^i.
THE
ANTE-NICENE FATHERS.
TRANSLATIONS OF
The Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. J2^.
THE REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTS, D.D.,
AND
JAMES DONALDSON, LL.D.,
EDITORS.
AMERICAN REPRINT OF THE EDINBURGH EDITION.
REVISED AND CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED, WITH BRIEF PREFACES AND
OCCASIONAL NOTES
BY
A. CLEVELAND COXE, D.D.
VOLUME VIII.
THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS. EXCERPTS AND EPISTLES, THE CLEMENTINA, APOCRYPHA, DECRETALS,
MEMOIRS OF EDESSA AND SYRIAC DOCUMENTS. REMAINS OF THE FIRST AGES.
AUTHORIZED EDITION.
BUFFALO: ^\\
THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE COMPANY.
1886.
Copyright, 1886, by
THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE COMPANY.
v:
9/
ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED
BY RAND AVERY COMPANY,
BOSTON.
FATHERS OF THE THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURIES:
THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS, EXCERPTS AND EPISTLES, THE CLEMENTINA, APOCRYPHA,
DECRETALS, MEMOIRS OF EDESSA AND SYRIAC DOCUMENTS,
REMAINS OF THE FIRST AGES.
AMERICAN EDITION.
CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED, WITH NOTES, PREFACES, AND ELUCIDATIONS,
BY
A. CLEVELAND COXE, D.D.
Ta ttp^ata tdt) KparetTd).
The Nicene Council.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
This volume completes the American series, according to our agreement. But it will be
found to afford much material over and above what was promised, and the editorial labour it has
exacted has been much greater than might at first be suspected. The Bibliography with which
the work is supplemented, and which is the original work of Dr. Riddle, has been necessarily
thrown into the Index by the overgrowth of this volume in original matter.
The Apocryphal works of the Edinburgh collection have been here brought together, and
" Fragments " have been sifted, and arranged on a plan strictly practical. To my valued collabo-
rator Dr. Riddle I have committed a task which demanded a specialist of his eminent qualifica-
tions. He has had, almost exclusively, the task of editing the Pseudo-Clonentina and the
Apocryphal New Testament. To myself I assigned the Twelve Patriarchs and Excerpts, the
Edessene Memoirs and other Syriac Fragments, the False Decretals, and the Remains of the First
Ages. I have reserved this retrospect of historic truth and testimony to complete the volume.
As in music the tune ends on the note with which it began, so, after the greater part of tlie
volume had been surrendered to forgery and fiction (valuable, indeed, for purposes of comparison
and reference, but otherwise unworthy of a place among primitive witnesses), I felt it refreshing to
return to genuine writings and to authentic histories. The pages of Melito and others will restore
something of the flavour of the Apostolic Fathers to our taste, and the student will not close his
review of the Ante-Nicene Fathers with last impressions derived only from their fraudulent
imitators and corrupters.
The editor-in-chief renews his grateful acknowledgments to those who have aided him in his
undertaking, with whose honoured names the reader is already acquainted. Nor can he omit an
expression of thanks to the reverend brother ' to whom the hard work of the Indexes has been
chiefly committed. It would be equally unjust not to mention his obligations to the meritorious
press which has produced these pages with a general accuracy not easily ensured under difficul-
ties such as have been inseparable from this undertaking.- The support which has been liberally
afforded to the enterprise by Christians of divers names and communions ought not to be recog-
nised by words of mere recognition : it is a token of their common interest in a common origin,
and a sign, perhaps, of a longing for that precious unity and brotherhood which was the glory of
the martyr ages, for which all should unite in praise to God. To the Christian press a grateful
tribute is due from the editor and his publishers alike ; more especially as it has encouraged, so
generally, the production of another series, of which the first volume has already appeared, and
which will familiarize the minds and hearts of thousands with the living thought and burning piety
of those great doctors of the post-Nicene period, to whom the world owes such immense obliga-
tions, but who have been so largely unknown to millions even of educated men, except as bright
and shining names.
It is a cheering token, that, while the superficial popular mind may even be disposed to regard
' The Rev. C. W. Hayes, M.A., of Westfield, N.Y. 2 The Boston Press of Rand Avery Company.
VI INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
this collection as a mere museum of fossils, having little or no connection with anything that
interests our age, there is a twofold movement towards a fresh investigation of the past, which it
seems providentially designed to meet. Thus, among Christians there is a general appetite for
the study of primitive antiquity, stimulated by the decadence of the Papacy, and by the agita-
tions concerning the theology of the future which have arisen in Reformed communions ;
while, on the other hand, scientific thought has pushed inquiry as to the sources of the world's
enlightenment, and has found them just here, — in the school of Alexandria, and in the Christian
writers of the first three centuries. " It is instructive," says a forcible thinker,' and a disciple of
Darwin and Huxley, " to note how closely Athanasius approaches the confines of modern scien-
tific thought." And again he says : " The intellectual atmosphere of Alexandria for two centuries
before and three centuries after the time of Christ was more modern than anything that followed,
down to the days of Bacon and Descartes."
It would be unmanly in the^ editor to speak of the difficulties and hindrances through which
he has been forced to push on his work, while engaged in other and very sacred duties. The
conditions which alone could justify the publishers in the venture were quite inconsistent with
such an editorial performance as might satisfy his own ideas of what should be done with such
materials. Four years instead of two, he felt, should be bestowed on such a work ; and he
thought that two years might suffice only in case a number of collaborators could be secured for
simultaneous employment. When it was found that such a plan was impracticable, and that the
idea must be abandoned if not undertaken and carried forward as it has been, then the writer most
reluctantly assumed his great responsibility in the fear of God, and in dependence on His loving-
kindness and tender mercy. Of the result, he can only say that "he has done what he could"
in the circumstaaices. He is rewarded by the consciousness that at least he has enabled many
an American divine and scholar to avail himself of the labours of the Edinburgh translators, and
to feel what is due to them, when, but for this publication, he must have remained in ignorance
of what their erudition has achieved and contributed to Christian learning in the English tongue.
And how sweet and invigorating has been his task, as page after page of these treasures of
antiquity has passed under his hand and eye ! With unfailing appetite he has risen before day-
light to his work ; and far into the night he has extended it, with ever fresh interest and delight.
Obliged very often to read his proofs, or prepare his notes, at least in their first draught, while
journeying by land or by water, he has generally found in such employments, not additional
fatigue, but a real comfort and resource, a balance to other cares, and a sweet preparation and
invigoration for other labours. Oh, how much he owes, under God, to these " guides, philoso-
phers, and friends," — these Fathers of old time, — and to " their Father and our Father, their God
and our God " ! What love is due from all who love Christ, for the words they have spoken, and
the deeds they have done, to assure us that the Everlasting Word is He to whom alone we can go
for the words of life eternal !
A. C. C.
' John Fiske, The Idea of God, Boston, i8S6, pp. 73, 86.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VIII.
PAGE
I. THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS i
IL EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS 39
III. TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY 51
IV. PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE LITERATURE. Recognitions of Clement . . 75
The Clementine Homilies 215
V. APOCRYPHA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. The Protevangelium of James, 361
The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew 368
The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary 384
The History of Joseph the Carpenter 388
The Gospel of Thomas 395
The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour 405
The Gospel of Nicodemus 416
The Letter of Pontius Pilat-e concerning our Lord Jesus Christ . . 459
The Report of Pilate the Procurator concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, 460
The Report of Pontius Pilate 462
The Giving up of Pontius Pilate 464
The Death of Pilate 466
The Narrative of Joseph 468
The Avenging of the Saviour 472
Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul 477 <
Acts of Paul and Thecla 487
The Acts of Barnabas 493
The Acts of Philip 497
Acts and Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Andrew 511
Acts of Andrew and Matthias ■ • • 5^7
Acts of Peter and Andrew : . . . 526
Acts and Martyrdom of St. Matthew the Apostle . ... . . 528
Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas 535
Consummation of Thomas the Apostle 55°
Martyrdom of the Holy and Glorious Apostle Bartholomew . . 553
Acts of the Holy Apostle Thadd^us 55^
Acts of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. . 560
Revelation of Moses 5^5
Revelation of Esdras 57 1
Revelation of Paul " • 575
Revelation of John 5^2
The Book of John concerning the Falling Aslbep of Mary . . -587
The Passing of Mary 59^
vii
viii CONTENTS OF VOLUME VIII.
PAGE
VI. THE DECRETAL.S. The Epistles of Pope Zephyrinus 609
The Epistles of Pope Callistus 613
The Epistle of Pope Urban First 619
The Epistles of Pope Pontianus 622
The Epistle of Pope Axterus 626
The Epistles of Pope Fabian 630
Decrees of Pope Fabian 640
VII. MEMOIRS OF EDESSA AND ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS. The
Story concerning the King of Edessa . . " 651
A Canticle of Mar Jacob the Teacher on Edessa 654
Extracts from Various Books concerning Abgar the King and Add.'eus
the Apostle 655
The Teaching of Add^us the Apostle 657
The Teaching of the Apostles 667
The Teaching of Simon Cephas in the City of Rome 673
Acts of Sharbil ' 676
The Martyrdom of Barsamya 685
Martyrdom of Habib the Deacon 690
Martyrdom of the Holy Confessors Shamuna, Guria, and Habib . . 696
Moses of Chorene 702
Homily on Habie the Martyr ,. 708
Homily on Guria and Shamuxa 714
Bardesan 723
A Letter of Mara, Son of Serapion . 735
Ambrose 739
VIII. REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES .... 745
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. ROBERT SINKER, M.A., TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.]
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
This very curious fragment of antiquity deserves a few words in anticipation of the transla-
tor's valuable preface. Grabe's Spicilegium is there referred to ; but it may be well also to
consult his citations, in elucidation, of Bull's Defensio Fidei Nicczncs,'^ where he treats the work
with respect. My most valued authority, however, on this subject, is Lardner,^ who gives a very
full account of the work with his usual candor and learning. He seems to treat the matter with
a needless profusion of space and consideration ; yet in a much later volume of his great treatise
he recurs to the subject ^ with expressions of satisfaction that he had dealt with it so largely before.
Cave placed the composition of the Testaments about a.d. 192, but concedes a much earlier
origin to the first portion of the work. Origen quotes from it, and TertuUian is supposed to have
borrowed from it one of his expositions, as will be noted in its place. Lardner clears it from
charges of Ebionitism,"* but thinks the author was so far in accord with that heresy as to use
expressions savouring of " Unitarianism." Of this charge he is not justly susceptible, it appears
to me : quite otherwise. If we can imagine Trypho coming to the light after his kindly parting
with Justin, 5 I can conceive of such a man as the author of this work. He is a Christian awaken-
ing to the real purport of the Old-Testament Scriptures, and anxious to lead rather than drive his
brethren after the flesh to the discovery of Him " concerning whom Moses in the law and the
prophets did write : " not a " Judaizing Christian," as Cave imagined, but the reverse, — a Chris-
tianizing Jew. Now, I must think that such a writer would weave into his plan many accepted
traditions of the Jews and many Rabbinical expositions of the sacred writers. He was doubtless
acquainted with that remarkable passage in the Revelation in which the patriarchs are so honour-
ably named,*^ and with that corresponding passage which seems to unite the twelve patriarchs
with the twelve apostles.'' St. Paul's claim for the twelve tribes before Agrippa^ would naturally
impress itself on such a mind. Whether the product of such a character with such a disposition
would naturally be such an affectionate and filial attempt as this to identify the religion of the
Crucified with the faith of the Jewish fathers,9 may be judged of by my reader.
* Vol. V. p. 176, ed. 1827.
* Credit., vol. ii. pp. 345-364.
3 Vol. vi. p. 384.
< The honour done to St Paul is enough to settle any suspicion of this sort.
5 See vol. i. p. 270, note 2, this series.
6 Rev. vii. 4. Dan is excepted.
"> Rev. iv. 4. See vol. vii. p. 348, this .series.
* Acts xxvi. 7.
9 See The Christ of Jewish History in Stanley Leathes' Bampiott Lectures, p. 51, ed. New York, 1874; also Westcott, hitroduc-
tion to Study of the Gospels, 3d ed., London, Macmillans, 1867. Note, on the Book of Henoch, pp. 69, 93-101 ; on the Book of Jubi-
lees, p. 109. He puts this book into the first century, later than Henoch, earlier than the Twelve Patriarchs. Consult this work on the
Alexandrian Fathers, on inspiration of Scripture, etc.; and note the Jewish doctrine of the Messiah, pp; 86, 143, 151, also ihe apocryphal
traditions of words of our Lord, p. 428.
3
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
It appears to me an ill-advised romance ; not more a " pious fraud " than several fictions
which have attracted attention in our own times, based on the traditions of the Hebrews. The
legends of the " Wandering Jew " have grown out of corresponding instincts among Christians.
To me they appear like the profane "Passion-plays" lately revived among Christians, — a most
unwarrantable form of teaching even truth. But as to the work itself, seeing it exists, I must
acknowledge that it seems to me a valuable relic of antiquity, and an interesting specimen of the
feelings and convictions of those believers over whom St. James presided in Jerusalem : ' " Israel-
ites indeed," but "zealous of the law." They were now convinced that Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob, with Moses and all the prophets, looked for the Messiah who had appeared in Jesus of
Nazareth. The author of this book was anxious to show that the twelve patriarchs were twelve
believers in the Paschal Lamb, and that they died in Christian penitence and faith.
He, then, who will read or study the following waif of the olden time, as I have done, will not
find it unprofitable reading. It really supplies a key to some difficulties in the Scripture narrative.
It suggests what are at least plausible counterparts of what is written. " To the pure all things
are pure ; " and I see nothing that need defile in any of the details which expose the sins, and
magnify the penitence, of the patriarchs. In fact, Lardner's objection to one of the sections in the
beautiful narrative of Joseph strikes me as extraordinary. It is the story of a heroic conflict with
temptation, the like of which was doubtless not uncommon in the days of early Christians living
among heathens ; ^ and I think it was possibly written to inspire a Joseph-like chastity in Chris-
tian youth. " I do not suppose," says Lardner, " that the virtue of any of these ancient Hebrews
was complete according to the Christian rule." I am amazed at this ; I have always supposed
the example of Joseph the more glorious because he flourished as the flower of chastity in a gross
and carnal age. Who so pure as he save John the Baptist, that morning star that shone so near
the Sun of Righteousness in the transient beauty of his "heliacal rising"? Surely Joseph was a
type of Christ in this as in other particulars, and our author merely enables us to understand the
" fiery darts " which he was wont to hurl back at the tempter. I own (reluctantly, because I
dislike this form of teaching) that for me the superlative ode of the dying Jacob receives a
reflected lustre from this curious book, especially in the splendid eulogy with which the old
patriarch blesses his beloved Joseph. "The author," says Lardner, "in an indirect manner . . .
bears a large testimony to the Christian religion, to the facts, principles, and books of the New
Testament. He speaks of the nativity of Christ, the meekness and unblameableness of His life,
His crucifixion at the instigation of the Jewish priests, the wonderful concomitants of His death,
His resurrection, and ascension. He represents the character of the Messiah as God and man :
the Most High God with men, eating and drinking with them ; the Son of God ; the Saviour of
the world, of the Gentiles and Israel ; as Eternal High Priest and King. He likewise speaks
of the effusion of the Holy Spirit upon the Messiah, attended with a voice from heaven; His un-
righteous treatment by the Jews ; their desolations and the destruction of the Temple upon that
account ; the call of the Gentiles ; the illuminating them generally with new light ; the effusion of
the Spirit upon believers, but especially, and in a more abundant measure, upon the Gentiles. . . .
There are allusions to the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Luke and St. John, the Acts of the Apostles,
and of the Epistles to Ephesians, First Thessalonians, First Timothy, Hebrews, and First St.
John, also to the Revelation. So far as consistent with the assumed character of his work, the
author declares the canonical authority of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul,"
Of which of the minor writers among the Ante-Nicene Fathers can so much be said ?
Regarded as a sort of Jewish surrender to Justin's argument with Trypho, this book is inter-
esting, and represents, no doubt, the convictions of thousands of Jewish converts of the first age.
It is, in short, worthy of more attention than it has yet received.
' Acts xxi. 18-26. To my mind a most touching history, in which it is hard to say whether St. Paul or St. James is exhibited in the
more charming light. It suggests the absolute harmony of their Epistles.
2 Vol. i. Elucid. II. p. 57, this series.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
Here follows Mr. Sinker's valuable Introductory Notice : —
The apocryphal work known as the Tesfamenis of the Tzvelve Patriarchs professes to be, as
its name implies, the utterances of the dying patriarchs, the sons of Jacob. In these they give
some account of their lives, embodying particulars not found in the scriptural account, and build
thereupon various moral precepts for the guidance of their descendants. The book partakes also
of the nature of an Apocalypse : the patriarchs see in the future their children doing wickedly,
stained with the sins of every nation ; and thus they foretell the troubles impending on their race.
Still at last God will put an end to their woe, and comfort is found in the promise of a Messiah.
There can be little or no doubt that the author was a Jew, who, having been converted to
Christianity, sought to win over his countrymen to the same faith, and thus employed the names
of the patriarchs as a vehicle for conveying instruction to their descendants, as winning by this
means for his teaching at any rate 2i prima facie welcome in the eyes of the Jewish people.
It does not seem hard to settle approximately the limits of time within which the book was
probably written. It cannot be placed very late in the second century, seeing that it is almost
certainly quoted by Tertullian,' and that Origen^ cites the Testaments by name, apparently indeed
holding it in considerable respect. We can, however, approximate much more nearly than this ;
for the allusions to the destruction of Jerusalem assign to the Testaments a date subsequent to
that event. This will harmonize perfectly with what is the natural inference from several passages,
— namely, that the Gentiles now were a majority in the Church, — as well as with the presence
of the many formulae to express the incarnation, and with the apparent collection of the books of
the New Testament into a volume. ^
On the other hand, important evidence as to the posterior limit of the date of writing may be
derived from the language used with reference to the priesthood. Christ is both High Priest and
King, and His former office is higher than the latter, and to Him the old priesthood must resign
its rights. Now such language as this would be almost meaningless after Hadrian's destruction of
Jerusalem consequent on the revolt of Bar-Cochba (a.d. 135), after which all power of Judaism
for acting directly upon Christianity ceased ; and, indeed, on the hypothesis of a later date, we
should doubtless find allusions to the revolt and its suppression. On the above grounds, we infer
that the writing of the Testaments is to be placed in a period ranging from late in the first century
to the revolt of Bar-Cochba ; closer than this it is perhaps not safe to draw our limits.*
The language in which the Testaments were written was no doubt the Hellenistic Greek in
which we now possess them ; presenting as they do none of the peculiar marks which characterize
a version. Whether there were a Hebrew work on which the present was modelled — a suppo-
sition by no means improbable in itself — we cannot tell, nor is it a matter of much importance.
The phenomena of the book itself may be cited in support of this conclusion : for instance, the
use of the word SiaOypa] in its ordinary classical meaning of " testament," not " covenant " as in
Hellenistic Greek, for which former meaning there would be no strictly equivalent word in
Hebrew ; the numerous instances of paronomasia, such as aOereiv, vovOereiv,^ d^atpecris, di'atpeo-ts,^
At/xo's, XoL/jLo?,'^ iv rdiei, araKTov,'' rd^is, dra^ta ; ^ the frequent use of the genitive absolute, and of
the verb /xeAXctv ; the use of various expressions pertaining to the Greek philosophy, as 8id(9€o-t9,
aL(TOr](ri<;, (f)V(TL<;, reAos.
It seems doubtful how far we can attempt with safety to determine accurately the religious
standpoint of the writer beyond the obvious fact of his Jewish origin, though some have attempted
' Adv. Marcionem, v. i; Scorpiace, 13; cf. Benj. 11.
2 Horn, in yostiam, xv. 6; cf. Reub. z, 3.
? Benj. II.
< [Compare Westcott, Introduction to Study of the Gospels, p. 132, ed. Boston, 1862.]
5 Benj. 4.
6 Jtidah 23.
7 Naph. 2.
8 Naph. 3.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
to show that he was a Nazarene, and others a Jewish Christian of PauHne tendencies. We shall
therefore content ourselves with referring those who seek for more specific information on this
point to the works mentioned below.
To refer now briefly to the external history of our document, we meet with nothing definite,
after its citation by Origen, for many centuries : there are possible allusions in Jerome ' and in
Procopius Gazceus ; ^ there is also a mention of -n-aTpiapxa-t in the Synopsis Sacrce Scripturce found
among the writings of Athanasius, as well as in the Stichometria of Nicephorus of Constantinople,
on which it is probably based. Again, in the Canons of the Council of Rome (494 a.d.) under
Gelasius, and of the Council of Bracara (563 a.d.), are possible references, though it is far from
improbable that in some of the foregoing passages the reference may be to ' a writing roiv rpioiv
Ilarptapxwv alluded to in the Apostolic Constitutions y> or is even of somewhat loose application.
After this a blank ensues until the middle of the thirteenth century, when it was brought to
the knowledge of Western Europe by Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, the earliest of the
great English reformers.'* We cite here the account of the matter given by Matthew Paris,
although of course we need not accept all the opinions of the old chronicler respecting the docu-
ment in question : " At this same time, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, a man most deeply versed in
Latin and Greek, accurately translated the Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs from Greek into
Latin. These had been for a long time unknown and hidden through the jealousy of the Jews,
on account of the prophecies of the Saviour contained in them. The Greeks, however, the most
unwearied investigators of all writings, were the first to come to a knowledge of this document,
and translated it from Hebrew into Greek, and have kept it to themselves till our times. And
neither in the time of the blessed Jerome nor of any other holy interpreter could the Christians
gain an acquaintance with it, through the malice of the ancient Jews. This glorious treatise, then,
the aforesaid bishop (with the help of Master Nicolaus, a Greek, and a clerk of the Abbey of St.
Alban's) translated fully and clearly, and word for word, from Greek into Latin, to the strength-
ening of the Christian faith, and to the greater confusion of the Jews."5
Again, after speaking of the death of " Master John de Basingstokes, Archdeacon of Leices-
ter," a man of very great learning in Latin and Greek, he proceeds :^ "This Master John had
mentioned to Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, that when he was studying at Athens he had seen and
heard from learned Greek doctors certain things unknown to the Latins. Among these he found
the Testarnents of the XII. Patriarchs, that is to say, of the sons of Jacob. Now it is plain that
these really form part of the sacred volume, but have been long hidden through the jealousy
of the Jews, on account of the evident prophecies about Christ which are clearly seen in them.
Consequently this same bishop sent into Greece ; and when he obtained them, he translated them
from Greek into Latin, as well as certain other things."
After this it would seem as though the same fate still pursued our document, for the entire
Greek text was not printed until the eve of the eighteenth century, when it was published for the
first time by Grabe, whose edition has been several times reprinted.'
Four Greek mss. of the Testaments are known to exist : —
I. The MS. Ff. i. 24 in the University Library of Cambridge, to which it was given by Arch-
bishop Parker, whose autograph it bears on its first page. It is a quarto on parchment, of 261
leaves (in which the Testaments occM^y ^. 202,a-2()ib), double columns, 20 Hnes in a column,
handwriting of the tenth century. It is furnished with accents and breathings, and a fairly full
punctuation. There are very strong grounds for believing that it was this MS. thai Grosseteste's
* Adv. Vigilantium, c. 6.
2 Comtn. in Genesitt, c. 38.
3 vi. 16. [See vol vii. p. 457, this series.]
* [Of whom see Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, Part II. vol. i. p. 77, ed. London, 1885.]
5 Historia Afiglortttn, a.d. 1242, p. 801, ed. London, 1571.
*> Op. cit. A.D. 1252, p. III2.
' Vide iiifra.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
version was made, exhibiting as it does a very large amount of curious verbal coincidence with it.'
The text of this MS. has been that given in the various editions mentioned below.
2. The ]MS. Barocci i^;^ in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, where it came with the rest of the
Barocci collection from Venice, and was presented to the University by its Chancellor, the Earl
of Pembroke. It is a quarto volume ; and except a leaf or two of parchment, containing writing
of an older period, consists of a number of treatises on paper, apparently by several different
hands, in the writing of the latter part of the fourteenth century. The Testaments occupy ff.
179^-203/^. The amount of difference between this MS. and the preceding is considerable, and is
sufficient to show that it has had no direct communication with the latter. A large number of
omissions occur in it, in some instances amounting to entire chapters. The variations of this MS.
are given more or less fully in the various editions.
3. A MS. in the Vatican Library at Rome, not yet edited. It is said to be a small quarto on
paper, written in a very distinct hand, though unfortunately some leaves are damaged. It bears
a subscription with the date 1235. I owe my knowledge of this MS. to an article by Dr. Vorst-
man in the Godgeleerde Bijdragen for 1866, p. 953 sqq.
4. A MS. discovered by Tischendorf in the island of Patmos, of which no details have yet
been published.^
The entire Greek text of the Testaments was first printed by Grabe in his Spicilegiitm Patrum
et Hcereticorum, Oxford, 1698, professedly from the Cambridge MS., but in reality from some very
inaccurate transcript of it, very possibly from one made by Abednego Seller, also in the Cam-
bridge University Library, Oo. vi. 92. Grabe also gave a few of the variations of the Oxford ms.
Fabricius, in his Codex Pseudepigraphus Veferis Tcstamenti,^ gives little more than a reprint
from Grabe. In the second edition of the latter (1714) the true text has been restored in several
passages ; but in many places Grosseteste's Latin version, which witnessed to the true reading,
was altered to suit Grabe's incorrect text. Fabricius' second edition (1722) is perhaps, on the
whole, less accurate than his first. Since then the text and notes, as given in Grabe's second
edition, have been reprinted, with but few additions, by Gallandi, in his Bibliotheca Veterum
Patrum, vol. i. p. 193 sqq., Venice, 1765, and in Migne's Patrologia GrcBca, vol. ii., Paris, 1857.
The text of the Cambridge MS., with a full statement of the variations of the Oxford ms., has
recently been edited directly from the mss. by myself, Cambridge, 1869; from this edition the
present translation has been made.
The MSS. of Grosseteste's Latin version are numerous, there being no less than twelve in
Cambridge alone ; and it has been frequently printed, both with the editions of the Greek text
and independently.''
Besides the Latin version, the Testaments have also been translated into several European
languages, in all cases apparently from the Latin. The English translation made by Arthur Gold-
ing was first printed by John Daye in Aldersgate in 1581, and has since been frequendy repro-
duced ; the British Museum, which does not possess all the editions, having no less than eleven.s
The author of the French translation ^' appears to believe, as the English translator had done,
that we have here really the last words of the sons of Jacob. A German translation has also
several times been published,^ and a German translation in MS. is to be found in the British
Museum.** We may further mention a Dutch translation (Antwerp, 1570), a Danish translation
' See, e.g., the curious reading in Levi i8, /cat trTijcrei, where the Latin mss. are unanimous in giving stare/aciet; also ihe mistake
of 'IaK<u3 for 'PovP))/a in Issachar i.
2 See Tischendorf, Aus deni heiligcn Lande, p. 341.
3 Hamburgh, 171 3.
* e.g., 1483; Hagenau, 1532; Paris, 1549; and often.
5 This English translation having been made from the Latin, the printed editions of which swarm with inaccuracies (Grosseteste's
Latin version itself being a most exact translation), I have been able to make much less use of it than I could have desired. It has,
however, been compared throughout.
6 Monsieur Mac^, Chefecier, curd de Saint Opportune, Paris, 1713.
7 e.g., Vienna, 1544; Strasburgh, 1596; Hamburgh, 1637.
8 MSS. Harl., 1252.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
(1601), and a ms. Icelandic translation of the eighteenth century in the British Museum, add. mss.
11,068. .
For further information on the subject of the Testaments, reference may be made, m addition
to works ahready mentioned, to the following : — Nitzsch, Commentatio Critica de Testamentis
XII. Patriarcharum, libra V. T. Pseudepigrapho (Wittenberg, 1810) ; Ritschl, Die Entstehung
der altkatholischen Kirche (Bonn, 1850; ed. 2, 1857), p. 171 sqq. ; Vorstman, DisquisiHo de
Testamentorum XII. Patriarcharum origine et pretio (Rotterdam, 1857) ; Kayser in Reuss and
Cunitz's Beitrdge zu den theoL Wissenschaften for 185 1, pp. 107-140; Lucke, Einleitnng in die
Offenbarung des Joh., vol. i. p. 334 sqq., ed. 2. . ' ^' ^*
Trinity College, Cambridge.
February 21, 1871.
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRI-
ARCHS.
I. — THE TESTAMENT OF REUBEN CONCERNING THOUGHTS.
1. The copy of the Testament of Reuben, what
things he charged his sons before he died in the
hundred and twenty-fifth year of his hfe. When
he was sick two years after the death of Joseph,
his sons and his sons' sons were gathered together
to visit him. And he said to them. My children,
I am dying, and go the way of my fathers. And
when he saw there Judah and Gad and Asher,
his brethren, he said to them. Raise me up, my
brethren, that I may tell to my brethren and to
my children what things I have hidden in my
heart, for from henceforth my strength faileth
me. And he arose and kissed them, and said,
weeping : Hear, my brethren, give ear to Reu-
ben your father, what things I command you.
And, behold, I call to witness against you this
day the God of heaven, that ye walk not in the
ignorance of youth and fornication wherein I ran
greedily, and I defiled the bed of Jacob my
father. For I tell you that He smote me with a
sore plague in my loins for seven months ; and
had not Jacob our father prayed for me to the
Lord, surely the Lord would have destroyed me.
For I was thirty years old when I did this evil
in the sight of the Lord, and for seven months
I was sick even unto death ; and I repented for
seven years in the set purpose of my soul before
the Lord. Wine and strong drink I drank not,
and flesh entered not into my mouth, and I
tasted not pleasant food,' mourning over my
sin, for it was great. And it shall not so be
done in Israel.
2. And now hear me, my children, what
things I saw in my repentance concerning the
seven spirits of error. Seven spirits are given
against man from Beliar, and they are chief of
the works of youth ; and seven spirits are given
to him at his creation, that in them should be
done every work of man.^ The first (i) spirit
' There seems a reminiscence here of the words of Dan. x. 3,
LXX. [For proofs of penitence, see p 11, note 3, infra.
^ For this use of TrreunoTa as applied to the senses, we may cite
Plutarch {De placitis philosophprum, iv. 21), who, speaking with
reference to the Stoic philosophy, says, ); )i.iv opa<rts eirri Ttvf.v\t.o.
is of life, with which man's whole being is cre-
ated. The second (2) spirit is of sight, with
which ariseth desire. The third (3) spirit is of
hearing, with which cometh teaching. The fourth
(4) spirit is of smeUing, with which taste is given
to draw air and breath. The fifth (5) spirit is
of speech, with which cometh knowledge. The
sixth (6) spirit is of taste, with which cometh
the eating of meats and drinks ; and by them
strength is produced, for in food is the founda-
tion of strength. The seventh (7) spirit is of
begetting and sexual intercourse, with which
through love of pleasure sin also entereth in :
wherefore it is the last in order of creation, and
the first of youth, because it is filled with igno-
rance, which leadeth the young as a blind man
to a pit, and as cattle to a precipice.
3. Besides all these, there is an eighth (8)
spirit of sleep, with which is created entrance-
ment of man's nature, and the image of death.
With these spirits are mingled the spirits of error.
The first (i), the spirit of fornication, dwelleth
in the nature and in the senses; the second (2)
spirit of insatiateness in the belly; the third (3)
spirit of fighting in the liver and the gall. The
fourth (4) is the spirit of fawning and trickery,
that through over-officiousness a man may be
fair in seeming. The fifth (5) is the spirit of
arrogance, that a man may be stirred up and
become high-minded. The sixth (6) is the
spirit of lying, in perdition and in jealousy to
feign words, and to conceal ^ words from kindred
and friends. The seventh (7) is the spirit of
injustice, with which are theft and pilferings, that
a man may work the desire of his heart ; for
injustice worketh together with the other spirits
by means of craft. Besides all these, the spirit
of sleep, the eighth (8) spirit, is conjoined with
error and fantasy. And so perisheth every young
man, darkening his mind from the truth, and not
understanding the law of God, nor obeying the
3 This clause is only found in Cd. Oxon. ; it seems demanded by
the following awo.
lO
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
admonitions of his fathers, as befell me also in
my youth.
And now, children, love the truth, and it shall
preserve you. I counsel you, hear ye Reuben
your father. Pay no heed to the sight of a
woman, nor yet associate privately with a female
under the authority of a husband, nor meddle
with affairs of womankind. For had I not seen
Bilhah bathing in a covered place, I had not
fallen into this great iniquity.' For my mind,
dwelling on the woman's nakedness, suffered me
not to sleep until I had done the abominable
deed. For while Jacob our father was absent
with Isaac his father, when we were in Gader,
near to Ephratha in Bethlehem, Bilhah was
drunk, and lay asleep uncovered in her cham-
ber ; and when I went in and beheld her naked-
ness, I wrought that impiety, and leaving her
sleeping I departed. And forthwith an angel
of God revealed to my father Jacob concerning
my impiety, and he came and mourned over me,
and touched her no more.^
4. Pay no heed, therefore, to the beauty of
women, and muse not upon their doings ; but
walk in singleness of heart in the fear of the
Lord, and be labouring in works, and roaming
in study and among your flocks, until the Lord
give to you a wife whom He will, that ye suffer
not as I did. Until my father's death I had not
boldness to look stedfastly into the face of Jacob,
or to speak to any of my brethren, because of
my reproach ; and even until now my conscience
afflicteth me by reason of my sin. And my
father comforted me ; for he prayed for me unto
the Lord, tliat the anger of the Lord might pass
away from me, even as the Lord showed me.
From henceforth, then, I was protected, and I
sinned not. Therefore, my children, observe all
things whatsoever I command you, and ye shall
not sin. For fornication is the destruction of
the soul, separating it from God, and bringing it
near to idols, because it deceiveth the mind and
understanding, and bringeth down young men
into hell before their time. For many hath for-
nication destroyed ; because, though a man be
old or noble, it maketh him a reproach and a
laughing-stock with Beliar and the sons of men.
For in that Joseph kept himself from every
woman, and purged his thoughts from all forni-
cation, he found favour before the Lord and
men. For the Egyptian woman did many things
unto him, and called for magicians, and offered
him love potions, and the purpose of his soul
admitted no evil desire. Therefore the God of
my fathers delivered him from every visible and
hidden death. For if fornication overcome not
the mind, neither shall Beliar overcome you.
' Cf. Gen. XXXV. 22. The Gader mentioned below is the Edar of
ver. 21, the Hebrew V being reproduced, as often, by y.
' [This section is censured by Lardner as unsuitable to dying
admonitions. He forgets Oriental simphcity.]
5. Hurtful are women, my children; because,
since they have no power or strength over the
man, they act subtilly through outward guise how
they may draw him to themselves ; and whom
they cannot overcome by strength, him they over-
come by craft. For moreover the angel of God
told me concerning them, and taught me that
women are overcome by the spirit of fornication
more than men, and they devise in their heart
against men ; and by means of their adornment
they deceive first their minds, and instil the
poison by the glance of their eye, and then they
take them captive by their doings, for a woman
cannot overcome a man by force.
Therefore flee fornication, my children, and
command your wives and your daughters that
they adorn not their heads and their faces ; be-
cause every woman who acteth deceitfully in
these things hath been reserved to everlasting
punishment. For thus they allured the Watchers ^
before the flood ; and as these continually beheld
them, they fell into desire each of the other, and
they conceived the act in their mind, and changed
themselves into the shape of men, and appeared
to them in their congress viith their husbands ;
and the women, having in their minds desire
toward their apparitions, gave birth to giants, for
the Watchers appeared to them as reaching even
unto heaven.^
6. Beware, therefore, of fornication ; and if
you wish to be pure in your mind, guard your
senses against every woman. And command
them likewise not to company with men, that
they also be pure in their mind. For constant
meetings, even though the ungodly deed be not
wrought, are to them an irremediable disease,
and to us an everlasting reproach of Beliar ; for
fornication hath neither understanding nor god-
liness in itself, and all jealousy dwelleth in the
desire thereof. Therefore ye will be jealous
against the sons of Levi, and will seek to be
exalted over them ; but ye shall not be able, for
God will work their avenging, and ye shall die
by an evil death. For to Levi the Lord gave the
sovereignty, and to Judah,5 and to me also with
them,'' and to Dan and Joseph, that we should
be for rulers. Therefore I command you to
hearken to Levi, because he shall know the law
of the Lord, and shall give ordinances for judg-
ment and sacrifice for all Israel until the com-
3 This name, occurring once again in the Testa>?ie7tts {Naph. 3),
is one frequently found applied to the angels as the custodians of the
world and of men. Thus, in the Chaldee of Daniel (iv. 10, 14, 20:
i3> '7> 23, Eng. Ver.), we find the expression "l'^', which Aquila and
Symmachus render typtjyopo?. The corresponding Ethiopic term is
of frequent occurrence in the book of Enoch, not only of the fallen
angels (e.g., x. 9, 15, xvi. i, etc.), but of the good (xii. 2, 3, etc.,ed.
Dillmann). See also Gesenius, Thesaurus, s.v. "y^-
■* [Gen. vi. 4; Revised margin, i Cor. xi. 10; Jude 6, 7.]
S [See Lardner on this root idea of our author, vol. ii. p. 353;
but he is wrong as to Levi and Mary. Also Joseph, sec. 19, note
2, infra ]
^ The reading of Cd. Oxon., /xct' a.\niiv, is doubtless to be pre-
ferred.
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
1 1
pletion of the times of Christ, the High Priest
whom the Lord hath declared. I adjure you by
the God of heaven to work truth each one with
his neighbour; and draw ye near to Levi in
humbleness of heart, that ye may receive a bless-
ing from his mouth. For he shall bless Israel ;
and specially Judah, because him hath the Lord
chosen to rule over all the peoples. And wor-
ship we his Seed, because He shall die for us in
wars visible and invisible, and shall be among
you an everlasting king.
7. And Reuben died after that he had given
command to his sons ; and they placed him in
a coffin until they bore him up from Egypt, and
buried him in Hebron in the double ' cave where
his fathers were.
' i.e., Machpelah, which in Hebrew means double, and is so ren-
dered by the LXX., e.g., Gen. xxiii. 9.
IL — THE TESTAMENT OF SIMEON CONCERNING ENVY.
1. The copy of the words of Simeon, what
things he spake to his sons before he died, in
the hundred and twentieth year of his hfe, in the
year in which Joseph died. For they came to
visit him when he was sick, and he strengthened
himself and sat up and kissed them, and said to
them : —
2. Hear, O my children, hear Simeon your
father, what things I have in my heart. I was
born of Jacob my father, his second son ; and
my mother Leah called me Simeon, because the
Lord heard her prayer.' I became strong ex-
ceedingly; I shiank from no deed, nor was I
afraid of anything. For rny heart was hard, and
my mind was unmoveable, and my bowels un-
feeling : because valour also has been given from
the Most High to men in soul and in body. And
at that time I was jealous of Joseph because our
father loved him ; - and I set my mind against
him to destroy him, because the prince of deceit
sent forth the spirit of jealousy and blinded my
mind, that I regarded him not as a brother, and
spared not Jacob my father. But his God and
the God of his fathers sent forth His angel,
and dehvered him out of my hands. For when
I went into Shechem to bring ointment for the
flocks, and Reuben to Dotham, where were our
necessaries and all our stores, Judah our brother
sold him .to the Ishmaelites. And when Reuben
came he was grieved, for he wished to have re-
stored him safe to his father.^ But I was wroth
against Judah in that he let him go away alive,
and for five months I continued wrathful against
him ; but God restrained me, and withheld from
me all working of my hands, for my right hand
was half withered for seven days. And I knew,
my children, that because of Joseph this hap-
' Gen. xxix. 33.
2 That Simeon was prominent in the hostility to Joseph, is perhaps
impHed by his detention in Egypt as a surety for the return of the
others: and Jewish tradition generally accords with this view. Cf.
the Targum of the Pseudo-Jonathan on Gen. xxxvii. 19: "Simeon
and Levi, who were brothers in counsel, said one to another, Let us
kill him." Also this same Targum on Gen. xlii. 24: " And he took
from them Simeon, who had counselled to kill him." Cf. also Bres-
hith Rabba, § 91.
3 [Gen. xxxvii. 22, 29, xlii. 22.]
pened to me, and I repented and wept ; and I
besought the Lord that He would restore my
hand unto me, and that I might be kept from
all pollution and envy, and from all folly. For
I knew that I had devised an evil deed before
the Lord and Jacob my father, on account of
Joseph my brother, in that I envied him.
3. And now, children, take heed of the spirit
of deceit and of envy. For envy ruleth over the
whole mind of a man, and suffereth him neither
to eat, nor to drink, nor to do any good thing :
it ever suggesteth to him to destroy him that he
envieth ; and he that is envied ever flourisheth,
but he that envieth fades away. Two years of
days I afflicted my soul with fasting in the fear
of the Lord, and I learnt that deliverance from
envy cometh by the fear of God. If a man flee
to the Lord, the evil spirit runneth away from
him, and his mind becometh easy. And hence-
forward he sympathizeth with him whom he en-
vied, and condemneth not those who love him,
and so ceaseth from his envy.
4. And my father asked concerning me, be-
cause he saw th^t I was sad ; and I said, I am
pained in my liver. For I mourned more than
they all, because I was guilty of the selling of
Joseph. And when we went down into Egypt,
and he bound me as a spy, I knew that I was
suffering justly, and I grieved not. Now Joseph
was a good man, and had the Spirit of God
within him : compassionate and pitiful, he bore
not malice against me ; nay, he loved me even
as the rest of his brothers. Take heed, there-
fore, my children, of all jealousy and envy, and
walk in singleness of soul and with good heart,
keeping in mind the brother of your father, that
God may give to you also grace and glory, and
blessing upon your heads, even as ye saw in him.
All his days he reproached us not concerning
this thing, but loved us as his own soul, and be-
yond his own sons ; and he glorified us, and gave
riches, and cattle, and fruits freely to us all. Do
ye then also, my beloved children, love each
one his brother with a good heart, and remove
12
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
from you the spirit of envy, for this maketh sav-
age the soul and destroyeth the body ; it turneth
his purposes into anger and war, and stirreth up
unto blood, and leadeth the mind into frenzy,
and suffereth not prudence to act in men : more-
over, it taketh away sleep, and causeth tumult to
the soul and trembling to the body. For even
in sleep some malicious jealousy, deluding him,
gnaweth at his soul, and with wicked spirits dis-
turbeth it, and causeth the body to be troubled,
and the mind to awake from sleep in confusion ;
and as though having a wicked and poisonous
spirit, so appeareth it to men.
5. Therefore was Joseph fair in appearance,
and goodly to look upon, because there dwelt
not in him any wickedness ;■ for in trouble of the
spirit the face declareth it. And now, my chil-
dren, make your hearts good before the Lord,
and your ways straight before men, and ye shall
find grace before God and men. And take heed
not to commit fornication, for fornication is
mother of all evils, separating from God, and
bringing near to Beliar. For I have seen it in-
scribed in the writing of Enoch ' that your sons
shall with you be corrupted in fornication, and
shall do wrong against Levi with the sword. But
they shall not prevail against Levi, for he shall
wage the war of the Lord, and shall conquer all
your hosts ; and there shall be a few divided in
Levi and Judah, and there shall be none ^ of you
for sovereignty, even as also my father Jacob
prophesied in his l)lessings.
6. Behold, I have foretold you all things, that
I may be clear from the sin of your souls. Now,
if ye remove from you your envy, and all your
stiffneckedness, as a rose shall my bones flourish
in Israel, and as a lily my flesh in Jacob, and my
odour shall be as the odour of Libanus ; and as
cedars shall holy ones be multiplied from me
for ever, and their branches shall stretch afar off.
Then shall perish the seed of Canaan, and a
remnant shall not be to Amalek, and all the
Cappadocians ^ shall perish, and all the Hittites •♦
' [See Speaker's Cojii., N.T., vol. iv. p. 387, ed. Scribners.]
2 The Cam. ms. seems wrongly to omit the negative here. The
reference is doubtless to Gen. xlix. 7.
i The reference seems to be to the Philistines. Cf. Dent. ii. 23,
Amos ix. 7, where the LXX. reads KoTTTraSoKia.
4 [For modern views of these, see Encyc. Brit., s. v. "Hittites."]
shall be utterly destroyed. Then shall fail the
land of Ham, and every people shall perish.
Then shall all the earth rest from trouble, and
all the world under heaven from war. Then shall
Shem be glorified, because the Lord God, the
Mighty One of Israel, shall appear upon earth
as man,5 and saved by Him Adam.^ I'hen shall
all the spirits of deceit be given to be trampled
under foot, and men shall rule over the wicked
spirits. Then will I arise in joy, and will bless
the Most High because of His marvellous works,
because God hath taken a body and eaten with
men and saved men.
7. And now, my children, obey Levi, and in
Judah shall ye be redeemed : ^ and be not lifted
up against these two tribes, for from them shall
arise to you the salvation of God. For the Lord
shall raise up from Levi as it were a Priest,** and
from Judah as it were a King, God and man. 5
So shall He save all the Gentiles and the race of
Israel. Therefore I command you all things, in
order that ye also may command your children,
that they may observe them throughout their
generations.
8. And Simeon made an .end of commanding
his sons, and slept with his fathers, being an
hundred and twenty years old. And they laid
him in a coffin of incorruptible wood, to take
up his bones to Hebron. And they carried them
up in a war of the Egyptians secretly : for the
bones of Joseph the Egyptians guarded in the
treasure-house of the palace ; for the sorcerers
told them that at the departure of the bones of
Joseph there should be throughout the whole
of Egypt darkness and gloom, and an exceeding
great plague to the Egyptians, so that even
with a lamp a man should not recognise his
brother.
9. And the sons of Simeon bewailed their
father according to the law of mourning, and
they were in Egypt until the day of their de-
parture from Egypt by the hand of Moses.
S [Two of the many passages that leave no room for Lardner's
imaginary " Unitarianism" in this author. ]
o The construction here is awkward of the participles after on:
possibly a clause may have dropped out after 'Aia^i.
" [See p. 10, note 5, snpra.\
8 [John the Baptist. His greatness is declared by Christ Him-
self]
III.— THE TESTAMENT OF LEVI CONCERNING THE PRIESTHOOD AND
ARROGANCE.
I. The copy of the words of Levi, what
things he appointed to his sons, according to all
that they should do, and what things should be-
fall them until the day of judgment. He was
in sound health when he called them to him,
for it had been shown to him that he should die.
And when they were gathered together he said
to them : —
2. I Levi was conceived in Haran and bom
there, and after that I came with my father to
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
13
Shechem. And I was young, about twenty years
of age, when with Simeon I wrought the ven-
geance on Hamor for our sister Dinah. And
when we were feeding our flocks in Abel-Maul,
a spirit of understanding of the Lord came upon
me,' and I saw all men corrupting their way,
and that unrighteousness had built to itself walls,
and iniquity sat upon towers ; and I grieved for
the race of men, and I prayed to the Lord that
I might be saved. Then there fell upon me a
sleep, and I beheld a high mountain ; this is the
mountain of Aspis^ in Abel-Maul. And be-
hold, the heavens were opened, and an angel of
God said to me, Levi, enter. And 1 entered
from the first heaven into the second, and I saw
there water hanging between the one and the
other. And I saw a third heaven far brighter
than those two, for there was in it a height with-
out bounds. And I said to the angel, Where-
fore is this? And the angel said to me. Marvel
not at these, for thou shalt see four other
heavens brighter than these, and without com-
parison, when thou shalt have ascended thither :
because thou shalt stand near the Lord, and
shalt be His minister, and shalt declare His mys-
teries to men, and shalt proclaim concerning
Him who shall redeem Israel ;3 and by thee and
Judah shall the Lord appear among men, saving
in them every race of men ; and of the portion
of the Lord shall be thy life, and He shall be
thy field and vineyard, fruits, gold, silver.
3. Hear, then, concerning the seven ■* heavens.
The lowest is for this cause more gloomy, in
that it is near all the iniquities of men. The
second hath fire, snow, ice, ready for the day of
the ordinance of the Lord, in the righteous judg-
ment of God : in it are all the spirits of the
retributions for vengeance on the wicked. In
the third are the hosts of the armies which are
ordained for the day of judgment, to work ven-
geance on the spirits of deceit and of Beliar.
And the heavens up to the fourth above these
are holy, for in the highest of all dwelleth the
Great Glory, in the holy of holies, far above all
holiness. . In the heaven next to it are the angels
of the presence of the Lord, who minister and
make propitiation to the Lord for all the igno-
rances of the righteous ; and they offer to the
Lord a reasonable sweet-smelling savour, and a
bloodless offering. And in the heaven below
this are the angels who bear the answers to the
angels of the presence of the Lord. And in
the heaven next to this are thrones, dominions,
in which hymns are ever offered to God. There-
fore, whenever the Lord looketh upon us, all of
I [Isa. xi. 2.]
^ See below, c. 6.
3 Cf. Luke xxiv. 21.
* For the Jewish idea of seven heavens, cf. Clement of Alexan-
dria, Stroi'i., iv. 7; and Wetstein's note on 2 Cor xii. 2; [also vol.
vii. note 11, this series; and vol. ii. note 7, p. 438, this series].
US are shaken ; yea, the heavens, and the earth,
and the abysses, are shaken at the presence of
His majesty ; but the sons of men, regarding
not these things, sin, and provoke the Most High.
4. Now, therefore, know that the Lord will
execute judgment upon the sons of men ; be-
cause when the rocks are rent, 5 and the sun
quenched, and the waters dried up, and the fire
trembling, and all creation troubled, and the
invisible spirits melting away, and the grave ^
spoiled in the suffering of the Most High,? men
unbelieving will abide in their iniquity, therefore
with punishment shall they be judged. There-
fore the Most High hath heard thy prayer, to
separate thee from iniquity, and that thou
shouldest become to Him a son, and a servant,
and a minister of His presence. A shining light
of knowledge shalt thou shine in Jacob, and as
the sun shalt thou be to all the seed of Israel.
And a blessing shall be given to thee, and to all
thy seed, until the Lord shall visit all the hea-
then in the tender mercies of His Son, even for
ever. Nevertheless thy sons shall lay hands
upon Him to crucify Him ; and therefore have
counsel and understanding been given thee, that
thou mightest instruct thy sons concerning Him,
because he that blesseth Him shall be blessed,
but they that curse Him shall perish.
5. And the angel opened to me the gates of
heaven, and I saw the holy temple, and the
Most High upon a throne of glory. And He
said to me, Levi, I have given thee the blessings
of the priesthood until that I shall come and
sojourn in the midst of Israel. Then the angel
brought me to the earth, and gave me a shield
and a sword, and said, Work vengeance on
Shechem because of Dinah, and I will be with
thee, because the Lord hath sent me. And I
destroyed at that time the sons of Hamor, as it is
written in the heavenly tablets.^ And I said to
Him, I pray Thee, O Lord, tell me Thy name,
that I may call upon Thee in a day of tribula-
tion. And He said, I am the angel who inter-
cedeth for the race of Israel, that He smite
them not utterly, because every evil spirit at-
tacketh it. And after these things I was as it
were awaked, and blessed the Most High, and
the angel that intercedeth for the race of Israel,
and for all the righteous.''
5 [Matt, xxvii. 51-53.]
6 [Hades, rather.]
7 [eTri Tu) waSei ToO 'Vi/do-oO. Compare Tatian, vol. ii. p. 71,
this series.]
8 This document, the idea of which is that of a book containing what
is fore-ordained in heaven as to the course of the future, is one often
appealed to in Apocalyptic literature, when some oracular declaration
of weighty import is needed. Thus, in the Book of Enoch, the angel
Uriel tells Enoch that the tablets contain all wisdom, the dying Enoch
tells his children that the tablets are the source of all understanding,
etc. (see, e.g.,cc. 81. i; 93. 2; 106. 19, ed. Dillmann). In the Book
of Jubilees, again, it is said that inscribed on the tablets are, e.g.,
the punishment of the angels who sinned with mortal women, the
plan of the division of weeks, the name of Abraham as the friend of
God, etc. (cc. 5, 6, 19). See also Test. Asher, 2, 7, in/ra,
9 [Gen. xlviii. 16. The Jehovah-Angel.]
H
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
6. And when I came to my father I found a
brazen shield ; ' wherefore also the name of the
mountain is Aspis, which is near Gebal, on the
right side of Abila ; and I kept these words in
my heart. I took counsel with my father, and
with Reuben my brother, that he should bid
the sons of Hamor that they should be circum-
cised ; for I was jealous because of the abomi-
nation which they had wrought in Israel. And
I slew Shechem at the first, and Simeon slew
Hamor. And after this our brethren came and
smote the city with the edge of the sword ; and
our father heard it and was wroth, and he was
grieved in that they had received the circum-
cision, and after that had been put to death, and
in his blessings he dealt otherwise zvith us. For
we sinned because we had done this thing against
his will, and he was sick upon that day. But I
knew that the sentence of God was for evil upon
Shechem ; for they sought to do to Sarah as they
did to Dinah our sister, and the Lord hindered
them. And so they persecuted Abraham our
flither when he was a stranger, and they harried
his flocks when they were multiplied upon him ;
and Jeblae his servant, born in his house, they
shamefully handled. And thus they did to all
strangers, taking away their wives by force, and
the men themselves driving into exile. But the
wrath of the Lord came suddenly upon them
to the uttermost.^
7. And I said to my father. Be not angry, sir,
because by thee will the Lord bring to nought
the Canaanites, and will give their land to thee,
and to thy seed after thee. For from this day
forward shall Shechem be called a city of them
that are without understanding ; for as a man
mocketh at a fool, so did we mock them, be-
cause they wrought folly in Israel to defile our
sister. And we took our sister from thence, and
departed, and came to Bethel.
8. And there I saw a thing again even as the
former, after we had passed seventy days. And
I saw seven men in v.'hite raiment saying to me,
Arise, put on the robe of the priesthood, and
the crown of righteousness, and the breastplate
of understanding, and the garment of truth, and
the diadem of faith, and the tiara of miracle,
and the ephod of prophecy.^ And each one of
them bearing each of these things put them on
me, and said. From henceforth become a priest
of the Lord, thou and thy seed for ever. And
* a<rni<;. The Latin version gives the other meaning to aanU
here, of asp or viper. The epithet x"'^*^''' however, renders
" shield " much more probable, as there seems nothing in the con-
text pointing to the " brazen serpent."
2 A quotation from i Thess. ii. 16, where the context also is simi-
lar to the present. [See Lardner's refutation of the learned Grabe
on this quotation, vol. ii. p. 339.]
■5 With the whole of this passage we may compare the description
of the vestments of Aaron. See especially Ex. xxix. 5, 6 (LXX.).
The TTdraXov is the translation of V'j,*, the plate of gold on the fore-
head of the high priest over the mitre. The Ao-yior, or \oye'LOv, is
the breastplate, with the Urim and Thummim. For the woSripr)';, see
Ex. xxviii. 27 (LXX.).
the first anointed me with holy oil, and gave to
me the rod of judgment. The second washed
me with pure water, and fed me with bread and
wine, the most holy things,'* and clad me with a
holy and glorious robe. The third clothed me
with a linen vestment like to an ephod. The
fourth put round me a girdle like unto purple.
The fifth gave to me a branch of rich olive.
The sixth placed a crown on my head. The
seventh placed on my head a diadem of priest-
hood, and filled my hands with incense, so that
I served as a priest to the Lord. And they said
to me, Levi, thy seed shall be divided into three
branches,^ for a sign of the glory of the Lord
who is to come ; and first shall he be that hath
been faithful ; no portion shall be greater than
his. The second shall be in the priesthood.
The third — a new name shall be called over
Him, because He shall arise as King from
Judah, and shall establish a new priesthood, after
the fashion of the Gentiles, to all the Gentiles.^
And His appearing shall be unutterable, as of
an exalted ^ prophet of the seed of Abraham our
father. Every desirable thing in Israel shall be
for thee and for thy seed, and everything fair to
look upon shall ye eat, and the table of the Lord
shall thy seed apportion, and some of them
shall be high priests, and judges, and scribes ;
for by their mouth shall the holy place be
guarded. And when I awoke, I understood that
this thing was like unto the former. And I hid
this also in my heart, and told it not to any man
upon the earth.
9. And after two days I and Judah went up to
Isaac after ^ our father ; and the father of my
father blessed me according to all the words
of the visions which I had seen : and he would
not come with us to Bethel. And when we
came to Bethel, my father Jacob saw in a vision
concerning me, that I should be to them for a
priest unto the Lord ; and he rose up early in
the morning, and paid tithes of all to the Lord
through me. And we came to Hebron to dwell
there, and Isaac called me continually to put
me in remembrance of the law of the Lord,
even as the angel of God showed to me. And
he taught me the law of the priesthood, of sacri-
fices, whole burnt-offerings, first-fruits, free-will
offerings, thank-offerings. And each day he was
instructing me, and was busied for me before
the Lord. And he said to me. Take heed, my
child, of the spirit of fornication ; for this shall
■1 On the possible reference here to the elements of the Eucharist,
see Grabe's note, Spicikgiuin, hi loc.
5 Nitzsch (p. 19, n. 37) explains this division into three apxai, as
referring to the three orders of the Christian priesthood. This, how-
ever, seems improbable. Cf Kayser, p. 119: Vorstman, p. 41. It
is far more probable that the reference is to Moses, Aaron, and Christ.
Thus with TTiffTeucras we may compare Num. xii. 7. For this use of
apxi), cf Gen. ii. 10. fisa. Ixvi. 21.]
6 [Rom. xvi 15, 16, 17, Greek. Compare Heb. v. i.]
7 Or, if we follow the reading of Cd. Oxon., " Prophet of the Most
High." ^ „
8 Or rather, with Cd. Oxon., *' with our father.
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
15
continue, and shall by thy seed pollute the holy
things. Take therefore to thyself, while yet
thou art young, a wife, not having blemish, nor
yet polluted, nor of the race of the Philistines
or Gentiles. And before entering into the holy
place, bathe ; ' and when thou offerest the sacri-
fice, wash ; and again when thou finishest the
sacrifice, wash. Of twelve trees ever having
leaves, offer up the fruits to the Lord, as also
Abraham taught me ; and of every clean beast
and clean bird offer a sacrifice to the Lord, and
of every firstling and of wine offer first-fruits ;
and every sacrifice thou shalt salt with salt.^
10. Now, therefore, observe whatsoever I com-
mand you, children ; for whatsoever things I have
heard from my fathers I have made known to
you. I am clear from all your ungodliness and
transgression which ye will do in the end of the
ages against the Saviour of the world, acting un-
godly, deceiving Israel, and raising up against it
great evils from the Lord.^ And ye will deal
lawlessly with Israel, so that Jerusalem shall not
endure your wickedness ; but the veil of the
temple shall be rent, so as not to cover your
shame. And ye shall be scattered as captives
among the heathen, and shall be for a reproach
and for a curse, and for a trampling under foot.
For the house which the Lord shall choose shall
be called Jerusalem, as is contained in the book
of Enoch the righteous. •♦
11. Therefore, when I took a wife I was
twenty-eight years old, and her name was Mel-
cha. And she conceived and bare a son, and
she called his name Gersham, for we were so-
journers in our land : for Gersham is interpreted
sojourning. And I saw concerning him that he
would not be in the first rank. And Kohath was
born in my thirty-fii'th year, towards the east.
And I saw in a vision that he was standing on
high in the midst of all the congregation. There-
fore I called his name Kohath, which meaneth,
beginning of majesty and instruction. And
thirdly, she bare to me Merari, in the fortieth
year of my life ; and since his mother bare him
with difficulty, she called him Merari, which
meaneth my bitterness, because he also died.
And Jochebed was born in my sixty-fourth year,
in Egypt, for I was renowned then in the midst
of my brethren.
12. And Gersham took a wife, and she bare
to him Lomni and Semei. And the sons of
Kohath, Ambram, Isaar, Chebro, and Ozel. And
' We constantly find Peter, in the Clementine Homilies and
Recognitions, combining with the Agapae the practice of bathing.
Cf., e.g., Rccog., iv. 3, V. 36.
^ Cf. Horn., xiv. I. [Lev. ii. 13: Mark ix. 49.]
3 TAnnas and Caiaphas. Johnxix. ii.J
< This document is frequently quoted in the Testaments: cf.
Sim. 5; Levi 14, 16; Jitdah 18; Dan 5; Napk. 4; Betij. q.
Most of these citations, however, are not to be found in the work as
it has come down to us. We must therefore either assume the refer-
ence to some other books of Enoch not now extant, or rather perhaps
that they are general appeals to the spirit of the book, regarded as a
great fount of prophecy.
the sons of Merari, Mooli and Homusi. And in
my ninety-fourth year Ambram took Jochebed
my daughter to him to wife, for they were born
in one day, he and my daughter. Eight years
old was I when I went into the land of Canaan,
and eighteen years when I slew Shechem, and at
nineteen years I became priest, and at twenty-
eight years I took a wife, and at forty years I
went into Egypt. And behold, ye are my chil-
dren, my children even of a third generation.
In my hundred and eighteenth year Joseph died.
13. And now, my children, I command you
that ye fear our Lord with your whole heart, and
walk in simplicity according to all His 5 law.
And do ye also teach your children learning, that
they may have understanding in all their life,
reading unceasingly the law of God ; for every
one who shall know the law of God shall be hon-
oured, and shall not be a stranger wheresoever
he goeth. Yea, many friends shall he gain more
than his forefathers \ and many men shall desire
to serve him, and to hear the law from his mouth.
W'^ork righteousness, my children, upon the earth,
that ye may find treasure in the heavens, and
sow good things in your souls, that ye may find
them in your life. For if ye sow evil things, ye
shall reap all trouble and affliction. Get wisdom
in the fear of God with diligence ; for though
there shall be a leading into captivity, and cities
be destroyed, and lands and gold and silver and
every possession shall perish, the wisdom of the
wise none can take away, save the blindness of
ungodliness and the palsy of sin : for even among
his enemies shall it be to him glorious, and in
a strange country a home, and in the midst of
foes shall it be found a friend. If a man teach
these things and do them, he shall be enthroned
with kings, as was also Joseph our brother.
14. And now, my children, I have learnt from
the writing of Enoch that at the last ye will deal
ungodly, laying your hands upon the Lord in all
malice ; and your brethren shall be ashamed
because of you, and to all the Gentiles shall it
become a mocking. For our father Israel shall
be pure from the ungodliness of the chief priests
who shall lay their hands upon the Saviour of the
world. Pure is the heaven above the earth, and
ye are the lights of the heaven as the sun and
the moon. What shall all the Gentiles do if ye
be darkened in ungodliness? So shall ye bring
a curse upon our race for whom came the light
of the world, which was given among you for the
lighting up of every man.^ Him will ye desire
to slay, teaching commandments contrary to the
ordinances of God. The offerings of the Lord
will ye rob, and from His portion will ye steal ;
and before ye sacrifice to the Lord, ye will take
the choicest parts, in despitefulness eating them
5 Read aiiroO with Cd. Oxon.
6 [John i. 4-9, viii. 12, ix. 5, etc.]
i6
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
with harlots. Amid excesses ' will ye teach the
commandments of the Lord, the women that
have husbands will ye pollute, and the virgins of
Jerusalem will ye defile ; and with harlots and
adulteresses will ye be joined. The daughters
of the Gentiles will ye take for wives, purifying
them with an unlawful purification ; and your
union shall be like unto Sodom and Gomorrah
in ungodliness. And ye will be puffed up because
of the priesthood lifdng yourselves up against
men. And not only so, but being puffed up also
against the commands of God, ye will scoff at
the holy things, mocking in despitefulness.
15. Therefore the temple which the Lord
shall choose shall be desolate in uncleanness, and
ye shall be captives tlaroughout all nations, and
ye shall be an abomination among them, and ye
shall receive reproach and everlasting shame from
the righteous judgment of God ; and all who see
you shall fiee from you. And were it not for
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob our fathers, not one
from my seed should be left upon the earth.
16. And now I have learnt in the book of
Enoch that for seventy weeks will ye go astray,
and will profane the priesthood, and pollute the
sacrifices, and corrupt the law, and set at nought
the words of the prophets. In perverseness ye
will persecute righteous men, and hate the godly ;
the words of the faithful will ye abhor, and the
man who reneweth the law in the power of the
Most High will ye call a deceiver ;2 and at last,
as ye suppose,. ye will slay Him, not understand-
ing His resurrection, wickedly taking upon your
own heads the innocent blood.^ Because of Him
shall your holy places be desolate, polluted even
to the ground, and ye shall have no place that
is clean ; but ye shall be among the Gentiles a
curse and a dispersion, until He shall again look
upon you, and in pity shall take you to Himself
through faith and water.-*
17. And because ye have heard concerning
the seventy weeks, hear also concerning the
priesthood ; for in each jubilee there shall be a
priesthood. In the first jubilee, the first who is
anointed into the priesthood shall be great, and
shall speak to God as to a Father^ and his
priesthood shall be filled with the fear of the
•Lord, and in the day of his gladness shall he
arise for the salvation of the world. In the
second jubilee, he that is anointed shall be con-
ceived in the sorrow of beloved ones ; and his
priesthood shall be honoured, and shall be glori-
fied among all. And the third priest shall be
held fast in sorrow ; and the fourth shall be in
1 The word TrAeoi-flia, like the English " excess," has not unfre-
quently special reference to sins of sensuality. Cf. i Cor. v. 11, Eph.
iv. 19, V. 3, 5, Col. iii. 5, I Thess. iv. 6, the context in all of which
passages points strongly to this conclusion. See Suicer's Thesaurus,
s.v. ... ...
2 Cf. Matt, xxvii. 63, where ixilvo^ 6 n-Aavos is said of our Lord.
3 [.Matt, xxvii. 25.]
4 [John iii. 5; Isa. xii. 3: i Pet. iii. 20.]
grief, because unrighteousness shall be laid upon
him exceedingly, and all Israel shall hate each
one his neighbour. The fifth shall be held fast
in darkness, likewise also the sixth and the
seventh. And in the seventh there shall be such
pollution as I am not able to exj^ress, before the
Lord and men, for they shall know it who do
these things. Therefore shall they be in captivity
and for a prey, and their land and their substance
shall be destroyed. And in the fifth week they
shall return into their desolate country, and shall
renew the house of the Lord. And in the seventh
week shall come the priests, worshippers of idols,
contentious, lovers of money, proud, lawless,
lascivious, abusers of children and beasts.
18, And after their punishment shall have
come from the Lord, then will the Lord raise up
to the priesthood a new Priest, to whom all the
words of the Lord shall be revealed ; and He
shall execute a judgment of truth upon the earth, 5
in the fulness of days. And His star shall arise
in heaven,*^ as a king shedding forth the light of
knowledge in the sunshine of day, and He shall
be magnified in the world until His ascension.
He shall shine forth as the sun in the earth, and
shall drive away all * darkness from the world
under heaven, and there shall be peace in all the
earth. The heavens shall rejoice in His days,
and the earth shall be glad, and the clouds shall
be joyful, and the knowledge of the Lord shall
be poured forth upon the earth, as the water of
seas ; and the angels of the glory of the presence
of the Lord shall be glad in Him. The heavens
shall be opened, and from the temple of glory
shall the sanctification come upon Him with the
Father's voice, as from Abraham the father of
Isaac. And the glory of the Most High shall
be uttered over Him, and the spirit of under-
standing and of sanctification shall rest upon
Him in the water. He shall give the majesty of
the Lord to His sons in truth for evermore ; and
there shall none succeed Him for all generations,
even for ever.^ And in His priesthood shall all
sin come to an end, and the lawless shall rest
from evil, and the just shall rest in Him. And
He shall open the gates of paradise, and shall
remove ^ the threatening sword against Adam ;
and He shall give to His saints to eat from the
tree of life,^ and the spirit of holiness shall be
on them. And Beliar shall be bound by Him,
and He shall give power to His children to tread
S [Jer. xxxiii. 15. J
* [Matt. ii. 2. Constant references to the Gospels proofs of text.]
' An additional clause occurs here in Cd. Oxon., which generally
has a tendency to omit; the copyist of Cd. Cam. having possibly
looked on to the same initial words in the next clause: " And in His
priesthood shall the Gentiles be multiplied in knowledge on the earth,
and shall be enlightened through the grace of the Lord; but Israel
shall be minished in ignorance, and be darkened in sorrow."
' The reading of Cd. Oxon. here, aTroo-Trj-rfi, is to be preferred to
Cd. Cam., (TTijtTet. Grosseteste's Latin version, in all probability
made from the latter, has stare/aciet. [See p. 7, note i, supra.\
9 [Rev. ii. 7.]
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
17
upon the evil spirits.' And the Lord shall re-
joice in His children, and the Lord shall be well
pleased in His beloved for ever. Then shall
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob be joyful, and I
will be glad, and all the saints shall put on
gladness.
19. And now, my children, ye have heard all ;
choose therefore for yourselves either the dark-
ness or the light, either the law of the Lord or
the works of Beliar. And we answered our father,
I [Luke X. 18, 19.]
saying. Before the Lord will we walk according
to His law. And our father said, The Lord is
witness, and His angels are witnesses, and I
am witness, and ye are witnesses, concerning
the word of your mouth. And we said, We are
witnesses. And thus Levi ceased giving charge
to his sons ; and he stretched out his feet, and
was gathered to his fathers, after he had lived a
hundred and thirty-seven years. And they laid
him in a coffin, and afterwards they buried him
in Hebron, by the side of Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob.
IV. — THE TESTAMENT OF JUDAH CONCERNING FORTITUDE, AND LOVE OF
MONEY, AND FORNICATION.
1. The copy of the words of Judah, what
things he spake to his sons before he died. They
gathered themselves together, and came to him,
and he said to them : I was the fourth son born
to my father, and my mother called me Judah,
saying, I give thanks to the Lord, because He
hath given to me even a fourth son.' I was
swift and active in my youth, and obedient
to my father in everything. And I honoured my
mother and my mother's sister. And it <;ame to
pass, when I became a man, that my father Jacob
prayed over me, saying. Thou shall be a king,
and prosperous in all things.
2. And the Lord showed me favour in all my
works both in the field and at home. When I
saw that I could run with the hind, then I caught
it, and prepared meat for my father. I seized
upon the roes in the chase, and all that was in
the plains I outran. A wild mare I outran, and I
caught it and tamed it ; and I slew a lion, and
plucked a kid out of its mouth. I took a bear
by its paw, and rolled it over a cliff ; and if any
beast turned upon me, I rent it like a dog. I
encountered the wild boar, and overtaking it in
the chase, I tore it. A leopard in Hebron leaped
upon the dog, and I caught it by the tail, and
flung it from me, and it was dashed to pieces in
the coasts of Gaza. A wild ox feeding in the field
I seized by the horns ; and whirling it round and
stunning it, I cast it from me, and slew it.
3. And when the two kings of the Canaanites
came in warlike array against our flocks, and much
people with them, I by myself rushed upon King
Sur and seized him ; and I beat him upon the
legs, and dragged him down, and so I slew him.
And the other king, Taphue,^ I slew as he sat
' Gen. xxix. 35, [The name = Praise. So Gen. xlix. 3.]
2 In c. 5 we find this name, with a slight variety of spelhng, as that
of a place over which this king may have ruled. It is doubtless equiv-
alent to the Hebrew Tappuah, a name of several cities mentioned in
the Old Testament. See Josh. xv. 34, xvi. 8, xvii. 8, i Chron. ii. 43.
Cf. Thapha, Jubilees, 34.
upon his horse, and so I scattered all the people.
Achor the king, a man of giant stature, hurling
darts before and behind as he sat on horseback, I
slew ; for I hurled a stone of sixty pounds weight,
and cast it upon his horse, and killed him. And
I fought with Achor for two hours, and I killed
him ; and I clave his shield into two parts, and I
chopped off his feet. And as I stripped off his
breastplate, behold, eight men his companions
began to fight with me. I wound round there-
fore my garment in my hand ; and I slang stones
at them, and killed four of them, and the rest
fled. And Jacob my father slew Beelisa, king of
all the kings, a giant in strength, twelve cubits
high ; and fear fell upon them, and they
ceased from making war with us. Tlierefore
my father had no care in the wars when I was
among my brethren. For he saw in a vision
concerning me, that an angel of might followed
me everywhere, that I should not be overcome.
4. And in the south there befell us a greater
war than that in Shechem ; and I joined in bat-
tle array with my brethren, and pursued a thou-
sand men, and slew of them two hundred men
and four kings. And I went up against them
upon the wall, and two other kings I slew ; and
so we freed Hebron, and took all the captives of
the kings.
5. On the next day we departed to Areta,^ a
city strong and walled and inaccessible, threat-
ening us with death. Therefore I and Gad ap-
proached on the east side of the city, and
Reuben and Levi on the west and south. And
they that were upon the wafl, thinking that
we were alone, charged down upon us ; and so
our brethren secretly climbed up the wall on
both sides by ladders, and entered into the city,
while the men knew it not. And we took it with
the edge of the sword ; and those who had taken
1 3 Cd. Oxon. reads kii(ia.v ; but cf. Aresa, Jubilees, 34.
i8
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
refuge in the tower, — we set fire to the tower,
and took both it and them. And as we were de-
parting the men of Thaffu set upon our captives,
and we took it with our sons, and fought with
them even to Thaffu ; and we slew them, and
burnt their city, and spoiled all the things that
were therein.
6. And when I was at the waters of Chuzeba,"
the men of Jobel came against us to battle, and
we fought with them ; and their allies from Se-
lom^ we slew, and we allowed them no means
of escaping, and of coming against us. And the
men of Machir ^ came upon us on the fifth day,
to carry away our captives ; and we attacked
them, and overcame them in fierce battle : for
they were a host and mighty in themselves, and
we slew them before they had gone up the as-
cent of the hill. And when we came to their
city, their women rolled upon us stones from the
brow of the hill on which the city stood. And
I and Simeon hid ourselves behind the town, and
seized upon the heights, and utterly destroyed the
whole city.
7. And the next day it was told us that the
cities ■♦ of the two kings with a great host were
coming against us. I therefore and Dan feigned
ourselves to be Amorites, and went as allies into
their city. And in the depth of night our breth-
ren came, and we opened to them the gates ; and
we destroyed all the men and their substance,
and we took for a prey all that was theirs, and
their three walls we cast down. And we drew
near to Thamna,5 where was all the refuge of
the hostile kings. Then having received hurt I
was wroth, and charged upon them to the brow
of the hill ; and they slang at me with stones
and darts ; and had not Dan my brother aided
me, they would have been able to slay me. We
came upon them therefore with wrath, and they
all fled ; and passing by another way, they be-
sought my father, and he made peace with them,
and we did to them no hurt, but made a truce
with them, and restored to them all the captives.
And I built Thamna, and my father built Rham-
bael.^ I was twenty years old when this war be-
fell, and the Canaanites feared me and my breth-
ren.
8. Moreover, I had much cattle, and I had for
' Cf. c. 12; also Chezib (Gen. xxxviii. 5), Chozeba (i Chron. iv.
22), and Achzib (Josh. xv. 44; Mic. i 14), all of which are probably
different names for the same place, and all connected with Judah.
2 Cf. Selo, yubilees. I.e.
3 Cf. I Chron. xi 36. [Here the translator supplies a note of
doubt, — an interrogation-point.]
■* Cd. Oxon. reads i'aa<; ttoAi? $a<n\eu>v, Cf Josh. xxiv. 30;
Judg. li. 9; 2 Sam. xxiii. 30. Cf. also " Gaiz," yuHlees, I c.
5 The Timnah of the Old Testament, which name is, however,
borne by several places. Most probably it is the Timnah near Beth-
shemesh, on the north frontier of Judah, in the neighbourhood, that is,
of many of the other localities mentioned in the Testaments. This
may be the same as the Timnathah on the Danite frontier (Josh. xix.
43), and with the Timnathah where Samson's wife dwelt (Judg. xiv.
I sqq.). The geographical position of Timnath-serah is against the
allusion being to it here. Cf., however, Jubilees, c. 34, where Tliani-
nathares is one of the hostile towns.
6 Cf. Rebel, Jubilees, I.e.
the chief of my herdsmen Iran 7 the Adullamite.
And when I went to him I saw Barsan, king of
Adullam, and he made us a feast ; and he en-
treated me, and gave me his daughter Bathshua
to wife. She bare me Er, and Onan, and She-
lah ; and the two of them the Lord smote that
they died childless : for Shelah lived, and his
children are ye.
9. Eighteen years we abode at peace, our
father and we, with his brother Esau, and his
sons with us, after that we came from Mesopo-
tamia, from Laban. And when eighteen years
were fulfilled, in the fortieth year of my life, Esau,
the brother of my father, came upon us with
much people and strong ; and he fell by the bow
of Jacob, and was taken up dead in Mount Seir :
even as he went above Iramna*^ was he slain.
And we pursued after the sons of Esau. Now
they had a city with walls of iron and gates of
brass ; and we could not enter into it, and we
encamped around, and besieged them. And
when they opened not to us after twenty days, I
set up a ladder in the sight of all, and with my
shield upon my head I climbed up, assailed with
stones of three talents' weight ; and I climbed
up, and slew four who w^ere mighty among them.
And the next day Reuben and Gad entered in
and slew sixty others. Then they asked from us
terms of peace ; and being aware of our father's
purpose, we received them as tributaries. And
they gave us two hundred cors of wheat, five
hundred baths of oil, fifteen hundred measures
of wine, until we went down into Egypt.
10. After these things, my son Er took to wife
Tamar, from Mesopotamia, a daughter of Aram.''
Now Er was wicked, and he doubted concerning
Tamar, because she was not of the land of Ca-
naan. And on the third day an angel of the
Lord smote him in the night, and he had not
known her, according to the evil craftiness of his
mother, for he did not wish to have children
from her. In the days of the wedding-feast I
espoused Onan to her ; and he also in wicked-
ness knew her not, though he lived with her a
year. And when I threatened him, he lay with
her,'° . . . according to the command of his
mother, and he also died in his wickedness.
And I wished to give Shelah also to her, but
my wife Bathshua suffered it not ; for she bore
a spite against Tamar, because she was not of the
daughters of Canaan, as she herself was.
11. And I knew that the race of Canaan was
wicked, but the thoughts of youth blinded my
heart. And when I saw her pouring out wine,
7 Cf. Gen. xxxviii. i.
8 Cd. Oxon. iv ' Avoyipati., probably per incuriam scriba, for
iisa-vu) 'Ipd^.
9 This seems to arise from the wish to disconnect Israel as far as
possible from non-Shemite associations. Cf. the Targum of Onkelos
on Gen. xxxviii. 6. " Judah took a wife for Er, his first-born, a
daughter cf the great Shem, whose name was Tamar."
10 Stei^eeipe 6e to trjrep/ia «jri rrjv ytjv.
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
19
in the drunkenness of wine was I deceived, and
I fell before her. And while I was away, she
went and took for Shelah a wife from the land
of Caanan. And when I knew what she had
done, I cursed her in the anguish of my soul,
and she also died in the wickedness of her
sons.
12. And after these things, while Tamar was
a widow, she heard after two years that I was
going up to shear my sheep ; then she decked
herself in bridal array, and sat over against the
city by the gate. For it is a law of the Amo-
rites, that she who is about to marry sit in for-
nication seven days by the gate.' I therefore,
being drunk at the waters of Chozeb, recognised
her not by reason of wine ; and her beauty de-
ceived me, through the fashion of her adorning.
And I turned aside to her, and said, I would
enter in to thee. And she said to me. What
wilt thou give me? And I gave her my staff,
and my girdle, and my royal crown ; and I lay
with her, and she conceived. I then, not know-
ing what she had done, wished to slay her ; but
she privily sent my pledges, and put me to
shame. And when I called her, I heard also
the secret words which I spoke when lying with
her in my drunkenness ; and I could not slay
her, because it was from the Lord. For I said,
Lest haply she did it in subtlety, and received
the pledge from another woinan : but I came
near her no more till my death, because I had
done this abomination in all Israel. Moreover,
they who were in the city said that there was no
bride in the city, because she came from another
place, and sat for awhile in the gate, and she
thought that no one knew that I had gone in
to her.^ And after this we came into Egypt to
Joseph, because of the famine. Forty and six
years old was I, and seventy and three years
lived I there.
13. And now, my children, in what things so-
ever I command you hearken to your father, and
keep all my sayings to perform the ordinances of
the Lord, and to obey the command of the Lord
God. And walk not after your lusts, nor in the
thouglits of your imaginations in the haughtiness
of your heart ; and glory not in the works of the
strength of youth, for this also is evil in the eyes
of the Lord. For since I also gloried that in
wars the face of no woman of goodly form ever
deceived me, and upbraided Reuben my brother
concerning Bilhah, the wife of my father, the
spirits of jealousy and of fornication arrayed
themselves within me, until I fell before Bathshua
the Canaanite, and Tamar who was espoused to
my sons. And I said to my father-in-law, I will
counsel with my father, and so will I take thy
dau£(hter. And he showed me a boundless store
' \Herod. i., cap. 199; Baiuch vi. 43.]
* [To this section Lardner objects. But compare Gen. xxxviii. 12.]
of gold in his daughter's behalf, for he was a
king. And he decked her with gold and pearls,
and caused her to pour out wine for us at the
feast in womanly beauty. And the wine led my
eyes astray, and pleasure blinded my heart ; and
I loved her, and I fell, and transgressed the com-
mandment of the Lord and the commandment
of my fathers, and I took her to wife. And the
Lord rewarded me according to the thought of
my heart, insomuch that I had no joy in her
children.
14. And now, my children, be not drunk with
wine ; for wine turneth the mind away from the
truth, and kindleth in it the passion of lust, and
leadeth the eyes into error. For the spirit of
fornication hath wine as a minister to give pleas-
ures to the mind ; for these two take away the
power from a man. For if a man drink wine to
drunkenness, he disturbeth his mind with filthy
thoughts to fornication, and exciteth his body to
carnal union ; and if the cause of the desire be
present, he worketh the sin, and is not ashamed.
Such is wine, my children ; for he who is drunk-
en reverenceth no man. For, lo, it made me
also to err, so that I was not ashamed of the
multitude in the city, because before the eyes of
all I turned aside unto Tamar, and I worked a
great sin, and I uncovered the covering of the
shame of my sons. After that I drank wine I
reverenced not the commandment of God, and
I took a woman of Canaan to wife. Wherefore,
my children, he who drinketh wine needeth dis-
cretion ; and herein is discretion in drinking
wine, that a man should drink as long as he
keepeth decency ; but if he go beyond this
bound, the spirit of deceit attacketh his mind
and worketh his will ; and it maketh the drunk-
ard to talk filthily, and to transgress and not to
be ashamed, but even to exult in his dishonour,
accounting himself to do well.
15. He that committeth fornication, and ^ un-
covereth his nakedness, hath become the servant
of fornication, and escapeth not ^ from the power
thereof, even as I also was uncovered. For I
gave my staff, that is, the stay of my tribe ; and
my girdle, that is, my power ; and my diadem,
that is, the glory of my kingdom. Then I re-
pented for these things, and took no wine or
flesh until my old age, nor did I behold any joy.
And the angel of God showed me that for ever
do women bear rule over king and beggar alike ;
and from the king they take away his glory, and
from the valiant man his strength, and from the
beggar even that little which is the stay of his
poverty.
3 Cd. Oxon. here reads the additional clause, ^T)/xiovMf 0? ovk
aicrflaferai (cal dSo^oi' ov< <ii(JXVV^Ta.i.. Kai' yn.p ti? /3a<riAeucr>7,
■nopviviav , — perhaps omitted from Cd. Cant, through the homoeote-
leuton.
* Cd. Oxon. omits the negative. The ^aaiKeia will then be that
from which the man falls by his sin.
20
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
1 6. Observe therefore, my children, modera-
tion in wine ; for there are in it four evil spirits
— of (i) lust, of (2) wrath, of (3) riot, of (4)
filthy lucre. If ye drink wine in gladness, with
shamefacedness, with the fear of God, ye shall ;
live. For if ye drink not with shamefacedness, 1
and the fear of God departeth from you, then
Cometh drunkenness, and shamelessness stealeth
in. But ' even if ye drink not at all, take heed
lest ye sin in words of outrage, and fighting, and
slander, and transgression of the commandments I
of God ; so shall ye perish before your time.
Moreover, wine revealeth the mysteries of God
and men to aliens, even as I also revealed the
commandments of God and the mysteries of
Jacob my father to the Canaanitish Bathshua, to
whom God forbade to declare them. And wine
also is a cause of war and confusion.
17. I charge you, therefore, my children, not
to love money, nor to gaze upon the beauty of
women ; because for the sake of money and
beauty I was led astray to Bathshua the Canaan-
ite. For I know that because of these two things
shall ye who are my race fall into wickedness ;
for even wise men among my sons shall they
mar, and shall cause the kingdom of Judah to
be diminished, which the Lord gave me because
of my obedience to ray father.^ For I never
disobeyed a word of Jacob my father, for all
things whatsoever he commanded I did. And
Abraham, the father of my father, blessed me
that I should be king in Israel, and Isaac further
blessed me in like manner. And I know that
from me shall the kingdom be established.
18. For I have read also in the books of
Enoch the righteous what evils ye shall do in the
last days. Take heed, therefore, my children,
of fornication and the love of money ; hearken
to Judah your father, for these things do with-
draw you from the law of God, -and blind the
understanding of the soul, and teach arrogance,
and suffer not a man to have compassion upon
his neighbour : they rob his soul of all goodness,
and bind him in toils and troubles, and take
away his sleep and devour his flesh, and hinder
the sacrifices of God ; and he remembereth not
blessing, and he hearkeneth not to a prophet
when he speaketh, and is vexed at the word of
godliness. For one who serveth two passions
contrary to the commandments of God cannot
obey God, because they have blinded his soul,
and he walketh in the day-time as in the
night.
19. My children, the love of money leadeth to
idols ; because, when led astray through money,
men make mention of those who are no gods,
and it causeth him who hath it to fall into mad-
' Cd. Oxon. reads ti 5e Ae-yto; y.rfi' oAws jrirere, which seems
much more suitable to the context.
* [1 Kings xi. i, and ver. ii.]
ness. For the sake of money I lost my children,
and but for the repentance of my flesh, and the
humbling of my soul, and the prayers of Jacob
my father, I should have died childless. But
the God of my fathers, who is pitiful and merci-
ful, pardoned me, because I did it in ignorance.^
For the prince of deceit blinded me, and I was
ignorant as a man and as flesh, being corrupted
in sins ; and I learnt my own weakness while
thinking myself unconquerable.'*
20. 5 Learn therefore, my children, that two
spirits wait upon man — the spirit of truth and
the spirit of error ; and in the midst is the spirit
of the understanding of the mind, to which it
belongeth to turn whithersoever it will. And the
works of truth and the works of error are written
upon the breast of men, and each one of them
the Lord knoweth. And there is no time at
which the works of men can be hid from Him ;
for on the bones of his breast hath he been writ-
ten down before the Lord. And the spirit of
truth testifieth all things, and accuseth all ; and
he who sinneth is burnt up by his own heart,
and cannot raise his face unto the Judge.
21. And now, my children, love Levi, that ye
may abide, and exalt not yourselves against him,
lest ye be utterly destroyed. For to me the Lord
gave the kingdom, and to him the priesthood,
and He set the kingdom" beneath the priesthood.
To me He gave the things upon the earth ; to
him the things in the heavens. As the heaven
is higher than the earth, so is the priesthood of
God higher than the kingdom upon the earth.
For the Lord chose him above thee, to draw
near to Him, and to eat of His table and first-
fruits, even the choice things of the sons of
Israel, and thou shalt be to them as a sea. For
as, on the sea, just and unjust are tossed about,
some taken into captivity while others are en-
riched, so also shall every race of men be in
thee, some are in jeopardy and taken captive,
and others shall grow rich by means of plunder.
For they who rule will be as great sea-monsters,
swallowing up men like fishes : free sons and
daughters do they enslave ; houses, lands, flocks,
money, will they plunder ; and with the flesh of
many will they wrongfully feed the ravens and
the cranes ; and they will go on further in evil,
advancing on still in covetousness. And there
shall be false prophets like tempests, and they
shall persecute all righteous men.
22. And the Lord shall bring upon them di-
visions one against another, and there shall be
continual wars in Israel ; and among men of
other race shall my kingdom be brought to an
end, until the salvation of Israel shall come, until
the appearing of the God of righteousness, that
3 [Num. XV. 25 and Acts iii. 17.]
4 [See cap. 13, p. 19, suj>ra.\
5 Cd. Oxon. omits the whole of this chapter.
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
21
Jacob and all the Gentiles may rest in peace.'
And he shall guard the might of my kingdom
for ever : for the L-ord sware to me with an oath
that the kingdom should never fail from me, and
from my seed for all days, even for ever.
23. Now I have much grief, my children,
because of your lewdness, and witchcrafts, and
idolatries, which ye will work against the king-
dom, following them that have familiar spirits ;
ye - will make your daughters singing girls ^ and
harlots for divinations and demons of error, and
ye will be mingled in the pollutions of the Gen-
tiles : for which things' sake the Lord shall bring
upon you famine and pestilence, death and the
sword, avenging siege, and dogs for the rending
in pieces of enemies, and revilings of friends,
destruction and blighting of eyes, children slaugh-
tered, wives carried off, possessions plundered,
temple of God in flames, your land desolated,
your own selves enslaved among the Gentiles,
and they shall make some of you eunuchs for
their wives ; and whenever ye will return to the
Lord with humility of heart, repenting and walk-
ing in all the commandments of God, then will
the Lord visit you in mercy and in love, bringing
you from out of the bondage of your enemies.
24. And after these things shall a Star arise to
you from Jacob in peace, and a Man shall rise from
my seed, like the Sun of righteousness, walking
with the sons of men'* in meekness and right-
eousness, and no sin shall be found in Him. And
the heavens shall be opened above Him, to shed
forth the blessing of the Spirit from the Holy
Father ; and He shall shed forth a spirit of grace
upon you, and ye shall be unto Him sons in
truth, and ye shall walk in His commandments,
the first and the last. This is the Branch of God
Most High, and this the Well-spring unto life for
all flesh. 5 Then shall the sceptre of my king-
' [Rom. xi. 26]
2 xhe reading of Cd. Oxon. is doubtless to be preferred, ■
joins KA»j6oai xai Sai/notrt TrAai/T)? to what precedes.
