
tidings of life to you who tarry in the darkness of ignorance. Come into
liberty from slavery, into a kingdom from tyranny, into incorruption from
corruption. And how, saith one, shall we come? How? By water and the Holy
Ghost. This is the water in conjunction with the Spirit, by which paradise
is watered, by which the earth is enriched, by which plants grow, by which
animals multiply, and (to sum up the whole in a single word) by which man
is begotten again and endued with life, in which also Christ was baptized,
and in which the Spirit descended in the form of a dove.

   9. This is the Spirit that at the beginning "moved upon the thee of the
waters;"(9) by whom the world moves; by whom creation consists, and all
things have life; who also wrought mightily in the prophets,(10) and
descended in flight upon Christ.(11) This is the Spirit that was given to
the apostles in the form of fiery tongues.(12) This is the Spirit that
David sought when he said, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a
right spirit within me."(13) Of this Spirit Gabriel also spoke to the
Virgin, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee."(14) By this Spirit Peter spake that blessed word,
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."(15) By this Spirit the
rock of the Church was stablished.(16) This is the Spirit, the Comforter,
that is sent because of thee,(17) that He may show thee to be the Son(18)
of God.

   10. Come then, be begotten again, O man, into the adoption of God. And
how? says one. If thou practisest adultery no more, and committest not
murder, and servest not idols; if thou art not overmastered by pleasure; if
thou dost not suffer the feeling of pride to rule thee; if thou cleanest
off the filthiness of impurity, and puttest off the burden of sin; if thou
castest off the armour of the devil, and puttest on the breastplate of
faith, even as Isaiah saith, "Wash you, and seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow. And come and let
us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, I shall
make them white as snow; and though they be like crimson, I shall make them
white as wool. And if ye be willing, and hear my voice, ye shall eat the
good of the land."(19) Do you see, beloved, how the prophet spake
beforetime of the purifying power of baptism? For he who comes down in
faith to the layer of regeneration, and renounces the devil, and joins
himself to Christ; who denies the enemy, and makes the confession that
Christ is God; who puts off the bondage, and puts on the adoption,--he
comes up from the baptism brilliant as the sun,(20) flashing forth the
beams of righteousness, and, which is indeed the chief thing, he returns a
son of God and joint-heir with Christ. To Him be the glory and the power,
together with His most holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever,
and to all the ages of the ages. Amen.


FRAGMENTS OF DISCOURSES OR HOMILIES.

I.(1) From the Discourse of Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome, on the Resurrection
and Incorruption.

   Men, he says, "in the resurrection will be like the angels of God,"(2)
to wit, in incorruption, and immortality, and incapacity of loss.(3) For
the incorruptible nature is not the subject of generation;(4) it grows not,
sleeps not, hungers not, thirsts not, is not wearied, suffers not, dies
not, is not pierced by nails and spear, sweats not, drops not with blood.
Of such kind are the natures of the angels and of souls released from the
body. For both these are of another kind, and different from these
creatures of our world, which are visible and perishing.

II.(5) From the Discourse of St. Hippolytus, Bishop and Martyr, on the
Divine Nature.(6)

   God is capable of willing, but not of not willing(7) for that pertains
only to one that changes and makes choice;(8) for things that are being
made follow the eternal will of God, by which also things that are made
abide sustained.

III.(9) St. Hippolytus, Bishop and Martyr, in his Homily on the Paschal
Supper.

   He was altogether(10) in all, and everywhere; and though He filleth the
universe up to all the principalities of the air, He stripped Himself
again. And for a brief space He cries that the cup might pass from Him,
with a view to show truly that He was also man.(11) But remembering, too,
the purpose for which He was sent, He fulfils the dispensation (economy)
for which He was sent, and exclaims, "Father, not my will,"(12) and, "The
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."(13)

IV.(14)

   1. Take me, O Samuel, the heifer brought to Bethlehem, in order to show
the king begotten of David, and him who is anointed to be king and priest
by the Father.

   2. Tell me, O blessed Mary, what that was that was conceived by thee in
the womb, and what that was that was born by thee in thy virgin matrix. For
it was the first-born Word of God that descended to thee from heaven, and
was formed as a first-born man in the womb, in order that the first-born
Word of God might be shown to be united with a first-born man.

   3. And in the second (form),--to wit, by the prophets, as by Samuel,
calling back and delivering the people from the slavery of the aliens. And
in the third (form), that in which He was incarnate, taking to Himself
humanity from the Virgin, in which character also He saw the city, and wept
over it.