•5 [Eccles. ii 8; Ecclus. ix. 4.J
* [Prov. viii. 31.]
5 Cd. Oxon. omits from here to end of c. 25.
/hich
dom shine forth, and from your root shall arise
a stem ; and in it shall arise a rod of righteous-
ness to the Gentiles, to judge and to save all that
call upon the Lord.
25. And after these things shall Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob arise unto life, and I and my
brethren will be chiefs, even your sceptre in
Israel : Levi first, I the second, Joseph third,
Benjamin fourth, Simeon fifth, Issachar sixth,
and so all in order. And the Lord blessed Levi ;
the Angel of the Presence, me ; the powers of
glory,^ Simeon ; the heaven, Reuben ; the earth,
Issachar ; the sea, Zebulun ; the mountains, Jo-
seph • the tabernacle, Benjamin ; the lights of
heaven, Dan ; the fatness of earth, Naphtali ;
the sun, Gad ; the olive, Asher : and there shall
be one people of the Lord, and one tongue ; and
there shall no more be a spirit of deceit of Beliar,
for he shall be cast into the fire for ever. And
they who have died in grief shall arise in joy,
and they who have lived in poverty for the Lord's
sake shall be made rich, and they who have been
in want shall be filled, and they who have been
weak shall be made strong, and they who have
been put to death for the Lord's sake shall awake
in life. 7 And the harts of Jacob shall run in joy-
fulness, and the eagles of Israel shall fly in glad-
ness ; but the ungodly shall lament, and sinners
shall weep, and all the people shall glorify the
Lord for ever.
26. Observe, therefore, my children, all the law
of the Lord, for there is hope for all them who
follow His way aright. And he said to them :
I die before your eyes this day, a hundred and
nineteen years old. Let no one bury me in costly
apparel, nor tear open my bowels,*^ for this shall
they who are kings do : and carry me up to He-
bron with you. And Judah, when he had said
these things, fell asleep ; and his sons did ac-
cording to all whatsoever he commanded them,
and they buried him in Hebron with his fathers.
^ TEph. iii. 10.]
7 [2 Mace. vii. 9-36 and Heb. xi. 35.]
8 i.e., for the purpose of embalmment.
v. — THE TESTAMENT OF ISSACHAR CONCER^IING SIMPLICITY.
I. The record of the words of Issachar. He
called his sons, and said to them : Hearken, my
children, to Issachar your father ; give ear to
my words, ye who are beloved of the Lord. I
was the fifth son born to Jacob, even the hire of
the mandrakes.' For Reuben ^ brought in man-
drakes from the field, and Rachel met him and
took them. And Reuben wept, and at his voice
' See Gen. xxx. 14 sqq.
^ The Cam. ms. reads 'laxui^ by an obvious error.
Leah my mother came forth. Now these man-
drakes were sweet-smelling apples which the land
of Aram produced on high ground below a ravine
of water. And Rachel said, I will not give them
to thee, for they shall be to me instead of chil-
dren. Now there were two apples ; and Leah
said. Let it suffice thee that thou hast taken the
husband of my virginity : wilt thou also take
these? And she said. Behold, let Jacob be to
thee this night instead of the mandrakes of thy
22
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
!
son. And Leah said to her, Boast not, and vaunt
not thyself; for Jacob is mine, and I am the wife
of his'youth. But Rachel said, How so? for to j
me was he first espoused, and for my sake he
ser\'ed our father fourteen years. What shall I
do to thee, because the craft and the subtlety of
men are increased, and craft prospereth upon
the earth ? And were it not so, thou wouldest
not now see the face of Jacob. For thou art
not his wife, but in craft wert taken to him in
my stead. And my father deceived me, and re-
moved me on that night, and suffered me not to
see him ; for had I been there, it had not hap-
pened thus. And Rachel said. Take one man-
drake, and for the other thou shalt hire him from
me for one night. And Jacob knew Leah, and
she conceived and bare me, and on account of
the hire ' I was called Issachar.
2. Then appeared to Jacob an angel of the
Lord, saying, Two children shall Rachel bear ; for
she hath refused company with her husband, and
hath chosen continency. And had not Leah my
mother given up the two apples for the sake of
his company, she would have borne eight sons ;
and for this thing she bare six, and Rachel two :
because on account of the mandrakes the Lord
visited her. For He knew that for the sake of
children she wished to company with Jacob, and
not for lust of pleasure.^ For she went further,
and on the morrow too gave up Jacob that she
might receive also the other mandrake. There-
fore the Lord hearkened to Rachel because of the
mandrakes : for though she desired them, she ate
them not, but brought them to the priest of the
Most High who was at that time, and offered them
up in the house of the Lord.
3. When, therefore, I grew up, my children, I
walked in uprightness of heart, and I became a
husbandman for my parents and my brethren,
and I brought in fruits from the field according
to their season ; and my father blessed me, for he
saw that I walked in simplicity. And I was not
a busybody in my doings, nor malicious and slan-
derous against my neighbour. I never spoke
against any one, nor did I censure the life of any
man, but walked in the simplicity of my eyes.
Therefore when I was thirty years old I took
to myself a wife, for my labour wore away my
strength, and I never thought ijpon pleasure with
women ; but through my labour my sleep sufficed
me, and my father always rejoiced in my sim-
plicity. For on whatever I laboured I offered
first to the Lord, by the hands of the priests, of
all my produce and all first-fruits ; then to my
father, and then took for myself. And the Lord
increased twofold His benefits in my hands ; and
Jacob also knew that God aided my simplicity,
"for on every poor man and every one in distress
' Sachar.
2 [Tobit viii. 7, 8.]
I bestowed the good things of the earth in sim-
plicity of heart.
4. And now hearken to me, my children, and
walk in simplicity of heart, for I have seen in it
all that is well-pleasing to the Lord. The simple
coveteth not gold, defraudeth not his neighbour,
longeth not after manifold dainties, delighteth
not in varied apparel, doth not picture to himself
to live a long life, but only waiteth for the will
of God, and the spirits of error have no power
against him. For he cannot allow within his
mind a thought of female beauty, that he should
not pollute his mind in corruption. No envy can
enter into his thoughts, no jealousy melteth away
his soul, nor doth he brood over gain with insa-
tiate desire ; for he walketh in uprightness of life,
and beholdeth all things in simplicity, not ad-
mitting in his eyes malice from the error of the
world, lest he should see the perversion of any
of the commandments of the Lord.
5. Keep therefore the law of God, my chil-
dren, and get simplicity, arid walk in guilelessness,
not prying over-curiously into the commands of
God and the business of your neighbour ; but
love the Lord and your neighbour, have compas-
sion on the poor and weak. Bow down your
back unto husbandry, and labour in tillage of
the ground in all manner of husbandry, offering
gifts unto the Lord with thanksgiving ; for with
the first-fruits of the earth did the Lord bless me,
even as He blessed all the saints from Abel even
until now. For no other portion is given to thee
than of the fatness of the earth, whose fruits are
raised by toil ; for our father Jacob blessed me
with blessings of the earth and of first-fruits.
And Levi and Judah were glorified by the Lord
among the sons of Jacob ; for the Lord made
choice of them, and to the one He gave the
priesthood, to the other the kingdom. Them
therefore obey, and walk in the simplicity of your
father ; for unto Gad hath it been given to de-
stroy the temptations that are coming upon Israel.
6. I know, my children, that in the last times
your sons will forsake simplicity, and will cleave
unto avarice, and leaving guilelessness will draw
near to malice, and forsaking the commandments
of the Lord will cleave unto Beliar, and leaving
husbandry will follow after their wicked devices,
and shall be dispersed among the Gentiles, and
shall serve their enemies. And do you therefore
command these things to your children, that if
they sin they may the more quickly return to the
Lord ; for He is merciful, and will deliver them
even to bring them back into their land.
7. I am a hundred and twenty-two years old,
and I know not against myself a sin unto death.
Except my wife, I have not known any woman.
I never committed fornication in the haughtiness
of my eyes ; I drank not wine, to be led astray
thereby ; I coveted not any desirable thing that
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
23
was my neighbour's ; guile never entered in my
heart ; a lie never passed tlirough my lips ; if any
man grie\-ed, I wept with him, and I shared my
bread with the poor. I never ate alone ; I moved
no landmark ; in all my days I wrought godli-
ness and truth. I loved the Lord with all my
strength; likewise also did I love every man even
as my own children. So ye also do these things,
my children, and every spirit of Beliar shall flee
from you, and no deed of malicious men shall
rule over you ; and every wild beast shall ye sub-
due, having with yourselves the God of heaven
walking with men in simplicity of heart.
And he commanded them that they should
carry him up to Hebron, and bury him there in
the cave with his fathers. And he stretched out
his feet and died, the fifth son of Jacob, in a
good old age ; and with every limb sound, and
with strength unabated, he slept the eternal
sleep.'
' [See Dan, note 12, p. 26, infra. " Eternal " = " long."]
VL— THE TESTAMENT OF ZEBULUN CONCERNING COMPASSION AND MERCY.
1. The record of Zebulun, which he enjoined
his children in the hundred ' and fourteenth year
of his life, thirty-two years after the death of
Joseph. And he said to them : Hearken to me,
sons of Zebulun, attend to the words of your
father. I am Zebulun, a good gift^ to my
parents. For when I was born our father was
increased very exceedingly, both in flocks and
herds, when with the streaked rods he had his
portion. I know not, ray children, that in all
my days I have sinned, save only in thought.
Nor do I remember that I have done any iniquity,
except the sin of ignorance which I committed
against Joseph ; for I screened my brethren, not
telling to my father what had been done. And
I wept sore in secret, for I feared my brethren,
because they had all agreed together, that if any
one should declare the secret, he should be slain
with the sword. But when they wished to kill
him, I adjured them much with tears not to be
guilty of this iniquity.
2. For Simeon and Gad came against Joseph
to kill him. And Joseph fell upon his face, and
said unto them. Pity me, my brethren, have com-
passion upon the bowels of Jacob our father :
lay not upon me your hands to shed innocent
blood, for I have not sinned against you ; yea,
if I have sinned, with chastening chastise me,
but lay not upon me your hand, for the sake of
Jacob our father. And as he spoke these words,
I pitied him and began to weep, and my heart
melted within me, and all the substance of my
bowels was loosened within my soul. And Joseph
also wept, and I too wept with him ; and my
heart throbbed fast, and the joints of my body
' The Ox. MS. reads 150, and refers the event to two years after
Joseph's death. The text of the Cam. MS. gives an impossible result
here, as it would make Zebulun twenty-eight years younger than
Joseph, who died at the age oi no. According to the Ox. MS., Reu-
ben (cf. c. 1) and Zebulun would die in the same year, the former at
125, the latter 150. A comparison of Test. Reub., c. 1, shows the
most probable sr)lution to be to give the numerals, pi6', 0'.
2 The derivation of Zebulun seems to be from vDT, a collateral
form of "13T, to give. Hence Leah plays on the double meaning of
the former verb, Gen. xxx. 20.
trembled, and I was not able to stand. And
when he saw me weeping with him, and them
coming against him to slay him, he fled behind
me, beseeching them. And Reuben rose and
said. My brethren, let us not slay him, but let us
cast him into one of these dry pits which our
fathers digged and found no water. For for this
cause the Lord forbade that water should rise up
in them, in order that Joseph might be preser\-ed ;
and the Lord appointed it so, until they sold him
to the Ishmaelites.
3. For in the price of Joseph, my children, I
had no share ; but Simeon and Gad and six
other of our brethren took the price of Joseph,
and bought sandals ^ for themselves, their wives,
and their children, saying. We will not eat of it,
for it is the price of our brother's blood, but will
tread it down under foot, because he said that
he was king over us, and so let us see what his
dreams mean. Therefore is it written in the
writing of the law of Enoch, that whosoever will
not raise up seed to his brother, his sandal shall
be unloosed, and they shall spit into his face.*
And the brethren of Joseph wished not that their
brother should live, and the Lord loosed unto
them the sandal of Joseph. For when they
came into Egypt they were unloosed by the ser-
vants of Joseph before the gate, and so made
obeisance to Joseph after the fashion of Pharaoh.
And not only did they make obeisance to him,
but were spit upon also, falling down before him
forthwith, and so they were put to shame before
the Egyptians ; for after this the Egyptians heard
all the evils which we had done to Joseph.
4. After these things they brought forth food ;
for I through two days and two nights tasted
nothing, through pity for Joseph. And Judah
ate not with them, but watched the pit ; for he
feared lest Simeon and Gad should run back and
slay him. And when they saw that I also ate not,
3 Cf. the Targum Ps. Jon. on Gen. xxxvii. 28.
4 [Deut. XXV. 7, 8, 9. See Lardner on the animus of these quo-
tations from Enoch, as it strikes him, vol. ii. p. 350.J
24
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
they set me to watch him until he was sold. And
he remained in the pit three days and three
nights, and so was sold famishing. And when
Reuben heard that while he was away Joseph
had been sold, he rent his clothes about him,
and mourned, saying, How shall I look in the
face of Jacob my father? And he took the
money, and ran after the merchants, and found
no one ; for they had left the main road, and
journeyed hastily through rugged byways.' And
Reuben ate no food on that day. Dan therefore
came to him, and said, Weep not, neither grieve ;
for I have found what we can say to our father
Jacob. Let us slay a kid of the goats, and dip
in it the coat of Joseph ; and we will say. Look,
if this is the coat of thy son : for they stripped
off from Joseph the coat of our father when they
were about to sell him, and put upon him an old
garment of a slave. Now Simeon had the coat,
and would not give it up, wishing to rend it with
his sword ; for he was angry that Joseph lived,
and that he had not slain him. Then we all
rose up together against him, and said, If thou
give it not up, we will say that thou alone didst
this wickedness in Israel ; and so he gave it up,
and they did even as Dan had said.
5. And now, my children, I bid you to keep
the commands of the Lord, and to show mercy
upon your neighbour, and to have compassion
towards all, not towards men only, but also to-
wards beasts. For for this thing's sake the Lord
blessed me ; and when all my brethren were sick
I escaped without sickness, for the Lord knoweth
the purposes of each. Have therefore compas-
sion in your hearts, my children, because even as
a man doeth to his neighbour, even so also will
the Lord do to him. For the sons of my breth-
ren were sickening, were dying on account of
Joseph, because they showed not mercy in their
hearts ; but my sons were preserved without
sickness, as ye know. And when I was in Canaan,
by the sea-coast, I caught spoil of fish for Jacob
my father ; and when many were choked in the
sea, I abode unhurt.
6. I was the first who made a boat to sail
upon the sea, for the Lord gave me understand-
ing and wisdom therein ; and I let down a rudder
behind it, and I stretched a sail on an upright
mast in the midst ; and sailing therein along the
shores, I caught fish for the house of my father
until we went into Egypt ; and through compas-
sion, I gave of my fish to every stranger. And
if any man were a stranger, or sick, or aged, I
boiled the fish and dressed them well, and offered
them to all men as every man had need, bringing
them together and having compassion upon them.
Wherefore also the Lord granted me to take
much fish : for he that imparteth unto his neigh-
bour, receiveth manifold more from the Lord.
For five years I caught fish, and gave thereof to
every man whom I saw, and brouglit sufficient
for all the house of my father. In the summer
I caught fish, and in the winter I kept sheep
with my brethren.
7. Now I will declare unto you what I did.
I saw a man in distress and nakedness in winter-
time, and had compassion upon him, and stole
away^ a garment secredy from my house, and
gave it to him who was in distress. Do you
therefore, my children, from that which God be-
stoweth upon you, show compassion and mercy
impartially to all men, and give to every man
with a good heart. And if ye have not at the
time wherewith to give to him that asketh you,
have compassion for him in bowels of mercy. I
know that my hand found not at the time where-
with to give to him that asked me, and I walked
with him weeping for more than seven furlongs,
and my bowels yearned to^vards him unto com-
passion.
8. Have therefore yourselves also, my children,
compassion towards every man with mercy, that
the Lord also may have compassion upon you,
and have mercy upon you ; because also in the
last days God sendeth His compassion on the
earth, and wheresoever He findeth bowels of
mercy. He dwelleth in him. For how much
compassion a man hath upon his neighbours, so
much also hath the Lord upon him. For when
we went down into Egypt, Joseph bore no malice
against us, and when he saw me he was filled
with compassion. And looking towards him, do
ye also, my children, approve yourselves without
malice, and love one another ; and reckon not
each one the evil of his brother, for this breaketh
unity, and divideth all kindred, and troubleth the
soul : for he who beareth malice hath not bowels
of mercy.
9. Mark the waters, that they flow together,
and sweep along stones, trees, sand ; but if they
are divided into many streams, the earth sucketh
them up, and they become of no account. So
also shall ye be if ye be divided. Divide not
yourselves into two heads, for everything which
the Lord made hath but one head ; He gave
two shoulders, hands, feet, but all the members
are subject unto the one head. I have learnt by
the writing of my fathers, that in the last days
ye will depart from the Lord, and be divided in
Israel, and ye will follow two kings, and will work
every abomination, and every idol will ye wor-
ship, and your enemies shall lead you captive, and
ye shall dwell among the nations with all infirm-
ities and tribulations and anguish of soul. And
after these things ye will remember the Lord, and
will repent, and He will lead you back ; for He is
* Cam. MS. fiia Tpay\oico\irr)Tiiiv; Ox. MS. Sia Tpu)y\oSvTi)V,
2 [" Finis non determinat probitatem actus."]
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
25
merciful and full of compassion, not imputing
evil to the sons of men, because they are flesh,
and the spirits of error deceive them in all their
doings. And after these things shall the Lord
Himself arise to you,' the Light of righteousness,
and healing^ and compassion shall be upon His
wings. He shall redeem all captivity of the sons
of men from Beliar, and every spirit of error
shall be trodden down. And He shall bring back
all the nations to zeal for Him, and ye shall see
God in the fashion of a man^ whom the Lord shall
choose, Jerusalem is His name. And again with
the wickedness of your words will ye provoke
Him to anger, and ye shall be cast away, even
unto the time of consummation.
1 Mai. iv. 2.
2 The Ox. MS reads: "And ye s^all return from your land, and
ye shall see the Lord in Jerusalem for His name's sake." [Heb.
vii. 2. At least, Salem is His name.]
3 [Another of those unequivocal passages which refute Lardner's
charge of " Unitarianism " in this book. J
10. And now, my children, grieve not that I
am dying, nor be troubled in that I am passing
away from you. For I shall arise once more in
the midst of you, as a ruler in the midst of his
sons ; and I will rejoice in the midst of my tribe,
as many as have kept the law of the Lord, and
the commandments of Zebulun their father.'*
But upon the ungodly shall the Lord bring ever-
lasting lire, and will destroy them throughout all
generations. I am hastening away unto my rest,
as did my fathers ; but do ye fear the Lord your
God with all your strength all the days of your
life. And when he had said these things he fell
calmly asleep, and his sons laid him in a coffin ;
and afterwards they carried him up to Hebron,
and buried him with his fathers.
* [Ezek. xlviii. 26, 27. An important example of Hebrew expo-
sition of this prophet.]
VH. — THE TESTAMENT OF DAN CONCERNING ANGER AND LYING.
1. The record of the words of Dan, which he
spake to his sons in his last days. In the hun-
dred and twenty-fifth year of his life he called
together his family, and said : Hearken to my
words, ye sons of Dan ; give heed to the words
of the mouth of your father. I have proved in
my heart, and in my whole life, that truth with
just dealing is good and well-pleasing to God,
and that lying and anger are evil, because they
teach man all wickedness. I confess this day to
you, my children, that in my heart I rejoiced con-
cerning the death of Joseph, a true and good
man ; and I rejoiced at the selling of Joseph, be-
cause his father loved him more than us. For
the spirit of jealousy and of vainglory said to me,
Thou also art his son. And one of the spirits of
Beliar wrought with me, saying, Take this sword,
and with it slay Jo.seph ; so shall thy father
love thee when he is slain. This is the spirit
of anger that counselled me, that even as a leop-
ard devoureth a kid, so should I devour Joseph.
But the God of Jacob our father gave him not
over into my hands that I should find him alone,
nor suffered me to work this inicjuity, that two
tribes should be destroyed in Israel.'
2. And now, my children, I am dying, and I
tell you of a truth, that unless ye keep yourselves
from the spirit of lying and of anger, and love truth
and long-suffering, ye shall perish. There is blind-
ness in anger, my children, and no wrathful man
regardeth any person with truth : for though it
be a father or a mother, he behaveth towards
' [The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.]
them as enemies ; though it be a brother, he
knoweth him not ; though it be a prophet of the
Lord, he disobeyeth him ; though a righteous
man, he regardeth him not ; a friend he doth not
acknowledge. For the spirit of anger encom-
passeth him with the nets of deceit, and blindeth
his natural eyes, and through lying darkeneth his
mind, and giveth him a sight of his own making.
And wherewith encompasseth he his eyes? In
hatred of heart ; and he giveth him a heart of
his own against his brother unto envy.
3. My children, mischievous is anger, for it
becometh as a soul to the soul itself; and the
body of the angry nian it maketh its own, and
over his soul it getteth the mastery, and it be-
stoweth upon the body its own power, that it
may work all iniquity ; and whenever the soul
doeth aught, it justifieth what has been done,
since it seeth not. Therefore he who is wrath-
ful, if he be a mighty man, hath a treble might
in his anger ; one by the might and aid of his
servants, and a second by his wrath, whereby he
persuadeth and overcometh in injustice : and
having a third of the nature of his own body,
and of his own self working the evil. And
though the wrathful man be weak, yet hath he
a might twofold of that which is by nature ; for
wrath ever aideth such in mischief. This spirit
goeth always with lying at the right hand of
Satan, that his works may be wrought with
cruelty and lying.
4. Understand ye therefore the might of
wrath, that it is vain. For it first of all sting-
eth him in word : then by deeds it strengtheneth
26
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
him who is angry, and with bitter punishments
disturbeth his mind, and so stirreth up with great
wrath his soul. Therefore, when any one speak-
eth against you, be not ' ye moved unto anger.
And if any man praiseth you as good, be not
lifted up nor elated, either to the feeling or
sliowing of pleasure.^ For first it pleaseth the
hearing, and so stirreth up the understanding to
understand the grounds for anger ; and then,
being wrathful, he thinketh that he is justly an-
gry. If ye fall into any loss or ruin, my chil-
dren, be not troubled ; for this very spirit maketh
men desire that which hath perished, in order
that they may he inflamed by the desire. If ye
suffer loss willingly, be not vexed, for from vexa-
tion he raiseth up wrath with lying. And wrath
with lying is a twofold mischief; ^ and they speak
one with another that they may disturb the mind ;
and when the soul is continually disturbed, the
Lord departeth from it, and Beliar ruleth over it.
5. Observe, therefore, my children, the com-
mandments of the Lord, and keep His law ;
and depart from wrath, and hate lying, that the
Lord may dwell among you, and Beliar may flee
from you. Speak truth each one with his neigh-
bour, so shall ye not fall into lust and confusion ;
but ye shall be in peace, having the God of
peace, so ^ shall no war prevail over you. Love
the Lord through all your life, and one another
with a true heart. For I know that in the last
days ye will depart from the Lord, and will pro-
voke Levi unto anger, and will fight against
Judah ; but ye shall not prevail against them.
For an angel of the Lord shall guide them both ;
for by them shall Israel stand. And whensoever
ye depart from the Lord, ye will walk in all
evil, working the abominations of the Gentiles,
going 5 astray with women of them that are un-
godly ; and the spirits of error shall work in you
with all malice. For I have read in the book of
Enoch the righteous, that your prince is Satan,
and that all the spirits of fornication and pride
shall be subject unto Levi, to lay a snare for
the soils of Levi, to cause them to sin before the
Lord. And my sons will draw near unto Levi,
and sin with them in all things ; and the sons of
Judah will be covetous, plundering other men's
goods like lions. Therefore shall ye be led
away with them in captivity, and there shall ye
receive all the plagues of Egypt, and all the
malice of the Gentiles : and so, when ye return
to the Lord, ye shall obtain mercy, and He shall
bring you into His sanctuary, calling peace upon
you ; and there shall arise unto you from the
tribe of Judah and of Levi the salvation of the
' The reading of the Ox. MS., iJi-q KifelaSf, is to be taken.
2 Cam. MS. CIS eiSeav; Ox. MS. eis ariSiav.
3 Read /ca/cdr.
* The O.X. MS. omits from here to toi? idvfat. SwTjjp in c. 6.
5 'V.K7T. pevoi'Tf? may be an error for eKiropviVovris, which Grabe
wrongly gives as the reading of the Cam. MS.
Lord ; '' and He shall make war against Beliar,
and He shall give the vengeance of victory to
our coasts. And the captivity shall He take
from Beliar, even the souls of the saints, and
shall turn disobedient hearts unto the Lord, and
shall give to them who call upon Him everlast-
ing peace ; and the saints shall rest in Eden,
and the righteous shall rejoice in the new Jeru-
salem, which shall be unto the glory of God for
ever and ever. And no longer shall Jerusalem
endure desolation, nor Israel be led' captive ; for
the Lord shall be in the midst of her, dwelling
among men,? even the Holy One of Israel reign-
ing over them ^ in humility and in poverty ; ^^ and
he who believeth on Him shall reign in truth in
the heavens.
6. And now, my children, fear the Lord, and
take heed unto yourselves of Satan and his
spirits ; and draw near unto God, and to the
Angel '° that intercedeth for you, for He is a
Mediator between God and man for the peace
of Israel. He shall stand up against the king-
dom of the enemy ; therefore is the enemy eager
to destroy all that call upon the Lord. For he
knovveth that in the day qu which Israel shall
believe," the kingdom of the enemy shall be
brought to an end ; and the very angel of peace
shall strengthen Israel, that it fall not into the
extremity of evil. And it shall be in the time
of the iniquity of Israel, that the Lord will de-
part from them, and will go after him that doeth
His will, for unto none of His angels shaU it be
as unto him. And His name shall be in every
place of Israel, and among the Gentiles — Sav-
iour. Keep therefore yourselves, my children,
from every evil work, and cast away wrath and
all lying, and love truth and long-suffering ; and
the things which ye have heard from your father,
do ye also impart to your children, that the
Father of the Gentiles may receive you : for He
is true and long-suffering, meek and lowly, and
teacheth by His works the law of God. Depart,
therefore, from all unrighteousness, and cleave
unto the righteousness of the law of the Lord :
and bury me near my fathers.
7. And when he had said these things he
kissed them, and slept the long sleep.'- And
his sons buried him, and after that they carried
up his bones to the side of Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob. Nevertheless, as Dan had prophe-
sied unto them that they should forget the law of
i their God, and should be alienated from the land
1 of their inheritance, and from the race of Israel,
! and from their kindred, so also it came to pass.
6 [The root idea, p. 18, notes 5, 6, sujifa.]
' Rev. xxi. 3.]
8 [Here is the Chiliasm of Barnabas, vol. i. p. 146.]
9 [That Is, not with the glory of His throne above.]
10 Cf. Dorner, Doctrine 0/ the Perso?t of Christ, Introd., p. 15,
Ent;. transl.
" [Rom. xi. 15.]
•- [See Zebulun 10, p. 25, supra.\
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
27
VIII. — THE TESTAMENT OF NAPHTALI CONCERNING NATURAL GOODNESS.
1. The record of the testament of Naphtali, I
what things he ordained at the time of his death
in the hundred and thirty-second year of his
hfe. When his sons were gathered together
in the seventh month, the fourth day of the
month, he, being yet in good health, made them
a feast and good cheer. And after he was
awake in the morning, he said to them, I am
dying ; and they beheved him not. And he
blessed the Lord, and affirmed that after yester-
day's feast he should die. He began then to
say to his sons : Hear, my children ; ye sons of
Naphtali, hear the words of your father. I was
born from Bilhah ; and because Rachel dealt
craftily, and gave Bilhah in place of herself to
Jacob, and she bore me upon Rachel's lap,
therefore was I called Naphtali.' And Rachel
loved me because I was born upon her lap ; and
when I was of young and tender form, she was
wont to kiss me, and say. Would that I might
see a brother of thine from my own womb, like
unto thee ! whence also Joseph was like unto me
in all things, according to the prayers of Rachel.
Now my mother was Bilhah, daughter of Rotheus
the brother of Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, and
she was born on one and the self-same day with
Rachel. And Rotheus was of the family of
Abraham, a Chaldean, fearing God, free-bom
and noble ; and he was taken captive, and was
bought by Laban ; and he gave him Aena his
handmaid to wife, and she bore a daughter, and
called her Zilpah, after the name of the village
in which he had been taken captive. And next
she bore Bilhah, saying. My daughter is eager
after what is new, for immediately that she was
born she was eager for the breast.
2. And since I was swift on my feet like a
deer, my father Jacob appointed me for all er-
rands and messages, and as a deer ^ did he give
me his blessing. For as the potter knoweth the
vessel, what it containeth, and bringeth clay
thereto, so also doth the Lord make the body in
accordance with the spirit, and according to the
capacity of the body doth He implant the spirit,
and the one is not deficient from the other by a
third part of a hair ; for by weight, and meas-
ure, and rule is every creature of the Most High.^
And as the potter knoweth the use of each ves-
sel, whereto it sufficeth, so also doth the Lord
know the body, how far it is capable for good-
ness, and when it beginneth in evil ; for there is
no created thing and no thought which the
Lord knoweth not, for He created every man
' Gen. XXX. 8. Josephus, Ani., i. 19. 7.
^ Gen. xlix. 21.
3 [Wis. xi. 20; Ecclus. xlii. 7.]
after His own image. As man's strength, so
also is his work; and as his mind, so also is his
work ; and as his purpose, so also is his doing ;
as his heart, so also is his mouth ; as his eye, so
also is his sleep ; as his soul, so also is his word,
either in the law of the Lord or in the law of
Beliar. And as there is a division between light
and darkness, between seeing and hearing, so
also is there a division between man and man,
and between woman and woman ; neither is it
to be said that there is any superiority in any-
thing, either of the face or of other like things.'*
For God made all things good in their order, the
five senses in the head, and He joineth on the
neck to the head, the hair also for comeliness,
the heart moreover for understanding, the belly
for the dividing of the stomach, the calamus 5 for
health, the liver for wrath, the gall for bitterness,
the spleen for laughter, the reins for craftiness, the
loins for power, the ribs for containing, the back
for strength, and so forth. So then, my chil-
dren, be ye orderly unto good things in the fear
of God, and do nothing disorderly in scorn or
out of its due season. For if thou bid the eye
to hear, it cannot ; so neither in darkness can ye
do the works of light.
3. Be ye not therefore eager to corrupt your
doings through excess, or with empty words to
deceive your souls ; because if ye keep silence
in purity of heart, ye shall be able to hold fast
the will of God, and to cast away the will of the
devil. Sun and moon and stars change not their
order ; so also ye shall not change the law of
God in the disorderliness of your doings. Na-
tions went astray, and forsook the Lord, and
changed their order, and followed stones and
stocks, following after spirits of error. But ye
shall not be so, my children, recognising in the
firmament, in the earth, and in the sea, and in
all created things, the Lord who made them all,
that ye become not as Sodom, which changed
the order of its nature. In like manner also the
Watchers^ changed the order of their nature,
whom also the Lord cursed at the flood, and for
their sakes made desolate the earth, that it should
be uninhabited and fniitless.
4. These things I say, my children, for I have
read in the holy writing of Enoch that ye your-
selves also will depart from the Lord, walking
according to all wickedness of the Gentiles, and
4 The Greek text here is obviously corrupt, and doubtless one or
two words are wanting. The reading of the Cam. ms. is, oiix ia-Tiv
tliTili' on eu Tw eft rot? 7rpO(Taj7rot9 rj ru)v o/xotwj'. In the Ox. MS.
the passage is wanting.
5 It seems very doubtful what is meant by KaAa/iios here. I have
thought it best, therefore, to leave the matter open. The Ox. MS.
punctuates (TTO/jid\ou xaA.
*' Cf. Reuben 5 [note 3, p. 10, supra\.
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
ye will do according to all the iniquity of Sodom.
And the Lord will bring captivity upon you, and
there shall ye serve your enemies, and ye shall
be covered with all affliction and tribulation, until
the Lord shall have consumed you all. And after
that ye shall have been diminished and made
few, ye will return and acknowledge the Lord
your God ; and He will bring you back into your
own land, according to His abundant mercy.
And it shall be, after that they shall come into
the land of their fathers, they will again forget
the Lord and deal wickedly ; and the Lord shall
scatter them upon the face of all the earth, until
the compassion of the Lord shall come, a Man
working righteousness and showing mercy unto
all them that are afar off, and them that are
near.
5. For in the fortieth year of my life, I saw i7i
a vision that the sun and the moon were stand-
ing still on the Mount of Olives, at the east of
Jerusalem. And behold Isaac, the father of my
father, saith to us, Run and lay hold of them,
each one according to his strength ; and he that
seizeth them, his shall be the sun and the moon.
And we all of us ran together, and Levi laid hold
of the sun, and Judah outstripped the others and
seized the moon, and they were both of them
lifted up with them. And when Levi became as
a sun, a certain young man gave to him twelve
branches of palm ; and Judah was bright as the
moon, and under his feet were twelve rays. And
Levi and Judah ran, and laid hold each of the
other. And, lo, a bull upon the earth, having
two great horns, and an eagle's wings upon his
back ; and we wished to seize him, but could
not. For Joseph outstripped us, and took him,
and ascended up with him on high. And I saw,
for I was there, and behold a holy writing ap-
peared to us, saying : Assyrians, Medes, Persians,
Elamites, Gelachaeans, Chaldeans, Syrians, shall
possess in captivity the twelve tribes of Israel.
6. And again, after seven months, I saw our
father Jacob standing by the sea of Jamnia, and
we his sons were with him. And, behold, there
came a ship sailing by, full of dried flesh, without
sailors or pilot ; and there was written upon the
ship, Jacob. And our father saith to us. Let us
embark on our ship. And when we had gone
on board, there arose a vehement storm, and a
tempest of mighty wind ; and our father, who
was holding the helm, flew away from us. And
we, being tost with the tempest, were borne
along over the sea ; and the ship was filled with
water and beaten about with a mighty wave, so
that it was well-nigh broken in pieces. And
Joseph fled away upon a little boat, and we all
were divided upon twelve boards, and Levi and
Judah were together. We therefore all were
scattered even unto afar off. Then Levi, girt
about with sackcloth, prayed for us all unto the
Lord. And when the storm ceased, immediately
the ship reached the land, as though in peace.
And, lo, Jacob our father came, and we rejoiced
with one accord.
7. These two dreams I told lo my father ; and
he said to me, These things must be fulfilled in
their season, after that Israel hath endured many
things. Then my father saith unto me, I believe
that Joseph liveth, for I see always that the Lord
numbereth him with you. And he said, weep-
ing, Thou livest, Joseph, my child, and I behold
thee not, and thou seest not Jacob that begat
thee. And he caused us also to weep at these
words of his, and I burned in my heart to de-
clare that he had been sold, but I feared my
brethren.
8. Behold, my children, I have shown unto
you the last times, that all shall come to pass in
Israel. Do ye also therefore charge your chil-
dren that they be united to Levi and to Judah.
For through Judah shall solvation arise unto
Israel, and in Him shall Jacob be blessed. For
through his tribe shall God be seen dwelling
among men on the earth, to save the race of
Israel, and He shall gather .together the right-
eous from the Gentiles. If ye work that which
is good, my children, both men and angels will
bless you ; and God will be glorified through
you among the Gentiles, and the devil will flee
from you, and the wild beasts will fear you, and
the angels will cleave to you. For as if a man
rear up a child well, he hath a kindly remem-
brance thereof ; so also for a good work there is
a good remembrance with God. But hitn who
doeth not that which is good, m.en and angels
shall curse, and God will be dishonoured among
the heathen through him, and the devil maketh
him his own as his peculiar instrument, and every
wild beast shall master him, and the Lord will
hate him. For the commandments of the law
are twofold, and through prudence must they be
fulfilled. For there is a season for a man to
embrace his wife, and a season to abstain there-
from ' for his prayer. So then there are two
commandments ; and unless they be done in
due order, they bring about sin. So also is it
with the other commandments. Be ye therefore
wise in God, and prudent, understanding the
order of the commandments, and the laws of
every work, that the Lord may love you.
9. And when he had charged them with many
such words, he exhorted them that they should
remove his bones to Hebron, and should bury
him with his fathers. And when he had eaten
and drunken with a merry heart, he covered his
face and died. And his sons did according to
all things whatsoever Naphtali their father had
charged them.
' [Eccles. iii. 5; i Cor. vii. 5.]
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
29
IX. — THE TESTAMENT OF GAD CONCERNING HATRED.
1. The record of the testament of Gad, what j
things he spake unto his sons, in the hundred |
and twenty-seventh year of his hfe, saying : I was ;
the seventh son born to Jacob, and I was vahant
in keeping the flocks. I guarded at night the
flock ; and wlienever the hon came, or wolf, or
leopard, or bear, or any wild beast against the
fold, I pursued it, and with my hand seizing its
foot, and whirling it round, I stunned it, and
hurled it over two furlongs, and so killed it.
Now Joseph was feeding the flock with us for
about thirty days, and being tender, he fell sick
by reason of the heat. And he returned to
Hebron to his father, who made him he down
near him, because he loved him. And Joseph
told our father that the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah
were slaying the best of the beasts,' and devour-
ing them without the knowledge of Judah and
Reuben. For he saw that I delivered a lamb
out of the mouth of the bear, and I put the bear
to death ; and the lamb I slew, being grieved
concerning it that it could not live, and we ate
it, and he told our father. And I was wroth
with Joseph for that thing until the day that he
was sold into Egypt. And the spirit of hatred
was in me, and I wished nqt either to see Joseph
or to hear him. And he rebuked us to our faces
for having eaten of the flock without Judah.
And whatsoever things he told our father, he
believed him.
2. I confess now my sin, my children, that
oftentimes I wished to kill him, because I hated
him to the death, and there were in no wise in
me bowels of mercy towards him. Moreover, I
hated him yet more because of his dreams ; and I
would have devoured him out of the land of the
living, even as a calf devoureth the grass from
the earth. Therefore I and Judah sold him to
the Ishmaelites for thirty^ pieces of gold, and
ten of them we hid, and showed the twenty to our
brethren ; and so through my covetousness I was
fully bent on his destruction. And the God of
my fathers delivered him from my hands, that I
should not work iniquity in Israel.
3. And now, my children, hearken to the
words of truth to work righteousness, and all the
law of the Most High, and not go astray through
the spirit of hatred, for it is evil in all the doings
of men. Whatsoever a man doeth, that doth
the hater abhor : though he worketh the law of
the Lord, he praiseth him not ; though he fear-
eth the Lord, and taketh pleasure in that which
* Cf. Targum Ps. Jon of Gen. xxxvii. 2.
^ The nrurative of Genesis (xxxvii 28) gives twenty pieces of sil-
ver; the LXX. twenty pieces of gold, with which latter agrees Jose-
phus' ij.foti' (iKociv {Antiq., ii. 3. 3). [It is worthy of note that
Judas took a meaner price for the " Son of Joseph."]
is righteous, he loveth him not : he dispraiseth
the truth, he envieth him that ordereth his way
aright, he delighteth in evil-speaking, he loveth
arrogance, for hatred hath blinded his soul ;
even as I also looked on Joseph.
4. Take heed therefore, my children, of ha-
tred ; for it worketh iniquity against the Lord
Himself: for it will not hear the words of His
commandments concerning the loving of one's
neighbour, and it sinneth against God. For if a
brother stumble, immediately it wisheth to pro-
claim it to all men, and is urgent that he should
be judged for it, and be punished and slain.
And if it be a servant, it accuseth him to his
master, and with all affliction it deviseth against
him, if it be possible to slay him. For hatred
worketh in envy, and it ever sickeneth with envy
against them that prosper in well-doing, when it
seeth or heareth thereof. For as love would even
restore to life the dead, and would call back
them that are condemned to die, so hatred would
slay the living, and those that have offended in a
small matter it would not suffer to live. For the
spirit of hatred worketh together with Satan
through hastiness 3 of spirit in all things unto
men's death ; but the spirit of love worketh to-
gether with the law of God in long-suffering unto
the salvation of men.'*
5. Hatred is evil, because it continually abid-
eth with lying, speaking against the truth ; and it
maketh small things to be great, and giveth heed
to darkness as to light, and calleth the sweet bit-
ter, and teacheth slander, and war, and violence,
and every excess of evil ; and it filleth the heart
with devilish poison. And these things I say to
you from experience, my children, that ye may
flee hatred, and cleave to the love of the Lord.
Righteousness casteth out hatred, humility de-
stroyeth hatred. For he that is just and humble
is ashamed to do wrong, being reproved not of
another, but of his own heart, because the Lord
vieweth his intent : he speaketh not against any
man, because the fear of the Most High overcom-
eth hatred. For, fearing lest he should offend
the Lord, he will not do any wrong to any man,
no, not even in thought. These things I learnt at
last, after that I had repented concerning Joseph.
For true repentance after a godly sort destroy-
eth unbelief, and driveth away the darkness, and
enlighteneth the eyes, and giveth knowledge
to the soul, and guideth the mind to salvation ;
and those things which it hath not learnt from
man, it knoweth through repentance. For God
3 For this unusual use of oAiyoi|/vxto, cf. Prov. xiv. 29, LXX.,
where there is the same contrast with ixaxpoOvixia.
* [This passage is cited by Lardner as conspicuously fine.]
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
brought upon me a disease of the heart ; and had
not the prayers of Jacob my father intervened, it
had hardly failed that my spirit had departed.
For by what things a man transgresseth, by the
same also is he punished.' For in that my heart
was set mercilessly against Joseph, in my heart
too I suffered mercilessly, and was judged for
eleven months, for so long a time as I had been
envious against Joseph until he was sold.
6. And now, my children, love ye each one
his brother, and put away hatred from your
hearts, loving one another in deed, and in word,
and in thought of the soul. For in the presence
of our father I spake peaceably with Joseph ;
and when I had gone out, ,the spirit of hatred
darkened my mind, and moved my soul to slay
him. ^ Love ye therefore one another from your
hearts ; and if a man sin against thee, tell him
of it gently, and drive out the poison of hatred,
and foster not guile in thy soul. And if he con-
fess and repent, forgive him ; and if he deny it,
strive not with him, lest he swear, and thou sin
doubly. Let not a stranger hear your secrets
amid your striving, lest he hate and become thy
enemy, and work great sin against thee ; for oft-
times he will talk guilefully^ with thee, or evilly
overreach thee, taking his poison from himself.
Therefore, if he deny it, and is convicted and
put to shame, and is silenced, do not tempt him
on. For he who denieth repenteth, so that he
no more doeth wrong against thee ; yea also, he
will honour thee, and fear thee, and be at peace
witli thee. But if he be shameless, and abideth
1 [Wis. xi. i6.]
2 The Ox. MS. omits from here to the last clause of c. 7.
3 For SoAux/iiuvrjcrai, the reading of the Cam. MS. here, Grabe
conjectured &oKo4>ovri(T€i.. Probably ooAo(|)aji')j(rei. is to be preferred.
in his wrongdoing, even then forgive him from
the heart, and give the vengeance to God.
7. If a man prospereth more than you, be not
grieved, but pray also for him, that he may have
perfect prosperity. For perchance it is expedi-
ent for you thus ; and if he be further exalted,
be not envious, remembering that all flesh shall
die : and offer praise to God, who giveth things
good and profitable to all men. Seek out the
judgments of the Lord, and so shall thy mind
rest and be at peace. And though a man be-
come rich by evil means, even as Esau the brother
of my father, be not jealous ; but wait for the
end of the Lord. For either He taketh His
benefits away from the wicked, or leaveth them
still to the repentant, or to the unrepentant re-
serveth punishment for ever. For the poor man
who is free from envy, giving thanks to the Lord
in all things, is rich among all men, because he
hath not evil jealousy of men. Put away, there-
fore, hatred from )'our souls, and love one an-
other with uprightness of heart.
8. And do ye also tell these things to your
children, that they honour Judah and Levi, for
from them shall the Lord raise up a Saviour to
Israel.'' For I know that at the last your chil-
dren shall depart from them, and shall walk in
all wickedness, and mischief, and corruption be-
fore the Lord. And when he had rested for a
little while, he said again to them. My children,
obey your father, and bury me near to my fathers.
And he drew up his feet, and fell asleep in peace.
And after five years they carried him up, and
laid him in Hebron with his fathers.
•* [The Virgin was the daughter of Judah, but had kinship with
Levi. Luke i. 36. Compare Jer. xxxiii. 20-22. J
X. — THE TESTAMENT OF ASHER CONCERNING TWO FACES OF VICE AND
VIRTUE.
I. The record of the testament of Asher, what
things he spake to his sons in the hundred and
twentieth year of his life. While he was still in
health, he said to them : Hearken, ye children
of Asher, to your father, and I will declare to
you all that is right in the sight of God. Two
ways' hath God given to the sons of men, and
two minds, and two doings, and two places, and
two ends. Therefore all things are by twos, one
corresponding to the other. There are two ways
of good and evil, with which are the two minds
in our breasts distinguishing them. Therefore
if the soul take pleasure in good, all its actions
are in righteousness ; and though it sin, it straight-
way repenteth. For, having his mind set upon
' [See the Duce Vi'ie, vol. vii., p. 377, this series.]
righteousness, and casting away maliciousness, he
straightway overthroweth the evil, and uprooteth
the sin. But if his mind turn aside in evil, all
his doings are in maliciousness, and he driveth
away the good, and taketh unto him the evil,
and is ruled by Beliar ; and even though he work
what is good, he perverteth it in evil. For
whenever he beginneth as though to do good, he
bringeth the end of his doing to work evil, see-
ing that the treasure of the devil is filled with
the poison of an evil spirit.
2. There is then, he saith, a soul which speak-
eth the good for the sake of the evil, and the
end of the doing leadeth to mischief.^ There is
a man who showeth no compassion upon him
2 [This section is commended by Dr. Lardner.]
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
31
who serveth his turn in evil ; and this thing hath
two aspects, but the whole is evil. And there is
a man that loveth him that worketh evil ; he
likewise dwelleth in evil, because he chooseth
even to die in an evil cause for his sake : and
concerning this it is clear that it hath two aspects,
but the whole is an evil work. And though there
is love, it is but wickedness concealing the evil,
even as it beareth a name that seemeth good,
but the end of the doing tendeth unto evil.
Another stealeth, worketli unjustly, plundereth,
defraudeth, and withal pitieth the poor : this,
too, hath a twofold aspect, but the whole is evil.
Defrauding his neighbour he provoketh God, and
sweareth falsely against the Most High, and yet
pitieth the poor : the Lord who commandeth the
law he setteth at nought and provoketh, and re-
fresheth the poor ; he defileth the soul, and
niaketh gay the body ; he killeth many, and he
pitieth a few : and this, too, hath a twofold as-
pect. Another committeth adultery and forni-
cation, and abstaineth from meats ; yet in his
fasting he worketh evil, and by his power and his
wealth perverteth many, and out of his excessive
wickedness worketh the commandments : this,
too, hath a twofold aspect, but the whole is evil.
Such men are as swine or hares ; ' for they are
half clean, but in very deed are unclean. For
God in the Heavenly ^ Tablets hath thus de-
clared.
3. Do not ye therefore, my children, wear two
faces like unto them, of goodness and of wick-
edness ; but cleave unto goodness only, for in
goodness doth God rest, and men desire it.
From wickedness flee away, destroying the devil
by your good works : for they that are double-
faced serve not God, but their own lusts, so that
they may please Beliar and men like unto them-
selves.
4. For good men, even they that are single
of face, though they be thought by them that
are double-faced to err, are just before God.
For many in killing the wicked do two works, an
evil by a good ; but the whole is good, because
he hath uprooted and destroyed that which is
evil. One man hateth him that showeth mercy,
and doeth wrong to the adulterer and the thief:
this, too, is double-faced, but the whole work is
good, because he followeth the Lord's example,
in that he receiveth not that which seemeth good
with that which is really bad.^ Another desireth
not to see good days with them that riot, lest he
defile his mouth and pollute his soul : this, too,
is double-faced, but the whole is good, for such
men are like to stags and to hinds, because in a
wild condition they seem to be unclean, but they
are altogether clean ; because they walk in a
' Cf. Lev. xi. 5,7. [Vol. ii. p. 555, note 6.]
2 Cf. Levi 'S. [P 13, note 8, SHpra.\
3 [Matt. V. 45. This seems contradictory .J
zeal for God, and abstain from what God also
hateth and forbiddeth by His commandments,
and they ward off the evil from the good.
5. Ye see therefore, my children, how that
there are two in all things, one against the other,
and the one is hidden by tlie other. •♦ Death
succeedeth to life, dishonour to glory, night to
day, and darkness to light ; and all things are
under the day, and just things under life : where-
fore also everlasting life awaiteth death. Nor
may it be said that truth is a lie, nor right wrong ;
for all truth is under the hght, even as all things
are under God. All these things I proved in my
life, and I wandered not from the truth of the
Lord, and I searched out the commandments of
the Most High, walking with singleness of face
according to all my strength unto that which is
good.
6. Take heed therefore ye also, my children,
to the commandments of the Lord, following the
truth with singleness of face, for they that are
double-faced receive twofold punishment. Hate
the spirits of error, which strive against men.
Keep the law of the Lord, and give not heed
unto evil as unto good ; but look unto the thing
that is good indeed, and keep it in all command-
ments of the Lord, having your conversation unto
Him, and resting in Him : for the ends at which
men aim do show their righteousness, and know
the angels of the Lord from the angels of Satan.
For if the soul depart troubled, it is tormented
by the evil spirit which also it served in lusts and
evil works ; but if quietly and with joy it hath
known the angel of peace, it shall comfort him
in life,
7. Become not, my children, as Sodom, which
knew not the angels of the Lord, and perished
for ever. For I know that ye will sin, and ye
shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies,
and your land shall be made desolate, and ye
shall be scattered unto the four corners of the
earth. And ye shall be set at nought in the
Dispersion as useless water, until the Most High
shall visit the earth ; and He shall come as man,
with men eating and drinking, and in peace
breaking the head of the dragon through water.
He shall save Israel and all nations, God speak-
ing in the person of man. Therefore tell ye
these things to your children, that they disobey
Him not. For I have read in the Heavenly
Tablets that in very deed ye will disobey Him,
and act ungodly against Him, not giving heed to
the law of God, but to the commandments of
men. Therefore shall ye be scattered as Gad
and as Dan my brethren, who shall know not
their own lands, tribe, and tongue. But the
Lord will gather you together in faith through
* The Ox. MS. adds, iv rfj €V(t>po<Tvvo i) ixiB-q, iv Tuj ye'AwTi TO
TtivOo^, iv Tu> Ya|Ui[i q dicpacrio. [Ecclus. xlii. 24.]
32
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
the hope of His tender mercy, for the sake of
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.'
8. And when he had said these things unto
• [The Hebrew triad, father, son, and proceeding.]
them, he charged them, saying : Bury me in
Hebron. And he fell into a peaceful sleep, and
died ; and after this his sons did as he had
charged them, and they carried him up and
buried him with his fathers.
XL — THE TESTAMENT OF JOSEPH CONCERNING SOBRIETY.
1. The record of the testament of Joseph.
When he was about to die he called his sons
and his brethren together, and said to them :
My children and brethren, hearken to Joseph
the beloved of Israel ; giv^ ear, my sons, unto
your father. I have seen in my life envy and
death, and I wandered not in the truth of the
Lord. These my brethren hated me, and the
Lord loved me : they wished to slay me, and
the God of my fathers guarded me : they let me
down into a pit, and the Most High brought me
up again : I was sold for a slave, and the Lord
made me free : I was taken into captivity, and
His strong hand succoured me : I was kept in
hunger, and the Lord Himself nourished me : I
was alone, and God comforted me : I was sick,
and the Most High visited me : I was in prison,
and the Saviour showed favour unto me ; in
bonds, and He released me ; amid slanders, and
He pleaded my cause ; amid bitter words of the
Egyptians, and He rescued me ; amid envy and
guile, and He exalted me.
2. And thus Potiphar ' the chief cook^ of Pha-
raoh entrusted to me his house, and I struggled
against a shameless woman, urging me to trans-
gress with her ; but the God of Israel my father
guarded me from the burning flame. I was cast
into prison, I was beaten, I was mocked ; and
the Lord granted me to find pity in the sight of
the keeper of the prison. For He will in no wise
forsake them that fear Him, neither in darkness,
nor in bonds, nor in tribulations, nor in necessi-
ties. For not as man is God ashamed, nor as
the son of man is He afraid, nor as one that is
earth-born is He weak, or can He be thrust
aside ; but in all places is He at hand, and in
divers ways doth He comfort, departing for a
little to try the purpose of the soul. In ten
temptations He showed me approved, and in all
of them I endured ; for endurance is a mighty
charm, and patience giveth many good things.
3. How often did the Egyptian threaten me
with death ! How often did she give me over to
* The Greek spelling here is "fwriiuap, in the later chapters
nerei^pi! (Of irerfjp^?, Cd. Oxen.). The former is more like the
Hebrew, the latter really the LXX. spelling, lleTecfipi)?. We may
perhaps see herein a trace of a double authorship in the Test, yosefh.
^ Cf. Gen. xx.\ix. i, LXX., and Josephus {Aiitig., ii. 4. i), who
calls Potiphar nayetpuiv 6 0a<riAei/s. The view of the Eng. ver. is
most probably correct, though we find n3D used in the sense of
cook in 1 Sam. ix. 23. '
punishment, and then call me back, and threaten
me when I would not company with her ! And
she said to me, Thou shalt be lord of me, and
all that is mine, if thou wilt give thyself unto me,
and thou shalt be as our master. Therefore I
remembered the words of the fathers of my father
Jacob, and I entered into my chamber ^ and prayed
unto the Lord ; and I fasted in those seven years,
and I appeared to my master as one living deli-
cately, for they that fast for God's sake receive
beauty of face.* And if one gave me wine, I
drank it not ; and I fasted for three days, and
took my food and gave it to the poor and sick.
And I sought the Lord early, and wept for the
Egyptian woman of Memphis, for very unceasingly
did she trouble me, and at night she came to me
under the pretence of visiting me ; and at first,
because she had no male child, she feigned to
count me as a son. And I prayed unto the Lord,
and she bare a male child ; therefore for a time
she embraced me as a son, and I knew it not.
Last of all, she sought to draw me into fornica-
tion. And when I perceived it, I sorrowed even
unto death ; and when she had gone out I came
to myself, and I lamented for her many days,
because I saw her guile and her deceit. And I
declared unto her the words of the Most High,
if haply she would turn from her evil lust.
4. How often has she fawned upon me with
words as a holy man, with guile in her talk, praising
my chastity before her husband, while desiring to
destroy me when we were alone. She lauded me
openly as chaste, and in secret she said unto me.
Fear not my husband ; for he is persuaded con-
cerning thy chastity, so that even should one tell
him concerning us he would in no wise believe.
For all these things I lay upon the ground in
sackcloth, and I besought God that the Lord
would deliver me from the Egyptian. And when
she prevailed nothing, she came again to me
under the plea of instruction, that she might
know the word of the Lord. And she said unto
me. If thou wiliest that I should leave my idols,
be persuaded by me, and I will persuade my
husband to depart from his idols, and we will
walk in the law of thy Lord. And I said unto
3 [Matt. vi. 6. He veils the quotation by a fiction, as to author-
ship, to support the plan of his work.]
4 [Dan. i. 15.]
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
33
her, The Lord willeth not that those who rever-
ence Him should be in uncleanness, nor doth He
take pleasure in them that commit adultery. And
she held her peace, longing to accomplish her
evil desire. And I gave myself yet more to fast-
ing and prayer, that the Lord should deliver me
from her.
5. And again at another time she said unto
me, If thou wilt not commit adultery, I will kill
my husband, and so will I lawfully take thee to
be my husband. I therefore, when I heard this,
rent my garment, and said, Woman, reverence
the Lord, and do not this evil deed, lest thou be
utterly destroyed ; for I will declare thy ungodly
thought unto all men. She therefore, being
afraid, besought that I would declare to no one
her wickedness. And she departed, soothing me
with gifts, and sending to me every delight of
the sons of men.
6. And she sendeth to me food sprinkled with
enchantments. And when the eunuch who brought
it came, I looked up and beheld a terrible man
giving me with the dish a sword, and I perceived
that her scheme was for the deception of my
soul. And when he had gone out I wept, nor
did I taste that or any other of her food. So
then after one day she came to me and observed
the food, and said unto me, What is this, that
thou hast not eaten of the food? And I said
unto her, L is because thou filledst it with death ;
and how saidst thou, I come not near to idols,
but to the Lord alone? Now therefore know
that the God of my father hath revealed unto
me by an angel thy wickedness, and I have kept
it to convict thee, if haply thou mayest see it
and repent. But that thou mayest learn that the
wickedness of the ungodly hath no power over
them that reverence God in chastity, I took it
and ate it before her, saying. The God of my
fathers and the Angel of Abraham shall be with
me. And she fell upon her face at my feet, and
wept ; and I raised her up and admonished her,
and she promised to do this iniquity no more.
7. But because her heart was set upon me to
commit lewdness, she sighed, and her counte-
nance fell. And when her husband saw her, he
said unto her, Why is thy countenance fallen?
And she said, I have a pain at my heart, and the
groanings of my spirit do oppress me ; and so
he comforted her who was not sick. Then she
rushed in to me while her husband was yet
without, and said unto me, I will hang myself,
or cast myself into a well or over a cliff, if thou
wilt not consent unto me. And when I saw the
spirit of Beliar was troubling her, I prayed unto
the Lord, and said unto her, Why art thou trou-
bled and disturbed, blinded in sins ? Remember
that if thou killest thyself, Sethon, the concubine
of thy husband, thy rival, will beat thy children,
and will destroy thy memorial from off the earth.
And she said unto me, Lo then thou lovest me ;
this alone is sufficient for me, that thou carest for
my life and my children : I have expectation that
I shall enjoy my desire. And she knew not that
because of my God I spake thus, and not be-
cause of her. For if a man hath fallen before
the passion of a wicked desire, then by that hath
he become enslaved, even as also was she. And
if he hear any good thing with regard to the
passion whereby he is vanquished, he receiveth
it unto his wicked desire.
8. I declare unto you, my children, that it was
about the sixth hour when she departed from
me ; and I knelt before the Lord all that day,
and continued all the night ; and about dawn I
rose up weeping, and praying for a release from
the Egyptian. At last, then, she laid hold of
my garments, forcibly dragging me to have con-
nection with her. When, therefore, I saw that
in her madness she was forcibly holding my gar-
ments, I fled away naked. And she falsely ac-
cused me to her husband, and the Egyptian cast
me into the prison in his house ; and on the
morrow, having scourged me, the Egyptian ' sent
me into the prison in his house. When, there-
fore, I was in fetters, the Egyptian woman fell
sick from her vexation, and listened to me how
I sang praises unto the Lord while I was in the
abode of darkness, and with glad voice rejoiced
and glorified my God only because by a pretext
I had been rid of the Egyptian woman.
9. How often hath she sent unto me, saying,
Consent to fulfil my desire, and I will release
thee from thy bonds, and I will free thee from
the darkness ! And not even in thoughts did I
incline unto her. For God loveth him who in a
den of darkness fasteth with chastity, rather than
him who in secret chambers liveth delicately
v/ithout restraint. And whosoever liveth in chas-
tity, and desire th also glory, and if the Most
High knoweth that it is expedient for him. He
bestoweth this also upon him, even as upon me.
How often, though she were sick, did she come
down to me at unlooked-for times, and listened
to my voice as I prayed ! And when I heard
her groanings I held my peace. For when I was
in her house she was wont to bare her arms, and
breasts, and legs, that I might fall before her ;
for she was very beautiful, splendidly adorned for
my deception. And the Lord guarded me from
her devices.^
10. Ye see therefore, my children, how great
things patience worketh, and prayer with fasting.
And if ye therefore follow after sobriety and pu-
rity in patience and humility of heart, the Lord
will dwell among you, because He loveth sobriety.
' This repetition of a clause seems like the slip of a copyist. The
Ox. MS. reads, et? ttiv dpKr'riv Toi; •tapac/j.
2 [To this section Latdner takes exception, as unbecoming to the
gravity of Joseph.]
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
And wheresoever the Most High dwelleth, even
though a man fall into envy, or slavery, or slan-
der, the Lord who dwelleth in him, for his sobri-
ety's sake not only delivereth him from evil, but
also exalteth and glorifieth him, even as me.
For in every way the man is guarded, whether
in deed, or in word, or in thought. My brethren
know how my father loved me, and I was not ex-
alted in my heart ; although 1 was a child, I had
the fear of God in my thoughts. For I knew
that all things should pass away, and I kept my-
self within bounds, and I honoured my brethren ;
and through fear of them I held my peace when
I was sold, and revealed not my family to the
Ishmaelites, that I was the son of Jacob, a great
man and a mighty.
11. Do ye also, therefore, have the fear of
God in your works, and honour your brethren.
For every one who worketh the law of the Lord
shall be loved by Him. And when I came to
the Lidocolpitse with the Ishmaelites, they asked
me, and I said that I was a slave from their
house, that I might not put my brethren to shame.
And the eldest of them said unto me, Thou art
not a slave, for even thy appearance doth make
it manifest concerning thee. And he threatened
me even unto death. But I said that I was their
slave. Now when we came into Egypt, they
strove concerning me, which of them should buy
me and take me. Therefore it seemed good to
all that I should remain in Egypt with a mer-
chant of their trade, until they should return
bringing merchandise. And the Lord gave me
favour in the eyes of the merchant, and he
entrusted unto me his house. And the Lord
blessed him by my means, and increased him in
silver and gold, and I was with him three months
and five days.
12. About that time the Memphian wife of
Potiphar passed by with great pomp, and cast
her eyes upon me, because her eunuchs told her
concerning me. And she told her husband con-
cerning the merchant, that he had become rich
by means of a young Hebrew, saying, And they
say that men have indeed stolen him out of the
land of Canaan. Now therefore execute judg-
ment with him, and take away the youth to be
thy steward ; so shall the God of the Hebrews
bless thee, for grace from heaven is upon him.
13. And Potiphar was persuaded by her words,
and comm.anded the merchant to be brought,
and said unto him. What is this that I hear, that
thou stealest souls out of the land of the Hebrews,
and sellest them for slaves? The merchant
therefore fell upon his face, and besought him,
saying, I beseech thee, my lord, I know not what
thou sayest. And he said. Whence then is thy
Hebrew servant? And he said, The Ishma-
elites entrusted him to me until they should
return. And he believed him not, but com-
manded him to be stripped and beaten. And
when he persisted, Potiphar said, Let the youth
be brought. And when I was brought in, I did
obeisance to the chief of the eunuchs — for he
was third in rank with Pharaoh, being chief of
all the eunuchs, and having wives and children
and concubines. And he took me apart from
him, and said unto me, Art thou a slave or free?
And I said, A slave. And he said unto me,
Whose slave art thou? And I said unto him,
The Ishmaelites'. And again he said unto me,
How becamest thou their slave ? And I said.
They bought me out of the land of Canaan. And
he believed me not, and said. Thou liest : and
he commanded me to be stripped and beaten.
14. Now the Memphian woman was looking
through a window while I was being beaten, and
she sent unto her husband, saying. Thy judg-
ment is unjust ; for thou dost even punish a free
man who hath been stolen, as though he were a
transgressor. And when I gave no other answer
though I was beaten, he commanded that we
should be kept in guard, until, said he, the own-
ers of the boy shall come. And his wife said
unto him. Wherefore dost thou detain in captivity
this noble child, who ought rather to be set at
liberty, and wait upon thee ? For she wished to
see me in desire of sin, and I was ignorant con-
cerning all these things. Then said he to his
wife, It is not the custom of the Egyptians to
take away that which belongeth to others before
proof is given. This he said concerning the
merchant, and concerning me, that I must be
imprisoned.
15. Now, after four and twenty days came the
Ishmaelites ; and having heard that Jacob my
father was mourning because of me, they said
unto me. How is it that thou saidst that thou
wert a slave ? and lo, we have learnt that thou
art the son of a mighty man in the land of Ca-
naan, and thy father grieveth for thee in sack-
cloth. And again I would have wept, tnit I
restrained myself, that I should not put my
brethren to shame. And I said, I know not, I
am a slave. Then they take counsel to sell me,
that I should not be found in their hands. For
they feared Jacob, lest he should work upon
them a deadly vengeance. For it had been
heard that he was mighty with the Ix)rd and
with men. Then said the merchant unto them.
Release me from the judgment of Potiphar.
They therefore came and asked for me, saying.
He was bought by us with money. And he sent
us away.
16. Now the Memphian woman pointed me
out to her husband, that he should buy me ; for
I hear, said she, that they are selling him. And
she sent a eunuch to the Ishmaelites, and asked
them to sell me ; and since he was not willing
to traffic with them, he returned. So when the
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
35
eunuch had made trial of them, he made known
to his mistress that they asked a large price for
their slave. And she sent another eunuch, say-
ing, Even though they demand two minse of
gold, take heed not to spare the gold ; only buy
the boy, and bring him hither. And he gave
them eighty pieces of gold for me, and told his
mistress that a hundred had been given for me.
And when I saw it I held my peace, that the
eunuch should not be punished.
17. Ye see, my children, what great things I
endured that I should not put my brethren to
shame. Do ye also love one another, and with
long-suffering hide ye one another's faults. For
God delighteth in the unity of brethren, and in
the purpose of a heart approved unto love. And
when my brethren came into Egypt, and learnt
that I returned their money unto them, and up-
braided them not, yea, that I even comforted
them, and after the death of Jacob I loved them
more abundantly, and all things whatsoever he
commanded I did very abundantly, then they
marvelled. For I suffered them not to be af-
flicted even unto the smallest matter ; and all
that was in my hand I gave unto them. Their
children were my children, and my children were
as their servants ; their life was my life, and all
their suffering was my suffering, and all their
sickness was my infirmity. My land was their
land, my counsel their counsel, and I exalted
not myself among them in arrogance because
of my worldly glory, but I was among them as
one of the least.
18. If ye also therefore walk in the command-
ments of the Lord, my children. He will exalt
you there, and will bless you with good things
for ever and ever. And if any one seeketh to
do evil unto you, do ye by well-doing pray for
him, and ye shall be redeemed of the Lord from
all evil. For, behold, ye see that through long-
suffering I took unto wife even the daughter of
my ' master. And a hundred talents of gold
were given me with her ; for the Lord made
them to serve me. And He gave me also beauty
as a flower above the beautiful ones of Israel;
and He preserved me unto old age in strength
■ Another account is given in the Targ. Ps. Jon. of Gen. xli. 45,
" And he gave him to wife Asenath, whom Dinah bare to Shechem:
and the wife of Potipherah prince of Tanes brought up."
and in beauty, because I was like in all things to
Jacob.
19, Hear ye also, my children, the visions
which I saw. There were twelve deer feeding,
and the nine were divided and scattered in the
land, likewise also the three. And I saw that
from Judah was born a virgin wearing a linen ^
garment, and from her went forth a Lamb, with-
out spot, and on His left hand there was as it
were a lion ; and all the beasts rushed against
Him, and the lamb overcame them, and de-
stroyed them, and trod them under foot. And
because of Him the angels rejoiced, and men,
and all the earth. And these things shall take
place in their season, in the last days. Do ye
therefore, my children, obser\^e the command-
ments of the Lord, and honour Judah and Levi ;
for from them shall arise unto you the Lamb of
God, by grace saving all the Gentiles and Israel.
For His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
which shall not be shaken ; but my kingdom
among you shall come to an end as a watcher's ^
hammock, which after the summer will not
appear.
20. I know that after my death the Egyptians
will afflict you, but God will undertake your
cause, and will bring you into that which He
promised to your fathers. But carry ye up my
bones with you ; ^ for when my bones are taken
up, the Lord will be with you in light, and Beliar
shall be in darkness with the Egyptians. And
carry ye up Zilpah your mother, and lay her near
Bilhah, by the hippodrome, by the side of Ra-
chel.5 And when he had said these things, he
stretched out his feet, and slept the long sleep.
And all Israel bewailed him, and all Egypt, with
a great lamentation. For he felt even for the
Egyptians even as his own members, and showed
them kindness, aiding them in every work, and
counsel, and matter.
2 This wearing of a linen garment would seem to imply a connec-
tion with the priestly tribe. St. Luke (i. 36) indeed calls the Virgin
the kinswoman of Elisabeth. On this tendency to associate the old
sacerdotal tribe with the new royalty of Messiah, cf., e.g., Protevan-
gel. Jacobi, cc. 6, 7, 9; Augustine, contra Fatistu)n, xxiii. 4; Epi-
phanius, Hcer., Ixxviii. 13. [See Reuben, sec. 5, p. 10, siipra.^
3 Isa. i. 8, xxiv. 20.
* Cf. Test. Simeon 8, and Jubilees 46. The account of Joseph's
burial in the Targ. Ps. Jon. qp Gen. 1. 26 is: " And Joseph died, a
hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and placed him
in a coffin, and sank him in the middle of the Nile of Egypt."
5 Cf. Cen. xlviii. 7, LXX.
XII. — THE TESTAMENT OF BENJAMIN CONCERNING A PURE MIND.
I. The record of the words of Benjamin, which
he set forth to his sons, after he had lived a hun-
dred and twenty years. And he kissed them,
and said : As Isaac was born to Abraham in his
hundredth year, so also was I to Jacob. Now
since Rachel died in giving me birth, I had no
milk ; therefore I was suckled by Bilhah her
handmaid. For Rachel remained barren for
twelve years after that she had borne Joseph :
and she prayed the Lord with fasting twelve
days, and she conceived and bare me. For our
father loved Rachel dearly, and prayed that he
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
might see two sons born from her : therefore was
I called the son of days, which is Benjamin.'
2. When therefore I went into Egypt, and
Joseph my brother recognised me, he said unto
me, What did they tell my father in that they
sold me ? And I said unto him, They dabbled
thy coat with blood and sent it, and said. Look
if this is the coat of thy son. And he said to
me, Even so, brother ; for when the Ishmaelites
took me, one of them stripped off my coat, and
gave me a girdle, and scourged me, and bade
me run. And as he went away to hide my gar-
ment, a lion met him, and slew him ; and so his
fellows were afraid, and sold me to their com-
panions.
3. Do ye also therefore,- my children, love the
Lord God of heaven, and keep His command-
ments, and be followers of the good and holy
man Joseph ; and let your mind be unto good,
even as ye know me. He that hath his mind
good seeth all things rightly. Fear ye the Lord,
and love your neighbour ; and even though the
spirits of Beliar allure you into all troublous
wickedness, yet shall no troublous wickedness
have dominion over you, even as it had not over
Joseph my brother. How many men wished to
slay him, and God shielded him ! For he that
feareth God and loveth his neighbour cannot be
smitten by Beliar's spirit of the air, being shieWed
by the fear of God ; nor can he be ruled over by
the device of men or of beasts, for he is aided
by the love of the Lord which he hath towards
his neighbour. For he even besought our father
Jacob that he would pray for our brethren, that
the Lord would not impute to them the evil
that they devised concerning Joseph. And thus
Jacob cried out, My child Joseph, thou hast pre-
vailed over the bowels of thy father Jacob. And
he embraced him, and kissed him for two hours,
saying. In thee shall be fulfilled the prophecy of
heaven concerning the Lamb of God, even the
Saviour of the world, that spotless shall He be
delivered up for transgressors, and sinless^ shall
He be put to death for ungodly men in the blood
of the covenant, for the salvation ' of the Gentiles
and of Israel, and shall destroy Beliar, and them
that serve him.
4. Know ye, my children, the end of the good
man ? Be followers of his compassion in a good
mind, that ye also may wear crowns of glory.
The good man hath not a dark eye ; for he
showeth mercy to all men, even though they be
sinners, even though they devise evil concerning
' The ordinary theory as to the meaning of Benjamin is compara-
tivety late, and seems doubtful. The Targum Jertishahiii (on
Gen. XXXV. 18), and the Breshith Rabba, § 82, make Benjamin and
Benoni synonymous. Cf. Josephus, Atitiq., i. 21. 3; Cyril, Glaph.
in Gen., lib. iv. With the view mentioned in the text, cf. Arethas on
Rev. vii. 8 (Cramer's Catena, viii. 289).
'^ This would seem to be the earliest instance of the application of
the word o.va.^l.6.f>^■r\^o^; to our Lord.
3 [How could any Christian more fully testify to the Nicene
Faith? So the Gloria in Excelsis.\
him. So he that doeth good overcometh the
evil, being shielded by Him that is good ; and
he loveth the righteous as his own soul. If any
one is glorified, he envieth him not ; if any one
is enriched, he is not jealous ; if any one is val-
iant, he praiseth him ; he trusteth and laudeth
him that is sober-minded ; he showeth mercy to
the poor ; he is kindly disposed toward the
weak ; he singeth the praises of God ; as for him
who hath the fear of God, he protecteth him as
with a shield ; him that loveth God he aideth ;
him that rejecteth the Most High he admon-
isheth and turneth back ; and him that hath the
grace of a good spirit, he loveth even as his own
soul.
5. If ye have a good mind, my children, then
will both wicked men be at peace with you, and
the profligate will reverence you and turn unto
good ; and the covetous shall not only cease from
their inordinate desire, but shall even give the
fruits of their covetousness to them that are af-
flicted. If ye do well, even the unclean spirits
shall flee from you ; yea, the very beasts shall flee
from you in dread. For where the reverence for
good works is present unto the mind, darkness
fleeth away from him. For if any one is injuri-
ous to a holy man, he repenteth ; for the holy
man showeth pity on his reviler, and holdeth his
peace. And if any one betray a righteous soul,
and the righteous man, though praying, be hum-
bled for a little while, yet not long after he
appeareth far more glorious, even as was Joseph
my brother.
6. The mind of the good man is not in the
power of the deceit of the spirit of Beliar, for
the angel of peace guideth his soul. He gazeth
not passionately on corruptible things, nor gath-
ereth together riches unto desire of pleasure ;
he delighteth not in pleasure, he hurteth not his
neighbour, he pampereth not himself with food,
he erreth not in the pride of his eyes, for the
Lord is his portion. The good mind admitteth
not the glory and dishonour of men, neither
knoweth it any guile or lie, fighting or reviling ;
for the Lord dwelleth in him and lighteth up his
soul, and he rejoiceth towards all men at every
time. The good mind hath not two tongues, of
blessing and of cursing, of insult and of honour,
of sorrow and of joy, of quietness and of trou-
ble, of hypocrisy and of truth, of poverty and of
wealth ; but it hath one disposition, pure and un-
corrupt, concerning all men. It hath no double
sight,'* nor double hearing ; for in everything
which he doeth, or speaketh, or seeth, he
knoweth that the Lord watcheth his soul, and
he cleanseth his mind that he be not condemned
by God and men. But of Beliar every work is
twofold, and hath no singleness.
* [Matt. vi. 22; Luke xi. 34.]
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
37
7. Flee ye therefore, my children, the evil-do- 1
ing of Beliar ; for it giveth a sword to them that
obeyeth, and the sword is the mother of seven
evils. First the mind conceiveth through Beliar,
and first there is envy ; secondly, desperation ;
thirdly, tribulation ; fourthly, captivity ; fifthly,
neediness ; sixthly, trouble ; seventhly, desola-
tion. Therefore also Cain is delivered over to
seven vengeances by God, for in every hundred
years the Lord brought one plague upon him.
Two hundred years he suffered, and in the nine
hundredth year he was brought to desolation at
the flood, for Abel his righteous brother's sake.
In seven ' hundred years was Cain judged, and
Lamech in seventy times seven ; because for ever
those who are likened unto Cain in envy unto
hatred of brethren shall be judged with the same
punishment.
8. Do ye also therefore, my children, flee ill-
doing, envy, and hatred of brethren, and cleave
to goodness and love. He that hath a pure
mind in love, looketh not after a woman unto
fornication ; for he hath no defilement in his
heart, because the Spirit of God resteth in him.
For as the sun is not defiled by shining over
dung and mire, but rather drieth up both and
driveth away the ill smell ; so also the pure mind,
constrained among the defilements of the earth,
rather edifieth, and itself suffereth no defilement.
9. Now I suppose, from the words of the
righteous Enoch, that there will be also evil-
doings among you : for ye will commit fornica-
tion with the fornication of Sodom, and shall
perish all save a few, and will multiply inordinate
lusts with women ; and the kingdom of the
Lord shall not be among you, for forthwith He
will take it away. Nevertheless the temple of
God shall be built in your portion, and shall be
glorious among you. For He shall take it, and
the twelve tribes shall be gathered together there,
and ail the Gentiles, until the Most High shall
send forth His salvation in the visitation of His
only-begotten one. And He shall enter into the
front ^ of the temple, and there shall the Lord
be treated with outrage, and He shall be lifted
up upon a tree. And the veil of the temple
shall be rent, and the Spirit of God shall descend
upon the Gentiles as fire poured forth. And He
shall arise from the grave, and shall ascend from
earth into heaven : and I know how lowly He
shall be upon the earth, and how glorious in the
heaven.
10. Now when Joseph was in Egypt, I longed
to see his visage and the form of his countenance ;
and through the prayers of Jacob my father I
saw him, while awake in the daytime, in his full
and perfect shape. Know ye therefore, my chil-
dren, that I am dying. Work therefore truth
• For eTTTaKocrioi? ereaiv the Ox. MS. reads simply inTo..
' This would seem to be the meaning of Trpioros vads.
and righteousness each one with his neighbour,
and judgment unto faithful doing, and keep the
law of the Lord and His commandments ; for
these things do I teach you instead of all inherit-
ance. Do ye also therefore give them to your
children for an everlasting possession ; for so did
both Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. All these
things they gave us for an inheritance, saying,
Keep the commandments of God until the Lord
shall reveal His salvation to all nations. Then
shall ye see Enoch, Noah, and Shem, and Abra-
ham, and Isaac, and Jacob, arising on the right
hand in gladness. Then shall we also arise, each
one over our tribe, worshipping the King of
heaven, who appeared upon the earth in the
form of a man of humility. And as many as
believed on Him on the earth shall rejoice with
Him ; ^ and then shall all men arise, some unto
glory and some unto shame. And the Lord
shall judge Israel first, even for the wrong they
did unto Him ; for when He appeared as a de-
liverer, God in the flesh, they believed Him not.
And then shall He judge all die Gentiles, as
many as believed Him not when He appeared
upon earth. And He shall reprove Israel among
the chosen ones of the Gentiles, even as He
reproved Esau among the Midianites, who de-
ceived their brethren, so that they fell into
fornication and idolatry ; and they were alien-
ated from God, and became as they that were no
children in the portion of them that fear the
Lord, But if ye walk in holiness in the presence
of the Lord, ye shall dwell in hope again in me,
and all Israel shall be gathered unto the Lord.
1 1 . And I shall no longer be called a raven-
ing wolf-* on account of your ravages, but a
worker of the Lord, distributing food to them
that work what is good. And one s shall rise up
from my seed in the latter times, beloved of the
Lord, hearing upon the earth His voice, en-
lightening with new knowledge all the Gentiles,
bursting in upon Israel for salvation with the
light of knowledge, and tearing it away from it
like a wolf, and giving it to the synagogue of
the Gentiles. And until the consummation of the
ages shall he be in the synagogues of the Gen-
tiles, and among their rulers, as a strain of music
in the mouth of all ; ^ and he shall be inscribed
in the holy books, both his work and his word,
and he shall be a chosen one of God for ever ;
and because of him my father Jacob instructed
me, saying. He shall fill up that which lacketh
of thy tribe.
3 [Rev. XX. 5, 6. See p 25, note 4, stt/>ra.]
* Gen. xlix. 27. This passage, referring to St. Paul (who was of
the tribe of Benjamin, Rom. xi. i, Phil. iii. 5), is quoted by Tertul-
lian, AdversHS Marcione>n, v. i. I .See vol. iii. p. 430, this series.]
5 Compare Scorpiace, cap. 13 [with reference to Gen. xxv. 34
and xxvii. 25, vol. iii. p. 646, this series Lardiier adds Origen, Horn,
in Ezech., iv. torn. iii. p. 731; Theodoret, in Gen. Qicast., ex. torn,
i. p. 77; and Augustine, Serin., 279 (and />assi>n), tom. v. ed. Bene-
dict.].
6 [" Mel in ore, melos in aure, melodia in corde." — St. Bernard.]
38
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
12. And when he finished his words, he said :
[ charge you, my children, carry up my bones
Dut of Egypt, and bury me at Hebron, near my
fathers. So Benjamin died a hundred and
twenty-five years old, in a good old age, and they
placed him in a coffin. And in the ninety-first
y^ear of the departure of the children of Israel
from Egypt, they and their brethren brought up
the bones of their fathers secretly in a place
which is called Canaan ; and they buried them
in Hebron, by the feet of their fathers. And
they returned from the land of Canaan, and
dwelt in Egypt until the day of their departing
from the land of Egypt.
NOTE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
I HAD prepared annotations for these pages which I find will require more space than this
overloaded volume can afford. Let me indicate some sources of information which the student
may find convenient. Thus, in Liddon's Bampton Lecture (4th ed., London, 1869), consult p.
71 for remarks on Philo and Alexandrian Jews; see also p. 91. Concerning the "Book of
Enoch," pp. 7 and 302 ; see Westcott, Study of the Gospels (London, 1867), p. 109, a reference to
the Book of Jubilees, and its lack of reference to Messiah. See Jewish doctrine of the Messiah,
pp. 86, 143, 151 ; the "Book of Henoch," pp. 69, 93, loi ; apocryphal words of Jews, p. 428.
He places the " Book of Henoch " earlier than the " Book of Jubilees," and the " Twelve Patri-
archs " after that. Compare Westcott's Historic Faith (London, 18S3), a quotation from Gold-
win Smith, on " the blood of Christ," note 8, p. 237.
I cannot forbear to note, among useful suggestions in these Testaments, that (on p. 11) of
the share of Simeon in the persecution of Joseph. It explains the real purpose of Joseph in
selecting Simeon as the hostage to be left in Egypt (Gen. xlii. 21-24.) Joseph heard the mutual
reproaches of his brothers, and foresaw that Simeon would be made to suffer as most guilty : so he
was withdrawn. Again, a like anxiety (Gen. xlv. 2) appears when Simeon was sent back with
them to his father. Other suggestions may be noted as substantially illustrating the sacred
narrative.
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS:
OR,
SELECTIOxNS FROM THE PROPHETIC SCRH^TURES.
[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. WILLIAM WILSON, M.A.]
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
TO
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS; OR, SELECTIONS FROM THE PROPHETIC
SCRIPTURES.
We may thank Mr. Wilson, the translator, for separating this collection, absolutely, from the
works of Clement of Alexandria, to which it has been made an appendix. The reference to " our
Pantaenus " gives the only colour for such a collocation with so great a name. It is the work of
a Montanist, perhaps, who may have had some relations with the Alexandrian school ; but it is
hard to say precisely who, of three or four named Theodotus (all heretics), may have made the
compilation, more especially because disjointed and contradictory fragments seem mixed up in it
as it is commonly edited. Dupin (perhaps too readily copying Valesius) appears to think Clem-
ent may have been the compiler, but that, like the Hypotyposes, the work was the product of
days when he was imperfectly educated in Christian truth. It seems to me more reasonable to
conclude that these excerpts, and what goes by the name of Fragments frotn the Hypotyposes, are
alike corrupt or forged documents, for which Clement's name has been borrowed, to give them
some credit ; and I can desire no better authority for this opinion than that of Jeremiah Jones,
with the arguments to be found in his learned work on the Canon.^
The wretched performance, therefore, is valuable chiefly as illustrating certain heresies of the
second century ; but, incidentally, it is of considerable importance as confirming the orthodox
writers in those books and doctrines to which it bears witness in coincidence with them.
I regret that the Edinburgh editors give us not a line of information as to their estimate of
these extracts, or concerning authorship and like matters of interest and natural curiosity.
' Vol. i. pp. 371-376. These Selections are often quoted as " Eclogues."
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS;^
OR,
SELECTIONS FROM THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES.^
I. Those around Sedrach, Misak, and Abed-
nago in the furnace of fire, say as they praise
God, " Bless, ye heavens, the Lord ; praise and
exalt Him for ever ; " then, " Bless, ye angels,
the Lord ; " then, " Bless the Lord, all ye waters
.that are above heaven." So the Scriptures assign
the heavens and the waters to the class of pure
powers 3 as is shown in Genesis. Suitably, then,
inasmuch as "power" is used with a variety of
meaning, Daniel adds, " Let every power bless
the Lord ; " then, further, " Bless the Lord, sun
and moon ; " and, " Bless the Lord, ye stars of
heaven. Bless the Lord, all ye that worship
Him ; praise and confess the God of gods, for
His mercy is for ever." It is written in Daniel,
on the occasion of the three children praising in
the furnace.
II. " Blessed art Thou, who lookest on the
abysses as Thou sittest on the cherubim," says
Daniel, in agreement with Enoch,-* who said,
" And I saw all sorts of matter." For the abyss,
which is in its essence boundless, is bounded by
the power of God. These material essences then,
from which the separate genera and their species
are produced, are called abysses ; since you
would not call the water alone the abyss, al-
though matter is allegorically called water, the
abyss.
III. " In the beginning God made the heaven
and the earth," 5 both terrestrial and celestial
things. And that this is true, the Lord said to
Osee, " Go, take to thyself a wife of fornication,
and children of fornication : because the land
committing fornication, shall commit fornication,
departing from the Lord."^ For it is not the
element of earth that he speaks of, but those
I [I have prefixed this title, which Mr. Wilson has omitted, possi-
bly because these extracts are themselves somewhat abridged.]
^ [For all the confusions about Theodotus and the divers persons
so called, see Lardner, Credib., viii. 572-579. These are the extracts
commonly called the Eclogues or Excerpts of Theodotus; but they
do not contain certain passages, which may have been interpolations.]
^ Spirits.
■♦ [See vol. vi., this series, note 9, p. 147.]
5 Gen. i. i.
6 Hos. i. 2.
that dwell in the element, those who have an
earthly disposition.
IV. And that the Son is the beginning 7 or
head, Hosea teaches clearly : " And it shall be,
that in the place in which it was said to them,
Ye are not my people, they shall be called the
children of the living God : and the children of
Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered
to the same place, and they shall place over them
one head,^ and they shall come up out of the
land ; for great is the day of Jezreel." 9 For
whom one believes, him He chooses. But one
believes the Son, who is the head ; wherefore
also he said in addition : "But I will have mercy
on the sons of Judah, and will save them by the
Lord their God." '° Now the Saviour who saves
is the Son of God. He is then the head.'
V. The Spirit by Osee says, " I am your In-
structor ; " " " Blow ye '- the trumpet upon the
hills of the Lord ; sound upon the high places." '^
And is not baptism itself, which is the sign of re-
generation, an escape from matter, by the teach-
ing of the Saviour, a great impetuous stream, ever
rushing on and bearing us along? The Lord
accordingly, leading us out of disorder, illumines
us by bringing us into the light, which is shadow-
less and is material no longer.
VI. This river and sea of matter two prophets '*
cut asunder and divided by the power of the
Lord, the matter being bounded, through both
divisions of the water. Famous leaders both, by
whom the signs were believed, they complied
with the will of God, so that the righteous man
may proceed from matter, having journeyed
through it first. On the one of these command-
ers also was imposed the name of our Saviour. '5
7 opxij.
9 Hos. i. lo, II.
10 Hos. i. 7.
" Hos. v. 2.
'2 " Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah."^
A. V.
"3 Hos. v. 8.
^^ Moses who divided the sea, and Joshua who divided the Jordan.
'5 Joshua = Jesus.
43
44
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS.
VII. Now, regeneration is by water and spirit,
as was all creation : " For the Spirit of God
moved on the abyss." ' And for this reason the
Saviour was baptized, though not Himself need-
ing^ to be so, in order that He might consecrate
the whole water for those who were being regen-
erated. Thus it is not the body only, but the
soul, that we cleanse. It is accordingly a sign
of the sanctifying of our invisible part, and of
the straining off from the new and spiritual crea-
tion of the unclean spirits that have got mixed
up with the soul.
VIII. "The water above the heaven." Since
baptism is performed by water and the Spirit as
a protection against the twofold fire, — that which
lays hold of what is visible, and that which lays
hold of what is invisible ; and of necessity, there
being an immaterial element of water and a
material, is it a protection against the twofold ^
fire. And the earthly water cleanses the body ;
but the heavenly water, by reason of its being
immaterial and invisible, is an emblem of the
Holy Spirit, who is the purifier of what is invisi-
ble, as the water of the Spirit, as the other of the
body.
IX. God, out of goodness, hath mingled fear
with goodness. For what is beneficial for each
one, that He also supplies, as a physician to a
sick man, as a father to his insubordinate child :
" For he that spareth his rod hateth his son." "*
And the Lord and His apostles walked in the
midst of fear and labours. When, then, the af-
fliction is sent in the person of a righteous man,5
it is either from the Lord rebuking him for a sin
committed before, or guarding him on account
of the future, or not preventing by the exercise
of His power an assault from without,^ — for some
good end to him and to those near, for the sake
of example.
X. Now those that dwell in a corrupt body,
like those who sail in an old ship, do not lie on
their back, but are ever praying, stretching their
hands to God.
XI. The ancients were exceedingly distressed,
unless they had always some suffering in the
body. For they were afraid, that if they received
not in this world the punishment of the sins which,
in numbers through ignorance, accompany those
that are in the flesh, they would in the other
world suffer the penalty all at once. So that
they preferred curative treatment here. What is
to be dreaded is, then, not external disease, but
sins, for which disease comes, and disease of the
' Gen. i. 2.
2 [In a quotation which Jones makes from the Excerpts (not found
here) the reverse is shamelessly asserted. Canon, vol. i. p. 375.]
3 5t7rA6>)? — substantive.
< Prov. xiii. 24.
5 oTav ovv iricTToO au>IJ.aTCT? 7).
6 The sense is hazy, but about as clear as that to be obtained by
substituting conjecturally for n-po(r/3oA>jv (assault), vrpos ^oKifv, or
iiTijioKifv, or iiri]iovKr)v.
soul, not of the body : " For all flesh is grass," ?
and corporeal and external good things are tem-
porary ; " but the things which are unseen are
eternal." ^
XII. As to knowledge, some elements of it we
already possess ; others, by what we do possess,
we firmly hope to attain. For neither have we
attained all, nor do we lack all. But we have
received, as it were, an earnest of the eternal
blessings, and of the ancestral riches. The pro-
visions for the Lord's way are the Lord's beati-
tudes. For He said : " Seek," and anxiously
seek, " the kingdom of God, and all these things
shall be added to you : for the Father knoweth
what things ye have need of." ^ Thus He limits
not only our occupations, but our cares. For
He says : " Ye cannot, by taking thought, add
aught to your stature." '° For God knows well
what it is good for us to have and what to want.
He wishes, therefore, that we, emptying ourselves
of worldly cares, should be filled with that which
is directed towards God. " For we groan, desir-
ing to be clothed upon with that which is incor-
ruptible, before putting off corruption." For"
when faith is shed abroad, unbelief is nonplussed.
Similarly also with knowledge and righteoLisness.
We must therefore not only empty the soul, but
fill it with God. For no longer is there evil in
it, since that has been made to cease ; nor yet is
there good, since it has not yet received good.
But what is neither good nor evil is nothing.
" For to the swept and empty house return," "
if none of the blessings of salvation has been put
in, the unclean spirit that dwelt there before,
taking with him seven other unclean spirits.
Wherefore, after emptying the soul of what is
evil, we must fill with the good God that which
is His chosen dwelling-place. For when the
empty rooms are filled, then follows the seal, that
the sanctuary may be guarded for God.
XIII. " By two and three witnesses every word
is established." '^ By Father, and Son, and Holy
Spirit, by whose witness and help the prescribed
commandments ought to be kept.'^
XIV. Fasting, according to the signification of
the word, is abstinence from food. Now food
makes us neither more righteous nor less. But
mystically it shows that, as life is maintained in
individuals by sustenance, and want of sustenance
is the token of death ; so also ought we to fast
from worldly things, that we may die to the
world, and after that, by partaking of divine sus-
tenance, live to God. Especially does fasting
7 Isa. xl. 6.
8 2 Cor. iv. 18.
9 Matt. vi. 33, 32.
'° Matt, vi 27; Luke xii. 25.
" Matt. xii. 44.
'2 Deut. xvii. 6.
'3 [This looks as if the text of the^/j^rf ^uitnesscs had been in this
compiler's copy of St. John's First Epistle. See vol. iii. Elucid. III.
p. 631. St. Augustine also seems to me to sustain the African text in
the De Civit., lib. v. cap. xi. p. 154, ed. Migne.j
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS.
45
empty the soul of matter, and make it, along
with the body, pure and light for the divine
words. Worldly food is, then, the former life
and sins ; but the divine food is faith, hope, love,
patience, knowledge, peace, temperance. For
'•' blessed are they that hunger and thirst after"
God's "righteousness; for they shall be filled."'
The soul, but not the body, it is which is suscep-
tible of this craving.
XV. The Saviour showed to the believing apos-
tles prayer to be stronger than faith in the case
of a demoniac, whom they could not cleanse,
when He said. Such things are accomplished by
prayer. He who has believed has obtained for-
giveness of sins from the Lord ; but he who has
attained knowledge, inasmuch as he no longer sins,
obtains from himself the forgiveness of the rest.
XVI. For as cures, and prophecies, and signs
are performed by the agency of men, God work-
ing in them, so also is Gnostic teaching. For
God shows His power through men. And the
prophecy rightly says, " I will send to them a
man who will save them." ^ Accordingly He sends
forth at one time prophets, at another apostles,
to be saviours of men. Thus God does good
by the agency of men. For it is not that God
can do some things, and cannot do others : He
is never powerless in anything. No more are
some things done with, and some things against
His will ; and some things by Him, and some
things by another. But He even brought us into
being by means of men, and trained us by means
of men.
XVII. God made us, having previously no exist-
ence. For if we had a previous existence, we
must have known where we were, and how and
why we came hither. But if we had no pre-ex-
istence, then God is the sole author of our crea-
tion. As, then. He made us who had no exist-
ence, so also, now that we are made. He saves
us by His own grace, if we show ourselves worthy
and susceptible ; if not. He 3 will let us pass to
our proper end. For He is Lord both of the
living and the dead.
xviii. But see the power of God, not only in
the case of men, in bringing to existence out of
non-existence, and making them when brought
into being grow up according to the progress of
the time of Hfe, but also in saving those who be-
lieve, in a way suitable to each individual. And
now He changes both hours, and times, and fruits,
and elements. For this is the one God, who has
measured both the beginning and the end of
events suitably to each one.
XIX. Advancing from faith and fear to knowl-
' Malt. V. 6.
^ Isa. xix. 2o.
3 The reading is, ei ixri naprjtTd Trpo<; to o'lKfiov Te'Ao?; and the
Latin translator renders, "si non segnes simus ad finem proprium. "
It seems better, with Sylburgius, to take €i mi as equivalent to ei Si M"!.
and to put a comma after fir), so as to render as above.
edge, man knows how to say Lord, Lord ; but
not as His slave, he has learned to say. Our
Father.4 Having set free the spirit of bondage,
which produces fear, and advanced by love to
adoption, he now reverences from love Him
whom he feared before. For he no longer ab-
stains from what he ought to abstain from out of
fear, but out of love clings to the command-
ments. " The Spirit itself," it is said, " beareth
witness when we cry, Abba,4 Father." s
XX. Now the Lord with His precious blood
redeems us, freeing us from our old bitter mas-
ters, that is, our sins, on account of which the
spiritual poivers of wickedness ruled over us.
Accordingly He leads us into the liberty of the
Father, — sons that are co-heirs and friends.
" For," says the Lord, " they that do the will of
my Father are my brethren and fellow-heirs." '"
" Call no man, therefore, father to yourselves on
earth." ^ For it is masters that are on earth. But
in heaven is the Father, of whom is the whole
family, both in heaven and on earth. ^ For love
rules willing hearts, but fear the unwilHng. One
kind of fear is base ; but the other, leading
us as a pedagogue to good, brings us to Christ,
and is saving.
XXI. Now if one has a conception of God,
it by no means corresponds with His worthiness.
For what can the worthiness of God be? But
let him, as far as is possible, conceive of a great
and incomprehensible and most beautiful light ;
inaccessible, comprehending all good power, all
comely virtue ; caring for all, compassionate, pas-
sionless, good ; knowing all things, foreknowing
all things, pure, sweet, shining, stainless.
XXII. Since the movement of the soul is self-
originated, the grace of God demands from it
what the soul possesses, willingness as its contri-
bution to salvation. For the soul wishes to be
its own good ; which the Lord, hoivever, gives
it. For it is not devoid of sensation so as to be
carried along like a body. Having is the result of
taking, and taking of willing and desiring ; and
keeping hold of what one has received, of the
exercise of care and of ability. Wherefore God
has endowed the soul with free choice, that He
may show it its duty, and that it choosing, may
receive and retain.
XXIII. As through the body the Lord spake and
healed, so also formerly by the prophets, and now
by the apostles and teachers. For the Church
is the minister of the Lord's power. Thence
He then assumed humanity ,9 that by it He might
* [A happy reference to the Lord's Prayer as connected with St.
Paul's reference to the Abba; and it is worth while to compare the use
of this word with the prayer as used in the synagogue. Vol. v. Elu-
cid. III. p. 55^, this series.]
s Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 6.
* Matt. xii. 50.
' Matt, xxiii. 9.
8 Eph. iii. 15.
9 ai'tfptuTTOJ'.
46
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS.
minister to the Father's will. And at all times,
the God who loves humanity ' invests Himself
with man for the salvation of men, — in former
times with the prophets, and now with the
Church. For it is fitting that like should minis-
ter to like, in order to a like salvation.
XXIV. For we are of the earth. . . . Cresar is
the prince, for the time being, whose earthly
image is the old man, to which he has returned.
To him, then, we are to render the earthly things,
which we bore in the image of the earthly, and
the things of God to God. For each one of the
passions is on us as a letter, and stamp, and
sign. Now the Lord marks us with another stamp,
and with other names and letters, faith instead
of unbelief, and so forth. Thus we are trans-
lated from what is material to what is spiritual,
" having borne the image of the heavenly." ^
XXV. John says : " I indeed baptize you with
water, but there cometh after me He that bap-
tizeth with the Spirit and fire." ^ But He bap-
tized no one with fire. But some, as Heraclius
says, marked with fire the ears of those who
were sealed ; understanding so the apostolic say-
ing, " For His fan is in His hand, to purge His
floor : and He will gather the wheat into the
garner ; but the chaff He will burn with fire un-
quenchable." "» There is joined, then, the expres-
sion "by fire " to that " by the Spirit ; " since He
separates the wheat from the chaff, that is, from
the material husk, by the Spirit ; and the chaff is
separated, being fanned by the wind : 5 so also
the Spirit possesses a power of separating material
forces. Since, then, some things are produced
from what is unproduced and indestructible, —
that is, the germs of life, — the wheat also is
stored, and the material part, as long as it is
conjoined with the superior part, remains ; when
separated from it, it is destroyed ; for it had its
existence in another thing. This separating ele-
ment, then, is the Spirit, and the destroying
element is the fire : and material fire is to be
understood. But since that which is saved is
like wheat, and that which grows in the soul like
chaff", and the one is incorporeal, and that which
is separated is material ; to the incorporeal He
opposes spirit, which is rarefied and pure —
almost more so than mind ; and to the material
He opposes fire, not as being evil or bad, but as
strong and capable of cleansing away evil. For
fire is conceived as a good force and powerful,
destructive of what is baser, and conservative of
what is better. Wherefore this fire is by the
prophets called wise.
XXVI. Thus also, then, when God is called " a
consuming fire," it is because a name and sign,
^ I Cor. XV. 49.
3 M.itt. iii. II.
■< Matt. lii. 12.
5 Or spirit — tti'cu/iiotos.
not of wickedness, but of power, is to be selected.
For as fire is the most potent of the elements,
and masters all things ; so also God is all-power-
ful and almighty, who is able to hold, to create,
to make, to nourish, to make grow, to save,
having power of body and soul. As, then, fire is
superior to the elements, so is the Almighty
Ruler to gods, and powers, and principalities.
The power of fire is twofold : one power con-
duces to the production and maturing of fruits
and of animals, of which the sun is the image ;
and the other to consumption and destruction,
as terrestrial fire. When, then, God is called a
consuming fire, He is called a mighty and resist-
less power, to which nothing is impossible, but
which is able to destroy.
Respecting such a power, also, the Saviour
says, "I came to send fire upon the earth," ^
indicating a power to purify what is holy, but
destructive, as they say, of what is material ; and,
as we should say, disciplinary. Now fear per-
tains to fire, and diffusion to light.
XXVII. Now the more ancient men ^ did not
write, as they neither wished to encroach on the
time devoted to attention bestowed on what they
handed down, in the way of teaching, by the
additional attention bestowed on writing, nor
spent the time for considering what was to be
said on writing. And, perhaps convinced that
the function of composition and the department
of teaching did not belong to the same cast of
mind, they gave way to those who had a natural
turn for it. For in the case of a speaker, the
stream of speech flows unchecked and impetu-
ous, and you may catch it up hastily. But that
which is always tested by readers, meeting with
strict^ examination, is thought worthy of the
utmost pains, and is, so to speak, the written
confirmation of c^rc?/ instruction, and of the voice
so wafted along to posterity by written composi-
tion. For that which was committed in trust to
the elders, speaking in writing, uses the writer's
help to hand itself down to those who are to
read it. As, then, the magnet, repelling other
matter, attracts iron alone by reason of affinity ;
so also books, though many read them, attract
those alone who are capable of comprehending
them. For the word of truth is to some " fool-
ishness," 9 and to others a " stumbling-block ; "9
but to a few "wisdom." 9 So also is the power
of God found to be. But far from the Gnostic
be envy. For it is for this reason also that he
asks whether it be worse to give to the unworthy,
or not commit to the worthy ; and runs the risk,
from his abundant love of communicating, not
6 Luke xii. 49.
7 TrpefT/Surepot,
8 It seems better, with Sylb., to read aKpiSoC?, qualifying efera-
creai? (as above), than aicpi^ws, adv. qualifying ^a.<jo.viX,6\xe.vov,
tested.
9 1 Cor. i. 18.
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS.
47
only to every one who is qualified, but sometimes
also to one unworthy, who asks importunately ;
not on account of his entreaty (for he loves not
glory), but on account of the persistency of the
petitioner who bends his mind towards faith with
copious entreaty.
XXVIII. There are those calling themselves
Gnostics who are envious of those in their own
house more than strangers. And, as the sea is
open to all, but one swims, another sails, and a
third catches fish ; and as the land is common,
but one walks, another ploughs, another hunts,
— somebody else searches the mines, and an-
other builds a house : so also, when the Scripture
is read, one is helped to faith, another to moral-
ity, and a third is freed from superstition by the
knowledge of things. The athlete, who knows
the Olympic stadium, strips for training, con-
tends, and becomes victor, tripping up his antag-
onists who contend against his scientific method,
and fighting out the contest. For scientific
knowledge ' is necessary both for the training of
the soul and for gravity of conduct ; making the
faithful more active and keen observers of things.
For as there is no believing without elementary
instruction, so neither is there comprehension
without science.'
XXIX. For what is useful and necessary to sal-
vation, such as the knotvkdge of the Father, and
Son, and Holy Spirit, and also of our own soul,
are wholly requisite \ and it is at once beneficial
and necessary to attain to the scientific account
of them. And to those who have assumed the
lead in doing good, much experience is advan-
tageous ; so that none of the things which ap-
pear to be known necessarily and eruditely by
others may escape their notice. The exposition,
too, of heterodox teaching affords another exer-
cise of the inquiring soul, and keeps the disciple
from being seduced from the truth, by his having
already had practice beforehand in sounding all
round on warlike instruments of music.^
XXX. The life of the Gnostic rule, (as they say
that Crete was barren of deadly animals,) is pure
from every evil deed, and thought, and word ;
not only hating no one, but beyond envy and
hatred, and all evil-speaking and slander.
XXXI. In length of days, it is not on account
of his having lived long that the man is to be
regarded happy, to whose lot it has also fallen,
through his having lived, to be worthy of living
for ever. He has pained no one, except in in-
structing by the word the wounded in heart, as
it were by a salutary honey, which is at once
sweet and pungent. So that, above all, the
Gnostic preserves the decorous along with that
which is in accordance with reason. For passion
2 [It is not to be doubted that much sound Alexandrian teaching
is here mixed up with folly.]
being cut away and stript off from the whole
soul, he henceforth consorts and lives with what
is noblest, which has now become pure, and
emancipated to adoption.
XXXII. Pythagoras thought that he who gave
things their names, ought to be regarded not
only the most intelligent, but the oldest of the
wise men. We must, then, search the Scriptures
accurately, since they are admitted to be ex-
pressed in parables, and from the names hunt
out the thoughts which the Holy Spirit, pro-
pounding respecting things, teaches by imprint-
ing His mind, so to speak, on the expressions ;
that the names used with various meanings, being
made the subject of accurate investigation, may
be explained, and that that which is hidden un-
der many integuments may, being handled and
learned, come to light and gleam forth. For so
also lead turns white as you rub it ; white lead
being produced from black. So also scientific
knowledge (gnosis), shedding its light and bright-
ness on things, shows itself to be in truth the
divine wisdom, the pure light, which illumines
the men whose eyeball is clear, unto the sure
vision and comprehension of truth.
XXXIII. Lighting, then, our torch ^ at the source
of that light, by the passionate desire which has
it for its object, and striving as much as possible
to be assimilated to it, we become men ■* full of
light, 5 Israelites indeed. For He called those
friends and brethren who by desire and pursuit
aimed after likeness to the Divinity.
XXXIV. Pure places and meadows have received
voices and visions of holy phantasms.^ But every
man who has been perfectly purified, shall be
thought worthy of divine teaching and of power.
XXXV. Now I know that the mysteries of
science (gnosis) are a laugliing-stock to many,
especially when not patched up with sophistical
figurative language. And the few are at first
startled at them ; as when light is suddenly
brought into a convivial party in the dark. Sub-
sequently, on getting used and accustomed, and
trained to reasoning, as if gladdened and exult-
ing for delight, \}nQy praise the Lord. . . . For
as pleasure has for its essence release from pain ;
so also has knowledge the removal of ignorance.
For as those that are most asleep think they are
most awake, being under the power of dream-
visions very vivid and fixed; so. those that are
most ignorant think that they know most. But
blessed are they who rouse themselves from this
sleep and derangement, and raise their eyes to
the light and the truth.
XXXVI. It is, therefore, equally requisite for
him who wishes to have a pupil who is docile,
3 [Compare Tatian's use of a like figure, vol. ii. note 2, p. 67,
this series.]
4 (/)u»Te9.
6 [A Montanist token.]
48
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS.
and has blended faith with aspiration, to exercise
himself and constantly to study by himself, in-
vestigating the truth of his speculations ; and
when he thinks himself right, to descend to
questions regarding things contiguous. For the
young birds make attempts to fly in the nest,
exercising their wings.
XXXVII. For Gnostic virtue everywhere makes
man good, and meek, and harmless,' and pain-
less, and blessed, and ready to associate in the
best way with all that is divine, in the best way
with men, at once a contemplative and active
divine image, and turns him into a lover of what
is good by love. For what is good,^ as there
it is contemplated and comprehended by wisdom,
is here by self-control and righteousness carried
into effect through faith : practising in the flesh
an angelic ministry ; hallowing the soul in the
body, as in a place clear and stainless.
XXXVIII. Against Tatian,^ who says that the
words, "Let there be light,"-* are supplicatory.
If, then, He is supplicating the supreme God,
how does He say, "I am God, and beside me
there is none else ?"5 We have said that there
are punishments for blasphemies, for nonsense,
for outrageous expressions ; which are punished
and chastised by reason.
XXXIX. And he said, too, that on account of
their hair and finery, women are punished by the
Power that is set over these matters ; which also
gave to Samson strength in his hair ; which pun-
ishes the women who allure to fornication through
the adornment of their hair.
XL. As by the effluence of good, people are
made good, in like manner are they made bad.
Good is the judgment of God, and the discrimi-
nation of the believing from the unbelieving, and
the judgment beforehand, so as not to fall into
greater judgment — this judgment being correc-
tion.
XLi. Scripture says that infants which are ex-
posed are delivered to a guardian angel, and that
by him they are trained and reared. " And they
shall be," it says, " as the faithful in this world
of a hundred years of age." Wherefore also
Peter, in the Revelation,*^ says : " And a flash
of fire, leaping from those infants, and striking
the eyes of the women." For the just shines
forth as a spark in a reed, and will judge the
nations.?
XLii. "With the holy Thou wilt be holy."^
" According to thy praise is thy name glorified ; "
' For a^^aSei in the text, we must, translating thus, read i^XaPri,
If we translate, as we may, " Gnostic virtue is a thing everywhere
good, and meek," etc., no change is required in the reading.
- TO Ka\bv,
3 [From some lost work of his ]
* Gen. i. 3.
5 Isa. xliv. 6.
* [On these quotations see Lardner, Credib., ii. 256, and Jones,
Canon, vol. i. p. 373.]
7 Wisd. iii. 7.
^ Ps. xviii. 26.
God being glorified through our knowledge, and
through the inheritance. Thus also it is said,
"The Lord liveth," and "The Lord hath risen." 9
XLiii. "A people whom I knew not hath served
me;"'° — by covenant I knew them not, alien
sons, who desired what pertained to another.
XLiv. "Magnifying the salvations of His
king."" All the faithful are caUed kings, brought
to royalty through inheritance.
XLV. Long-suffering is sweetness above honey ;
not because it is long-suffering, but in conse-
quence of the fruit of long-suffering. Since,
then, the man of self-control is devoid of pas-
sion, inasmuch as he restrains the passions, not
without toil ; but when habit is formed, he is no
longer a man of self-control, the man having
come under the influence of one habit and of
the Holy Spirit.
XLVi. The passions that are in the soul are
called spirits, — not spirits of power, since in
that case the man under the influence of passion
would be a legion of demons ; but they are so
called in consequence of the impulse they com-
municate. For the soul itself, through modifi-
cations, taking on this and that other sort of
qualities of wickedness, is said to receive spirits.
XLVii. The Word does not bid us renounce
property ; '^ but to manage property without in-
ordinate affection^ and on anything happening,
not to be vexed or grieved ; and not to desire
to acquire. Divine Providence bids keep away
from possession accompanied with passion, and
from all inordinate affection, 2J\Afrom this turns
back those still remaining '^ in the flesh.
XLViii. For instance, Peter says in the Apoca-
lypse,'^ that abortive infants shall share the bet-
ter fate ; 's that these are committed to a guardian
angel, so that, on receiving knowledge, they may
obtain the better abode, having had the same
experiences which they would have had had they
been in the body. But the others shall obtain
salvation merely, as being injured and pitied,
and remain without punishment, receiving this
reward.
XLix. The milk of women, flowing from the
breasts and thickening, says Peter in the Apoca-
lypse,'^ will produce minute beasts, that prey on
flesh, and running back into them will consume
them : teaching that punishments arise for sins.
He says that they are produced from sins ; as
it was for their sins that the people were sold.
And for their want of faith in Christ, as the
apostle says, they were bitten by serpents.
9 Luke xxiv. 34.
*° Ps. xviii. 43.
" Ps. xviii. 50.
'2 KTri<T(ui<;, instead of KTio-ews, as in the text, and KTrjcriv for
(CTiViv in the next clause.
13 ' \va(7Tpc(t>fi. £7ri /nofovs Tou? iv (rapKi. For which, as slightly
preferable, Sylburg. proposes ert /leVoj'Taj iv <rapKi, as above.
■■> [See note 6, p. 48, S7{/ra.]
■5 Adopting the reading /noi'pas, instead of that in the text, r-ei'pas.
^^ [See note 6, p. 48, su/ra.]
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS.
49
L. An ancient said that the embryo is a living
thing ; for that the soul entering into the womb
after it has been by cleansing prepared for con-
ception, and introduced by one of the angels
who preside over generation, and who knows the
time for conception, moves the woman to inter-
course ; and that, on the seed being deposited,
the spirit, which is in the seed, is, so to speak,
appropriated, and is thus assumed into conjunc-
tion in the process of formation. He cited as a
proof to all, how, when the angels give glad tid-
ings to the barren, they introduce souls before
conception. And in the Gospel " the babe
leapt " ' as a living thing. And the barren are
barren for this reason, that the soul, which unites
for the deposit of the seed, is not introduced so
as to secure conception and generation.
LI. "The heavens declare the glory of God." ^
The heavens are taken in various meanings, both
those defined by space and revolution, and those
by covenant, — the immediate operation of the
first-created angels. For the covenants caused
a more especial appearance of angels, — that^ in
the case of Adam, that in the case of Noah, that
in the case of Abraham, that in the case of Moses.
For, moved by the Lord, the first-created angels
exercised their influence on the angels attached
to the prophets, considering the covenants the
glory of God. Furthermore, the things done on
earth by angels were done by the first-created
angels to the glory of God.
Lii. It is the Lord that is principally denomi-
nated the Heavens, and then the First-created ;
and after these also the holy men before the
Law, as the patriarchs, and Moses, and the proph-
ets ; then also the apostles. "And the firmament
showeth His handiwork." He applies the term
" firmament " 4 to God, the passionless and im-
moveable, as also elsewhere the same David says,
" I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength + and my
refuge." 5 Accordingly, the firmament itself shows
forth the work of His hands, — that is, shows and
manifests the work of His angels. For He shows
forth and manifests those whom He hath made.
Liii. " Day unto day uttereth speech." As the
heavens have various meanings, so also has day.
Now speech is the Lord ; and He is also fre-
quently called day. " x^nd night unto night show-
eth forth knowledge." The devil knew that the
Lord was to come. But he did not believe that
He was God ; wherefore also he tempted Him,
in order to know if He were powerful. It is said,
"he left*' Him, and departed from Him for a
season ; " that is, he postponed the discovery till
' Luke i. 43.
^ Ps. xix. I. [Here follow notes on successive verses, some not
unwrorthy of an orthodox Father]
3 i.e., the covenant.
5 Ps. xviii, I.
^ For tav, which is the reading of the text, Sylburgius' suggestion
of «ia or ilajji has been adopted.
the resurrection. For he knew that He who was
to rise was the Lord. Likewise also the demons ;
since also they suspected that Solomon was the
Lord, and they knew that he was not so, on his
sinning. " Night to night." All the demons
knew that He who rose after the passion was the
Lord. And already Enoch 7 had said, that the
angels who transgressed taught men astronomy
and divination, and the rest of the arts.
Liv. " There are no speeches or words whose
voices are not heard," neither of days nor nights.
"Their sound is gone forth unto all the earth."
He has transferred the discourse to the saints
alone, whom he calls both heavens and days.
Lv. The stars, spiritual bodies, that have com-
munications with the angels set over them, and
are governed by them, are not the cause of the
production of things, but are signs of what is
taking place, and will take place, and have taken
•place in the case of atmospheric changes, of
fruitfulness and barrenness, of pestilence and
fevers, and in the case of men. The stars do
not in the least degree exert influences, but in-
dicate what is, and will be, and has been.
LVL " And in the sun hath He set His taber-
nacle." Th^re is a transposition here. For it
is of the second coming that the discourse is.
So, then, we must read what is transposed in its
due sequence : " And he, as a bridegroom issu-
ing from his chamber, will rejoice as a giant to
run his way. From heaven's end is his going
forth ; and there is no one who shall hide him-
self from his heat ; " and then, " He hath set His
tabernacle in the sun."
Some say that He deposited the Lord's body
in the sun, as Hermogenes. And " His taber-
nacle," some say, is His body, others the Church
of the faithful.
Our Pantaenus ^ used to say, that prophecy
utters its expressions indefinitely for the most
part, and uses the present for the future, and
again the present for the past. Which is also
seen here.'' For " He hath set " is put both for
the past and the future. For the future, because,
on the completion of this period, which is to run
according to its present '° constitution, the Lord
will come to restore the righteous, the faithful,
in whom He rests, as in a tent, to one and the
same unity; for all are one body, of the same
race, and have chosen the same faith and right-
eousness. But some as head, some as eyes, some
as ears, some as hands, some as breasts, some as
feet, shall be set, resplendent, in the sun. " Shine
forth as the sun," " or in the sun ; since an angel
7 [See note 9, p. 3, supra.'\
8 [No doubt he may have said this.]
9 Or rather, as Sylb. points out, this is a case of the past used for
the present, etc.
'° TTapov<ji.av, Ka.Ta.(TTacnv, the reading of the text, is, as Sylburg.
remarks, plainly corrupt; Tiapovaav, as above, is the most obvious
correction.
»' Matt. xiii. 43.
50
EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS.
high in command is in the sun. For he is ap-
pointed for rule over days ; as the moon is for
ruHng over night.' Now angels are called days.
Along with the angels in ^ the sun, it is said, they
shall have assigned to them one abode, to be for
some time and in some respects the sun, as it
were the head of the body which is one. And,
besides, they also are the rulers of the days, as
that angel in the sun, for the greater purpose for
which he before them^ migrated to the same
place. And again destined to ascend progres-
sively, they reach the first abode, in accordance
with the past " He hath set : " so that the first-
created angels shall no longer, according to provi-
dence, exercise a definite ministry, but may be in
repose, and devoted to the-contemplation of God
alone ; while those next to them shall be pro-
moted to the post which they have left ; and so
those beneath them similarly.
Lvii. There are then, according to the apostle,,
those on the summit,'' the first-created. And
they are thrones, although Powers, being the first-
created, inasmuch as God rests in them, as also
in those who believe. For each one, according
to his own stage of advancement, possesses the
knowledge of God in a way special to himself;
and in this knowledge God reposes, those who
possess knowledge being made immortal by
knowledge. And is not " He set His tabernacle
in the sun " to be understood thus ? God " set
in the sun," that is, in the God who is beside
Him, as in the Gospel, Eli, Eli,5 instead of my
God, my God. And what is "above all rule,
and authority, and power, and every name that is
named," are those from among men that are
made perfect as angels and archangels, so as to
rise to the nature of the angels first-created.
For those who are changed from men to angels
are instructed for a thousand years by the angels
after they are brought to perfection. Then those
1 Gen. i. 18.
2 y.id' here clearly should be Koff or eij'.
3 If we may venture to change a.<'Tov into airuiv.
4 'Ev T)] oLKpfi dTTOKaTacTTao-ci. The last word yields no suitable
sense, and conjecture as to the right reading is vain ; and we have
left it untranslated. The Latin translator renders " qui in summa
arce coUocati sunt."
5 "HAtos is (with marvellous ignorance of the Hebrew tongue, as
Combefisius notices) here identified with Eli, ''7X.
who have taught are translated to archangelic
authority ; and those who have learned instruct
those again who from men are changed to angels.
Thus afterwards, in the prescribed periods, they
are brought to the proper angelic state of the body.
LViii. " The law of God is perfect, converting
souls. "^ The Saviour Himself is called Law and
Word, as Peter in " the Preaching," and the
prophet : " Out of Zion shall go forth the Law,
and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." 7
Lix. " The testimony of the Lord is sure, mak-
ing children wise." The covenant of the Lord
is true, making wise children ; those free from
evil, both the apostles, and then also us. Be-
sides, the testimony of the Lord, according to
which He rose again after His passion, having
been verified by fact, led the Church to confir-
mation in faith,
LX. " The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring
for ever." He says that those who have been
turned from fear to faith and righteousness endure
for ever.
"The judgments of the Lord are true," — sure,
and incapable of being overturned ; and giving
rewards according to what is right, bringing the
righteous to the unity of the faith. For this is
shown in the words, "justified for the same."^
" Such desires 9 are above gold and precious
stone."
Lxi. " For also Thy servant keeps them." Not
that David alone is called servant ; but the whole
people saved is called the servant of God, in
virtue of obedience to the command.
LXii. "Cleanse me from my secret /a u //s ;" —
thoughts contrary to right reason — defects. For
He calls this foreign to the righteous man.
LXiii. " If they have not dominion over me,
then shall I be innocent." If those who perse-
cute me as they did the Lord, do not have
dominion over me, I shall not be innocent. For
no one becomes a martyr unless he is persecuted ;
nor appears righteous, unless, being wronged, he
takes no revenge ; nor forbearing . . .
6 Ps. xix. 8.
7 Isa. ii. 3.
^ Ps. xix. 12, Septuagint.
9 ai ToiaOrai en-idu^tai, for which the Septuagint has e'iriSu/urjTa
as in A. V.
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
A TTRIBUTED TO CLEMENT OF ROME.
[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. B. P. PRATTEN.]
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
TO
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
By professor M. B, RIDDLE, D.D.
Among the " Pseudo-Clementina " the Two Epistles concerning Virginity must properly be
placed. The evidence against the genuineness seems conclusive ; yet, with the exception of the
homily usually styled the Second Epistle of Cle7nent,^ no spurious writings attributed to the great
Roman Father can be assigned an earlier date than these two letters. Uhlhorn, in view of the
reference to the siib-introductce, thinks they were written shortly before the time of Cyprian ; ^ and
this seems very probable. Jerome was acquainted with the writings {Ad Jovitium, i. 12), and
possibly Epiphanius {Hcsr., xxx. 15). Hence we may safely allow an early date. Yet these
evidences of age tell against the genuineness.
1. Early works of this character would not have disappeared from notice to such an extent,
had they been authenticated as writings of Clement. Supporting, as they do, the ascetic tendency
prevalent in the Western Church at and after the date when they are first noticed by Christian
writers, they would have been carefully preserved and frequently cited, had they been genuine.
The name of the great Roman Father would have been so weighty, that the advocates of celibacy
would have kept the documents in greater prominence. The silence of Eusebius respecting the
letters is an important fact in this discussion.
2. A second argument against the genuineness is derived from the ascetic tone itself. Such
pronounced statements are not, we must firmly hold, to be found in the Christian literature of the
sub-apostolic age. This historical argument is further sustained by other indications in the epis-
tles. They point to a stage of ecclesiastical development which belongs to a much later period
than that of Clement.
3. The use of Scripture in these letters seems to be conclusive against the Clementine author-
ship. A comparison with the citations in the genuine Epistle of Clement shows that these writings
make much greater use of the Pauline (particularly the Pastoral) Epistles; that the Old Testament
is less frequently cited, and that the mode of handling proof-texts is that of a later age.
4. The judgment of the most candid patristic scholars is against the genuineness. Of Protes-
tants, Wetstein stands alone in supporting the Clementine authorship ; and his position is readily
explained by the fact that he discovered the Syriac version which restored the writings to modern
scholars (see below). The genuineness is defended by Villecourt and Beelen (see below), also by
Mohler, Champagny, and Briick. But such experts as Mansi, Hefele, Alzog, and Funk, among
Roman Catholics, unite with Protestant scholars in assigning a later date, and consequently in
denying the Clementine authorship.
' See vol. vii. pp. 509-523.
2 Against this class Cyprian stoutly contended. Comp. Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. v. pp 357, 358, 587-592.
53
54 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
While the great mass of early Christian literature bearing the name of Clement of Rome is
undoubtedly spurious, the case is somewhat different with regard to the two following epistles.
Not only have Roman Catholic writers maintained their genuineness with great ingenuity and
learning, but Wetstein, who first edited them, argued powerfully for their being received as the
authentic productions of Clement ; and even Neander has admitted that they may possibly have
been written by that friend and fellow-labourer of the apostles.
Their literary history in modern times is somewhat curious. Wetstein unexpectedly discovered
them appended to a copy of the Syriac Peschito version of the New Testament furnished to him
by Sir James Porter, then British ambassador at Constantinople. He soon afterwards (1752)
published them in Syriac, accompanied by a Latin version of his own, with Prolegomena, in which
he upheld their genuineness. This speedily called forth two works, one by Lardner (1753), and
a second by Venema (1754), in both of which their authenticity was disputed. To these writings
Wetstein himself, and, after his death, Gallandius, published rejoinders ; but the question re-
mained as far from positive settlement as ever, and continues sub judice even at the present day.
It is generally admitted (and, of course, asserted by those that maintain their truly Clementine
origin) that Greek was the original language of these epistles. Many have argued that they con-
tain plain references to the sub-introductcz spoken of in the literature of the third century, and
that therefore they were probably composed in the Oriental Church about that period.
These epistles have been very carefully edited in recent times by the Roman Catholic scholars
Villecourt (1853) and Beelen (1856). Both have argued strenuously for the genuineness of the
letters, but it may be doubted if they have succeeded in repelling all the objections of Lardner
and Venema. Beelen's work is a highly scholarly production, and his Prolegomena are marked
by great fulness and perspicuity.
A German translation of these epistles was published by Zingerle (182 1). They are now for
the first time translated into the English language.
The translation is made from the text of Beelen.
The division into chapters is due to Wetstein.
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE BLESSED CLEMENT, THE DISCIPLE OF PETER
THE APOSTLE.
CHAP. I.
THE SALUTATION.
To all those who love and cherish their life
which is in Christ through God the Father, and
obey the truth of God in hope of eternal life ;
to those who bear affection towards their breth-
ren and towards their neighbours in the love of
God ; to the blessed brother virgins,' who devote
themselves to preserve virginity " for the sake of
the kingdom of heaven \ " ^ and to the holy sister
virgins : the peace which is in God.^
CHAP. II, FOR TRUE VIRGINITY PERFECT VIRTUE
IS NECESSARY.
Of all virgins of either sex who have truly re-
solved to preserve virginity for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven — of each and every one of
them it is required that he bq worthy of the king-
dom of heaven in every thing. For not by elo-
quence ■* or renown, 5 or by station ^ and descent,
or by beauty or strength, or by length of life/ is
the kingdom of heaven obtained ; but it is ob-
tained by the power of faith, when a man
exhibits the works of faith. For whosoever is
truly righteous, his works testify concerning his
faith, that he is truly a believer, with a faith
which is great, a faith which is perfect, a faith
which is in God, a faith which shines in good
works, that the Father of all may be glorified
through Christ. Now, those who are truly vir-
gins for the sake of God give heed to Him who
hath said, " Let not righteousness and faith fail
thee ; bmd them on thy neck, and thou shalt find
favour for thyself; and devise thou good things
before God and before men."^ "The paths,"
therefore, " of the righteous shine as the light,
and the hght of them advances until the day is
perfect." ^ For the beams of their light illumine
' In later Greek TrapfleVo? was used of both sexes {coinp. Rev.
xiv. 4). The Syriac original employs both a masculine and a feminine
form. This will not always be indicated in the following translation.
* Matt. xix. 12.
3 Or " to the holy virgins who are in God: peace." So Zingerle,
and probably Welstein
■* Zing., not so well, takes this to mean, " by the confession of the
mouth " (durch das miindliche Eekenntniss), comparing Malt. vii.
21.
5 Lit. " by word or by name."
* The Greek word crxijioia, here adopted in the Syrii.c, is some-
times thus used. — Beelen.
7 Lit. " much time."
8 Prov. ih. 3, 4 (LXX.).
9 Lii. " fixed." Prov. iv. x8.
the whole creation even now by good works, as
those who are truly " the light of the world," '"
giving light to " those who sit in darkness," " that
they may arise and go forth from the darkness by
the light of the good works of the fear of God,
" that they may see our good works, and glorify
our Father who is in heaven." '^ For it is re-
quired of the man of God, that in all his words
and works he be perfect, and that in his life he
be adorned with all exemplary and well-ordered
behaviour,'^ and do all his deeds in righteousness,
as a man of God.
CHAP. III. TRUE VIRGINS PROVE THEMSELVES
SUCH BY SELF-DENIAL, AS DOES THE TRUE BE-
LIEVER BY GOOD WORKS.
For virgins are a beautiful pattern to believers,
and to those who shall believe. The name alone,
indeed, without works, does not introduce into
the kingdom of heaven ; but, if a man be truly
a believer, such an one can be saved. For, if a
person be only called a believer in name, whilst
he is not such in works, he cannot possibly be a
believer, " Let no one," therefore, " lead you
astray with the empty words of error." '•* For,
merely because a person is called a virgin, if he
be destitute of works excellent and comely, and
suitable to virginity, he cannot possibly be saved.
For our Lord called such virginity as that " fool-
ish," as He said in the Gospel ; 's and because it
had neither oil nor light, it was left outside of
the kingdom of heaven, and was shut out from the
joy of the bridegroom, and was reckoned with
His enemies. For such persons as these " have
the appearance only of the fear of God, but the
power of it they deny." '^ For they " think with
themselves that they are something, whilst they
are nothing, and are deceived. But let every
one constantly try'? his works," '^ and know him-
self; for empty worship does he offer, whosoever
he be that makes profession of virginity and
'o Matt. V. 14.
" Isa. ix. 2; Matt. iv. 16.
'2 Matt. V. 16; I Pet. ii. 12.
'3 Probably referring to i Cor. xiv, 40. — BeeleN.
14 Eph. V. 6.
'5 Matt. XXV. 2.
'6 2 Tim. iii. 5.
'7 /,//. " let every one be trying."
'8 Gal. vi. 3, 4.
55
56
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
sanctity, " and denies its power." For virginity
of such a l<.ind is impure, and disowned by all
good works. For " every tree whatsoever is
known from its fruits." ' " See that thou under-
stand- what I say: God will give thee under-
standing." 3 For whosoever engages before God
to preserve sanctity must be girded with all
the holy power of God. And, if with true fear •♦
he crucify his body, he for the sake of the fear
of God excuses himself from that word in which
the Scripture 5 has said : " Be fruitful, and multi-
ply," ^ and shinis all the display, and care, and
sensuality,? and fascination of this world, and its
revelries and its drunkenness, and all its luxury
and ease, and withdraws from the entire life of '"^
this world, and from its snares, and nets, and
hindrances ; and, whilst thou walkest '^ upon the
earth, be zealous that thy work and thy business
be in heaven.
CHAP. IV. — CONTINUATION OF THE REMARKS ON
SELF-DENL\Lj OBJECT AND REWARD OF TRUE
VIRGINS.
For he who covets for himself these things so
great and excellent, withdraws and severs him-
self on this account from all the world, that he
may go and live a life divine and heavenly, like
the holy angels, in work pure and holy, and " in
the holiness '° of the Spirit of God," " and that he
may serve God Almighty through Jesus Christ
for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. On this
account he severs himself from all the appetites
of the body. And not only does he excuse
himself from this command, " Be fruitful, and
multiply," but he longs for the " hope promised "
and prepared " and laid up in heaven" '^ by God,
who has declared with His mouth, and He does
not lie, that it is " better than sons and daugh-
ters," '3 and that He will give to virgins a notable
place in the house of God, which is sotnething
" better than sons and daughters," and better
than the place ^ those who have passed a wedded
life in sanctity, and whose " bed has not been
defiled." '■♦ For God will give to virgins the king-
dom of heaven, as to the holy angels, by reason
of this great and noble profession.
' Matt. xii. 33. [More probably Luke vi. 44. — R.]
2 Or " consider." There is no play on words in the passage
quoted I1 Tim. ii. 7), nor perhaps was this intended in the Syriac.
3 2 Tim. ii. 7.
^ Lit. " true in fear of God" The reading is probably faulty.
— BEEI.E^^.
5 The ellipsis is usually to be thus filled up in these epistles. [In
similar cases which follow, italics will not be used. — R.]
6 Gen. i. 28.
' Or " the sensual pleasures."
8 Or " from all intercourse with."
9 Either something is here omitted by the transcriber, or Clement
has varied the form of expression. — Beelen.
'^ " Sanctification." — Beelen. [So A. V. The R. V. correctly
renders ayiao-MO?, " sanctification," in every instance. — R.J
'' 2 Thess. ii. 13.
i^ Col. i. 5.
13 I=;a. Ivi. 4, 5.
'■* Heb. xiii. 4.
CHAP. v. THE IRKSOMENESS AND THE ENEMIES
OF VIRGINITY.
Thou desirest, then, to be a virgin? Knowest
thou what hardship and irksomeness there is in
true virginity — that which stands constantly at
all seasons before God, and does not withdraw
from His service, and " is anxious how it may
please its Lord with a holy body, and with its
spirit?" '5 Knowest thou what great glory per-
tains to virginity, and is it for this that thou dost
set thyself to practise it ? Dost thou really know
and understand what it is thou art eager to do?
Art thou acquainted with the noble task of holy
virginity? Dost thou know how, like a man,
to enter " lawfully " upon '*' this contest and
''strive,"'? that, in the might of the Holy Spirit,'*^
thou choosest this for thyself, that thou mayest
be crowned with a crown of light, and that they
may lead thee about iti triinnph through " the
Jerusalem above " ? '^ If so be, then, that thou
longest for all these thing?, conquer the body ;
conquer the appetites of the flesh ; conquer the
world in the Spirit of God ; conquer these vain
things of time, which pass away and grow old,
and decay, and come to an end ; conquer the
dragon ; ^° conquer the lion ; ^' conquer the ser-
pent ; ^^ conquer Satan ; — through Jesus Christ,
who doth strengthen thee by the hearing of His
words and the divine Eucharist.-^ " Take up thy
cross and follow " ^•* Him who makes thee clean,
Jesus Christ thy Lord. Strive to run straight
forward and boldly, not with fear, but with cour-
age, relying on the promise of thy Lord, that
thou shalt obtain the victor-crown ^5 of thy " call-
ing on high " ^'^ through Jesus Christ. For who-
soever walks perfect in faith, and not fearing,
doth in very deed receive the crown of virginity,
which is great in its toil and great in its reward.
Dost thou understand and know how honourable
a thing is sanctity?^? Dost thou understand how
great and exalted and excellent is the glory of
virginity ? ^^
CHAP. VI. — DIVINITV OF VIRGINTry.
The womb of a holy virgin ^9 carried our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God ; and the body
'S I Cor. vii. 34.
'6 Lit. " descend to."
" 2 Tim. ii 5.
18 The words, " in the might of the Holy Spirit," appear to obscure
the sense. — Beelen.
19 Gal. iv. 26.
2° Rev. xii. 7.
21 I Pet. v. 8.
22 2 Cor. xi. 3.
23 Lit. " the Eucharist of the Godhead." [This is an evidence of
later date than the sub-apostolic age. — R.]
24 Matt. xvi. 24.
25 Lit. " crown of victory."
26 Phil. iii. 14.
27 i.e , continency. [The use of the terms " sanctity, " " holy,"
etc., in the limited sense of " continency," " chaste," etc., is strong
evidence of the later origin. — R.]
28 The last two sentences properly belong to chap. vi.
29 Or " the Holy Virgin."
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
57
which our Lord wore, and in which He carried
on the conflict in this world, He put on from a
holy virgin. From this, therefore, understand
the greatness and dignity of virginity. Dost thou
wish to be a Christian? Lnitate Christ in every-
thing. John, the ambassador, he who came
before our Lord, he " than whom there was not
a greater among those born of women," ' the
holy messenger of our Lord, was a virgin. Imi-
tate, therefore, the ambassador of our Lord, and
be his follower 2 in every thing. That John,
again, who " reclined on the bosom of our Lord,
and whom He greatly loved," ^ — he, too, was a
holy person.'* For it was not without reason that
our Lord loved him. Paul, also, and Barnabas,
and Timothy, with all the others, " whose names
are written in the book of life," s — these, I say,
all cherished and loved sanctity,^ and ran in the
contest, and finished their course without blemish,
as imitators of Christ, and as sons of the living
God. Moreover, also, Elijah and Elisha, and
many other holy men, we find to have lived a
holy ^ and spotless life. If, therefore, thou de-
sirest to be like these, imitate them with all thy
power. For the Scripture has said, " The elders
who are among you, honour ; and, seeing their
manner of life and conduct, imitate their faith." ^
And again it saith, " Imitate me, my brethren, as
I imitate Christ." ^
CHAP. VII. — THE TRUE VIRGIN.
Those, therefore, who imitate Christ, imitate
Him earnestly. For those who have " put on
Christ " '° in truth, express His likeness in their
thoughts, and in their whole life, and in all their
behaviour : in word, and in deeds, and in pa-
tience, and in fortitude, and in knowledge, and
in chastity, and in long-suffering, and in a pure
heart, and in faith, and in hope, and in full and
perfect love towards God. No virgin, therefore,
unless they, be in everything as Christ, and as
those "who are Christs," " can be saved. For
every virgin who is in God is holy in her body
and in her spirit, and is constant in the service
of her Lord, not turning away from it any whither,
but waiting upon Him always in purity and holi-
ness in the Spirit of God, being " solicitous how
she may please her Lord," " by living purely and
without stain, and solicitous to be pleasing before
Him in every thing. She who is such does not
withdraw from our Lord, but in spirit is <?z;<?rwith
' Matt. xi. II.
2 Lit. " lover," or " friend."
3 John xxi. 2o.
* i.e., a virgin.
5 Phil. iv. 3.
* i.e., virginity.
7 i e., celibate, or chaste.
8 Heb. xiii. 7.
9 I Cor. xi. I.
'° Rom. xiii 14.
" Gal. V. 24.
'- I Cor. vii. 32.
her Lord : as it is written, " Be ye holy, as I am
holy, saith the Lord." '^
CHAP. VIII. VIRGINS, BY THE LAYING ASIDE OF ALL
CARNAL AFFECTION, ARE LMITATORS OF GOD.
For, if a man be only in name called holy, he
is not holy ; but he must be holy in everything :
in his body and in his spirit. And those who are
virgins rejoice at all times in becoming like God
and His Christ, and are imitators of them. For
in those that are such there is not " the mind '•♦
of the flesh." In those who are truly believers,
and " in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells " '5 —
in them "the mind of the flesh" cannot be:
which is fornication, uncleanness, wantonness ;
idolatry,'^ sorcery ; enmity,jealousy, rivalry, wrath,
disputes, dissensions, ill-will ; drunkenness, rev-
elry ; buffoonery, foolish talking, boisterous laugh-
ter ; backbiting, insinuations ; bitterness, rage ;
clamour, abuse, insolence of speech ; malice, in-
venting of evil, falsehood ; talkativeness,'^ bab-
bling ; '* threatenings, gnashing of teeth, readiness
toaccuse,'9 jarring,^° disdainings, blows; perver-
sions of the right,^^ laxness in judgment ; haughti-
ness, arrogance, ostentation, pompousness, doast-
zV/o'of family, of beauty, of position, of wealth, of an
arm of flesh ; ^^ quarrelsomeness, injustice,^^ eager-
ness for victory ; hatred, anger, envy, perfidy, re-
taliation ; 2-t debauchery, gluttony, " overreaching
(which is idolatry)," ^5 "the love of money (which
is the root of all evils) ; " ^^ love of display, vain-
glory, love of rule, assumption, pride (which is
called death, and which " God fights against ").^7
Every man with whom are these and such like
things — every such man is of the flesh. For,
" he that is born of the flesh is flesh ; and he
that is of the earth speaketh of the earth," ^^ and
his thoughts are of the earth. And " the mind
of the flesh is enmity towards God. For it does
not submit itself to the law of God ; for it can-
not do so,'"^'^ because it is in the flesh, " in which
dwells no good," 3° because the Spirit of God is
13 I Pet. i. 15 {cf. Lev. xi. 44).
''t Rom. viii. 6 {i^p6vr\ij.a) .
'5 Rom. viii 9. c t. ■^
'6 Lit. " the worship of idols." The single virord (•^Oj-— ^-9.
sometimes used to express " idolatry " (as in £pA. Syr., opp. torn,
i. p. 116), is not found in these epistles.
'7 Lit. " much talking."
'^ Lit. " empty words."
'9 The word thus rendered is not in the lexicons, but is well illus-
trated by Isa. xxix. 21 (" that make a man an offender "), where the
Hiphil of XDn is used, corresponding to the Aphel of the same
root, from which the present word is derived.
2° The word is used in the Peschito of i Tim. vi. 5, to express
5ta7rapaTpi0ai (" incessant quarrellings," Al/.); [R. V., " wran-
glings."— R.].
2' Ex. Conject. Beelen. The word is not in the lexicons.
2^ Or " power "
23 Lit. " folly;" but so used in 2 Cor. xii. 13.
24 Or " returning of evils."
25 Col. iii. 5.
26 I Tim. vi. 10.
27 I Pet. y. s; Jas. iv. 6.
23 John iii. 6, 31.
29 Rom. viii. 7.
30 Rom. vii. 18.
58
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
not in it. For this cause justly does the Scrip-
ture say regarding such a generation as this : " My
Spirit shall not dwell in men for ever, because ,
they are flesh." ' " Whosoever, therefore, has I
not the Spirit of God in him, is none of His : " H
as it is written, " The Spirit of God departed
from Saul, and an evil spirit troubled him, which
was sent upon him from God." ^
CHAP. IX. — CONTINUATION OF THE SUBJECT OF
MORTIFICATION ; DIGNITY OF PERSONS CONSE-
CRATED TO GOD.
He in whomsoever the Spirit of God is, is in
accord with the will of the Spirit of God ; and,
because he is in accord with the Spirit of God,
therefore does he mortify .the deeds of the body
and live unto God, " treading down and subju-
gating the body and keeping it under ; so tliat,
w'hile preaching to others," he may be a beauti-
ful example and pattern to believers, and may
spend his life in works which are worthy of the
Holy Spirit, so that he may "not be cast away,"4
but may be approved before God and before
men. For in " the man who is of God," s with
him I say there is nothing of the mind of the
flesh ; and especially in virgins of either sex ; but
the fruits of all of them are " the fruits of the
Spirit " ^ and of life, and they are truly the city
of God, and the houses and temples in which
God abides and dwells, and among which He
walks, as in the holy city of heaven. For in this
" do ye appear to the world as lights, in that ye
give heed to the Word of life," 7 and thus ye are
in truth the praise, and the boast, and the crown
of rejoicing, and the delight of good servants in
our Lord Jesus Christ. For all who see you will
" acknowledge that ye are the seed which the
Lord hath blessed ; " ^ in very deed a seed hon-
ourable and holy, and "a priestly kingdom, a
holy people, the people of the inheritance," ^ the
heirs of the promises of God ; of things which
do not decay, nor wither ; of " that which eye
hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and which
hath not come up into the heart of man ; of that
which God hath prepared for those who love
Him and keep His commandments. "'°
CHAP. X. — DENUNCIATION OF DANGEROUS AND
SCANDALOUS ASSOCIATION WITH MAIDENS.
Now, we are persuaded of you, my brethren,
that your thoughts are occupied about those
1 Gen. vL. 3. [This is an example of the vicious method of inter-
pretation, not yet extirpated, which carries Paul's distinctive use of
the term " flesh " back to the Pentateuch, where no ethical sense is
necessarily implied. — R.]
2 Rom. vii.g. [The Apostle speaksof" theSpiritofC/jriV/." — R.]
3 I Sam. xvi. 14.
^ I Cor. ix. 27.
5 I Tim. vi. II.
^ Gal. v. 22.
7 Phil. ii. 15, 16.
* Isa. Ixi. 9.
9 I Pet. ii. 9.
'° I Cor. ii. 9.
things which are requisite for your salvation."
But we speak thus '^ in consequence of the evil
rumours and reports concerning shameless men,
who, under pretext of the fear of God, have their
dwelling with maidens, and so expose themselves
to danger, and walk with them along the road
and in solitary places '^ alone — a course which is
full of dangers, and full of stumbling-blocks and
snares and pitfalls ; nor is it in any respect right
for Christians and those who fear God so to con-
duct themselves. Others, too, eat and drink with
them at entertainments allowing themselves in
loose behaviour and much uncleanness — such as
ought not to be among believers, and especially
among those who have chosen for themselves a
life of holiness. '•♦ Others, again, meet together
for vain and trifling- conversation and merriment,
and that they may speak evil of one another;
and they hunt up tales against one another, and
are idle : persons with whom we do not allow
you even to eat bread. Then, others gad about
among the houses of virgili brethren or sisters, on
pretence of visiting them, or reading the Scrip-
tures to them, or exorcising them. Forasmuch
as they are idle and do no work, they pry into
those things w^hich ought hot to be inquired into,
and by means of plausible words make merchan-
dise of the name of Christ. These are men from
whom the divine apostle kept aloof, because of
the multitude of their evil deeds ; as it is written :
" Thorns sprout in the hands of the idle ; " '5 and,
" The ways of the idle are full of thorns." '^
CHAP. XI. PERNICIOUSNESS OF IDLENESS; WARN-
ING AGAINST THE EMPTY LONGING TO BE TEACH-
ERS ; ADVICE ABOUT TEACHING AND THE USE OF
DIVINE GIFTS.
Such are the ways of all those who do not
work, but go hunting for tales, and think to
themselves that this is profitable and right.'? For
such persons are like those idle and prating wid-
ows " who go wandering about '^ among houses " '9
with tkeir prating, and hunt for idle tales, and
carry them from house to house with much ex-
aggeration, without fear of God. And besides
all this, barefaced men as they are,^° under pre-
tence of teaching, they set forth a variety of doc-
trines. And would that they taught the doctrines
of truth ! But it is this which is so dis([uieting,
that they understand not what they mean, and
assert that which is not true : because they wish
to be teachers, and to display themselves as skil-
" Or "life."
'- The words which follow, " concerning those things which we
speak," appear not to be genuine.-^ Beelen.
'3 Beelen supposes a iv 6id hvolv\ " along the lonely road."
'■* i.e., virginity.
'5 Prov. xxvi. 9.
16 Prov. XV. 19 (LXX.).
17 Lii. " profit and righteousness."
■3 Lit. " go about and wander."
'9 I Tim. V. 13.
20 Lt'i. " in their barefacedness."
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
59
ful in speaking ; because they traffic in iniquity
in the name of Christ — which it is not right for
the servants of God to do. And they hearken
not to that which the Scripture has said : " Let
not many be teachers among you, my brethren,
and be not all of you prophets." ' For " he who
does not transgress in word is a perfect man, able
to keep down and subjugate his whole body."^
And, " If a man speak, let him speak in the
words 3 of God."'* And, "If there is in thee
understanding, give an answer to thy brother ;
but if not, put thy hand on thy mouth." s For,
" at one time it is proper to keep silence, and at
another time to speak." ^ And again it says:
" When a man speaks in season, it is honourable ^
to him."'* And again it says : "Let your speech
be seasoned with grace. For it is required of a
man to know hovv to give an answer to every one
in season." 9 For " he that utters whatsoever
comes to his mouth, that man produces strife ;
and he that utters a superfluity of words increases
vexation ; and he that is hasty with his lips falls
into evil. For because of the unruliness of the
tongue Cometh anger ; but the perfect man keeps
watch over his tongue, and loves his soul's life." '°
For these are they " who by good words and fair
speeches lead astray the hearts of the simple,
and, while offering them blessings, lead them
astray." " Let us, therefore, fear the judgment
which awaits teachers. For a severe judgment
will those teachers receive " who teach, but do
not," '' and those who take upon them the name
of Christ falsely, and say : We teach the truth,
and yet go wandering about idly, and exalt them-
selves, and make their boast " in the mind of the
flesh." '3 These, moreover, are like " the blind
man who leads the blind man, and they both fall
into the ditch." '* And they will receive judg-
ment, because in their talkativeness and their
frivolous teaching they teach natural '5 wisdom,
and the " frivolous error of the plausible words
of the wisdom of men," '^ " according to the will
of the prince of the dominion of the air, and of
the spirit which works in those men who will not
obey, according to the training of this world, and
not according to the doctrine of Christ." '7 But
if thou hast received " the word of knowledge, or
' I Cor. xii. 29. [But compare Jas. iii. i : "Be not many teach-
ers" (R.y.), which precedes the next citation. — R.J
2 Jas. iii. 2.
3 Lit. " speech."
* I Pet. iv. II.
5 Ecclus. V. 14.
6 Eccl. iii. 7.
7 Li'i. " beautiful."
^ Prov. XXV. II.
9 Lit. " in his place." Col. iv. 6.
'° Lit. " his soul for life." Prov. xviii. 6, xiii. 3, xxi. 23.
" Rom. xvi. 17-19.
" Matt, xxiii. 3.
>3 Col. ii. 18.
'< Matt. XV. 14.
's As I Cor. XV. 44 (i|(uxncds).— See Jas. iii. 15 [also i Cor. ii.
13, 14. — R.j.
'6 See Col. ii. 8.
'' Eph. ii. 2; Col. ii. 8.
the word of instruction, or of prophecy," "^ blessed
be God, " who helps every man without grudging
— that God who gives to every man and does
not upbraid /ii>?i." "^ With the gift, therefore,
Vhich thou hast received from our Lord, serve
t/iy spiritual brethren, the prophets who know
that the words which thou speakest are t/iose of
our Lord ; and declare the gift which thou hast
received in the Church for the edification of the
brethren in Christ (for good and excellent are
those things which help the men of God), if so
be that they are truly with thee.^°
CHAP. XII. — RULES FOR VISITS, EXORCISMS, AND
HOW PEOPLE ARE TO ASSIST THE SICK, AND TO
WALK IN ALL THINGS WITHOUT OFFENCE.
Moreover, also, this is comely and useful, that
a man "visit orphans and widows," ^' and espe-
cially those poor persons who have many chil-
dren. These things are, without controversy,
required of the servants of God, and comely and
suitable for them. This also, again, is suitable
and right and comely for those who are brethren
in Christ, that they should visit those who are
harassed by evil spirits, and pray and pronounce
adjurations ^^ over them, intelligently, oj'e ring such
prayer as is acceptable before God ; not with a
multitude of fine words,^^ well prepared and ar-
ranged, so that they may appear to men eloquent
and of a good memory. Sue/i men are " like a
sounding pipe, or a tinkling cymbal ; " ^•^ and they
bring no help to those over whom they make
their adjurations ; but they speak with terrible
words, and affright people, but do not act with
true faith, according to the teaching of our Lord,
who hath said : " This kind goeth not out but
by fasting and prayer," ^5 offered unceasingly and
with earnest mind. And let them holily ask and
beg of God, with cheerfulness and all circum-
spection and purity, without hatred and without
malice. In this way let us approach a brother
or a sister who is sick, and visit them in a way
that is right, without guile, and without covetous-
ness, and without noise, and without talkative-
ness, and without such behaviour as is alien from
the fear of God, and without haughtiness, but
with the meek and lowly spirit of Christ. Let
them, therefore, with fasting and with prayer
make their adjurations, and not with the elegant
and well-arranged and fitly-ordered words of
learning, but as men who have received the gift
of healing from God, confidently, to the glory of
" I Cor. xii. 8-IO.
'9 Jas i. 5.
=° An obscure clause, which Beelen supposes to be due to the misap.
prehension of the Syrian translator. Perhaps the difficulty will be met
if we read " gifts," as do Wets, and Zing., by a change in the pointing.
'' Jas. i. 27.
'^ Or " exorcisms."
23 Lit. " elegant and numerous words."
^•* I Cor. xiii. I.
23 Malt. xvii. 21. [Or Mark ix. 29; the verse in Matthew is of
doubtful genuiaeness. — R.]
6o
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
God. By ' your fastings and prayers and per-
petual watching, together with your other good
works, mortify the works of the flesh by the
power of the Holy Spirit. He who acts thus
" is a temple of the Holy Spirit of God." ^ Let
this man cast out demons, and God will help
him. For it is good that a man help those that
are sick. Our Lord hath said : " Cast out
demons," at the same time commanding many
other acts of healing ; and, " Freely ye have re-
ceived, freely give."^ For such persons as these
a goodly recompense is laid up by God, because
they serve their brethren with the gifts which
have been given them by the Lord. This is also
comely and helpful to the servants of God, be-
cause they act according to the injunctions of
our Lord, who hath said : " I was sick, and ye
visited Me, and so on." * And this is comely
and right and just, that we visit our neighbours
for the sake of God with all seemliness of man-
ner and purity of behaviour ; as the Apostle hath
said : " Who is sick, and I am not sick ? who is
offended, and I am not offended? "s But all
these things are spoken in reference to the love
with which a man should love his neighbour.
And in these things let us occupy ourselves,''
without giving offence, and let us not do any-
thing with partiality or for the shaming of others,
but let us love the poor as the servants of God,
and especially let us visit them. For this is
comely before God and before men, that we
should remember the poor, and be lovers of the
brethren and of strangers, for the sake of God
and for the sake of those who believe in God, as
we have learnt from the law and from the proph-
ets, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, concerning
the love of the brotherhood and the love of
strangers : for ye know the words which have
been spoken concerning the love of the brother-
hood and the love of strangers ; ^ powerfully are
the words spoken to all those who do them.
CHAP. Xni. — WHAT PRIESTS SHOULD BE AND
SHOULD NOT BE.
Beloved brethren ! that a man should build up
and establish the brethren on the faith in one
1 Or "in." '
2 I Cor. vi. 19.
3 Matt. X. 8.
■4 Lit. " and things similar to these," Malt. xxv. 36.
5 2 Cor. xi. 29.
*> Lit. " let us be."
7 Beelen here omits, as spurious, the words, " because this same
thing is pleasant and agreeable to you : because ye are all taught of
God."
God, this also is manifest and well-known. This
too, again, is comely, that a man should not be
envious of his neighbour. And moreover, again,
it is suitable and comely that all those who work
the works of the Lord should work the works of
the Lord in the fear of God. Thus is it required
of them to conduct themselves. That " the har-
vest is great, but the workmen are few," this also
is well-known and manifest. Let us, therefore,
" ask of the Lord of the narvest " that He would
send forth workmen into the harvest ; ^ such
workmen as " shall skilfully dispense the word of
truth ; " workmen "who shall not be ashamed ; "^
faithful workmen ; workmen who shall be " the
light of the world ; " ■" workmen who " work not
for the food that perisheth, but for that food
which abideth unto life eternal;"" workmen
who shall be such as the apostles ; workmen who
imitate the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit ; who are concerned for the salvation of
men ; not " hireling " " workmen ; not workmen
to whom the fear of God and righteousness ap-
pear to be gain ; not workmen who " serve their
belly ; " not workmen who " with fair speeches
and pleasant words mislead the hearts of the
innocent ; " '^ not workmen who imitate the chil-
dren of light, while they are not light but dark-
ness — " men whose end is destruction ; " '+ not
workmen who practise iniquity and wickedness
and fraud ; not " crafty workmen ; " '5 not work-
men "drunken" and "faithless;"'^ nor work-
men who traffic in Christ ; '7 not misleaders ; not
" lovers of money ; not malevolent." '^
Let us, therefore, contemplate and imitate the
faithful who have conducted themselves well in
the Lord, as is becoming and suitable to our
calling and profession. Thus let us do service
before God in justice and righteousness, and
without blemish, "occupying ourselves with
things good and comely before God a7id also
before men." '^ For this is comely, that God
be glorified in us in all things.
Here endeth the first Epistle of Clement.
8 Matt. ix. 37, 38
9 Lit. " without shame," 2 Tim. ii. 15.
»° Matt. y. 14.
" John vi. 27.
'* John X. 12, 13.
'3 Rom. xvi. 18.
14 Phil. iii. 19.
'5 2 Cor. xi. 13.
16 See Matt. xxiv. 45-51.
'^ [Comp. the term xP"'"''eV''''opos, " Christ-monger," " Christ-
trafficker," in Teaching, chap. xii. 5, vol. vii. p. 381. — R.]
'8 I Tim. iii. 3; Tit. i. 7.
'9 Rom. xii. 17.
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
6i
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF THE SAME CLEMENT.
CHAP. I. HE DESCRIBES THE CIRCUMSPECTNESS
OF HIS INTERCOURSE WITH THE OTHER SEX,
AND TELLS HOW IN HIS JOURNEYS HE ACTS AT
PLACES WHERE THERE ARE BRETHREN ONLY.
1 WOULD, moreover, have you know, my breth-
ren, of what sort is our conduct in Christ, as well
as that of all our brethren, in the various places
in which we are. And if so be that you approve
it, do ye also conduct yourselves in like manner
in the Lord. Now we, if God help us, conduct
ourselves thus : with maidens we do not dwell,
nor have we anything in common with them ;
with maidens we do not eat, nor drink ; and,
where a maiden sleeps, we do not sleep ; neither
do women wash our feet, nor anoint us ; and on
no account do we sleep where a maiden sleeps
who is unmarried or has taken the vow : ' even
though she be in some other place if she be
alone, we do not pass the night there.^ More-
over, if it chance that the timey^r ;ri'/' overtake
us in a place, whether in the country, or in a
village, or in a town, or in a hamlet,^ or where-
soever we happen to be, and there are found
brethren in that place, we turn in to one who is
a brother, and call together there all the breth-
ren, and speak to them words of encouragement
and exhortation. •♦ And those among us who are
gifted in speaking will speak such words as are
earnest, and serious, and chaste, in the fear of
God, and exhort them to please God in every-
thing, and abound and go forward in good works,
and " be free from 5 anxious care in everything," ^
as is fit and right for the people of God.
CHAP. n. HIS BEHAVIOUR IN PLACES WHERE
THERE WERE CHRISTIANS OF BOTH SEXES.
And if, moreover, it chance that we are dis-
tant from our homes and from our neighbours,
and the day decline and the eventide overtake
us, and the brethren press us, through love of
the brotherhood and by reason of their affection
for strangers, to stay with them, so that we may
watch with them, and they may hear the holy
word of God and do //, and be fed with the
words of the Lord, so that they may be mindful
of them, and they set before us bread and water
and that which God provides, and we be will-
ing and consent to stay through the night with
them ; if there be there a holy man,^ with him
■ Lit. " or t's a daughter of the covenant."
2 Beelen's rendering, " we do not even pass the night," seems not
to be favoured either by the arrangement or the context.
3 Lit. " dwelling-place."
* Or " consolation." So TrapaicATjai? in the N. T. has both senses.
5 Lit. " without."
6 Phil. iv. 6.
7 i.e.j one who has taken the vow of celibacy.
we turn in and lodge, and that same brother will
provide and prepare whatever is necessary for
us ; and he himself waits upon us, and he him-
self washes our feet for us and anoints us with
ointment, and he himself gets ready a bed for
us, that we may sleep in reliance on God. All
these things will that consecrated brother, who
is in the place in which we tarry, do in his own
person. He will himself serve the brethren,
and each one of the brethren who are in the
same place will join with him in rendering all
those services ^ which are requisite for the breth-
ren. But with us may no female, whether
young maiden or married woman, be there at
that time ;9 nor she that is aged,'° nor she that
has taken the vow ; not even a maid-servant,
whether Christian or heathen ; but there shall
only be men with men. And, if we see it to be
requisite to stand and pray for the sake of the
women, and to speak words of exhortation and
edification, we call together the brethren and all
the holy sisters and maidens, and likewise all the
other women who are there, inviting tliem with
all modesty and becoming behaviour to come
and feast on the truth." And those among us
who are skilled in speaking speak to them, and
exhort them in those words which God has given
us. And then we pray, and salute '^ one another,
the men the men. But the women and the maid-
ens will wrap their hands in their garments ;
and we also, with circumspection and witli all
purity, our eyes looking upwards, shall wrap our
right hand in our garments ; and then they will
come and give us the salutation on our right hand
wrapped in our garments. Then we go where
God permits us.
CHAP. III. RULES FOR THE CONDUCT OF CELIBATE
BRETHREN IN PLACES WHERE THERE ARE ONLY
MARRIED CHRISTIANS.
And if again we chance to come into a place
where there is no consecrated brother, but all are
married, all those who are there will receive
the brother who comes to them, and minister to
him, and care for his wants '^ in everything, as-
siduously, with good-will. And the brother shall
be ministered to by them in the way that is suit-
8 Lit. " will with him minister all those things."
9 [The minuteness of all these precepts is of itself suspicious.
The " simplicity " of the earlier age had evidently passed when these
prohibitions were penned. — R. j
10 ),a.*£^, Beelen's conjecture for ]|-k^i», " rich." Zingerle pro-
poses (|-k&i^, " about to be married."
" Lit." come to the delight of the truth."
•- Lit. " ask of the peace of."
. 13 Lit. " for that which is his; " or " for what belongs to him." ,
62
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
able. And the brother will say to the married
persons who are in that place : We holy men do
not eat or drink with women, nor are we waited
on by women or by maidens, nor do women
wash our feet for us, nor do women anoint us,
nor do women prepare our bed for us, nor do
we sleep where women sleep, so that we may be
without reproach in everything, lest any one
should be offended or stumble at us. And, whilst
we observe all these things, " we are without
offence to every man." ' As persons, therefore,
" who know the fear of the Lord, we persuade
men, and to God we are made manifest."^
CHAP. IV. — CONDUCT OF THE HOLY MAN WHERE
THERE ARE WOMEN ONLY.
But if we chance to come into a place where
there are no Christian men, but all the believers
are women and maidens, ^ and they press us to
pass the night there in that place, we call them
all together to some suitable place,"* and ask
them how they do ; and according to that which
we learn from them, and what we see to be their
state of mind, we address them in a suitable man-
ner, as men fearing God. And when they have
all assembled and come together, and we see that
they are in peace, s we address to them words
of exhortation in the fear of God, and read the
Scripture to them, with purity and in the con-
cise ^ and weighty words of the fear of God.
We do everything as for their edification. And
as to those who are married, we speak to them
in the Lord in a manner suited to them. And
if, moreover, the day decline and the eventide
draw on, we select, in order to pass the night
there, a woman who is aged and the most exem-
plary ^ of them all ; and we speak to her to give
us a place all to ourselves, where no woman en-
ters, nor maiden. And this old woman herself
will bring us a lamp, and whatever is requisite
for us she will herself bring us. From love to
the brethren, she will bring whatever is requisite
for the service of stranger brethren. And she
herself, when the time for sleep is come, will de-
part and go to her house in peace.
CHAP. V. WHERE THERE IS ONLY ONE WOMAN,
THE FATHER DOES NOT MAKE A STAY ; HOW CARE-
FULLY STUMBLING-BLOCKS MUST BE AVOIDED.
But if, moreover, we chance upon a place, and
find there one believing woman only, and no
other person be there but she only, we do not
stop there, nor pray there, nor read the Scrip-
* 2 Cor, vi. 3.
^ 2 Cor. V. II.
3 Lit. " all of them are believing women and maidens."
< Lit. " some place on the right side." The Syrian translator has
probably mistaken the meaning of «i? iva- Toitov Se^ioi', where 6.fidi'
may be compared with dexter in Hor., Sat., ii. i, 18. — Beelen.
5 Probably meaning, " when we have inquired of their welfare."
' Lit. " compressed."
' Lit. " chaste," or " modest."
tures there, but we flee as from before the face of
a serpent, and as from before the face of sin.
Not that we disdain the believing woman — far
be it from us to be so minded towards our breth-
ren in Christ ! — but, because she is alone, we
are afraid lest any one should make insinuations
against us in words of falsehood. For the hearts
of men are firmly set^ on evil. And, that we
may not give a pretext to those who desire to
get a pretext against us and to speak evil of us,
and that we may not be a stumbling-block to
any one, on this account we cut off the pretext
of those who desire to get a pretext against us ;
on this account we must be " on our guard that
we be to no one a stumbling-block, neither to
the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor yet to the
Church of God ; and we must not seek that
which is profitable to ourselves only, but that
which is for the profit of many, so that they may
be saved." ^ For this does not profit us, that
another stumble because of us. Let us, there-
fore, be studiously on our guard at all times, that
we do not smite our brethren and give them to
drink of a disquieting conscience through our
being to them a stumbling-block. For " if for
the sake of meat our brother be made sad, or
shocked, or made weak, or caused to stumble,
we are not walking in the love of God. For the
sake of meat thou causest him to perish for
whose sake Christ died." '° For, ifi " thus sinning
against your brethren and wounding their sickly
consciences, ye sin against Christ Himself. For,
if for the sake of meat my brother is made to
stumble," let us who are believers say, " Never
will we eat flesh, that we may not make our
brother to stumble." " These things, moreover,
does ever one who truly loves God, who truly
takes up his cross, and puts on Christ, and loves
his neighbour ; the man who watches over him-
self that he be not a stumbling-block to any one,
that no one be caused to stumble because of him
and die because he is constantly with maidens
and lives in the same house with them — a thing
which is not right — to the overthrow of those
who see and hear. Evil conduct like this is
fraught with stumbling and peril, and is akin "
to death. But blessed is that man who is cir-
cumspect and fearful in everything for the sake
of purity !
CHAP. VI. — HOW CHRISTIANS SHOULD BEHAVE
THEMSELVES AMONG HEATHENS.
If, moreover, it chance that we go to a place
in which there are no Christians, and it be im-
8 Or " are set and fixed."
9 I Cor. X. 32, 33.
1° Rom. xiv. 15. [The Apostle's noble and consistent counsel to
the " strong" brethren at Rome is in sharp contrast with the use here
made of it. Only one of the " weak " brethren could have written
this epistle. — R]
'' 1 Cor. viii. 12, 13.
12 Lit. " near."
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
63
portant for us to stay there a few days, let us be
" wise as serpents, and harmless as doves ; '" and
let us " not be as the foolish, but as the wise," ^
in all the j-^/^- restraint of the fear of God, that
God may be glorified in everything through our
Lord Jesus Christ, through our chaste and holy
behaviour. For, " whether we eat, or drink, or
do anything else, let us do it as for the glory of
God." 3 Let " all those who see us acknowledge
that we are a blessed seed,"'* "sons of the living
God," 5 in everything — in all our words, in
shamefastness, in purity, in humility, forasmuch
as we do not copy the heathen in anything, nor
are as believers like other men, but in everything
are estranged from the wicked. And we " do
not cast that which is holy before dogs, nor
pearls before swine ; " ^ but with all possible self-
restraint, and with all discretion, and with all fear
of God, and with earnestness of mind we praise
God. For we do not minister where heathens
are drinking and blaspheming in their feasts with
words of impurity, because of their wickedness. ^
Therefore do we not sing psalms to the hea-
thens, nor do we read to them the Scriptures, that
we may not be like common singers, either those
who play on the lyre,^ or those who sing with the
voice, or like soothsayers, as many are, who follow
these practices and do these things, that they
may sate themselves with a paltry mouthful of
bread, and who, for the sake of a sorry cup of
wine, go ^^7/// " singing the songs of the Lord
in the strange land"^ of the heathen, and doing
what is not right. Do not so, my brethren ; we
beseech you, my brethren, let not these deeds be
done among you ; but put away those who choose
thus to behave themselves with infamy and dis-
grace. It is not proper, my brethren, that these
things should be so. But we beseech you, breth-
ren in righteousness, that these things be so done
with you as with us, as for a pattern of believers,
and of those who shall believe. Let us be of
the flock of Christ, in all righteousness, and in
all holy and unblemished conduct, behaving our-
selves with uprightness and sanctity, as is right
for believers, and observing those things which
are praisewoithy, and pure, and holy, and hon-
ourable, and noble ; and do ye promote '° all
those things which are profitable. For ye are
" our joy, and our crown," and our hope, and
our life, " if so be that ye stand in the Lord." "
So be it ! '^
' Matt. X. 16.
2 Eph. V. 15.
3 I Cor. X. 31.
* Isa. Ixi. 9.
5 Phil. ii. 15.
<> Matt. vli. 6.
7 Beelen joins " because of their wickedness " with the words that
follow.
* Or " cithara."
9 Ps. cxxxvii. 4.
'° Or " set on foot."
" Phil. iv. I.
'^ Or " Amen."
CHAP. VII. USES OF CONSIDERING ADMONrTORY
EXAMPLES, AS WELL AS INSTRUCTIVE PATTERNS.
Let us consider, therefore, my brethren, and
see how all the righteous fathers conducted them-
selves during the whole time of their sojourn in
this life, and let us search and examine from the
law doiun to the New Testament. For this is
both becoming and profitable, that we should
know how many men there have been, and who
they were, that have perished through women ;
and who and how many have been the women
that have perished through men, by reason of the
constancy with which they have associated with
one another. And further, also, for the same rea-
son, I will show how many have been the men,
and who they were, that lived all their lifetime,
and continued even to the close, with one an-
other in the performance of chaste works without
blemish. And it is manifest and well-known that
this is so.'2
CHAP. VIII. — JOSEPH AND POTIPHAR's WIFE ; OF
WHAT KIND LOVE TO FEMALES OUGHT TO BE.
There is Joseph, faithful, and intelligent, and
wise, and who feared God in everything. Did
not a woman conceive an excessive passion for
the beauty of this chaste and upright man ?
And, when he would not yield and consent to
gratify her passionate desire,''* she cast the right-
eous man into every kind of distress and tor-
ment, to within a little of death, 'S by bearing
false witness. But God delivered him from all
the evils that came upon him through this
wretched woman. Ye see, my brethren, what
distresses the constant sight of the person of the
Egyptian woman brought upon the righteous
man. Therefore, let us not be constantly with
women, nor with maidens. For this is not profit-
able for those who truly wish to " gird up their
loins." '^ For it is required that we love the
sisters in all purity and chasteness, and with all
curbing of thought, in the fear of God, not asso-
ciating constantly with them, nor finding access
to them at every hour.
CHAP. IX.
•SAMSONS ADMONITORY FALL.
Hast thou not heard concerning Samson the
Nazarite, " with whom was the Spirit of God," ^^
the man of great strength ? This man, who was
a Nazarite, and consecrated to God, and who was
gifted with strength and might, a woman brought
to ruin with her wretched body, and with her
vile passion. Art thou, perchance, such a man
as he ? Know thyself, and know the measure of
13 Wetstein and Zingerle join on this sentence to the next, by a
change of the construction.
'■» Lit. " her passion and her desire."
'5 Lit. " even to death."
'^ Luke xii. 55.
" Judges xiii. 25.
64
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
thy strength." "The married woman catcheth
precious souls." ^ Therefore, we do not allow
any man whatsoever to sit with a married wo-
man ; much less to live in the same house with
a maiden who has taken' the vow, or to sleep
where she sleeps^ or to be constantly with her.
For this is to be hated and abominated by those
who fear God.
CHAP. X. — David's sin, so admonitory to us
WEAK MEN.
Does not the case of David instruct thee,
whom God " found a man after His heart," ^ one
faithful, faultless, pious, true? This same man
saw the beauty of a woman — I mean of Bath-
sheba — when he saw her as she was cleansing
herself and washing unclothed. This woman the
holy man saw, and was thoroughly "^ captivated
with desire by the sight of her.s See, then, what
evils he committed because of a woman, and
hoiu this righteous man sinned, and gave com-
mand that the husband of this woman should
be killed in battle. Ye have seen what wicked
schemes he laid and executed, and hoio, because
of his passion for a woman, he perpetrated a mur-
der— lie, David, who was called "the anointed
of the Lord." ^ Be admonished, O man : for,
if such men as these have been brought to
ruin through women, what is thy righteousness,
or what art thou among the holy, that thou con-
sortest with women and with maidens day and
night, with much silliness, without fear of God?
Not thus, my brethren, not thus let us conduct
ourselves ; but let us be mindful of that word
which is spoken concerning a woman : " Her
hands lay snares, and her heart spreadeth nets ;
but the just shall escape from her, whilst the
wicked falleth into her hands." 7 Therefore let
us, who are consecrated,'^ be careful not to live in
the same house with females who have taken the
vow. For such conduct as this is not becoming
nor ricrht for the servants of God.
CHAP. XI. admonitory HISTORY OF THE INCEST-
UOUS CHILDREN OF DAVID.
Hast thou not read concerning Amnon and
Tamar, the children of David? This Amnon
conceived a passion for his sister, and hum-
bled her, and did not spare her, because he
longed for her with a shameful passion ; and he
proved wicked and profligate because of his con-
stant intercourse with her, without- the fear of
God, and he " wrought uncleanness in Israel." ^
■ Lit. " know thy measure."
^ Prov. vi. 26.
3 I Sam. xvi. 13; Ps. Ixxxix. 20, seqq.; Acts xiii. 22.
^ Lit. " verily."
5 " By the pleasure derived from the sight of her." — Beelen.
6 Ps. xviii. 50; 2 Sam. xix. 21.
' Eccl. vii. 26.
8 Lit. " holy."
9 Gen. xxxiv. 7.
Therefore, it is not proper for us, nor right for
us, to associate with sisters, indulging in laughter
and looseness ; but we ought to behave totvards
them with all chasteness and purity, and in the
fear of the Lord.
CHAP. XII. — SOLOMON'S INFATUATION THROUGH
WOMEN.
Hast thou not read the history of Solomon,
the son of David, the man to whom God gave
wisdom, and knowledge, and largeness of mind,'°
and riches, and much glory, beyond all men?
Yet this same man, through women, came to
ruin," and departed from the Lord.
CHAP. XIII. — THE HISTORY OF SUSANNA TEACHES
CIRCUMSPECTION WITH THE EYES AND IN SO-
CIETY.
Hast thou not read, and dost thou not know,
concerning those elders who were in the days of
Susanna, who, because they were constantly with
women, and looking upon the beauty which was
another's,'^ fell into the depths of wantonness,
and were not able to keep themselves in a chaste
mind,'3 but were overconte by a depraved dispo-
sition, and came suddenly '•♦ upon the blessed
Susanna to corrupt her. But she did not consent
to their foul passion, but cried unto God, and God
saved her out of the hands of the bad old men.
Does it not, therefore, behove us to tremble and
be afraid, forasmuch as these old men, judges and
elders of the people of God, fell from their dig-
nity because of a woman ? For they did not keep
in mind that which is said : " Look thou not on the
beauty which is another's;" and, "The beauty
of woman has destroyed many ; " 's and " With a
married woman do not sit ; " ''' and that, again, in
which it says : " Is there any one that puts fire
in his bosom, and does not burn his clothes ; " ^^
or, " Does a man walk on fire, and his feet are
not scorched ? So whosoever goeth in to another
man's wife is not pure from evil, and whosoever
comes near to her shall not escape." '^ And again
it says : " Thou shalt not long after the beauty
a woman, lest she take thee captive with her
eyelids ; " '^ and, " Thou shalt not look upon a
maiden, lest thou perish through desire of her ; " ^°
and, " With a woman that sings beautifully thou
shalt not constantly be ; " ^' and, " Let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."--
'o Lit. " heart."
" Or " perished."
'2 Susanna having a husband, Joachim.
'3 Lit. " a mind of chasteness."
'■i Lit. " rose."
'5 Ecclus. ix. 8, 9.
'6 Ecclus. ix. 12.
" Prov. vi. 27.
'8 Prov. vi. 28, 29.
'9 Prov. vi. 25.
2° Ecclus. ix. 5.
2' Ecclus. ix. 4.
^^ I Cor X. 12.
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
65
CHAP. XrV. EXAMPLES OF CIRCUMSPECT BEHAV-
IOUR FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT.
But see what it says also concerning those holy
men, the prophets, and concerning the apostles
of our Lord. Let us see whether any one of these
holy men was constantly with maidens, or with
young married women, or with such widows as the
divine apostle declines to receive. Let us con-
sider, in the fear of God, the manner of life of
these holy men. Lo ! we find it written concern-
ing Moses and Aaron, that they acted and lived
in the company of' men, who themselves also fol-
lowed a course of conduct like theirs. And thus
did Joshua also, the son of Nun. \Voman was
there none with them ; but they by themselves
used hohly to minister before God, men with
men. And not only so ; but they taught the
people, that, whensoever the host moved, every
tribe should move on apart, and the women with
the women apart, and that they should go into
the rear behind the host, and the men also apart
by their tribes. And, according to the command
of the Lord, so did they set out, like a wise peo-
ple, that there might be no disorder on account
of the women when the host moved. With
beautiful and well-ordered arrangements did they
march without stumbling. For lo ! the Scrip-
tures bear testimony to my words : " When the
children of Israel had crossed over the Sea of
Suth, Moses and the children of Israel sang the
praises of the Lord, and said : We will praise the
Lord, because He is exceedingly to be praised." ~
And,* after that Moses had finished ^ singing
praises, then Miriam, the sister of Moses and
Aaron, took a timbrel in her hands, and all the
women went out after her, and sang praises with
her, women with women apart, and men with
men apart. Then again, we find that Elisha
and Gehazi and the sons of the prophets lived
together in the fear of God, and that they had
no females living with them. Micah too, and all
the prophets likewise, we find to have lived in
this manner in the fear of the Lord.
CHAP. XV. THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS ; HOW WE MAY
ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE SERVED BY WOMEN.
And, not to extend our discourse to too great
length, what shall we say concerning our Lord
Jesus Christ? Our Lord Himself was constantly
with His twelve disciples when He had comQ forth
to the world. And not only so ; but also, when He
was sending them out. He sent them out two and
two together, men with men ; but women were not
sent with them, and neither in the highway nor in
the house did they associate with women or with
maidens : and thus they pleased God in every-
' Lit. " their conduct and living was with."
2 Exod. XV. I.
3 Lit. " ceased from."
thing. Also, when our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
was talking with the woman of Samaria by the
well alone, " His disciples came " and found Him
talking with her, " and wondered that Jesus was
standing and talking with a woman." •♦ Is He
not a rule, such as may not be set aside, an ex-
ample, and a pattern to all the tribes of men?
And not only so ; but also, when our Lord was
risen from the place of the dead, and Mary
came to J)ie place of sepulture, she ran and
fell at the feet of our Lord and worshipped Him,
and would have taken hold of Him. But He
said to her : " Touch Me not ; for I am not yet
ascended to My Father." s Is it not, then, mat-
ter for astonishment, that, while our Lord did not
allow Mary, the blessed woman, to touch His feet,
yet thou livest with them, and art waited on by
women and maidens, and sleepest where they
sleep, and women wash thy feet for thee, and
anoint thee ! Alas for this culpable state of mind !
Alas for this state of mind which is destitute of
fear ! Alas for this affrontery and folly which is
without fear of God ! Dost thou not judge thine
own self? Dost thou not examine thine own self?
Dost thou not know thine own self and the meas-
ure of thy strength? These things, moreover, are
trustworthy, and these things are true and right ;
and these are rules immutable for those who be-
have themselves uprightly in our Lord. Many
holy women, again, ministered to holy men of their
substance, as the Shunammite woman ministered
to EHsha ; but she did not live with him, but the
prophet lived in a house apart. And, when her
son died, she wanted to throw herself at the feet
of the prophet ; but his attendant would not al-
low her, but restrained her. But Elisha said to
his servant : " Let her alone, because her soul is
distressed." ^ From these things, then, we ought
to understand their manner of life. To Jesus
Christ our Lord women ministered of their sub-
stance ; but they did not live with him ; but
chastely, and holily, and unblameably they be-
haved before the Lord, and finished their course,
and received the crown in 7 our Lord God Al-
mighty.
CHAP. XVL EXHORTATION TO UNION AND TO
OBEDIENCE J CONCLUSION,
Therefore, we beseech you, our brethren in
our Lord, that these things be observed with you,
as with us, and that we may be of the same mind,
that we may be one in you and ye may be one
in us, and that in everything we may be 0/ one
soul and one heart in our Lord. Whosoever
knoweth the Lord heareth us ; and every one
* John iv. 27.
5 John XX. 17.
^ 2 Kings iv. 27.
7 Beelen suggests the reading " from," or to render the present
text " by."
66
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY.
who is not of God heareth not us. He who
desires truly to keep sanctity heareth us ; and
the virgin who truly desires to keep virginity
heareth us ; but she who does not truly desire
to keep virginity doth not hear us. Finally, fare-
well in our Lord, and rejoice in the Lord, all
ye saints. Peace and joy be with you from God
the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. So
be it.
Here endeth the Second Epistle of Clement,
the disciple of Peter. His prayer be with us !
So be it.
PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE LITERATURE.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
TO THE
PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE LITERATURE.
By professor M. B. RIDDLE, D.D.
The name "Pseudo-Clementine Literature" (or, more briefly, "Clementina") is applied to a
series of writings, closely resembling each other, purporting to emanate from the great Roman Father.