V.(15)

   And for this reason three seasons of the year prefigured the Saviour
Himself, so that He should fulfil the mysteries prophesied of Him. In the
Passover season, so as to exhibit Himself as one destined to be sacrificed
like a sheep, and to prove Himself the true Paschal-lamb, even as the
apostle says, "Even Christ," who is God, "our passover was sacrificed for
us."(16) And at Pentecost so as to prosignify the kingdom of heaven as He
Himself first ascended to heaven and brought man as a gift to God.(17)

VI.(18)

   And an ark of imperishable wood was the Saviour Himself. For by this
was signified the imperishable and incorruptible tabernacle (of His body),
which engendered no corruption of sin. For the man who has sinned also has
this confession to make: "My wounds stank, and were corrupt, because of my
foolishness."(19) But the Lord was without sin, being of imperishable wood
in respect of His humanity,--that is to say, being of the Virgin and the
Holy Spirit, covered, as it were, within and without with the purest gold
of the Word of God.

VII.(1)

   1. He who rescued from the lowest hell the first-formed man of earth
when he was lost and bound with the chains of death; He who came down from
above, and raised the earthy on high;(2) He who became the evangelist of
the dead, and the redeemer of the souls, and the resurrection of the
buried,--He was constituted the helper of vanquished man, being made like
him Himself, (so that) the first-born Word acquainted Himself with the
first-formed Adam in the Virgin; He who is spiritual sought out the earthy
in the womb; He who is the ever-living One sought out him who, through
disobedience, is subject to death; He who is heavenly called the terrene to
the things that are above; He who is the nobly-born sought, by means of His
own subjection, to declare the slave free; He transformed the man into
adamant who was dissolved into dust and made the food of the serpent, and
declared Him who hung on the tree to be Lord over the conqueror, and thus
through the tree He is found victor.

   2. For they who know not now the Son of God incarnate, shall know in
Him who comes as Judge in glory, Him who is now despised in the body of His
humiliation.

   3. And the apostles, when they came to the sepulchre on the third day,
did not find the body of Jesus; just as the children of Israel went up the
mount and sought for the tomb of Moses, but did not find it.

VIII.(3)

   Under the figure of Egypt he described the world; and under things made
with hands, idolatry; and under the earthquake, the subversion, and
dissolution of the earth itself. And he represented the Lord the Word as a
light cloud, the purest tabernacle. enthroned on which our Lord Jesus
Christ entered into this life in order to subvert error.

IX.(4)

   Now Hippolytus, the martyr and bishop of [the Province of] Rome, in his
second discourse on Daniel, speaks thus:--

   Then indeed Azarias, standing along with the others, made their
acknowledgments to God with song and prayer in the midst of the furnace.
Beginning thus with His holy and glorious and honourable name, they came to
the works of the Lord themselves, and named first of all those of heaven,
and glorified Him, saying, "Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord." Then
they passed to the sons of men, and taking up their  hymn in order, they
then named the spirits [that people Tartarus(5) beneath the earth,] and the
souls of the righteous, m order that they might praise God together with
them.

X(6)

   Now a person might say that these men, and those who hold a different
opinion, are yet near neighbours, being involved in like error. For those
men, indeed, either profess that Christ came into our life a mere man, and
deny the talent of His divinity, or else, acknowledging Him to be God, they
deny, on the other hand, His humanity, and teach that His appearances to
those who saw Him as man were illusory, inasmuch as He did not bear with
Him true manhood, but was rather a kind of phantom manifestation. Of this
class are, for example, Marcion and Valentinus, and the Gnostics, who
sunder the Word from the flesh, and thus set aside the one talent, viz.,
the incarnation.

XI(7)

   1. The body of the Lord presented both these to the world, the sacred
blood and the holy water.

   2. And His body, though dead after the manner of man, possesses in it
great power of life. For streams which flow not from dead bodies flowed
forth from Him, viz., blood and water; in order that we might know what
power for life is held by the virtue that dwelt in His body, so as that it
appears not to be dead like others, and is able to shed forth for us the
springs of life.

   3. And not a bone of the Holy Lamb is broken, this figure showing us
that suffering toucheth not His strength. For the bones are the strength of
the body.


FRAGMENTS FROM OTHER WRITINGS OF HIPPOLYTUS.(1)

I.

   Now Hippolytus, a martyr for piety, who was bishop of the place called
Portus, near Rome, in his book Against all Heresies, wrote in these
terms:--

   I perceive, then, that the matter is one of contention. For he(2)
speaks thus: Christ kept the supper, then, on that day, and then suffered;
whence it is needful that I, too, should keep it in the same manner as the
Lord did. But he has fallen into error by not perceiving that at the time
when Christ suffered He did not eat the passover of the law.(3) For He was
the passover that had been of old proclaimed, and that was fulfilled on
that determinate day.