But, as Dr. Schaff remarks, in this literature he is evidently confounded with " Flavins Clement,
kinsman of the Emperor Domitian." ' These writings are three in number : ( i ) the Recognitions, of
which only the Latin translation of Rufinus has been preserved ; ^ (2) the Homi/ies, twenty in num-
ber, of which a complete collection has been known since 1853 ; (3) the Epitome, "an uninterest-
ing extract from the Homilies, to which are added extracts from the letter of Clement to James,
from the Martyriicm of Clement by Simeon Metaphrastes, etc." ^ Other writings may be classed
with these ; but they are of the same general character, except that most of them show the influ-
ence of a later age, adapting the material more closely to the orthodox doctrine.
The Recognitions and the Homilies appear in the pages which follow. The former are given a
prior position, as in the Edinburgh series. It probably cannot be proven that these represent the
earlier form of this theological romance ; but the Homilies, " in any case, present the more doc-
trinally developed and historically important form of the other treatises, which are essentially
similar." ■♦ They are therefore with propriety placed after the Recogiiitions, which do not seem to
have been based upon them, but upon some earlier document.5
The critical discussion of the Clementina has been keen, but has not reached its end. It neces-
sarily involves other questions, about which there is still great difference of opinion. A few
results seem to be established : —
(i) The entire literature is of Jewish-Christian, or Ebionitic, origin. The position accorded
to " James, the Lord's brother," in all the writings, is a clear indication of this ; so is the silence
respecting the Apostle Paul. The doctrinal statements, " though not perfectly homogeneous "
(Uhlhorn), are Judaistic, even when mixed with Gnostic speculation of heathen origin. This
tendency is, perhaps, not so clearly marked in the Recognitions as in the Homilies ; but both
partake largely of the same general character. More particularly, the literature has been con-
nected with the Ebionite sect called the Elkesaites ; and some regard the Ho7nilies as con-
taining a further development of their system.^ This is not definitely established, but finds some
' History of the Christian Chnrch, vol. ii. p. 436, new edition.
2 See the Introductory Note of the Edinburgh translator.
3 Uhlhorn, article Clementines, Schaff-Herzog, i. p. 497. A second Epitome has been published'by Dressel ; see Introductory
Notice to Homilies.
4 Lechler, Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times, ii. p. 268, Edinburgh translation, 1886, from 3d edition.
5 Uhlhorn; see infra.
6 Comp. Uhlhorn, p. 392; Schaff, History, ii. p. 436; Lechler, ii. p. 288. See Schaff-Herzog, i. art. Elkesaites,
69
70 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
support in the resemblance between the baptismal forms, as given by Hippolytus in the case of the
Elkesaites,' and those indicated in the Recogniiioiis and Homilies, especially the latter.^
(2) The entire hterature belongs to the class of fictitious writing " with a purpose." The Ger-
mans properly term the Homilies a " Tendenz-Romance." The many " lives of Christ " written in
our day to insinuate some other view of oui Lord's person than that given in the canonical Gos-
pels, furnish abundant examples of the class. The Tubingen school, finding here a real specimen
of the influence of party feeling upon quasi-historical literature, naturally pressed the Ckfuentina
in support of their theory of the origin of the Gospels.
(3) The discussion leaves it quite probable, though not yet certain, that all the works are
"independent elaborations — perhaps at first hand, perhaps at second or third — of some older tract
not now extant." ^ Some of the opinions held respecting the relations of the two principal works
are given by the Edinburgh translator in his Introductory Notice. It is only necessary here to
indicate the progress of the modern discussion. Neander, as early as 18 18, gave some promi-
nence to the doctrinal view of the Homilies. He was followed by Baur, who found in these
writings, as indicated above, support for his theory of the origin of historical Christianity. It is
to be noted, however, that the heterogeneous mixture of Ebionism and Gnosticism in the doctrinal
views proved perplexing to the leader of the Tubingen school. Schliemann'' took ground against
Baur, collecting much material, and carefully investigating the question. Both authors gave the
priority to the Homilies. While Baur went too far in one direction, Schliemann, perhaps, failed to
recognise fully the basis of truth in the position of the former. The next important step in the
discussion was made by Hilgenfeld,5 whose views are briefly given in the- Notice which follows.
Hilgenfeld assigned the priority to the Recognitions, though he traced all the literature to an
earlier work. Uhlhorn "^ at first attempted to prove that the Recognitions were a revision of the
Homilies. Further contributions were made by Lehmann? and Lipsius.^ The former dis-
covered in the Recognitiotis two distinct parts by different authors (i.-iii., iv.-ix.), tracing all the
literature to the Kerygma of Peter. The latter finds the basis of the whole in the Acta Petri,
which show a strong anti-Pauline tendency.
Influenced by these investigations, Uhlhorn modified his views. Lechler,^ while not positive
in his convictions, makes the following prudent statement : " An older work lies at the basis both
of the Hof?iilies and Recognitions, bearing the title, Kerygmen des Petrus.^° To this document
sometimes the Ho?nilies, sometimes the Recognitions, correspond more faithfully ; its historical
contents are more correctly seen from the Recognitions, its doctrinal contents from the Ho7nilies."
Other views, some of them quite fanciful, have been presented.
The prevalent opinion necessarily leaves us in ignorance of the authors of this literature.
The date of composition, or editing, cannot be definitely fixed. In their present form the several
works may be as old as the first half of the third century, and the common basis may be placed
in the latter half of the second century.
How far the anti-Pauline tendency is carried, is a matter of dispute. Baur and many others
think Simon is meant to represent Paul ; " but this is difficult to believe, though we must admit
' See Hippolytus, Refutation of all Heresies, book ix. 8-12, Attte-Nicene Fathers, vol. v. pp. 131-134. The forms occur in chap.
10, pp. 132, 133.
2 See Recognitions, \. 45-48; Homilies, Epistle of Peter to James, 4, Homily XIV. i.
3 This is the last opinion of Uhlhorn (Herzog, Real-Encykl., 1877, art. Clemetitinen; comp. Schaff-Herzog, i. p. 498). This author
had previously defended the priority of the Homilies {Die Homilien und Rekognitiofien des Clemens Romanus, Goltingen, 1854; comp
Herzog, edition of 1854, art. Clementinen).
4 Die Clementinen nebst den verwandteti Schri/ten, und der Ebionitismus, Hamburg, 1844.
5 Die Cleinentinischen Rekognitionen und Homilien, 7iach ihretn Ursprung und Inhalt dargestellt, Jena, 1848.
6 See supra, note 3. Uhlhorn found the nucleus of the literature in Homilies, xvi.-xix.
7 Die Clementi7iischen Schrifteii, Gotha, 1869.
8 Die Quellen der romischen Petrussage, Kiel, 1872.
9 Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times, vol. ii. p. 270.
'° So Hilgenfeld, Lehmann, Uhlhorn.
'' See especially Homilies, xvii. 19. Here there is " probably only an incidental sneer at Paul" (Schaif, History, ii. p. 438).
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
71
the disposition to ignore the Apostle to the Gentiles. As to the literary merit of these produc-
tions the reader must judge.
For convenience in comparison of the two works, the following table has been prepared, based
on the order of the Recognitions. The correspondences are not exact, and the reader is referred
to the footnotes for fuller details. This table gives a general view of the arrangement of the
two narratives : —
Recognitions.
Homilies.
Recognitions.
Homilies
I
. I., II.
VI
. XI.
II., Ill
. III.
VII
. XII., XIII
....
. IV.-VII.
VIIL, IX. .
. XIV., XV.
IV
. VIIL, IX.
....
. XVI.-XIX
V
. X., XV.
X
. XX.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE TO THE RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[BY THE TRANSLATOR, REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D.]
The Recognitiojis of Clement is a kind of philosophical and theological romance. The writer
of the work seems to have had no intention of presenting his statements as facts ; but, choosing
the disciples of Christ and their followers as his principal characters, he has put into their mouths
the most important of his beliefs, and woven the whole together by a thread of fictitious narrative.
The Recognitions is one of a series ; the other members of which that have come down to us
are the Clementine Homilies and two Epitomes.^
The authorship, the date, and the doctrinal character of these books have been subjects of keen
discussion in modern times. Especial prominence has been given to them by the Tiibingen school.
Hilgenfeld says : "There is scarcely a single writing which is of so great importance for the his-
tory of Christianity in its first stage, and which has already given such brilliant disclosures at the
hands of the most renowned critics in regard to the earliest history of the Christian Church, as
the writings ascribed to the Roman Clement, the Recog?iitions and Homilies.''^ The importance
thus attached to these strange and curious documents by one school of theologians, has compelled
men of all shades of belief to investigate the subject ; but after all their investigations, a great
variety of opinion still prevails on almost every point connected with these books.
We leave our readers to judge for themselves in regard to the doctrinal statements, and confine
ourselves to a notice of some of the opinions in regard to the authorship and date of the Recog-
nitions.^
The first question that suggests itself in regard to the Recognitions is, whether the Recognitions
or the Homilies are the earliest form of the book, and what relation do they bear to each other?
Some maintain that they are both the productions of the same author, and that the one is a later
and altered edition of the other ; and they find some confirmation of this in the preface of Ru-
finus. Others think that both books are expansions of another work which formed the basis. And
others maintain that the one book is a rifacimento of the other by a different hand. Of this third
party, some, like Cave, Whiston, Rosenmiiller, Staiidlin, Hilgenfeld, and many others, believe that
the Recognitions wx% the earliest ■♦ of the two forms; while others, as Clericus, Mohler, Liicke,
Schliemann, and Uhlhorn, give priority to the Clementines. Hilgenfeld supposes that the original
writing was the K>;puy/i,a Ylirpov, which still remains in the work ; that besides this there are three
parts, — one directed against Basilides, the second the Travels of Peter (TreptoSot), and the third
the Recognitions. There are also, he believes, many interpolated passages of a much later date
than any of these parts. 5
' [See supra, p. 69, and Introductory Notice to Homilies. — R.]
2 Die Clemetitinischeu Rekognitiojien utid Hoinilien, nach ihrem Ursprimg und Inhalt dargestellt, von Dr. Adolf Hilgenfeld,
Jena, 1848, p. i. [Despite the morbid taste of this school for heretical writings, and the now proven incorrectness of the " tendency-theory,"
due credit must be given to Baur and his followers for awakening a better critical discernment among the students of ecclesiastical history.
Hilgenfeld's judgments, in the higher and lower criticism also, are frequently very incorrect; but he has done much to further a correct esti-
mate of the Clementina. See Introductory Notice, supra. — R.]
3 [The title, which varies in different manuscripts, is derived from the " narrating, in the last books, of the re-union of the scattered mem-
bers of the Clementine family, who all at last find themselves together in Christianity, and are baptized by Peter" (SchafiT, History). — R.]
■♦ See Schliemann, Die Clementinen, Hamburg, 1844, p. 295.
5 [See a brief account of the discussion j;</A-a, p. 70. — R.]
73
74 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE TO RECOGNITIONS.
No conclusion has been reached in regard to the author. Some have beheved that it is a genu-
ine work of Clement. Whiston maintained that it was written by some of his hearers and com-
panions. Others have attributed the work to Bardesanes. But most acknowledge that there is no
possibility of discovering who was the author.
Various opinions exist as to the date of the book. It has been attributed to the first, second,
third, and fourth centuries, and some have assigned even a later date. If we were to base our
arguments on the work as it stands, the date assigned would be somewhere in the first half of the
third century. A passage from the Recognitions is quoted by Origen ' in his Commentary on Gene-
sis, written in 231 ; and mention is made in the work of the extension of the Roman franchise to
all nations under the dominion of Rome, — an event which took place in the region of Caracalla,
A.D. 211. The Recognitions also contains a large extract from the work De Fato, ascribed to
Bardesanes, but really written by a scholar of his. Some have thought that Bardesanes or his
scholar borrowed from the Recognitions ; but more recently the opinion has prevailed, that the
passage was not originally in the Recognitions, but was inserted in the Recognitiojis towards the mid-
dle of the third century, or even later.^
Those who believe the work made up of various documents assign various dates to these doc-
uments. Hilgenfeld, for instance, believes that the Kijpvy/Aa neVpov was written before the time of
Trajan, and the Travels of Peter about the time of his reign.
Nothing is known of the place in which the Recognitions was written. Some, as Schliemann,
have supposed Rome, some Asia Minor, and recently Uhlhorn has tried to trace it to Eastern
S}'ria.3
The Greek of the Recognitions is lost. The work has come down to us in the form of a transla-
tion by Rufinus of Aquileia (^. 410 a.d.). In his letter to Gaudentius, Rufinus states that he
omitted some portions difficult of comprehension, but that in regard to the other parts he had
translated with care, and an endeavour to be exact even in rendering the phraseology.
The best editions of the Recognitions are those by Cotelerius, often reprinted, and by Gersdorf,
Lipsise, 1838 ; but the text is not in a satisfactory condition.
^ Philocalia, cap. 22.
2 See Merx, Bardesanes von Edessa, Halle, 1863, p. 113.
3 Die Hotnilien und Rekognitionert des Clemens Ronianus, nach ihrent Ursprutig und Inhalt dargestellt, von Gerhard Uhlhorn,
Gouingen, 1854, p. 429. [Schaff thinks " the Homilies probably originated in East Syria, the Recognitions in Rome." But Rufinus gives
no intimation of the Roman origin of the Greek work he translated. Still, the apparently more orthodox character of Xha Recognitions sug-
gests an editor from the Western Church. — R.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
RUFINUS, PRESBYTER OF AQUILEIA; HIS PREFACE TO CLEMENT'S BOOK
OF RECOGNITIONS.
TO BISHOP GAUDENTIUS.
To thee, indeed, O Gaudentius, thou choice
glory of our doctors, belongs such vigour of
mind, yea, such grace of the Spirit, that whatever
you say even in the course of your daily preach-
ing, whatever you deliver in the church, ought
to be preserved in books, and handed down to
posterity for their instruction. But we, whom
slenderness of wit renders less ready, and now
old age renders slow and inactive, though after
many delays, yet at length present to you the
work which once the virgin Sylvia of venerable
memory enjoined upon us, that we should render
Clement into our language, and you afterwards
by hereditary right demanded of us ; and thus
we contribute to the use and profit of our peo-
ple, no small spoil, as I think, taken from the
libraries of the Greeks, so that we may feed with
foreign nourishment those whom we cannot with
our own. For foreign things usually seem both
more pleasant, and sometimes also more profit-
able. In short, almost everything is foreign that
brings healing to our bodies, that opposes dis-
eases, and neutralizes poisons. For Judaea sends
us Lacryjna balsami, Crete Coma dictamni, Ara-
bia her flower of spices, India reaps her crop of
spikenard ; which, although they reach us in a
somewhat more broken condition than when they
leave their native fields, yet retain entire the sweet-
ness of their odour and their healing virtue.
Receive therefore, my soul." Clement returning
to you ; receive him now in a Roman dress. And
wonder not if haply the florid countenance of elo-
quence appear less in him than usual. It matters
not, provided the sense tastes the same. There-
fore we transport foreign merchandise into our
country with much labour. And I know not with
how grateful countenances my countrymen wel-
come me, bringing to them the rich spoils of
Greece, and unlocking hidden treasures of wis-
dom with the key of our language. But may
God grant your prayers, that no unlucky eye nor
any livid aspect may meet us, lest, by an extreme
kind of prodigy, while those from whom he is
' Var. readings: " magnanimous one," " my lord," " my friend."
taken do not envy, yet those upon whom he is
bestowed should repine. Truly it is right to
point out the plan of our translation to you, who
have read these works also in Gi»eek, lest haply
in some parts you may think the order of trans-
lation not kept. I suppose you are aware that
there are two editions in Greek of this work of
Clement, — the 'AFayi/wo-et?, that is. Recognitions;
and that there are two collections of books, dif-
fering in some points, but in many containing
the same narrative. In short, the last part of
this work, in which is the relation concerning the
transformation of Simon, is contained in one of
the collections, but is not at all in the other.^
There are also in both collections some disserta-
tions concerning the Unbegotten God and the
Begotten, and on some other subjects, which, to
say nothing more, are beyond our comprehension. ^
These, therefore, as being beyond our powers,
I have chosen to reserve for others, rather than to
produce in an imperfect state. But in the rest,
we have given our endeavour, so far as we could,
not to vary either from the sentiments or even
from the language and modes of expression ;
and this, although it renders the style of the
narrative less ornate, yet it makes it more faith-
ful. The epistle in which the same Clement,
writing to James the Lord's brother, informs him
of the death of Peter, and that he had left him
his successor in his chair and teaching, and in
which also the whole subject of church order is
treated, I have not prefixed to this work, both
because it is of later date, and because I have
already translated and published it.+ But I do
2 [The reference is probably to the transformation of the father
of Clement into the appearance of Simon Magus. 'J'his is narrated
in both the Recognitions (book x. 53, etc.) and in the Homilies (xx.
T2, etc.), though the latter book closes without any statement of the
restoration. It would seem unlikely, then, that Rufinus refers to the
Homilies as the "other" collection. The recovery of the closing
portion of that work has given us its account of the transformation.
-RJ
3 [How far Rufinus has omitted portions which occured in Greek
cannot be known. It is quite probable that the apparent heresy of
some passages, rather than their incomprehensibility, led him to omit
them. This may be urged in favour of the priority of the Homilies,
but is not conclusive. — R.]
4 [There is no good reason for doubting that Rufinus refers to the
extant epistle prefixed to the Homilies, and forming, with " the Epis-
tle of Peter to James," which precedes it, a preface and fictitious au-
thentication of that collection. — R.J
76
PREFACE BY RUFINUS.
not think it out of place to explain here what in
that letter will perhaps seem to some to be incon-
sistent. For some ask, Since Linus and Cletus
were bishops in the city of Rome before this
Clement, how could Clement himself, writing to
James, say that the chair of teaching was handed
over to him by Peter?" Now of this we have
heard this explanation, that Linus and Cletus
' [The language of Rufinus confirms that of Irenaeus, Eusebius,
and Jerome, as to the episcopal succession at Rome (assuming that
Cletus and Anacletus, named by Irenaeus, is identical with Cletus).
For other variations, see Church Histories and Encyclopaedias (under
Clemens Romaiiiis) . The current opinion at Rome in the beginning
of the fifth century is evident from this passage. Comp. Ante-Niceue
Fathers, vol. i. pp. i, 2. — R.]
were indeed bishops in the city of Rome before
Clement, but during the lifetime of Peter : that is,
that they undertook the care of the episcopate,
and that he fulfilled the office of apostleship ; as
is found also to have been the case at Caesarea,
where, when he himself was present, he yet had
Zacchseus, ordained by himself, as bishop. And
in this way both statements will appear to be
true, both that these bishops are reckoned before
Clement, and yet that Clement received the
teacher's seat on the death of Peter. But now let
us see how Clement, writing to James the Lord's
brother, begins his narrative.
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
BOOK I.
CHAP. I. CLEMENT S EARLY HISTORY ; DOUBTS.
I Clement, who was born in the city of
Rome,* was from my earhest age a lover of chas-
tity ; while the bent of ray mind held me bound
as with chains of anxiety and sorrow. For a
thought that was in me — whence originating, I
cannot tell — constantly led me to think of my
condition of mortality, and to discuss such ques-
tions as these : Whether there be for me any
life after death, or whether I am to be wholly
annihilated : whether I did not exist before I was
born, and whether there shall be no reniem-
brance of this life after death, and so the bound-
lessness of time shall consign all things to oblivion
and silence ; so that not only we shall cease to
be, but there shall be no remembrance that we
have ever been. This also I revolved in my
mind : when the world was made, or what was
before it was made, or whether it has existed from
eternity. For it seemed certain, that if it had
been made, it must be doomed to dissolution ;
and if it be dissolved, what is to be afterwards ?
— unless, perhaps, all things shall be buried in
oblivion and silence, or something shall be, which
the mind of man cannot now conceive.
CHAP. n. HIS DISTRESS.
While I was continually revolving in my mind
these and sugh like questions, suggested I know
not how, I was pining away wonderfully through
excess of grief; and, what was worse, if at any
time I thought to cast aside such cares, as being
of little use, the waves of anxiety rose all the
higher upon me. For I had in me that most
excellent companion, who would not suffer me
to rest — the desire of immortality : for, a-s the
subsequent issue showed, and the grace of Al-
mighty God directed, this bent of mind led me
to the quest of truth, and the acknowledgment
of the true light ; and hence it came to pass,
that ere long I pitied those whom formerly in
my ignorance I believed to be happy.
' [The first six chapters closely resemble the corresponding chap-
ters of Homily I. The variations are no greater than might readily
appear in a version. — R.]
CHAP. III. — HIS DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SCHOOLS
OF THE PHILOSOPHERS.
Having therefore such a bent of mind from
my earliest years, the desire of learning some-
thing led me to frequent the schools of the phi-
losophers. There I saw that nought else was
done, save that doctrines were asserted and con-
troverted without end, contests were waged, and
the arts of syllogisms and the subtleties of con-
clusions were discussed. If at any time the
doctrine of the immortality of the soul prevailed,
I was thankful ; if at any time it was impugned, I
went away sorrowful. Still, neither doctrine had
the power of truth over my heart. This only I
understood, that opinions and definitions of things
were accounted true or false, not in accordance
with their nature and the truth of the arguments,
but in proportion to the talents of those who sup-
ported them. And I was all the more tortured in
the bottom of my heart, because I was neither
able to lay hold of any of those things which
were spoken as firmly established, nor was I able
to lay aside the desire of inquiry ; but the more I
endeavoured to neglect and despise them, so
much the more eagerly, as I have said, did a de-
sire of this sort, creeping in upon me secretly as
with a kind of pleasure, take possession of my
heart and mind.
CHAP. IV. — HIS INCREASING DISQUIET.
Being therefore straitened in the discovery of
things, I said to myself, Why do we labour in
vain, since the end of things is manifest? For
if after death I shall be no more, my present
torture is useless ; but if there is to be for me a
life after death, let us keep for that life the ex-
citements that belong to it, lest perhaps some
sadder things befall me than those which I now
suffer, unless I shall have lived piously and so-
berly ; and, according to the opinions of some
of the philosophers, I be consigned to the stream
of dark-rolling Phlegethon, or to Tartarus, like
Sisyphus and Tityus, and to eternal punishment
in the infernal regions, like Ixion and Tantalus.
And again I would answer to myself: But these
77
78
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book I.
things are fables ; or if it be so, since the matter
is in doubt, it is better to Hve piously. But again
I would ponder with myself, How should I re-
strain myself from the lust of sin, while uncer-
tain as to the reward of righteousness? — and
all the more when I have no certainty what right-
eousness is, or what is pleasing to God ; and
when I cannot ascertain whether the soul be im-
mortal, and be such that it has anything to hope
for ; nor do I know what the future is certainly
to be. Yet still I cannot rest from thoughts of
this sort.
CHAP. V. — HIS DESIGN TO TEST THE IMMORTALITY
OF THE SOUL.
What, then, shall I do? This shall I do. I
shall proceed to Egypt, and there I shall culti-
vate the friendship of the hierophants or proph-
ets, who preside at the shrines. Then I shall
win over a magician by money, and entreat him,
by what they call the necromantic art, to bring
me a soul from the infernal regions, as if I were
desirous of consulting it about some business.
But this shall be my consultation, whether the
soul be immortal. Now, the proof that the soul
is immortal will be put past doubt, not from
what it says, or from what I hear, but from what
I see : for seeing it with my eyes, I shall ever
after hold the surest conviction of its immor-
tality ; and no fallacy of words or uncertainty of
hearing shall ever be able to disturb the persua-
sion produced by sight. However, I related this
project to a certain philosopher with whom I was
intimate, who counselled me not to venture upon
it ; " for," said he, " if the soul should not obey
the call of the magician, you henceforth will live
more hopelessly, as thinking that there is noth-
ing after death, and also as having tried things
unlawful. If, however, you seem to see anything,
what religion or what piety can arise to you from
things unlawful and impious? For they say that
transactions of this sort are hateful to the Divin-
ity, and that God sets Himself in opposition to
those who trouble souls after their release from
the body." When I heard this, I was indeed
staggered in my purpose ; yet I could not in any
way either lay aside my longing, or cast off the
distressing thought.
CHAP. VI.
HEARS OF CHRIST.
Not to make a long story of it, whilst I was
tossed upon these billows of my thought, a cer-
tain report, which took its rise in the regions of
the East in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, gradually
reached us ; and gaining strength as it passed
through every place, like some good message
sent from God, it was filling the whole world,
and suffered not the divine will to be concealed
in silence. For it was spread over all places,
announcing that there was a certain person in
Judaea, who, beginning in the spring-time,' was
preaching the kingdom of God to the Jews, and
saying that those should receive it who should
observe the ordinances of His commandments
and His doctrine. And that His speech might
be believed to be worthy of credit, and full of
the Divinity, He was said to perform many
mighty works, and wonderful signs and prodigies
by His mere word ; so that, as one having power
from God, He made the deaf to hear, and the
blind to see, and the lame to stand erect, and
expelled every infirmity and all demons from
men ; yea, that He even raised dead persons who
were brought to Him ; that He cured lepers also,
looking at them from a distance ; and that there
was absolutely nothing which seemed impossible
to Him. These and such like things were con-
firmed in process of time, not now by frequent
rumours, but by the plain statements of persons
coming from those quarters ; and day by day
the truth of the matter was further disclosed.
CHAP. VII. ARRIVAL OF BARNABAS AT ROME.
At length meetings began to be held in vari-
ous places in the city, and this subject to be
discussed in conversation, and to be a matter of
wonder who this might be who had appeared,
and what message He had brought from God to
men ; until, about the same year, a certain man,
standing in a most crowded place in the city,
made proclamation to the people, saying : " Hear
me, O ye citizens of Rome. The Son of God
is now in the regions of Judaea, promising eter-
nal life to every one who will hear Him, but upon
condition that he shall regulate his actions ac-
cording to the will of Him by whom He hath
been sent, even of God the Father. Wherefore
turn ye from evil things to good, from things
temporal to things eternal. Acknowledge that
there is one God, ruler of heaven and earth, in
whose righteous sight ye unrighteous inhabit His
world. But if ye be converted, and act accord-
ing to His will, then, coming to the world to
come, and being made immortal, ye shall enjoy
His unspeakable blessings and rewards." ^ Now,
the man who spoke these things to the people
was from the regions of the East, by nation a
Hebrew, by name Barnabas, who said that he
himself was one of His disciples, and that he was
sent for this end, that he should declare these
things to those who would hear them.^ When I
heard these things, I began, with the rest of the
J V. R. in the time of Tiberius Csesar.
2 [In Homily I. a warning of future punishment is added. — R.]
3 [The narrative in the Homilies is fuller; the preacher at Rome
is not named; Clement attempts to go to Judcea, is driven to Alexan-
dria, and meets Barnabas there: the occurrences here given in chaps.
8-1 1 are placed in Alexandria, whence Clement goes, after the depart-
ure of Barnabas, to Csesarea, where he meets Peter (comp. chap.
12). -R.]
Chap. X.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
79
multitude, to follow him, and to hear what he had
to say. Truly I perceived that there was noth-
ing of dialectic artifice in the man, but that he
expounded with simplicity, and without any craft
of speech, such things as he had heard from the
Son of God, or had seen. For he did not con-
firm his assertions by the force of arguments,
but produced, from the people who stood round
about him, many witnesses of the sayings and
marvels which he related.
CHAP. VIII. — HIS PREACHING.
Now, inasmuch as the people began to assent
willingly to the things which were sincerely
spoken, and to embrace his simple discourse,
those who thought themselves learned or philo-
sophic began to laugh at the man, and to flout
him, and to throw out for him the grappling-
hooks of syllogisms, like strong arms. But he,
unterrified, regarding their subtleties as mere
ravings, did not even judge them worthy of an
answer, but boldly pursued the subject which he
had set before him. At length, some one having
proposed this question to him as he was speak-
ing. Why a gnat has been so formed, that though
it is a small creature, and has six feet, yet it has
got wings in addition ; whereas an elephant,
though it is an immense animal, and has no
wings, yet has only four feet ; he, paying no
attention to the question, went on with his dis-
course, which had been interrupted by the
unseasonable challenge, only adding this admoni-
tion at every interruption : " We have it in charge
to declare to you the words and the wondrous
works of Him who hath sent us, and to confirm
the truth of what we speak, not by artfully de-
vised arguments, but by witnesses produced from
amongst yourselves. For I recognise many
standing in the midst of you whom I remember
to have heard along with us the things which we
have heard, and to have seen what we have seen.
But be it in your option to receive or to spurn
the tidings which we bring to you. For we can-
not keep back what we know to be for your ad-
vantage, because, if we be silent, woe is to us ;
but to you, if you receive not what we speak,
destruction. I could indeed very easily answer
your foolish challenges, if you asked for the sake
of learning truth, — I mean as to the difference
of a gnat and an elephant ; but now it were
absurd to speak to you of these creatures, when
the very Creator and Framer of all things is
unknown by you."
CHAP. IX. — Clement's interposition on behalf
OF BARNABAS.
When he had thus spoken, all, as with one
consent, with rude voice raised a shout of deris-
ion, to put him to shame, and to silence him,
crying out that he was a barbarian and a mad-
man. When I saw matters going on in this way,
being filled, I know not whence, with a certain
zeal, and inflamed with religious enthusiasm, I
could not keep silence, but cried out with all
boldness, " Most righteously does Almighty God
hide His will from you, whom He foresaw to be
unworthy of the knowledge of Himself, as is
manifest to those who are really wise, from what
you are now doing. For when you see that
preachers of the will of God have come amongst
you, because their speech makes no show of
knowledge of the grammatical art, but in simple
and unpolished language they set before you the
divine commands, so that all who hear may be
able to follow and to understand the things that
are spoken, you deride the ministers and messen-
gers of your salvation, not knowing that it is the
condemnation of you who think yourselves skil-
ful and eloquent, that rustic and barbarous men
have the knowledge of the truth ; whereas, when
it has come to you, it is not even received as a
guest, while, if your intemperance and lust did
not oppose, it ought to have been a citizen and
a native. Thus you are convicted of not being
friends of truth and philosophers, but followers
of boasting and vain speakers. Ye think that
truth dwells not in simple, but in ingenious and
subtle words, and produce countless thousands
of words which are not to be rated at the worth
of one word. What, then, do ye think will be-
come of you, all ye crowd of Greeks, if there is
to be, as he says, a judgment of God? But now
give over laughing at this man to your own de-
struction, and let any one of you who pleases
answer me ; for, indeed, by your barking you
annoy the ears even of those who desire to be
saved, and by your clamour you turn aside to the
fall of infidelity the minds that are prepared for
faith. What pardon can there be for you who
deride and do violence to the messenger of the
truth when he offers to you the knowledge of
God? whereas, even if he brought you nothing
of truth, yet, even for the kindness of his inten-
tions towards you, you ought to receive with
gratitude and welcome."
CHAP. X. — intercourse WITH BARNABAS.
While I was urging these and similar argu-
ments, a great excitement was stirred up amongst
the bystanders, some being moved with pity as
towards a stranger, and approving my speech as
in accordance with that feeling ; others, petulant
and stolid, rousing the anger of their undisci-
plined minds as much against me as against Bar-
nabas. But as the day was declining to evening,
I laid hold of Barnabas by the right hand, and
led him away, although reluctantly, to my house*
and there I made him remain, lest perchance
8o
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book I.
any one of the rude rabble should lay hands
upon him. While we were thus placed in con-
tact for a few days, I gladly heard him discours-
ing the word of truth ; yet he hastened his
departure, saying that he must by all means cel-
ebrate at Judaea a festal day of his religion which
was approaching, and that there he should re-
main in future with his countrymen and his
brethren, evidently indicating that he was horri-
fied at the wrong that had been done to hin'?.
CHAP. XI.
•DEPARTURE OF BARNABAS.
At length I said to him, " Only expound to me
the doctrine of that man who you say has ap-
peared, and I will arrange your sayings in my
language, and will preach the kingdom and right-
eousness of Almighty God ; and after that, if
you wish it, I shall even sail along with you, for
I am extremely desirous to see Jud^a, and per-
haps I shall remain with you always." To this
he answered, " If indeed you wish to see our
country, and to learn those things which you de-
sire, set sail with me even now ; or, if there be
anything that detains you now, I shall leave with
you directions to my dwelling, so that when you
please to come you may easily, find me ; for to-
morrow I shall set out on my journey." When
I saw him determined, I went down with him to
the harbour, and carefully took from him the di-
rections which he gave me to find his dwelling.
I told him that, but for the necessity of getting
some money which was due to me, I should not
at all delay, but that I should speedily follow
him. Having told him this, I commended him
to the kindness of those who had charge of the
ship, and returned sad ; for I was possessed of
the memory of the intercourse which I had had
with an excellent guest and a choice friend.
CHAP. XII. — Clement's arrival at c^sarea, and
INTRODUCTION TO PETER.
Having then stopped for a few days, and hav-
ing in some measure finished the business of
collecting what was owing to me (for I neglected
many things through my desire of hastening,
that I might not be hindered from my purpose),
I set sail direct for Judfea, and after fifteen days
landed at Csesarea Stratonis, which is the largest
city in Palestine.' When I had landed, and was
seeking for an inn, I learned from the conversa-
tion of the people, that one Peter, a most ap-
proved disciple of Him who appeared in Judaea,
and showed many signs and miracles divinely
performed among men, was going to hold a dis-
cussion of words and cjuestions the next day with
one Simon, a Samaritan. Having heard this, I
asked to be shown his lodging ; and having found
«
' [The two accounts of the meeting with Peter at Csesarea are
closely parallel. — R.]
it, and standing before the door, I informed the
doorkeeper who I was, and whence I came ; and,
behold, Barnabas coming out, as soon as he saw
me rushed into my arms, weeping for joy, and,
seizing me by the hand, led me in to Peter.
Having pointed him out to me at a distance.
" This," said he, " is Peter, of whom I spoke, to
you as the greatest in the wisdom of God, and
to whom also I have spoken constantly of you.
Enter, therefore, as one well known to him. For
he is well acquainted with all the .good that is in
thee, -and has carefully made himself aware of
your religious purpose, whence also he is greatly
desirous to see you. Therefore I present you to
him to-day as a great gift." At the same time,
presenting me, he said, " This, O Peter, is Clem-
ent."
CHAP. XIII. HIS CORDIAL RECEPTION BY PETER.
But Peter most kindly, when he heard my
name, immediately ran Xo me and kissed me.
Then, having made me sit down, he said, " Thou
didst well to receive as thy guest Barnabas,
preacher of the truth, nothing fearing the rage
of the insane people. Thou shalt be blessed.
For as you have deemed an ambassador of the
truth worthy of all honour, so the truth herself
shall receive thee a wanderer and a stranger, and
shall enroll thee a citizen of her own city ; and
then there shall be great joy to thee, because,
imparting a small favour, thou shalt be written
heir of eternal blessings. Now, therefore, do
not trouble yourself to explain your mind to me ;
for Barnabas has with faithful speech informed
me of all things about you and your dispositions,
almost daily and without ceasing, Tecalling the
memory of your good qualities. And to point
out to you shortly, as to a friend already of one
mind with us, what is your best course ; if there
is nothing to hinder you, come along with us, and
hear the word of the truth, which we are going
to speak in every place until we come even to
the city of Rome ; and now, if you wish any-
thing, speak,"
CHAP. XrV. HIS ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF.
Having detailed to him what purpose I had
conceived from the beginning, and how I had
.been distracted with vain inquiries, and all those
things which at first I intimated to thee, my lord
James, so that I need not repeat the same things
now, I willmgly agreed to travel with him ; "for
that," said I, " is just what I was most eagerly
desirous of. But first I should wish the scheme
of truth to be expounded to me, that I may know
whether the soul is mortal or immortal; and if
immortal, whether it shall be brought into judg-
ment for those things which it does here. Fur-
ther, I desire to know what that righteousness
Chap. XVIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
is, which is pleasing to God ; then, further,
whether the world was created, and why it was
created, and whether it is to be dissolved, and
whether it is to be renovated and made better,
or whether after this there shall be no world at
all ; and, not to mention everything, I should wish
to be told what is the case with respect to these
and such like things." To this Peter answered,
" I shall briefly impart to you the knowledge of
these things, O Clement : therefore listen.
CHAP. XV.
■PETERS FIRST INSTRUCTION
OF IGNORANCE.
CAUSES
" The will and counsel of God has for many
reasons been concealed from men ; first, indeed,
through bad instruction, wicked associations,
evil habits, unprofitable conversation, and un-
righteous presumptions. On account of all
these, I say, first error, then contempt, then infi-
dehty and malice, covetousness also, and vain
boasting, and other such like evils, have filled the
whole house of this world, like some enormous
smoke, and preventing those who dwell in it from
seeing its Founder aright, and from perceiving
what things are pleasing to Him. What, then, is
fitting for those who are within, excepting with
a cry brought forth from their inmost hearts to
invoke His aid, who alone is not shut up in the
smoke-filled house, that He would approach and
open the door of the house, so that the smoke
may be dissipated which is within, and the light of
the sun which shines without may be admitted.
CHAP. XVI. — INSTRUCTION CONTINUED : THE TRUE
PROPHET.
"He, therefore, whose aid is needed for the
house filled with the darkness of ignorance and
the smoke of vices, is He, we say, who is called the
true Prophet, who alone can enlighten the souls
of men, so that with their eyes they may plainly
see the way of safety. For otherwise it is im-
possible to get knowledge of divine and eternal
things, unless one learns of that true Prophet ;
because, as you yourself stated a little ago, the
beUef of things, and the opinions of causes, are
estimated in proportion to the talents of their
advocates : hence, also, one and the same cause
is now thought just, now unjust ; and what now
seemed true, anon becomes false on the assertion
of another. For this reason, the credit of reli-
gion and piety demanded the presence of the true
Prophet, that He Himself might tell us respect-
ing each particular, how the truth stands, and
might teach us how we are to believe concerning
each.' And therefore, before all else, the cre-
dentials of the prophet himself must be examined
with all care ; and when you have once ascer-
* [This discourse is given somewhat more fully here than in the
Homilies. — R.]
tained that he is a prophet, it behoves you thence-
forth to believe him in everything, and not further
to discuss the particulars which he teaches, but
to hold the things which he speaks as certain and
sacred ; which things, although they seem to be
received by faith, yet are believed on the ground
of the probation previously instituted. For when
once at the outset the truth of the prophet is
established on examination, the rest is to be
heard and held on the ground of the faith by
which it is already established that he is a
teacher of truth. And as it is certain that all
things which pertain to divine knowledge ought
to be held according to the rule of truth, so it
is beyond doubt that from none but Himself
alone can it be known what is true."
CHAP. XVII. PETER REQUESTS HIM TO BE HIS AT-
TENDANT.
Having thus spoken, he set forth to me so
openly and so clearly who- that Prophet was, and
how He might be found, that I seemed to have
before my eyes, and to handle with my hand, the
proofs which he produced concerning the pro-
phetic truth ; and I was struck with intense as-
tonishment, how no one sees, though placed
before his eyes, those things which ah are seeking
for. Whence, by his command, reducing into
order what he had spoken to me, I compiled a
book concerning the true Prophet, and sent it
to you from Caesarea by his command. For he
said that he had received a command from you
to send you every year an account of his sayings
and doings.- Meantime, at the beginning of his
discourse which he delivered to me the first day,,
when he had instructed me very fully concerning
the true Prophet, and very many things besides,
he added also this : " See," said he, " for the
future, and be present at the discussions which,
whenever any necessity arises, I shall hold with-
those who contradict ; against whom, when I
dispute, even if I shall seem to be worsted, I
shall not be afraid of your being led to doubt of
those things which I have stated to you ; because,,
even if I shall seem to be beaten, yet those things-
shall not therefore seem to be uncertain which
the true Prophet has delivered to us. Yet I
hope that we shall not be overcome in disputa-
tions either, if only our hearers are reasonable,
and friends of truth, who can discern the force
and bearing of words, and recognise what dis-
course comes from the sophistical art, not con-
taining truth, but an image of truth ; and what
that is, which, uttered simply and without craft,
depends for all its power not on show and orna-
nent, but on truth and reason."
2 [Comp. Homily I. 20, where there is a curious inconsistency.
Both accounts seem to insert this to tally wuh the fictitious relation
to James, and both may be used to support the theory of a common
documentary basis. — R.]
82
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book I.
CHAP. XVIII. — HIS PROFITING BY PETER'S INSTRUC-
TION.
To this I answered : " I give thanks to God
Ahnighty, because I have been instructed as I
wished and desired. At all events, you may
depend upon me so far, that I can never come
to doubt of those things which I have learned of
you ; so that even if you yourself should at any
time wish to transfer my faith from the true
Prophet, you should not be able, because I have
drunk in with all my heart what you have spoken.
And that you may not think that I am promising
you a great thing when I say that I cannot be
moved away from this faith, it is with me a cer-
tainty, that whoever has received this account of
the true Prophet, can never afterwards so much
as doubt of its truth. And therefore I am con-
fident with respect to this heaven-taught doctrine,
in which all the art of malice is overborne. For
in opposition to this prophecy neither any art can
stand, nor the subtleties of sophisms and syllo-
gism ; but every one who hears ,of the true
Prophet must of necessity long immediately for
the truth itself, nor will he afterwards, under pre-
text of seeking the truth, endure diverse errors.
Wherefore, O my lord Peter, be not further anx-
ious about me, as if I were one who does not
know what he has received, and how great a gift
has been conferred on him. Be assured that you
have conferred a favour on one who knows and
understands its value : nor can I be easily de-
ceived on that account, because I seem to have
gotten quickly what I long desired ; for it may
be that one who desires gets quickly, while
another does not even slowly attain the things
which he desires."
CHAP. XIX. — Peter's satisfaction.
Then Peter, when he heard me speak thus,
said : " I give thanks to my God, both for your
salvation and for my own peace ; for I am great-
ly delighted to see that you have understood
what is the greatness of the prophetic virtue,
and because, as you say, not even I myself, if I
should wish it (which God forbid !), should be
able to turn you away to another faith. Now
henceforth begin to be with us, and to-morrow
be present at our discussions, for I am to have
a contest with Simon the magician." When he
had thus spoken, he retired to take food along
with his friends ; but he ordered me to eat by
myself;' and after the meal, when he had sung
praise to God and given thanks, he rendered to
me an account of this proceeding, and added,
" May the Lord grant to thee to be made like to
us in all things, that, receiving baptism, thou
' [In the Homilies this is not expressed, but implied. The whole
passage suggests a separatism quite contrary to Pauline precept.
Compare the more detailed statement of separatism in book ii. 70, 72,
vii. 29; Homily XIII. 4. — R.]
mayest be able to meet with us at the same
table." Having thus spoken, he ordered me to
go to rest, for by this time both fatigue and the
time of the day called to sleep.
CHAP. XX. — POSTPONEMENT OF DISCUSSION WITH
SIMON MAGUS.
Early next morning Zacchseus^ came in to us,
and after salutation, said to Peter : " Simon puts
off the discussion till the eleventh day of the
present month, which is seven days hence, for
he says that then he will have more leisure for
the contest. But to me it seems that his putting
off is also advantageous to us, so that more may
come together, who may be either hearers or
judges of our disputation. However, if it seem
proper to you, let us occupy the interval in dis-
cussing among ourselves the things which, we
suppose, may come into the controversy ; so that
each of us, knowing what things are to be pro-
posed, and what answers are to be given, may
consider with himself if they are all right, or if
an adversary shall be able to find anything to ob-
ject, or to set aside the things which we bring
against him. But if the things which are to be
spoken by us are manifestly impregnable on
every side, we shall have confidence in entering
upon the examination. And indeed, this is my
opinion, that first of all it ought to be inquired
what is the origin of all things, or what is the
immediate 3 thing which may be called the cause
of all things which are : then, with respect to
all things that exist, whether they have been
made, and by whom, through whom, and for
whom ; whether they have received their sub-
sistence from one, or from two, or from many ;
and whether they have been taken and fashioned
from none previously subsisting, or from some :
then, whether there is any virtue in the highest
things, or in the lower ; whether there is any-
thing which is better than all, or anything that is
inferior to all ; whether there are any motions,
or none ; whether those things which are seen
were always, and shall be always ; whether they
have come into existence without a creator,
and shall pass away without a destroyer. If, I
say, the discussion begin with these things, I
think that the things which shall be inquired into,
being discussed with diligent examination, will
be easily ascertained. And when these are as-
certained, the knowledge of those that follow
will be easily found. I have stated my opinion ;
be pleased to intimate what you think of the
matter.*
2 [Identified in the Homilies with the publican of Jericho. Fif-
teen others are named in Homily II. i ; some of them are introduced
in Recognitions, ii. i. — R.]
3 Here we follow a marginal reading.
■* [This chapter has no direct parallel in the Homilies. While
there is a general resemblance in the remainder of book i. to Homily
II., much of the matter is peculiar, or at least introduced in a con-
nection different from that of the Homilies. — R.J
Chap. XXIV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
83
CHAP. XXI.
ADVANTAGE OF THE DELAY.
To this Peter answered : " Tell Simon in the
meantime to do as he pleases, and to rest as-
sured that, Divine Providence granting, he shall
always find us ready." Then Zacchfeus went
out to intimate to Simon what he had been told.
But Peter, looking at us, and perceiving that I
was saddened by the putting off of the contest,
said : '•' He who believes that the world is ad-
ministered by the providence of the Most High
God, ought not, O Clement, my friend, to take
it amiss, in whatever way particular things hap-
pen, being assured that the righteousness of
God guides to a favourable and fitting issue
even those things which seem superfluous or
contrary in any business, and especially towards
those who worship Him more intimately ; and
therefore he who is assured of these things, as
I have said, if anything occur contrary to his
expectation, he knows how to drive away grief
from his mind on that account, holding it un-
questionable in his better judgment, that, by the
government of the good God, even what seems
contrary may be turned to good. Wherefore,
O Clement, even now let not this delay of the
magician Simon sadden you : for I believe that
it has been done by the providence of God, for
your advantage ; that I may be able, in this in-
terval of seven days, to expound to you the
method of our faith without any distraction,
and the order continuously, according to the
tradition of the true Prophet, who alone knows
the past as it was, the present as it is, and the
future as it shall be : which things were indeed
plainly spoken dy Him, but are not plainly
written ; so much so, that when they are read,
they cannot be understood without an expound-
er, on account of the sin which has grown up
with men, as I said before. Therefore I shall
explain all things to you, that in those things
which are written you may clearly perceive what
is the mind of the Lawgiver."
CHAP. XXII. REPETITION OF INSTRUCTIONS.
When he had said this, he began to expound
to me point by point of those chapters of the
law which seemed to be in question, from the
beginning of the creation even to that point of
time at which I came to him at Caesarea, telling
me that the delay of Simon had contributed to
my learning all things in order. " At other
times," said he, " we shall discourse more fully
on individual points of which we have now
spoken shortly, according as the occasion of
our conversation shall bring them before us ; so
that, according to my promise, you may gain a
full and perfect knowledge of all. Since, then,
by this delay we have to-day on our hands, I
wish to repeat to you again what has been
spoken, that it may be the better recalled to
your memory." Then he began in this way to
refresh my recollection of what he had said :
" Do you remember, O friend Clement, the
account I gave you of the eternal age, that
knows no end?" Then said L "Never, 0
Peter, shall 1 retain anything, if I can lose or
forget that."
CHAP. XXIII. — REPETITION CONTINUED.
Then Peter, having heard my answer with
pleasure, said : " I congratulate you because you
have answered thus, not because you speak of
these things easily, but because you profess that
you remember them ; for the most sublime
truths are best honoured by means of silence.
Yet, for the credit of those things which you
remember concerning things not to be spoken,'
tell me what you retain of those things which
we spoke of in the second place, which can
easily be spoken out, that, perceiving your
tenacity of memory, I may the more readily
point out to you, and freely open, the things of
which I wish to speak." Then I, when I per-
ceived that he rejoiced in the good memory of
his hearers, said : " Not only am I mindful of
your definition, but also of that preface which
was prefixed to the definition ; and of almost
all things that you have expounded, I retain the
sense complete, though not all the words ; be-
cause the things that you have spoken have
been made, as it were, native to my soul, and
inborn. For you have held out a most sweet
cup to me in my excessive thirst. And that
you may not suppose that I am occupying you
with words, being unmindful of things, I shall
now call to mind the things which were spoken,
in which the order of your discussion greatly
helps me ; for the way in which the things that
you said followed by consequence upon one
another, and were arranged in a balanced man-
ner, makes them easily recalled to memory by
the lines of their order. For the order of say-
ings is useful for remembering them : for when
you begin to follow them point by point in suc-
cession, when anything is wanting, immediately
the sense seeks for it ; and when it has found
it, retains it, or at all events, if it cannot dis-
cover it, there will be no reluctance to ask it of
the master. But not to delay in granting what
you demand of me, I shall shortly rehearse
what you delivered to me concerning the defi-
nition of truth.
CHAP. XXIV. REPETITION CONTINUED.
" There always was, there is now, and there
ever shall be, that by which the first Will be-
' That is, that I may be sure that you remember these thing!
84
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book I.
gotten from eternity consists ; and from the
first Will proceeds a second \Vill. After these
came the world ; and from the world came
time : from this, the multitude of men ; from
the multitude the election of the beloved, from
whose oneness of mind the peaceful kingdom
of God is constructed. But the rest, which
ought to follow these, you promised to tell me
at another time. After this, when you had ex-
jjlained about the creation of the world, you
intimated the decree of God, " which He, of
His own good pleasure, announced in the pres-
ence of all the first angels," and which He
ordained as an eternal law to all ; and how He
established two kingdoms, — I mean that of the
present time and that of the future, — and ap-
pointed times to each, and decreed that a day
of judgment should be expected, which He de-
termined, in which a severance is to be made of
things and of souls : so that the wicked indeed
shall be consigned to eternal fire for their sins ;
but those who have lived according to the will
of God the Creator, having received a blessing
for their good works, effulgent with brightest
light, introduced into an eternal abode, and
abiding in incorruption, shall receive eternal
gifts of ineffable blessings."
CHAP. XXV.
REPETITION CONTINUED.
While I was going on thus, Peter, enraptured
with joy, and anxious for me as if I had been
his son, lest perhaps I should fail in recollection
of the rest, and be put to shame on account of
those who were present, said : " It is enough,
O Clement ; for you have stated these things
more clearly than I myself explained them."
Then said I, " Liberal learning has conferred
upon me the power of orderly narration, and of
stating those things clearly for which there is
occasion. And if we use learning in asserting
the errors of antiquity, we ruin ourselves by
gracefulness and smoothness of speech ; but if
we apply learning and grace of speech to the
assertion of the truth, I think that not a little
advantage is thereby gained. Be that as it may,
my lord Peter, you can but imagine with what
thankfulness I am transported for all the rest of
your instruction indeed, but especially for the
statement of that doctrine which you gave :
There is one God, whose work the world is,
and who, because He is in all respects right-
eous, shall render to every one according to his
deeds. And after that you added : For the as-
sertion of this dogma countless thousands of
words will be brought forward ; but in those to
whom is granted knowledge of the true Prophet,
all this forest of words is cut down. And on
this account, since you have delivered to me a
discourse concerning the true Prophet, you have
strengthened me with all confidence of your as-
sertions." And then, having perceived that the
sum of all religion and piety consists in this,
I immediately replied : " You have proceeded
most excellently, O Peter : wherefore, in future,
expound unhesitatingly, as to one who already
knows what are the foundations of faith and
piety, the traditions of the true Prophet, who
alone, as has been clearly proved, is to be be-
lieved. But that exposition which requires
assertions and arguments, reserve for the unbe-
hevers, to whom you have not yet judged it
proper to commit the indubitable faith of pro-
phetic grace." When I had said this, I added :
" You promised that you would give at the proper
time two things : first this exposition, at once
simple and entirely free from error ; and then
an exposition of each individual point as it may
be evolved in the course of the various ques-
tions which shall be raised. And after this you
expounded the sequence of things in order
from the beginning of the world, even to the
present time ; and if you please, I can repeat
the whole from memory."
CHAP. XXVI. FRIENDSHIP OF GOD ; HOW SECURED.
To this Peter answered : " I am exceedingly
delighted, O Clement, that I commit my words
to so safe a heart ; for to be mindful of the
things that are spoken is an indication of having
in readiness the faith of works. But he from
whom the wicked demon steals away the words
of salvation, and snatches them away from his
memory, cannot be saved, even though he wish
it ; for he loses the way by which life is reached.
Wherefore let us the rather repeat what has been
spoken, and confirm it in your heart, that is, in
what manner or by whom the world was made,
that we may proceed to the friendship of the
Creator. But His friendship is secured by living
well, and by obeying His will ; which will is the
law of all that live. We shall therefore unfold
these things briefly to you, in order that they
may be the more surely remembered.
CHAP. XXVII, ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION.
" In the beginning,' when God had made the
heaven and the earth,- as one house, the shadow
' [Hilgenfeld regards chaps. 27-72 as part of the Jewish-Christian
document called Kerygma Petri, of which an outline is given in
book iii. 75. This he thinks was of Roman origin. Certainly these
chapters bear many marks of an earlier origin than most of the pseudo-
Clementine literature. Much of the matter is not found elsewhere
in this literature; the tone of the discourse is much superior: the
instruction, represented as given to Clement, is quite well adapted
to his needs as a heathen inquirer; the views presented are not so
extravagant as much that occurs in the Hoiiiiiics ; the attempt to
adjust the statements to the New-Testament narrative is skilfully
made, and there is not lacking a great vraisctnblaiice. It may not
be itiiproper to add, that the impressions first given in regard to this
passage were made upon the writer of this note quite independently of
Hilgenfeld's theory; some of them committed to writing without
a thought of maintaining that theory. — R.J
2 Gen. i. 1.
Chap. XXX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
85
which was cast by the mundane bodies involved
in darkness those things which were enclosed in
it. But when the will of God had introduced
light, that darkness which had been caused by
the shadows of bodies was straightway dispelled :
then at length light is appointed for the day,
darkness for the night. And now the water
which was within the world, in the middle space
of that first heaven and earth, congealed as if
with frost, and solid as crystal, is distended, and
the middle spaces of the heaven and earth are
separated as by a firmament of this sort ; and
that firmament the Creator called heaven, so
called by the name of that previously made :
and so He divided into two portions that fabric
of the universe, although it was but one house.
The reason of the division was this, that the up-
per pordon might afford a dwelling-place to
angels, and the lower to men. After this, the
place of the sea and the chaos which had been
made received that portion of the water which
remained below, by order of the eternal Will ;
and these flowing down to the sunk and hollow
places, the dry land appeared ; and the gather-
ings of the waters were made seas. And after
this the earth, which had appeared, produced
various species of herbs and shrubs. It gave
forth fountains also, and rivers, not only in the
plains, but on the mountains. And so all things
were prepared, that men who were to dwell in it
might have it in their power to use all these
things according to their will, that is, either for
good or evil.
CHAP. XXVIII. ACCOUNT OF THE CRE.^TION CON-
TINUED.
" After this He adorns that visible heaven with
stars. He places in it also the sun and the moon,
that the day might enjoy the light of the one,
the night that of the other ; and that at the same
time they might be for an indication of things
past, present, and future. For they were made
for signs of seasons and of days, which, although
they are seen indeed by all, are understood only
by the learned and intelligent. And when, after
this. He had ordered living creatures to be pro-
duced from the earth and the waters, He made
Paradise, which also He named a place of de-
lights. But after all these things He made man,
on whose account He had prepared all things,
whose internal species ' is older, and for whose
sake all things that are were made, given up to
his service, and assigned to the uses of his habi-
tation.
CH.'^p. XXIX. — THE giants: the flood.
"All things therefore being completed which
are in heaven, and in earth, and in the waters,
' That is, his soul, according to the doctrine of the pre-existence
of souls.
and the human race also having multiplied, in
the eighth generation, righteous men, who had
lived the life of angels, being allured by the
beauty of women, fell into promiscuous and illicit
connections with these ; ^ and thenceforth acting
in all things without discretion, and disorderly,
they changed the state of human affairs and the
divinely prescribed order of life, so that either
by persuasion or force they compelled all men
to sin against God their Creator. In the ninth
generation are born the giants, so called from of
old, 3 not dragon-footed, as the fables of the
Greeks relate, but men of immense bodies, whose
bones, of enormous size, are still shown in some
places for confirmation. But against these the
righteous providence of God brought a flood
upon the world, that the earth might be purified
from their pollution, and every place might be
turned into a sea by the destruction of the
wicked. Yet there was then found one righteous
man, by name Noah, who, being delivered in an
ark with his three sons and their wives, became
^he colonizer of the world after the subsiding of
the waters, with those animals and seeds which
he had shut up with him.
CH.AP. XXX. — NOAH's sons.
" In the twelfth generation, when God had
blessed men, and they had begun to multiply,^
they received a commandment that they should
not taste blood, for on account of this also the
deluge had been sent. In the thirteenth genera-
tion, when the second of Noah's three sons had
done an injury to his father, and had been cursed
j by him, he brought the condition of slavery upon
j his posterity. His elder brother meantime ob-
tained the lot of a dwelling-place in the middle
I region of the world, in which is the country of
Judaea ; the younger obtained the eastern quar-
ter, and he the western. In the fourteenth gen-
eration one of the cursed progeny first erected
an altar to demons, for the purpose of magical
arts, and offered there bloody sacrifices. In the
fifteenth generation, for the first time, men set
up an idol and worshipped it. Until that time
the Hebrew language, which had been given by
God to men, bore sole sway. In the sixteenth
generation the sons of men migrated from the
east, and, coming to the lands that had been as-
signed to their fathers, each one marked the
place of his own allotment by his own name.
In the seventeenth generation Nimrod I. reigned
in Babylonia, and built a city, and thence mi-
^ Gen. vi. 2. [Compare with this chapter Homily VIII. 12-17,
where there are many more fanciful details. — R]
i The writer here translates the words of the Septuagint, oi 71-
yfti'Tf? oi "tt' ainji'O? oi avOpunroi oi nvniiarTToi, illi qui a seculo nomi-
nantur. We have given the translation of our authorized version.
It is likely, however, that the writer believed the name to imply that
they lived to a great age, as is maintained by Diodorus quoted by
Suicer on the word, or he may have traced the word to yij.
■* Gen. ix. i.
86
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book I.
grated to the Persians, and taught them to wor-
ship fire.'
CHAP. XXXI. WORLD AFTER THE FLOOD.
" In the eighteenth generation walled cities
were built, armies were organized and armed,
judges and laws were sanctioned, temples were
built, and the princes of nations were adored as
gods. In the nineteenth generation the descend-
ants of him who had been cursed after the flood,
going beyond their proper bounds which they
had obtained by lot in the western regions, drove
into the eastern lands those who had obtained
the middle portion of the world, and pursued
them as far as Persia, while themselves violently
took possession of the country from which they
expelled them. In the twentieth generation a
son for the first time died before his father/ on
account of an incestuous crime.
CHAP. XXXIL
■ ABRAHAM.
" In the twenty-first generation there was a
certain wise man, of the race of those who were
expelled, of the family of Noah's eldest son, by
name Abraham, from whom our Hebrew nation
is derived. 3 When the whole world was again
overspread with errors, and when for the hideous-
ness of its crimes destruction was ready for it,
this time not by water, but fire, and when already
the scourge was hanging over the whole earth,
beginning with Sodom, this man, by reason of
his friendship with God, who was well pleased
with him, obtained from God that the whole
world should not equally perish. From the first
this same man, being an astrologer, was able,
from the account and order of the stars, to recog-
nise the Creator, while all others were in error,
and understood that all things are regulated by
His providence. Whence also an angel,"* stand-
ing by him in a vision, instructed him more fully
concerning those things which he was beginning
to perceive. He showed him also what belonged
to his race and posterity, and promised him that
those districts should be restored rather than
given to them.
CHAP. XXXin. ABRAHAM : HIS POSTERITY.
" Therefore Abraham, w^hen he was desirous
to learn the causes of things, and was intently
pondering upon what had been told him, the
true Prophet appeared to him, who alone knows
the hearts and purpose of men, and disclosed
to him all things which he desired. He taught
him the knowledge of the Divinity ; intimated
' [With this chapter compare Homily IX. 3-7. — R.]
2 Gen. xi. 28.
3 [This orderly and consistent explanation of the Old-Testament
economy (chaps. 32-39) is peculiar to the Recognitions. — R.]
■* Gen XV., xxii.
the origin of the world, and likewise its end ;
showed him the immortality of the soul, and
the manner of life which was pleasing to God ;
declared also the resurrection of the dead, the
future judgment, the reward of the good, the
punishment of the evil, — all to be regulated
by righteous judgment : and having given him
all this information plainly and sufficiently. He
departed again to the invisible abodes. But
while Abraham was still in ignorance, as we said
to you before, two sons were born to him, of
whom the one was called Ismael, and the other
Heliesdros. From the one are descended the
barbarous nations, from the other the people of
the Persians, some of whom have adopted the
manner of living and the institutions of their
neighbours, the Brachmans. Others settled in
Arabia, of whose posterity some also have
spread into Egypt. From them some of the
Indians and of the Egyptians have learned to
be circumcised, and to be of purer observance
than others, although in ptocess of time most of
them have turned to impiety what was the proof
and sign of purity.
CHAP. XXXIV. THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT.
" Nevertheless, as he had got these two sons
during the time while he still lived in ignorance
of things, having received the knowledge of God,
he asked of the Righteous One that he might
merit to have offspring by Sarah, who was his
lawful wife, though she was barren. She ob-
tained a son, whom he named Isaac, from
whom came Jacob, and from him the twelve
patriarchs, and from these twelve seventy-two.
These, when famine befell, came into Egypt
with all their family ; and in the course of four
hundred years, being multiplied by the blessing
and promise of God, they were afflicted by the
Egyptians. And when they were afflicted the
true Prophet appeared to Meses,5 and struck
the Egyptians with ten plagues, when they re-
fused to let the Hebrew people depart from
them, and return to their native land ; and he
brought the people of God out of Egypt. But
those of the Egyptians who survived the plagues,
being infected with the animosity of their king,
pursued after the Hebrews. And when they had
overtaken them at the sea-shore, and thought to
destroy and exterminate them all, Moses, pour-
ing out prayer to God, divided the sea into two
parts, so that the water was held on the right
hand and on the left as if it had been frozen,
and the people of God passed as over a dry
road ; but the Egyptians who were pursuing
them, rashly entering, were drowned. For when
the last of the Hebrevys came out, the last of the
Egyptians went down into the sea ; and straight-
ii — - — ■
5 Exod. iii.
Chap. XXXVIII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
^7
way the waters of the sea, which by his com-
mand were held bound as with frost, were loosed
by his command who had bound them, and re-
covering their natural freedom, inflicted punish-
ment on the wicked nation.
CHAP. XXXV. THE EXODUS.
" After this, Moses, by the command of God,
whose providence is over all, led out the people
of the Hebrews into the wilderness ; and, leaving
the shortest road which leads from Egypt to
Judsea, he led the people through long windings
of the wilderness, that, by the discipline of forty
years, the novelty of a changed manner of life
might root out the evils which had clung to them
by a long-continued familiarity with the customs
of the Egyptians. Meantime they came to Mount
Sinai, and thence the law was given to them with
voices and sights from heaven, written in ten
precepts, of which the first and greatest was that
they should worship God Himself alone, and not
make to themselves any appearance or form ' to
worship. But when Moses had gone up to the
mount, and was staying there forty days, the peo-
ple, although they had seen Egypt struck with
the ten plagues, and the sea parted and passed
over by them on foot, manna also given to them
from heaven for bread, and drink supplied to
them out of the rock that followed ^ them, which
kind of food was turned into whatever taste any
one desired ; and although, being placed under
the torrid region of heaven, they were shaded by
a cloud in the day-time, that they might not be
scorched by the heat, and by night were enlight-
ened by a pillar of fire, lest the horror of dark-
ness should be added to the wasteness of the
wilderness ; — those very people, I say, when
Moses stayed in the mount, made and worshipped
a golden calf's head, after the fashion of Apis,
whom they had seen worshipped in Egypt ; and
after so many and so great marvels which they
had seen, were unable to cleanse and wash out
from themselves the defilements of old habit.
On this account, leaving the short road which
leads from .Egypt to Judaea, Moses conducted
them by an immense circuit of the desert, if
haply he might be able, as we mentioned before,
to shake off the evils of old habit by the change
of a new education.
CHAP. XXXVI. ALLOWANCE OF SACRIFICE FOR A
TIME.
"When meantime Moses, that faithful and
wise steward, perceived that the vice of sacri-
ficing to idols had been deeply ingrained into the
people from their association with the Egyptians,
and that the root of this evil could not be ex-
' That is, picture or statue.
* Comp. I Cor. X. 4.
tracted from them, he allowed them indeed to
sacrifice, but permitted it to be done only to
God, that by any means he might cut off one half
of the deeply ingrained evil, leaving the other
half to be corrected by another, and at a future
time ; by Him, namely, concerning whom he
said himself, ' A prophet shall the Lord your God
raise unto you, whom ye shall hear even as my-
self, according to all things which He shall say
to you. Whosoever shall not hear that prophet,
his soul shall be cut off from his people.' ^
CHAP. XXXVII. THE HOLY PLACE.
" In addition to these things, he also appointed
a place in which alone it should be lawful to
them to sacrifice to God.-* And all this was ar-
ranged with this view, that when the fitting time
should come, and they should learn by means of
the Prophet that God desires mercy and not sac-
rifice,5 they might see Hun who should teach them
that the place chosen of God, in which it was
suitable that victims should be offered to God, is
his Wisdom ; and that on the other hand they
might hear that this place, which seemed chosen
for a time, often harassed as it had been by hos-
tile invasions and plunderings, was at last to be
wholly destroyed.*^ And in order to impress this
upon them, even before the coming of the true
Prophet, who was to reject at once the sacrifices
and the place, it was often plundered by enemies
and burnt with fire, and the people carried into
captivity among foreign nations, and then brought
back when they betook themselves to the mercy
of God ; that by these things they might be
taught that a people who offer sacrifices are
driven away and delivered up into the hands of
the enemy, but they who do mercy and right-
eousness are without sacrifices freed from cap-
tivity, and restored to their native land. But it
fell out that very few understood this ; for the
greater number, though they could perceive and
observe these things, yet were held by the irra-
tional opinion of the vulgar : for right opinion
with liberty is the prerogative of a few.
CHAP. XXXVIII. SINS OF THE ISRAELITES.
*' Moses,'' then, having arranged these things,
and having set over the people one Auses to
bring them to the land of their fathers, himself
by the command of the living God went up to a
certain mountain, and there died. Yet such was
the manner of his death, that till this day no
one has found his burial-place. When, there-
fore, the people reached their fathers' land, by
the providence of God, at their first onset the
3 Deut. xvii. 15; Acts iii. 22, 23.
•4 Deut. xii. 11:2 Chron. vii. 12.
5 Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13, xii. 7.
6 Matt. xxiv. 2; Luke xix. 44.
7 Deut. xxxi.-xxxiv.
8S
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book T.
inhabitants of wicked races are routed, and they
enter upon their paternal inheritance, which was
distributed among them by lot. For some time
thereafter they were ruled not by kings, but
judges, and remained in a somewhat peaceful
condition. But when they sought for themselves
tyrants rather than kings, then also with regal
ambition they erected a temple in the place
which had been appointed to them for prayer ;
and thus, through a succession of wicked kings,
the people fell away to greater and still greater
impiety.
CHAP. XXXIX. BAPTISM INSTITUTED IN PLACE
OF SACRIFICES.
" But when the time began to draw near that
what was wanting in the Mosaic institutions should
be supplied, as we have said, and that the Prophet
should appear, of whom he had foretold that He
should warn them by the mercy of God to cease
from sacrificing ; lest haply they might suppose
that on the cessation of sacrifice there was no
remission of sins for them, He instituted baptism
by water amongst them, in which they might be
absolved from all their sins on the invocation of
His name, and for the future, following a perfect
life, might abide in immortality^ being purified
not by the blood of beasts, but by the purifi-
cation of the Wisdom of God. Subsequently
also an evident proof of this great mystery is
supplied i/i the fact, that every one who, be-
lieving in this Prophet who had been foretold by
Moses, is baptized in His name, shall be kept
unhurt from the destruction of war which im-
pends over the unbelieving nation, and the place
itself; but that those who do not believe shall
be made exiles from their place and kingdom,
that even against their will they may understand
and obey the will of God.
CHAP. XL. — ADVENT OF THE TRUE PROPHET.
" These things therefore having been fore-
arranged. He who was expected comes, bringing
signs and miracles as His credentials by which
He should be made manifest. But not even so
did the people believe, though they had been
trained during so many ages to the belief of these
things. And not only did they not believe, but
they added blasphemy to unbelief, saying that
He was a gluttonous man and a belly-slave, and
that He was actuated by a -demon,' even He
who had come for their salvation. To such an
extent does wickedness prevail by the agency of
evil ones ; so that, but for the Wisdom of God
assisting those who love the truth, almost all
would have been involved in impious delusion.
Therefore He chose us twelve,- the first who be-
lieved in Him, whom He named apostles ; and
' Matt. ix. ; John vii.
2 Matt. X.
afterwards other seventy-two most approved dis-
ciples,3 that, at least in this way recognising the
pattern of Moses,'' the multitude might believe
that this is He of whom Moses foretold, the
Prophet that was to come. 5
CHAP. XLI. REJECTION OF THE TRUE PROPHET.
" But some one perhaps may say that it is pos-
sible for any one to imitate a number ; but what
shall we say of the signs and miracles which He
wrought? For Moses had wrought miracles and
cures in Egypt. He also of whom he foretold
that He should rise up a prophet like unto him-
self, though He cured every sickness and in-
firmity among the people, wrought innumerable
miracles, and preached eternal life, was hurried
by wicked men to the cross ; which deed was,
however, by His power turned to good. In
short, while He was suffering, all the world suf-
fered with Him ; for the sun was darkened, the
mountains were torn asunder, the graves were
opened, the veil of the temple was rent,^ as in
lamentation for the destruction impending over
the place. And yet, though all the world was
moved, they themselves are not even now moved
to the consideration of th^se so great things.
CHAP. XLII. CALL OF THE GENTILES.
" But inasmuch as it was necessary diat the
Gentiles should be called into the room of those
who remained unbelieving,'' so that the number
might be filled up which had been shown to
Abraham,^ the preaching of the blessed king-
dom of God is sent into all the world. On this
account worldly spirits are disturbed, who always
oppose those who are in quest of liberty, and
who make use of the engines of error to destroy
God's building ; while those who press on to the
glory of safety and liberty, being rendered braver
by their resistance to these spirits, and by the
toil of great struggles against them, attain the
crown of safety not without the palm of vic-
tory. Meantime, when He had suffered, and
darkness had overwhelmed the world from the
sixth even to the ninth hour,^ as soon as the sun
shone out again, and things were returned to
their usual course, even wicked men returned
to themselves and their former practices, their
fear having abated. For some of them, watch-
ing the place with all care, when they could not
prevent His rising again, said that He was a
magician ; others pretended that he was stolen
away.'°
3 Luke X.
■♦ Num. xi. i6.
5 Deut. xviii. 15.
6 Matt, xxvii. 45, 51, 52.
7 [Chaps. 42, 43, show little of the Ebionitic tendency, except in
the attempt to reduce the difference between Jews and Christians
to the single point of belief in the Messiahship of Jesus. — R.]
^ Gen. XV. ; Acts xiii.
9 Matt, xxvii. 45.
■° Matt, xxviii. 13.
Chap. XLVI.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
89
CHAP. XLIII. SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL.
" Nevertheless, the truth every\vhere prevailed ;
for, in proof that these things were done by di-
vine power, we who had been very few became
in the course of a few days, by the help of God,
far more than they. So that the priests at one
time were afraid, lest haply, by the providence
of God, to their confusion, the whole of the
people should come over to our faith. There-
fore they often sent to us, and asked us to dis-
course to them concerning Jesus, whether He
were the Prophet whom Moses foretold, who is
the eternal Christ.' For on this point only does
there seem to be any difference between us who
believe in Jesus, and the unbelieving Jews. But
while they often made such requests to us, and
we sought for a fitting opportunity, a week of
years was completed from the passion of the
Lord, the Church of the Lord which was con-
stituted in Jerusalem was most plentifully mul-
tiplied and grew, being governed with most
righteous ordinances by James, who was or-
dained bishop in it by the Lord.
CHAP. XLIV.
CHALLENGE BY CAIAPHAS.
" But when we twelve apostles, on the day of
the passover, had come together with an im-
mense multitude, and entered into the church
of the brethren, each one of us, at the request
of James,^ stated briefly, in the hearing of the
people, what we had done in every place.^
While this was going on, Caiaphas, the high
priest, sent priests to us, and asked us to come
to him, that either we should prove to him that
Jesus is the eternal Christ, or he to us that He
is not, and that so all the people should agree
upon the one faith or the other ; and this he
frequently entreated us to do. But we often
put it off, always seeking for a more convenient
time."
Then I, Clement, answered to this : " I think
that this very question, whether He is the Christ,
is of great importance for the establishment of
the faith ; otherwise the high priest would not
so frequently ask that he might either learn or
teach concerning the Ciirist."
Then Peter : " You have answered rightly, O
Clement ; for as no one can see without eyes,
nor hear without ears, nor smell without nostrils,
nor taste without a tongue, nor handle anything
without hands, so it is impossible, without the
true Prophet, to know what is pleasing to Ciod."
And I answered : " I have already learned
from your instruction that this true prophet is
' John xii. 34.
^ [Evidently " the I-ord's brother." Comp. chap. 68. — R.]
3 [This account of occurrences in Jerusalem (chaps. 45-70) is
probably meant to supplement Acts v. and viii. The date tallies with
the stoning of Stephen, to which there is no allusion. The whole
bears abundant marks of " manipulation " of the New-Testament
record. — R.]
the Christ ; but I should wish to learn what tJie
Chris f means, or why He is so called, that
a matter of so great importance may not be
vague and uncertain to me."
CHAP. XLV. THE TRUE PROPHET: WHY CALLED
THE CHRIST.
Then Peter began to instruct me in this man-
ner : + " When God had made the world, as Lord
of the universe. He appointed chiefs over the
several creatures, over the trees even, and the
mountains, and the fountains, and the rivers, and
all things which He had made, as we have told
you ; for it were too long to mention them one by
one. He set, therefore, an angel as chief over the
angels, a spirit over the spirits, a star over the stars,
a demon over the demons, a bird over the birds,
a beast over the beasts, a serpent over the ser-
pents, a fish over the fishes, a man over men,
who is Christ Jesus. But He is called Chrisi by
a certain excellent rite of religion ; for as there
are certain names common to kings, as Arsaces
among the Persians, Caesar among the Romans,
Pharaoh among the Egyptians, so among the
Jews a king is called Christ And the reason
of this appellation is this : Although indeed He
was the Son of God, and the beginning of all
things. He became man ; Him first God anointed
with oil which was taken from the wood of the
tree of life : from that anointing therefore He is
called Christ Thence, moreover, He Himself
also, according to the appointment of His Father,
anoints with similar oil every one of the pious
when they come to His kingdom, for their re-
freshment after their labours, as having got over
the difficulties of the way ; so that their light
may shine, and being filled with the Holy Spirit,
they may be endowed with immortality.s But it
occurs to me that I have sufficiently explained
to you the whole nature of that branch from
which that ointment is taken.
CHAP. XLVL ANOINTING.
" But now also I shall, by a very short repre-
sentation, recall you to the recollection of all
these things. Li the present life, Aaron, the first
high priest,*^ was anointed with a composition of
chrism, which was made after the pattern of that
spiritual ointment of which we have spoken be-
fore. He was prince of the people, and as a king
received first-fruits and tribute from the people,
man by man ; and having undertaken the office
* [The discour.se of chaps 45-52 is interesting from its christo-
logical consistency. The doctrine, while showing Ebionitic origin,
is closer to the Catholic view than that of the Houtilies. — R ]
5 [The references to oil in chaps. 45-48, particularly the con-
nection of anointing with baptism, have been regarded, since the dis-
covery of the full text of Hippolytus, as showing traces of relationship
to the system of the Elkesaites. See Introductory Notice. In the
forms given by Hippolytus (see Antc-Nicenc Fathers, v. pp. 132,
133) the oil is represented as one of " seven witnesses " to be ad-
jured by the subject of baptism. — R. ]
6 Exod. XXIX.; Lev. viii.
90
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book I.
of judging the people, he judged of things clean
and things unclean. But if any one else was
anointed with the same ointment, as deriving vir-
tue from it, he became either king, or prophet,
or priest. If, then, this temporal grace, com-
pounded by men, had such efficacy, consider now
how potent was that ointment extracted by God
from a branch of the tree of life, when that which
was made by men could confer so excellent digni-
ties among men. For what in the present age
is more glorious than a prophet, more illustrious
than a priest, more exalted than a king? "
CHAP. XLVII. ADAM ANOINTED A PROPHET.
To this I replied : " I remember, Peter, that
you told me of the first mah that he was a proph-
et ; but you did not say that he was anointed.
If then there be no prophet without anointing,
how could the first man be a prophet, since he
was not anointed? " Then Peter, smiling, said :
" If the first man prophesied, it is certain that
he was also anointed. For although he who has
recorded the law in his pages is silent as to his
anointing, yet he has evidendy left us to under-
stand these things. For as, if he had said that
he was anointed, it would not be doubted that
he was also a prophet, although it were not writ-
ten in the law ; so, since it is certain that he was
a prophet, it is in like manner certain that he
was also anointed, because without anointing he
could not be a prophet. But you should rather
have said, If the chrism was compounded by
Aaron, by the perfumer's art^ how could the first
man be anointed before Aaron's time, the arts
of composition not yet having been discovered ? "
Then I answered, " Do not misunderstand me,
Peter ; for I do not speak of that compounded
ointment and temporal oil, but of that simple
and eternal ointment, which you told me was
made by God, after whose likeness you say that
that other was compounded by men."
CHAP. XLVIII. THE TRUE PROPHET, A PRIEST.
Then Peter answered, with an appearance of
indignation : " What ! do you suppose, Clement,
that all of us can know all things before the
time ? But not to be drawn aside now from our
proposed discourse, we shall at another time,
when your progress is more manifest, explain
these things more distinctly.
" Then, however, a priest or a prophet, being
anointed with the compounded ointment, putting
fire to the altar of God, was held illustrious in
all the world. But after Aaron, who was a priest,
another is taken out of the waters. I do not
speak of Moses, but of Him who, in the waters
of baptism, was called by God His Son.' For
it is Jesus who has put out, by the grace of
' Matt. iii. 17.
baptism, that fire which the priest kindled for
sins ; for, from the time when He appeared, the
chrism has ceased, by which the priesthood or
the prophetic or the kingly office was conferred.
CHAP. XLIX.
•TWO COMINGS OF CHRIST.
" His coming, therefore, was predicted by
Moses, who delivered the law of God to men ;
but by another also before him, as I have already
informed you. He therefore intimated that He
should come, humble indeed in His first coming,
but glorious in His second. And the first, in-
deed, has been already accomplished ; since He
has come and taught, and He, the Judge of all,
has been judged and slain. But at His second
coming He shall come to jud^e, and shall indeed
condemn the wicked, but shall take the pious
into a share and association with Himself in His
kingdom. Now the faith of His second coming
depends upon His first. For the prophets —
especially Jacob and Moses — spoke of the first,
but some also of the second. But the excellency
of prophecy is chiefly shown in this, that the
prophets spoke not of things to come, according
to the sequence of things ^ otherwise they might
seem merely as wise men to have conjectured
what the sequence of things pointed out.
CHAP L. HIS REJECTION BY THE JEWS.
" But what I say is this : It was to be expected
that Christ should be received by the Jews, to
whom He came, and that they should believe on
Him who was expected for the salvation of the
people, according to the traditions of the fathers ;
but that the Gentiles should be averse to Him,
since neither promise nor announcement con-
cerning Him had been made to them, and in-
deed He had never been made known to them
even by name. Yet the prophets, contrary to
the order and sequence of things, said that He
should be the expectation of ihe Gentiles, and
not of the Jews.^ And so it happened. For
when He came, He was not at all acknowledged
by those who seemed to expect Him, in con-
sequence of the tradition of their ancestors ;
whereas those who had heard nothing at all of
Him, both believe that He has come, and hope
that He is to come. And thus in all things
prophecy appears faithful, which said that He
was the expectation of the Gentiles. The Jews,
therefore, have erred concerning the first coming
of the Lord ; and on this point only there is dis-
agreement betwixt us and them. For they them-
selves know and expect that Christ shall come ;
but that He has come already in humility — ■
even He who is called Jesus — they do not
know. And this is a great confirmation of His
coming, that all do not believe on Him.
2 Gen. xlix. 10.
Chap. LIV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
91
CHAP. LI.
•THE ONLY SAVIOUR.
" Him, therefore, has God appointed in the
end of the world ; because it was impossible
that the evils of men could be removed by any
other, provided that the nature of the human
race were to remain entire, i.e., the liberty of
the will being preserved. This condition, there-
fore, being preserved inviolate. He came to in-
vite to His kingdom all righteous ones, and those
who have been desirous to please Him. For
these He has prepared unspeakable good things,
and the heavenly city Jerusalem, which shall shine
above the brightness of the sun, for the habita-
tion of the saints. But the unrighteous, and the
wicked, and those who have despised God, and
have devoted the life given them to diverse
wickednesses, and have given to the practice of
evil the time which was given them for the work
of righteousness, He shall hand over to fitting
and condign vengeance. But the rest of the
things which shall then be done, it is neither in
the power of angels nor of men to tell or to
describe. This only it is enough for us to know,
that God shall confer upon the good en eternal
possession of good things."
CHAP. LII. THE SAINTS BEFORE CHRIST'S COMING.
When he had thus spoken, I answered : " If
those shall enjoy the kingdom of Christ, whom
His coming shall find righteous, shall then those
be wholly deprived of the kingdom who have
died before His coming?" Then Peter says:
" You compel me, O Clement, to touch upon
things that are unspeakable. But so far as it is
allowed to declare them, I shall not shrink from
doing so. Know then that Christ, who was from
the beginning, and always, was ever present with
the pious, though secretly, through all their
generations ; especially with those who waited
for Him, to whom He frequently appeared. But
the time was not yet that there should be a res-
urrection of the bodies that were dissolved ; but
this seemed rather to be their reward from God,
that whoever, should be found righteous, should
remain longer in the body ; or, at least, as is
clearly related in the writings of the law con-
cerning a certain righteous man, that God trans-
lated him.' In like manner others were dealt
with, who pleased His will, that, being translated
to Paradise, they should be kept for the king-
dom. But as to those who have not been able
completely to fulfil the rule of righteousness, but
have had some remnants of evil in their flesh,
their bodies are indeed dissolved, but their souls
are kept in good and blessed abodes, that at the
resurrection of the dead, when they shall recover
their own bodies, purified even by the dissolu-
' Gen. V. 24.
tion, they may obtain an eternal inheritance in
proportion to their good deeds. And therefore
blessed are all those who shall attain to the
kingdom of Christ ; for not only shall they
escape the pains of hell, but shall also remain
incorruptible, and shall be the first to see God
the Father, and shall obtain the rank of honour
among the first in the presence of God.
CHAP. LIII. ANIMOSITY OF THE JEWS.
" Wherefore there is not the least doubt con-
cerning Christ ; and all the unbelieving Jews are
stirred up with boundless rage against us, fearing
lest haply He against whom they have sinned
should be He. And their fear grows all the greater,
because they know that, as soon as they fixed
Him on the cross, the whole world showed
sympathy with Him ; and that His body, al-
though they guarded it with strict care, could
nowhere be found ; and that innumerable mul-
titudes are attaching themselves to His faith.
Whence they, together with the high priest
Caiaphas, were compelled to send to us again
and again, that an inquiry might be instituted
concerning the truth of His name. And when
they were constantly entreating that they might
either learn or teach concerning Jesus, whether
He were the Christ, it seemed good to us to go
up into the temple, and in the presence of all
the people to bear witness concerning Him, and
at the same time to charge the Jews with many
foolish things which they were doing. For the
people was now divided into many parties, ever
since the days of John the Baptist.
CHAP. LIV. JEWISH SECTS.
" For when the rising of Christ was at hand
for the abolition of sacrifices, and for the be-
stowal of the grace of baptism, the enemy,
understanding from the predictions that the time
was at hand, wrought various schisms among the
people, that, if haply it might be possible to
abolish the former sin,^ the latter fault might be
incorrigible. The first schism, therefore, was
that of those who were called Sadducees, which
took their rise almost in the time of John.
These, as more righteous than others, began to
separate themselves from the assembly of the
people, and to deny the resurrection of the
dead, 3 and to assert that by an argument of in-
fidelity, saying that it was unworthy that God
should be worshipped, as it were, under the
promise of a reward. The first author of this
opinion was Dositheus ; "^ the second was Simon.
Another schism is that of the Samaritans ; for
2 That is, the sin of sacrifice.
3 Matt. xxii. 23.
4 [Comp. book ii. S-ii and Homily 11. 24. The writer here
confuses the later Dositheus with an earlier teacher, whose disciple
Zadok was the founder of the sect of the Sadducees. — R.]
92
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book 1.
they deny the resurrection of the dead, and as-
sert that God is not to be worshipped in Jeru-
salem, but on Mount Gerizim. They indeed
rightly, from the predictions of Moses, expect
the one true Prophet ; but by the wickedness of
Dositheus they were hindered from believing
that Jesus is He whom they were expecting.
The scribes also, and Pharisees, are led away
into another schism ; but these, being baptized
by John, and holding the word of truth received
from the tradition of Moses as the key of the
kingdom of heaven, have hid it from the hear-
ing of the people.' Yea, some even of the dis-
ciples of John, who seemed to be great ones,
have separated themselves from the people, and
proclaimed their own master as the Christ. But
all these schisms have been prepared, that by
means of them the faith of Christ and baptism
might be hindered.
CHAP. LV. — PUBLIC DISCUSSION.
" However, as we were proceeding to say,
when the high priest had often sent priests to
ask us that we might discourse with one another
concerning Jesus ; when it seemed a fit oppor-
tunity, and it pleased all the Church, we went up
to the temple, and, standing on the steps to-
gether with our faithful brethren, the people kept
perfect silence ; and first the high priest began
to exhort the people that they should hear pa-
tiently and quietly, and at the same time witness
and judge of those things that were to be spoken.
Then, in the next place, exalting with many
praises the rite of sacrifice which had been be-
stowed by God upon the human race for the
remission of sins, he found fault with the baptism
of our Jesus, as having been recently brought in
in opposition to the sacrifices. But Matthew,-
meeting his propositions, showed clearly, that
whosoever shall not obtain the baptism of
Jesus shall not only be deprived of the kingdom
of heaven, but shall not be without peril at the
resurrection of the dead, even though he be for-
tified by the prerogative of a good life and an
upright disposition. Having made these and
such like statements, Matthew stopped.
CHAP. LVI.
■SADDUCEES REFUTED.
" But the party of the Sadducees, who deny
the resurrection of the dead, were in a rage, so
that one of them cried out from amongst the
people, saying that those greatly err who think
that the dead ever arise. In opposition to him,
Andrew, my brother, answering, declared that it
is not an error, but the surest matter of faith,
' Luke xi. 52.
2 [Here we encounter that favourite notion of apocrj-phal writers,
that each Apostle must be represented as contributing his portion to
the statement and defence of the faith. — R.J
that the dead rise, in accordance with the teach-
ing of Him of whom Moses foretold that He
should come the true Prophet. ' Or if,' says he,
' you do not think that this is He whom Moses
foretold, let this first be inquired into, so that
when this is clearly proved to be He, there may
be no further doubt concerning the things which
He taught.' These, and many such like things,
Andrew proclaimed, and then stopped.
CHAP. LVII. SAMARITAN REFUTED.
" But a certain Samaritan, speaking against the
people and against God, and asserting that neither
are the dead to rise, nor is that worship of God
to be maintained which is in Jerusalem, but that
Mount Gerizim is to be reverenced,- added also
this in opposition to us, that our Jesus was not
He whom Moses foretold as a Prophet to come
into the world. Against him, and another who
supported him in what he said, James and John,
the sons of Zebedee, strove vigorously ; and al-
though they had a command not to enter into
their cities,^ nor to bring the word of preaching
to them, yet, lest their discourse, unless it were
confuted, should hurt the faith of others, they
replied so prudently and so powerfully, that they
put them to perpetual silence. For James made
an oration concerning the resurrection of the
dead, with the approbation of all the people;
while John showed that if they would abandon
the error of Mount Gerizim, they should conse-
quently acknowledge that Jesus was indeed He
who, according to the prophecy of Moses, was
expected to come ; since, indeed, as Moses
wrought signs and miracles, so also did Jesus.
And there is no doubt but that the likeness of
the signs proves Him to be that prophet of whom
he said that He should come, ' like himself.'
Having declared these things, and more to the
same effect, they ceased.
CHAP. LVIII. SCRIBES REFUTED.
"And, behold, one of the scribes, shouting
out from the midst of the people, says : ' The
signs and miracles which your Jesus wrought, he
wrought not as a prophet, but as a magician.'
Him Philip eagerly encounters, showing that by
this argument he accused Moses also. ¥ov when
Moses wrought signs and miracles in Egypt, in
like manner as Jesus also did in Judaea, it cannot
be doubted that what was said of Jesus might
as well be said of Moses. Having made these
and such like protestations, Philip was silent.
CHAP. LIX.
•PHARISEES REFUTED.
"Then a certain Pharisee, hearing this, chid
Philip because he put Jesus on a level with Mo-
3 Matt. X. 5.
Chap. LXII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
93
ses. To whom Bartholomew, answering, boldly
declared that we do not only say that Jesus was
equal to Moses, but that He was greater than he,
because Moses was indeed a prophet, as Jesus
was also, but that Moses was not the Christ, as
Jesus was, and therefore He is doubtless greater
who is both a prophet and the Christ, than he
who is only a prophet. After following out this
train of argument, he stopped. After him James
the son of Alphaeus gave an address to the peo-
ple, with the view of showing that we are not to
believe on Jesus on the ground that the prophets
foretold concerning Him, but rather that we are
to believe the prophets, that they were really
prophets, because the Christ bears testimony to
them ; for it is the presence and coming of
Christ that show that they are truly prophets :
for testimony must be borne by the superior to
his inferiors, not by the inferiors to their superior.
After these and many similar statements, James
also was silent. After him Lebbeeus began ve-
hemently to charge it upon the people that they
did not believe in Jesus, who had done them so
much good by teaching them the things that are
of God, by comforting the afflicted, healing the
sick, relieving the poor ; yet for all these benefits
their return had been hatred and death. When
he had declared these and many more such
things to the people, he ceased.
CHAP. LX. DISCIPLES OF JOHN REFUTED.
" And, behold, one of the disciples of John
asserted that John was the Christ, and not Jesus,
inasmuch as Jesus Himself declared that John
was greater than all men and all prophets.' ' If,
then,' said he, ' he be greater than all, he must
be held to be greater than Moses, and than Jesus
himself. But if he be the greatest of all, then
must he be the Christ.' To this Simon the Ca-
naanite, answering, asserted that John was indeed
greater than all the prophets, and all who are
born of women, yet that he is not greater than
the Son of man. Accordingly Jesus is also the
Christ, whereas John is only a prophet : and
there is as much difference between him and
Jesus, as between the forerunner and Him whose
forerunner he is ; or as between Him who gives
the law, and him who keeps the law. Having
made these and similar statements, the Canaanite
also was silent. After him Barnabas,^ who also
is called Matthias, who was substituted as an
apostle in the place of Judas, began to exhort
the people that they should not regard Jesus
with hatred, nor speak evil of Him. For it were
far more proper, even for one who might be in
ignorance or in doubt concerning Jesus, to love
than to hate Him. For God has affixed a reward
* Matt. xi. 9, II.
2 We should doubtless read " Barsabas."
to love, a penalty to hatred. ' For the very fact,'
said he, ' that He assumed a Jewish body, and
was born among the Jews, how has not this in-
cited us all to love Him ? ' When he had spoken
this, and more to the same effect, he stopped.
CHAP. LXI. CAIAPHAS ANSWERED.
"Then Caiaphas attempted to impugn the
doctrine of Jesus, saying that He spoke vain
things, for He said that the poor are blessed ; 3
and promised earthly rewards ; and placed the
chief gift in an earthly inheritance ; and prom-
ised that those who maintain righteousness shall
be satisfied with meat and drink ; and many
things of this sort He is charged with teaching.
Thomas, in reply, proves that his accusation is
frivolous ; showing that the prophets, in whom
Caiaphas believes, taught these things much
more, and did not show in what manner these
things are to be, or how they are to be under-
stood ; whereas Jesus pointed out how they are
to be taken. And when he had spoken these
things, and others of like kind, Thomas also held
his peace.
CHAP. LXII.
FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING.
" Therefore Caiaphas, again looking at me, and
sometimes in the way of warning and sometimes
in that of accusation, said that I ought for the
future to refrain from preaching Christ Jesus, lest
I should do it to my own destruction, and lest,
being deceived myself, I should also deceive
others. Then, moreover, he charged me with
presumption, because, though I was unlearned, a
fisherman, and a rustic, I dared to assume the
office of a teacher. As he spoke these things, and
many more of like kind, I said in reply, that I
incurred less danger, if, as he said, this Jesus
were not the Christ, because I received Him as
a teacher of the law ; but that he was in terrible
danger if this be the very Christ, as assuredly
He is : for I believe in Him who has appeared ;
but for whom else, who has never appeared, does
he reserve his faith ? But if I, an unlearned and
uneducated man, as you say, a fisherman and a
rustic, have more understanding than wise elders,
this, said I, ought the more to strike terror into
you. For if I disputed with any learning, and
won over you wise and learned men, it would
appear that I had acquired this power by long
learning, and not by the grace of divine power ;
but now, when, as I have said, we unskilled men
convince and overcome you wise men, who that
has any sense does not perceive that this is not
a work of human subtlety, but of divine will and
gift?
3 Matt. V. 3 ; Luke vi. 20.
94
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book I.
CHAP. LXIII. APPEAL TO THE JEWS.
"Thus we argued and bore witness; and we
who were unlearned men and fishermen, taught
the priests concerning the one only God of
heaven ; the Sadducees, concerning the resurrec-
tion of the dead ; the Samaritans, concerning
the sacredness of Jerusalem (not that we en-
tered into their cities, but disputed with them in
public) ; the scribes and Pharisees, concerning
the kingdom of heaven ; the disciples of John,
that they should not suffer John to be a stum-
bling-block to them; and all the people, that
Jesus is the eternal Christ. At last, however, I
warned them, that before we should go forth to
the Gentiles, to preacli to. them the knowledge
of God the Father, they should themselves be
reconciled to God, receiving His Son ; for I
showed them that in no way else could they be
saved, unless through the grace of the Holy
Spirit they hasted to be washed with the bap-
tism of threefold invocation, and received the
Eucharist of Christ the Lord, whom alone they
ought to believe concerning those things which
He taught, that so they might merit to attain
eternal salvation ; but that otherwise it was utter-
ly impossible for them to be reconciled to God,
even if they should kindle a thousand altars and
a thousand high altars to Him,
CHAP. LXIV. — TEMPLE TO BE DESTROYED.
" ' For we,' said I, ' have ascertained beyond
doubt that God is much rather displeased with
the sacrifices which you offer, the time of sacri-
fices having now passed away ; and because ye
will not acknowledge that the time for offering
victims is now past, therefore the temple shall be
destroyed, and the abomination of desolation '
shall stand in the holy place ; and then the Gos-
pel shall be preached to the Gentiles for a testi-
mony against you, that your unbelief may be
judged by their faith. For the whole world at
different times suffers under divers maladies,
either spreading generally over all, or affecting
specially. Therefore it needs a physician to visit
it for its salvation. We therefore bear witness to
you, and declare to you what has been hidden
from every one of you. It is for you to con-
sider what is for your advantage.'
CHAP. LXV. — TUMULT STILLED BY GAMALIEL.
" When I had thus spoken, the whole multi-
tude of the priests were in a rage, because I had
foretold to them the overthrow of the temple.
Which when Gamaliel, a chief of the people, saw
— who was secretly our brother in the faith, but
by our advice remained among them — because
they were greatly enraged and moved with in-
' Dan. ix. 27; Matt. xxiv. 15.
tense fury against us, he stood up, and said,^ ' Be
quiet for a little, O men of Israel, for ye do not
perceive the trial which hangs over you. Where-
fore refrain from these men ; and if what they
are engaged in be of human counsel, it will soon
come to an end ; but if it be from God, why
will you sin without cause, and prevail nothing?
For who can overpower the will of God ? Now
therefore, since the day is declining towards
evening, I shall myself dispute with these men
to-morrow, in this same place, in your hearing,
so that I may openly oppose and clearly confute
every error.' By this speech of his their fury
was to some extent checked, especially in the
hope that next day we should be publicly con-
victed of error ; and so he dismissed the people
peacefully.
CHAP. LXVI.
■DISCUSSION RESUMED.
" Now when we had come to our James, while
we detailed to him all that had been said and
done, we supped, and remained with him, spend-
ing the whole night in supplication to Almighty
God, that the discourse of the approaching dis-
putation might show the unquestionable truth of
our faith. Therefore, on the following day, James
the bishop went up to the temple with us, and
with the whole chijrch. There we found a great
multitude, who had been waiting for us from the
middle of the night. Therefore we took our
stand in the same place as before, in order that,
standing on an elevation, we might be seen by
all the people. Then, when profound silence was
obtained, Gamaliel, who, as we have said, was of
our faith, but who by a dispensation remained
amongst them, that if at any time they should
attempt anything unjust or wicked against us, he
might either check them by skilfully adopted
counsel, or might warn us, that we might either
be on our guard or might turn it aside; — he
therefore, as if acting against us, first of all look-
ing to James the bishop, addressed him in this
manner : —
CHAP. LXVII.
■SPEECH OF GAMALIEL.
"'If I, Gamaliel, deem it no reproach either
to my learning or to my old age to learn some-
thing from babes and unlearned ones, if haply
there be anything which it is for profit or for
safety to acquire (for he who lives reasonably
knows that nothing is more precious than the
soul), ought not this to be the object of love
and desire to all, to learn what they do not know,
and to teach what they have learned ? For it is
most certain that neither friendship, nor kindred,
nor lofty power, ought to be more precious to
men than truth. Therefore you, O brethren, if
ye know anything more, shrink not from laying it
2 Acts V. 35-39.
Chap. LXX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
95
before the people of God who are present, and
also before your brethren ; while the whole peo-
ple shall willingly and in perfect quietness hear
what you say. For why should not the people
do this, when they see even me equally with
themselves willing to learn from you, if haply
God has revealed something further to you?
But if you in anything are deficient, be not ye
ashamed in like manner to be taught by us, that
God may fill up whatever is wanting on either
side. But if any fear now agitates you on account
of some of our people whose minds are preju-
diced against you, and if through fear of their
violence you dare not openly speak your senti-
ments, in order that I may deliver you from this
fear, I openly swear to you by Almighty God,
who liveth for ever, that I will suffer no one to
lay hands upon you. Since, then, you have all
this people witnesses of this my oath, and you
hold the covenant of our sacrament as a fitting
pledge, let each one of you, without any hesita-
tion, declare what he has learned ; and let us,
brethren, listen eagerly and in silence.'
CHAP. LXVIII. THE RULE OF FAITH.
"These sayings of Gamaliel did not much
please Caiaphas ; and holding him in suspicion,
as it seemed, he began to insinuate himself cun-
ningly into the discussions : for, smiling at what
Gamaliel had said, the chief of the priests asked
of James, the chief of the bishops,' that the dis-
course concerning Christ should not be drawn
but from the Scriptures ; ' that we may know,'
said he, * whether Jesus be the very Christ or no.'
Then said James, ' We must first inquire from
what Scriptures we are especially to derive our
discussion.' Then he, with difficulty, at length
overcome by reason, answered, that it must be
derived from the law ; and afterwards he made
mention also of the prophets.
CHAP. LXIX. — TWO COMINGS OF CHRIST.
"To him our James began to show, that what-
soever things, the prophets say they have taken
from the law, and what they have spoken is in
accordance with the law. He also made some
statements respecting the books of the Kings, in
what way, and when, and by whom they were
written, and how they ought to be used. And
when he had discussed most fully concerning the
law, and had, by a most clear exposition, brought
into light whatever things are in it concerning
Christ, he showed by most abundant proofs that
Jesus is the Christ, and that in Him are fiilfilled
all the prophecies which related to His humble
advent. For he showed that two advents of
Him are foretold : one in humiliation, which
' [This title is consistent with the position accorded to James the
Lord's brother in the entire pseudo-Clementine literature. — R.J
He has accomplished ; the other in glory, which
is hoped for to be accomplished, when He shall
come to give the kingdom to those who believe
in Him, and who observe all things which He
has commanded. And when he had plainly
taught the people concerning these things, he
added this also : That unless a man be baptized
in water, in the name of the threefold blessed-
ness, as the true Prophet taught, he can neither
receive remission of sins nor enter into the king-
dom of heaven ; and he declared that this is the
prescription of the unbegotten God. To which
he added this also : ' Do not think that we speak
of two unbegotten Gods, or that one is divided
into two, or that the same is made male and
female. But we speak of the only-begotten Son
of God, not sprung from another source, but
ineffably self-originated ; and in like manner we
speak of the Paraclete.' ^ But when he had
spoken some things also concerning baptism,
through seven successive days he persuaded all
the people and the high priest that they should
hasten straightway to receive baptism.
CHAP. LXX.
-TUMULT RAISED BY SAUL.
"And when matters were at that point that
they should come and be baptized, some one of
our enemies,^ entering the temple with a few
men, began to cry out, and to say, ' What mean
ye, O men of Israel? Why are you so easily
hurried on ? Why are ye led headlong by most
miserable men, who are deceived by Simon, a
magician ? ' While he was thus speaking, and
adding more to the same effect, and while James
the bishop was refuting him, he began to excite
the people and to raise a tumult, so that the
people might not be able to hear what was said.
Therefore he began to drive all into confusion
with shouting, and to undo what had been ar-
ranged with much labour, and at the same time
to reproach the priests, and to enrage them with
revilings and abuse, and, like a madman, to ex-
cite every one to murder, saying, ' What do ye ?
Why do ye hesitate? Oh, sluggish and inert,
why do we not lay hands upon them, and pull
all these fellows to pieces ? ' When he had said
this, he first, seizing a strong brand from the
altar, set the example of smiting. Then others
also, seeing him, were carried away with like
madness. Then ensued a tumult on either side,
of the beating and the beaten. Much blood is
shed ; there is a confused flight, in the midst of
wliich that enemy attacked James, and threw
him headlong from the top of the steps ; and
supposing him to be dead, he cared not to inflict
further violence upon him.
2 [This sentence seems to have been framed to accord with the
Catholic doctrine. — R.]
3 A marginal note in one of the manuscripts states that this enemy
was Saul. [This is confirmed by chap. 71. — R.j
96
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book I.
CHAP. LXXI. FLIGHT TO JERICHO.
*'But our friends lifted him up, for they were
both more numerous and more powerful than
the others ; but, from their fear of God, they
rather suffered themselves to be killed by an in-
ferior force, than they would kill others. But
when the evening came the priests shut up the
temple, and we returned to the house of James,
and spent the night there in prayer. Then before
daylight we went down to Jericho, to the num-
ber of 5000 men. Then after three days one
of the brethren came to us from Gamaliel, whom
we mentioned before, bringing to us secret tid-
ings that that enemy had received a commission
from Caiaphas, the chief priest, that he should
arrest all who believed in Jesus, and should go
to Damascus with his letters, and that there also,
employing the help of the unbelievers, he should
make havoc among the faithful ; and that he
was hastening to Damascus chiefly on this ac-
count, because he believed that Peter had fled
thither.' And about thirty days thereafter he
stopped on his way while passing through Jeri-
cho going to Damascus. At that time we were
absent, having gone out to the sepulchres of two
brethren which were whitened of themselves
every year, by which miracle the fury of many
against us was restrained, because they saw that
our brethren were had in remembrance before
God.
CHAP. LXXII. — PETER SENT TO C^SAREA.
" While, therefore, we abode in Jericho, and
gave ourselves to prayer and fasting, James the
bishop sent for me, and sent me here to Csesa-
rea, saying that Zacchseus had written to him
from Csesarea, that one Simon, a Samaritan
magician, was subverting many of our people,
asserting that he was one Slans,^ — that is, in
other words, the Christ, and the great power of
the high God, which is superior to the Creator
of the world ; at the same time that he showed
many miracles, and made some doubt, and
others fall away to him. He informed me of
all things that had been ascertained respecting
this man from those who had formerly been
either his associates or his disciples, and had
afterwards been converted to Zacchaeus. ' Many
therefore there are, O Peter,' said James, ' for
whose safety's sake it behoves you to go and to
refute the magician, and to teach the word of
truth. Therefore make no delay ; nor let it
grieve you that you set out alone, knowing that
God by Jesus will go with you, and will help you,
and that soon, by His grace, you will have
many associates and sympathizers. Now be
' Acts xxii. 5. [There is an evident attempt to cast a slur upon
the Apostle Paul, but the suppression of the name is significant. — R.J
2 [Comp. book ii. 7 and Homily II. 22, 24. — R.J
sure that you send me in writing every year an
account of your sayings and doings, and espe-
cially at the end of every seven years.' With
these expressions he dismissed me, and in six
days I arrived at Csesarea.^
CHAP. LXXIII. WELCOMED BY ZACCH^US.
" When I entered the city, our most beloved
brother Zacchaeus met me ; and embracing me,
brought me to this lodging, in which he himself
stayed, inquiring of me concerning each of the
brethren, especially concerning our honourable
brother James. And when I told him that he
was still lame on one foot, on his immediately
asking the cause of this, I related to him all that
I have now detailed to you, how we had been
called by the priests and Caiaphas the high
priest to the temple, and how James the arch-
bishop, standing on the top of the steps, had for
seven successive days shown the whole people
from the Scriptures of the Lord that Jesus is
the Christ ; and how, when all were acquiescing
that they should be baptized by him in the name
of Jesus, an enemy did all those things which I
have already mentioned, and which I need not
repeat.
CHAP. LXXIV. — SIMON MAGUS CHALLENGES PETER.
" When Zacchaeus had heard these things, he
told me in return of the doings of Simon ; and
in the meantime Simon himself — how he heard
of my arrival I do not know — sent a message
to me, saying, ' Let us dispute to-morrow in the
hearing of the people.' To which I answered,
' Be it so, as it pleaseth you.' And this promise
of mine was known over the whole city, so that
even you, who arrived on that very day, learned
that I was to hold a discussion with Simon on
the following day, and having found out my
abode, according to the directions which you
had received from Barnabas, came to me. But I
so rejoiced at your coming, that my mind, moved
I know not how, hastened to expound all things
quickly to you, yet especially that which is the
main point in our faith, concerning the true
Prophet, which alone, I doubt not, is a sufficient
foundation for the whole of our doctrine. Then,
in the next place, I unfolded to you the more
secret meaning of the written law,' through its
several heads, which there was occasion to un-
fold ; neither did I conceal from you the good
things 'of the traditions. But what remains,
beginning from to-morrow, you shall hear from
day to day in connection with the questions
which will be raised in the discussion with Simon,
3 [The visit of Peter to Csesarea narrated in Acts x. vi^as for a very
different purpose. It is probable that the author of the Recognitions
connected the persecutiin by Saul and the sorceries of Simon be-
cause of the similar juxtaposition in Acts viii. — R.]
Chap. III.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
97
until by God's favour we reach that city of Rome
to which we beheve that our journey is to be
directed."
I then declared that I owed him all thanks
for what he had told me, and promised that I
would most readily do all that he commanded.
Then, having taken food, he ordered me to rest,
and he also betook himself to rest.
BOOK II.
CHAP. I . POWER OF HABIT.
When the day dawned which had been fixed
for the discussion with Simon, Peter, rising at
the first cock-crowing, aroused us also : for we
were sleeping in the same apartment, thirteen of
us in all ; ' of whom, next to Peter, Zacchaeus was
first, then Sophonius, Joseph and Michaeas, Eli-
esdrus, Phineas, Lazarus, and Eliseeus : after
these I (Clement) and Nicodemus ; then Niceta
and Aquila, who had formerly been disciples of
Simon, and were converted to the faith of Christ
under the teaching of Zacchseus. Of the wo-
men there was no one present. As the evening
light ^ was still lasting, we all sat down ; and
Peter, seeing that we were awake, and that we
were giving attention to him, having saluted us,
immediately began to speak, as follows : —
" I confess, brethren, that I wonder at the
power of human nature, which I see to be fit
and suited to every call upon it. This, however,
it occurs to me to say of what I have found by
experience, that when the middle of the night
is passed, I awake of my own accord, and sleep
does not come to me again. This happens to
me for this reason, that I have formed the habit
of recalling to memory the words of my Lord,
which I heard from Himself; and for the long-
ing I have towards them, I constrain my mind
and my thoughts to be roused, that, awaking to
them, and recalling and arranging them one by
one, I may retain them in my memory. From
this, therefore, whilst I desire to cherish the
sayings of the Lord with all delight in my heart,
the habit of waking has come upon me, even
if there be nothing that I wish to think of.
Thus, in some unaccountable way, when any
custom is established, the old custom is changed,
provided indeed you do not force it above
measure, but as far as the measure of nature ad-
mits. For it is not possible to be altogether
without sleep ; otherwise night would not have
been made for rest."
' [With this list compare that in iii. 68, where four others are
added (or substituted) , and some importance given to the number
twelve. See also Homily H. i. The variety and correspondence
point to the use of a common basis. — R.]
2 That is, the lamp which had been lighted in the evening.
CHAP. II. — CURTAILMENT OF SLEEP,
Then I, when I heard this, said : " You have
very well said, O Peter ; for one custom is su-
perseded by another. For when I was at sea, I
was at first distressed, and all my system was
disordered, so that I felt as if I had been beaten,
and could not bear the tossing and tumult of
the sea ; but after a few days, when I had got
accustomed to it, I began to bear it tolerably, so
that I was glad to take food immediately in the
morning along with the sailors, whereas before
it was not my custom to eat anything before the
seventh hour. Now, therefore, simply from the
custom which I then acquired, hunger reminds
me about that time at which I used to eat with
the sailors ; which, however, I hope to get rid
of, when once another custom shall have been
formed. I believe, therefore, that you also have
acquired the habit of wakefulness, as you state ;
and you have wished at a fitting time to explain
this to us, that we also may not grudge to throw
off and dispense with some portion of our sleep,
that we may be able to take in the precepts of
the living doctrine. For when the food is
digested, and the mind is under the influence of
the silence of night, those things which are sea-
sonably taught abide in it."
CHAP. III. — NEED OF CAUTION.
Then Peter, being pleased to hear that I un-
derstood the purport of his preface, that he had
delivered it for our advantage ; and commend-
ing me, doubtless for the purpose of encoura-
ging and stimulating me, began to deliver the
following discourse : ^ "It seems to me to be
seasonable and necessary to have some discus-
sion relating to those things that are near at
hand ; that is, concerning Simon. For I should
wish to know of what character and of what con-
duct he is. Wherefore, if any one of you has
any knowledge of him, let him not fail to inform
me ; for it is of consequence to know these
things beforehand. For if we have it in charge,
3 [In the Homilies the discourse before the discussion with Simon
is much fuller. — R.J
98
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II.
that when we enter into a city we should first
learn who in it is worthy,' that we may eat with
him, how much more is it proper for us to as-
certain who or what sort of man he is to whom
the words of immortality are to be committed !
For we ought to be careful, yea, extremely care-
ful, that we cast not our pearls before swine.^
CHAP. IV. PRUDENCE IN DEALING WITH OPPO-
NENTS.
" But for other reasons also it is of importance
that I should have some knowledge of this man.
For if I know that in those things concerning
which it cannot be doubted that they are good,
he is fauUless and irreproachable, — that is to
say, if he is sober, mercifol, upright, gentle, and
humane, which no one doubts to be good quali-
ties, — then it will seem to be fitting, that upon
him who possesses these good virtues, that which
is lacking of faith and knowledge should be con-
ferred ; and so his life, which is in other respects
worthy of approbation, should be amended in
those points in which it shall appear to be im-
perfect. But if he remains wrapped up and pol-
luted in those sins which are manifestly such, it
does not become me to speak to him at all of
the more secret and sacred things of divine
knowledge, but rather to protest and confront
him, that he cease from sin, and cleanse his
actions from vice. But if he insinuate himself,
and lead us on to speak what he, while he acts
improperly, ought not to hear, it will be our part
to parry him cautiously. For not to answer him
at all does not seem proper, for the sake of the
hearers, lest haply they may think that we decline
the contest through want of ability to answer him,
and so their faith may be injured through their
misunderstanding of our purpose."
CHAP. V. — SIMON MAGUS, A FORMIDABLE ANTAG-
ONIST.
When Peter had thus spoken to us, Niceta asks
permission to say something to him ; ^ and Peter
having granted permission, he says : " With your
pardon, I beseech you, my lord Peter, to hear me,
who am very anxious for thee, and who am afraid
lest, in the contest which you have in hand with
Simon, you should seem to be overmatched. For
it very frequently happens that he who defends the
truth does not gain the victory, since the hearers
are either prejudiced, or have no great interest in
the better cause. But over and above all this,
Simon himself is a most vehement orator, trained
in the dialectic art, and in the meshes of syllo-
' Matt. X. II.
2 Matt, vii, 6.
3 [The statements of Niceta and Aquila are introduced in the
///i.«//;Vj before the postponement of the discussion with Simon.
• is a remarkable variety in the minor details respecting Simon
'en in the two narratives. — R.J
gisms ; and what is worse than all, he is greatly
skilled in the magic art. And therefore I fear,
lest haply, being so strongly fortified on every side,
he shall be tliought to be defending the truth,
whilst he is alleging falsehoods, in the presence of
those who do not know him. For neither should
we ourselves have been able to escape from him,
and to be converted to the Lord, had it not been
that, while we were his assistants, and the sharers
of his errors, we had ascertained that he was a
deceiver and a magician."
CHAP. VI. — SIMON MAGUS : HIS WICKEDNESS.
When Niceta had thus spoken, Aquila also,
asking that he might be permitted to speak, pro-
ceeded in manner following : " Receive, I entreat
thee, most excellent Peter, the assurance of my
love towards thee ; for indeed I also am extremely
anxious on thy account. And do not blame us in
this, for indeed to be concerned for any one com-
eth of affection ; whereas to be indifferent is no less
than hatred. But I call God to witness that I feel
for thee, not as knowing thee to be weaker in de-
bate, — for indeed I was never present at any dis-
pute in which thou wert engaged, — but because I
well know the impieties of this man, I think of thy
reputation, and at the same time the souls of the
hearers, and above all, the interests of the truth
itself. For this magician is vehement towards all
things that he wishes, and wicked above measure.
For in all things we know him well, since from boy-
hood we have been assistants and ministers of his
wickedness ; and had not the love of God rescued
us from him, we should even now be engaged in
the same evil deeds with him. But a certain in-
born love towards God rendered his wickedness
hateful to us, and the worship of God attractive
to us. Whence I think also that it was the work
of Divine Providence, that we, being first made his
associates, should take knowledge in what manner
or by what art he effects the prodigies which he
seems to work. For who is there that would not
be astonished at the wonderful things which he
does? Who would not think that he was a god
come down from heaven for the salvation of men ?
For myself, I confess, if I had not known him inti-
mately, and had taken part in his doings, I would
easily have been carried away with him. Whence
it was no great thing for us to be separated from
his society, knowing as we did that he depends
upon magic arts and wicked devices. But if thou
also thyself wish to know all about him — who,
what, and whence he is, and how he contrives what
he does — then listen.
CHAP. VII. — SIMON MAGUS : HIS HISTORY.
"This Simon's father was Antonius, and his
mother Rachel. By nation he is a Samaritan, from
a village of the Gettones ; by profession a magi-
Chap. X.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
99
cian, yet exceedingly well trained in the Greek
literature ; desirous of glory, and boasting above
all the human race, so that he wishes himself to be
believed to be an exalted power, which is above
God the Creator, and to be thought to be the
Christ, and to be called the Sfandiiig One. And
he uses this name as implying that he can never
be dissolved, asserting that his flesh is so com-
pacted by the power of his divinity, that it can
endure to eternity. Hence, therefore, he is called
the Standing One, as though he cannot fall by
any corruption.
CHAP. Vm. — SIMON MAGUS : HIS HISTORY.
" For after that John the Baptist was killed, as
you yourself also know, when Dositheus had
broached his heresy,' with thirty other chief dis-
ciples, and one woman, who was called Luna ^ —
whence also these thirty appear to have been ap-
pointed with reference to the number of the days,
according to the course of the moon — this Simon,
ambitious of evil glory, as we have said, goes to
Dositheus, and pretending friendship, entreats
him, that if any one of those thirty should die,
he should straightway substitute him in room of
the dead : for it was contrary to their rule either
to exceed the fixed number, or to admit any one
who was unknown, or not yet proved ; whence
also the rest, desiring to become worthy of the
place and number, are eager' in every way to
please, according to the institudons of their sect,
each one of those who aspire after admittance
into the number, hoping that he may be deemed
worthy to be put into the place of the deceased,
when, as we have said, any one dies. Therefore
Dositheus, being greatly urged by this man, intro-
duced Simon when a vacancy occurred among
the number.
CHAP. IX. — SIMON MAGUS: HIS PROFESSION.
" But not long after he fell in love with that
woman whom they call Luna ; and he confided
all things to us as his friends : how he was a
magician, and how he loved Luna, and how,
being desirous of glory, he was unwilling to enjoy
her ingloriously, but that he was waiting patiently
till he could enjoy her honourably ; yet so if we
also would conspire with him towards the accom-
plishment of his desires. And he promised that,
as a reward of this service, he would cause us to
be invested with the highest honours, and we
should be believed by men to be gods ; ' Only,
however, on condition,' says he, ' that you confer
the chief place upon me, Simon, who by magic
' [Comp. i. 54. In Homily II. 23 Simon is said to be a follower of
John the Baptist, one of the thirty chief men; so Dositheus. Here
Dositheus is represented as the head of a separate sect; so in i. 54.
-R.j
^ [Called " Helena " in the Homilies, and identified apparently
with Helen, the cause of the Trojan War. — R.]
art am able to show many signs and prodigies,
by means of which either my glory or our sect
may be established. For I am able to render
myself invisible to those who wish to lay hold of
me, and again to be visible when I am willing to
be seen.3 If I wish to flee, I can dig through
the mountains, and pass through rocks as if they
were clay. If I should throw myself headlong
from a lofty mountain, I should be borne un-
hurt to the earth, as if I were held up ; when
bound, I can loose myself, and bind those
who had bound me ; being shut up in prison,
I can make the barriers open of their own ac-
cord ; I can render statues animated, so that
those who see suppose that they are men.
I can make new trees suddenly spring up,
and produce sprouts at once. I can throw
myself into the fire, and not be burnt ; I can
change my countenance, so that I cannot be
recognised ; but I can show people that I have
two faces. I shall change myself into a sheep
or a goat ; I shall make a beard to grow upon
little boys ; I shall ascend by flight into the air ;
I shall exhibit abundance of gold, and shall
make and unmake kings. I shall be worshipped
as God ; I shall have divine honours publicly
assigned to me, so that an image of me shall be
set up, and I shall be worshipped and adored as
God. And what need of more words ? What-
ever I wish, that I shall be able to do. For
already I have achieved many things by way of
experiment. In short,' says he, * once when my
mother Rachel ordered me to go to the field to
reap, and I saw a sickle lying, I ordered it to go
and reap ; and it reaped ten times more than
the others. Lately, I produced many new sprouts
from the earth, and made them bear leaves and
produce fruit in a moment ; and the nearest
mountain I successfully bored through.'
CHAP X. — SIMON MAGUS : HIS DECEPTION.
"But when he spoke thus of the production
of sprouts and the perforation of the mountain,
I was confounded on this account, because he
wished to deceive even us, in whom he seemed
to place confidence ; for we knew that those
things had been from the days of our fathers,
which he represented as having been done by
himself lately. We then, although we heard
these atrocities from him, and worse than these,
yet we followed up his crimes, and suffered
others to be deceived by him, telling also many
lies on his behalf; and this before he did any of
the things which he had promised, so that while
as yet he had done nothing, he was by some
thought to be God.
3 [The statements made in the Recpgniiicns respecting the claims
of Simon are more extravagant and blasphemous than those occurring
in the Homilies. Comp. the latter, ii, 26-32. — R.]
lOO
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II.
CHAP. XI. SIMON MAGUS, AT THE HEAD OF THE
SECT OF DOSITHEUS.
" Meantime, at the outset, as soon as he was
reckoned among the thirty disciples of Dositheus,
he began to depreciate Dositheus himself, saying
that he did not teach purely or perfectly, and
that this was the result not of ill intention, but
of ignorance. But Dositheus, when he perceived
that Simon was depreciating him, fearing lest his
reputation among men might be obscured (for
he himself was supposed to be the SAindi/ig
One), moved with rage, when they met as usual
at the school, seized a rod, and began to beat
Simon ; but suddenly the rod seemed to pass
through his body, as if it, had been smoke. On
which Dositheus, being astonished, says to him,
' Tell me if thou art the Standing One, that I may
adore thee.' And when Simon answered that
he was, then Dositheus, perceiving that he him-
self was not the Standing One, fell down and
worshipped him, and gave up his own place as
chief to Simon, ordering all the rank of thirty
men to obey him ; himself taking the inferior
place which Simon formerly occupied. Not long
after this he died.
CHAP. XII. — SIMON MAGUS AND LUNA.
"Therefore, after the death of Dositheus,
Simon took Luna to himself; and with her he
still goes about, as you see, deceiving multitudes,
and asserting that he himself is a certain power
which is above God the Creator, while Luna,
who is with him, has been brought down from
the higher heavens, and that she is Wisdom,
the mother of all things, for whom, says he, the
Greeks and barbarians contending, were able in
some measure to see an image of her ; but of
herself, as she is, as the dweller with the first
and only God, they were wholly ignorant. Pro-
pounding these and other things of the same
sort, he has deceived many. But I ought also
to state this, which I remember that I myself
saw. Once, when this Luna of his was in a cer-
tain tower, a great multitude had assembled to
see her, and were standing around the tower on
all sides ; but she was seen by all the people
to lean forward, and to look out through all the
windows of that tower.^ Many other wonderful
things he did and does ; so that men, being as-
tonished at them, think that he himself is the
great God.
CHAP. XIII. — SIMON MAGUS : SECRET OF HIS MAGIC.
" Now when Niceta and I once asked him to
explain to us how these things could be effected
by magic art, and what was the nature of that
' The meaning seems to be, that she was seen at all the windows
at once. — Tr.
thing, Simon began thus to explain it to us as
his associates. ' I have,' said he, ' made the soul
of a boy, unsullied and violently slain, and in-
voked by unutterable adjurations, to assist me ;
and by it all is done that I command.' ' But,'
said I, * is it possible for a soul to do these
things ? ' He answered : ' I would have you
know this, that the soul of man holds the next
place after God, when once it is set free from
the darkness of his body. And immediately it
acquires prescience : wherefore it is invoked for
necromancy.' Then 1 answered : ' Why, then,
do not the souls of persons who are slain take
vengeance on their slayers ? ' ' Do you not re-
member,' said he, 'that I told you, that when it
goes out of the body it acquires knowledge of the
future?' 'I remember,' said I. 'Well, then,'
said he, ' as soon as it goes out of the body, it
immediately knows that there is a judgment to
come, and that every one shall suffer punishment
for those evils that he hath done ; and therefore
they are unwilling to take vengeance on their
slayers, because they themselves are enduring
torments for their own evil deeds which they
had done here, and theyJ<now that severer pun-
ishments await them in the judgment. More-
over, they are not permitted by the angels who
preside over them to go out, or to do anything.'
' Then,' I replied, ' if the angels do not permit
them to come hither, or to do what they please,
how can the souls obey the magician who in-
vokes them ? ' ' It is not,' said he, ' that they
grant indulgence to the souls that are willing to
come ; but when the presiding angels are adjured
by one greater than themselves, they have the
excuse of our violence who adjure them, to per-
mit the souls which we invoke to go out : for
they do not sin who suffer violence, but we who
impose necessity upon them.' Thereupon Niceta,
not able longer to refrain, hastily answered, as
indeed I also was about to do, only I wished first
to get information from him on several points ;
but, as I said, Niceta, anticipating me, said :
' And do you not fear the day of judgment, who
do violence to angels, and invoke souls, and
deceive men, and bargain for divine honour to
yourself from men ? And how do you persuade
us that there shall be no judgment, as some of
the Jews confess, and that souls are not immortal,
as many suppose, though you see them with your
very eyes, and receive from them assurance of
the divine judgment? '
CHAP. XIV. SIMON MAGUS, PROFESSES TO BE
GOD.
" At those sayings of his Simon grew pale ;
but after a little, recollecting himself, he thus
answered : ' Do not think that I am a man of
your race. I am neither magician, nor lover
Chap. XVIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
lOI
of Luna, nor son of Antonius. For before my
mother Rachel and he came together, she, still
a virgin, conceived me, while it was in my power
to be either small or great, and to appear as a
man among men.' Therefore I have chosen
you first as my friends, for the purpose of try-
ing you, that I may place you first in my heav-
enly and unspeakable places when I shall have
proved you. Therefore I have pretended to be
a man, that I might more clearly ascertain if
you cherish entire affection towards me.' But
when I heard that, judging him indeed to be a
wretch, yet wondering at his impudence ; and
blushing for him, ^.nd at the same time fearing
lest he should attempt some evil against us, I
beckoned to Niceta to feign for a little along
with me, and said to him : ' Be not angry with
us, corruptible men, O thou incorruptible God,
but rather accept our affection, and our mind
willing to know who God is ; for we did not till
now know who thou art, nor did we perceive
that thou art he whom we were seeking.'
CHAP. XV. SIMON MAGUS, PROFESSED TO HAVE
MADE A BOY OF AIR.
" As we spoke these and such like words with
looks suited to the occasion, this most vain fel-
low believed that we were deceived ; and being
thereby the more elated, he added also this : ' I
shall now be propitious to you, for the affection
which you bear towards me as God ; for you
loved me while you did not know me, and were
seeking me in ignorance. But I would not have
you doubt that this is truly to be God, when one
is able to become small or great as he pleases ;
for I am able to appear to man in whatever man-
ner I please. Now, then, I shall begin to unfold
to you what is true. Once on a time, I, by my
power, turning air into water, and water again
into blood, and solidifying it into flesh, formed
a new human creature — a boy — and produced
a much nobler work than God the Creator. For
He created a man from the earth, but I from air
— a far more difficult matter ; and again I un-
made him and restored him to air, but not until
I had placed his picture and image in my bed-
chamber, as a proof and memorial of my work.'
Then we understood that he spake concernnig
that boy, who§e soul, after he had been slain by
violence, he made use of for those services which
he required.
CHAP. XVI,
SIMON MAGUS : HOPELESSNESS OF
HIS CASE.
But. Peter, hearing these things, said with
tears : ^ " Greatly do I wonder at the infinite
' [This parody of the miraculous eonception is not found in the
Ho VI I lies. — R]
^ [In Homily II 37-53 the discourse of Peter is quite different,
and far less worthy. lu liomily III. 1-28 a similar discourse is given,
patience of God, and, on the other hand, at
the audacity of human rashness in some. For
what further reason can be found to persuade
Simon that God judges the unrighteous, since
he persuades himself that he employs the obedi-
ence of souls for the service of his crimes ? But,
in truth, he is deluded by demons. Yet, although
he is sure by these very things that souls are im-
mortal, and are judged for the deeds which they
have done, and although he thinks that he really
sees those things which we believe by faith ;
though, as I said, he is deluded by demons,
yet he thinks that he sees the very substance
of the soul. How shall such a man, I say, be
brought to confess either that he acts wickedly
while he occupies such an evil position, or that
he is to be judged for those things which he
hath done, who, knowing the judgment of God,
despises it, and shows himself an enemy to God,
and dares commit such horrid things? Where-
fore it is certain, my brethren, that some oppose
the truth and religion of God, not because it
appears to them that reason can by no means
stand with faith, but because they are either in-
volved in excess of wickedness, or prevented by
their own evils, or elated by the swelling of their
heart, so that they do not even believe those
things which they think that they see with their
own eyes.
CHAP. XVII. — MEN ENEMIES TO GOD.
" But, inasmuch as inborn affection towards
God the Creator seemed to suffice for salvation
to those who loved Him, the enemy studies to
pervert this affection in men, and to render them
hostile and ungrateful to their Creator. For
I call heaven and earth to witness, that if God
permitted the enemy to rage as much as he
desires, all men should have perished long ere
now ; but for His mercy's sake God doth not
suffer him. But if men would turn their affec-
tion towards God, all would doubtless be saved,
even if for some faults they might seem to be
corrected for righteousness But now the most
of men have been made enemies of God, whose
hearts the wicked one has entered, and has
turned aside towards himself the affection which
God the Creator had implanted in them, that
they might have it towards Him. But of the
rest, who seemed for a time to be watchful, the
enemy, appearing in a phantasy of glory and
sijlendour, and promising them certain great and
mighty things, has caused their mind and heart
to wander away from God ; yet it is for some
just reason that he is permitted to accomplish
these things."
just before the discussion with Simon, abounding in statements that
suggest erroneous views of Scripture, and indicate a Gnostic origin.
-R.]
I02
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II.
CH.'VP. XVIII. — RESPONSIBILITY OF MEN.
" To this Aquila answered : " How, then, are
men in fault, if the wicked one, transforming
himself into the brightness of light,' promises
to men greater things than the Creator Himself
does? " Then Peter answered : " I think," says
he, " that nothing is more unjust than this ; and
now listen while I tell you how unjust it is. If
your son, whom you have trained and nour-
ished with all care, and brought to man's estate,
should be ungrateful to you, and should leave
you and go to another, whom perhaps he may
have seen to be richer, and should show to
him the honour which he owed to you, and,
through hope of greater profit, should deny his
birth, and refuse you your paternal rights, would
this seem to you right or wicked?" Then
Aquila answered : " It is manifest to all that it
would be wicked." Then Peter said : " If you
say that this would be wicked among men, how
much more so is it in the case of God, who,
above all men, is worthy of honour from men ;
whose benefits we not only enjoy, but by whose
means and power it is that we began to be when
we were not, and whom, if we please, we shall
obtain from Him to be for ever in blessedness !
In order, therefore, that the unfaithful may be
distinguished from the faithful, and the pious
from the impious, it has been permitted to the
wicked one to use those arts by which the affec-
tions of every one towards the true Father may
be proved. But if there were in truth some
strange God, were it right to leave our own
God, who created us, and who is our Father
and our Maker, and to pass over to another?"
" God forbid ! " said Aquila. Then said Peter :
'• How, then, shall we say that the wicked one
is the cause of our sin, when this is done by per-
mission of God, that those may be proved and
condemned in the day of judgment, who, allured
by greater promises, have abandoned their duty
towards their true Father and Creator ; while
those who have kept the faith and the love of
their own Father, even with poverty, if so it has
befallen, and with tribulation, may enjoy heavenly
gifts and immortal dignities in His kingdom?
But we shall expound these things more care-
fully at another time. Meantime I desire to
know what Simon did after this."
CHAP. XIX. — DISPUTATION BEGUN.
And Niceta answered : " When he perceived
that we had found him out, having spoken to
one another concerning his crimes, we left him,
and came to Zacchseus, telling him those same
things which we have now told to you. But he,
' 2 Cor. xi. 14.
receiving us most kindly, and instructing us con-
cerning the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, en-
rolled us in the number of the faithful." When
Niceta had done speaking, Zacchaeus, who had
gone out a little before, entered, saying, " It is
time, O Peter, that you proceed to the disputa-
tion ; for a great crowd, collected in the court
of the house, is awaiting you, in the midst of
whom stands Simon, supported by many attend-
ants." Then Peter, when he heard this, order-
ing me to withdraw for the sake of prayer (for
I had not yet been washed from the sins which I
had committed in ignorance), said to the rest,
" Brethren, let us pray that .God, for His un-
speakable mercy through His Christ, would help
me going out on behalf of the salvation of men
who have been created by Him." Having said
this, and having prayed, he went forth to the
court of the house, in which a great multitude
of people were assembled ; and when he saw
them all looking intently on him in profound
silence, and Simon the magician standing in the
midst of them like a standard-bearer, he began
in manner following.^
2 [Three discussions with Simon Magus are detailed in the
pseudo-Clementine literature, — oiie in the Reccgnitions, ii. 20-iii. 48;
tiLio in the Homilies, iii. 30-58 and xvi.-xix. The differences between
these are quite remarkable.
I. Ejcteriial Differetices. — That in the Recognitions is assigned
to Caesarea, and is represented as lasting three days, details of each
day's discussion being given. The earlier one in the Homilies is given
the same place and time, but it is very brief. The details of the first
day alone are mentioned ; and it resembles that in the Recognitions
less than does the later one. This is represented as taking pl.ice at
Laodicea, and as occupying four days. The account is the longest of
the three. In its historical setting this discussion has no parallel in the
Recognitions. Faustus, the father of Clement, is made the umpire;
and this discussion before him takes the place of the discussions with
him which occupy so large a part of Recognitions, viii.-x.
II. Internal Differetices. — Of course, there are many thoughts
common to the discussions; but the treatment is so varied as to form
one of the most perplexing points in the literary problem. Ail are
somewhat irregular in arrangement, hence an analysis is difficult.
The discussion in the Recognitions seems to be more ethical and
philosophical than those in the Homilies ; the latter contain more
theosophical views. Both of them emphasize the f:4lsehoods of Scrip-
ture, and abound more in sophistries and verbal sword-play. In the
Recognitions, against Simon's polytheism and theory of an unknow-
able God, I'eter opposes the righteousness of God, emphasizing the
freedom of the will, discussing the existence and origin of evil, revert-
ing to the righteousness of God as proving the immortality of the
soul. The defeat of Simon is narrated in a peculiar way.
The Caesarean discussion in the Homilies is very briefly narrated.
After the preliminary parley, Simon attacks the God of the Scriptures,
attributing defects to Him. Peter's reply, while e.xplaining many
passages correctly, is largely taken up with a statement of the view
of the .Scriptures peculiar to the Homilies. This is really the weapon
with which Simon is defeated. The discussion, therefore, presents few
points of resemblance to that in the Recognitions.
The Laodicean discussion in the Homilies, covering four days,
is of a higher character than the preceding. It is not strictly parallel
to that in the Recognitions. "The opening argument is concerning
polytheism. To Peter's monotheism Simon opposes the contradictions
of bcripture; these Peter explains, including some christological state-
ments which lead to a declaration of the nature, name, and character
of God. On the second day, alter some personal di.scussion, Simon
asserts that Christ's teaching differs from that of Peter; the argument
reverts to the shape and figure of God. The evidence of the senses is
urged against fancied revelations, which are attributed to demons.
On the third day the question of God the Framer of the world is in-
troduced, and His moral character. Peter explains the nature of
revelation, with some sharp personal thrusts at Simon, but soon re-
verts to the usual explanation of Scripture.
On the fourth day the existence of the evil one becomes the
prominent topic; the existence of sin is pressed; and the discussion
closes with a justification of the inequalities of human life, and an ex-
pression of judgment against .Simon by Faustus.
Throughout these portions footnotes have been added, to indicate
the correspondences of thought in the several accounts. — R.]
Chap. XXIII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
103
CH.4P. XX. THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
" Peace be to all of you who are prepared to
give your right hands to truth : ' for whosoever
are obedient to it seem indeed themselves to
confer some favour upon God ; whereas they
do themselves obtain from Him the gift of His
greatest bounty, walking in His paths of right-
eousness. Wherefore the first duty of all is to
inquire into the righteousness of God and His
kingdom ; ^ His righteousness, that we may be
taught to act rightly ; His kingdom, that we
may know what is the reward appointed for
labour and patience ; in which kingdom there is
indeed a bestowal of eternal good things upon
the good, but upon those who have acted con-
trary to the will of God, a worthy infliction of
penalties in proportion to the doings of every
one. It becomes you, therefore, whilst you are
here, — that is, whilst you are in the present life,
— to ascertain the will of God, while there is
opportunity also of doing it. For if any one,
before he amends his doings, wishes to investi-
gate concerning things which he cannot discover,
such investigation will be foolish and ineffectual.
For the time is short, and the judgment of God
shall be occupied with deeds, not questions.
Therefore before all things let us inquire into
this, what or in what manner we must act that
we may merit to obtain eternal life.
CHAP. XXI. — RIGHTEOUSNESS THE WAY TO THE
KINGDOM.
" For if we occupy the short time of this life
with vain and useless questions, we shall without
doubt go into the presence of God empty and
void of good works, when, as I have said, our
works shall be brought into judgment. For
everything has its own time and place. This is
the place, this the time of works ; the world to
come, that of recompenses. That we may not
therefore be entangled, by changing the order
of places and times, let us inquire, in the first
place, what is the righteousness of God ; so that,
like persons going to set out on a journey, we
may be filled with good works as with abundant
provision, so that we may be able to come to the
kingdom of God, as to a very great city. For
to those who think aright, God is manifest even
by the operations of the world which He hath
made, using the evidence of His creation ; ^ and
therefore, since there ought to be no doubt
about God, we have now to inquire only about
His righteousness and His kingdom. But if our
mind suggest to us to make any inquiry concern-
■ [This opening sentence occurs in the Homilies, but in other
parts the discourses differ. This is far more dignified and consistent
than that in the Homilies, which at once introduces a claim to au-
thority as messenger of the Prophet. — R.]
= Matt. vi. 33.
3 Rom. i. 20.
ing .secret and hidden things before we inquire
into the works of righteousness, we ought to
render to ourselves a reason, because if acting
well we shall merit to obtain salvation : then,
going to God chaste and clean, we shall be filled
with the Holy Spirit, and shall know all things
that are secret and hidden, without any cavilling
of questions ; whereas now, even if any one
should spend the whole of his life in inquiring
into these things, he not only shall not be able
to find them, but shall involve himself in greater
errors, because he did not first enter through
the way of righteousness, and strive to reach the
haven of life.
CHAP. XXII. — RIGHTEOUSNESS; WHAT IT IS.
"And therefore I advise that His righteous-
ness be first inquired into, that, pursuing our
journey through it, and placed in the way of
truth, we may be able to find the true Prophet,
running not with swiftness of foot, but with good-
ness of works, and that, enjoying His guidance,
we may be under no danger of mistaking the
way. For if under His guidance we shall merit
to enter that city to which we desire to come,
all things concerning which we now inquire we
shall see with our eyes, being made, as it were,
heirs of all things. Understand, therefore, that
the way is this course of our life ; the travellers
zxh. those who do good works ; the gate is the
true Prophet, of whom we speak ; the city is
the kingdom in which dwells the Almighty
Father, whom only those can see who are of
pure heart. ■♦ Let us not then think the labour
of this journey hard, because at the end of it
there shall be rest. For the true Prophet Him-
self also from the beginning of the world, through
the course of time, hastens to rest. For He is
present with us at all times ; and if at any time
it is necessary. He appears and corrects us, that
He may bring to eternal life those who obey
Him. Therefore this is my judgment, as also it
is the pleasure of the true Prophet, that inquiry
should first be made concerning righteousness,
by those especially who profess that they know
God. If therefore any one has anything to pro-
pose which he thinks better, let him speak ; and .
when he has spoken, let him hear, but with
patience and quietness : for in order to this at
the first, by way of salutation, I prayed for peace
to you all."
CHAP. XXIII. — SIMON REFUSES PEACE.
To this Simon answered : 5 " We have no need
of your peace ; for if there be peace and con-
4 Matt. V. 8.
5 I In Homily III. 38, 39, Simon Is represented as at once attack-
ing the Apostle and his monotheism; the arguments are, in the main,
those given in chap. 39 of this book. Chaps. 23-36 are without a
direct parallel in the Homilies. — R.J
I04
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II.
cord, we shall not be able to make any advance
towards the discovery of truth. For robbers and
debauchees have peace among themselves, and
every wickedness agrees with itself; and if we
have met with this view, that for the sake of
peace we should give assent to all that is said,
we shall confer no benefit upon the hearers ; but,
on the contrary, we shall impose upon them, and
shall depart friends. Wherefore, do not invoke
peace, but rather battle, which is the mother of
peace ; and if you can, exterminate errors. And
do not seek for friendship obtained by unfair
admissions ; for this I would have you know,
above all, that when two fight with each other,
then there will be peace when one has been de-
feated and has fallen. And therefore fight as
best you can, and do not expect peace without
war, which is impossible ; or if it can be attained,
show us how."
CHAP. XXIV. — Peter's explanation.
To this Peter answered : " Hear with all atten-
tion, O men, what we say. Let us suppose that
this world is a great plain, and that from two
states, whose kings are at variance with each
other, two generals were sent to fight : and sup-
pose the general of the good king gave this
counsel, that both armies should without blood-
shed submit to the authority of the better king,
whereby all should be safe without danger ; but
that the opposite general should say. No, but we
must fight ; that not he who is worthy, but he
who is stronger, may reign, with those who shall
escape ; — which, I ask you, would you rather
choose ? I doubt not but that you would give
your hands to the better king, with the safety of
all. And I do not now wish, as Simon says that
I do, that assent should be given, for the sake
of peace, to those things that are spoken amiss ;
but that truth be sought for with quietness and
order.
CHAP. XXV. — PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THE DIS-
CUSSION SHOULD BE CONDUCTED.
" For some, in the contest of disputations,
when they perceive that their error is confuted,
immediately begin, for the sake of making good
their retreat, to create a disturbance, and to stir
up s«trifes, that it may not be manifest to all that
they are defeated ; and therefore I frequently
entreat that the investigation of the matter in
dispute may be conducted with all patience and
quietness, so that if perchance anything seem to
be not rightly spoken, it may be allowed to go
back over it, and explain it more distinctly. For
sometimes a thing may be spoken in one way
and heard in another, while it is either advanced
too obscurely, or not attended to with sufficient
care j and on this account I desire that our con-
versation should be conducted patiently, so that
neither sliould the one snatch it away from the
other, nor should the unseasonable speech of
one contradicting interrupt the speech of the
other ; and that we should not cherish the desire
of finding fault, but that we should be allowed,
as I have said, to go over again what has not
been clearly enough spoken, that by fairest ex-
amination the knowledge of the truth may be-
come clearer. For we ought to know, that if
any one is conquered by the truth, it is not he
that is conquered, but the ignorance which is in
him, which is the worst of all demons ; so that
he who can drive it out receives the palm of sal-
vation. For it is our purpose to benefit the
hearers, not that we may conquer badly, but that
we may be well conquered for the acknowledg-
ment of the truth. For if our speech be actuated
by the desire of seeking the truth, even although
we shall speak anything imperfectly through
human frailty, God in His unspeakable goodness
will fill up secretly in the understandings of the
hearers those things that are lacking. For He
is righteous ; and according to the purpose of
every one, He enables some to find easily what
they seek, while to others He renders even that
obscure which is before their eyes. Since, then,
the way of God is the way of peace, let us with
peace seek the things which are God's. If any
one has anything to advance in answer to this,
let him do so ; but if there is no one who wishes
to answer, I shall begin to speak, and I myself
shall bring forward what another may object to
me, and shall refute it."
CHAP. XXVI. — SIMON'S INTERRUPTION.
When therefore Peter had begun to continue
his discourse, Simon, interrupting his speech,
said : " Why do you hasten to speak whatever
you please ? I understand your tricks. You wish
to bring forward those matters whose explanation
you have well studied, that you may appear to
the ignorant crowd to be speaking well ; but I
shall not allow you this subterfuge. Now there-
fore, since you promise, as a brave man, to
answer to all that any one chooses to bring for-
ward, be pleased to answer me in the first place."
Then Peter said : " I am ready, only provided
that our discussion may be with peace." Then
Simon said : " Do not you see, O simpleton, that
in pleading for peace you act in opposition to
your Master, and that what you propose is not
suitable to him who promises that he will over-
throw ignorance? Or, if you are right in asking
peace from the audience, then your Master was
wrong in saying, ' 1 have not come to send peace
on earth, but a sword.' ' For either you say
well, and he not well ; or else, if your Master
• Matt. X. 34.
Chap. XXX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMl^NT.
105
said well, then you not at all well : for you do are blessed, and that thereby they should see
not understand that your statement is contrary God, in order that every one desiring so great a
to his, whose disciple you profess yourself to good might keep himself from evil and polluted
be.
CHAP. XXVII.
•QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
Then Peter : " Neither He who sent me did
amiss in sending a sword upon the earth, nor do
I act contrary to Him in asking peace of the
hearers. But you both unskilfully and rashly
find fault with what you do not understand : for
you have heard that the Master came not to
send peace on earth ; but that He also said,
' Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be
called the very sons of God,' ' you have not
heard. Wherefore my sentiments are not differ-
ent from those of the Master when I recommend
peace, to the keepers of which He assigned
blessedness." Then Simon said : " In your de-
sire to answer for your Master, O Peter, you
have brought a much more serious charge against
him, if he himself came not to make peace, yet
enjoined upon others to keep it. Where, then,
is the consistency of that other saying of his,
' It is enough for the disciple that he be as his
master?' "^
CHAP. XXVIII. CONSISTENCY OF CHRIST'S
, TEACHING.
To this Peter answered: "Our Master, who
was the true Prophet, and ever mindful of Him-
self, neither contradicted Himself, nor enjoined
upon us anything different from what Himself
practised. For whereas He said, ' I am not
come to send peace on earth, but a sword ; and
henceforth you shall see father separated from
son, son from father, husband from wife and
wife from husband, mother from daughter and
daughter from mother, brother from brother,
father-in-law from daughter-in-law, friend from
friend,' all these contain the doctrine of peace ;
and I will tell you how. At the beginning of
His preaching, as wishing to invite and lead all
to salvation, and induce them to bear patiently
labours and trials. He blessed the poor, and
promised that they should obtain the kingdom
of heaven for their endurance of poverty, in
order that under the influence of such a hope
they might bear with equanimity the weight of
poverty, despising covetousness ; for covetous-
ness is one, and the greatest, of most pernicious
sins. But He promised also that the hungry and
the thirsty should be satisfied with the eternal
blessings of righteousness, in order that they
might bear poverty patiently, and not be led by
it to undertake any unrighteous work. In like
manner, also, He said that the pure in heart
I Matt. V. g.
* Matt. X. 25.
thoughts.
CHAP. XXIX.
•PEACE AND STRIFE.
" Thus, therefore, our Master, inviting His dis-
ciples to patience, impressed upon them that the
blessing of peace was also to be preserved with
the labour of patience. But, on the other hand.
He mourned over those who lived in riches and
luxury, who bestowed nothing upon the poor ;
proving that they must render an account, be-
cause they did not pity their neighbours, even
when they were in poverty, whom they ought to
love as themselves. And by such sayings as
these He brought some indeed to obey Him, but
others He rendered hostile. The believers there-
fore, and the obedient. He charges to have peace
among themselves, and says to them, ' Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
very sons of God.' ^ But to those who not only
did not believe, but set themselves in opposition
to His doctrine. He proclaims the war of the
word and of confutation, and says that ' hence-
forth ye shall see son separated from father, and
husband from wife, and daughter from mother,
and brother from brother, and daughter-in-law
from mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be
they of his own house.' ^ For in every house,
when there begins to be a difference betwixt be-
liever and unbeliever, there is necessarily a con-
test : the unbelievers, on the one hand, fighting
against the faith ; and the believers, on the other,
confuting the old error and the vices of sins in
them.
CHAP. XXX. — PEACE TO THE SONS OF PEACE.
" In like manner, also, during the last period
of His teaching, He wages war against the scribes
and Pharisees, charging them with evil deeds and
unsound doctrine, and with hiding the key of
knowledge which they had handed down to them
from Moses, by which the gate of the heavenly
kingdom might be opened. 5 But when our Mas-
ter sent us forth to preach. He commanded us,
that into whatsoever city or house we should
enter, we should say, ' Peace be to this house.'
'And if,' said He, ' a son of peace be there, your
peace shall come upon him ; but if there be not,
your peace shall return to you.' Also that, going
out from that house or city, we should shake off
upon them the very dust which adhered to our
feet. ' But it shall be more tolerable for the land
of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment
than for that city or house.' ^ This indeed He
3 Matt. V. 9.
^ Matt. X. 35, 36; Luke xii. 53.
s Matt, xxiii. ; Luke xi.
6 Matt. X. 12-15; Luke x. 5, 6.
io6
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II.
commanded to be done at length, if first the
word of truth be preached in the city or house,
whereby they who receive the faith of the truth
may become sons of peace and sons of God ;
and those who will not receive it may be con-
victed as enemies of peace and of God.
CHAP. XXXI.
-PEACE AND WAR.
" Thus, therefore, we, observing the commands
of our Master, first offer peace to our hearers,
that the way of salvation may be known without
any tumult. But if any one do not receive the
words of peace, nor acquiesce in the truth, we
know how to direct against him the war of the
word, and to rebuke him sharply by confuting
his ignorance and charging home upon him his
sins. Therefore of necessity we offer peace,
that if any one is a son of peace, our peace may
come upon him ; but from him who makes him-
self an enemy of peace, our peace shall return
to ourselves. We do not therefore, as you say,
propose peace by agreement with the wicked,
for indeed we should straightway have given you
the right hand ; but only in order that, through
our discussing quietly and patiently, it might be
more easily ascertained by the hearers which is
the true speech. But if you differ and disagree
with yourself, how shall you stand? He must
of necessity fall who is divided in himself; 'for
every kingdom divided against itself shall not
stand.' ' If you have aught to say to this, say
on."
CHAP. XXXII. — Simon's challenge.
Then said Simon : " I am astonished at your
folly. For you so propound the words of your
Master, as if it were held to be certain concern-
ing him that he is a prophet ; while I can very
easily prove that he often contradicted himself.
In short, I shall refute you from those words
which you have yourself brought forw^ard. For
you say, that he said that every kingdom or
every city divided in itself shall not stand ; and
elsewhere you say, that he said that he would
send a sword, that he might separate those who
are in one house, so that son shall be divided
from father, daughter from mother, brother from
brother ; so that if there be five in one house,
three shall be divided against two, and two
against three. ^ If, then, everything that is
divided falls, he who makes divisions furnishes
causes of falling ; and if he is such, assuredly he
is wicked. Answer this if you can."
CHAP. XXXIII. AUTHORITY.
Then Peter : " Do not rashly take exception,
O Simon, against the things which you do not
' Matt. xii. 25.
2 Luke xii. 51-53.
understand. In the first place, I shall answer
your assertion, that I set forth the words of my
Master, and from them resolve matters about
which there is still doubt. Our Lord, when He
sent us apostles to preach, enjoined us to teach
all nations ^ the things which were committed to
us. We cannot therefore speak those things as
they were spoken by Himself. For our commis-
sion is not to speak, but to teach those things,
and from them to show how every one of them
rests upon truth. Nor, again, are we permitted
to speak anything of our own. For we are sent ;
and of necessity he who is sent delivers the mes-
sage as he has been ordered, and sets forth the
will of the sender. For if I should speak any-
thing different from what He who sent me en-
joined me, I should be a false apostle, not saying
what I am commanded to say, but what seems
good to myself. Whoever does this, evidently
wishes to show himself to be better than he is
by whom he is sent, and without doubt is a traitor.
If, on the contrary, he keeps by the things that
he is commanded, and brings forward most clear
assertions of them, it will appear that he is ac-
complishing the work o£ an apostle ; and it is
by striving to fulfil this that I displease you.
Blame me not, therefore, because I bring forward
the words of Him who sent me. But if there
is aught in them that is not fairly spoken, you
have liberty to confute me ; but this can in no
wise be done, for He is a prophet, and cannot
be contrary to Himself. But if you do not think
that He is a prophet, let this be first inquired
into."
CHAP. XXXIV. ORDER OF PROOF.
Then said Simon : " I have no need to learn
this from you, but how these things agree with
one another. For if he shall be shown to be
inconsistent, he shall be proved at the same time
not to be a prophet." Then says Peter : " But
if I first show Him to be a prophet, it will follow
that what seems to be inconsistency is not such.
For no one can be proved to be a prophet merely
by consistency, because it is possible for many
to attain this ; but if consistency does not make
a prophet, much more inconsistency does not.
Because, therefore, there are many things which
to some seem inconsistent, which yet have con-
sistency in them on a more profound investiga-
tion ; as also other things which seem to have
consistency, but which, being more carefully dis-
cussed, are found to be inconsistent ; for this
reason I do not think there is any better way to
judge of these things than to ascertain in the
first instance whether He be a prophet who has
spoken those things which appear to be incon-
sistent. For it is evident that, if He be found a
3 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.
Chap. XXXVIIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
107
prophet, those things which seem to be contra-
dictory must have consistency, but are misunder-
stood. Concerning these things, therefore, proofs
will be properly demanded. For we apostles are
sent to expound the sayings and affirm the judg-
ments of Him who has sent us ; but we are not
commissioned to say anything of our own, but to
unfold the truth, as I have said, of His words."
CHAP. XXXV. HOW ERROR CANNOT STAND WITH
TRUTH.
Then Simon said : " Instruct us, therefore, how
it can be consistent that he who causes divisions,
which divisions cause those who are divided to
fall, can either seem to be good, or to have
come for the salvation of men." Then Peter
said : " I will tell you how our Master said that
every kingdom and every house divided against
itself cannot stand ; and whereas He Himself
did this, see how it makes for salvation. By the
word of truth He certainly divides the kingdom
of the world, which is founded in error, and
every house in it, that error may fall, and truth
may leign. But if it happen to any house, that
error, being introduced by any one, divides the
truth, then, where error has gained a footing, it
is certain that truth cannot stand." Then Simon
said : " But it is uncertain whether your master
divides error or truth." Then Peter : " That
belongs to another question ; but if you are
agreed that everything which is divided falls, it
remains that I show, if only you will hear in
peace, that our Jesus has divided and dispelled
error by teaching truth."
CHAP. XXXVI. ALTERCATION.
Then said Simon : " Do not repeat again and
again your talk of peace, but expound briefly
what it is that you think or believe." Peter an-
swered : " Why are you afraid of hearing fre-
quently of peace? or do you not know that
peace is the perfection of law? For wars and
disputes spring from sins ; and where there is
no sin, there is peace of soul ; but where there
is peace, truth is found in disputations, right-
eousness in works." Then Simon : "You seem
to me not to be able to profess what you think."
Then Peter : " I shall speak, but according to my
own judgment, not under constraint of your
tricks. For I desire that what is salutary and
profitable be brought to the knowledge of all;
and therefore I shall not delay to state it as brief-
ly as possible. There is one God ; and He is
the creator of the world, a righteous judge, ren-
dering to every one at some time or other ac-
cording to his deeds.' But now for the asser-
' [The discussion in the Homilies is represented as virtinlly be-
ginning with this st.itement of the Apostle: comp. Homily III. 37.
The arguments here, however, are given with greater detail. — R.j
tion of these things I know that countless thou-
sands of words can be called forth."
CHAP. XXXVII. — Simon's subtlety.
Then Simon said : " I admire, indeed, the
quickness of your wit, yet I do not embrace the
error of your faith. For you have wisely fore-
seen that you may be contradicted ; and you
have even politely confessed, that for the asser-
tion of these things countless thousands of words
will be called forth, for no one agrees with the
profession of your faith. In short, as to there
being one God, and the world being His work,
who can receive this doctrine? Neither, I think,
any one of the Pagans, even if he be an un-
learned man, and certainly no one of the phi-
losophers ; but not even the rudest and most
wretched of the Jews, nor I myself, who am well
acquainted with their law." Then Peter said :
" Put aside the opinions of those who are not
here, and tell us face to face what is your own."
Then Simon said : " I can state what I really
think ; but this consideration makes me reluc-
lant to do so, that if I say what is neither accep-
table to you, nor seems right to this unskilled
rabble, you indeed, as confounded, will straight-
way shut your ears, that they may not be pol-
luted with blasphemy, forsooth, and will take to
flight because you cannot find an answer ; while
the unreasoning populace will assent to you, and
embrace you as one teaching those things which
are commonly received among them ; and will
curse me, as professing things new and unheard
of, and instilling my error into the minds of
others."
CHAP, xxxviii. — Simon's creed.
Then Peter : " Are not you making use of long
preambles, as you accused us of doing, because
you have no truth to bring forward ? or if you
have, begin without circumlocution, if you have
so much confidence. And if, indeed, what you
say be displeasing to any one of the hearers, he
will withdraw ; and those who remain shall be
compelled by your assertion to approve what is
true. Begin, therefore, to expound what seemeth
to you to be right." Then Simon said : " I say
that there are many gods ; but that there is one
incomprehensible and unknown to all, and that
He is the God of all these gods." Then Peter
answered : " This God whom you assert to be
incomprehensible and unknown to all, can you
prove His existence from the Scriptures of the
Jews,^ which are held to be of authority, or
from some others of which we are all ignorant,
2 [In both the Rccpgnitious and the Homilies the contest turns
upon the monotheistic teaching of the Old Testament and the supreme
Deity of Jehovah. This is rightly regarded as an evidence of Ebi-
ouitic origin. But Gnostic elements enter again and again. — R.]
io8
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II.
or from the Greek authors, or from your own
writings ? Certainly you are at liberty to speak
from whatever writings you please, yet so that you
first show that they are prophetic ; for so their
authority will be held without question."
CHAP. XXXIX. — ARGUMENT FOR POLYTHEISM.
Then Simon said : " I shall make use of asser-
tions from the law of the Jews only. For it is
manifest to all who take interest in religion, that
this law is of universal authority, yet that every
one receives the understanding of this law ac-
cording to his own judgment. For it has so
been written by Him who created the world,
that the faith of things is made to depend upon
it. Whence, whether any one wishes to bring
forward truth, or any one to bring forward false-
hood, no assertion will be received without this
law. Inasmuch, therefore, as my knowledge is
most fully in accordance with the law, I rightly
declared that there are many gods, of whom
one is more eminent than the rest, and incom-
prehensible, even He who is God of gods. But
that there are many gods, the law itself informs
me. For, in the first place, it says this in the
passage where one in the figure of a serpent
speaks to Eve, the first woman, ' On the day ye
eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, ye shall be as gods,' ' that is, as those who
made man ; and after they have tasted of the
tree, God Himself testifies, saying to the rest
of the gods, ' Behold, Adam is become as one
of us ; ' ^ thus, therefore, it is manifest that there
were many gods engaged in the making of man.
Also, whereas at the first God said to the other
gods, ' Let us make man after our image and
likeness ; ' ^ also His saying, ' Let us drive him
out ; ' ^ and again, ' Come, let us go down, and
confound their language ; ' •* all these things indi-
cate that there are many gods. But this also
is written, ' Thou shalt not curse the gods, nor
curse the chief of thy people ; ' s and again this
writing, ' God alone led them, and there was no
strange god with them,' "^ shows that there are
many gods. There are also many other testi-
monies which might be adduced from the law,
not only obscure, but plain, by which it is taught
that there are many gods.? One of these was
chosen by lot, that he might be the god of the
Jews. But it is not of him that I speak, but of
that God who is also his God, whom even the
Jews themselves did not know. For he is not
their God, but the God of those who know him."
' Gen. iii. 5.
^ Gen. iii. 22.
3 Gen i. 26.
* Gen. xi. 7.
^ Exod. xxii. 28.
^ Deut. xxxii. 12.
7 [Compare Homily XVI. 6. — R.]
CHAP. XL.
-PETERS ANSWER.
When Peter had heard this, he answered :
" Fear nothing, Simon : for, behold, we have nei-
ther shut our ears, nor fled ; but we answer with
words of truth to those things which you have
spoken falsely, asserting this first, that there is
one God, even the God of the Jews, who is the
only God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who
is also the God of all those whom you call gods.
If, then, I shall show you that none is superior
to Him, but that He Himself is above all, you
will confess that your error is above all." ^ Then
Simon said : " ^Vhy, indeed, though I should be
unwilling to confess it, would not the hearers
who stand by charge me with unwillingness to
profess the things that are true? "
CHAP. XLI. THE ANSWER, CONTINUED,
" Listen, then," says Peter, " that you may
know, first of all, that ev^n if there are many
gods, as you say, they are subject to the God of
the Jews, to whom no one is equal, than whom
no one can be greater ; for it is written that the
prophet Moses thus spok^e to the Jews : ' The
Lord your God is the God of gods, and the Lord
of lords, the great God.' 9 Thus, although there
are many that are called gods, yet He who is the
God of the Tews is alone called the God of gods.
For not every one that is called God is neces-
sarily God. Indeed, even Moses is called a god
to Pharaoh, '° and it is certain that he was a man ;
and judges were called gods, and it is evident
that they were mortal. The idols also of the
Gentiles are called gods, and we all know that
they are not ; but this has been inflicted as a
punishment on the wicked, that because they
would not acknowledge the true God, they
should regard as God whatever form or image
should occur to them. Because they refused to
receive the knowledge of the One who, as I
said, is God of all, therefore it is permitted to
them to have as gods those who can do nothing
for their worshippers. For what can either dead
images or living creatures confer upon men,
since the power of all things is with One ?
CH.A.P. XLII. GUARDIAN ANGELS.
"Therefore the name Gad is applied in three
ways : " either because he to whom it is given is
truly God, or because he is the servant of him
who is truly ; and for the honour of the sender,
that his authority may be full, he that is sent is
^ [The reply of Peter here is of a higher character than that given
in the Hoinilies (see iii 40, etc.). Indeed, the report of the entire
discussion in the Recognitions shows a superior conception of the
Apostle. — R.]
9 Deut. X. 17.
10 Exod. vii. T.
" [This remarkable chapter is peculiar to the .^fr(7^«/V/£)«j. The
angelology seems to be Ebionitic, rather than Gnostic. — R.j
Chap. XLV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
109
called by the name of him who sends, as is
often done in respect of angels : for when they
appear to a man, if he is a wise and intelligent
man, he asks the name of him who appears to
him, that he may acknowledge at once the
honour of the sent, and the authority of the
sender. For every nation has an angel, to whom
God has committed the government of that
nation ; and when one of these appears, although
he be thought and called God by those over
whom he presides, yet, being asked, he does not
give such testimony to himself. For the Most
High God, who alone holds the power of all
things, has divided all the nations of the earth
into seventy-two parts, and over these He hath
appointed angels as princes. But to the one
among the archangels vvho is greatest, was com-
mitted the government of those who, before all
others, received the worship and knowledge of
the Most High God. But holy men also, as we
have said, are made gods to the wicked, as having
received the power of life and death over them,
as we mentioned above with respect to Moses
and the judges. Wherefore it is also written
concerning them, ' Thou shalt not curse the
gods, and thou shalt not curse the prince of thy
people.' ' Thus the princes of ^he several nations
are called gods. But Christ is God of princes,
who is Judge of all. Therefore neither angels,
nor men, nor any creature, can be truly gods,
forasmuch as they are placed under authority,
being created and changeable : angels, for they
were not, and are ; men, for they are mortal ;
and every creature, for it is capable of dissolu-
tion, if only He dissolve it who made it. And
therefore He alone is the true God, who not only
Himself lives, but also bestows life upon others,
which He can also take away when it pleaseth
Him.
CHAP. XLIII. — NO GOD BUT JEHOVAH.
"Wherefore the Scripture exclaims, in name
of the God of the Jews, saying, ' Behold, behold,
seeing that I am God, and there is none else
besides me, I. will kill, and I will make alive ;
I will smite, and I will heal ; and there is none
who can deliver out of my hands.' ^ See there-
fore how, by some ineffable virtue, the Scripture,
opposing the future errors of those who should
affirm that either in heaven or on earth there is
any other god besides Him who is the God of
the Jews, decides thus : * The Lord your God is
one God, in heaven above, and in the earth
beneath; and besides Him there is none else.'^
How, then, hast thou dared to say that there is
any other God besides Him who is the God of
the Jews? And again the Scripture says, ' Be-
' Exod. xxii 28.
^ Deut. xxxii. 39.
3 Deut. iv. 39.
hold, to the Lord thy God belong the heaven,
and the heaven of heavens, the earth, and all
things that are in them : nevertheless I have
chosen your fathers, that I might love them, and
you after them.' + Thus that judgment is sup-
ported by the Scripture on every side, that He
who created the world is the true and only
God.
CHAP. XLIV. — THE SERPENT, THE AUTHOR OF
POLYTHEISM.
" But even if there be others, as we have said,
who are called gods, they are under the power
of the God of the Jews ; for thus saith the
Scripture to the Jews, ' The Lord our God, He
is God of gods, and Lord of lords.' s Him
alone the Scripture also commands to be wor-
shipped, saying, ' Thou shalt worship the Lord
thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve ;'^
and, ' Hear, O Israel : the Lord thy God is one
God.' 7 Yea, also the saints, filled with the Spirit
of God, and bedewed with the drops of His
mercy, cried out, saying, ' Who is hke unto Thee
among the gods? O Lord, who is like unto
Thee?'^ And again, 'Who is God, but the
Lord ; and who is God, but our Lord ? ' 9 There-
fore Moses, when he saw that the people were
advancing, by degrees initiated them in the
understanding of the monarchy and the faith of
one God, as he says in the following words :
' Thou shalt not make mention of the names of
other gods ; ' '° doubtless remembering with what
penalty the serpent was visited, which had first
na.med gods.' ^ For it is condemned to feed upon
dust, and is judged worthy of such food, for this
cause, that it first of all introduced the name of
gods into the world. But if you also wi:h to
introduce many gods, see that you partake not
the serpent's doom.
CHAP. XLV. — POLYTHEISM INEXCUSABLE.
" For be sure of this, that you shall not have
us participators in this attempt ; nor will we suf-
fer ourselves to be deceived by you. For it
will not serve us for an excuse in the judgment,
if we say that you deceived us ; because neither
could it excuse the first woman, that she had
unhappily believed the serpent ; but she was
condemned to death, because she believed badly.
For this cause therefore, Moses, also commend-
ing the faith of one God to the people, says,
' Take heed to thyself, that thou be not seduced
from the Lord thy God.' '^ Observe that he
* Deut. x. 14, 15.
5 Deut. X. 17.
6 Deut. vi. 13, X. 20.
7 Deut. vi. 4.
8 Ps. Ixxxvi. 8, Ixxi. 19.
9 Ps. xviii. 31.
'° Josh, xxiii. 7, in Sept.
" Gen. iii. [The same thought occurs in Homily X. 10, 11. — R.]
12 Deut. viii. 11.
no
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II.
makes use of the same word which the first
woman also made use of in excusing herself,
saying that she was seduced ; but it profited her
nothing. But over and above all this, even if
some true prophet should arise, who should per-
form signs and miracles, but should wish to
persuade us to worship other gods besides the
God of the Jews, we should never be able to
believe him. For so the divine law has taught
us, handing down a secret injunction more purely
by means of tradition, for thus it saith : ' If there
arise among you a prophet, or one dreaming a
dream, and give you signs or wonders, and these
signs or wonders come to pass, and he say to
you. Let us go and worship strange gods, whom
ye know not ; ye shall not hear the words of that
prophet, nor the dream of that dreamer, because
proving he hath proved you, that he may see if
ye love the Lord your God.' '
CHAP. XLVI. — CHRIST ACKNOWLEDGED THE GOD
OF THE JEWS.
" Wherefore also our Lord, who wrought signs
and wonders, preached the God of the Jews ;
and therefore we are right in believing what He
preached. But as for you, even if you were
really a prophet, and performed signs and won-
ders, as you promise to do, if you were to an-
nounce other gods besides Him who is the true
God, it would be manifest that you were raised
up as a trial to the people of God ; and there-
fore you can by no means be believed. For He
alone is the true God, who is the God of the
Jews ; and for this reason our Lord Jesus Christ
did not teach them that they must inquire after
God, for Him they knew well already, but that
they must seek His kingdom and righteousness,^
which the scribes and Pharisees, having received
the key of knowledge, had not shut in, but shut
out.3 For if they had been ignorant of the true
God, surely He would never have left the knowl-
edge of this thing, which was the chief of all,
and blamed them for small and little things, as
for enlarging their fringes, and claiming the up-
permost rooms in . feasts, and praying standing
in the highways, and such like things ; which
assuredly, in comparison of this great charge,
ignorance of God, seem to be small and insig-
nificant matters."
CHAP. XLvii. — Simon's cavil.
To this Simon replied : * " From the words of
your master I shall refute you, because even he
introduces to all men a certain God who was un-
known. For although both Adam knew the God
' Deut. xiii. 1-3.
* Matt. vi. 33.
3 Luke xi. 52.
•♦ [Compare Homily XVII. 4. — R.]
who was his creator, and the maker of the world ;
and Enoch knew him, inasmuch as he was trans-
lated by him ; and Noah, since he was ordered
by him to construct the ark ; and although
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and INIoses,
and all, even every people and all nations,
know the maker of the world, and confess him
to be a God, yet your Jesus, who appeared long
after the patriarchs, says : ' No one knows the
Son, but the Father ; neither knoweth any one
the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the
Son has been pleased to reveal Him.' 5 Thus,
therefore, even your Jesus confesses that there
is another God, incomprehensible and unknown
to all.
CHAP. XLviii. — Peter's answer.
Then Peter says : " You do not perceive that
you are making statements in opposition to your-
self. For if our Jesus also knows Him whom ye
call the unknown God. then He is not known by
you alone. Yea, if our Jesus knows Him, then
Moses also, who prophesied that Jesus should
come, assuredly could not himself be ignorant
of Him. For he was a "prophet; and he who
prophesied of the Son doubtless knew the Father.
For if it is in the option of the Son to reveal the
Father to whom He will, then the Son, who has
been with the Father from the beginning, and
through all generations, as He revealed the
Father to Moses, so also to the other proph-
ets ; but if this be so, it is evident that the
Father has not been unknown to any of them.
But how could the Father be revealed to you,
who do not believe in the Son, since the Father
is known to none except him to whom the Son
is pleased to reveal Him ? But the Son reveals
the Father to those who honour the Son as they
honour the Father." "^
CHAP. XLIX.
■THE supreme light.
Then Simon said : " Remember that you said
that God has a son, which is doing Him wrong ;
for how can He have a son, unless He is subject
to passions, like men or animals ? But on these
points there is not time now to show your pro-
found folly, for I hasten to make a statement
concerning the immensity of the supreme light ;
and so now listen. My opinion is, that there is
a certain power of immense and ineffable light,
whose greatness may be held to be incompre-
hensible, of which power even the maker of the
world is ignorant, and Moses the lawgiver, and
Jesus your master." ^
s IMatt. xi. 27. [Comp. Luke x. 22. This objection is given in
Homilies XVII. 4, XVIIl. 4. — R.]
^ John V. 23.
7 [This chapter presents the topic which is made the main point
in a subsequent discussion with Simon; see Homily XVIII. — R.J
Chap. LIII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
Ill
CHAP. L. SIMONS PRESUMPTION.
Then Peter : ' " Does it not seem to you to
be madness, that any one should take upon him-
self to assert that there is another God than the
God of all ; and should say that he supposes
there is a certain power, and should presume to
affirm this to others, before he himself is sure
of what he says? Is any one so rash as to
believe your words, of which he sees that you
are yourself doubtful, and to admit that there is
a certain power unknown to God the Creator,
and to Moses, and the prophets, and the law,
and even to Jesus our Master, which power is so
good, that it will not make itself known to any
but to one only, and that one such an one as
thou ! Then, further, if that is a new power,
why does it not confer upon us some new sense,
in addition to those five which we possess, that
by that new sense, bestowed upon us by it, we
may be able to receive and understand itself,
which is new? Or if it cannot bestow such a
sense upon us, how has it bestowed it upon you?
Or if it has revealed itself to you, why not also
to us? But if you of yourself understand things
which not even the prophets were able to per-
ceive or understand, come, tell us what each one
of us is thinking now ; for if there is such a
spirit in you that you know those things which
are above the heavens, which are unknown to
all, and incomprehensible by all, much more
easily do you know the thoughts of men upon
the earth. But if you cannot know the thoughts
of us who are standing here, how can you say
that you know those things which, you assert,
are known to none ?
CHAP. LI. — THE SIXTH SENSE.
" But believe me, that you could never know
what light is unless you had received both vision
and understanding from light itself; so also in
other things. Hence, having received under-
standing, you are framing in imagination some-
thing greater and more sublime, as if dreaming,
but deriving all your hints from those five senses,
to wiiose Giver you are unthankful. But be
sure of this, that until you find some new sense
which is beyond those five which we all enjoy,
you cannot assert the existence of a new God."
Then Simon answered : " Since all things that
exist are in accordance with those five senses,
that power which is more excellent than all can-
not add anything new." Then Peter said : " It
is false ; for there is also a sixth sense, namely
that of foreknowledge : for those five senses are
capable of knowledge, but the sixth is that of
foreknowledge ; and this the prophets possessed.
How, then, can you know a God who is unknown
• [With chaps. 50, 51, comp. Homily XVII. 13, etc. — R.]
to all, who do not know the prophetic sense,
which is that of prescience?" Then Simon
began to say : " This power of which I speak,
incomprehensible and more excellent than all,
ay, even than that God who made the world,
neither any of the angels has known, nor of the
demons, nor of the Jews, nay, nor any creature
which subsists by means of God the creator.
How, then, could that creator's law teach me
that which the creator himself did not know,
since neither did the law itself know it, that
it might teach it?"
CHAP. LII. REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM,
Then Peter said : " I wonder how you have
been able to learn more from the law than the
law was able to know or to teach ; and how you
say that you adduce proofs from the law of those
things which you are pleased to assert, when you
declare that neither the law, nor He who gave
the law — that is, the Creator of the world —
knows those things of which you speak ! But
this also I wonder at, how you, who alone know
these things, should be standing here now with
us all, circumscribed by the limits of this small
court." Then Simon, seeing Peter and all the
people laughing, said : " Do you laugh, Peter,
while so great and lofty matters are under dis-
cussion?" Then said Peter: "Be not enraged,
Simon, for we are doing no more than keeping
our promise : for we are neither shutting our
ears, as you said, nor did we take to flight as
soon as we heard you propound your unutterable
things ; but we have not even stirred from the
place. For indeed you do not even propound
things that have any resemblance to truth, which
might to a certain extent frighten us. Yet, at
all events, disclose to us the meaning of this
saying, how from the law you have learned of a
God whom the law itself does not know, and of
whom He who gave the law is ignorant." Then
Simon said : " If you have done laughing, I
shall prove it by clear assertions." Then Peter
said : " Assuredly I shall give over, that I may
learn from you how you have learned from the
law what neither the law nor the God of the law
Himself knows."
CHAP. LIII. — Simon's blasphemy.
Then says Simon : " Listen : it is manifest to
all, and ascertained in a manner of which no
account can be given,^ that there is one God,
who is better than all, from whom all that is took
its beginning ; whence also of necessity all things
that are after him are subject to him, as the chief
2 We render by a periphrasis the expression ineffabili ijnadam
ratione coinpertuin. The meaning seems to be, that the belief of
the existence and unity of God is not the result of reasoning, but
of intuition or instinct.
112
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II.
and most excellent of all. When, therefore, I
had ascertained that the God who created the
world, according to what the law teaches, is in
many respects weak, whereas weakness is utterly
incompatible with a perfect God, and I saw that
he is not perfect, I necessarily concluded that
there is another God who is perfect.' For this
God, as I have said, according to what the
writing of the law teaches, is shown to be weak
in many things. In the first place, because the
man whom he formed was not able to remain
such as he had intended him to be ; and because
he cannot be good who gave a law to the first
man, that he should eat of all the trees of para-
dise, but that he should not touch the tree of
knowledge ; and if he .should eat of it, he
should die. For why should he forbid him to
eat, and to know what is good and what evil,
that, knowing, he might shun the evil and choose
the good? But this he did not permit; and
because he did eat in violation of the command-
ment, and discovered what is good, and learned
for the sake of honour to cover his nakedness
(for he perceived it to be unseemly to stand
naked before his Creator), he condemns to:
death him who had learned to do honour to God, \
and curses the serpent who had shown him these
things. But truly, if man was to be injured by
this means, why did he place the cause of injury I
in paradise at all ? But if that which he placed
in paradise was good, it is not the part of one |
that is good to restrain another from good. j
i
CHAP. LIV. — HOW SIMON LEARNED FROM THE LAW '.
WHAT THE LAW DOES NOT TEACH.
" Thus, then, since he who made man and
the world is, according to what the law relates,
imperfect, we are given to understand, without
doubt, that there is another who is perfect.
For it is of necessity that there be one most
excellent of all, on whose account also every
creature keeps its rank. Whence also I, know-
ing that it is every way necessary that there be
some one more benignant and more powerful
than that imperfect God who gave the law,
understanding what is perfect from comparison
of the imperfect, understood even from the
Scripture that God who is not mentioned there.
And in this way I was able, O Peter, to learn
from the law what the law did not know. But
even if the law had not given indications from
which it might be gathered that the God who
made the world is imperfect, it was still possible
for me to infer from those evils which are done
in this world, and are not corrected, either that
its creator is powerless, if he cannot correct
I [The argument of Simon here differs from that represented in
Homilies XVH., XVIIL There Simon asserts that the Framerof the
world is not the highest God, because He is not both just and good.
Comp. also book iii. 37, 38. — R. j
what is done amiss ; or else, if he does not wish
to remove the evils, that he is himself evil ; but
if he neither can nor will, that he is neither
powerful nor good. And from this it cannot
but be concluded that there is another God more
excellent and more powerful than all. If you
have aught to say to this, say on."
CHAP. LV. — SIMON'S OBJECTIONS TURNED AGAINST
HIMSELF.
Peter answered : " O Simon, they are wont to
conceive such absurdities against God who do
not read the law with the instruction of masters,
but account themselves teachers, and think that
they can understand the law, though he has not
explained it to them who has learned of the
Master.^ Nevertheless now, that we also may
seem to follow the book of the law according to
your apprehension of it ; inasmuch as you say
that the creator of the world is shown to be
both impotent and evil, how is it that you do
not see that that power of yours, which you say
is superior to all, falls and lies under the very
same charges? For the verj' same thing may be
said of it, that it is either powerless, since it does
not correct those things which here are done
amiss ; or if it can and will not, it is evil ; or if
it neither can nor will, then it is both impotent
and imperfect. Whence that new power of
yours is not only found liable to a similar charge,
but even to a worse one, if, in addition to all
these things, it is believed to be, when it is not.
For He who created the world. His existence is
manifest by His very operation in creating the
world, as you yourself also confess. But this
I power which you say that you alone know,
I affords no indication of itself, by which we
might perceive, at least, that it is, and subsists.
CHAP. L\T. — NO GOD ABOVE THE CREATOR.
" What kind of conduct, then, would it be that
we should forsake God, in whose world we live
and enjoy all things necessary for life, and follow
I know not whom, from whom we not only ob-
tain no good, but cannot even know that he ex-
ists? Nor truly does he exist. For whether you
call him light, and brighter than that light which
we see, you borrow that very name from the
Creator of the world ; or whether you say that
he is a substance above all, you derive from Him
the idea with enlargement of speech. ^ Whether
you make mention of mind, or goodness, or life,
or whatever else, you borrow the words from
Him. Since, then, you have nothing new con-
2 [The attitude of the Apostle Peter toward the Old Testament is
differently represented in the Homilies, where false views are admitted
to exist in the Scriptures. Comp. Homilies II. 38, 40, 41, 51, III.
4, 5, etc. — R.]
3 That is, you take the idea of substance from the God of the Jews,
and only enlarge it by the addition of the words above all.
Chap. LIX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
113
cerning that power you speak of, not only as
regards understanding, but even in respect of
naming him, how do you introduce a new God,
for whom you cannot even find a new name ?
For not only is the Creator of the world called
a Power, but even the ministers of His glory,
and all the heavenly host. Do you not then
think it better that we should follow our Creator
God, as a Father who trains us and endows us
as He knows how? But if, as you say, there be
some God more benignant than all, it is certain
that he will not be angry with us ; or if he be
angry, he is evil. For if our God is angry and
punishes. He is not evil, but righteous, for He
corrects and amends His own sons. But he
who has no concern with us, if he shall punish
us, how should he be good? Inflicting punish-
ments upon us because we have not been drawn
by vain imaginations to forsake our own Father
and follow him, how can you assert that he is so
good, when he cannot be regarded as even just?"