II. From the same.

   And again the same (authority), in the first book of his treatise on
the Holy Supper, speaks thus:--

   Now that neither in the first nor in the last there was anything false
is evident; for he who said of old, "I will not any more eat the
passover,"(4) probably partook of supper before the passover. But the
passover He did not eat, but He suffered; for it was not the time for Him
to eat.

III.(5) Hippolytus, Bishop and Martyr, in a letter to a certain queen.(6)

   1. He calls Him, then, "the first-fruits of them that sleep,"(7) as the
"first-begotten of the dead."(8) For He, having risen, and being desirous
to show that that same (body) had been raised which had also died, when His
disciples  were in doubt, called Thomas to Him, and said,  "Reach hither;
handle me, and see: for a spirit  hath not bone and flesh, as ye see me
have."(9)

   2. In calling Him the first-fruits, he testified to that which we have
said, viz., that the Saviour,  taking to Himself the flesh out of the same
lump, raised this same flesh, and made it the first-fruits of the flesh of
the righteous, in order that all we who have believed in the hope of the
Risen One may have the resurrection in expectation.


THE STORY OF A MAIDEN OF CORINTH, AND A CERTAIN MAGISTRIANUS

The account given by Hippolytus, the friend of the apostles(10)

   In another little book bearing the name of Hippolytus, the friend of
the apostles, I found a story of the following nature:--

   There lived a certain most noble and beautiful maiden(11) in the city
of Corinth, in the careful exercise of a virtuous life. At that time some
persons falsely charged her before the judge there, who was a Greek, with
cursing the times, and the princes, and the images. Now those who
trafficked in such things, brought her beauty under the notice of the
impious judge, who lusted after women. And he gladly received the
accusation with his equine ears and lascivious thoughts. And when she was
brought before the bloodstained (judge), he was driven still more  frantic
with profligate passion. But when, after  bringing every device to bear
upon her, the profane than could not gain over this woman of God, he
subjected the noble maiden to various outrages. And when he failed in these
too, and was unable to seduce her from her confession of Christ, the cruel
judge became furious against her, and gave her over to a punishment of the
following nature: Placing the chaste maiden in a brothel, he charged the
manager, saying, Take this woman, and bring me three nummi by her every
day. And the man, exacting the money from her by her dishonour, gave her up
to any who sought her in the brothel. And when the women-hunters knew that,
they came to the brothel, and, paying the price lint upon their iniquity,
sought to seduce her. But this most honourable maiden, taking counsel with
herself to deceive them, called them to her, and earnestly besought them,
saying: I have a certain ulceration of the pudenda, which has an extremely
hateful stench; and I am afraid that ye might come to hate me on account of
the abominable sore. Grant me therefore a few days, and then ye may have me
even for nothing. With these words the blessed maiden gained over the
profligates, and dismissed them for a time.(12) And with most fitting
prayers she importuned God, and with contrite supplications she sought to
turn Him to compassion. God, therefore, who knew her thoughts, and
understood how the chaste maiden was distressed in heart for her purity,
gave ear to her; and the Guardian  of the safety of all men in those days
interposed with His arrangements in the following manner:--

Of a certain person Magistrianus.(1)

   There was a certain young man, Magistrianus,(2) comely in his personal
appearance, and of a pious mind, whom God had inspired with such a burning
spiritual zeal, that he despised even death itself. He, coming under the
guise of profligacy, goes in, when the evening was far gone, to the fellow
who kept the women, and pays him five nummi, and says to him, Permit me to
spend this night with this damsel. Entering then with her into the private
apartment, he says to her, Rise, save thyself. And taking off her garments,
and dressing her in his own attire, his night-gown, his cloak, and all the
habiliments of a man, he says to her, Wrap yourself up with the top of your
cloak, and go out; and doing so, and signing herself entirely with the
mystery of the cross, she went forth uncorrupted from that place, and was
preserved perfectly stainless by the grace of Christ, and by the
instrumentality of the young man, who by his own blood delivered her from
dishonour. And on the following day the matter became known, and
Magistrianus was brought before the infuriated judge. And when the cruel
tyrant had examined the noble champion of Christ, and had learned all, he
ordered him to be thrown to the wild beasts,--that in this, too, the
honour-hating demon might be put to shame. For, whereas he thought to
involve the noble youth in an unhallowed punishment, he exhibited him as a
double martyr for Christ, inasmuch as he had both striven nobly for his own
immortal soul, and persevered manfully in labours also in behalf of that
noble and blessed maiden. Wherefore also he was deemed worthy of double
honour with Christ, and of the illustrious and blessed crowns by His
goodness.


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 5, Roberts and Donaldson). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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