CHAP. Lvir. — Simon's inconsistency.
Then Simon : " Do you so far err, Peter, as
not to know that our souls were made by that
good God, the most excellent of all, but they
have been brought down as captives into tliis
world? " To this Peter answered : " Then he is
not unknown by all, as you said a little while
ago ; and yet how did the good God permit his
souls to be taken captive, if he be a power over
all?" Then Simon said: "He sent God the
creator to make the world ; and he, when he had
made it, gave out that himself was God." Then
Peter said : " Then he is not, as you said, un-
known to Him who made the world ; nor are
souls ignorant of him, if indeed they were stolen
away from him. To whom, then, can he be un-
known, if both the Creator of the world know
him, as having been sent by him ; and all souls
know him, as having been violently withdrawn
from him? Then, further, I wish you would tell
us whether he who sent the creator of the world
did not know that he would not keep faith ? For
if he did not know it, then he was not prescient ;
while if he foreknew it, and suffered it, he is
himself guilty of this deed, since he did not pre-
vent it ; but if he could not, then he is not om-
nipotent. But if, knowing it as good, he did not
prohibit it, he is found to be better, who pre-
sumed to do that which he who sent him did not
know to be good."
CHAP. Lviii. — Simon's god unjust.
Then Simon said : " He receives those who
will come to him, and does them good." Peter
answered : " But there is nothing new in this ;
for He whom you acknowledge to be the Crea-
tor of the world also does so." Then Simon :
" But the good God bestows salvation if he is
only acknowledged ; but the creator of the world
demands also that the law be fulfilled." Then
said Peter : " He saves adulterers and men-slay-
ers, if they know him : but good, and sober, and
merciful persons, if they do not know him, in
consequence of their having no information con-
cerning him, he does not save ! Great and good
truly is he whom you proclaim, who is not so
much the saviour of the evil, as he is one who
shows no mercy to the good." Then Simon :
" It is truly very difficult for man to know him,
as long as he is in the flesh ; for blacker than all
darkness, and heavier than all clay, is this body
with which the soul is surrounded." Then says
Peter : " That good God of yours demands
things which are difficult ; but He who is truly
God seeks easier things. Let him then, since he
is so good, leave us with our Father and Creator ;
and when once we depart from the body, and
leave that darkness that you speak of, we shall
more easily know Him ; and then the soul shall
better understand that God is its Creator, and
shall remain with Him, and shall no more be
harassed with diverse imaginations ; nor shall
wish to betake itself to another power, which is
known to none but Simon only, and which is of
such goodness that no one can come to it, un-
less he be first guilty of impiety towards his own
father ! I know not how this power can be
called either good or just, which no one can
please except by acting impiously towards him
by whom he was made ! "
CHAP. LIX. THE CREATOR OUR FATHER.
Then Simon : " It is not impious for the sake
of greater profit and advantage to flee to him who
is of richer glory." Then Peter : " If, as you say,
it is not impious to flee to a stranger, it is at all
events much more pious to remain with our own
father, even if he be poor. But if you do not think
it impious to leave our father, and flee to another,
as being better than he ; and you do not believe
that our Creator will take this amiss ; much more
the good God will not be angry, because, when
we were strangers to him, we have not fled to him,
but have remained with our own Creator. Yea, I
think he will rather commend us the more for this,
that we have kept faith with God our Creator ; for
he will consider that, if we had been his creatures,
we should never have been seduced by the allure-
ments of any other to forsake him. For if any
one, allured by richer promises, shall leave his
own father and betake himself to a stranger, it
may be that he will leave him in his turn, and go
to another who shall promise him greater things,
and this the rather because he is not his son, since
he could leave even him who by nature was his
father." Then Simon said : " But what if souls
114
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II.
are from him, and do not know him, and he is
truly their father?"
CHAP. LX. THE CREATOR THE SUPREME GOD.
Then Peter said : " You represent him as weak
enough. For if, as you say, he is more powerful
than all, it can never be believed the weaker
wrenched the spoils from the stronger.' Or if
God the Creator was able by violence to bring
down souls into this world, how can it be that,
when they are separated from the body and freed
from the bonds of captivity, the good God shall
call them to the sufferance of punishment, on the
ground that they, either through his remissness
or weakness, were dragged away to this place, and
were involved in the body, as in the darkness of
ignorance ? You seem to me not to know what a
father and a God is : but I could tell you both
whence souls are, and when and how they were
made ; but it is not permitted to me now to dis-
close these things to you, who are in such error in
respect of the knowledge of God." Then said
Simon : "A time will come when you shall be
sorry that you did not understand me speaking of
the ineffable power." Then said Peter : " Give us
then, as I have often said, as being yourself a
new God, or as having yourself come down from
him, some new sense, by means of which we
may know that new God of whom you speak ;
for those five senses, which God our Creator has
given us, keep faith to their own Creator, and do
not perceive that there is any other God, for so
their nature necessitates them."
CHAP. LXI.
IMAGIXATION.
To this Simon answered : " Apply your mind
to those things which I am going to say, and
cause it, walking in peaceable paths, to attain to
those things which I shall demonstrate. Listen
now, therefore. Did you never in thought reach
forth your mind into regions or islands situated
far away, and remain so fixed in them, that you
could not even see the people that were before
you, or know where yourself were sitting, by
reason of the delightfulness of those things on
which you were gazing? " And Peter said : "It
is true, Simon, this has often occurred to me."
Then Simon said : " In this way now reach forth
your sense into heaven, yea above the heaven,
and behold that there must be some place be-
yond the world, or outside the world, in which
there is neither heaven nor earth, and where no
shadow of these things produces darkness ; and
consequently, since there are neither bodies in
it, nor darkness occasioned by bodies, there must
of necessity be immense light ; and consider of
what sort that light must be, which is never suc-
ceeded by darkness. For if the light of this sun
' Luke xi. 22.
fills this whole world, how great do you suppose
that bodiless and infinite light to be ? So great,
doubtless, that this light of the sun would seem
to be darkness and not light, in comparison."
CHAP. LXII. PETER'S EXPERIENCE OF IMAGINA-
TION.
^Vhen Simon thus spoke, Peter answered : ^
" Now listen patiently concerning both these
matters, that is, concerning the example of
stretching out the senses, and concerning the
immensity of light. I know that I myself, O
Simon, have sometimes in thought extended my
sense, as you say, into regions and islands situ-
ated afar off, and have seen them with my mind
not less than if it had been with my eyes. When
I was at Capernaum, occupied in the taking of
fishes, and sat upon a rock, holding in my hand
a hook attached to a line, and fitted for deceiv-
ing the fishes, / was so absorbed that I did not
feel a fish adhering to it while my mind eagerly
ran through my beloved Jerusalem, to which I
had frequently gone up, waking, for the sake of
offerings and prayers. But I was accustomed
also to admire this CseSarea, hearing of it from
others, and to long to see it ; and I seemed to
myself to see it, although I had never been in
it ; and I thought of it what was suitable to be
thought of a great city, its gates, walls, baths,
streets, lanes, markets, and the like, in accord-
ance with what I had seen in other cities ; and
to such an extent was I delighted with the in-
tentness of such inspection, that, as you said, I
neither saw one who was present and standing
by me, nor knew where myself was sitting."
Then said Simon : " Now you say well."
CHAP. LXIII. PETER'S REVERIE.
Then Peter : " In short, when I did not per-
ceive, through the occupation of my mind, that
I had caught a very large fish which was attached
to the hook, and that although it was dragging
the hook-line from my hand, my brother Andrew,
who was sitting by me, seeing me in a reverie
and almost ready to fall, thrusting his elbow into
my side as if he would awaken me from sleep,
said : ' Do you not see, Peter, what a large fish
you have caught? Are you out of your senses,
that you are thus in a stupor of astonishment?
Tell me. What is the matter with you ? ' But I
was angry with him for a little, because he had
withdrawn me from the delight of those things
which I was contemplating ; then I answered
that I was not suffering from any malady, but
that I was mentally gazing on the beloved Jeru-
salem, and at the same time on Csesarea ; and
2 [This story (chaps. 62-65) 's peculiar to the Recognitions. In
Homily XV'II. 14-19 there is an argument against the trustworthiness
of supernatural visions, which is supposed 10 be anti-Pauline in its
aim. — R.j
Chap. LXVII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
115
that, while I was indeed with him in the body,
in my mind I was wholly carried away thither.
But he, I know not whence inspired, uttered a
hidden and secret word of truth.
CHAP. Lxiv. — Andrew's rebuke.
" ' Give over,' says he, ' O Peter. What is it
that you are doing? For those who are begin-
ning to be possessed with a demon, or to be dis-
turbed in their minds, begin in this way. They
are first carried away by fancies to some pleasant
and delightful things, then they are poured out
in vain and fond motions towards things which
have no existence. Now this happens from a
certain disease of mind, by reason of which they
see not the things which are, but long to bring
to their sight those which are not. But thus it
happens also to those who are suffering phrenzy,
and seem to themselves to see many images, be-
cause their soul, being torn and withdrawn from
its place by excess of cold or of heat, suffers a
failure of its natural service. But those also who
are in distress through thirst, when they fall
asleep, seem to themselves to see rivers and
fountains, and to drink ; but this befalls them
through being distressed by the dryness of the
unmoistened body. Wherefore it is certain that
this occurs through some ailment either of the
soul or body.'
CHAP. LXV.
FALLACY OF BL'^GINATION.
" In short, that you may receive the faith of
the matter ; concerning Jerusalem, which I had
often seen, I told my brother what places and
what gatherings of people I had seemed to my-
self to see. But also concerning Csesarea, which
I had never seen, I nevertheless contended that
it was such as I had conceived it in my mind
and thought. But when I came hither, and saw
nothing at all like to those things which I had
seen in phantasy, I blamed myself, and observed
distinctly, that I had assigned to it gates, and
walls, and buildings from others which I had
seen, taking the likeness in reality from others.
Nor indeed can any one imagine anything new,
and of which no form has ever existed. For
even if any one should fashion from his iraagma-
tion bulls with five heads, he only forms them
with five heads out of those which he has seen
with one head. And you therefore, now, if
truly you seem to yourself to perceive anything
with your thought, and to look above the heav-
ens, there is no doubt but that you imagine them
from those things which you see, placed as you
are upon the earth. But if you think that there
is easy access for your mind above the heavens,
and that you are able to conceive the things that
are there, and to apprehend knowledge of that
immense light, I think that for him who can
comprehend these things, it were easier to throw
his sense, which knows how to ascend thither,
into the heart and breast of some one of us who
stand by, and to tell what thoughts he is cherish-
ing in his breast. If therefore you can declare
the thoughts of the heart of any one of us, who
is not pre-engaged in your favour, we shall per-
haps be able to believe you, that you are able to
know those things that are above the heavens,
although these are much loftier."
CHAP. LXVL — EXISTENCE AND CONCEPTION.
To this Simon replied : ' " O thou Avho hast
woven a web of many frivolities, listen now. It
is impossible that anything which comes into a
man's thoughts should not also subsist in truth
and reality. For things that do not subsist, have
no appearances ; ^ but things that have no ap-
pearances, cannot present themselves to our
thoughts." Then said Peter : " If everything
that can come into our thoughts has a subsist-
ence, then, with respect to that place of immen-
sity which you say is outside the world, if one
thinks in his heart that it is light, and another
that it is darkness, how can one and the same
place be both light and darkness, according to
their different thoughts concerning it?" Then
said Simon : " Let pass for the present what I
have said ; and tell us what you suppose to be
above the heavens."
CHAP. LXVII. — THE LAW TEACHES OF IMMENSITY.
Then said Peter : " If you believed concerning
the true fountain of light, I could instruct you
what and of what sort is that which is immense,
and should render, not a vain fancy, but a con-
sistent and necessary account of the truth, and
should make use, not of sophistical assertions,
but testimonies of the law and nature, that you
might know that the law especially contains what
we ought to believe in regard to immensity. But
if the doctrine of immensity is not unknown to
the law, then assuredly nought else can be un-
known to it ; and therefore it is a false supposition
of yours, that there is anything of which the law
is not cognisant. Much more shall nothing be
unknown to Him who gave the law. Yet I can-
not speak anything to you of immensity and of
those things which are without limit, unless first
you either accept our account of those heavens
which are bounded by a certain limit, or else
propound your own account of them. But if you
cannot understand concerning those which are
comprehended within fixed boundaries, much
more can you neither know nor learn anything
concerning those which are without limit."
' [The remaining chapters of this book have no exact parallel in
the Homilies. — R.J
^ That is, have no visible or sensible species, according to the
Platonic theory of perception.
ii6
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book II,
CHAP. LXVIII.
■THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE
HEAVEN.
To this Simon answered : " It seems to me to
be better to believe simply that God is, and that
that heaven which we see is the only heaven in
the .whole universe." But Peter said : " Not so ;
but it is proper to confess one God who truly is ;
but that there are heavens, which were made by
Him, as also the law says, of which one is the
higher, in which also is contained the visible
firmament ; and that that higher heaven is per-
petual and eternal, with those who dwell in it ;
but that this visible heaven is to be dissolved and
to pass away at the end of the world, in order
that that heaven which is. older and higher may
appear after the judgment to the holy and the
worthy." To this Simon answered : " That these
things are so, as you say, may appear to those
who believe them ; but to him who seeks for
reasons of these things, it is impossible that they
can be produced from the law, and especially
concerning the immensity of light."
CHAP. LXIX. FAITH AND REASON.
Then Peter : " Do not think that we say that
these things are only to be received by faith, but
also that they are to be asserted by reason. For
indeed it is not safe to commit these things to
bare faith without reason, since assuredly truth
cannot be without reason. And therefore he
who has received these things fortified by reason,
can never lose them ; whereas he who receives
them without proofs, by an assent to a simple
statement of them, can neither keep them safely,
nor is certain if they are true ; because he who
easily believes, also easily yields. But he who
has sought reason for those things which he has
beheved and received, as though bound by
chains of reason itself, can never be torn away
or separated from those things which he hath
believed. And therefore, according as any one
is more anxious in demanding a re&.son, by so
much will he be the firmer in preserving his
faith."
CHAP. LXX. ADJOURNMENT.
To this Simon replied : " It is a great thing
which you promise, that the eternity of bound-
less light can be shown from the law." And
when Peter said, " I shall show it whenever you
please," Simon answered : " Since now it is a
late hour, I shall stand by you and oppose you
to-morrow; and if you can prove that this world
was created, and that souls are immortal, you
shall have me to assist you in your preaching."
When he had said thus, he departed, and was
followed by a third part of all the people who
had come with him, who were about one thou-
sand men. But the rest with bended knees
prostrated themselves before Peter ; and he, in-
voking upon them the name of God, cured some
who had demons, healed others who were sick,
and so dismissed the people rejoicing, command-
ing them to come early the next day. But
Peter, when the crowds had Vvithdrawn, com-
manded the table to be spread on the ground,
in the open air, in the court where the disputa-
tion had been held, and sat down together with
those eleven ; but I dined reclining with some
others who also had made a beginning of hearing
the word of God, and were greatly beloved.
CHAP. LXXI. — SEPARATION FROM THE UNCLEAN.
But Peter, most benignantly regarding me,
lest haply that separation might cause me sorrow,
says to me : " It is not from pride, O Clement,
that I do not eat with those who have not yet
been purified ; but I fear lest perhaps I should
injure myself, and do no good to them.' For
this I would have yoil know for certain, that
every one who has at any time worshipped idols,
and has adored those whom the pagans call gods,
or has eaten of the things sacrificed to them, is
not without an unclean spirit ; for he has become
a guest of demons, and has been partaker with
that demon of which he has formed the image
in his mind, either through fear or iove.^ And
by these means he is not free from an unclean
spirit, and therefore needs the purification of
baptism, that the unclean spirit may go out of
him, which has made its abode in the inmost
affections of his soul, and what is worse, gives
no indication that it lurks within, for fear it
should be exposed and expelled.
CHAP. LXXII. THE REMEDY.
" For these unclean spirits love to dwell in the
bodies of men, that they may fulfil their own
desires by their service, and, inclining the mo-
tions of their souls to those things which they
themselves desire, may compel them to obey their
own lusts, that they may become wholly vessels
of demons. 3 One of whom is this Simon, who
is seized with such disease, and cannot now be
healed, because he is sick in his will and pur-
pose. Nor does the demon dwell in him against
his will ; and therefore, if any one would drive
it out of him, since it is inseparable from him-
self, and, so to speak, has now become his very
soul, he should seem rather to kill him, and to
incur the guilt of manslaughter. Let no one of
you therefore be saddened at being separated
from eating with us, for every one ought to ob-
serve that it is for just so long a time as he
' [Comp. book i. 19, vii. 29; Homilies I. 22, XIII. 4. — R.]
2 I Cor X. 20.
3 [On the demonology of this work see book iv. 15-19; corap.
Homily IX. 8-22. — R. j
Chap. XIIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
117
pleases. For he who wishes soon to be baptized
is separated but for a Httle time, but he for a
longer who wishes to be baptized later. Every
one therefore has it in his own power to demand
a shorter or a longer time for his repentance ;
and therefore it lies with you, when you wish it,
to come to our table ; and not with us, who are
not permitted to take food with any one who has
not been baptized. It is rather you, therefore,
who hinder us from eating with you, if you in-
terpose delays in the way of your purification,
and defer your baptism." Having said thus,
and having blessed, he took food. And after-
wards, when he had given thanks to God, he
went into the house and went to bed ; and we
all did the like, for it was now night.
BOOK III.
CHAP. 1.
PEARLS BEFORE S\VINE.
Meantime Peter, rising at the crowing of the
cock, and wishing to rouse us, found us awake,
the evening light still burning ; and when, ac-
cording to custom, he had saluted us, and we
had all sat down, he thus began. " Nothing is
more difficult, my brethren, than to reason con-
cerning the truth in the presence of a mixed
multitude of people. For that which is may
not be spoken to all as it is, on account of those
who hear wickedly and treacherously ; yet it is
not proper to deceive, on account of those who
desire to hear the truth sincerely. What, then,
shall he do who has to address a mixed multi-
tude? Shall he conceal what is true? How,
then, shall he instruct those who are worthy?
But if he set forth pure truth to those who do
not desire to obtain salvation, he does injury to
Him by whom he has been sent, and from whom
he has received commandment not to throw
the pearls of His words before swine and dogs,^
who, striving against them with arguments and
sophisms, roll them in the mud of carnal under-
standing, and by their barkings and base answers
break and weary the preachers of God's word.
Wherefore I also, for the most part, by using
a certain circumlocution, endeavour to avoid
publishing the chief knowledge concerning the
Supreme Divinity to unworthy ears." Then,
beginning from the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, he briefly and plainly expounded to
us, so that all of us hearing him wondered that
men have forsaken the truth, and have turned
themselves to vanity.
CHAP. XII.3 — SECOND DAY'S DISCUSSION.
But when the day had dawned, some one came
in and said : " There is a very great multitude
' [The larger part of book iii. has no direct parallel in the Homi-
lies, tnough, of course, many of the views presented are given in the
latter under different circumstances. — R.]
2 Matt. vii. 6.
3 Chaps, ii.-xii. are wanting in the Mss. of best authority; and it
seems to us indisputable that they form no part of the original work.
For this reason, and because we have found them utterly untrans-
latable, we have omitted them.
waiting in the court, and in the midst of them
stands Simon, endeavouring to preoccupy the
ears of the people with most wicked persuasions."
Then Peter, immediately going out, stood in the
place where he had disputed the day before, and
all the people turning to him with joy, gave heed
to him. But when Simon perceived that the
people rejoiced at the sight of Peter, and were
moved to love him, he said in confusion : " I
wonder at the folly of men, who call me a magi-
cian, and love Peter ; whereas, having knowledge
of me of old, they ought to love me rather.
And therefore from this sign those who have
sense may understand that Peter may rather seem
to be the magician, since affection is not borne
to me, to whom it is almost due from acquaint-
ance, but is abundantly expended upon him, to
whom it is not due by any famiharity." +
CH.AP. XIII. SIMON A SEDUCER.
While Simon was talking on in this style, Peter,
having saluted the people in his usual way, thus
answered : " O Simon, his own conscience is
sufficient for every one to confute him ; but if
you wonder at this, that those who are acquainted
with you not only do not love you but even hate
you, learn the reason from me. Since you are
a seducer, you profess to proclaim the truth ;
and on this account you had many friends who
had a desire to learn the truth. But when they
saw in you things contrary to what you professed,
they being, as I said, lovers of truth, began not
only not to love you, but even to hate you. But
yet they did not immediately forsake you, be-
cause you still promised that you could show them
what is true. As long, therefore, as no one was
present who could show them, they bore with
you ; but since the hope of better instruction
has dawned upon them, they despise you, and
seek to know what they understand to be better.
And you indeed, acting by nefarious arts, thought
at first that you should escape detection. But
< [Comp Homily XVII. 2 for a similar accusation made by
Simon. — R.J
ii8
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book III.
you are detected. For you are driven into a
corner, and, contrary to your expectation, you
are made notorious, not only as being ignorant
of the truth, but as being unwilHng to hear it
from those who know it. For if you had been
willing to hear, that saying would have been ex-
emplified in you, of Him who said that ' there is
nothing hidden which shall not be known, nor
covered which shall not be disclosed.' " '
chap. xiv. simon claims the fulfilment of
Peter's promise.
While Peter spoke these words, and others to
the same effect, Simon answered : " I will not
have you detain me with long speeches, Peter ;
I claim from you what yo.u promised yesterday.
You then said that you could show that the law
teaches concerning the immensity of the eternal
light, and that there are only two heavens, and
these created, and that the higher is the abode
of that light, in which the ineffable Father dwells
alone for ever ; but that after the pattern of that
heaven is made this visible heaven, which you
asserted is to pass away. You said, therefore,
that the Father of all is one, because there can-
not be two infinites ; else neither of them would
be infinite, because in that in which the one sub-
sists, he makes a limit of the subsistence of the
other. Since then you not only promised this,
but are able to show it from the law, leave off
other matters and set about this." Then Peter
said : " If I were asked to speak of these things
only on your account, who come only for the
purpose of contradicting, you should never hear
a single discourse from me ; but seeing it is
necessary that the husbandman, wishing to sow
good ground, should sow some seeds, either in
stony places, or places that are to be trodden of
men, or in places filled with brambles and briers
(as our Master also set forth, indicating by these
the diversities of the purposes of several souls), -
I shall not delay."
CHAP. XV. — Simon's arrogance.
Then said Simon : " You seem to me to be
angry ; but if it be so, it is not necessary to enter
into the conflict." Then Peter : " I see that
you perceive that you are to be convicted, and
you wish politely to escape from the contest ;
for what have you seen to have made me angry
against you, a man desiring to deceive so great
a multitude, and when you have nothing to say,
pretending moderation, who also command, for-
sooth, by your authority that the controversy shall
be conducted as you please, and not as order
demands? " Then Simon : " I shall enforce my-
self to bear patiently your unskilfulness, that I
may show that you indeed wish to seduce the
' Man. X. 26.
2 Luke viii. 5. [Comp. Matt. xiii. 3, etc.; Mark iv. 3, etc. — R.]
people, but that I teach the truth. But now I
refrain from a discussion concerning that bound-
less light. Answer me, therefore, what I ask of
you. Since God, as you say, made all things,
whence comes evil?" 3 Then said Peter: "To
put questions in this way is not the part of an
opponent, but of a learner. If therefore you
wish to learn, confess it ; and I shall first teach
you how you ought to learn, and when you have
learned to listen, then straightway I shall begin
to teach you. But if you do not wish to learn,
as though you knew all things, I shall first set
forth the faith which I preach, and do you also
set forth what you think to be true ; and when
the profession of each of us has been disclosed,
let our hearers judge whose discourse is sup-
ported by truth." To this Simon answered :
" This is a good joke : behold a fellow who offers
to teach me ! Nevertheless I shall suffer you,
and bear with your ignorance and your arrogance.
I confess, then, I do wish to learn ; let us see
how you can teach me."'
CHAP. XVI.
■EXISTENCE of EVIL.
Then Peter said : " If you truly wish to learn,
then first learn this, how unskilfully you have
framed your question ; for you say. Since God
has created all things, whence is evil? But be-
fore you asked this, three sorts ot questions
should have had the precedence : Fiist, Whether
there be evil ? Secondly, What evil is ? Thirdly,
To whom it is, and whence ? " To this Simon
answered : " Oh thou most unskilful and un-
learned, is there any man who does not confess
that there is evil in this life? Whence I also,
thinking that you had even the common sense
of all men, asked, whence evil is ; not as wish-
ing to learn, since I know all things, least of all
from you, who know nothing, but that I might
show you to be ignorant of all things. And that
you may not suppose that it is because I am
angry that I speak somewhat sternly, know that
I am moved with compassion for those who are
present, whom you are attempting to deceive."
Then Peter said : " The more wicked are you,
if you can do such wrong, not being angry ; but
smoke must rise where there is fire. Neverthe-
less I shall tell you, lest I should seem to take
you up with words, so as not to answer to those
things which you have spoken disorderly. You
say that all confess the existence of evil, which
is verily false ; for, first of all, the whole Hebrew
nation deny its existence."
CHAP. XVII. NOT ADMITTED BY ALL.
Then Simon, interrupting his discourse, said :
"They do rightly who say that there is no evil."
3 [In Homily XIX. the discussion with Simon is respectijig the
existence of the evil one. Here the treatment is apparently of a
higher philosophical character. — R.J
Chap. XXL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
119
Then Peter answered : " We do not propose to
speak of this now, but only to state the fact that
the existence of evil is not universally admitted.
But the second question that you should have
asked is, What is evil ? — a substance, an acci-
dent, or an act? And many other things of the
same sort. And after that, towards what, or how
it is, or to whom it is evil, — whether to God, or
to angels, or to men, to the righteous or the
wicked, to all or to some, to one's self or to no
one? And then you should inquire. Whence
it is ? — whether from God, or from nothing ;
whether it has always been, or has had its begin-
ning in time ; whether it is useful or useless ? and
many other things which a proposition of this
sort demands." To this Simon answered : " Par-
don me ; I was in error concerning the first ques-
tion ; but suppose that I now ask first, whether
evil is or not?"
CHAP. XVIII. MANNER OF CONDUCTING THE
DISCUSSION.
Then Peter said : " In what way do you put
the question ; as wishing to learn, or to teach,
or for the sake of raising the question? If
indeed as wishing to learn, I have something to
teach you first, that coming by consequence and
the right order of doctrine, you may understand
from yourself what evil is. But if you put the
question as an instructor, I have no need to be
taught by you, for I have a Master from whom
I have learned all things. But if you ask merely
for the sake of raising a question and disputing,
let each of us first set forth his opinion, and so
let the matter be debated. For it is not reason-
able that vou should ask as one wishing to learn,
and contradict as one teaching, so that after my
answer it should be in your discretion to say
whether I have spoken well or ill. Wherefore
you cannot stand in the place of a gainsayer and
be judge of what we say. And therefore, as I
said, if a discussion is to be held, let each of us
state his sentiments ; and while we are placed
in conflict, these religious hearers will be just
judges."
CHAP. XIX. DESIRE OF INSTRUCTION.
Then Simon said : " Does it not seem to you to
be absurd that an unskilled people should sit in
judgment upon our sayings?" Then Peter: 'Tt
is not so ; for what perhaps is less clear to one,
can be investigated by many, for oftentimes
even a popular rumour has the aspect of a
prophecy. But in addition to all this, all these
people stand here constrained by the love of
God, and by a desire to know the truth, and
therefore all these are to be regarded as one, by
reason of their affection being one and the same
towards the truth ; as, on the other hand, two
are many and diverse, if they disagree with each
other. But if you wish to receive an indication
how all these people who stand before us are as
one man, consider from their very silence and
quietness how with all patience, as you see, they
do honour to the truth of God, even before they
learn it, for they have not yet learned the greater
observance which they owe to it. Wherefore
I hope, through the mercy of God, that He
will accept the religious purpose of their mind
towards Him, and will give the palm of victory
to him who preaches the truth, that He may
make manifest to them the herald of truth."
CHAP. XX.
■ COMJNION PRINCIPLES.
Then Simon : "On what subject do you wish
the discussion to be held ? Tell me, that I also
may define what I think, and so the inquiry may
begin." And Peter answered : " If, indeed, you
will do as I think right, I would have it done
according to the precept of my Master, who first
of all commanded the Hebrew nation, whom He
knew to have knowledge of God, and that it is
He who made the world, not that they should
inquire about Him whom they knew, but that,
knowing Him, they should investigate His will
and His righteousness ; because it is placed in
men's power that, searchiiig into these things,
they may find, and do, and observe those things
concerning which they are to be judged. There-
fore He commanded us to inquire, not whence
evil Cometh, as you asked just now, but to seek
the righteousness of the good God, and His
kingdom ; and all these things, says He, shall
be added to you." ' Then Simon said : " Since
these things are commanded to Hebrews, as
having a right knowledge of God, and being of
opinion that every one has it in his power to do
those things concerning which he is to be judged,
— but my opinion ditfers from theirs, — where
do you wish me to begin? "
CHAP. XXI.
FREEDOM OF THE WILL.
Then said Peter : '"' I advise that the first
inquiry be, whether it be in our power to know
whence we are to be judged." But Simon said :
" Not so ; but concerning God, about whom all
who are present are desirous to hear." Then
Peter: "You admit, then, that something is in
the power of the will : only confess this, if it is
so, and let us inquire, as you say, concerning
God." To this Simon answered : " By no
means " Then Peter said : " If, then, nothing
is in our power, it is useless for us to inquire
anything concerning God, since it is not in the
power of those who seek to find ; hence I said
well, that this should be the first inquiry, whether
» Matt. vi. 33.
I20
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book III.
anything is in the power of the will." ' Then
said Simon : " We cannot even understand this
that you say, if there is anything in the power of
the will." But Peter, seeing that he was turning
to contention, and, through fear of being over-
come, was confounding all things as being in
general uncertain, answered : " How then do you
know that it is not in the power of man to know
anything, since this very thing at least you
know?"
CHAP. XXII. — RESPONSIBILITY.
Then Simon said : " I know not whether I
know even this ; for every one, according as it
is decreed to him by fate, either does, or under-
stands, or suffers." Then Peter said : " See, my
brethren, into what absurdities Simon has fallen,
who before my coming was teaching that men
have it in their power to be wise and to do what
they will, but now, driven into a corner by the
force of my arguments, he denies that man has
any power either of perceiving or of acting ;
and yet he presumes to profess himself to be
a teacher ! But tell me how then God judges
according to truth every one for his doings, if
men have it not in their own power to do any-
thing? If this opinion be held, all things are
torn up by the roots ; vain will be the desire of
following after goodness ; yea, even in vain do
the judges of the world administer laws and
punish those who do amiss, for they had it not
in their power not to sin ; vain also will be the
laws of nations which assign penalties to evil
deeds. Miserable also will those be who labo-
riously keep righteousness ; but blessed those
who, living in pleasure, exercise tyranny, living
in luxury and wickedness. According to this,
therefore, there can be neither righteousness, nor
goodness, nor any virtue, nor, as you would have
it, any God. But, O Simon, I know why you
have spoken tlius : truly because you wished to
avoid inquiry, lest you should be openly con-
futed ; and therefore you say that it is not in the
power of man to perceive or to discern anything.
But if this had really been your opinion, you
would not surely, before my coming, have
professed yourself before the people to be a
teacher. I say, therefore, that man is under his
own control." Then said Simon : "What is the
meaning of being under his own control ? Tell
us." To this Peter : " If nothing can be learned,
why do you wish to hear?" And Simon said:
" You have nothing to answer to this."
CHAP. XXIII. ORIGIN OF EVIL.
Then said Peter : " I shall speak, not as under
compulsion from you, but at the request of the
hearers. The power of choice is the sense of
' [Comp. Homilies XL 8, XIX. 15. But in the Recognitions
this topic is more frequently treated. See chap. 26, and elsewhere.
— R.]
the soul, possessing a quality by which it can
be inclined towards what acts it wills." Then
Simon, applauding Peter for what he had spoken,
said : " Truly you have expounded it magnifi-
cently and incomparably, for it is my duty to
bear testimony to your speaking well. Now if
you will exi)lain to me this which I now ask you,
in all things else I shall submit to you. W'hat I
wish to learn, then, is this : if what God wishes
to be, is ; and what He does not wish to be, is
not. Answer me this." Then Peter : " If you
do not know that you are asking an absurd and
incompetent question, I shall pardon you and
explain ; but if you are aware that you are asking
inconsequently, you do not well." Then Simon
said : " I swear by the Supreme Divinity, what-
soever that may be, which judges and punishes
those who sin, that I know not what I have said
inconsequently, or what absurdity there is in my
words, that is, in those that I have just uttered."
CHAP. XXIV. — GOD THE AUTHOR OF GOOD, NOT
OF EVIL.
To this Peter answered : " Since, then, you con-
fess that you are ignorant; now learn. Your ques-
tion demanded our deliverance on two matters
that are contrary to one another. For every
motion is divided into two parts, so that a certain
part is moved by necessity, and another by will ;
and those things which are moved by necessity
are always in motion, those which are moved by
will, not always. For example, the sun's motion
is performed by necessity to complete its ap-
pointed circuit, and every state and service of
heaven depends upon necessary motions. But
man directs the voluntary motions of his own
actions. And thus there are some things which
have been created for this end, that in their ser-
vices they should be subject to necessity, and
should be unable to do aught else than what has
been assigned to them ; and when they have
accomplished this service, the Creator of all
things, who thus arranged them according to
His will, preserves them. But there are other
things, in which there is a power of will, and
which have a free choice of doing what they
will. These, as I have said, do not remain
always in that order in which they were created ;
but according as their will leads them, and the
judgment of their mind inclines them, they
effect either good or evil ; and therefore He
hath proposed rewards to those who do well, and
penalties to those who do evil.^
CHAP. XXV. "who hath RESISTED HlSWILL?"
" You say, therefore, if God wishes anything
to be, it is ; and if He do not wish it, it is not.
2 [Comp. Homily XIX. 12, The argument here is far more
philosophical. — R. j
Chap. XXVIIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
121
But if I were to answer that what He wishes is,
and what He wishes not is not, you would say
that then He wishes the evil things to be which
are done in the world, since everything that He
wishes is, and everything that He wishes not is
not. But if I had answered that it is not so
that what God wishes is, and what He wishes
not is not, then you would retort upon me that
God must then be powerless, if He cannot do
what He wills ; and you would be all the more
petulant, as thinking that you had got a victory,
though you had said nothing to the point. There-
fore you are ignorant, O Simon, yea very igno-
rant, how the will of God acts in each individual
case. For some things, as we have said, He has
so willed to be, that they cannot be otherwise
than as they are ordained by Him ; and to these
He has assigned neither rewards nor punish-
ments ; but those which He has willed to be so
that they have it in their power to do what they
will, He has assignee! to them according to their
actions and their wills, to earn either rewards or
punishments. Since, therefore, as I have in-
formed you, all things that are moved are divided
into two parts, according to the distinction that
I formerly stated, everything that God wills is,
and everything that He wills not is not."
CHAP. XXVI. NO GOODNESS WITHOUT LIBERTY.
To this Simon answered : " Was not He able
to make us all such that we should be good, and
that we should not have it in our power to be
otherwise? " Peter answered : "This also is an
absurd question. For if He had made us of an
unchangeable nature and incapable of being
moved away from good, we should not be really
good, because we could .not be aught else ; and it
would not be of our purpose that we were good ;
and what we did would not be ours, but of the
necessity of our nature.' But how can that be
called good which is not done of purpose ? And
on this account the world required long periods,
until the number of souls which were predes-
tined to fill it should be completed, and then
that visible heaven should be folded up like a
scroll, and that which is higher should appear,
and the souls of the blessed, being restored to
their bodies, should be ushered into light ; but
the souls of the wicked, for their impure actions
being surrounded with fiery spirit, should be
plungsd into the abyss of unquenchable fire,
to endure punishments through eternity. Now
that these things are so, the true Prophet has
testified to us ; concerning whom, if you wish
to know that He is a prophet, I shall instrnct
you by innumerable declarations. For of those
things which were spoken by Him, even now
' [Comp. Homily XIX. 15. — R.]
everything that He said is being fulfilled ; and
those things which He spoke with respect to the
future are believed to be about to be fulfilled,
for faith is given to the future from those things
which have already come to pass."
CHAP. XXVII.
■THE VISIBLE HEAVEN
MADE.
WHY
But Simon, perceiving that Peter was clearly
assigning a reason from the head of prophecy,
from which the whole question is settled, de-
clined that the discourse should take this turn ;
and thus answered : " Give me an answer to the
questions that I put, and tell me, if that visible
heaven is, as you say, to be dissolved, why was it
made at first? " Peter answered : " It was made
for the sake of this present life of men, that there
might be some sort of interposition and separa-
tion, lest any unworthy one might see the habi-
tation of the celestials and the abode of God
Himself, which are prepared in order to be seen
by those only who are of pure heart.^ But now,
that is in the time of the conflict, it has pleased
Him that those things be invisible, which are
destined as a reward to the conquerers." Then
Simon said : " If the Creator is good, and the
world is good, how shall He who is good ever
destroy that which is good ? But if He shall
destroy that which is good, how shall He Him-
self be thought to be good? But if He shall
dissolve and destroy it as evil, how shall He not
appear to be evil, who has made that which
is evil ? "
CHAP. XXVIII. WHY TO BE DISSOLVED.
To this Peter replied : " Since we have prom-
ised not to run away from your blasphemies, we
endure them patiently, for you shall yourself
render an account for the things that you speak.
Listen now, therefore. If indeed that heaven
which is visible and transient had been made for
its own sake, there would have been some reason
in what you say, that it ought not to be dissolved.
But if it was made not for its own sake, but for
the sake of something else, it must of necessity
be dissolved, that that for which it seems to have
been made may appear. As I might say, by way
of illustration, however fairly and carefully the
shell of the egg may seem to have been formed,
it is yet necessary that it be broken and opened,
that the chick may issue from it, and that may
appear for which the form of the whole egg seems
to have been moulded. So also, therefore, it is
necessary that the condition of this world pass
away, that that sublimer condition of the heav-
enly kingdom may shine forth."
2 Matt. V. 8.
122
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IIL
CHAP. XXIX. CORRUPTIBLE AND TEMPORARY
THINGS MADE BY THE INCORRUPTIBLE AND
ETERNAL.
Then Simon : " It does not seem to me that
the heaven, which has been made by God, can
be dissolved. For things made by the Eternal
One are eternal, while things made by a corrup-
tible one are temjDorary and decaying." Then
Peter : " It is not so. Indeed corruptible and
temporary things of all sorts are made by mortal
creatures ; but the Eternal does not always make
things corruptible, nor always incorruptible ; but
according to the will of God the Creator, so will
be the things which He creates. For the power
of God is not subject to law, but His will is law
to His creatures." Then Simon answered : " I
call you back to the first question. You said
now that God is visible to no one ; but when that
heaven shall be dissolved, and that superior con-
dition of the heavenly kingdom shall shine forth,
then those who are pure in heart ' shall see God ;
which statement is contrary to the law, for there
it is written that God said, ' None shall see my
face and live.' "^
CHAP. XXX. HOW THE PURE IN HEART SEE GOD.
Then Peter answered : " To those who do not
read the law according to the tradition of Moses,
my speech appears to be contrary to it ; but I
will show you how it is not contradictory. God
is seen by the mind, not by the body ; by the
spirit, not by the flesh. Whence also angels,
who are spirits, see God ; and therefore men, as
long as they are men, cannot see Him. But after
the resurrection of the dead, when they shall
have been made like the angels, ^ they shall be
able to see God. And thus my statement is not
contrary to the law ; neither is that which our
Master said, ' Blessed are they of a pure heart,
for they shall see God.' ' For He showed that
a time shall come in which of men shall be made
angels, who in the spirit of their mind shall see
God." After these and many similar sayings,
Simon began to assert with many oaths, saying :
" Concerning one thing only render me a reason,
whether the soul is immortal, and I shall submit
to your will in all things. But let it be to-mor-
row, for to-day it is late." When therefore Peter
began to speak, Simon went out, and with him a
very few of his associates ; and that for shame.
But all the rest, turning to Peter, on bended
knees prostrated themselves before him ; and
some of those who were afflicted with diverse
sicknesses, or invaded by demons, were healed
by the prayer of Peter, and departed rejoicing,
as having obtained at once the doctrine of the
' Matt. V. 8.
^ Ex. xxxiii. 20.
3 Matt. xxii. 30.
true God, and also His mercy. When therefore
the crowds had witlidrawn, and only we his at-
tendants remained with him, we sat down on
couches placed on the ground, each one recog-
nising his accustomed place, and having taken
food, and given thanks to God, we went to sleep.
CHAP. XXXI, DILIGENCE IN STUDY.
But on the following day, Peter, as usual, rising
before dawn, found us already awake and ready
to listen ; and thus began : " I entreat you, my
brethren and fellow-servants, that if any of you
is not able to wake, he should not torment him-
self through respect to my presence, because
sudden change is difficult ; but if for a long time
one gradually accustoms himself, that will not be
distressing which comes of use. For we had not
all the same training ; although in course of time
we shall be able to be moulded into one habit,
for they say that custom holds the place of a
second nature. But I call God to witness that
I am not offended, if any one is not able to
wake ; but rather by this, if, when any one sleeps
all through the night, he does not in the course
of the day fulfil that which he omitted in the
night. For it is necessary to give heed intently
and unceasingly to the study of doctrine, that
our mind may be filled with the thought of God
only ; because in the mind which is filled with
the thought of God, no place will be given to
the wicked one."
CHAP. XXXII. — Peter's private instruction.
When Peter spoke thus to us, every one of us
eagerly assured him, that ere now we were awake,
being satisfied with short sleep, but that we were
afraid to arouse him, because it did not become
the disciples to command the master ; " and yet
even this, O Peter, we had almost ventured to
take upon ourselves, because our hearts, agitated
with longing for your words, drove sleep wholly
from our eyes. But again our affection towards
you opposed it, and did not suffer us violently to
rouse you." Then Peter said : " Since therefore
you assert that you are willingly awake through
desire of hearing, I wish to repeat to you more
carefully, and to explain in their order, the things
that were spoken yesterday without arrangement.
And this I propose to do throughout these daily
disputations, that by night, when privacy of time
and place is afforded, I shall unfold in correct
order, and by a straight line of explanation, any-
thing that in the controversy has not been stated
with sufficient fulness." And then he began to
point out to us how the yesterday's discussion
ought to have been conducted, and how it could
not be so conducted on account of the conten-
tiousness or the unskilfulness of his opponent ;
and how therefore he only made use of assertion.
Chap. XXXVI.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
12
and only overthrew what was said by his adver-
sary, but did not expound his own doctrines
either completely or distinctly. Then repeating
the several matters to us, he discussed them in
regular order and with full reason.
CHAP. XXXIII. LEARNERS AND CAVILLERS.
But when the day began to be light, after
prayer he went out to the crowds and stood in
his accustomed place, for the discussion ; and
seeing Simon standing in the middle of the
crowd, he saluted the people in his usual way,
and said to them : " I confess that I am grieved
with respect to some men, who come to us in
this way that they may learn something, but when
we begin to teach them, they profess that they
themselves are masters, and while indeed they
ask questions as ignorant persons, they contra-
dict as knowing ones. But perhaps some one
will say, that he who puts a question, puts it in-
deed in order that he may learn, but when that
which he hears does not seem to him to be right,
it is necessary that he should answer, and that
seems to be contradiction which is not contra-
diction, but further inquiry.
CHAP. XXXIV. AGAINST ORDER IS AG.AINST REASON.
" Let such a one then hear this : The teaching
of all doctrine has a certain order, and there are
some things which must be delivered first, others
in the second place, and others in the third, and
so all in their order ; and if these things be deliv-
ered in their order, they become plain ; but if they
be brought forward out of order, they will seem to
be spoken against reason. And therefore order is
to be observed above all things, if we seek for the
purpose of finding what we seek. For he who
enters rightly upon the road, will observe the
second place in due order, and from the second
will more easily find the third ; and the further
he proceeds, so much the more will the way of
knowledge become open to him, even until he
arrive at the city of truth, whither he is bound,
and which he desires to reach. But he who is
unskilful, and knows not the way of inquiry, —
as a traveller in a foreign country, ignorant and
wandering, if he will not employ a native of the
country as a guide, — undoubtedly when he has
strayed from the way of truth, shall remain out-
side the gates of life, and so, involved in the
darkness of black night, shall walk through the
paths of perdition. Inasmuch therefore, as, if
those things which are to be sought, be sought
in an orderly manner, they can most easily be
found, but the unskilfiil man is ignorant of the
order of inquiry, it is right that the ignorant man
should yield to the knowing one, and first learn
the order of incjuiry, that so at length he may
find the method of asking and answering;.
CHAP. XXXV.
LEARNING BEFORE TEACHING.
To this Simon replied : " Then truth is not the
property of all, but of those only who know the art
of disputation, which is absurd ; for it cannot be,
since He is equally the God of all, that all should
not be equally able to know His will." Then
Peter : " All were made equal by Him, and to all
He has given equally to be receptive of truth.
But that none of those who are born, are born with
education, but education is subsequent to birth,
no one can doubt. Since, therefore, the birth
of men holds equity in this respect, that all are
equally capable of receiving discipline, the dif-
erence is not in nature, but in education. Who
does not know that the things which any one
learns, he was ignorant of before he learned
them?" Then Simon said: "You say truly."
Then Peter said : " If then in those arts which
are in common use, one first learns and then
teaches, how much more ought those who pro-
fess to be the educators of souls, first to learn,
and so to teach, that they may not expose
themselves to ridicule, if they promise to afford
knowledge to others, when they themselves are
unskilful?" Then Simon : "This is true in re-
spect of those arts which are in common use ;
but in the word of knowledge, as soon as any
one has heard, he has learned."
CH.AP. XXXVL SELF- EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH.
Then said Peter : " If indeed one hear in an
orderly and regular manner, he is able to know
what is true ; but he who refuses to submit to the
rule of a reformed life and a pure conversation,
which truly is the proper result of knowledge of
the truth, will not confess that he knows what he
does know. For this is exactly what we see in
the case of some who, abandoning the trades
which they learned in their youth, betake them-
selves to other performances, and by way of ex-
cusing their own sloth, begin to find fault with
the trade as unprofitable." Then Simon : " Ought
all who hear to believe that whatever they hear is
true ? " Then Peter : " Whoever hears an orderly
statement of the truth, cannot by any means gain-
say it, but knows that what is spoken is true, pro-
vided he also willingly submit to the rules of life.
But those who, when they hear, are unwilling
to betake themselves to good works, are pre-
vented by the desire of doing evil from acquies-
cing in those things which they judge to be right.
Hence it is manifest that it is in the power of
the hearers to choose which of the two they pre-
fer. But if all who hear were to obey, it would
be rather a necessity of nature, leading all in one
way. For as no one can be persuaded to be-
come shorter or taller, because the force of nature
does not permit it ; so also, if either all were
converted to the truth by a word, or all were not
124
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book III.
converted, it would be the force of nature which
compelled all in the one case, and none at all in
the other, to be converted."
CHAP. XXXVII. GOD RIGHTEOUS AS WELL AS
GOOD.
Then said Simon : " Inform us, therefore, what
he who desires to know the truth must first learn."
Then Peter : " Before all things it must be in-
quired what it is possible for man to find out.
For of necessity the judgment of God turns
upon this, if a man was able to do good and
did it not. And therefore men must inquire
whether they have it in their power by seeking
to find what is good, and to do it when they
have found it ; for this is that .for which they are
to be judged. But more than this there is no
occasion for any one but a prophet to know ;
for what is the need for men to know how the
world was made? This, indeed, would be neces-
sary to be learned if we had to enter upon a
similar construction. But now it is sufficient for
us, in order to the worship of God, to know that
He made the world ; but how He made it is no
subject of inquiry for us, because, as I have
said, it is not incumbent upon us to acquire the
knowledge of that art, as though we were about
to make something similar. But neither are we
to be judged for this, why we have not learned
how the world was made, but only for that, if
we be without knowledge of its Creator. For
we shall know that the Creator of the world is
the righteous and good God, if we seek Him in
the paths of righteousness. For if we only
know regarding Him that He is good, such
knowledge is not sufficient for salvation. For in
the present life not only the worthy, but also the
unworthy, enjoy His goodness and His benefits.
But if we believe Hiln to be not only good, but
also righteous, and if, according to what we
believe concerning God, we obser\-e righteous-
ness in the whole course of our life, we shall
enjoy His goodness for ever. In a word, to the
Hebrews, whose opinion concerning God was
that He is only good, our Master said that they
should seek also His righteousness ; ' that is,
that they should know that He is good indeed
in this present time, that all may live in His
goodness, but that He shall be righteous at the
day of judgment, to bestow eternal rewards
upon the worthy, from which the unworthy
shall be excluded.
CHAP. XXXVIII. god's JUSTICE SHOWN AT THE
DAY OF JUDGMENT.
Then Simon : " How can one and the same
being be both good and righteous? "^ Peter
' Matt. vi. 33.
2 [_Comp. Homilies XVII. 4, etc., XVIII. i. The objection is of
GnosUc origin. — R. j
answered : "Because without righteousness, good-
ness would be unrighteousness ; for it is the part
of a good God to bestow His sunshine and rain
equally on the just and the unjust ; ^ but this
would seem to be unjust, if He treated the good
and the bad always with equal fortune, and were
it not that He does it for the sake of the fruits,
which all may equally enjoy who are born in
this world. But as the rain given by God equally
nourishes the corn and the tares, but at the
time of harvest the crops are .gathered into
the barn, but the chaff or the tares are burnt
in the fire,-* so in the day of judgment, when the
righteous shall be introduced into the kingdom
of heaven, and the unrighteous shall be cast out,
then also the justice of (}od shall be shown.
For if He remained for ever alike to the evil
and the good, this would not only not be good,
but even unrighteous and unjust ; that the right-
eous and the unrighteous should be held by
Him in one order of desert."
CHAP. XXXIX. IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.
Then said Simon : " The one point on which
I should wish to be satisfied is, whether the
soul is immortal ; for I cannot take up the bur-
den of righteousness unless I know first concern-
ing the immortality of the soul ; for indeed if it
is not immortal, the profession of your preaching
cannot stand." Then said Peter : " Let us first
inquire whether God is just ; for if this were ascer-
tained, the perfect order of religion would straight-
way be established." Then Simon: "With all
your boasting of your knowledge of the order
of discussion, you seem to me now to have
answered contrary to order ; for when I ask you
to show whether the soul is immortal, you say
that we must first inquire whether God is just."
Then said Peter : " That is perfectly right and
regular." Simon : " I should wish to learn
how."
CHAP. XL. PROVED BY THE SUCCESS OF THE
WICKED IN THIS LIFE.
" Listen, then," said Peter : " Some men who
are blasphemers against God, and who spend
their whole life in injustice and pleasure, die in
their own bed and obtain honourable burial ;
while others who worship God, and maintain
their life frugally with all honesty and sobriety,
die in deserted places for their observance of
righteousness, so that they are not even thought
worthy of burial. Where, then, is the justice
of God, if there be no immortal soul to suffer
punishment in the future for impious deeds, or
enjoy rewards for piety and rectitude?" Then
Simon said : " It is this indeed that makes me
3 Matt. V. 45.
4 Matt. iii. iz.
Chap. XLIIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
125
incredulous, because many well-doers perish
miserably, and again many evil-doers finish long
lives in happiness." '
CHAP. XLI. CAVILS OF SIMON.
Then said Peter : " This very thing which
draws you into incredulity, affords to us a certain
conviction that there shall be a judgment. For
since it is certain that God is just, it is a neces-
sary consequence that there is another world,
in which every one receiving according to his
deserts, shall prove the justice of God. But if
all men were now receiving according to their
deserts, we should truly seem to be deceivers
when we say that there is a judgment to come ;
and therefore this very fact, that in the present
life a return is not made to every one according
to his deeds, affords, to those who know that
God is just, an indubitable proof that there shall
be a judgment." Then said Simon : " Why,
then, am I not persuaded of it?" Peter: "Be-
cause you have not heard the true Prophet say-
ing, ' Seek first His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added to you.' " - Then said
Simon : " Pardon me if I am unwilling to seek
righteousness, before I know if the soul is
immortal." Then Peter: "You also pardon
me this one thing, because I cannot do other-
wise than the Prophet of truth has instructed
me." Then said Simon : " It is certain that
you cannot assert that the soul is immortal, and
therefore you cavil, knowing that if it be proved
to be mortal, the whole profession of that reli-
gion* which you are attempting to propagate will
be plucked up by the roots. And therefore,
indeed, I commend your prudence, while I do
not approve your persuasiveness ; for you per-
suade many to embrace your religion, and to
submit to the restraint of pleasure, in hope of
future good things ; to whom it happens that
they lose the enjoyment of things present, and
are deceived with hopes of things future. For
as soon as they die, their soul shall at the same
time be extinguished."
CH.AP. XLII. " FULL OF ALL SUBTLETY AND ALL
MISCHIEF."
But Peter, when he heard him speak thus,
grinding his teeth, and rubbing his forehead
with his hand, and sighing with profound grief,
said : ^ " Armed with the cunning of the old
serpent, you stand forth to deceive souls ; and
therefore, as the serpent is more subtile than
any other beast, you profess that you are a
teacher from the beginning. And again, like
the serpent you wished to introduce many gods ;
' [Comp. Homily XIX. 23. — R.]
2 Matt. vi. 33.
3 [The concluding portion of this discussion (chaps. 42-48) is
peculiar alike in its argument and its colloquies. — R.]
but now, being confuted in that, you assert that
there is no God at all. For by occasion of I
know not what unknown God, you denied that
the Creator of the world is God, but asserted
that He is either an evil being, or that He has
many equals, or, as we have said, that He is not
God at all. And when you had been overcome
in this position, you now assert that the soul is
mortal, so that men may not live righteously
and uprightly in hope of things to come. For
if there be no hope for the future, why should
not m&rcy be given up, and men indulge in
luxury and pleasures, from which it is manifest
that all unrighteousness springs? And while
you introduce so impious a doctrine into the
miserable life of men, you call yourself pious,
and me impious, because, under the hope of
future good things, I will not suffer men to take
up arms and fight against one another, plunder
and subvert everything, and attempt whatsoever
lust may dictate. And what will be the condi-
tion of that life which you would introduce,
that men will attack and be attacked, be enraged
and disturbed, and live always in fear? For
those who do evil to others must expect like evil
to themselves. Do you see that you are a leader
of disturbance and not of peace, of iniquity
and not of equity? But I feigned anger, not
because I could not prove that the soul is im-
mortal, but because I pity the souls which you
are endeavouring to deceive. I shall speak,
therefore, but not as compelled by you ; for I
know how I should speak ; and you will be the
only one who wants not so much persuasion as
admonition on this subject. But those who are
really ignorant of this, I shall instruct as is
suitable,"
CH.AP. XLIIL — Simon's subterfuges.
Then says Simon : " If you are angry, I shall
neither a.sk you any questions, nor do I wish to
hear you." Then Peter : " If you are now seek-
ing a pretext for escaping, you have full liberty,
and need not use any special pretext. For all
have heard you speaking all amiss, and have
perceived that you can prove nothing, but that
you only asked questions for the sake of contra-
diction ; which any one can do. For what
difficulty is there in replying, after the clearest
proofs have been adduced, ' You have said
nothing to the purpose?' But that you may
know that I am able to prove to you in a single
sentence that the soul is immortal, I shall ask
you with respect to a point which all know;
answer me, and I shall prove to you in one
sentence that it is immortal." Then Simon, who
had thought that he had got, from the anger
of Peter, a pretext for departing, stopped on
account of the remarkable promise that was
126
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book III.
made to him, and said : "Ask me then, and I in secret. Therefore I spoke what I knew, not
shall answer you what all know, that I may hear what I foreknew."
in a single sentence, as you have promised, how
the soul is immortal."
CHAP. XLIV. SIGHT OR HEARING?
Then Peter : " I shall speak so that it may be
proved to you before all the rest. Answer me,
therefore, which of the two can better persuade
an incredulous man, seeing or hearing?" Then
Simon said : " Seeing." Then Peter : " Why
then do you wish to learn from me by words,
what is proved to you by the thing itself and by
sight?" Then Simon : "I know not what you
mean." Then Peter: "If you do not know, go
now to your house, and entering the inner bed-
chamber you will see an image placed, containing
the figure of a murdered boy clothed in purple ;
ask him, and he will inform you either by hearing
or seeing. For what need is there to hear from
him if the soul is immortal, when you see it
standing before you? For if it were not in
being, it assuredly could not be seen. But if
you know not what image I speak of, let us
straightway go to your house, with ten other
men, of those who are here present." '
CH,4P. XLV. A HOME-THRUST.
But Simon hearing this, and being smitten
by his conscience, changed colour and became
bloodless ; for he was afraid, if he denied it,
that his house would be searched, or that Peter
in his indignation would betray him more openly,
and so all would learn what he was. Thus he
answered : " I beseech thee, Peter, by that good
God who is in thee, to overcome the wickedness
that is in me. Receive me to repentance, and
you shall have me as aa assistant in your preach-
ing. For now I have learned in very deed that
you are a prophet of the true God, and there-
fare you alone know the secret and hidden
things of men."^ Then said Peter: "You see,
brethren, Simon seeking repentance ; in a little
while you shall see him returning again to his
infidelity. For, thinking that I am a prophet,
forasmuch as I have disclosed his wickedness,
which he supposed to be secret and hidden, he
has promised that he will repent. But it is not
lawful for me to lie, nor must I deceive, whether
this infidel be saved or not saved. For I call
heaven and earth to witness, that I spoke not by
a prophetic spirit what I said, and what I in-
timated, as far as was possible, to the listening
crowds ; but I learned from some who once
were his associates in his works, but have now
been converted to our faith, what things he did
' rComp. book ii. 15 and Homily II. 26. — R.]
^ [Evidently parodied from Acts viii. 18-24. This incident is
peculiar to the Recognitions. — R.J
CHAP. XLVI. — SIMONS RAGE.
But when Simon heard this, he assailed Peter
with curses and reproaches, saying : " Oh most
wicked and most deceitful of men, to whom
fortune, not truth, hath given the victory. But
I sought repentance not for defect of knowl-
edge, but in order that you, thinking that by
repentance I should become your disciple, might
entrust to me all the secrets of your profession,
and so at length, knowing them all, I might
confute you. But as you cunningly understood
for what reason I had pretended penitence, and
acquiesced as if you did not understand my
stratagem, that you might first expose me in
presence of the people as unskilful, then fore-
seeing that being thus exposed to the people,
I must of necessity be indignant, and confess
that I was not truly penitent, 3'ou anticipated
me, that you might say that I should, after my
penitence, again return to my infidelity, that you
might seem to have conquered on all sides, both
if I continued in the penitence which I had
professed, and if I did not continue ; and so
you should be believed to be wise, because you
had foreseen these things, while I should seem to
be deceived, because I did not foresee your
trick. But you foreseeing mine, have used
subtlety and circumvented me. But, as I said,
your victory is the result of fortune, not of
truth : yet I know why I did not foresee this ;
because I stood by you and spoke with you in
my goodness, and bore patiently with you. But
now I shall show you the power of- my divinity,
so that you shall quickly fall down and worship
me.
CHAP. XLVII. — SIMON'S VAUNT.
" I am the first power, w^ho am always, and
without beginning. 3 But having entered the
womb of Rachel, I was born of her as a man,
that I might be visible to men. I have flown
through the air ; I have been mixed with fire,
and been made one body with it ; I have
made statues to move ; I have animated lifeless
things ; I have made stones bread ; I have
flown from mountain to mountain ; I have
moved from place to place, upheld by angels'
hands, and have liglited on the earth. Not
only have I done these things ; but even now I
am able to do them, that by facts I may prove
to all, that I am the Son of God, enduring to
eternity, and that I can make those who believe
on me endure in like manner for ever. But
your words are all vain ; nor can you perform
any real works such as I have now tnentioned,
3 [Compare with this chapter book ii. 9, 14; Homily II. 32. — R.]
Chap. LIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
127
as he also who sent you is a magician, who yet
could not deliver himself from the suffering of
the cross."
CHAP. XLVIII. ATTEMPTS TO CREATE A DISTURB-
ANCE.
To this speech of Simon, Peter answered :
" Do not meddle with the things that belong to
others ; for that you are a magician, you have
confessed and made manifest by the very deeds
that you have done ; but our Master, who is the
Son of God and of man, is manifestly good ;
and that he is truly the Son of God has been
told, and shall be told to those to whom it is
fitting. But if you will not confess that you
are a magician, let us go, with all this multitude,
to your house, and then it will be evident who
is a magician." While Peter was speaking thus,
Simon began to assail him with blasphemies and
curses, that he might make a riot, and excite all
so that he could not be refuted, and that Peter,
withdrawing on account of his blasphemy, might
seem to be overcome. But he stood fast, and
began to charge him more vehemently.
CHAP. XLIX.
■SIMONS RETREAT.
Then the people in indignation cast Simon
from the court,f and drove him forth from the
gate of the house ; and only one person followed
him when he was driven out.' Then silence
being obtained, Peter began to address the
people in this manner : " You ought, brethren,
to bear with wicked men patiently ; knowing
that although God could cut them off, yet He
suffers them to remain even till the day ap-
pointed, in which judgment shall pass upon all.
Why then should not we bear with those whom
God suffers? Why should not we bear with
fortitude the wrongs that they do to us, when He
who is almighty does not take vengeance on
them, that both His own goodness and the im-
piety of the wicked may be known ? But if the
wicked one had not found Simon to be his
minister, he would doubtless have found another :
for it is of necessity that in this life offences
come, ' but woe to that man by whom they
come; '2 and therefore Simon is rather to be
mourned over, because he has become a choice
vessel for the wicked one, which undoubtedly
would not have happened had he not received
power over him for his former sins. For why
should I further say that he once believed in
our Jesus, and was persuaded that souls are im-
mortal? 3 Although in this he is deluded by
demons, yet he has persuaded himself that he
has the soul of a murdered boy ministering to
■ [This account of the close of the discussion is peculiar to the
Recognitions. — R ]
^ Matt, xviii. 7.
3 Acts viii. 13.
him in whatever he pleases to employ it in ; in
which truly, as I have said, he is deluded by
demons, and therefore I spoke to him according
to his own ideas : for he has learned from the
Jews, that judgment and vengeance are to be
brought forth against those who set themselves
against the true faith, and do not repent. But
there are men to whom, as being perfect in
crimes, the wicked one appears, that he may
deceive them, so that they may never be turned
to repentance.
CHAP. L. PETER'S BENEDICTION,
" You therefore who are turned to the Lord
by repentance, bend to Him your knees." When
he had said this, all the multitude bent their
knees to God ; and Peter, looking towards
heaven, prayed for them with tears that God,
for His goodness, would deign to receive those
betaking themselves to Him. And after he had
prayed, and had instructed them to meet early
the next day, he dismissed the multitude. Then,
according to custom, having taken food, we went
to sleep.
CHAP. LI. — Peter's accessibility.
Peter, therefore, rising at the usual hour of the
night, found us waking ; and when, saluting us,
in his usual manner, he had taken his seat, first
of all Niceta said : " If you will permit me, my
lord Peter, I have something to ask of you."
Then Peter said : " I permit not only you, but
all, and not only now, but always, that every
one confess what moves him, and the part in his
mind that is pained, in order that he may obtain
healing. For things which are covered with
silence, and are not made known to us, are
cured with difficulty, like maladies of long stand-
ing ; and therefore, since the medicine of sea-
sonable and necessary discourse cannot easily be
applied to those who keep silence, every one
ought to declare in what respect his mind is
feeble through ignorance. But to him who
keeps silence, it belongs to God alone to give a
remedy. We indeed also can do it, but by
the lapse of a long time. For it is neces-
sary that the discourse of doctrine, proceeding
in order from the beginning, and meeting each
single question, should disclose all things, and
resolve and reach to all things, even to that
which every one requires in his mind ; but that,
as I have said, can only be done in the course
of a long time. Now, then, ask what you
please."
CHAP. LII. FALSE SIGNS AND MIR.\CLES.
Then Niceta said : " I give you abundant
thanks, O most clement Peter; but this is what
I desire to learn, how Simon, who is the enemy
128
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IIL
of God, is able to do such and so great things?
For indeed he tokl no lie in his declaration of
what he has done." To this the blessed Peter
thus answered : " God, who is one and true, has
resolved to prepare good and faithful friends for
His first begotten ; but knowing that none can
be good, unless they have in their power that
perception by which they may become good,
that they may be of their own intent what they
choose to be, — and otherwise they could not
be truly good, if they were kept in goodness
not by purpose, but by necessity, — has given to
every one the power of his own will, that he
may be what he wishes to be. And again, fore-
seeing that that power of will would make some
choose good things and others evil, and so that
the human race would necessarily be divided
into two classes. He has permitted each class to
choose both a place and a king, whom they
would. For the good King rejoices in the good,
and the wicked one in the evil. And although
I have expounded those things more fully to
you, O Clement, in that treatise in which I dis-
coursed on predestination and the end, yet it is
fitting that I should now make clear to Niceta
also, as he asks me, what is the reason thaj
Simon, whose thoughts are against God, is able
to do so great marvels.
CHAP. LIII. — SELF-LOVE THE FOUNDATION OF
GOODNESS.
" First of all, then, he is evil, in the judgment
of God, who will not inquire what is advanta-
geous to himself. For how can any one love
another, if he does not love himself? Or to
whom will that man not be an enemy, who cannot
be a friend to himself? In order, therefore, that
there might be a distinction between those who
choose good and those who choose evil, God
has concealed that which is profitable to men,
i.e., the possession of the kingdom of heaven,
and has laid it up and hidden it as a secret treas-
ure, so that no one can easily attain it by his own
power or knowledge. Yet He has brought the
report of it, under various names and opinions,
through successive generations, to the hearing of
all : so that whosoever should be lovers of good,
hearing it, might inquire and discover what is
profitable and salutary to them ; but that they
should ask it, not from themselves, but from Him
who has hidden it, and should pray that access
and the way of knowledge might be given to
them : which way is opened to those only who
love it above all the good things of this world ;
and on no other condition can any one even un-
derstand it, however wise he may seem ; but that
those who neglect to inquire what is profitable
and salutary to themselves, as self-haters and
self-enemies, should be deprived of its good
things, as lovers of evil things.
CHAP. LIV. GOD TO BE SUPREMELY LOVED.
" It behoves, therefore, the good to love that
way above all things, that is, above riches, glory,
rest, parents, relatives, friends, and everything in
the world. But he who perfectly loves this pos-
session of the kingdom of heaven, will un-
doubtedly cast away all practice of evil habit,
negligence, sloth, malice, anger, and such like.
For if you prefer any of these to it, as loving
the vices of your own lust more than God, you
shall not attain to the possession of the heavenly
kingdom ; for truly it is foolish to love anything
more than God. For whether they be parents,
they die ; or relatives, they do not continue ; or
friends, they change. But God alone is eternal,
and abideth unchangeable. He, therefore, who
will not seek after that which is profitable to
himself, is evil, to such an extent that his wick-
edness exceeds the very prince of impiety. For
he abuses the goodness of God to the purpose
of his own wickedness, and pleases himself; but
the other neglects the good things of his own
salvation, that by his own destruction he may
please the evil one.
CHAP. LV. TEN COMMANDMENTS CORRESPONDING
TO THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT.
" On account of those, therefore, who by
neglect of their own salvation please the evil
one, and those who by study of their own profit
seek to please the good One, ten things have
been prescribed as a test to this present age,
according to the number of the ten plagues
which were brought upon Egypt. For when
Moses, according to the commandment of God,
demanded of Pharaoh that he should let the
people go, and in token of his heavenly commis-
sion showed signs, his rod being thrown upon
the ground was turned into a serpent.' And
when Pharaoh could not by these means be
brought to consent, as having freedom of will,
again the magicians seemed to do similar signs,
by permission of God, that the purpose of the
king might be proved from the freedom of his
will, whether he would rather believe the signs
wrought by Moses, who was sent by God, or
those which the magicians rather seemed to
work than actually wrought. For truly he ought
to have understood from their very name that
they were not workers of truth, because they
were not called messengers of God, but magi-
cians, as the tradition also intimates. More-
over, they seemed to maintain the contest up to
a certain point, and afterwards they confessed
of themselves, and yielded to their superior.^
Therefore the last plague is inflicted,^ the de-
' Ex. vii,, viii.
- Ex. viii. 19.
3 Ex. xii.
Chap. LIX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
129
struction of the first-born, and then Moses is
commanded to consecrate the people by the
sprinkHng of blood ; and so, gifts being pre-
sented, with much entreaty he is asked to depart
with the people.
CHAP. LVI. SIMON RESISTED PETER^ AS THE
MAGICIANS MOSES.
" In a similar transaction I see that I am even
now engaged. For as then, when Moses ex-
horted the king to believe God, the magicians
opposed him by a pretended exhibition of similar
signs, and so kept back the unbelievers from sal-
vation ; so also now, when I have come forth to
teach all nations to believe in the true God,
Simon the magician resists me, acting in opposi-
tion to me, as they also did in opposition to
Moses ; in order that whosoever they be from
among the nations that do not use sound judg-
ment, they may be made manifest ; but that
those may be saved who rightly distinguish signs
from signs." While Peter thus spoke, Niceta
answered : " I beseech you that you would per-
mit me to state whatever occurs to my mind."
Then Peter, being delighted with the eagerness
of his disciples, said : " Speak what you will."
CHAP. LVII.
INIIRACLES OF THE MAGICIANS.
Then said Niceta : " In what respect did the
Egyptians sin in not believing Moses, since the
magicians wrought like signs, even although they
were done rather in appearance than in truth ?
For if I had been there then, should I not have
thought, from the fact that the magicians did
like things to those which Moses did, either that
Moses was a magician, or that the magicians
wrought their signs by divine commission ? For
I should not have thought it likely that the same
things could be effected by magicians, even in
appearance, which he who was sent by God per-
formed. And now, in what respect do they sin
who believe Simon, since they see him do so
great marvels? Or is it not marvellous to fly
through the. air, to be so mixed with fire as to
become one body with it, to make statues walk,
brazen dogs bark, and other such like things,
which assuredly are sufficiently wonderful to
those who know not how to distinguish ? Yea,
he has also been seen to make bread of stones.
But if he sins who believes those who do signs,
how shall it appear that he also does not sin who
has believed our Lord for His signs and works
of power? "
CHAP. LVIII. TRUTH VEILED WITH LOVE.
Then said Peter : " I take it well that you
bring the truth to the rule, and do not suffer
hindrances of faith to lurk in your soul. For
thus you can easily obtain the remedy. Do you
remember that I said, that the worst of all things
is when any one neglects to learn what is for
his good?" Niceta answered : "I remember."
Then Peter : " And again, that God has veiled
His truth, that He may disclose it to those who
faithfully follow Him ? " " Neither," said Niceta,
" have I forgotten this." Then said Peter :
" What think you then ? That God has buried
His truth deep in the earth, and has heaped
mountains upon it, that it may be found by those
only who are able to dig down into the depths?
It is not so ; but as He has surrounded the
mountains and the earth with the expanse of
heaven, so hath He veiled the truth with the
curtain of His own love, that he alone may be
able to reach it, who has first knocked at the
gate of divine love.
CHAP. LIX.
GOOD AND EVIL IN PAIRS.
" For, as I was beginning to say,' God has
appointed for this world certain pairs ; and he
who comes first of the pairs is of evil, he who
comes second, of good. And in this is given
to every man an occasion of right judgment,
whether he is simple or prudent. For if he is
simple, and believes him who comes first, though
moved thereto by signs and prodigies, he must
of necessity, for the same reason, believe him
who comes second ; for he will be persuaded by
signs and prodigies, as he was before. When he
believes this second one, he will learn from him
that he ought not to believe the first, who comes
of evil ; and so the error of the former is cor-
rected by the emendation of the latter. But if
he will not receive the second, because he has
beheved the first, he will deservedly be con-
demned as unjust ; for unjust it is, that when he
believed the first on account of his signs, he will
not beheve the second, though he bring the same,
or even greater signs. But if he has not believed
the first, it follows that he may be moved to be-
lieve the second. For his mind has not become
so completely inactive but that it may be roused
by the redoubling of marvels. But if he is pru-
dent, he can make distinction of the signs. And
if indeed he has believed in the first, he will be
moved to the second by the increase in the mir-
acles, and by comparison he will apprehend
which are better ; although clear tests of miracles
are recognised by all learned men, as we have
shown in the regular order of our discussion.
But if any one, as being whole and not needing
a physician, is not moved to the first, he will be
drawn to the second by the very continuance of
the thing, and will make a distinction of signs
and marvels after this fashion ; — he who is of
' [The substance of chaps. 59, 60, occurs in Homily II. 33, 34,
just before the postponement of the discussion with Simon. — R.J
i^o
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book III.
the evil one, the signs that he works do good to
no one ; but those which the good man worketh
are profitable to men.
CH.\P. LX. USELESSXESS OF PRETENDED MIR.ACLES.
" For tell me, I pray you, what is the use of
showing statues walking, dogs of brass or stone
barking, mountains dancing, of flying through
the air, and such like things, which you say that
Simon did ? But those signs which are of the
good One, are directed to the advantage of men,
as are those which were done by our Lord, who
gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf,
raised up the feeble and the lame, drove away
sicknesses and demons, raised the dead, and did
other like things, as you see also that I do.
Those signs, therefore, which make for the benefit
of men, and confer some good upon them, the
wicked one cannot do, excepting only at the end
of the world. For then it shall be permitted
him to mix up with his signs some good ones, as
the expelling of demons or the healing of dis-
eases ; by this means going beyond his bounds,
and being divided against himself, and fighting
against himself, he shall be destroyed. And
therefore the Lord has foretold, that in the last
times there shall be such temptation, that, if it
be possible, the very elect shall be deceiv'ed ;
that is to say, that by the marks of signs being
confused, even those must be disturbed who seem
to be expert in discovering spirits and distinguish-
ing miracles.
CHAP. LXI.
■TEN PAIRS.
" The ten pairs ' of which we have spoken
have therefore been assigned to this world from
the beginning of time. Cain and Abel were one
pair. The second was the giants and Noah ; the
third, Pharaoh and Abraham ; the fourth, the
Philistines and Isaac ; the fifth, Esau and Jacob ;
the sixth, the magicians and Moses the lawgiver ;
the seventh, the tempter and the Son of man ;
the eighth, Simon and I, Peter ; the ninth, all
nations, and he who shall be sent to sow the
word among the nations ; the tenth, Antichrist
and Christ. Concerning these pairs we shall
give you fuller information at another time."
When Peter spoke thus, Aquila said : " Truly
there is need of constant teaching, that one may
learn what is true about everything."
CHAP. LXII. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
But Peter said : " Who is he that is earnest
toward instruction, and that studiously inquires
into every particular, except him who loves his
own soul to salvation, and renounces all the affairs
' [On the doctrine of pairs compare Homily II. 15, etc., 33; III.
23. -R.]
of this world, that he may have leisure to attend
to the word of God only? Such is he whom
alone the true Prophet deems wise, even he who
sells all that he has and buys the one true pearl,^
who understands what is the difference between
temporal things and eternal, small and great,
men and God. For he understands what is the
eternal hope in presence of the true and good
God. But who is he that loves God, save him
who knows His wisdom? And how can anyone
obtain knowledge of God's wisdom, unless he
be constant in hearing His word? WHience it
comes, that he conceives a love for Him, and
venerates Him with worthy honour, pouring out
hymns and prayers to Him, and most pleasantly
resting in these, accounteth it his greatest dam-
age if at any time he speak or do aught else even
for a moment of time ; because, in reality, the
soul which is filled with the love of God can
neither look upon anything except what pertains
to God, nor, by reason of love of Him, can be
satisfied with meditating upon those things which
it knows to be pleasing to Him. But those who
have not conceived affection for Him, nor bear
His love lighted up in their mind, are as it were
placed in darkness and cannot see light ; and
therefore, even before they begin to learn any-
thing of God, they immediately faint as though
worn out by labour ; and filled with weariness,
they are straightway hurried by their own peculiar
habits to those words with which they are pleased.
For it is wearisome and annoying to such persons
to hear anything about God ; and that for the
reason I have stated, because their mind has re-
ceived no sweetness of divine love."
CHAP. LXIII.
A DESERTER FROM SIMONS CAMP.
While Peter was thus speaking, the day
dawned ; and, behold, one of the disciples of
Simon came, crying out : ^ " I beseech thee, O
Peter, receive me, a wretch, who have been de-
ceived by Simon the magician, to whom I gave
heed as to a heavenly God, by reason of those
miracles which I saw him perform. But when I
heard your discourses, I began to think him a
man, and indeed a wicked man ; nevertheless,
when he went out from this I alone followed him,
for I had not yet clearly perceived his impieties.
But when he saw me following him, he called me
blessed, and led me to his house ; and about the
middle of the night he said to me, ' I shall make
you better than all men, if you will remain with
me even till the end.' W^hen I had promised
him this, he demanded of me an oath of per-
severance ; and having got this, he placed upon
my shoulders some of his polluted and accursed
secret things, that I might carry them, and or-
2 Matt. xiii. 46.
3 [This incident is narrated only in the Recognitions.
-R.]
Chap. LXVL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
131
dered me to follow him. But when we came to
the sea, he went aboard a boat which happened
to be there, and took from my neck what he had
ordered me to carry. And as he came out a
little after, bringing nothing with him, he must
have throwTi it into the sea. Then he asked me
to go with him, saying that he was going to
Rome, and that there he would please the peo-
ple so much, that he should be reckoned a god,
and publicly gifted with divine honours. 'Then,'
said he, ' if you wish to return hither, I shall
send you back, loaded with all riches, and up-
held by various services.' When I heard this,
and saw nothing in him in accordance with this
profession, but perceived that he was a magician
and a deceiver, I answered : ' Pardon me, I pray
you ; for I have a pain in my feet, and therefore
I am not able to leave C^esarea. Besides, I have
a wife and litde children, whom I cannot leave
by any means.' When he heard this, he charged
me with sloth, and set out towards Dora, saying,
' You will be sorry, when you hear what glory I
shall get in the city of Rome.' And after this
he set out for Rome, as he said ; but I hastily
returned hither, entreating you to receive me to
penitence, because I have been deceived by
him."
CHAP. LXIV. — DECLARATION OF SIMON'S WICKED-
NESS.
When he who had returned from Simon had
thus spoken, Peter ordered him to sit down in
the court. And he himself going forth, and seeing
immense crowds, far more than on the previous
days, stood in his usual place ; and pointing out
him who had come, began to discourse as fol-
lows : " This man whom I point out to you,
brethren, has just come to me, telling me of the
wicked practices of Simon, and how he has
thrown the implements of his wickedness into
the sea, not induced to do so by repentance, but
being afraid lest, being detected, he should be
subjected to the public laws. And he asked this
man, as he tells me, to remain with him, promis-
ing him immense gifts ; and when he could not
persuade him to do so, he left him, reproaching
him for sluggishness, and set out for Rome."
When Peter had intimated this to the crowd, the
man himself who had returned from Simon stood
up, and began to state to the people everything
relating to Simon's crimes. And when they were
shocked by the things which they heard that
Simon had done by his magical acts, Peter said : '
CHAP. LXV.
• PETER RESOLVES TO FOLLOW SIMON.
"Be not, my brethren, distressed by those
things that have been done, but give heed to
' [With the remainder of the book compare Homily III. 58-73.
The resemblance is general rather than particular. — R.J
the future : for what is passed is ended ; but the
things which threaten are dangerous to those who
shall fall in with them. For offences shall never
be wanting in this world,^ so long as the enemy
is permitted to act according to his will ; in
order that the prudent and those who understood
his wiles may be conquerors in the contests
which he raises against them ; but that those
who neglect to learn the things that pertain to
the salvation of their souls, may be taken by him
with merited deceptions. Since, therefore, as
you have heard, Simon has gone forth to pre-
occupy the ears of the Gentiles who are called
to salvation, it is necessary that I also follow
upon his track, so that whatever disputations he
raises may be corrected by us. But inasmuch
as it is right that greater anxiety should be felt
concerning you who are already received within
the walls of life, — for if that which has been
actually acquired perish, a positive loss is sus-
tained ; while with respect to that which has not
yet been acquired, if it can be got, there is so
much gain ; but if not, the only loss is that there
is no gain ; — in order, therefore, that you may
be more and more confirmed in the truth, and
the nations who are called to salvation may in
no way be prevented by the wickedness of
Simon, I have thought good to ordain Zacchseus
as pastor over you,3 and to remain with you my-
self for three months ; and so to go to the Gen-
tiles, lest through our delaying longer, and the
crimes of Simon stalking in every direction, they
should become incurable."
CHAP. LXVI. ZACCH.EUS MADE BISHOP OF C.^SA-
REA ; PRESBYTERS AND DEACONS ORDAINED.
At this announcement all the people wept,
hearing that he was going to leave them ; and
Peter, sympathizing with them, himself also shed
tears ; and looking up to heaven, he said : "To
Thee, O God, who hast made heaven and earth,
and all things that are in them, we pour out the
prayer of supplication, that Thou wouldest com-
fort those who have recourse to Thee in their
tribulation. For by reason of the affection that
they have towards Thee, they do love me who
have declared to them Thy truth. Wherefore
guard them with the right hand of Thy com-
passion ; for neither Zaccheeus nor any other
man can be a sufficient guardian to them."
When he had said this, and more to the same
effect, he laid his hands upon Zacchaeus, and
prayed that he might blamelessly discharge the
duty of his bishopric. Then he ordained twelve
presbyters and four deacons, and said : " I have
^ Matt, xviii. 7, Luke xvii. i.
3 [In the Homilies full details are given respecting the choice of
Zacchaeus (who is identified with the publican in Luke xix.), his un-
willingness to serve; precepts are also added concerning Church
officers. — R.]
132
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book III.
ordained you this Zacchaeus as a bishop, know-
ing that he has the fear of God, and is expert in
the Scriptures. You ought therefore to honour
him as holding the place of Christ, obeying him
for your salvation, and knowing that whatever
honour and whatever injury is done to him, re-
dounds to Christ, and from Christ to God. Hear
him therefore with all attention, and receive
from him the doctrine of the faith ; and from
the presbyters the monitions of life ; and from the
deacons the order of discipline. Have a reli-
gious care of widows ; vigorously assist orphans ;
take pity on the poor ; teach the young modesty ;
— and in a word, sustain one another as circum-
stances shall demand ; worship God, who created
heaven and earth ; believe- in Christ ; love one
another ; be compassionate to all ; and fulfil
charity not only in word, but in act and deed."
CHAP. LXVII. INVITATION TO BAPTISM.
When he had given them these and such like
precepts, he made proclamation to the people,
saying : " Since I have resolved to stay three
months with you, if any one desires it, let him
be baptized ; that, stripped of his former evils,
he may for the future, in consequence of his own
conduct, become heir of heavenly blessings, as a
reward for his good actions. Whosoever will,
then, let him come to Zacchseus and give his
name to him, and let him hear from him the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Let him
attend to frequent fastings, and approve him-
self in all things, that at the end of these three
months he may be baptized on the day of the
festival. But every one of you shall be baptized
in ever flowing waters, the name of the Trine
Beatitude being invoked over him ; he being first
anointed with oil sanctified by prayer, that so at
length, being consecrated by these things, he may
attain a perception of holy things." '
CHAP. LXVIII.
•TWELVE SENT BEFORE HIM.
And when he had spoken at length on the
subject of baptism, he dismissed the crowd, and
betook himself to his usual place of abode ; and
there, while the twelve stood around him (viz.
Zacchaeus and Sophonias, Joseph and Micha^us,
Eleazar and Phineas, Lazarus and Eliseus, I
Clement and Nicodemus, Niceta and Aquila),
he addressed us to the following effect : " Let
us, my brethren, consider what is right ; for it is
our duty to bring some help to the nations,
which are called to salvation. You have your-
selves heard that Simon has set out, wishing to
anticipate our journey. Him we should have
followed step by step, that wheresoever he tries
' This may be translated, " that he may partake of holy things."
Cotelerius supposes the words " holy things" to mean the body and
blood of Christ.
to subvert any, we might immediately confute
him. But since it appears to me to be unjust to
forsake those who have been already converted
to God, and to bestow our care upon those who
are still afar off, I think it right that I should
remain three months with those in this city
who have been turned to the faith, and should
strengthen them ; and yet that we should not
neglect those who are still far off, lest haply, if
they be long infected with the power of perni-
cious doctrine, it be more difficult to recover
them. Therefore I wish (only, however, if you
also think it right), that for Zacchoeus, whom we
have now ordained bishop, Benjamin the son of
Saba be substituted ; and for Clement (whom I
have resolved to have always by me, because,
coming from the Gentiles, he has a great desire
to hear the word of God) there be substituted
Ananias the son of Safra ; and for Niceta and
Aquila, who have been but lately converted to
the faith of Christ, Rubelus the brother of
Zacchoeus, and Zacharias the builder. I wish,
therefore, to complete the number of twelve by
substituting these four for the other four, that
Simon may feel that I in them am always with
him." 2
CHAP. LXIX. — ARRANGEMENTS APPROVED BY ALL
THE BRETHREN.
Having therefore separated me, Clement, and
Niceta and Aquila, he said to those twelve :
" I wish you the day after to-morrow to pro-
ceed to the Gentiles, and to follow in the foot-
steps of Simon, that you may inform me of all
his proceedings. You will also inquire diligently
the sentiments of every one, and announce to
them that I shall come to them without delay ;
and, in short, in all places instruct the Gentiles
to expect my coming." When he had spoken
these things, and others to the same effect, he
said : " You also, my brethren, if you have any-
thing to say to these things, say on, lest haply it
be not right which seems good to me alone."
Then all, with one voice applauding him, said :
" We ask you rather to arrange everything ac-
cording to your own judgment, and to order
what seems good to yourself; for this we think
to be the perfect work of piety, if we fulfil what
you command."
CHAP. LXX. — DEPARTURE OF THE TWELVE.
Therefore, on the day appointed, when they
had ranged themselves before Peter, they said :
" Do not think, O Peter, that it is a small grief
to us that we are to be deprived of the privilege
of hearing you for three months ; but since it is
2 [Compare with this chapter the lists in book ii i and in Homily
II. I. The special significance attached to the number twelve is pe-
culiar to this passage. — R.]
Chap. LXXIV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
133
good for us to do what you order, we shall most
readily obey. We shall always retain in our
hearts the remembrance of your face ; and so
we set out actively, as you have commanded us."
Then he, having poured out a prayer to the Lord
for them, dismissed them. And when those
twelve who had been sent forward had gone,
Peter entered, according to custom, and stood
in the place of disputation. And a multitude
of people had come together, even a larger num-
ber than usual ; and all with tears gazed upon
him, by reason of what they had heard from
him the day before, that he was about to go
forth on account of Simon. Then, seeing them
weeping, he himself also was similarly affected,
although he endeavoured to conceal and to re-
strain his tears. But the trembling of his voice,
and the interruption of his discourse, betrayed
that he was distressed by similar emotion.
CHAP. LXXI. PETER PREPARES THE CESAREANS
FOR HIS DEPARTURE.
However, rubbing his forehead with his hand,
he said : " Be of good courage, my brethren,
and comfort your sorrowful hearts by means of
counsel, referring all things to God, whose will
alone is to be fulfilled and to be preferred in all
things. For let us suppose for a moment, that
by reason of the affection that we have towards
you, we should act against His will, and remain
with you, is He not able, by sending death upon
me, to appoint to me a longer separation from
you ? And therefore it is better for us to carry
out this shorter separation with His will, as those
to whom it is prescribed to obey God in all
things. Hence you also ought to obey Him
with like submission, inasmuch as you love me
from no other reason than on account of your
love of Him. As friends of God, therefore,
acquiesce in His will ; but also judge yourselves
what is right. Would it not have seemed wicked,
if, when Simon was deceiving you, I had been
detained by the brethren in Jerusalem, and had
not come to you, and that although you had
Zacchoeus ainong you, a good and eloquent man?
So now a'lso consider that it would be wicked,
if, when Simon has gone forth to assail the Gen-
tiles, who are wholly without a defender, I should
be detained by you, and should not follow him.
Wherefore let us see to it, that we do not, by an
unreasonable affection, accomplish the will of
the wicked one.
CHAP. LXXII. — MORE THAN TEN THOUSAND BAP-
TIZED.
" Meantime I shall remain with you three
months, as I promised. Be ye constant in hear-
ing the word ; and at the end of that time, if
any are able and willing to follow us, they may
do so, if duty will admit of it. And when I say
// duty will admit, I mean that no one by his
departure must sadden any one who ought not
to be saddened, as by leaving parents who ought
not to be left, or a faithful wife, or any other
person to whom he is bound to afford comfort
for God's sake." Meantime, disputing and teach-
ing day by day, he filled up the time appointed
with the labour of teaching ; and when the fes-
tival day arrived, upwards of ten thousand were
baptized.
CHAP. LXXin. — TIDINGS OF SIMON.
But in those days a letter was received from
the brethren who had gone before, in which
were detailed the crimes of Simon, how going
from city to city he was deceiving multitudes,
and everywhere maligning Peter, so that, when
he should come, no one might afford him a hear-
ing. For he asserted that Peter was a magician,
a godless man, injurious, cunning, ignorant, and
professing impossible things. " For," says he,
" he asserts that the dead shall rise again, which
is impossible. But if any one attempts to con-
fute him, he is cut off by secret snares by him,
through means of his attendants. Wherefore, I
also," says he, " when I had vanquished him and
triumphed over him, fled for fear of his snares,
lest he should destroy me by incantations, or
compass my death by plots." They intimated
also that he mainly stayed at Tripolis.'
CHAP. LXXIV. — FAREWELL TO C^SAREA.
Peter therefore ordered the letter to be read
to the people ; and after the reading of it, he
addressed them and gave them full instructions
about everything, but especially that they should
obey Zacchaeus, whom he had ordained bishop
over them. Also he commended the presbyters
and the deacons to the people, and not less the
people to them. And then, announcing that he
should spend the winter at Tripolis, he said :
" I commend you to the grace of God, being
about to depart to-morrow, with God's will.
But during the whole three months which he
spent at Caesarea, for the sake of instruction,
whatever he discoursed of in the presence of
the people in the day-time, he explained more
fully and perfectly in the night, in private to us,,
as more faithful and completely approved by
him. And at the same time he commanded me,
because he understood that I carefully stored in
my memory what I heard, to commit to writing
whatever seemed worthy of record, and to send
it to you, my lord James, as also I did, in obe-
dience to his command.
' [In Homily III. 58 Simon is represented as doing great miracles
at Tyre. Peter follows him there^ but finds that he has gone. The
long discussions with him are assigned to Laodicea. See Homilies,
xvi., etc. — R.J
134
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IV.
CHAP. LXXV. CONTENTS OF CLEMENT S DE-
SPATCHES TO JAMES.
The first book,' therefore, of those that I for-
merly sent to you, contains an account of the
true Prophet, and of the pecuharity of the un-
derstanding of the law, according to what the
tradition of Moses teacheth. The second con-
tains an account of the beginning, and whether
there be one beginning or many, and that the
law of the Hebrews knows what immensity is.
The third, concerning God, and those things
that have been ordained by Him. The fourth,
that though there are many that are called gods,
there is but one true God, according to the tes-
timonies of the Scriptures. The fifth, that there
are two heavens, one of which is that visible
firmament which shall pass away, but the other
is eternal and invisible. The sixth, concerning
good and evil ; and that all things are subjected
to good by the Father ; and why, and how, and
whence evil is, and that it co-operates with good,
but not with a good purpose ; and what are the
signs of good, and what those of evil ; and what
is the difference between duality and conjunc-
tion. The seventh, what are the things which
the twelve apostles treated of in the presence
of the people in the temple. The eighth, con-
' Cotelerius remarks that these ten books previously sent to James
(if they ever existed) ought to be distinguished from the ten books of
the Recognitions, which were addressed to the same James, but
written after those now mentioned.
cerning the words of the Lord which seem to
be contradictory, but are not ; and what is the
explanation of them. The ninth, that the law
which has been given by God is righteous and
perfect, and that it alone can make pure. The
tenth, concerning the carnal birth of men, and
concerning the generation which is by baptism ;
and what is the succession of carnal seed in
man ; and what is the account of his soul, and
how the freedom of the will is in it, which, see-
ing it is not unbegotten, but made, could not be
immoveable from good. Concerning these sev-
eral subjects, therefore, whatever Peter discoursed
at Csesarea, according to his command, as I have
said, I have sent you written in ten volumes.^
But on the next day, as had been determined,
we set out from Cassarea with some faithful men,
who had resolved to accompany Peter,
2 [This chapter furnishes some positive evidence that the Recog-
ntiio7is are based upon an earlier work. The topics here named do
not correspond with those of the Homilies, exxept in the most gen-
eral way. Hence this passage does not favour the theory that the
author of the Recognitions had the Homilies before him when he
wrote. Even in xvi.-xix. of the later work, which Uhlhorn re-
garded as the nucleus of the entire literature, the resemblances are
slight. As already intimated (see Introductory Notice, p. 71), Uhl-
horn has abandoned this theory.
On the other hand, -the chapter bears marks of being the con-
clusion to a complete document. It can therefore be urged, in sup-
port of the new view of Lehmann {Die Clementinischett Schri/ten,
Gotha, 1869), that the Recog>iitions are made up of two parts (books
i.-iii., iv.-x.) by two different authors, both parts being based on
earlier documents. This chapter is regarded by Hilgenfeld as con-
taining a general outline of the Kerygina Petri, a Jewish-Christian
document of Roman origin. In i. 27-72 he finds a remnant of this
document incorporated in the Recognitions. — R. j
BOOK IV.
CHAP. I. HALT AT DORA.
Having set out from Cassarea on the way to
Tripohs, we made our first stoppage at a small
town called Dora, because it was not far distant ;
and almost all those who had believed through
the preaching of Peter could scarcely bear to be
separated from him, but walked along with us,
again and again gazing upon him, again and
again embracing him, again and again convers-
ing with him, until we came to the inn. On the
following day we came to Ptolemais, where we
stayed ten days ; and when a considerable num-
ber had received the word of God, we signified
to some of them who seemed particularly atten-
tive, and wished to detain us longer for the sake
of instruction, that they might, if so disposed,
follow us to Tripolis. We acted in the same
way at Tyre, and Sidon, and Berytus, and an-
nounced to those who desired to hear further
discourses, that we were to spend the winter at
Tripolis.' Therefore, as all those who were anx-
ious followed Peter from each city, we were a
great multitude of elect ones when we entered
into Tripolis. On our arrival, the brethren who
had been sent before met us before the gates of
the city ; and taking us under their charge, con-
ducted us to the various lodgings w^^ich they
had prepared. Then there arose a commotion
' [In books iv.-vi. the scene is laid at Tripolis. The same city
is the locality to which Homilies VIII. -XI. are assigned. The inter-
vening portion (Homilies IV. -VII.) gives the details of the journey
here alluded to, telling of various discourses at Tyre. Some of the
matter of these discourses occurs in the Recognitiotis, but under dif-
ferent circumstances. The heathen disputants are not the same.
The parallelisms of the portions assigned to Tripolis are as follows:
book iv. has its counterpart in Homily VIII. and in much of Homily
IX.; book v. has a parallel in Homily X. and in parts of XL;
book vi. in its general outline resembles Homily XI.
The discourses of the Apostle as given in the Recognitiotis
are more orderly and logical than those in the Homilies. The views
presented differ somewhat, in accordance with the general character
of the two works. Much of the matter in the Recognitions occurs in
a different order in the Homilies, but the internal evidence seems to
point to the priority of the former. Both might be difierent manipu-
lations of a common documentary source, but that theory is not
necessarily applicable to these portions of the literature. — R.]
Chap. V.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
JD
in the city, and a great assemblage of persons
desirous to see Peter.'
CHAP. II. RECEPTION IN THE HOUSE OF MARO.
And when we had come to the house of Maro,
in which preparation had been made for Peter,
he turned to the crowd, and told them that he
would address them the day after to-morrow.
Therefore the brethren who had been sent before
assigned lodgings to all who had come with us.
Then, when Peter had entered into the house of
ISIaro, and was asked to partake of food, he
answered that he would by no means do so, until
he had ascertained whether all those that had
accompanied him were provided with lodgings.
Then he learned from the brethren who had been
sent before, that the citizens had received them
not only hospitably, but with all kindness, by
reason of their love towards Peter ; so much so,
that several were disappointed because there
were no guests for them ; for that all had made
such preparations, that even if many more had
come, there would still have been a deficiency of
guests for the hosts, not of hosts for the guests.
CHAP, HI. — Simon's flight.
Thereupon Peter was greatly delighted, and
praised the brethren, and blessed them, and re-
quested them to remain with him. Then, when
he had bathed in the sea, and had taken food,
he went to sleep in the evening ; and rising, as
usual, at cock-crow, while the evening light was
still burning, he found us all awake. Now there
were in all sixteen of us, viz. Peter and I, Clem-
ent, Niceta and Aquila, and those twelve who
had preceded us.^ Saluting us, then, as was his
wont, Peter said : " Since we are not taken up
with others to-day, let us be taken up with our-
selves. I shall tell you what took place at Csesa-
rea after your departure, and you shall tell us
of the doings of Simon here." And while the
conversation was going on on these subjects, at
daybreak some of the members of the family
came in and told Peter that Simon, when he
heard of Peter's arrival, departed in the night,
on the way to Syria. They also stated that the
crowds thought that the day which he had said
was to intervene was a very long time for their
affection, and that they were standing in impa-
tience before the gate, conversing among them-
selves about those things which they wished to
hear, and that they hoped that they should by
all means see him before the time appointed ;
and that as the day became lighter the multitudes
were increasing, and that they were trusting con-
fidently, whatever they might be presuming upon,
that they should hear a discourse from him.
" Now then," said they, " instruct us to tell them
what seems good to you ; for it is absurd that
so great a multitude should have come together,
and should depart with sadness, through no an-
swer being returned to them. For they will not
consider that it is they that have not waited for
the appointed day, but rather they will think that
you are slighting them."
CHAP. IV. THE harvest PLENTEOUS.
Then Peter, filled with admiration, said : 3
"You see, brethren, how every \\;ord of the Lord
spoken prophetically is fulfilled. For I remem-
ber that He said, ' The harvest indeed is plente-
ous, but the labourers are few ; ask therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that He would send out
labourers into His harv^est.' ■* Behold, therefore,
the things which are foretold in a mystery are
fulfilled. But whereas He said also, ' Many shall
come from the east and the west, from the north
and the south, and shall recline in the bosom of
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob ; ' 5 this also is,
as you see, in like manner fulfilled. Wherefore
I entreat you, my fellow-servants and helpers, that
you would learn diligently the order of preaching,
and the ways of absolutions, that ye may be able
to save the souls of men, which by the secret
power of God acknowledge whom they ought
to love, even before they are taught. For you
see that these men, like good servants, long for
him whom they expect to announce to them the
coming of their Lord, that they may be able to
fulfil His will when they have learned it. The
desire, therefore, of hearing the word of God,
and inquiring into His will, they have from God ;
and this is the beginning of the gift of God,
which is given to the Gentiles, that by this they
may be able to receive the doctrine of truth.
CHAP. V, MOSES and CHRIST,
" For so also it was given to the people of the
Hebrews from the beginning, that they should
love Moses, and believe his word ; whence also
it is written : ' The people believed God, and
Moses His servant,'^ What, therefore, was of
peculiar gift from God toward the nation of the
Hebrews, we see now to be given also to those
who are called from among the Gentiles to the
faith. But the method of works is put into the
power and will of every one, and this is their
own ; but to have an affection towards a teacher
of truth, this is a gift of the heavenly Father.
But salvation is in this, that you do His will of
whom you have conceived a love and affection
through the gift of God ; lest that saying of His
' [" Maroones," Homily VIII. i.
' [Comp. Homily VIII. 3. — R.]
■R.]
3 [With chaps. 4-n compare Homily VIII. 4-11. The correspond-
ence is quite clo.se. — R.]
* Matt. ix. 37, 38.
5 Luke xiii. 29; Matt. viii. 11.
'' Ex. xiv. 31.
136
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IV.
be addressed to you which He spoke, ' Why call
ye me Lord, Lord, and do not what I say ? ' ' It
is therefore the peculiar gift bestowed by God
upon the Hebrews, that they believe Moses ; and
the peculiar gift bestowed upon the Gentiles is
that they love Jesus. For this also the Master
intimated, when He said, ' I will confess to Thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast concealed these things from the wise
and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes. ^
By which it is certainly declared, that the people
of the Hebrews^ who were instructed out of the
law, did not know Him ; but the people of the
Gentiles have acknowledged Jesus, and venerate
Him ; on which account also they shall be saved,
not only acknowledging Him,. but also doing His
will. But he who is of the Gentiles, and who
has it of God to believe Moses, ought also to
have it of his own purpose to love Jesus also.
And again, the Hebrew, who has it of God to
believe Moses, ought to have it also of his own
purpose to believe in Jesus ; so that each of
them, having in himself something of the divine
gift, and something of his own exertion, may be
perfect by both. For concerning such an one
our Lord spoke, as of a rich man, ' Who brings
forth from his treasures things new and old.' ^
CHAP. VI.
•A CONGREGATION.
" But enough has been said of these things ;
for time presses, and the religious devotion of
the people invites us to address them." And
when he had thus spoken, he asked where there
was a suitable place for discussion. And Maro
said: "I have a very spacious halH which can
hold more than five hundred men, and there is
also a garden within the house ; or if it please
you to be in some public place, all would prefer
it, for there is nobody who does not desire at
least to see your face." Then Peter said :
*' Show me the hall, or the garden." And when
he had seen the hall, he went in to see the garden
also ; and suddenly the whole multitude, as if
some one had called them, rushed into the house,
and thence broke through into the garden, where
Peter was already standing, selecting a fit place
for discussion.
CHAP. VII.
THE SICK HEALED.
But when he saw that the crowds had, like the
waters of a great river, poured over the narrow
passage, he mounted upon a pillar which hap-
pened to stand near the wall of the garden, and
first saluted the people in a religious manner.
But some of those who were present, and who
had been for a long time distressed by demons,
' Lulce vi. 46.
" Matt. xi. 25. [Luke X. 21; comp. Homily XVIII. 15-17. — R.]
3 Matt. xiii. 52.
* j^des, in the singular, probably a temple.
threw themselves on the ground, while the un-
clean spirits entreated that they might be allowed
but for one day to remain in the bodies that they
had taken possession of. But Peter rebuked
them, and commanded them to depart ; and
they went out without delay. After these, others
who had been afflicted with long-standing sick-
nesses asked Peter that they might receive heal-
ing ; and he promised that he would entreat the
Lord for them as soon as his discourse of instruc-
tion was completed. But as soon as he prom-
ised, they were freed £rOm their sicknesses ; 5 and
he ordered them to sit down apart, with those
who had been freed from the demons, as after
the fatigue of labour. Meantime, while this was
going on. a vast multitude assembled, attracted
not only by the desire of hearing Peter, but also
by the report of the cures which had been accom-
plished. But Peter, beckoning with his hand to
the people to be still, and settling the crowds in
tranquillity, began to address them as follows ; —
CHAP. VIII. PROVIDENCE VINDICATED.
" It seems to me necessary, at the outset of a
discourse concerning the- true worship of God,
first of all to instruct those who have not as yet
acquired any knowledge of the subject, that
throughout the divine providence must be main-
tained to be without blame, by which the world
is ruled and governed. Moreover, the reason
of the present undertaking, and the occasion
offered by those whom the power of God has
healed, suggest this subject for a beginning, viz.
to show that for good reason very many persons
are possessed of demons, that so the justice of
God may appear. For ignorance will be found
to be the mother of almost all evils. But now
let us come to the reason.
CHAP. IX. — STATE OF INNOCENCE A STATE OF
ENJOYMENT.
" When God had made man after His own
image and likeness, He grafted into His work a
certain breathing and odour of His divinity,
that so men, being made partakers of His Only-
begotten, might through Him be also friends of
God and sons of adoption. Whence also He
Himself, as the true Prophet, knowing with what
actions the Father is pleased, instructed them in
what way they might obtain that privilege. At
that time, therefore, there was among men only
one worship of God — a pure mind and an un-
corrupted spirit. And for this reason every
creature kept an inviolable covenant with the
human race. For by reason of their reverence
of the Creator, no sickness, or bodily disorder,
or corruption of food, had power over them ;
5 [In Homilies VIII. 8, 24, IX. 24, the healing takes place after
the discourses. — R.]
Chap. XIV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
137
whence it came to pass, that a hfe of a thousand
years did not fall into the frailty of old age.
CHAP. X. SIN THE CAUSE OF SUFFERING.
" But when men, leading a life void of distress,
bega'n to think that the continuance of good
things was granted them not by the divine
bounty, but by the chance of things, and to
accept as a debt of nature, not as a gift of God's
goodness, their enjoyment without any exertion of
the delights of the divine complaisance, — men,
being led by these things into contrary and im-
pious thoughts, came at last, at the instigation
of idleness, to think that the life of gods was
theirs by nature, without any labours or merits
on their part. Hence they go from bad to
worse, to believe that neither is the world gov-
erned by the providence of God, nor is there
any place for virtues, since they knew that they
themselves possessed the fulness of ease and
delights, without the assignment of any works
previously, and without any labours were treated
as the friends of God.
CHAP. XI.
SUFFERING SALUTARY.
" By the most righteous judgment of God,
therefore, labours and afflictions are assigned as
a remedy to men languishing in the vanity of
such thoughts. And when labour and tribula-
tions came upon them, they were excluded from
the place of delights and amenity. Also the
earth began to produce nothing to them without
labour ; and then men's thoughts being turned
in them, they were warned to seek the aid of
their Creator, and by prayers and vows to ask
for the divine protection. And thus it came to
pass, that the worship of God, which they had
neglected by reason of their prosperity, they
recovered through their adversity ; and their
thoughts towards God, which indulgence had
perverted, affliction corrected. So therefore the
divine providence, seeing that this was more
profitable to man, removed from them the ways
of benignity and abundance, as being hurtful,
and introduced the way of vexation and tribula-
tion.'
CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION OF ENOCH.
"But^ that He might show that these things
were done on account of the ungrateful, He
translated to immortality a certain one of the
first race of men, because He saw that he was
not unmindful of His grace, and because he
hoped to call on the name of God ; ^ while the
' [In Homily VIII. 12-16 there is inserted a curious account of the
fall of man and angels, and of a race of giants. — R.]
^ [Chap. 12 has no exact parallel in the Homilies, but Homily
VIII. 17 resembles it. — R.]
3 There seems to be here a mixing up of the translation oi Enoch
with the statement that in the days of Enos men began to call on the
name of the Lord; Gen. iv. 26.
rest, who were so ungrateful that they could not
be amended and corrected even by labours and
tribulations, were condemned to a terrible death.
Yet amongst them also He found a certain one,
who was righteous with his house,-* whom He
preserved, having enjoined him to build an ark,
in which he and those who were commanded to
go with him might escape, when all things should
be destroyed by a deluge : in order that, the
wicked being cut off by the overflow of waters,
the world might receive a purification ; and he
who had been preserved for the continuance of
the race, being purified by water, might anew
repair the world.
CHAP. XIII.
■ORIGIN OF IDOL.'VTRY.
" But when all these things were done, men
turned again to impiety ; s and on this account
a law was given by God to instruct them in the
manner of living. But in process of time, the
worship of God and righteousness were cor-
rupted by the unbelieving and the wicked, as
we shall show more fully by and by. Moreover,
perverse and erratic religions were introduced, to
which the greater part of men gave themselves up,
by occasion of holidays and solemnities, institut-
ing drinkings and banquets, following pipes, and
flutes, and harps, and diverse kinds of musical
instruments, and indulging themselves in all
kinds of drunkenness and luxury. Hence every
kind of error took rise ; hence they invented
groves and altars, fillets and victims, and after
drunkenness they were agitated as if with mad
emotions. By this means power was given to
the demons to enter into minds of this sort, so
that they seemed to lead insane dances and to
rave like Bacchanalians ; hence were invented
the gnashing of teeth, and bellowing from the
depth of their bowels ; hence a terrible counte-
nance and a fierce aspect in men, so that he
whom drunkenness had subverted and a demon
had instigated, was believed by the deceived
and the erring to be filled with the Deity.
CHAP. XIV. GOD BOTH GOOD AND RIGHTEOUS.
" Hence, since so many false and erratic reli-
gions have been introduced into the world,^ we
have been sent, as good merchants, bringing
unto you the worship of the true God, handed
down from the fathers, and preserved ; as the
seeds of which we scatter these words amongst
you, and place it in your choice to choose what
seems to you to be right. For if you receive
those things which we bring you, you shall not
^ Gen. vi. 9.
5 [There is a similar chapter in Homily IX. 7, but in a discourse
on the following day. — R.]
* [W'ith chaps. 14-22 compare Homily IX. 8-18. The general
outline is the same, and the resemblances quite close in the larger
part of both passages. — R.]
138
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IV.
only be able yourselves to escape the incursions
of the demon, but also to drive them away from
others ; and at the same time you shall obtain
the rewards of eternal good things. But those
who shall refuse to receive those things which
are spoken by us, shall be subject in the present
life to diverse demons and disorders of sick-
nesses, and their souls after their departure from
the body shall be tormented for ever. For God
is not only good, but also just ; for if He were
always good, and never just to render to every
one according to his deeds, goodness would be
found to be injustice. For it were injustice if
the impious and the pious were treated by Him
alike.
CHAP. XV. HOW DEMONS GET POWER OVER MEN.
"Therefore demons, as we have just said,
when once they have been able, by means of
opportunities afforded them, to convey them-
selves through base and evil actions into the
bodies of men, if they remain in them a long
time through their own negligence, because they
do not seek after what is profitable to their souls,
they necessarily compel them for the future to
fulfil the desires of the demons who dwell in
them. But what is worst of all, at the end of
the world, when that demon shall be consigned
to eternal fire, of necessity the soul also which
obeyed him, shall with him be tortured in
eternal fires, together with its body which it
hath polluted.
CHAP, XVI. — WHY THEY WISH TO POSSESS MEN.
" Now that the demons are desirous of occu-
pying the bodies of men, this is the reason.
They are spirits having their purpose turned to
wickedness. Therefore by immoderate eating
and drinking, and lust, they urge men on to sin,
but only those who entertain the purpose of sin-
ning, who, while they seem simply desirous of
satisfying the necessary cravings of nature, give
opportunity to the demons to enter into them,
because through excess they do not maintain
moderation. For as long as the measure of na-
ture is kept, and legitimate moderation is pre-
served, the mercy of God does not give them
liberty to enter into men. But when either the
mind falls into impiety, or the body is filled with
immoderate meat or drink, then, as if invited by
the will and purpose of those who thus neglect
themselves, they receive power as against those
who have broken the law imposed by God.
CH.\P. XVII. — THE GOSPEL GIVES POWER OVER
DEMONS.
"You see, then, how important is the acknowl-
edgment of God, and the obser\-ance of the di-
vine religion, which not only protects those who
believe from the assaults of the demon, but also
gives them command over those who rule over
others. And therefore it is necessary for you,
who are of the Gentiles, to betake yourselves to
God, and to keep yourselves from all unclean-
ness, that the demons may be expelled, and
God may dwell in you. And at the same time,
by prayers, commit yourselves to God, and call
for His aid against the impudence of the de-
mons ; for ' whatever things ye ask, believing,
ye shall receive.' ' But even the demons them-
selves, in proportion as they see faith grow in a
man, in that proportion they depart from him,
residing only in that part in which something
of infidelity still remains ; but from those who
believe with full faith, they depart without any
delay. For when a soul has come to the faith
of God, it obtains the virtue of heavenly water,
by which it extinguishes the demon like a spark
of fire.
CHAP. XVIII. — THIS POWER IN PROPORTION TO
FAITH.
" There is therefore a measure of faith, which,
if it be perfect, drives the demon perfectly from
the soul ; but if it has any defect, something on
the part of the demon still remains in the por-
tion of infidelity ; and it is the greatest difficulty
for the soul to understand when or how, whether
fully or less fully, the demon has been expelled
from it. For if he remains in any quarter, when
he gets an opportunity, he suggests thoughts to
men's hearts ; and they, not knowing whence
they come, believe the suggestions of the de-
mons, as if they were the perceptions of their
own souls. Thus they suggest to some to follow
pleasure by occasion of bodily necessity ; they
excuse the passionateness of others by excess of
gall ; they colour over the madness of others by
the vehemence of melancholy ; and even exten-
uate the folly of some as the result of abundance
of phlegm. But even if this weie so, still none of
these could be hurtful to the body, except from
the excess of meats and drinks ; because, when
these are taken in excessive quantities, their
abundance, which the natural warmth is not
sul^cient to digest, curdles into a sort of poison,
and it, flowing through the bowels and all the
veins like a common sewer, renders the motions
of the body unhealthy and base. Wherefore
moderation is to be attained in all things, that
neither may place be given to demons, nor the
soul, being possessed by them, be delivered
along with them to be tormented in eternal
fires.
CHAP. XIX.
DEMONS INCITE TO IDOLATRY.
" There is also another error of the demons,
which they suggest to the senses of men, that
• Matt. xxi. 22.
Chap. XXIII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
139
they should think that those things which they
suffer, they suffer from such as are called gods,
in order that thereby, offering sacrifices and
gifts, as if to propitiate them, they may strength-
en the worship of false religion, and avoid us
who are interested in their salvation, that they
may be freed from error ; but this they do, as I
have said, not knowing that these thing are sug-
gested to them by demons, for fear they should
be saved. It is therefore in the power of every
one, since man has been made possessed of
free-will, whether he shall hear us to life, or the
demons to destruction. Also to some, the de-
mons, appearing visibly under various figures,
sometimes throw out threats, sometimes prom-
ise relief from sufferings, that they may instil
into those whom they deceive the opinion of
their being gods, and that it may not be known
that they are demons. But they are not con-
cealed from us, who know the mysteries of the
creation, and for what reason it is permitted to
the demons to do those things in the present
world ; how it is allowed them to transform
themselves into what figures they please, and to
suggest evil thoughts, and to convey themselves,
by means of meats and of drink consecrated to
them, into the minds or bodies of those who
partake of it, and to concoct vain dreams to
further the worship of some idol,
CH-^P. XX. — FOLLY OF IDOLATRY.
" And yet who can be found so senseless as to
be persuaded to worship an idol, whether it be
made of gold or of any other metal? To whom
is it not manifest that the metal is just that which
the artificer pleased ? How then can the divin-
ity be thought to be in that which would not be
at all unless the artificer had pleased ? Or how
can they hope that future things should be de-
clared to them by that in which there is no per-
ception of present things? For although they
should divine something, they should not straight-
way be held to be gods ; for divination is one
thing, divinity is another. For the Pythons also
seem to divine, yet they are not gods ; and, in
short, they are driven out of men by Christians.
And how can that be God which is put to flight
by a man ? But perhaps you will say. What as
to their effecting cures, and their showing how
one can be cured? On this principle, physicians
ought also to be worshipped as gods, for they
cure many ; and in proportion as any one is
more skilful, the more he will cure.
CHAP, XXL — HEATHEN ORACLES,
"Whence it is evident that they, since they
are demoniac spirits, know some things both
more quickly and more perfectly than men ; for
they are not retarded in their learning by the
heaviness of a body. And therefore they, as
being spirits, know without delay and without
difficulty what physicians attain after a long time
and by much labour. It is not wonderful, there-
fore, if they know somewhat more than men do ;
but this is to be observed, that what they know
they do not employ for the salvation of souls,
but for the deception of them, that by means of
it they may indoctrinate them in the worship
of false religion. But God, that the error of so
great deception might not be concealed, and
that He Himself might not seem to be a cause
of error in permitting them so great licence to
deceive men by divinations, and cures, and
dreams, has of His mercy furnished men with a
remedy, and has made the distinction of false-
hood and truth patent to those who desire to
know. This, therefore, is that distinction : what
is spoken by the true God, whether by prophets
or by diverse visions, is always true ; but what is
foretold by demons is not always true. It is
therefore an evident sign that those things are
not spoken by the true God, in which at any
time there is falsehood ; for in truth there is
never falsehood. But in the case of those who
speak falsehoods, there may occasionally be a
slight mixture of truth, to give as it were season-
ing to the falsehoods.
CHAP. XXn, WHY THEY SOMETIMES COME TRUE.
" But if any one say. What is the use of this,
that they should be permitted even sometimes
to speak truth, and thereby so much error be
introduced amongst men? let him take this for
answer : If they had never been allowed to speak
any truth, then they would not foretell anything
at all ; while if they did not foretell, they would
not be known to be demons. But if demons
were not known to be in this world, the cause
of our struggle and contest would be concealed
from us, and we should suffer openly what was
done in secret, that is, if the power were granted
to them of only acting against us, and not of
speaking. But now, since they sometimes speak
truth, and sometimes falsehood, we ought to
acknowledge, as I have said, that their responses
are of demons, and not of God, with whom there
is never falsehood.
CHAP, XXIII, — EVIL NOT IN SUBSTANCE.
" But if any one, proceeding more curiously,
inquire : What then was the use of God's making
these evil things, which should have so great a
tendency to subvert the minds of men?' To
one proposing such a question, we answer that
we must first of all inquire whether there is any
' [Chaps. 23-26 have no exact parallel in the Homilies ; comp.
book iii. 16-26. The questions of the origin of evil and of free-will
are more fully treated in the Recognitions. — R.J
I40
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IV.
evil in substance. And although it would be
sufficient to say to him that it is not suitable
that the creature judge the Creator, but that to
judge the work of another belongs to him who
is either of equal skill or equal power ; yet, to
come directly to the point, we say absolutely
that there is no evil in substance. But if this
be so, then the Creator of substance is vainly
blamed.
CHAP. XXIV. WHY GOD PERMITS EVIL.
" But you will meet me by saying, Even if it
has come to this through freedom of will, was
the Creator ignorant that those whom He cre-
ated would fall away into evil? He ought there-
fore not to have created those" who, He foresaw,
would deviate from the path of righteousness.
Now we tell those who ask such questions, that
the purpose of assertions of the sort made by us
is to show why the wickedness of those who as
yet were not, did not prevail over the goodness
of the Creator.' For if, wishing to fill up the
number and measure of His creation, He had
been afraid of the wickedness of those who were
to be, and like one who could find no other way
of remedy and cure, except only this, that He
should refrain from His purpose of creating, lest
the wickedness of those who were to be should
be ascribed to Him ; what else would this show
but unworthy suffering and unseemly feebleness
on the part of the Creator, who should so fear
the actings of those who as yet were not, that
He refrained from His purposed creation?
CHAP. XXV. — EVIL BEINGS TURNED TO GOOD
ACCOUNT.
" But, setting aside these things, let us con-
sider this earnestly, that God the Creator of tlie
universe, foreseeing the future differences of His
creation, foresaw and provided diverse ranks and
different offices to each of His creatures, accord-
ing to the peculiar movements which were pro-
duced from freedom of will ; so that while all
men are of one substance in respect of the
method of creation, there should yet be diversity
in ranks and offices, according to the peculiar
movements of minds, to be produced from liberty
of will. Therefore He foresaw that there would
be faults in His creatures ; and the method of
His justice demanded that punishment should
follow faults, for the sake of amendment. It
behoved, therefore, that there should be minis-
ters of punishment, and yet that freedom of will
should draw them into that order. Moreover,
those also must have enemies to conquer, who
' There is considerable variety of reading in this sentence, and
the precise meaning is somewhat obscure. The general sense, how-
ever, is sufficiently evident, that if God had refrained from creating
those who. He foresaw, would fall into evil, this would have been to
subject His goodness to their evil.
had undertaken the contests for the heavenly
rewards. Thus, therefore, neither are those things
destitute of utility which are thought to be evil,
since the conquered unwillingly acquire eternal
rewards for those by whom they are conquered.
But let this suffice on these points, for in process
of time even more secret things shall be dis-
closed.
CHAP. XXVI, — EVIL ANGELS SEDUCERS.
" Now therefore, since you do not yet under-
stand how great darkness of ignorance surrounds
you, meantime I wish to explain to you whence
the worship of idols began in this world. And
by idols, I mean those lifeless images which you
worship, whether made of wood, or earthenware,
or stone, or brass, or any other metals : of these
the beginning was in this wise. Certain angels,
having left the course of their proper order,
began to favour the vices of men,^ and in some
measure to lend unworthy aid to their lust, in
order that by these means they might indulge
their own pleasures the more ; and then, that
they might not seem to be inclined of their own
accord to unworthy services, taught men that
demons could, by certain arts — that is, by ixiagi-
cal invocations — be made to obey men ; and
so, as from a furnace and workshop of wicked-
ness, they filled the whole world with the smoke
of impiety, the light of piety being withdrawn.
CHAP. XXVII. — HAM THE FIRST MAGICIAN.
" For these and some other causes, a flood
was brought upon the world, ^ as we have said
already, and shall say again ; and all who were
upon the earth were destroyed, except the family
of Noah, who survived, with his three sons and
their wives. One of these, by name Ham, un-
happily discovered the magical act, and handed
down the instruction of it to one of his sons,
who was called Mesraim, from whom the race of
the Egyptians and Babylonians and Persians are
descended. Him the nations who then existed
called Zoroaster,^ admiring him as the first au-
thor of the magic art ; under whose name also
many books on this subject exist. He therefore,
being much and frequently intent upon the stars,
and wishing to be esteemed a god among them,
began to draw forth, as it were, certain sparks
from the stars, and to show them to men, in or-
der that the rude and ignorant might be aston-
ished, as with a miracle ; and desiring to increase
this estimation of him, he attempted these things
again and again, until he was set on fire, and
consumed by the demon himself, whom he ac-
costed with too great importunity.
2 [Comp. Homily VIII. 13. — R.J
3 [With chaps. 27-31 compare Homily IX. 3-7. The resem-
blances are quite close. See also book i. 30, 31. — R.j
Chap. XXXII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
141
CHAP. XXVIII. TOWER OF BABEL.
" But the foolish men who were then, whereas
they ought to have abandoned the opuiion which
they had conceived of him, inasmuch as they
had seen it confuted by his mortal punishment,
extolled him the more. For raising a sepulchre
to his honour, they went so far as to adore him
as a friend of God, and one who had been re-
moved to heaven in a chariot of lightning, and
to worship him as if he were a living star.
Hence also his name was called Zoroaster after
his death — that is, living star — by those who,
after one generation, had been taught to speak
the Greek language. In fine, by this example,
even now many worship those who have been
struck with lightning, honouring them with sep-
ulchres, and worshipping them as friends of God.
But this man was born in the fourteenth gen-
eration, and died in the fifteenth, in which the
tower was built, and the languages of men were
divided into many.
CHAP. XXIX. — FIRE-WORSHIP OF THE PERSIANS.
" First among whom is named a certain king
Nimrod, the magic art having been handed
down to him as by a flash, whom the Greeks
also called Ninus, and from whom the city of
Nineveh took its name. Thus, therefore, di-
verse and erratic superstitions took their begin-
ning from the magic art. For, because it was
difficult to draw away the human race from the
love of God, and attach them to deaf and lifeless
images, the magicians made use of higher efforts,
that men might be turned to erratic worship, by
signs among the stars, and motions brought down
as it were from heaven, and by the will of God.
And those who had been first deceived, collect-
ing the ashes of Zoroaster, — who, as we have
said, was burnt up by the indignation of the de-
mon, to whom he had been too troublesome, —
brought them to the Persians, that they might be
preserved by them with perpetual watching, as
divine fire fallen from heaven, and might be wor-
shipped as a heavenly God.
CHAP. XXX. — hero-wors;hip.
" By a like example, other men in other places
built temples, set up statues, instituted mysteries
and ceremonies and sacrifices, to those whom
they had admired, either for some arts or for vir-
tue, or at least had held in very great affection ;
and rejoiced, by means of all things belonging
to gods, to hand down their fame to posterity ;
and that especially, because, as we have already
said, they seemed to be supported by some phan-
tasies of magic art, so that by invocation of de-
mons something seemed to be done and moved
by them towards the deception of men. To
these they add also certain solemnities, and
drunken banquets, in which men might with all
freedom indulge ; and demons, conveyed into
them in the chariot of repletion, might be mixed
with their very bowels, and holding a place there,
might bind the acts and thoughts of men to
their own will. Such errors, then, having been
introduced from the beginning, and having been
aided by lust and drunkenness, in which carnal
men chiefly delight, the religion of God, which
consisted ia continence and sobriety, began to
become rare amongst men, and to be well-nigh
abolished.
CHAP. XXXI. — idolatry LED TO ALL IMMORALITY.
" For whereas at first, men worshipping a right-
eous and all-seeing God, neither dared sin nor
do injury to their neighbours, being persuaded
that God sees the actions and movements of
every one ; when religious worship was directed
to lifeless images, concerning which they were
certain that they were incapable of hearing,
or sight, or motion, they began to sin licen-
tiously, and to go forward to every crime, be-
cause they had no fear of suffering anything at
the hands of those whom they worshipped as
gods. Hence the madness of wars burst out ;
hence plunderings, rapines, captivities, and lib-
erty reduced to slavery ; each one, as he could,
satisfied his lust and his covetousness, although
no power can satisfy covetousness. For as fire,
the more fuel it gets, is the more extensively
kindled and strengthened, so also the madness
of covetousness is made greater and more vehe-
ment by means of those things which it acquires.
CHAP. XXXII. INVITATION".
"Wherefore begin now with better under-
standing to resist yourselves in those things
which you do not rightly desire ; ' if so be that
you can in any way repair and restore in your-
selves that purity of religion and innocence of
life which at first were bestowed upon man by
God, that thereby also the hope of immortal
blessings may be restored to you. And give
thanks to the bountiful Father of all, by Him
whom He has constituted King of peace, and
the treasury of unspeakable honours, that even
at the present time your sins may be washed
away with the water of the fountain, or river, or
even sea : the threefold name of blessedness being
called over you, that by it not only evil spirits
may be driven out, if any dwell in you, but also
that, when you have forsaken your sins, and have
with entire faith and entire purity of mind be-
lieved in God, you may drive out wicked spirits
and demons from others also, and may be able
■ [To chaps. 32, 33, a close parallel is found in Homily IX. 10-
21.— R.J
142
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IV.
to set others free from sufferings and sicknesses.
For the demons themselves know and acknowl-
edge those who have given themselves up to
God, and sometimes they are driven out by the
mere presence of such, as you saw a little while
ago, how, when we had only addressed to you
the word of salutation, straightway the demons,
on account of their respect for our religion, be-
gan to cry out, and could not bear our presence
even for a little.
CHAP. XXXIII. THE WEAKEST CHRISTIAN MORE
POWERFUL THAN THE SIRONGEST DEMON.
" Is it, then, that we are of another and a su-
perior nature, and that therefore the demons are
afraid of us ? Nay, we are of one and the same
nature with you, but we differ in religion. But
if you will also be like us, we do not grudge it,
but rather we exhort you, and wish you to be as-
sured, that when the same faith and religion and
innocence of life shall be in you that is in us,
you will have equal and the same power and vir-
tue against demons, through God rewarding your
faith. For as he who has soldiers under him,
although he may be inferior, and they superior
to him in strength, yet ' says to this one, Go,
and he goeth ; and to another. Come, and he
Cometh ; and to another, Do this, and he doeth
it ; ' ' and this he is able to do, not by his own
power, but by the fear of Caesar ; so every faith-
ful one commands the demons, although they
seem to be much stronger than men, and that
not by means of his own power, but by means of
the power of God, who has put them in subjec-
tion. For even that which we have just spoken
of, that Caesar is held in awe by all soldiers,
and in every camp, and in his whole kingdom,
though he is but one man, and perhaps feeble in
respect of bodily strength, this is not effected
but by the power of God, who inspires all with
fear, that they may be subject to one.
CHAP. XXXIV.
■TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.
"This we would have you know assuredly,
that a demon has no power against a man,
unless one voluntarily submit himself to his de-
sires.- Whence even that one who is the prince
of wickedness, approached Him who, as we have
said, is appointed of God King of peace, tempt-
ing Him, and began to promise Him all the
glory of the world ; because he knew that when
he had offered this to others, for the sake of
deceiving them, they had worshipped him.
Therefore, impious as he was, and unmindful of
himself, which indeed is the special peculiarity
of wickedness, he presumed that he should be
' Matt. viii. g. [Luke vii. 8. — R.]
- [The close of this discourse, chaps. 34-37, resembles that of
the first at Tripolis, in Homily VIII. 21, 24. As already indicated,
much of Homily IX. finds a parallel in this book. — R.J
worshipped by Him by whom he knew that he
was to be destroyed. Therefore our Lord, con-
firming the worship of one God, answered him :
' It is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and Him only shalt thou serve. '^ And he,
terrified by this answer, and fearing lest the true
religion of the one and true God should be re-
stored, hastened straightway to send forth into
this world false prophets, and false apostles, and
false teachers, who should speak indeed in the
name of Christ, but should accomplish the will
of the demon.
CHAP. XXXV. FALSE APOSTLES.
" Wherefore observe the greatest caution, that
you believe no teacher, unless he bring from
Jerusalem the testimonial of James the Lord's
brother, or of whosoever may come after him.*
For no one, unless he has gone up thither, and
there has been approved as a fit and faithful
teacher for preaching the word of Christ, —
unless, I say, he brings a testimonial thence, is
by any means to be received. But let neither
prophet nor apostle be looked for by you at this
time, besides us. For there is one true Prophet,
whose words we twelve apostles preach ; for He
is the accepted year of God, having us apostles
as His twelve months. But for what reason the
world itself was made, or what diversities have
occurred in it, and why our Lord, coming for its
restoration, has chosen and sent us twelve apos-
tles, shall be explained more at length at another
time. Meantime He has commanded us to go
forth to preach, and to invite you to the supper
of the heavenly King, which the Father hath
prepared for the marriage of His Son, and that
we should give you wedding garments, that is,
the grace of baptism ; 5 which whosoever obtains,
as a spotless robe with which he is to enter to
the supper of the King, ought to beware that it
be not in any part of it stained with sin, and so
he be rejected as unworthy and reprobate.
CHAP. XXXVI. — THE GARMENTS UNSPOTTED.
" But the ways in which this garment may be
spotted are these : If any one withdraw from
God the Father and Creator of all, receiving
another teacher besides Christ, who alone is the
faithful and true Prophet, and who has sent us
twelve apostles to preach the word ; if any one
think otherwise than worthily of the substance of
the Godhead, which excels all things ; — these
are the things which even fatally pollute the gar-
mem of baptism. But the things which pollute it
in actions are these : murders, adulteries, hatreds,
avarice, evil ambition. And the things which
3 Matt. iv. ID. [Luke IV. 8. — R.]
4 [This is peculiar in this connection. There is, at least, a sug-
gestion of anti- Pauline spirit in its teaching. — R.j
i [Matt. xxii. 2-14. J
Chap. III.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
143
pollute at once the soul and the body are these :
to partake of the table of demons, that is, to taste
things sacrificed, or blood, or a carcase which is
strangled,' and if there be aught else which has
been offered to demons. Be this therefore the first
step to you of three ; which step brings forth
thirty commands, and the second sixty, and the
third a hundred, ^ as we shall expound more fully
to you at another time."
CHAP. XXXVII. — THE CONGREGATION DISMISSED.
When he had thus spoken, and had charged
them to come to the same place in good time on
' [In Homily VII. 8 a similar injunction is given, at Sidon. The
language in both places recalls Acts xv. 20 and i Cor. x. 21. But
most of the chapter is peculiar to the Recognitions. — R.]
2 Matt xiii. 23. [Comp. Mark iv. 8, 20, where the order of the
numbers corresponds with that of the Recognitions. The interpre-
tation is a fanciful one, indicating not only Judaistic legalism, but
the notion of esotenc teaching. The passage shows Ebionitic ten-
dencies. — R.]
the following day, he dismissed the crowds ; and
when they were unwilling to depart, Peter said
to them : " Do me this favour on account of the
fatigue of yesterday's journey ; and now go away,
and meet in good time to-morrow." And so
they departed with joy. But Peter, command-
ing me to withdraw a little for the purpose of
prayer,^ afterwards ordered the couches to be
spread in the part of the garden which was cov-
ered with shade ; and every one, according to
custom, recognising the place of his own rank,
we took food. Then, as there was still some
portion of the day left, he conversed with us con-
cerning the Lord's miracles ; and when evening
was come, he entered his bed-chamber and went
to sleep.
3 Clement, being not yet baptized, is represented as not permitted
to join with the disciples, even in prayer. [Comp. i. 19, ii. 70-72.
This separation is indicated in the tiomilies, but more emphasis is
placed upon it in the Recognitions. — R.]
BOOK V.
CHAP. I. — PETERS SALUTATION.
But on the following day," Peter rising a little
earlier than usual, found us asleep ; and when he
saw it, he gave orders that silence should be kept
for him, as though he himself wished to sleep
longer, that we might not be disturbed in our
rest. But when we rose refreshed with sleep,
we found him, having finished his prayer, waiting
for us in his bed-chamber. And as it was
already dawn, he addressed us shortly, saluting
us according to his custom, and forthwith pro-
ceeded to the usual place for the purpose of
teaching ; and when he saw that many had
assembled there, having invoked peace upon them
according to the first religious form, he began to
speak as follows : —
CHAP. II. — SUFFERING THE EFFECT OF SIN.
" God, the Creator of all, at the beginning
made man after His own image, and gave him
dominion over the earth and sea, and over the
air ; as the true Prophet has told us, and as the
very reason of things instructs us : for man alone
is rational, and it is fitting that reason should
rule over the irrational. At first, therefore, while
he was still righteous, he was superior to all dis-
orders and all frailty ; but when he sinned, as we
taught you yesterday, and became the servant of
' [Book V. has a partial parallel in Homily X., which is assigned
to the second day at Tripolis. The matter here is more extensive.
Chaps. I, 2, show some resemblance to Homily X. 3-6. — R.J
sin, he became at the same time liable to frailty.
This therefore is written, that men may know
that, as by impiety they have been made liable to
suffer, so by piety they may be made free from
suffering ; and not only free from suffering, but
by even a litde faith in God be able to cure the
sufferings of others. For thus the true Prophet
promised us, saying, ' Verily I say to you, that if
ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall
say to this mountain. Remove hence, and it shall
remove.' ^ Of this saying you have yourselves
also had proofs ; for you saw yesterday how at
our presence the demons removed and were put
to flight, with those sufferings which they had
brought upon men.
CHAP. III. — FAITH AND UNBELIEF.
" Whereas therefore some men suffer, and
others cure those who suffer, it is necessary to
know the cause at once of the suffering and the
cure ; and this is proved to be nought else than
unbelief on the part of the sufferers, and faith on
the part of those who cure them. For unbelief,
while it does not believe that there is to be a
judgment by God, affords licence to sin, and sin
makes men liable to sufferings ; but faith, be-
lieving that there is to be a judgment of God,
restrains men from sin ; and those who do not
sin are not only free from demons and sufferings,
but can also put to flight the demons and suffer-
ings of others.
2 Matt. xvii. 20.
144
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book V.
CHAP. IV. — IGNORANCE THE MOTHER OF EVILS.
" From ' all these things, therefore, it is con-
cluded that all evil springs from ignorance ; and
ignorance herself, the mother of all evils, is
sprung from carelessness and sloth, and is nour-
ished, and increased, and rooted in the senses
of men by negligence ; and if any one teach that
she is to be put to flight, she is with difficulty
and indignantly torn away, as from an ancient
and hereditary abode. And therefore we must
labour for a little, that we may search out the
presumptions of ignorance, and cut them off by
means of knowledge, especially in those who are
preoccupied with some erroneous opinions, by
means of which ignorance is the more firmly
rooted in them, as under the appearance of a
certain kind of knowledge ; for nothing is worse
than for one to believe that he knows what he is
ignorant of, and to maintain that to be true
which is false. This is as if a drunk man should
think himself to be sober, and should act indeed
in all respects as a drunk man, and yet think
himself to be sober, and should wish to be called
so by others. Thus, therefore, are those also who
do not know what is true, yet hold some appear-
ance of knowledge, and do many evil things as
if they were good, and hasten destruction as if
it were to salvation.
CHAP. V. — ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE.
" Wherefore we must, above all things, hasten
to the knowledge of the truth, that, as with a
light kindled thereat, we may be able to dispel
the darkness of errors : for ignorance, as we
have said, is a great evil ; but because it has no
substance, it is easily dispelled by those who are
in earnest. For ignorance is nothing else than
not knowing what is good for us ; once know this,
and ignorance perishes. Therefore the knowl-
edge of truth ought to be eagerly sought after ;
and no one can confer it except the true
Prophet. For this is the gate of life to those
who will enter, and the road of good works to
those going to the city of salvation.
CHAP. VI. FREE-WILL.
" Whether any one, truly hearing the word of
of the true Prophet, is willing or unwilling to
receive it, and to embrace His burden, that is,
the precepts of life, he has either in his power,
for we are free in will.^ For if it were so, that
those who hear had it not in their power to do
otherwise than they had heard, there were some
power of nature in virtue of which it were not
free to him to pass over to another opinion. Or
* [Chaps. 4, 5, resemble somewhat Homily X. i, which contains
a preliminary discourse of the Apostle to his followers. — R.]
^ [Here again the doctrine of free-will is pressed, the Homilies
containing no parallel. Chaps. 6-13 have no corresponding passage
in Homily X. — R.]
if, again, no one of the hearers could at all re-
ceive it, this also were a power of nature which
should compel the doing of some one thing, and
should leave no place for the other course. But
now, since it is free for the mind to turn its
judgment to which side it pleases, and to choose
the way which it approves, it is clearly manifest
that there is in men a hberty of choice.
CHAP. VII. — RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOWLEDGE.
" Therefore, before any one hears what is good
for him, it is certain that he is ignorant ; and
being ignorant, he wishes and desires to do
what is not good for him ; wherefore he is not
judged for that. But when once he has heard
the causes of his error, and has received the
method of truth, then, if he remain in those
errors with which he had been long ago preoc-
cupied, he shall rightly be called into judgment,
to suffer punishment, because he has spent in
the sport of errors that portion of life which was
given him to be spent in living well. But he
who, hearing those things, willingly receives
them, and is thankful that the teaching of good
things has been brought "to him, inquires more
eagerly, and does not cease to learn, until he
ascertains whether there be truly another world,
in which rewards are prepared for the good.
And when he is assured of this, he gives thanks
to God because He has shown him the light of
truth ; and for the future directs his actions in all
good works, for which he is assured that there is
a reward prepared in the world to come ; while
he constantly wonders and is astonished at
the errors of other men, and that no one sees the
truth which is placed before his eyes. Yet he
himself, rejoicing in the riches of wisdom which
he hath found, desires insatiably to enjoy them,
and is delighted with the practice of good works ;
hastening to attain, with a clean heart and a pure
conscience, the world to come, when he shall be
able even to see God, the king of all.
CH.'iP. VIII. DESIRES OF THE FLESH TO BE SUB-
DUED.
" But the sole cause of our wanting and being
deprived of all these things is ignorance. For
while men do not know how much good there
is in knowledge, they do not suffer the evil of
ignorance to be removed from them ; for they
know not how great a difference is involved in
the change of one of these things for the other.
Wherefore I counsel every learner willingly to
lend his ear to the word of God, and to hear
with love of the truth what we say, that his
mind, receiving the best seed, may bring forth
joyful fruits by good deeds. For if, while I
teach the things which pertain to salvation, any
one refuses to receive them, and strives to resist
Chap. XII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
H5
them with a mind occupied by evil opinions, he
shall have the cause of his perishing, not from
us, but from himself. For it is his duty to ex-
amine with just judgment the things which we
say, and to understand that we speak the words
of truth, that, knowing how things are, and
directing his life in good actions, he may be
found a partaker of the kingdom of heaven,
subjecting to himself the desires of the flesh,
and becoming lord of them, that so at length he
himself also may become the pleasant possession
of the Ruler of all.
CHAP. IX. — THE TWO KINGDOMS.
" For he who persists in evil, and is the ser-
vant of evil, cannot be made a portion of good
so long as he persists in evil, because from the
beginning, as we have said, God instituted two
kingdoms, and has given to each man the power
of becoming a portion of that kingdom to which
he shall yield himself to obey. And since it is
decreed by God that no one man can be a ser-
vant of both kingdoms, therefore endeavour with
all earnestness to betake yourselves to the cove-
nant and laws of the good King. Wherefore
also the true Prophet, when He w^as present with
us, and saw some rich men negligent with re-
spect to the worship of God, thus unfolded the
truth of this matter : ' No one,' said He, ' can
serve two masters ; ye cannot serve God and
mammon ; ' ' calling riches, in the language of
His country, mammon.
CHAP. X. — JESUS THE TRUE PROPHET.
" He therefore is the true Prophet, who ap-
peared to us, as you have heard, in Judaea, who,
standing in public places, by a simple command
made the blind see, the deaf hear, cast out de-
mons, restored health to the sick, and life to the
dead ; and since nothing was impossible to Him,
He even perceived the thoughts of men, which
is possible for none but God only. He pro-
claimed the kingdom of God ; and we believed
Him as a true Prophet in all that He spoke,
deriving the confirmation of our faith not only
from His words, but also from His works ; and
also because tlie sayings of the law, which many
generations before had set forth His coming,
were fulfilled in Him ; and the figures of the
doings of Moses, and of the patriarch Jacob
before him, bore in all respects a type of Him.
It is evident also that the time of His advent,
that is, the very time at which He came, was
foretold by them ; and, above all, it was con-
tained in the sacred writings, that He was to be
waited for by the Gentiles. And all these things
were equally fulfilled in Him.
• Matt. vi. 24.
CHAP. XI. THE EXPECTATION OF THE GENTILES.
" But that which a prophet of the Jews fore-
told, that He was to be waited for by the Gen-
tiles,^ confirms above measure the faith of truth
in Him. For if he had said that He was to be
waited for by the Jews, he would not have
seemed to prophesy anything extraordinary, that
He whose coming had been promised for the
salvation of the world should be the object of
hope to the people of the same tribe with Him-
self, and to His own nation : for that this would
take place, would seem rather to be a matter of
natural inference than one requiring the gran-
deur of a prophetic utterance. But now, whereas
the prophets say that all that hope which is set
forth concerning the salvation of the world, and
the newness of the kingdom which is to be es-
tablished by Christ, and all things which are
declared concerning Him are to be transferred
to the Gentiles ; the grandeur of the prophetic
office is confirmed, not according to the sequence
of things, but by an incredible fulfilment of the
prophecy. For the Jews from the beginning
had understood by a most certain tradition that
this man should at some time come, by whom
all things should be restored ; and daily medi-
tating and looking out for His coming, when
they saw Him amongst them, and accomplishing
the signs and miracles, as had been written of
Him, being blinded with envy, they could not
recognise Him when present, in the hope of
whom they rejoiced while He was absent ; yet
the few of us who were chosen by Him under-
stood it.
CHAP. XII.
CALL OF THE GENTILES.
" But this happened by the providence of
God, that the knowledge of this good One
should be handed over to the Gentiles, and
those who had never heard of Him, nor had
learned from the prophets, should acknowledge
Him, while those who had acknowledged Him
in their daily meditations should not know Him.
For, behold, by you who are now present, and
desire to hear the doctrine of His faith, and to
know what, and how, and of what sort is His
coming, the prophetic truth is fulfilled. For
this is what the prophets foretold, that He is to
be sought for by you, who never heard of Him.^
And, therefore, seeing that the prophetic sayings
are fulfilled even in yourselves, you rightly be-
lieve in Him alone, you rightly wait for Him,
you rightly inquire concerning Him, that you
not only may wait for Him, but also believing,
you may obtain the inheritance of His kingdom ;
2 Gen. xlix. 10. [This detailed statement of the call of the Gen-
tiles is peculiar to trie Recognitions; comp. i. 42. Such passages
seem to indicate a tendency less anti-Pauline than that of the Homi-
lies, yet the christology and soteriology are Ebionitic. — RJ.
3 Isa. Ixv. 1.
146
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book V.
according to what Himself said, that every one
is made the servant of him to whom he yields
subjection.'
CHAP. xni.
INVITATION OF THE GENTILES.
" Wherefore awake, and take to yourselves
our Lord and God, even that Lord who is Lord
both of heaven and earth, and conform your-
selves to His image and likeness, as the true
Prophet Himself teaches, saying, ' Be ye merci-
ful, as also your heavenly Father is merciful, who
makes His sun to rise upon the good and the
evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust.' ^
Lnitate Him, therefore, and fear Him, as the
commandment is given to men, ' Thou shalt wor-
ship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
serve.' ^ For it is profitable to you to serve this
Lord alone, that through Him knowing the one
God, ye may be freed from the many whom ye
vainly feared. For he who fears not God the
Creator of all, but fears those whom he himself
with his own hands hath made, what does he do
but make himself subject to a vain and senseless
fear, and render himself more vile and abject
than those very things, the fear of which he has
conceived in his mind? But rather, by the
goodness of Him who inviteth you, return to
your former nobleness, and by good deeds show
that you bear the image of your Creator, that by
contemplation of His likeness ye may be be-
lieved to be even His sons.
CHAP. XIV. — IDOLS UNPROFITABLE.
" Begin,^ therefore, to cast out of your minds
the vain ideas of idols, and your useless and
empty fears, that at the same time you may also
escape the condition of unrighteous bondage.
For those have become your lords, who could
not even have been profitable servants to you.
For how should lifeless images seem fit even to
serve you, when they can neither hear, nor see,
nor feel anything? Yea, even the material of
which they are made, whether it be gold or silver,
or even brass or wood, though it might have
profited you for necessary uses, you have ren-
dered wholly inefficient and useless by fashion-
ing gods out of it. We therefore declare to you
the true worship of God, and at the same time
warn and exhort the worshippers, that by good
deeds they imitate Him whom they worship, and
hasten to return to His image and likeness, as
we said before.
CHAP. XV. — FOLLY OF IDOLATRY.
" But I should like if those who worship idols
would tell me if they wish to become like to
• John viii. 34.
2 Luke vi 36; Matt. v. 45.
3 Dent. vi. 13; Matt. iv. 10.
* [The parallel with Homily X. recurs at this chapter, and con-
tinues for several chapters. — K.]
those whom they worship ? Does any one of you
wish to see in such sort as they see ? or to hear
after the manner of their hearing? or to have
such understanding as they have ? Far be this
from any of my hearers ! For this were rather
to be thought a curse and a reproach to a man,
who bears in himself the image of God, although
he has lost the likeness. What sort of gods,
then, are they to be reckoned, the imitation of
whom would be execrable to their worshijjpers,
and to have whose likeness would be a reproach ?
What then? Melt your useless images, and make
useful vessels. Melt the unserviceable and inac-
tive metal, and make implements fit for the use
of men. But, says one, human laws do not allow
us.s He says well ; for it is human laws, and
not their own power, that prevents it. What
kind of gods, then, are those which are defended
by human laws, and not by their own energies?
And so also they are preserved from thieves by
watch-dogs and the protection of bolts, at least
if they be of silver, or gold, or even of brass : for
those that are of stone and earthenware are pro-
tected by their own worthlessness, for no one
will steal a stone or a crockery god. Hence
those seem to be the more miserable whose
more precious metal exposes them to the greater
danger. Since, then, they can be stolen, since
they must be guarded by men, since they can be
melted, and weighed out, and forged with ham-
mers, ought men possessed of understanding to
hold them as gods ?
CHAP. XVI. — GOD ALONE A FIT OBJECT OF
WORSHIP.
" Oh ! into what wretched plight the under-
standing of men has fallen ! For if it is reckoned
the greatest folly to fear the dead, what shall we
judge of those who fear something that is worse
than the dead are ? For those images are not
even to be reckoned among the number of the
dead, because they were never alive. Even the
sepulchres of the dead are preferable to them,
since, although they are now dead, yet they once
had life ; but those whom you worship never
possessed even such base life as is in all, the life
of frogs and owls. But why say more about
them, since it is enough to say to him who adores
them ; Do you not see that he whom you adore
sees not, hear that he whom you adore hears
not, and understand that he understands not?
— for he is the work of man's hand, and neces-
sarily is void of understanding. You therefore
worship a god without sense, whereas every one
who has sense believes that not even those things
are to be worshipped which have been made by
God and have sense,^ such as the sun, moon, and
5 [This, with the more specific statement of Homily X. 8, points
to an early date. — R.]
6 It was a very prevalent opinion among the ancient philosophers,
that the heavenly bodies have some kind of life and intelligence.
Chap. XIX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
147
stars, and all things that are in heav'en and upon
earth. For they think it reasonable, that not
those things which have been made for the ser-
vice of the world, but the Creator of those things
themselves, and of the whole world, should be
worshipped. For even these things rejoice when
He is adored and worshipped, and do not take
it well that the honour of the Creator should be
bestowed on the creature. For the worship of
God alone is acceptable to them, who alone is
uncreated, and all things also are His creatures.
For as it belongs to him who alone is uncreated
to be God, so everything that has been created
is not truly God.
CH.AP. XVII.
•SUGGESTIONS OF THE OLD SERPENT.
"Above all, therefore, you ought to under-
stand the deception of the old serpent ' and his
cunning suggestions, who deceives you as it were
by prudence, and as by a sort of reason creeps
through your senses ; and beginning at the head,
he glides through your inner marrow, accounting
the deceiving of you a great gain. Therefore he
insinuates into your minds opinions of gods of
whatsoever kinds, only that he may withdraw
you from the faith of one God, knowing that
your sin is his comfort. For he, for his wicked-
ness, was condemned from the beginning to eat
dust, for that he caused to be again resolved
into dust him who had been taken from the
dust, even till the time when your souls shall be
restored, being brought through the fire ; as we
shall instruct you more fully at another time.
From him, therefore, proceed all the errors and
doubts, by which you are driven from the faith
and belief of one God.
CHAP. XVIII. — HIS FIRST SUGGESTION.
" And first of all he suggests to men's thoughts
not to hear the words of truth, by which they
might put to flight the ignorance of those things
which are evils. And this he does, as by the
presentation of another knowledge, making a
show of that opinion which very many hold, to
think that they shall not be held guilty if they
have been in ignorance, and that they shall not
be called to account for what they have not
heard ; and thereby he persuades them to turn
aside from hearing the word. But I tell you, in
opposition to this, that ignorance is in itself a
most deadly poison, which is sufficient to ruin
the soul without any aid from without. And
therefore there is no one who is ignorant who
shall escape through his ignorance, but it is cer-
tain that he shall perish. For the power of sin
' [Comp. book ii. 45. In Homily X. 10, etc., the influence of the
serpent is spoken of, but the discourse here is much fuller. There is,
however, a general agreement in outline between chaps. 17-22 here
and Horaily X. 10-21. — R.J
naturally destroys the sinner. But since the
judgment shall be according to reason, the cause
and origin of ignorance shall be inquired into, as
well as of every sin. For he who is unwilling
to know how he may attain to life, and prefers to
be in ignorance lest he thereby be made guilty,
from this very fact is judged as if he knew and
had knowledge. For he knew what it was that
he was unwiUing to hear ; and the cunning
obtained by the artifice of the serpent will avail
him nothing for an excuse, for he will have to
do with Him to whom the heart is open. But
that you may know that ignorance of itself brings
destruction, / assure you that when the soul
departs from the body, if it leave it in ignorance
of Him by whom it was created, and from whom
in this world it obtained all things that were
necessary for its uses, it is driven forth from the
light of His kingdom as ungrateful and unfaithful.
CHAP. XIX. — HIS SECOND SUGGESTION.
" Again, the wicked serpent suggests another
opinion to men, which many of you are in the
habit of bringing forward, — that there is, as we
say, one God, who is Lord of all ; but these also,
they say, are gods. For as there is one Caesar,
and he has under him many judges, — for ex-
ample, prefects, consuls, trilDunes, and other offi-
cers,— in like manner we think, that while there
is one God greater than all, yet still that these
gods are ordained in this world, after the like-
ness of those officers of whom we have spoken,
subject indeed to that greater God, yet ruling us
and the things that are in this world. In answer
to this, I shall show you how, in those very
things which you propose for deception, you are
confuted by the reasons of truth. You say that
God occupies the place of Caesar, and those who
are called gods represent His judges and officers.
Hold then, as you have adduced it, by the ex-
ample of Caesar ; and know that, as one of
Caesar's judges or administrators, as prefects, pro-
consuls, generals, or tribunes, may lawfully take
the name of Caesar, — or else both he who should
take it and those who should confer it should be
destroyed together, — so also in this case you
ought to observe, that if any one give the name
of God to any but Himself, and he accept it,
they shall partake one and the same destruction,
by a much more terrible fate than the servants
of Caesar. For he who offends against Caesar
shall undergo temporal destruction ; but he who
offends against Him who is the sole and true
God, shall suffer eternal punishment, and that
deservedly, as having injured by a wrongful con-
dition the name which is unique. ^
2 The writer means, that insult is offered to that name which be-
longs to God alone by giving it to others, and thus placing it in a
position which is unjust 10 it.
148
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book V.
CHAP. XX.
EGYPTIAN IDOLATRY.
" Although this word God is not the name of
God, but meantime that word is employed by
men as His name ; and therefore, as I have said,
when it is used reproachfully, the reproach is
referred to the injury of the true name. In
short, the ancient Egyptians, who thought that
they had discovered the theory of the heavenly
revolutions and the nature of the stars, never-
theless, through the demon's blocking up their
senses, subjected the incommunicable name to
all kinds of indignity. For some taught that
their ox, which is called Apis, ought to be wor-
shipped ; others taught that the he-goat, others
that cats, the ibis, a fish also, a serpent, onions,
drains, crepitus ventris, ought to be regarded as
deities, and innumerable other things, which I
am ashamed even to mention."
CHAP. XXI. EGYPTIAN IDOLATRY MORE REASON-
ABLE THAN OTHERS.
When Peter was speaking thus, all we who
heard him laughed. Then said Peter : " You
laugh at the absurdities of others, because
through long custom you do not see your own.
For indeed it is not without reason that you
laugh at the folly of the Egyptians, who worship
dumb animals, while they themselves are ra-
tional. But I will tell you how they also laugh
at you ; for they say, We worship living animals,
though mortal ; but you worship and adore
things which never were alive at all. They add
this also, that they are figures and allegories of
certain powers by whose help the race of men is
governed. Taking refuge in this for shame, they
fabricate these and similar excuses, and so en-
deavour to screen their error. But this is not
the time to answer the Egyptians, and leaving
the care of those who are present to heal the
disease of the absent. For it is a certain indi-
cation that you are held to be free from sick-
ness of this sort, since you do not grieve over it
as your own, but laugh at it as that of others.
CHAP. XXII. SECOND SUGGESTION CONTINUED.
" But let us come back to you, vv^hose opinion
it is that God should be regarded as Csesar, and
the gods as the ministers and deputies of Csesar.
Follow me attentively, and I shall presently show
you the lurking-places of the serpent, which lie
in the crooked windings of this argument. It
ought to be regarded by all as certain and
beyond doubt, that no creature can be on a
level with God, because He was made by none,
but Himself made all things ; nor indeed can
any one be found so irrational, as to suppose
that the thing made can be compared with the
maker. If therefore the human mind, not only
by reason, but even by a sort of natural instinct,
rightly holds this opinion, that that is called God
to which nothing can be compared or equalled,
but which exceeds all and excels all ; how can it
be supposed that that name which is believed to
be above all, is righdy given to those whom you
think to be employed for the service and com-
fort of human life ? But we shall add this also.
This world was undoubtedly made, and is cor-
ruptible, as we shall show more fully by and by ;
meantime it is admitted both that it has been
made and that it is corruptible. If therefore
the world cannot be called God, and rightly so,
because it is corruptible, how shall parts of the
world take the name of God? For inasmuch
as the whole world cannot be God, much more
its parts cannot. Therefore, if we come back to
the example of Caesar, you will see how far you
are in error. It is not lawful for any one, though
a man of the same nature with him, to be com-
pared with Csesar : do you think, then, that any
one ought to be compared with God, who excels
all in this respect, that He was made by none,
but Himself made all things? But, indeed, you
dare not give the name of Csesar to any other,
because he immediately punishes one who of-
fends against him ; you dare give that of God
to others, because He delays the punishment of
offenders against Him, in order to their repent-
ance.
CHAP. XXIII.
■THIRD SUGGESTION.
"Through the mouths of others also that
serpent is wont to speak in this wise : We adore
visible images in honour of the invisible God.'
Now this is most certainly false. For if you really
wished to worship the image of God, you would
do good to man, and so worship the true image
of God in him. For the image of God is in
every man, though His likeness is not in all, but
where the soul is benign and the mind pure. If,
therefore, you wish truly to honour the image of
God, we declare to you what is true, that you
should do good to and pay honour and reverence
to man, who is made in the image of God ; that
you minister food to the hungry, drink to the
thirsty, clothing to the naked, hospitality to the
stranger, and necessary things to the prisoner ;
and that is what will be regarded as truly be-
stowed upon God. And so far do these things
go to the honour of God's image, that he who
does not these things is regarded as casting
reproach upon the divine image. What, then,
is that honour of God which consists in running
from one stone or wooden figure to another, in
venerating empty and lifeless figures as deities,
and despising men in whom the image of God
is of a truth ? Yea, rather be assured, that who-
ever commits murder or adultery, or anything
R.]
' [To chaps. 23-36 a parallel is afforded by Homily XI. 4-18. —
Chap. XXVIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
149
that causes suffering or injury to men, in all
these the image of God is violated. For to
injure men is a great impiety towards God.
Whenever, therefore, you do to another what
you would not have another do to you, you
defile the image of God with undeserved dis-
tresses. Understand, therefore, that that is the
suggestion of the serpent lurking within you,
which persuades you that you may seem to be
pious when you worship insensible things, and
may not seem impious when you injure sensible
and rational beings.
CHAP. XXIV. — FOURTH SUGGESTION.
" But to these things the serpent answers us
with another mouth, and says : If God did not
wish these things to be, then they should not be.
I am not telling you how it is that many con-
trary things are permitted to be in this world for
the probation of every one's mind. But this is
what is suitable to be said in the meantime : If,
according to you, everything that was to be
worshipped ought not to have been, there would
have been almost nothing in this world. For
what is there that you have left without worship-
ping it? The sun, the moon, the stars, the water,
the earth, mountains, trees, stones, men ; there
is no one of these that ye have not worshipped.
According to your saying, therefore, none of
these ought to have been made by God, that
you might not have anything that you could
worship ! Yea, He ought not even to have made
men themselves to be the worshippers ! But
this is the very thing which that serpent which
lurks within you desires : for he spares none of
you ; he would have no one of you escape
from destruction. But it shall not be so. For
I tell you, that not that which is worshipped is
in fault, but he who worships. For with God
is righteous judgment ; and He judges in one
way the sufferer, and in another way the doer,
of wrong.
CHAP. XXV. — FIFTH SUGGESTION.
'' But you say : Then those who adore what
ought not to be adored, should be immediately
destroyed by God, to prevent others doing the
like. But are you wiser than God, that you
should offer Him counsel?" He knows what to
do. For with all who are placed in ignorance
He exercises patience, because He is merciful
and gracious ; and He foresees that many of
the ungodly become godly, and that even some
of those who worship impure statues and pol-
luted images have been converted to God, and
forsaking their sins and doing good works,
attain to salvation. But it is said : We ought
never to have come even to the thought of
' Rom. xi. 34.
doing these things. You do not know what
freedom of will is, and you forget that he is
good who is so by his own intention ; but he
who is retained in goodness by necessity cannot
be called good, because it is not of himself that
he is so. Because, therefore, there is in every one
liberty to choose good or evil, he either acquires
rewards, or brings destruction on himself. Nay,
it is said, God brings to our minds whatsoever
we think. What mean ye, O men? Ye blas-
pheme. For if He brings all our thoughts into
our minds, then it is He that suggests to us
thoughts of adultery, and covetousness, and blas-
phemy, and every kind of effeminacy. Cease, I
entreat of you, these blasphemies, and under-
stand what is the honour worthy of God. And
say not, as some of you are wont to say, that
God needs not honour from men. Indeed, He
truly is in need of none ; but you ought to
know that the honour which you bestow upon
God is profitable to yourselves. For what is so
execrable, as for a man not to render thanks to
his Creator?
CHAP. XXVI. — SIXTH SUGGESTION.
" But it is said : We do better, who give
thanks both to Himself, and to all with Him. In
this you do not understand that there is the ruin
of your salvation. For it is as if a sick man
should call in for his cure at once a physician and
poisoners ; since these could indeed injure him,
but not cure him ; and the true physician would
refuse to mix his remedies with their poisons, lest
either the man's destruction should be ascribed
to the good, or his recovery to the injurious.
But you say : Is God then indignant or envious,
if, when He benefits us, our thanks be rendered
to others ? Even if He be not indignant, at all
events He does not wish to be the author of error,
that by means of His work credit should be given
to a vain idol. And what is so impious, so un-
grateful, as to obtain a benefit from God, and
to render thanks to blocks of wood and stone ?
Wherefore arise, and understand your salvation.
For God is in need of no one, nor does He re-
quire anything, nor is He hurt by anything ; but
we are either helped or hurt, in that we are grate-
ful or ungrateful. For what does God gain from
our praises, or what does He lose by our blas-
phemies? Only t/iis ive must remember, that
God brings into proximity and friendship with
Himself the soul that renders thanks to Him.
But the wicked demon possesses the ungrateful
soul.
CHAP. XXVII. CREATURES TAKE VENGEANCE ON
SINNERS.
" But this also I would have you know, that
upon such souls God does not take vengeance
I50
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book v:
directly, but His whole creation rises up and
inflicts punishments upon the impious ; and
although in the present world the goodness of
God bestows the light of the world and the ser-
vices of the earth alike upon the pious and the
impious, yet not without grief does the sun afford
his light, and the other elements perform their
service, to the impious. And, in short, some-
times even in opposition to the goodness of the
Creator, the elements are wearied out by the
crimes of the wicked ; and thence it is that
either the fruit of the earth is blighted, or the
composition of the air is vitiated, or the heat of
the sun is increased beyond measure, or there is
an excessive amount of rain or of cold. Thence
pestilence, and famine, and death in various
forms stalk forth, for the creature hastens to take
vengeance on the wicked ; yet the goodness of
God restrains it, and bridles its indignation
against the wicked, and compels it to be obe-
dient to His mercy, rather than to be inflamed
by the sins and the crimes of men. For the
patience of God waiteth for the conversion of
men, as long as they are in this body.
CHAP. XXVIII. — ETERNITY OF PUNISHMENTS.
" But if any persist in impiety till the end of
life, then as soon as the soul, which is immortal,
departs, it shall pay the penalty of its persistence
in impiety. For even the souls of the impious
are immortal, though perhaps they themselves
would wish them to end with their bodies. But
it is not so ; for they endure without end the tor-
ments of eternal fire, and to their destruction
they have not the quality of mortality. But per-
haps you will say to me, You terrify us, O Peter.
And how shall we speak to you the things which
are in reality? Can we declare to you the truth
by keeping silence ? We cannot state the things
which are, otherwise than as they are. But if we
were silent, we should make ourselves the cause
of the ignorance that is ruinous to you, and
should satisfy the serpent that lurks within you,
and blocks up your senses, who cunningly sug-
gests these things to you, that he may make you
always the enemies of God. But we are sent for
this end, that we may betray his disguises to you ;
and melting your enmities, may reconcile you to
God, that you may be converted to Him, and
may please Him by good works. For man is at
enmity with God, and is in an unreasonable and
impious state of mind and wicked disposition
towards Him, especially when he thinks that he
knows something, and is in ignorance. But
when you lay aside these, and begin to be pleased
and displeased with the same things which please
and displease God, and to will what God willeth,
then ye shall truly be called His friends.
CHAP. XXIX. — god's care OF HUMAN THINGS.
" But perhaps some of you will say, God has
no care of human things ; and if we cannot even
attain to the knowledge of Him, how shall we
attain to His friendship? That God does con-
cern Himself with the affairs of men. His gov-
ernment of the world bears witness : for the sun
daily waits upon it, the showers minister to it ;
the fountains, rivers, winds, and all elements,
attend upon it ; and the more these things be-
come known to men, the more do they indicate
God's care over men. For unless by the power
of the Most High, the more powerful would
never minister to the inferior ; and by this God
is shown to have not only a care over men, but
some great affection, since He has deputed such
noble elements to their service. But that men
may also attain to the friendship of God, is
proved to us by the example of those to whose
prayers He has been so favourable, that He has
withheld the heaven from rain when they wished,
and has again opened it when they prayed.'
And many other things He has bestowed upon
those who does His will, which could not be be-
stowed but upon His" friends. But you will say.
What harm is done to God if these things also
are worshipped by us ? If any one of you should
pay to another the honour that is due to his fa-
ther, from whom he has received innumerable
benefits, and should reverence a stranger and for-
eigner as his father, should you not think that he
was undutiful towards his father, and most deserv-
ing to be disinherited ?
CH.\P. XXX.
religion OF FATHERS TO BE ABAN-
DONED.
" Others say, It is wicked if we do not worship
those idols which have come down to us from our
fathers, and prove false to the religion bequeathed
to us by our ancestors. On this principle, if any
one's father was a robber or a base fellow, he
ought not to change the manner of life handed
down to him by his fathers, nor to be recalled
from his father's errors to a better way ; and it
is reckoned impious if one do not sin with his
parents, or does not persist in impiety with them.
Others say, We ought not to be troublesome to
God, and to be always burdening Him with com-
plaints of our miseries, or with the exigencies of
our petitions. How foolish and witless an an-
swer ! Do you think it is troublesome to God
if you thank Him for His benefits, while you do
not think it troublesome to Him if, for His gifts,
you render thanks to stocks and stones ? And
how comes it, that when rain is withheld in a long
drought, we all turn our eyes to heaven, and en-
treat the gift of rain from God Almighty, and all
' I Kings xvii., xviii.; Jas. v. 17, 18.
Chap. XXXIV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
151
of us with our little ones pour out prayers on God,
and entreat His compassion ? But truly ungrate-
ful souls, when they obtain the blessing, quickly
forget : for as soon as they have gathered in their
harvest or their vintage, straightway they offer
the first-fruits to deaf and dumb images, and pay
vows in temples or groves for those things which
God has bestowed upon them, and then offer
sacrifices to demons ; and having received a fa-
vour, deny the bestower of the favour.'-
CHAP. XXXI. PAGANISM, ITS ENORMITIES.
" But some say. These things are instituted for
the sake of joy, and for refreshing our minds ;
and they have been devised for this end, that the
human mind may be relaxed for a little from
cares and sorrows. See now what a charge you
yourselves bring upon the things which you prac-
tise. If these things have been invented for the
purpose of lightening sorrow and affording enjoy-
ment, how is it that the invocations of demons
are performed in groves and woods? What is
the meaning of the insane whirlings, and the
slashing of limbs, and the cutting off of mem-
bers? How is it that mad rage is produced in
them ? How is insanity produced ? How is it
that women are driven violently, raging with
dishevelled hair? Whence the shrieking and
gnashing of teeth? Whence the bellowing of
the heart and the bowels, and all those things
which, whether they are pretended or are con-
trived by the 'ministration of demons, are ex-
hibited to the terror of the foolish and ignorant ?
Are these things done for the sake of lightening
the mind, or rather for the sake of oppressing
it? Do ye not yet perceive nor understand, that
these are the counsels of the serpent lurking
within you, which draws you away from the ap-
prehension of truth by irrational suggestions of
errors, that he may hold you as slaves and ser-
vants of lust and concupiscence and every dis-
graceful thing?
CHAP. XXXII. — TRUE RELIGION CALLS TO SOBRI-
ETY AND MODESTY.
" But I protest to you with the clear voice
of preaching, that, on the contrary, the religion of
God calls you to sobriety and modesty ; orders
you to refrain from effeminacy and madness,
and by patience and gentleness to prevent the
inroads of anger ; to be content with your own
possessions, and with the virtue of frugality ;
not even when driven by poverty to plunder the
goods of others, but in all things to observe jus-
tice ; to withdraw yourselves wholly from the
idol sacrifices : for by these things you invite
demons to you, and of your own accord give
' Literally, " change the bestower of it for another,"
them the power of entering into you ; and so
you admit that which is the cause either of mad-
ness or of unlawful love.
CHAP. XXXIII. — ORIGIN OF IMPIETY.
" Hence is the origin of all impiety ; hence
murders, adulteries, thefts ; and a nursery is
formed of all evils and wickednesses, while you
indulge in profane libations and odours, and give
to wicked spirits an opportunity of ruhng and
obtaining some sort of authority over you. For
when they invade your senses, what do they else
than work the things which belong to lust and
injustice and cruelty, and compel you to be
obedient to all things that are pleasing to them ?
God, indeed, permits you to suffer this at their
hands by a certain righteous judgment, that from
the very disgrace of your doings and your feel-
ings you may understand how unworthy it is to
be subject to demons and not to God. Hence
also, by the friendship of demons, men are
brought to disgraceful and base deeds ; hence,
men proceed even to the destruction of life,
either through the fire of lust, or through the
madness of anger through excess of grief, so
that, as is well ^ known, some have even laid
violent hands upon themselves. And this, as we
have said, by a just sentence of God they are
not prevented from doing, that they may both
understand to whom they have yielded them-
selves in subjection, and know whom they have
forsaken.
CHAP. XXXIV. — WHO ARE WORSHIPPERS OF GOD?
" But some one will say. These passions some-
times befall even those who worship God. It is
not true. For we say that he is a worshipper of
God, who does the will of God, and observes the
precepts of His law. For in God's estimation
he is not a Jew who is called a Jew among men
(nor is he a Gentile that is called a Gentile),
but he who, believing in God, fulfils His law and
does His will, though he be not circumcised.^
He is the true worshipper of God, who not only
is himself free from passions, but also sets others
free from them ; though they be so heavy that
they are like mountains, he removes them by
means of the faith with which he believes in God.'*
Yea, by faith he truly removes mountains with
their trees, if it be necessary. But he who
seems to worship God, but is neither fortified by
a full faith, nor by obedience to the command-
ments, but is a sinner, has given a place in him-
self, by reason of his sins, to passions, which are
appointed of God for the punishment of those
2 The original has here, " as is often known ; " that is, as people
know from many instances having occurred within their own knowl-
edge.
3 Rom. ii. 28; Rev. ii. 9.
4 Matt. xvii. 20; Luke xvii. 6.
152
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VI.
who sin, that they may exact from them the
deserts of their sins by means of punishments
inflicted, and may bring them purified to the
general judgment of all, provided always that
their faith do not fail them in their chastisement.
For the chastisement of unbelievers in the pres-
ent life is a judgment, by which they begin to
be separated from future blessings ; but the
chastisement of those who worship God, while
it is inflicted upon them for sins into which they
have fallen, exacts from them the due of what
they have done, that, preventing the judgment,
they may pay the debt of their sin in the present
life, and be freed, at least in half, from the eter-
nal punishments which are there prepared.
CHAP, XXXV. JUDG^rENT TO COME.
" But he does not receive these things as true
who does not believe that there is to be a judg-
ment of God, and therefore, being bound by
the pleasures of the present life, is shut out from
eternal good things ; and therefore we do not
neglect to proclaim to you what we know to be
necessary for your salvation, and to show you
what is the true worship of God, that, believing
in God, you may be able, by means of good
works, to be heirs with us of the world to come.
But if you are not yet convinced that what we
say is true, meantime, in the first instance, you
ought not to take it amiss and to be hostile to us
because we announce to you the things which
we consider to be good, and because we do not
grudge to bestow also upon you that which we
believe brings salvation to ourselves, labouring,
as I have said, with all eagerness, that we may
have you as fellow-heirs of the blessings which
we believe are to befall ourselves. But whether
those things which we declare to you are cer-
tainly true, you shall not be able to know other-
wise than by rendering obedience to the things
which are commanded, that you may be taught
by the issue of things, and the most certain end
of blessedness.
CHAP. XXXVI. — CONCLUSION OF DISCOURSE.
" And, therefore, although the serpent lurk-
ing within you occupies your senses with a thou-
sand arts of corruption, and throws in your way
a thousand obstacles, by which he may turn you
away from the hearing of saving instruction, all
the more ought you to resist him, and despising
his suggestions, to come together the more fre-
(luently to hear the word and receive instruction
from us, because nobody can learn anything who
is not taught." '
And when he had done speaking, he ordered
those to be brought to him who were oppressed
by sicknesses or demons, and laid his hands
upon them with prayer; and so he dismissed
the crowds, charging them to resort to the hear-
ing of the word during the days that he was to
remain there. Therefore, when the crowds had
departed, Peter washed his body in the waters
which ran through the garden, with as many of
the others as chose to do so ; and then ordered
the couches to be spread on the ground under
a very shady tree, and directed us to recline ac-
cording to the order established at Caesarea,
And thus, having taken food and given thanks to
God after the manner of the Hebrews, as there
was yet some portion of the day remaining, he
ordered us to question him on any matters that
we pleased. And although we were with him
twenty in all, he explained to every one what-
ever he pleased to ask of him ; the particulars
of which I set down in books and sent to you
some time ago. And when evening came we
entered with him into the lodging, and went to
sleep, each one in his own place.
' [The latter half of this discourse, as already indicated (see note
on chap. 23), finds a parallel in Homily XI. 4-18, which forms the
first half of that discourse. — R.]
BOOK VI.
CHAP. I . BOOK VI. DILIGENCE IN STUDY.
But as soon as day began to advance the
dawn upon the retiring darkness, Peter having
gone into the garden to pray, and returning
thence and coming to us, by way of excuse for
awaking and coming to us a little later than
usual, said this : ' " Now that the spring-time
has lengthened the day, of course the night is
' [Comp. book iii. 31.
iies.—R.\
shorter ; if, therefore, one desires to occupy some
portion of the night in study, he must not keep
the same hours - for waking at all seasons, but
should spend the same length of time in sleep-
ing, whether the night be longer or shorter, and
be exceedingly careful that he do not cut off
from the period which he is wont to have for
study, and so add to his sleep and lessen his
time of keeping awake. And this also is to be
To this there is no parallel in the Homi- ^ it will \>z remembered that the hours were variable periods,
and began to be reckoned from sunrise.
Chap. V.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
153
obsen-ed, lest haply if sleep be interrupted while
the food is still undigested, the undigested mass
load the mind, and by the exhalation of crude
spirits render the inner sense confused and dis-
turbed. It is right, therefore, that that part also
be cherished with sufficient rest, so that, those
things being sufficiently accomplished which are
due to it, the body may be able in other things
to render due service to the mind."
CHAP. II. MUCH TO BE DONE IN A LITTLE TLME.
When he had said this, as very many had
already assembled in the accustomed place of
the garden to hear him, Peter went forth ; and
having saluted the crowds in his usual manner,
began to speak as follows : ' " Since, indeed, as
land neglected by the cultivator necessarily pro-
duces thorns and thistles, so your sense, by long
neglect, has produced a plentiful crop of nox-
ious opinions of things and dogmas of false
science ; there is need now of much care in
cultivating the field of your mind, that the word
of truth, which is the true and diligent husband-
man of the heart, may cultivate it with continual
instructions. It is therefore your part to ren-
der obedience to it, and to lop off superfluous
occupations and anxieties, lest a noxious growth
choke the good seed of the word. For it may
be that a short and earnest diligence may repair
a long time's neglect ; for the time of every
one's . hfe is uncertain, and therefore we must
hasten to salvation, lest haply sudden death seize
upon him who delays.
CHAP. HI. RIGHTEOUS ANGER,
" And all the more eagerly must we strive on
this account, that while there is time, the col-
lected vices of evil custom may be cut off. And
this you shall not be able to do otherwise, than
by being angry with yourselves on account of
your profitless and base doings. For this is
righteous and necessary anger, by which every
one is indignant with himself, and accuses him-
self for those things in which he has erred and
done amiss ; and by this indignation a certain
fire is kindled in us, which, applied as it were to
a barren field, consumes and burns up the roots
of vile pleasure, and renders the soil of the heart
more fertile for the good seed of the word of
God. And I think that you have sufficiently
worthy causes of anger, from which that most
righteous fire may be kindled, if you consider
into what errors the evil of ignorance has drawn
you, and how it has caused you to fall and rush
headlong into sin, from what good things it has
withdrawn you, and into what evils it has driven
' [To chaps. ?, 3, there is a parallel in the corresponding chap-
ters of Homily XI. Then follows a long passage similar to that in
book V. 23-36. — R.]
you, and, what is of more importance than all
the rest, how it has made you liable to eternal
punishments in the world to come. Is not the
fire of most righteous indignation kindled within
you for all these things, now that the light of
truth has shone upon you ; and does not the
flame of that anger which is pleasing to God
rise within you, that every sprout may be burnt
up and destroyed from the root, if haply any
shoot of evil concupiscence has budded within
you]
CHAP. rV. — NOT PEACE, BUT A SWORD.
Hence, also. He who hath sent us, when He
had come, 2 and had seen that all the world had
fallen into wickedness, did not forthwith give
peace to him who is in error, lest He should
confirm him in evil ; but set the knowledge of
truth in opposition to the ruins of ignorance of it,
that, if haply men would repent and look upon
the light of truth, they might rightly grieve that
they had been deceived and drawn away into the
precipices of error, and might kindle the fire of
salutary anger against the ignorance that had
deceived them. On this account, therefore, He
said, ' I have come to send fire on the earth ;
and how I wish that it were kindled ! ' ^ There
is therefore a certain fight, which is to be fought
by us in this life ; for the word of truth and knowl-
edge necessarily separates men from error and
ignorance, as we have often seen putrified and
dead flesh in the body separated by the cutting
knife from its connection with the living mem-
bers. Such is the effect produced by knowledge
of the truth. For it is necessary that, for the
sake of salvation, the son, for example, who has
received the word of truth, be separated from
his unbelieving parents ; or again, that the father
be separated from his son, or the daughter from
her mother. And in this manner the battle of
knowledge and ignorance, of truth and error,
arises between believing and unbelieving kins-
men and relations. And therefore He who has
sent us said again, ' I am not come to send peace
on earth, but a sword.' ■*
CHAP. V. — HOW THE FIGHT BEGINS.
" But if any one say, How does it seem right
for men to be separated from their parents? I
will tell you how. Because, if they remained
with them in error, they would do no good to
them, and they would themselves perish with
them. It is therefore right, and very right, that
he who will be saved be separated from him who
will not. But observe this also, that this separa-
2 [The remaining chapters of this book (4-14) correspond with
Homily XI. 19-33. The discourse here is somewhat fuller, but the
order of topics is the same throughout. — R.]
3 Luke xii. 49.
* Matt. X. 34.
154
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VI.
tion does not come from those who understand
aright ; for they wish to be with their relatives,
and to do them good, and to teach them better
things. But it is the vice pecuhar to ignorance,
that it will not bear to have near it the light of
truth, which confutes it ; and therefore that sep-
aration originates with them. For those who re-
ceive the knowledge of the truth, because it is
full of goodness, desire, if it be possible, to share
it with all, as given by the good God ; yea, even
with those who hate and persecute them : for
they know that ignorance is the cause of their
sin. Wherefore, in short, the Master Himself,
when He was being led to the cross by those
who knew Him not, prayed the Father for His
murderers, and said, ' Father, forgive their sin,
for they know not what they do ! ' ' The disci-
ples also, in imitation of the Master, even when
themselves were suffering, in like manner prayed
for their murderers.^ But if we are taught to
pray even for our murderers and persecutors,
how ought we not to bear the persecutions of
parents and relations, and to pray for their con-
version ?
CHAP. VI. — GOD TO BE LOVED MORE THAN
PARENTS.
"Then let us consider carefully, in the next
place, what reason we have for loving our par-
ents. For this cause, it is said, we love them,
because they seem to be the authors of our life.
But our parents are not authors of our life, but
means of it. For they do not bestow life, but
afford the means of our entering into this life ;
while the one and sole author of life is God. If
therefore we would love the Author of our life,
let us know that it is He that is to be loved.
But then it is said. We cannot know Him ; but
them we know, and hold in affection. Be it so :
you cannot know ivhat God is, but you can
I very easily know what God is not. For how can
any man fail to know that wood, or stone, or
brass, or other such matter, is not God? But if
you will not give your mind to consider the things
which you might easily apprehend, it is certain
that you are hindered in the knowledge of God,
not by impossibility, but by indolence ; for if you
had wished it, even from these useless images
you might have been set on the way of under-
standing.
CHAP. VII. — THE EARTH MADE FOR MEN.
" For it is certain that these images are made
with iron tools ; but iron is wrought by fire,
which fire is extinguished by water. But water
is moved by spirit ; and spirit has its beginning
from God. For thus saith the prophet Moses :
• Luke xxiii. 34.
2 Acts vii. 60.
' In the beginning God made the heaven and the
earth. But the earth was invisible, and unar-
ranged ; and darkness was over the de ^ : and
the Spirit of God was upon the waters.' ^ Which
Spirit, like the Creator's hand, by command of
God separated light from darkness ; and after
that invisible heaven produced this visible one,
that He might make the higher places a habita-
tion for angels, and the lower for men. For
your sake, therefore, by command of God, the
water which was upon the face of the earth
withdrew, that the earth might produce fruits
for you ; and into the earth also He inserted
veins of moisture, that fountains and rivers might
flow forth from it for you. For your sake it
was commanded to bring forth living creatures,
and all things which could serve for your use
and pleasure. Is it not for you that the winds
blow, that the earth, conceiving by them, may
bring forth fruits? Is it not for you that the
showers fall, and the seasons change ? Is it not
for you that the sun rises and sets, and the moon
undergoes her changes ? For you the sea offers
its service, that all things may be subject to you,
ungrateful as you are. For all these things shall
there not be a righteous punishment of ven-
geance, because beyond all else you are ignorant
of the bestower of all these things, whom you
ought to acknowledge and reverence above all?
CHAP. VIII NECESSITY OF BAPTISM.
" But now I lead you to understanding by the
same paths. For you see that all things are pro-
duced from waters. But water was made at first
by the Only-begotten ; and the Almighty God is
the head of the Only-begotten, by whom we come
to the Father in such order as we have stated
above. But when you have come to the Father,
you will learn that this is His will, that you be born
anew by means of waters, which were first cre-
ated.* For he who is regenerated by water, hav-
ing filled up the measure of good works, is made
heir of Him by whom he has been regenerated
in incorruption. Wherefore, with prepared minds,
approach as sons to a father, that your sins may
be washed away, and it may be proved before
God that ignorance was their sole cause. For
if, after the learning of these things, you remain
in unbelief, the cause of your destruction will be
imputed to yourselves, and not to ignorance.
And do you suppose that you can have hope
towards God, even if you cultivate all piety and
all righteousness, but do not receive baptism.
Yea rather, he will be worthy of greater punish-
ment, who does good works not well ; for merit
accrues to men from good works, but only if
they be done as God commands. Now God
3 Gen i. I, 2.
4 [There is no exact parallel to these statements in the correspond-
ing chapter of the Homilies (xi. 26) . — R.]
Chap. XII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
155
has ordered every one who worships Him to be
sealed by baptism ; but if you refuse, and obey
your own will rather than God's, you are doubt-
less contrary and hostile to His will.
CHAP. IX. USE OF BAPTISM.
"But you will perhaps say. What does the
baptism of water contribute towards the worship
of God ? In the first place, because that which
hath pleased God is fulfilled. In the second
place, because, when you are regenerated and
born again of water and of God, the frailty of
your former birth, which you have through men,
is cut off, and so at length you shall be able to
attain salvation ; but otherwise it is impossible.
For thus hath the true prophet testified to us with
an oath : ' Verily I say to you, That unless a man
is born again of water, he shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven.' Therefore make haste ;
for there is in these waters a certain power of
mercy which was borne upon them at the begin-
ning, and acknowledges those who are baptized
under the name of the threefold sacrament, and
rescues them from future punishments, presenting
as-a gift to God the souls that are consecrated by
baptism. Betake yourselves therefore to these
waters, for they alone can quench the violence of
the future fire ; and he who delays to approach to
them, it is evident that the idol of unbelief remains
in him, and by it he is prevented from hastening to
the waters which confer salvation. For whether
you be righteous or unrighteous, baptism is neces-
sary for you in every respect : for the righteous,
that perfection may be accomplished in him, and
he may be born again to God ; for the unright-
eous, that pardon may be vouchsafed him of the
sins which he has committed in ignorance. There-
fore all should hasten to be born again to God
without delay, because the end of every one's
life is uncertain.
CHAP. X. — NECESSITY OF GOOD WORKS.
" But when you have been regenerated by
water, show, by good works the likeness in you
of that Father who hath begotten you. Now you
know God, honour Him as a father ; and His hon-
our is, that you five according to His will. And
His will is, that you so live as to know nothing of
murder or adultery, to flee from hatred and cov-
etousness, to put away anger, pride, and boast-
ing, to abhor envy, and to count all such things
entirely unsuitable to you. There is truly a cer-
tain peculiar observance of our religion, which
is not so much imposed upon men, as it is sought
out by every worshipper of God by reason of its
purity. By reason of chastity, I say, of which
there are many kinds, but first, that every one
' John iii. 5.
XI. 26.-R.]
This passage is cited, with additions, in Homily
be careful that he ' come not near a menstruous
woman ; ' for this the law of God regards as de-
testable. But though the law had given no ad-
monition concerning these things, should we
willingly, like beetles, roll ourselves in filth?
For we ought to have something more than the
animals, as reasonable men, and capable of heav-
enly senses, whose chief study it ought to be to
guard the conscience from every defilement of
the heart.
CHAP. XI.
•INWARD AND OUTWARD CLEANSING.
" Moreover, it is good, and tends to purity,
also to wash the body with water. I call it
good, not as if it were that prime good of the
purifying of the mind, but because this of the
washing of the body is the sequel of that good.
For so also our Alaster rebuked some of the
Pharisees and scribes, who seemed to be better
than others, and separated from the people, call-
ing them hypocrites, because they purified only
those things which were seen of men, but left
defiled and sordid their hearts, which God alone
sees. To some therefore of them — not to all
— He said, ' Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites ! because ye cleanse the outside of
the cup and platter, but the inside is full of pol-
lution. O blind Pharisees, first make clean what
is within, and what is without shall be clean also.' ^
For truly, if the mind be purified by the light
of knowledge, when once it is clean and clear,
then it necessarily takes care of that which is
without a man, that is, his flesh, that it also may
be purified. But when that which is without, the
cleansing of the flesh, is neglected, it is certain
that there is no care taken of the purity of the
mind and the cleanness of the heart. Thus
therefore it comes to pass, that he who is clean
inwardly is without doubt cleansed outwardly
also, but not always that he who is clean out-
wardly is also cleansed inwardly — to wit, when
he does these things that he may please men.
CHAP. XII.
IMPORTANCE OF CHASTITY.
" But this kind of chastity is also to be ob-
served, that sexual intercourse must not take
place heedlessly and for the sake of mere pleas-
ure, but for the sake of begetting children.^ And
since this observance is found even amongst
some of the lower animals, it were a shame if it
be not observed by men, reasonable, and wor-
shipping God. But there is this further reason
why chastity should be observed by those who
hold the true worship of God, in those forms of
it of which we have spoken, and others of like
sort, that it is observed strictly even amongst those
2 Matt, xxiii. 25, 26.
3 [This chapter is more specific in its statements than Homily XI.
30, to which it has a general resemblance. — R.]
156
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VI.
who are still held by the devil in error, for even
amongst them there is in some degree the ob-
servance of chastity. What then? Will you
not observe, now that you are reformed, what
you observed when you were in error ?
CHAP. XIII. SUPERIORITY OF CHRISTL\N MORAL-
ITY.
" But perhaps some one of you will say, INIust
we then observe all things which we did while
we worshipped idols? Not all. But whatever
things were done well, these you ought to ob-
serve even now ; because, if anything is rightly
done by those who are in error, it is certain that
that is derived from the truth ; whereas, if any-
thing is not rightly done in the true religion, that
is, without doubt, borrowed from error. For
good is good, though it be done by those who
are in error ; and evil is evil, though it be done
by those who follow the truth. Or shall we be
so foolish, that if we see a worshipper of idols
to be sober, we shall refuse to be sober, lest we
should seem to do the same things which he does
who worships idols? It is not so. But let this
be our study, that if those who err do not com-
mit murder, we should not even be angry ; if
they do not commit adultery, we should not even
covet another's wife ; if they love their neigh-
bours, we should love even our enemies ; if they
lend to those who have the means of paying, we
should give to those from whom we do not hope
to receive anything. And in all things, we who
hope for the inheritance of the eternal world
ought to excel those who know only the present
world ; knowing that if their works, when com-
pared with our works, be found like and equal
in the day of judgment, there will be confusion
to us, because we are found equal in our works
to those who are • condemned on account of
ignorance, and had no hope of the world to come.
CHAP. XIV. KNOWLEDGE ENHANCES RESPONSIBIL-
ITY.
" And truly confusion is our worthy portion, if
we have done no more than those who are infe-
rior to us in knowledge. But if it be confusion
to ns, to be found equal to them in works, what
shall become of us if the examination that is to
take place find us inferior and worse than them ?
Hear, therefore, how our true Prophet has taught
us concerning these things ; for, with respect to
those who neglect to hear the words of wisdom,
He speaks thus : ' The queen of the south shall
rise in judgment with this generation, and shall
condemn it, because she came from the ends of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and,
behold, a greater than Solomon is here, and they
hear Him not.' ' But with respect to those who
refused to repent of their evil deeds. He spoke
thus : ' The men of Nineve shall rise in the judg-
ment with this generation, and shall condemn
it ; for they repented at the preaching of Jonas ;
and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.' ^ You
see, therefore, how He condemned those who
were instructed out of the law, by adducing the
example of those who came from Gentile igno-
rance, and showing that the former were not even
equal to those who seemed to live in error.
From all these things, theji, the statement that
He propounded is proved, that chastity, which is
observed to a certain extent even by those who
live in error, should be held much more purely
and strictly, in all its forms, as we showed above,
by us who follow the truth ; and the rather be-
cause with us eternal rewards are assigned to its
observance."
CHAP. XV. — BISHOPS, PRESBYTERS, DEACONS, AND
WIDOWS ORDAINED AT TRIPOLIS.
When he had said these things, and others to
the same effect, he dismissed the crowds ; and
having, according to his custom, supped with his
friends, he went to sleep. And while in this
manner he was teaching the word of God for
three whole months, and converting multitudes
to the faith, at the last he ordered me to fast ;
and after the fast he conferred on me the bap-
tism of ever-flowing water, in the fountains which
adjoin the sea.-^ And when, for the grace of re-
generation divinely conferred upon me, we had
joyfully kept holiday with our brethren, Peter or-
dered those who had been appointed to go before
him, to proceed to Antioch, and there to wait
three months more. And they having gone, he
himself led down to the fountains, which, I have
said, are near the sea, those who had fully re-
ceived the faith of the Lord, and baptized them ;
and celebrating ^ the Eucharist with them, he ap-
pointed, as bishop over them, Maro, who had
entertained him in his house, and who was now
perfect in all things; and with him he ordained
twelve presbyters and deacons at the same time.
He also instituted the order of widows, and
arranged all the services of the Church ; and
charged them all to obey Maro their bishop in
all things that he should command them. And
thus all things being suitably arranged, when the
three months were fulfilled, we bade farewell to
those who were at Tripolis, and set out for Anti-
och.
' Matt. xii. 42; Luke xi. 31.
2 Matt. xii. 41 ; Luke xi. 32.
3 [Comp. Homily XI. 35, 36, which, however, contain additional
matter. — R.J
•* Literally, " breaking the Eucharist."
Chap. V.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
157
BOOK VII.
CHAP. I. JOURNEY FROM TRIPOLIS.
At length leaving Tripolis,' a city of Phcenicia,
we made our first halt at Ortosias, not far from
Tripolis ; and there we remained the next day
also, because almost all those that had believed
in the Lord, unable to part from Peter, fol-
lowed him thus far. Thence we came to An-
tharadus. But because there were many in our
company, Peter said to Niceta and Aquila : " As
there are immense crowds of brethren with us,
and we bring upon ourselves no little envy as we
enter into every city, it seems to me that we must
take means, without doing so unpleasing a thing
as to prevent their following us, to secure that
the wicked one shall not stir up envy against us
on account of any display ! I wish, therefore,
that you, Niceta and Aquila, would go before us
with them, so that you may lead the multitude
divided into two sections, that we may enter
every city of the Gentiles travelling apart, rather
than in one assemblage.
CHAP. II.
-DISCIPLES DIVIDED INTO TWO BANDS.
" But I know that you think it sad to be sepa-
rated from me for the space of at least two days.
Believe me, that in whatever degree you love me,
my affection towards you is tenfold greater. But
if, by reason of our mutual affection, we will not
do the things that are right and honourable, such
love will appear to be unreasonable. And there-
fore, without bating a tittle of our love, let us
attend to those things which seem useful and
necessary ; especially since not a day can pass in
which you may not be present at my discussions.
For I purpose to pass through the most noted
cities of the provinces one by one, as you also
know, and to reside three months in each for the
sake of teaching. Now, therefore, go before me
to Laodicea, which is the nearest city, and I
shall follow you after two or three days, so far as
I purpose. But you shall wait for me at the inn
nearest to the gate of the city ; and thence again,
when we have spent a few days there, you shall
go before me to more distant cities. And this I
wish you to do at every city, for the sake of
avoiding envy as much as in us lies, and also that
the brethren who are with us, finding lodgings
prepared in the several cities by your foresight,
may not seem to be vagabonds."
' [The narrative of book vii. is given in Homilies XII., XIII.;
chap^. 38 including some details of Homily XIV. i. The variations
in the narrative portions are unimportant ; but the Homilies contain
longer discourses of the Apostle. Chaps 1-24 here correspond quite
exactly with Homily XII. 1-24; the topics of the respective chapters
being the same, and the variations mainly in forms of expression. —
R.]
CHAP. III. ORDER OF MARCH.
When Peter thus spoke, they of course acqui-
esced, saying : " It does not greatly sadden us
to do this, because we are ordered by you, who
have been chosen by the foresight of Christ to
do and to counsel well in all things ; but also
because, while it is a heavy loss not to see our
lord Peter for one, or it may be two days, yet it
is not intolerable. And we think of our twelve
brethren who go before us, and who are deprived
of the advantage of hearing and seeing you for
a whole month out of the three that you stay in
every city. Therefore we shall not delay doing
as you order, because you order all things aright."
And thus saying, they went forward, having re-
ceived instructions that they should speak to
the brethren who journeyed with them outside the
city, and request them not to enter the cities in
a crowd and with tumult, but apart, and divided
into two bands.
CHAP. IV. — Clement's joy at remaining with
PETER.
But when they were gone, I Clement rejoiced
greatly because he had kept me with himself,
and I said to him : " I give thanks to God that
you have not sent me forward with the others,
for I should have died through sadness." Then
said Peter : " And what will happen if necessity
shall demand that you be sent anywhere for the
purpose of teaching? Would you die if you
were separated from me for a good purpose?
Would you not put a restraint upon yourself, to
bear patiently what necessity has laid upon you ?
Or do you not know that friends are always to-
gether, and are joined in memory, though they
be separated bodily; as, on the other hand,
some persons are near to one another in body,
but are separate in mind ? "
chap. v. — Clement's affection for peter.
Then I answered : " Think not, my lord, that
I suffer these things unreasonably ; but there is
a certain cause and reason of this affection of
mine towards you. For I have you alone as the
object of all my affections, instead of father and
mother, and brethren ; but above all this, is the
fact that you alone are the cause of my salvation
and knowledge of the truth. And also this I do
not count of least moment, that my youthful age
is subject to the snares of lusts ; and I am afraid
to be without you, by whose sole presence all
effeminacy, however irrational it be, is put to
shame ; although I trust, by the mercy of God,
158
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VII.
that even my mind, from what it has conceived
through your instruction, shall be unable to re-
ceive aught else into its thoughts. Besides, I
remember your saying at Ccesarea, ' If any one
wishes to accompany me, without violating duti-
fulness, let him accompany me.' And by this
you meant that he should not make any one sad,
to whom he ought according to God's appoint-
ment to cleave ; for example, that he should
not leave a faithful wife, or parents, or the like.
Now from these I am entirely free, and so I am
fit for following you ; and I wish you would
grant me that I might perform to you the ser-
vice of a servant."
CHAP. VI. — Peter's simplicity of life.
Then Peter, laughing, said : " And do you not
think, Clement, that very necessity must make
you my servant ? For who else can spread my
sheets, and arrange my beautiful coverlets?
Who will be at hand to keep my rings, and pre-
pare my robes, which I must be constandy
changing? Who shall superintend my cooks,
and provide various and choice meats to be pre-
pared by most recondite and various art ; and
all those things which are procured at enormous
expense, and are brought together for men of
delicate up-bringing, yea rather, for their appe-
tite, as for some enormous beast? But perliaps,
although you live with me, you do not know my
manner of life. I Hve on bread alone, with
olives, and seldom even with pot-herbs ; and
my dress is what you see, a tunic with a pallium :
and having these, I require nothing more. This
is sufficient for me, because my mind does not
regard things present, but things eternal, and
therefore no present and visible thing delights
me. Whence I embrace and admire indeed
your good mind towards me ; and I commend
you the more, because, though you have been
accustomed to so great abundance, you have
been able so soon to abandon it, and to accom-
modate yourself to this life of ours, which makes
use of necessary things alone. For we — that is,
I and ray brother Andrew — have grown up from
our childhood, not only orphans, but also ex-
tremely poor, and through necessity have be-
come used to labour, whence now also we easily
bear the fatigues of our journeyings. But rather,
if you would consent and allow it, I, who am a
working man, could more easily discharge the
duty of a servant to you."
CHAP. VII.
PETERS HUMILITY.
But I trembled when I heard this, and my
tears immediately gushed forth, because so great
a man, who is worth more than the whole world,
had addressed such a proposal to me. Then he,
when he saw me weeping, inquired the reason ;
and I answered him : " How have I so sinned
against you, that you should distress me with
such a proposal?" Then Peter: "If it is evil
that I said I should serve you, you were first in
fault in saying the same thing to me." Then
said I : " The cases are not alike : for it be-
comes me to do this to you ; but it is grievous
that you, who are sent as the herald of the Most
High God to save the souls of men, should say
it to me." Then said Peter : " I should agree
with you, were it not that our Lord, who came
for the salvation of the whole world, and who
was nobler than any creature, submitted to be a
servant, that He might persuade us not to be
ashamed to perform the ministry of servants to
our brethren." Then said I : "It were foolish-
ness in me to suppose that I can prevail with
you ; nevertheless I give thanks to the provi-
dence of God, because I have merited to have
you instead of parents."
CHAP. VIII. — CLEMENT'S FAMILY HISTORY.
Then said Peter : " Is there then no one of
your family surviving?" I answered: "There
are indeed many powerful men, coming of the
stock of Ccesar ; for Caesar himself gave a wife
to my father, as being his relative, and educated
along with him, and of a suitably noble family.
By her my father had twin sons, born before me,
not very like one another, as my father told me ;
for I never knew them. But indeed I have not
a distinct recollection even of my mother ; but
I cherish the remembrance of her face, as if I
had seen it in a dream. My mother's name was
Matthidia, my father's Faustinianus ; my broth-
ers', Faustinus and Faustus.' Now, when I was
barely five years old, my mother saw a vision —
so I learned from my father — by which she was
warned that, unless she speedily left the city with
her twin sons, and was absent for ten years, she
and her children should perish by a miserable
fate.
CHAP. IX. — DISAPPEARANCE OF HIS MOTHER AND
BROTHERS.
"Then my father, who tenderly loved his sons,
put them on board a ship with their mother, and
sent them to Athens to be educated, with slaves
and maid-servants, and a sufficient supply of
money ; retaining me only to be a comfort to
him, and thankful for this, that the vision had
not commanded me also to go with my mother.
And at the end of a year my father sent men to
Athens with money for them, desiring also to
know how they did ; but those who were sent
I [Comp. Homily XII. 8, where the names given are: Mattidia,
Faustus (father) ; Faustinus and Faustinianus, the twin sons. With
these names some connect the German legend of Faust; see Schalifj
History, ii. 442. — R.J
Chap. XV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
159
never returned. Again, in the third year, my
sorrowful father sent other men with money, who
returned in the fou-th year, and related that they
had seen neither my mother nor my brothers,
that they had never reached Athens, and that no
trace had been found of any one of those who
had been with them.
CUAP. X. DISAPPE.'^RANCE OF HIS FATHER.
" My father hearing this, and confounded
with excessive sorrow, not knowing whither to
go or where to seek, went down with me to the
harbour, and began to ask of the sailors whether
any of them had seen or heard of the bodies of a
mother and two little children being cast ashore
anywhere, four years ago ; when one told one story
and another another, but nothing definite was
disclosed to us searching in this boundless sea.
Yet my father, by reason of the great affection
which he bore to his wife and children, was fed
with vain hopes, until he thought of placing me
under guardians and leaving me at Rome, as
I was now twelve years old, and himself going in
quest of them. Therefore he went down to the
harbour weeping, and going on board a ship,
took his departure ; and from that time till now
I have never received any letters from him, nor
do I know whether he is alive or dead. But I
rather suspect that he also has perished, either
through a broken heart or by shipwreck ; for
twenty years have now elapsed since then, and
no tidings of him have ever reached me."
CHAP. XI. — DIFFERENT EFFECTS OF SUFFERING
ON HEATHENS AND CHRISTIANS.
Peter, hearing this, shed tears of sympathy,
and said to his friends who were present : " If
any man who is a worshipper of God had en-
dured what this man's father has endured, im-
mediately men would assign his religion as the
cause of his calamities ; but when these things
happen to miserable Gentiles, they charge their
misfortunes upon fate. I call them miserable,
because they are both vexed with errors here,
and are deprived of future hope ; whereas, when
the worshippers of God suffer these things, their
patient endurance of them contributes to their
cleansing from sin."
CH.'VP. XII.
EXCURSION TO ARADUS.
After this, one of those present began to ask
Peter, that early next day we should go to a
neighbouring island called Aradus, which was not
more than six furlongs off, to see a certain won-
derful work that was in it, viz. vine-wood ' col-
umns of immense size. To this Peter assented,
as he was very complaisant ; but he charged us
* Various reading, " glas*."
that, when we left the ship, we should not rush
all together to see it : " for," said he, " I do not
wish you to be noticed by the crowd." When
therefore, next day, we reached the island by
ship in the course of an hour, forthwith we has-
tened to the place where the wonderful columns
were. They were placed in a certain temple,
in which there were very magnificent works of
Phidias, on which every one of us gazed ear-
nestly.
CHAP. XIII. — THE BEGGAR WOMAN.
But when Peter had admired only the col-
umns, being no wise ravished with the grace of
the painting, he went out, and saw before the
gates a poor woman asking alms of those who
went in ; and looking earnestly at her, he said :
" Tell me, O woman, what member of your body
is wanting, that you subject yourself to the in-
dignity of asking alms, and do not rather gain
your bread by labouring with your hands which
God has given you." But she, sighing, said :
" Would that I had hands which could be moved ;
but now only the appearance of hands has been
preserved, for they are lifeless, and have been
rendered feeble and without feeling by my knavv-
ing of them." Then Peter said : " What has
been the cause of your inflicting so great an in-
jury upon yourself? " "Want of courage," said
she, " and nought else ; for if I had had any
bravery in me, I could either have thrown myself
from a precipice, or cast myself into the depths
of the sea, and so ended my griefs."
CHAP. XIV. — THE woman's GRIEF.
Then Peter said : " Do you think, O woman,
that those who destroy themselves are set free
from torments, and not rather that the souls
of those who lay violent hands upon tliemselves
are subjected to greater punishments?" Then
said she : " I wish I were sure that souls live in
the infernal regions, for I would gladly embrace
the suffering of the penalty of suicide, only that
I might see my darling children, if it were but
for an hour." Then Peter : " What thing is it
so great, that effects you with so heavy sadness?
I should like to know. For if you informed me
of the cause, I might be able both to show you
clearly, O woman, that souls do live in the in-
fernal regions ; and instead of the precipice or
the deep sea, I might give you some remedy,
that you may be able to end your life without
torment."
CHAP. XV. THE woman's STORY.
Then the woman, hearing this welcome prom-
ise, began to say : " It is neither easy of belief,
nor do I think it necessary to tell, what is my
extraction, or what is my country. It is enough
i6o
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VII.
only to explain the cause of my grief, why I
have rendered my hands powerless by gnawing
them. Being born of noble parents, and hav-
ing become the wife of a suitably powerful man,
I had two twin sons, and after them one other.
But my husband's brother was vehemently en-
flamed with unlawful love towards me ; and as
I valued chastity above all things, and would
neither consent to so great wickedness, nor
wished to disclose to my husband the baseness
of his brother, I considered whether in any way
I could escape unpolluted, and yet not set
brother against brother, and so bring the whole
race of a noble family into disgrace. I made up
my mind, therefore, to leave my country with my
two twins, until the incestuous love should sub-
side, which the sight of me \vas fostering and in-
flaming ; and I thought that our other son should
remain to comfort his father to some extent.
CHAP. XVI. THE woman's STORY CONTINUED.
" Now in order to carry out this plan, I pre-
tended that I had had a dream, in which some
deity stood by me in a vision, and told me that
I should immediately depart from the city with
my twins, and should be absent until he should
command me to return ; and that, if I did not
do so, I should perish with all my children.
And so it was done. For as soon as I told the
dream to my husband, he was terrified ; and
sending with me my twin sons, and also slaves
and maid-servants, and giving me plenty of
money, he ordered me to sail to Athens, where
I might educate my sons, and that I should stay
there until he who commanded me to depart
should give me leave to return. While I was
sailing along with my sons, I was shipwrecked in
the night by the violence of the winds, and,
wretch that I am, was driven to this place ; and
when all had perished, a powerful wave caught
me, and cast me upon a rock. And while I sat
there with this only hope, that haply I might be
able to find my sons, I did not throw myself
into the deep, although then my soul, disturbed
and drunk with grief, had both the courage and
the power to do it.
CHAP. XVII. — THE woman's STORY CONTINUED.
" But when the day dawned, and I with shout-
ing and howling was looking around, if I could
even see the corpses of my unhappy sons any-
where washed ashore, some of those who saw
me were moved with compassion, and searched,
first over the sea, and then also along the shores,
if they could find either of my children. But
when neither of them was anywhere found, the
women of the place, taking pity on me, began
to comfort me, every one telling her own griefs,
that I might take consolation from the likeness
of their calamities to my own. But this sad-
dened me all the more ; for my disposition was
not such that I could regard the misfortunes of
others as comforts to me. And when many de-
sired to receive me hospitably, a certain poor
woman who dwells here constrained me to enter
into her hut, saying that she had had a hus-
band who was a sailor, and that he had died
at sea while a young man, and that, although
many afterwards asked her in marriage, she pre-
ferred widowhood through love .of her husband.
' Therefore,' said she, ' we shall share whatever
we can gain by the labour of our hands.'
CHAP. XVIII. THE woman's STORY CONTINUED.
" And, not to detain you with a long and
profitless story, I willingly dwelt with her on
account of the faithful affection which she re-
tained for her husband. But not long after, my
hands (unhappy woman that I was !), long torn
with gnawing, became powerless, and she who
had taken me in fell into palsy, and now lies at
home in her bed ; also the affection of those
women who had formerly pitied me grew cold.
We are both helpless. " I, as you see, sit beg-
ging ; and when I get anything, one meal serves
two wretches. Behold, now you have heard
enough of my affairs ; why do you delay the
fulfilment of your promise, to give me a remedy,
by which both of us may end our miserable life
without torment ? "
CHAP. XIX. — Peter's reflections on the story.
While she was speaking, Peter, being dis-
tracted with much thought, stood like one thun-
der-struck ; and I Clement coming up, said : " I
have been seeking you everywhere, and now
what are we to do?" But he commanded me
to go before him to the ship, and there to wait
for him ; and because he must not be gainsayed,
I did as he commanded me. But he, as he
afterwards told me the whole, being struck with
a sort of suspicion, asked of the woman her
family, and her country, and the names of her
sons ; " and straightway," he said, " if you ttU
me these things, I shall give you the remedy."
But she, like one suffering violence, because she
would not confess these things, and yet was de-
sirous of the remedy, feigned one thing after
another, saying that she was an Ephesian, and
her husband a Sicilian, and giving false names to
her sons. Then Peter, supposing that she had
answered truly, said : " Alas ! O woman, I
thought that some great joy should spring up to
us to-day ; for I suspected that you were a cer-
tain woman, concerning whom I lately learned
certain like things." But she adjured him, say-
ing : " I entreat you to tell me what they are,
Chap. XXIV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
i6i
that I may know if amongst women there be
one more unfortunate than myself."
CHAP. XX. — Peter's statement to the woman.
Then Peter, incapable of deception, and
moved with compassion, began to say : " There
is a certain young man among those who follow
me for the sake of religion and sect, a Roman
citizen, who told me that he had a father and
two twin brothers, of whom not one is left to
him. ' My mother,' he said, ' as I learned from
my father, saw a vision, that she should depart
from the Roman city for a time with her twin
sons, else they should perish by a dreadful
death ; and when she had departed, she was never
more seen.' And afterwards his father set out to
search for his wife and sons, and was also lost."
CHAP. XXI. A discovery.
When Peter had thus spoken, the woman,
struck with astonishment, fainted. Then Peter
began to hold her up, and to comfort her, and
to ask what was the matter, or what she suffered.
But she at length, with difficulty recovering her
breath, and nervnng herself up to the greatness
of the joy which she hoped for, and at the same
time wiping her face, said : " Is he here, the
youth of whom you speak?" But Peter, when
he understood the matter, said : " Tell me first,
or else you shall not see him." . Then she said :
" I am the mother of the youth." Then says
Peter: "What is his name?" And she an-
swered: "Clement." Then said Peter: "It is
himself; and he it was that spoke with me a
little while ago, and whom I ordered to go be-
fore me to the ship." Then she fell down at
Peter's feet, and began to entreat him that he
would hasten to the ship. Then Peter said :
" Yes, if you will promise me that you will do as
I say." Then she said : " I will do anything ;
only show me my only son, for I think that in
him I shall see my twins also." Then Peter
said : " When you have seen him, dissemble for
a little time, until we leave the island." " I will
do so," she said.
CHAP. XXII. A HAPPY MEETING.
Then Peter, holding her hand, led her to the
ship. And when I saw him giving his hand to
the woman, I began to laugh ; yet, approaching
to do him honour, I tried to substitute my hand
for his, and to support the woman. But as soon
as I touched her hand, she uttered a loud scream,
and rushed into my embrace, and began to de-
vour me with a mother's kisses. But I, being
ignorant of the whole matter, pushed her off as
a mad woman ; and at the same time, though
with reverence, I was somewhat angry with
Peter.
CHAP. XXIII. A MIRACLE.
But he said ; " Cease : what mean you, O
Clement, my son? Do not push away your
mother." But I, as soon as I heard these words,
immediately bathed in tears, fell upon my mother,
who had fallen down, and began to kiss her.
For as soon as I heard, by degrees I recalled her
countenance to my memory ; and the longer I
gazed, the more familiar it grew to me. Mean-
time a great multitude assembled, hearing that
the woman who used to sit and beg was recog-
nised by her son, who was a good man.' And
when we wished to sail hastily away from the
island, my mother said to me : " My darling
son, it is right that I should bid farewell to the
woman who took me in ; for she is poor, and
paralytic, and bedridden." When Peter and all
who were present heard this, they admired the
goodness and prudence of the woman ; and im-
mediately Peter ordered some to go and to bring
the woman in her bed as she lay. And when
she had been brought, and placed in the midst
of the crowd, Peter said, in the presence of all :
" If I am a preacher of truth, for confirming
the faith of all those who stand by, that they
may know and believe that there is one God,
who made heaven and earth, in the name of
Jesus Christ, His Son, let this woman rise." And
as soon as he had said this, she arose whole, and
fell clown at Peter's feet ; and greeting hei* friend
and acquaintance with kisses, asked of her what
was the meaning of it all. But she shortly re-
lated to her the whole proceeding of "the J?ec-
ognition,^ so that the crowds standing around
wondered.
CHAP. XXIV. DEPARTURE FROM ARADUS.
Then Peter, so far as he could, and as time
permitted, addressed the crowds on the faith of
God, and the ordinances of religion ; and then
added, that if any one wished to know more
accurately about these things, he should come
to Antioch, " where," said he, " we have resolved
to stay three months, and to teach fully the
things which pertain to salvation. For if," said
he, " men leave their country and their parents
for commercial or military purposes, and do not
fear to undertake long voyages, why should it be
thought burdensome or difficult to leave home
for three months for the sake of eternal life ? "
When he had said these things, and more to the
same purpose, I presented a thousand drachmas
to the woman who had entertained my mother,
and who had recovered her health by means of
Peter, and in the presence of all committed her
to the charge of a certain good man, the chief
person in that town, who promised that he would
' Perhaps, " a man in good position
2 [This is the title-word of the book, as is evident,
italics here, and not in Homily XII. 23. — R.]
Hence the
T62
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VII.
gladly do what we demanded of him. I also I to see vine-wood columns of wonderful size. I
distributed a little money among some others, ' consented ; and when we came to the place, all
and among those women who were said formerly
to have comforted my mother in her miseries,
to whom I also expressed my thanks. And
after this we sailed, along with my mother, to
Antaradus.
CHAP. XXV. JOURNEYINGS.
And when we had come to our lodging,' my
mother began to ask of me what had become of
my father ; and I told her that he had gone to
seek her, and never returned. But she, hearing
this, only sighed ; for her great joy on my ac-
count lightened her other sorrows. And the
next day she journeyed with us, sitting with
Peter's wife ; and we came to Balanese, where
we stayed three days, and then went on to
Pathos, and afterwards to Gabala ; and so we
arrived at Laodicea, where Niceta and Aquila
met us before the gates, and kissing us, con-
ducted us to a lodging. But Peter, seeing that
it was a large and splendid city, said that it was
worthy that we should stay in it ten days, or even
longer. Then Niceta and Aquila asked of me
who was this unknown woman ; and I answered :
" It is my mother, whom God has given back to
me by means of my lord Peter."
CHAP. XXVI.
• RECAPITULATION.
And when I had said this, Peter began to re-
late the whole matter to them in order,^ and
said : " When we had come to Aradus,^ and I
had ordered you to go on before us, the same
day after you had gone, Clement was led in the
course of conversation to tell me of his extrac-
tion and his family, and how he had been de-
prived of his parents, and had had twin brothers
older than himself, and that, as his father told
him, his mother once saw a vision, by which she
was ordered to depart from the city of Rome
with her twin sons, else she and they should
suddenly perish. And when she had told his
father the dream, he, loving his sons with tender
affection, and afraid of any evil befalling them,
put his wife and sons on board a ship with all
necessaries, and sent them to Athens to be edu-
cated. Afterwards he sent once and again per-
sons to inquire after them, but nowhere found
even a trace of them. At last the father him-
self went on the search, and until now he is
nowhere /<? be found. When Clement had given
me this narrative, there came one to us, asking
us to go to the neighbouring island of Aradus,
I [At this point a discourse of the Apostle on " philanthropy " is
inserted in the Hoinilies (xii. 25-33). Homily XIII. i corresponds
with ihi^ chapter. — R ]
^ [This account is fuller than that in Homily XIII. 2. — R.]
3 There is a confusion in the text between Aradus and Antaradus.
[Aradus is the name of the island, Antaradus that of the neighbouring
city. - R.J
the rest went into the interior of the temple ;
but I — for what reason I know not — had no
mind to go farther.
CHAP. XXVII. RECAPITUL.'VTION CONTINUED.
" But while I was waiting outside for them, I
began to notice this woman, and to wonder in
what part of her body she was disabled, that she
did not seek her Hving by the laljour of her
hands, but submitted to the shame of beggary.
I therefore asked of her the reason of it. She
confessed that she was sprung of a noble race,
and was married to a no less noble husband,
' whose brother,' said she, ' being inflamed by
unlawful love towards me, desired to defile his
brother's bed. This I abhorring, and yet not
daring to tell my husband of so great wicked-
ness, lest I should stir up war between the
brothers, and bring disgrace upon the family,
judged it better to depart from my country with
my two twin sons, leaving the younger boy to be
a comfort to his father. And that this might be
done with an honourable appearance, I thought
good to feign a dream, and to tell my husband
that there stood by me in a vision a certain deity,
who told me to set out from the city immediately
with my two twins, and remain until he should
instruct me to return.' She told me that her
husband, when he heard this, believed her, and
sent her to Athens, with the twin children to be
educated there ; but that they were driven by a
terrible tempest upon that island, where, when
the ship had gone to pieces, she was lifted by a
wave upon a rock, and delayed killing herself
only for this, ' until,' said she, * I could embrace
at least the dead limbs of my unfortunate sons,
and commit them to burial. But when the day
dawned, and crowds had assembled, they took
pity upon me, and threw a garment over me.
But I, miserable, entreated them with many
tears, to search if they could find anywhere the
bodies of my unfortunate sons. And I, tearing
all my body with my teeth, with wailing and
bowlings cried out constantly. Unhappy woman
that I am, where is my Faustus? where my
Faustinus? ' "
CHAP. XXVIII. — MORE RECOGNITIONS.
And when Peter said this,* Niceta and Aquila
suddenly started up, and being astonished, began
to be greatly agitated, saying : " O Lord, Thou
Ruler and God of all, are these things true, or
are we in a dream? " Then Peter said : " Un-
less we be mad, these things are true." But
they, after a short pause, and wiping their faces,
•* [With chaps. 28-36 the narrative in Homily XIII. 3-11 corre-
sponds quite closely. — R.]
Chap. XXXIII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
163
said : " We are Faustinas and Faustus : and
even at the first, when you began this narrative,
we immediately fell into a suspicion that the
matters that you spoke of might perhaps relate
to us ; yet again considering that many like
things happen in men's lives, we kept silence,
although our hearts were struck by some hope.
Therefore we waited for the end of your story,
that, if it were entirely manifest that it related
to us, we might then confess it." And when
they had thus spoken, they went in weeping to
our mother. And when they found her asleep,
and wished to embrace her, Peter prevented
them, saying : " Permit me first to prepare your
mother's mind, lest haply by the great and
sudden joy she lose her reason, and her under-
standing be disturbed, especially as she is now
stupefied with sleep."
CHAP. XXIX. "nothing COMMON OR UNCLEAN."
Therefore, when our mother had risen from
her sleep, Peter began to address her, saying :
" I wish you to know, O woman, an observance
of our religion. We worship one God, who
made the world, and we keep His law, in which
He commands us first of all to worship Him,
and to reverence His name, to honour our par-
ents, and to preserve chastity and uprightness.
But this also we observe, not to have a common
table with Gentiles, unless when they believe, and
on the reception of the truth are baptized, and
consecrated by a certain threefold invocation of
the blessed name ; and then we eat with them.'
Otherwise, even if it were a father or a mother,
or wife, or sons, or brothers, we cannot have a
common table with them. Since, therefore, we
do this for the special cause of religion, let it
not seem hard to you that your son cannot eat
with you, until you have the same judgment of
the faith that he has."
CHAP. XXX. "who C.-^N forbid WATER?"
Then she, when she heard this, said : " And
what hinders, me to be baptized to-day? For
even before I saw you I was wholly alienated
from those whom they call gods, because they
were not able to do anything for me, although I
frequently, and almost daily, sacrificed to them.
And as to chastity, what shall I say, when nei-
ther in former times did pleasures deceive me,
nor afterwards did poverty compel me to sin?
But I think you know well enough how great
was my love of chastity, when I pretended that
dream that I might escape the snares of unhal-
lowed love, and that I might go abroad with
my two twins, and when I left this my son Clem-
ent alone to be a comfort to his father. For if
» [Comp. Homily XIII. 4.— R.]
two were scarcely enough for me, how much
more it would have saddened their father, if he
had had none at all? For he was wretched
through his great affection towards our sons, so
that even the authority of the dream could
scarce prevail upon him to give up to me Faus-
tinus and Faustus, the brothers of this Clement,
and that himself should be content with Clement
alone."
CHAP. XXXI. TOO MUCH JOY.
While she was yet speaking, my brothers could
contain themselves no longer, but rushed into
their mother's embrace with many tears, and
kissed her. But she said : " What is the mean-
ing of this?" Then said Peter: "Be not dis-
turbed, O woman ; be firm. These are your
sons Faustinas and Faustus, whom you supposed
to have perished in the deep ; but how they are
alive, and how they escaped in that horrible
night, and how the one of them is called Niceta
and the other Aquila, they will be able to ex-
plain to you themselves, and we also shall hear
it along with you." When Peter had said this,
our mother fainted, being overcome with excess
of joy ; and after some time, being restored and
come to herself, she said : " I beseech you,
darling sons, tell me what has befallen you since
that dismal and cruel night."
CHAP. XXXII. "he BRINGETH THEM UNTO THEIR
DESIRED HAVEN."
Then Niceta began to say : " On that night,
O mother, when the ship was broken up, and
we were being tossed upon the sea, supported
on a fragment of the wreck, certain men, whose
business it was to rob by sea, found us, and
placed us in their boat, and overcoming the
power of the waves by rowing, by various
stretches brought us to Csesarea Stratonis. There
they starved us, and beat us, and terrified us, that
we might not disclose the truth ; and having
changed our names, they sold us to a certain
widow, a very honourable women, named Justa.
She, having bought us, treated us as sons, so
that she carefully educated us in Greek litera-
ture and liberal arts. And when we grew up,
we also attended to philosophic studies, that we
might be able to confute the Gentiles, by sup-
porting the doctrines of the divine religion by
philosophic disputations.
CHAP, XXXIII.
•ANOTHER WRECK PREVENTED.
"But we adhered, for friendship's sake, and
boyish companionship, to one Simon, a magician,
who was educated along with us, so that we were
almost deceived by him. For there is mention
made in our religion of a certain Prophet, whose
coming was hoped for by all who observe that
1 64
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VII.
religion, through whom immortal and happy life
is promised to be given to those who believe in
Him. Now we thought that this Simon was he.
But these things shall be explained to you, O
mother, at a more convenient season. Mean-
while, when we were almost deceived by Simon,
a certain colleague of my lord Peter, Zacchseus
by name, warned us that we should not be duped
by the magician, but presented us to Peter on
his arrival, that by him we might be taught the
things which were sound and perfect. And this
we hope will happen to you also5»even as God
has vouchsafed it to us, that we may be able to
eat and have a common table with you. Thus
therefore it was, O mother, that you believed
that we were drowned in the sea, while we were
stolen by pirates."
CH.'VP. XXXIV. BAPTISM MUST BE PRECEDED BY
FASTING.
When Niceta had spoken thus, our mother
fell down at Peter's feet, entreating and beseech-
ing him that both herself and her hostess might
be baptized without delay ; " that," said she, " I
may not even for a single day suffer the loss of
the company and society of my sons." In like
manner, we her sons also entreated Peter. But
he said : " What ! Do you think that I alone
am unpitiful, and that I do not wish you to en-
joy your mother's society at meals? But she
must fast at least one day first, and so be bap-
tized ; and this because I have heard from her a
certain declaration, by which her faith has been
made manifest to me, and which has given evi-
dence of her belief; otherwise she must have
been instructed and taught many days before she
could have been baptized."
CHAP. XXXV. DESIRING THE SALVATION OF
OTHERS.
Then said I : " I pray you, my lord Peter, tell
us what is that declaration which you say afforded
you evidence of her faith?" Then Peter: "It
is her asking that her hostess, whose kindnesses
she wishes to requite, may be baptized along with
her. Now she would not ask that this grace be
bestowed upon her whom she loves, unless she
believed that there is some great boon in bap-
tism. Whence, also, I find fault with very many,
who, when they are themselves baptized and be-
lieve, yet do nothing worthy of faith with those
whom they love, such as wives, or children, or
friends, whom they do not exhort to that which
they themselves have attained, as they would
do if indeed they beUeved that eternal life is
thereby bestowed. In short, if they see them
to be sick, or to be subject to any danger bodily,
they grieve and mourn, because they are sure
that in this destruction threatens them. So, then.
if they were sure of this, that the punishment of
eternal fire awaits those who do not worship God,
when would they cease warning and exhorting?
Or, if they refused, how would they not mourn
and bewail them, being sure that eternal tor-
ments awaited them? Now, therefore, we shall
send for that woman at once, and see if she loves
the faith of our religion ; and as we find, so shall
we act. But since your mother has judged so
faithfully concerning baptism, let her fast only
one day before baptism."
CHAP. XXXVI. — THE SONS' PLEADING.
But she declared with an oath, in presence of
my lord Peter's wife, that from the time she rec-
ognised her son, she had been unable to take
any food from excess of joy, excepting only that
yesterday she drank a cup of water. Peter's wife
also bore witness, saying that it was even so.
Then Aquila said : " What, then, hinders her
being baptized?" Then Peter, smiling, said:
" But this is not the fast of baptism, for it was
not done in order to baptism." Then Niceta
said : " But perhaps God, wishing that our
mother, on our recognition, should not be sep-
arated even for one day from participation of
our table, pre-ordained this fasting. For as in
her ignorance she preserved her chastity, that it
might profit her in order to the grace of baptism ;
so she fasted before she knew the reason of fast-
ing, that it might profit her in order to baptism,
and that immediately, from the beginning of our
acquaintance, she might enjoy communion of the
table with us."
CHAP. XXXVII. PETER INEXORABLE.
Then said Peter : ' " Let not th.e wicked one
prevail against us, taking occasion from a
mother's love ; but let you, and me with you,
fast this day along with her, and to-morrow she
shall be baptized : for it is not right that the
precepts of truth be relaxed and weakened in
favour of any person or friendship. Let us not
shrink, then, from suffering along with her, Tor it
is a sin to transgress any commandment. But
let us teach our bodily senses, which are without
us, to be in subjection to our inner senses ; and
not compel our inner senses, which savour the
things that be of God, to follow the outer senses,
which savour the things that be of the flesh. For
to this end also the Lord commanded, saying :
' Whosoever shall look upon a woman to lust
after her, hath committed adultery with her
already in his heart.' And to this He added:
' If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and
cast it from thee : for it is profitable for thee
' [In Homily XIII. 12 the Apostle is represented as thus deferring
the baptism; but a longer discourse on chastity (chaps. 13-21) is
given, assigned to the evening of that day. — R.]
Chap. I.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
165
that one of thy members perish, rather than thy
whole body be cast into hell-fire.' ' He does
not say, has offended thee, that you should then
cast away the cause of sin after you have sinned ;
but if it offend you, that is, that before you sin
you should cut off the cause of the sin that pro-
vokes and irritates you. But let none of you
think, brethren, that the Lord commended the
cutting off of the members. His meaning is,
that the purpose should be cut off, not the
members, and the causes which allure to sin, in
order that our thought, borne up on the chariot
of sight, may push towards the love of God, sup-
ported by the bodily senses ;^ and not give loose
reins to the eyes of the flesh as to wanton horses,
eager to turn their running outside the way of the
commandments, but may subject the bodily sight
to the judgment of the mind, and not suffer those
eyes of ours, which God intended to be viewers
and witnesses of His work, to become panders
of evil desire. And therefore let the bodily
senses as well as the internal thought be subject
to the law of God, and let them serve His will,
whose work they acknowledge themselves to be."
CH.\P. XXXVIII. REWARD OF CHASTITY.
Therefore, as the order and reason of the
mystery demanded, on the following day she was
baptized in the sea,^ and returning to the lodg-
ing, was initiated in all the mysteries of religion
» Matt. V. 28, 29.
2 Here a marginal reading is followed. The reading of the text
is: " In order that our thought, borne on the chariot of contempla-
tion, may hasten on, invisible to the bodily senses, towards the love
of God." But the translation of aspeciiis by "contemplation" is
doubtful.
3 [The baptism is narrated in Homily XIV. i. — R.]
in their order. And we her sons, Niceta and
Aquila, and I Clement, were present. And after
this we dined with her, and glorified God with
her, thankfully acknowledging the zeal and
teaching of Peter, who showed us, by the exam-
ple of our mother, that the good of chastity is
not lost with God;* "as, on the other hand,"
said he, " unchastity does not escape punishment,
though it may not be punished immediately, but
slowly. But so well pleasing," said he, " is chas-
tity to God, that it confers some grace in the
present life even upon those who are in error ;
for future blessedness is laid up for those only
who preserve chastity and righteousness by the
grace of baptism. In short, that which has be-
fallen your mother is an example of this, for all
this welfare has been restored to her in reward
of her chastity, for the guarding and preserving
of which continence alone is not sufficient ; but
when any one perceives that snares and decep-
tions are being prepared, he must straightway
flee as from the violence of fire or the attack of
a mad dog, and not trust that he can easily frus-
trate snares of this kind by philosophizing or by
humouring them ; but, as I have said, he must
flee and withdraw to a distance, as your mother
also did through her true and entire love of chas-
tity. And on this account she has been preserved
to you, and you to her ; and in addition, she has
been endowed with the knowledge of eternal
life." When he had said this, and much more
to the same effect, the evening having come, we
went to sleep.
* [In Homily XIII. 20, 21, a longer discourse, to the same effect,
is recorded; but it is addressed to the mother the evening before her
baptism. — R. j
BOOK VIII.
CHAP. I. THE OLD WORKMAN.
Now the next morning Peter took my brothers
and me with him, and we went down to the har-
bour to bathe in the sea, and thereafter we retired
to a certain secret place for prayer. But a cer-
tain poor old man, a workman, as he appeared
by his dress, began to observe us eagerly, with-
out our seeing him, that he might see what
we were doing in secret.' And when he saw
' [From this point there are considerable variations in the two
narratives. The old man becomes, in the Recngnitions,^, prominent
participant in the discussions, arguing with Peter, and with Niceta,
Aquila, and Clement. At the close of these discussions he is recog-
nised first by the sons (ix. 35), and then by his wife, as Fanstinianus
(ix 37). In the Homilies Peter tells of an interview with the old
man (xiv. 2-8), and the recognition takes place immediately upon his
appearance (xiv. 9). Some discussion with him follows i Honiily XV.) ;
but soon the main controversy is with Simon Magus (Homilies XVI.-
XIX.), in the presence of the father, who is convinced by Peter.
Book X. contains much matter introduced in Homilies IV. -VII. The
correspondences will be indicated in the footnotes. — R.j
US praying, he waited till we came out, and then
saluted us, and said : " If you do not take it
amiss, and regard me as an inquisitive and im-
portunate person, I should wish to converse with
you ; for I take j^ity on you, and would not have
you err under the appearance of truth, and be
afraid of things that have no existence ; or if
you think that there is any truth in them, then
declare it to me. If, therefore, you take it
patiently, I can in a few words instruct you in
what is right ; but if it be unpleasant to you, I
shall go on, and do my business." To him Peter
answered : " Speak what you think good, and we.
will gladly hear, whether it be true or false ; for
you are to be welcomed, because, like a father
anxious on behalf of his children, you wish to put
us in possession of what you regard as good,"
i66
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VIII.
CHAP. II.
GENESIS.
Then the old man proceeded to say : " I saw
you bathe in the sea, and afterwards retire into a
secret place ; wherefore observing, without your
noticing me, what you were doing, I saw you
praying. Therefore, pitying your error, I waited
till you came out, that I might speak to you, and
instruct you not to err in an observance of this
sort ; because there is neither any God, nor
any worship, neither is there any providence
in the world, but all things are done by fortui-
tous chance and genesis, as I have discovered
most clearly for myself, being accomplished
beyond others in the discipline of learning.'
Do not err, therefore : for whether you pray, or
whether you do not pray, whatever your genesis
contains, that shall befall you." Then I Clem-
ent was affected, I know not how, in my heart,
recollecting many things in him that seemed
familiar to me ; for some one says well, that
that which is sprung from any one, although
it may be long absent, yet a spark of relation-
ship is never extinguished.^ Therefore I began
to ask of him who and whence he was, and how
descended. But he, not wishing to answer these
questions, said : " What has that to do with what
I have told you ? But first, if you please, let us
converse of those matters which we have pro-
pounded ; and afterwards, if circumstances re-
quire, we can disclose to one another, as friends
to friends, our names, and families, and country,
and other things connected with these." Yet
we all admired the eloquence of the man, and
the gravity of his manners, and the calmness of
his speech.
CHAP. III. A FRIENDLY CONFERENCE.
But Peter, walking along leisurely while con-
versing, was looking out for a suitable place for
a conference. And when he saw a quiet recess
near the harbour, he made us sit down ; and so
he himself first began. Nor did he hold the
old man in any contempt, nor did he look down
upon him because his dress was poor and mean.
He said, therefore : " Since you seem to me to
be a learned man, and a compassionate, inas- 1
much as you have come to us, and wish that to
be known to us which you consider to be good,
we also wish to expound to you what things we
believe to be good and right ; and if you do not
think them true, you will take in good part our
good intentions towards you, as we do yours
towards us." While Peter was thus speaking, a
great multitude assembled. Then said the old
man : " Perhaps the presence of a multitude dis-
concerts you." Peter replied : " Not at all, ex-
cept only on this account, that I am afraid lest
haply, when the truth is made manifest in the
course of our discussion, you be ashamed in
presence of the multitude to yield and assent
to the things which you may have understood
to be spoken truly." To this the old man an-
swered : " I am not such a fool in my old age,
that, understanding what is true, I should deny
it for the favour of the rabble."
CHAP. IV.
■THE QUESTION STATED.
' [In Homily XIV. 2-5 there is a discussion somewhat similar
to the beginning of this one, but reported by the Apostle to the family
of Clement. — R.]
^ [There are a number of indications, like this, in the narrative,
foreshadowing the recognition of the old man as the father. In the
Homilies nothing similar appears. — R.]
Then Peter began to say : " Those who speak
the word of truth, and who enlighten the souls
of men, seem to me to be like the rays of the
sun, which, when once they have come forth and
appeared to the world, can no longer be con-
cealed or hidden, while they are not so much
seen by men, as they afford sight to all. There-
fore it was well said by One to the heralds of the
truth, ' Ye are the light of the world, and a city
set upon a hill cannot be hid ; neither do men
light a candle and put it under a bushel, but
upon a candlestick, that*it may enlighten all who
are in the house.' " 3 Then said the old man :
" He said well, whoever he is. But let one of
you state what, according to his opinion, ought
to be followed, that we may direct our speech to
a definite aim. For, in order to find the truth,
it is not sufficient to overthrow the things that
are spoken on the other side, but also that one
should himself bring forward what he who is on
the other side may oppose. Therefore, in order
that both parties may be on an equal footing, it
seems to me to be right that each of us should
first enunciate what opinion he holds. And, if
you please, I shall begin first. I say, then, that
the world is not governed according to the provi-
dence of God, because we see that many things
in it are done unjustly and disorderly ; but I
say that it is genesis that does and regulates all
things."
CHAP. V. FREEDOM OF DISCUSSION ALLOWED.
When Peter was about to reply to this, Niceta,
anticipating him, said : * " Would my lord Peter
allow me to answer to this ; and let it not be
thought forward that I, a young man, should
have an encounter with an old man, but rather
let me converse as a son with a father." Then
said the old man : " Not only do I wish, my
son, that you should set forth your opinions;
but also if any one of your associates, if any one
3 Matt. V. 14, 15.
< [The whole arrangement, introducing the brothers as disputants,
is peculiar to the Recognitions. The several discourses are con-
structed with much skill. The courtesy of the discussion is in sharp
contrast with the tone of those in the Homilies, especially those with
Simon Magus. — R.J
Chap. VIIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
167
even of the bystanders, thinks that he knows
anything, let him unhesitatingly state it : we
shall gladly hear it ; for it is by the contribution
of many that the things that are unknown are
more easily found out." Then Niceta there-
fore answered : " Do not deem me to have done
rashly, my father, because I have interrupted the
speech of my lord Peter; but rather I meant
to honour him by doing this. For he is a man
of God, full of all knowledge, who is not ignorant
even of Greek learning, because he is filled with
the Spirit of God, to whom nothing is unknown.
But because it is suitable to him to speak of
heavenly things, I shall answer concerning those
things which pertain to the babbling of the
Greeks. But after we have disputed in the Gre-
cian manner, and we have come to that point
where no issue- appears, then he himself, as filled
with the knowledge of God, shall openly and
clearly disclose to us the truth on all matters, so
that not we only, but also all who are around us
as hearers, shall learn the way of truth. And
therefore now let him sit as umpire ; and when
either of us shall yield, then let him, taking up
the matter, give an unquestionable judgment."
CHAP. VI. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION
STATED.
When Niceta had thus spoken, those who had
assembled conversed amon* themselves : " Is
this that Peter of whom we heard, the most ap-
proved disciple of Him who appeared in Judaea,
and wrought many signs and miracles?" And
they stood gazing upon him with great fear and
veneration, as conferring upon the Lord the
honour of His good servant. Which when Peter
observed, he said to them : " Let us hear with
all attention, holding an impartial judgment
of what shall be said by each ; and after their
encounter we also shall add what may seem
necessary." And when Peter had said this, the
crowds rejoiced. Then Niceta began to speak
as follows : " You have laid down, my father,
that the world is not governed by the provi-
dence of God, but that all things are subject to
genesis, whether the things which relate to the
dispositions, or those which relate to the doings
of every one. This I could answer immediately ;
but because it is right to observe order, we also
lay down what we hold, as you yourself requested
should be done. I say that the world is gov-
erned by the providence of God, at least in those
things which need His government. For He it
is alone who holds all things in His hand, who
also made the world ; the just God, who shall
at some time render to every one according to
his deeds. Now, then, you have our position ;
go on as you please, either overthrowing mine or
establishing your own, that I may meet your
statements. Or if you wish me to speak first, I
shall not hesitate."
CHAP. VII.
-THE WAY CLEARED.
Then the old man answered : " Whether it
pleases you, my son, to speak first, or whether
you prefer that I should speak, makes no differ-
ence, especially with those who discuss in a
friendly spirit. However, speak you first, and I
will gladly hear ; and I wish you may be able
even to follow out those things that are to be
spoken by me, and to put in opposition to them
those things that are contrary to them, and from
the comparison of both to show the truth."
Niceta answered : " If you wish it, I can even
state your side of the argument, and then an-
swer it." Then the old man: "Show me first
how you can know what I have not yet spoken,
and so I shall believe that you can follow out
my side of the argument." Then Niceta : "Your
sect is manifest, even by the proposition which
you have laid down, to those who are skilled in
doctrines of this sort ; and its consequence is cer-
tain. And because I am not ignorant what are
the propositions of the philosophers, I know what
follows from those things which you have pro-
pounded ; especially because I have frequented
the schools of Epicurus in preference to the
other philosophers. But my brother Aquila has
attended more to the Pyrrhonists, and our other
brother to the Platonists and Aristotelians ; there-
fore you have to do with learned hearers." ' Then
said the old man : "You have well and logically
informed us how you perceived the things that
follow from the statements which have been
enunciated. But I professed something more
than the tenet of Epicurus ; for I introduced the
genesis, and asserted that it is the cause of all
the doings of men."
CHAP. VIII.
INSTINCTS.
When the old man had said this, I Clement said
to him : " Hear, my father : if my brother Niceta
bring you to acknowledge that the world is not
governed without the providence of God, I shall
be able to answer you in that part which remains
concerning [\\e getiesis ; for I am well acquaint-
! ed with this doctrine." And when I had thus
spoken, my brother Aquila said : " What is the use
of our calling him father, when we are com-
manded to call no man father upon earth? "^
Then, looking to the old man, he said, " Do not
take it amiss, my father, that I have found fault
with my brother for calling you father, for we
have a precept not to call any one by that name."
When Aquila said that, all the assembly of the
bystanders, as well as the old man and Peter,
' [Comp. Homily XIII. 7. — R.]
2 Matt, xxiii. 9.
i68
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VIII.
laughed. And when Aquila asked the reason of
their all laughing, I said to him : "Because you
yourself do the very thing which you find fault
with in another; for you called the old man
father." But he denied it, saying : " I am not
aware that I called \\\\\\ father" Meantime Pe-
ter was moved with certain suspicions,' as he
told us afterwards ; and looking to Niceta, he
said, "Go on with what you have proposed."
CHAP. IX. SIMPLE AND COMPOUND.
Then Niceta began as follows : ^ " Everything
that is, is either simple or compound. That
which is simple is without number, division, col-
our, difference, roughness, snioothness, weight,
lightness, quality, quantity, and therefore without
end. But that which is compound is either
compounded of two, or of three, or even of four
elements, or at all events of several ; and things
which are compounded can also of necessity
be divided." The old man, hearing this, said :
"You speak most excellently and learnedly,
my son." Then Niceta went on : " Therefore
that which is simple, and which is without any
of those things by which that which subsists
can be dissolved, is without doubt incomprehen-
sible and infinite, knowing neither beginning nor
end, and therefore is one and alone, and subsist-
ing without an author. But that which is com-
pound is subject to number, and diversity, and
division, — is necessarily compounded by some
author, and is a diversity collected into one
species. That which is infinite is therefore, in
respect of goodness, a Father ; in respect of
power, a Creator. Nor can the power of cre-
ating cease in the Infinite, nor the goodness be
quiescent ; but He is impelled by goodness to
change existing things, and by power to ar-
range and strengthen them. Therefore some
things, as we have said, are changed, and com-
posed of two or three, some of four, others of
more elements. But since our inquiry at present
is concerning the method of the world and its
substance, which, it is agreed, is compounded
of four elements, to which all those ten differ-
ences belong which we have mentioned above,
let us begin at these lower steps, and come to
the higher. For a way is afforded us to intel-
lectual and invisible things from those which we
see and handle ; as is contained in arithmetical
instructions, where, when inquiry is made con-
cerning divine things, we rise from the lower to
the higher numbers ; but when the method re-
specting present and visible things is expounded,
' [Another foreshadowing of the approaching recognition; peculiar
to this narrative. — R.]
2 I The argument of Niceta (chaps. 9-34), while it necessarily
includes statements occurring elsewhere in this literature, is, as a
whole, peculiar to the Recognitions. In order of arrangement and
logical force it is much superior to most of the discourses. — R.]
the order is directed from the higher to the lower
numbers. Is it not so?"
CHAP. X. CREATION IMPLIES PROVIDENCE.
Then the old man said : " You are following
it out exceedingly well." Then Niceta : " Now,
then, we must inquire concerning the method of
the world ; of which the first inquiry is divided
into two parts. For it is asked whether it has
been made or not ? And if it has. not been made,
itself must be that Unbegotten from which all
things are. But if it has been made, concern-
ing this again the question is divided into two
parts, whether it was made by itself, or by an-
other. And if indeed it was made by itself, then
without doubt providence is excluded. If provi-
dence is not admitted, in vain is the mind incited
to virtue, in vain justice is maintained, if there be
no one to render to the just man according to his
merits. But even the soul itself will not appear
to be immortal, if there be no dispensation of
providence to receive it after its escape from the
body.
CHAP. XI. — GENERAL OR SPECIAL PROVIDENCE.
" Now, if it be taught that there is a provi-
dence, and that the world was made by it, other
questions meet us which must be discussed. For
it will be asked. In what way providence acts,
whether generally towards the whole, or specially
towards the parts, or generally also towards the
parts, or both generally towards the whole, and
specially towards the parts? But by general
providence we mean this : as if God, at first
making the world, has given an order and ap-
pointed a course to things, and has ceased to
take any further care of what is done. But
special providence towards the parts is of this
sort, that He exercises providence over some
men or places, but not over others. But general
over all, and at the same time special over the
parts, is in this wise : if God made all things at
first, and exercises providence over each indi-
vidual even to the end, and renders to every one
according to his deeds.
CHAP. XII. PRAYER INCONSISTENT WITH GENESIS.
"Therefore that first proposition, which de-
clares that God made all things in the beginning,
and having imposed a course and order upon
things, takes no further account of them, afifirms
that all things are done according to genesis.
To this, therefore, we shall first reply ; and espe-
cially to those who worship the gods and defend
genesis. Assuredly, these men, when they sac-
rifice to the gods and pray to them, hope that
they shall obtain something in opposition to gene-
sis, and so they annul genesis. But when they
laugh at those who incite to virtue and exhort to
Chap. XVI.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
169
continence, and say that nobody can do or suf-
fer anything unless what is decreed to him by
fate, they assuredly cut up by the roots all worship
of the t)ivinity. For why should you worship
those from whom you can obtain nothing which
the method of what is decreed does not allow?
Let this suffice in the meantime, in opposition
to these men. But I say that the world is made
by God, and that it is at some time to be de-
stroyed by Him, that that world may appear
which is eternal, and which is made for this end,
that it may be always, and that it may receive
those who, in the judgment of God, are worthy
of it. But that there is another and invisible
world, which contains this visible world within
itself, — after we have finished our discussion
concerning the visible world, we shall come to it
also.
CHAP. XIII.
•A CREATOR NECESSARY.
" Now, in the meantime, that this visible world
has been made, very many wise men among the
philosophers do testify. But that we may not
seem to make use of assertions as witnesses, as
though we needed them, let us inquire, if you
please, concerning its principles. That this visi-
ble world is material, is sufficiently evident from
the fact that it is visible. But every body re-
ceives one of two differenti/e ; for it is either
compact and solid, or divided and separate. And
if the body of which the world was made was com-
pact and solid, and that body was parted and
divided through diverse species and parts ac-
cording to its differences, there must necessarily
be understood to have been some one to separate
the body which was compact and solid, and to
draw it into many parts and diverse forms ; or if
all this mass of the world was compounded and
compacted from diverse and dispersed parts of
bodies, still there must be understood to have
been some one to collect mto one the dispersed
parts, and to invest these things with their differ-
ent species.
CHAP. XIV. MODE OF CREATION.
" And, indeed, I know that several of the
philosophers were rather of this opinion, that
God the Creator made divisions and distinctions
from one body, which they call matter, which
yet consisted of four elements, mingled into one
by a certain tempering of divine providence.
For I think that what some have said is vain,
that the body of the world is simple, that is,
without any conjunction ; since it is evident that
what is simple can neither be a body, nor can be
mixed, or propagated, or dissolved ; all which,
we see, happen to the bodies of the world. For
how could it be dissolved if it were simple, and
had not within it that from which it miyht be
resolved and divided? But if bodies seem to
be composed of two, or three, or even of four
elements, — who that has even a small portion
of sense does not perceive that there must have
been some one who collected several into one,
and preserving the measure of tempering, made
a solid body out of diverse parts? This some
one, therefore, we call God, the Creator of the
world, and acknowledge Him as the author of
the universe.
CHAP. XV. — THEORIES OF CREATION.
" For the Greek philosophers, inquiring into
the beginnings of the world, have gone, some in
one way and some in another. In short, Pythag-
oras says that numbers are the elements of its
beginnings ; Callistratus, that qualities ; Alcmason,
that contrarieties ; Anaximander, that immensity ;
Anaxagoras, that equalities of parts ; Epicurus,
that atoms ; Diodorus, that afxeprj, that is, things
in which there are no parts ; Asclepius, that oyKoi,
which we may call tumours or swellings ; the
geometricians, that ends ; Democritus, that ideas ;
Thales, that water ; Heraclitus, that fire ; Dioge-
nes, that air ; Parmenides, that earth ; Zeno,
Empedocles, Plato, that fire, water, air, and
earth. Aristotle also introduces a fifth element,
which he called aKaTovoixaa-Tov ; that is, that
which cannot be named ; without doubt indicat-
ing Him who made the world, by joining the
four elements into one. Whether, therefore,
there be two, or three, or four, or more, or innu-
merable elements, of which the world consists,
in every supposition there is shown to be a God,
who collected many into one, and again drew
them, when collected, into diverse species ; and
by this it is proved that the machine of the
world could not have subsisted without a maker
and a disposer.
CHAP. XVI. THE WORLD MADE OF NOTHING BY
A CREATOR.
" But from this fact also, that in the conjunc-
tion of the elements, if one be deficient or in
excess, the others are loosened and fall, is shown
that they took their beginning from nothing.
For if, for example, moisture be wanting in any
body, neither will the dry stand ; for dry is fed
by moisture, as also cold by heat ; in which, as
we have said, if one be defective, the whole are
dissolved. And in this they give indications of
their origin, that they were made out of nothing.
Now if matter itself is proved to have been made,
how shall its parts and its species, of which the
world consists, be thought to be unmade ? But
about matter and its qualities this is not the
time to speak : only let it suffice to have taught
this, that God is the Creator of all things, be-
cause neither, if the body of which the world
170
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VIII.
consists was solid and united, could it be sepa-
rated and distinguished without a Creator ; nor,
if it was collected into one from diverse and
separate parts, could it be collected and mixed
without a Maker. Therefore, if God is so clear-
ly shown to be the Creator of the world, what
room is there for Epicurus to introduce atoms,
and to assert that not only sensible bodies, but
even intellectual and rational minds, are made
of insensible corpuscles ?
CHAP. XVII. — DOCTRINE OF ATOMS UNTENABLE.
"But you will say, according to the opinion
of Epicurus, that successions of atoms coming in
a ceaseless course, and mixing with one another,
and conglomerating through unlimited and end-
less periods of time, are made solid bodies. I
do not treat this opinion as a pure fiction, and
that, too, a badly contrived one ; but let us ex-
amine it, whatever be its character, and see if
what is said can stand. For they say that those
corpuscles, which they call atoms, are of different
qualities : that some are moist, and therefore
heavy, and tending downwards ; others dry and
earthy, and therefore still heavy ; but others
fiery, and therefore always pushing upwards ;
others cold and inert, and always remaining in
the middle. Since then some, as being fiery,
always tend upward, and others, as being moist
and dry, always downwards, and others keep a
middle and unequal course, how could they meet
together and form one body? For if any one
throw down from a height small pieces of straw,
for example, and pieces of lead of the same size,
will the light straws be able to keep up with the
pieces of lead, though they be equal in size?
Nay ; the heavier reach the bottom far more
quickly. So also atoms, though they be equal
in size, yet, being unequal in weight, the lighter
will never be able to keep pace with the heavier ;
but if they cannot keep pace, certainly neither
can they be mixed or form one body.
CHAP. XVIII. THE CONCOURSE OF ATOMS COULD
NOT MAKE THE WORLD.
"Then, in the next place, if they are cease-
lessly borne about, and always coming, and
being added to things whose measure is already
complete, how can the universe stand, when new
weights are always being heaped upon so vast
weights? And this also I ask: If this expanse
of heaven which we see was constructed by the
gradual concurrence of atoms, how did it not
collapse while it was in construction, if indeed
the yawning top of the structure was not propped
and bound by any stays? For as those who
build circular domes, imless they bind the fasten-
ing of the central top, the whole falls at once ;
so also the circle of the world, which we see to
be brought together in so graceful a form, if it
was not made at once, and under the influence
of a single forth-putting of divine energy by the
power of a Creator, but by atoms gradually con-
curring and constructing it, not as reason de-
manded, but as a fortuitous issue befell, how did
it not fall down and crumble to pieces before it
could be brought together and fastened? And
further, I ask this : What is the pavement on
which the foundations of such an immense mass
are laid? And again, what you call the pave-
ment, on what does it rest? And again that
other, what supports it ? And so I go on asking,
until the answer comes to nothing and vacuity !
CHAP. XIX. MORE DIFFICULTIES OF THE ATOMIC
THEORY.
" But if any one say that atoms of a fiery qual-
ity, being joined together, formed a body, and
because the quality of fire does not tend down-
wards, but upwards, that the nature of fire, always
pushing upwards, supports the mass of the world
placed upon it ; to this we answer : How could
atoms of a fiery quality, which always make for
the highest place, descend to the lower, and be
found in the lowest place of all, so as to form a
foundation for all ; whereas rather the heavier
qualities, that is, the earthy or watery, always
come before the lighter, as we have said ; hence,
also, they assert that the heaven, as the higher
structure, is composed of fiery atoms, which are
lighter, and always fly upwards? Therefore the
world cannot have foundations of fire, or any
other : nor can there be any association or com-
pacting of the heavier atoms with the lighter,
that is, of those which are always borne down-
wards, with those that always fly upwards. Thus
it is sufficiently shown that the bodies of the
world are consolidated by the union of atoms ;
and that insensible bodies, even if they could by
any means concur and be united, could not give
forms and measures to bodies, form limbs, or
effect qualities, or express quantities ; all which,
therefore, by their exactness, attest the hand of
a Maker, and show the operation of reason, which
reason I call the ^Vord, and God.
CHAP. XX. — Plato's testimony.
" But some one will say that these things are
done by nature. Now, in this, the controversy is
about a name. For while it is evideuL that it is a
work of mind and reason, what you call nature, I
call God the Creator. It is evident that neither
the species of bodies, arranged with so necessary
distinctions, nor the faculties of minds, could or
can be made by irrational and senseless work.
But if you regard the philosophers as fit wit-
nesses, Plato testifies concerning these things in
the Timceus, where, in a discussion on the mak-
Chap. XXIV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
171
ing of the world, he asks, whether it has existed
always, or had a beginning, and decides that it
was made. ' For,' says he, ' it is visible and pal-
pable, and corporeal ; but it is evident that all
things which are of this sort have been made ;
but what has been made has doubtless an author,
by whom it was made. This Maker and Father
of all, however, it is difficult to discover ; and
when discovered, it is impossible to declare Him
to the vulgar.' Such is the declaration of Plato ;
but though he and the other Greek philosophers
had chosen to be silent about the making of the
world, would it not be manifest to all who have
any understanding? For what man is there,
having even a particle of sense, who, when he
sees a house having all things necessary for use-
ful purposes, its roof fashioned into the form of
a globe, painted with various splendour and di-
verse figures, adorned with large and splendid
lights ; who is there, I say, that, seeing such a
structure, would not immediately pronounce that
it was constructed by a most wise and powerful
artificer? And so, who can be found so foolish,
as, when he gazes upon the fabric of the heaven,
perceives the splendour of the sun and moon,
sees the courses and beauty of the stars, and
their paths assigned to them by fixed laws and
periods, will not cry out that these things are
made, not so much by a wise and rational artifi-
cer, as by wisdom and reason itself?
CHAP. XXI.
MECHANICAL THEORY.
" But if you would rather have the opinions of
others of the Greek philosophers, — and you are
acquainted with mechanical science, — you are
of course famiUar with what is their deliverance
concerning the heavens. For they suppose a
sphere, equally rounded in every direction, and
looking indifferently to all points, and at equal
distances in all directions from the centre of the
earth, and so stable by its own symmetry, that
its perfect equality does not permit it to fall off
to any side ; and so the sphere is sustained,
although supported by no prop. Now if the
fabric of the world really has this form, the divine
work is evident in it. But if, as others think, the
sphere is placed upon the waters, and is sup-
ported by them, or floating in them, even so the
work of a great contriver is shown in it.
CHAP. XXII. MOTIONS OF THE STARS,
" But lest the assertion may seem doubtful re-
specting things which are not manifest to all, let
us come to those things of which nobody is ig-
norant. Who disposed the courses of the stars
with so great reason, ordained their risings and
settings, and appointed to each one to accom-
plish the circuit of the heavens in certain and
regular times? Who assigned to some to be al-
ways approaching to the setting, and others to
be returning to the rising? Who put a measure
upon the courses of the sun, that he might mark
out, by his diverse motions, hours, and days, and
months, and changes of seasons? — that he might
distinguish, by the sure measurement of his
course, now winter, then spring, summer, and
afterwards autumn, and always, by the same
changes of the year, complete the circle with
variety, without confusion ? Who, I say, will not
pronounce that the director of such order is the
very wisdom of God? And these things we
have spoken according to the relations given us
by the Greeks respecting the science of the
heavenly bodies.
CHAP. XXIII. PROVIDENCE IN EARTHLY THINGS.
" But what of those things also which we see
on the earth, or in the sea ? Are we not plainly
taught, that not only the work, but also the provi-
dence, of God is in them ? For whereas there
are on the earth lofty mountains in certain places,
the object of this is, that the air, being com-
pressed and confined by them through the ap-
pointment of God, may be forced and pressed
out into winds, by which fruits may germinate,
and the summer heat may be moderated when
the Pleiades glow, fired with the blaze ,of the
sun. But you still say, Why that blaze of the
sun, that moderating should be required ? How,
then, should fruits be ripened which are neces-
sary for the uses of men ? But observe this also,
that at the meridian axis,' where the heat is
greatest, there is no great collection of clouds,
nor an abundant fall of rain, lest disease should
be produced among the inhabitants ; for watery
clouds, if they are acted on by rapid heat, render
the air impure and pestilential. And the earth
also, receiving the warm rain, does not afford
nourishment to the crops, but destruction. In
this who can doubt that there is the working of
divine providence? In short, Egypt, which is
scorched with the heat of Ethiopia, in its neigh-
bourhood, lest its air should be incurably vitiated
by the effects of showers, its plains do not re-
ceive rain furnished to them from the clouds,
but, as it were, an earthly shower from the over-
flow of the Nile.
CHAP. XXIV. RIVERS AND SEAS.
" What shall we say of fountains and rivers,
which flow with perpetual motion into the sea?
And, by the divine providence, neither does their
abundant supply fail, nor does the sea, though it
receives so great quantities of water, experience
any increase, but both those elements which con-
tribute to it and those which are thus contributed
' That is, the equator.
172
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VIII.
remain in the same proportion. But you will
say to me : The salt water naturally consumes
the fresh water which is poured into it. Well,
in this is manifest the work of providence, that
it made that element salt into which it turned
the courses of all the waters which it had pro-
vided for the use of men. So that through so
great spaces of time the channel of the sea has
not been filled, and produced a deluge destruc-
tive to the earth and to men. Nor will any one
be so foolish as to think that this so great reason
and so great providence has been arranged by
irrational nature.
CHAP. XXV. — PLANTS AND ANIMALS.
" But what shall I say of plants, and what of
animals? Is it not providence that has ordained
that plants, when they decay by old age, should
be reproduced by the suckers or the seeds which
they have themselves produced, and animals by
propagation ? And by a certain wonderful dis-
pensation of providence, milk is prepared in the
udders of the dams for the animals before they
are born ; and as soon as they are born, with no
one to guide them, they seek out the store of
nourishment provided for them. And not only
males are produced, but females also, that by
means of both the race may be perpetuated.
But lest this should seem, as some think, to be
done by a certain order of nature, and not by
the appointment of the Creator, He has, as a
proof and indication of His providence, ordained
a few animals to preserve their stock on the earth
in an exceptional way : for example, the crow
conceives through the mouth, and the weasel
brings forth through the ear; and some birds,
such as hens, sometimes produce eggs conceived
of wind or dust ; other animals convert the male
into the female, and change their sex every year,
as hares and hyaenas, which they call monsters ;
others spring from the earth, and get their bodies
from it, as moles ; others from ashes, as vipers ;
others from putrifying flesh, as wasps from horse-
flesh, bees from ox- flesh ; others from cow-dung,
as beetles ; others from herbs, as the scorpion
from the basil ; and again, herbs from animals,
as parsley and asparagus from the horn of the
stag or the she-goat.
CHAP. xxvL — Germination of seeds.
" And what occasion is there to mention more
instances in which divine providence has or-
dained the production of animals to be effected
in various ways, that order being superseded
which is thought to be assigned by nature, from
which not an irrational course of things, but one
arranged by his own reason, might be evinced ?
And in this also is there not a full work of provi-
dence shown, when seeds sown are prepared by
means of earth and water for the sustenance of
men? For when these seeds are committed to
the earth, the soil milks upon the seeds, as from
its teats, the moisture which it has received into
itself by the will of God. For there is in water
a certain power of the spirit given by God from
the beginning, by whose operation the structure
of the body that is to be begins to be formed in
the seed itself, and to be developed by means of
the blade and the ear ; for the grain of seed be-
ing swelled by the moisture, that power of the
spirit which has been made to reside in water,
running as an incorporeal substance through cer-
tain strait passages of veins, excites the seeds to
growth, and forms the species of the growing
plants. By means, therefore, of the moist ele-
ment in which that vital spirit is contained and
inborn, it is caused that not only is it revived,
but also that an appearance and form in all re-
spects like to the seeds that had been sown is
reproduced. Now, who that has even a particle
of sense will think that this method depends
upon irrational nature, and not upon divine wis-
dom? Lastly, also these things are done in a
resemblance of the birth of men ; for the earth
seems to take the place* of the womb, into which
the seed being cast, is both formed and nour-
ished by the power of water and spirit, as we
have said above.
CHAP. XXVII. POWER OF WATER.
" But in this also the divine providence is to be
admired, that it permits us to see and know the
things that are made, but has placed in secrecy
and concealment the way and manner in which
they are done, that they may not be competent
to the knowledge of the unworthy, but may be
laid open to the worthy and faithful, when they
shall have deserved it. But to prove by facts
and examples that nothing is imparted to seeds
of the substance of the earth, but that all de-
pends upon the element of water, and the power
of the spirit which is in it, — suppose, for exam-
ple, that a hundred talents' weight of earth are
placed in a very large trough, and that there are
sown in it several kinds of seeds, either of herbs
or of shrubs, and that water enough is supplied
for watering them, and that that care is taken
for several years, and that the seeds which are
gathered are stored up, for example of corn or
barley and other sorts separately from year to
year, until the seeds of each sort amount to a
hundred talents' weight, then also let the stalks
be pulled up by the roots and weighed ; and
after all these have been taken from the trough,
let the earth be weighed, it will still give back its
hundred talents' weight undiminished.' Whence,
then, shall we say that all that weight, and all
I • [De Maistre, Soirees, vi. 259.]
Chap. XXXIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
^72>
the quantity of different seeds and stalks, has
come ? Does it not appear manifestly that it
has come from the water? For the earth re-
tains entire what is its own, but the water which
has been poured in all through is nowhere, on
account of the powerful virtue of the divine con-
dition, which by the one species of water both
prepares the substances of so many seeds and
shrubs, and forms their species, and preserves
the kind while multiplying the increase.
CHAP. XXVIII. THE HUMAN BODY.
" From all these things I think it is sufficient-
ly and abundantly evident thaf all things are
produced ; and the universe consists by a de-
signing sense, and not by the irrational opera-
tion of nature. But let us come now, if you
please, to our own substance, that is, the sub-
stance of man, who is a small world, a micro-
cosm, in the great world ; and let us consider
with what reason it is compounded : and from
this especially you will understand the wisdom
of the Creator. For although man consists of
different substances, one mortal and the other
immortal, yet, by the skilful contrivance of the
Creator, their diversity does not prevent their
imion, and that although the substances be di-
verse and alien the one from the other. For
the one is taken from the earth and formed by
the Creator, but the other is given from im-
mortal substances ; and yet the honour of its
immortality is not violated by this union. Nor
does it, as some think, consist of reason, and
concupiscence, and passion, but rather such af-
fections seem to be in it, by which it may be
moved in each of these directions. For the
body, which consists of bones and flesh, takes
its beginning from the seed of a man, which is
extracted from the marrow by warmth, and con-
veyed into the womb as into a soil, to which it
adheres, and is gradually moistened from the
fountain of the blood, and so is changed into
flesh and bones, and is formed into the likeness
of him who injected the seed.
CHAP. XXIX. SYMMETRY OF THE BODY.
" And mark in this the work of the Designer,
how He has inserted the bones like pillars, on
which the flesh might be sustained and carried.
Then, again, how an equal measure is preserved
on either side, that is, the right and the left, so
that foot answers to foot, hand to hand, and
even finger to finger, so that each agrees in per-
fect equality with each ; and also eye to eye,
and ear to ear, which not only are suitable to
and matched with each other, but also are formed
fit for necessary uses. The hands, for instance,
are so made as to be fit for work ; the feet for
walking ; the eyes, protected with sentinel eye-
brows, to serve the purpose of sight ; the ears
so formed for hearing, that, like a cymbal, they
vibrate the sound of the word that falls upon
them, and send it inward, and transmit it even
in the understanding of the heart ; whereas the
tongue, striking against the teeth in speaking,
performs the part of a fiddle-bow. The teeth
also are formed, some for cutting and dividing
the food, and handing it over to the inner ones ;
and these, in their turn, bruise and grind it like
a mill, that it may be more conveniently digested
when it is conveyed into the stomach ; whence
also they are called grinders.
CHAP. XXX.
BREATH AND BLOOD.
" The nostrils also are made for the purpose
of collecting, inspiring, and expiring air, that by
the renewal of the breath, the natural heat which
is in the heart may, by means of the lungs, be
either warmed or cooled, as the occasion may
require ; while the lungs are made to abide in
the breast, that by their softness they may soothe
and cherish the vigour of the heart, in which the
life seems to abide ; — the life, I say, not the
soul. And what shall I say of the substance of
the blood, which, proceeding as a river from a
fountain, and first borne along in one channel,
and then spreading through innumerable veins,
as through canals, irrigates the whole territory of
the human body with vital streams, being sup-
plied by the agency of the liver, which is placed
in the right side, for effecting the digestion of
food and turning it into blood ? But in the left
side is placed the spleen, which draws to itself,
and in some way cleanses, the impurities of the
blood.
CHAP. XXXI. THE INTESTINES.
" What reason also is employed in the intes-
tines, which are arranged in long circular wind-
ings, that they may gradually carry off the refuse
of the food, so as neither to render places sud-
denly empty, and so as not to be hindered by
the food that is taken afterwards ! But they are
made like a membrane, that the parts that are
outside of them may gradually receive moisture,
which if it were poured out suddenly would
empty the internal parts ; and not hindered by
a thick skin, which would render the outside dry,
and disturb the whole fabric of man with distress-
ing thirst.
CHAP. XXXII. GENERATION.
" Moreover, the female form, and the cavity
of the womb, most suitable for receiving, and
cherishing, and vivifying the germ, who does not
believe that it has been made as it is by reason
and foresight? — because in that part alone of
her body the female differs from the male, in
which the foetus being placed, is kept and cher-
174
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VIII.
ished. And again the male differs from the
female only in that part of his body in which
is the power of injecting seed and propagating
mankind. And in this there is a great proof
of providence, from the necessary difference of
members ; but more in this, where, under a like-
ness of form there is found to be diversity of use
and variety of office. For males and females
equally have teats, but only those of the female
are filled with milk ; that, as soon as they have
brought forth, the infant may find nourishment
suited to him. But if we see the members in
man arranged with such method, that in all
the rest there is seen to be similarity of form,
and a difference only in those in which their use
requires a difference, and we neither see anything
superfluous nor anything wanting in man, nor in
woman anything deficient or in excess, who will
not, from all these things, acknowledge the oper-
ation of reason, and the wisdom of the Creator?
CHAP. XXXIII. — CORRESPONDENCES IN CREATION.
" With this agrees also the reasonable differ-
ence of other animals, and each one being suited
to its own use and service. This also is testified
by the variety of trees and the diversity of herbs,
varying both in form and in juices. This also is
asserted by the change of seasons, distinguished
into four periods, and the circle closing the year
with certain hours, days, months, and not deviat-
ing from the appointed reckoning by a single
hour. Hence, in short, the age of the world
itself is reckoned by a certain and fixed account,
and a definite number of years.
CHAP. XXXIV. TIME OF MAKING THE WORLD.
" But you will say, When was the world made ?
And why so late? This you might have ob-
jected, though it had been made sooner. For
you might say. Why not also before this ? And
so, going back through unmeasured ages, you
might still ask. And why not sooner? But we
are not now discussing this, why it was not made
sooner ; but whether it was made at all. For if
it is manifest that it was made, it is necessarily
the work of a powerful and supreme Artificer ;
and if this is evident, it must be left to the
choice and judgment of the wise Artificer, when
He should please to make it ; unless indeed you
think that all this wisdom, which has constructed
the immense fabric of the world, and has given
to the several objects their forms and kinds,
assigning to them a habit not only in accord-
ance with beauty, but also most convenient and
necessary for their future uses, — unless, I say,
you think that this alone has escaped it, that it
should choose a convenient season for so magnifi-
cent a work of creation. He has doubtless a
certain reason and evident causes why, and when,
and how He made the world ; but it were not
proper that these should be disclosed to those
who are reluctant to incjuire into and understand
the things which are placed before their eyes,
and which testify of His providence. For those
things which are kept in secret, and are hidden
within the senses of Wisdom, as in a royal
treasury, are laid open to none but those who
have learned of Him, with whom these things
are sealed and laid up. It is God, therefore,
who made all things, and Himself was made by
none. But those who speak of nature instead of
God, and declare that all things were made by
nature, do not perceive the mistake of the name
which they use. For if they think that nature
is irrational, it is most foolish to suppose that a
rational creature can proceed from an irrational
creator. But if it is Reason — that is. Logos ' —
by which it appears that all things were made,
they change the name without purpose, when
they make statements concerning the reason of
the Creator. If you' have anything to say to
these things, my father, say on."
CHAP. XXXV.
A CONTEST OF HOSPITALITY.
When Niceta had thus spoken, the old man
answered : "You indeed, my son, have conducted
your argument wisely and vigorously ; so much
so, that I do not think the subject of providence
could be better treated. But as it is now late,
I wish to say some things to-morrow in answer
to what you have argued ; and if on these you
can satisfy me, I shall confess myself a debtor to
your favour." And when the old man said this,
Peter rose up. Then one of those present, a
chief man of the Laodiceans, requested of Peter
and us that he might give the old man other
clothes instead of the mean and torn ones that
he wore.^ This man Peter and we embraced;
and praising him for his honourable and excel-
lent intention, said : " We are not so foolish and
impious as not to bestow the things which are
necessary for bodily uses upon him to whom we
have committed so precious words ; and we hope
that he will willingly receive them, as a father
from his sons, and also we trust that he will share
with us our house and our living." While we
said this, and that chief man of the city strove
to take the old man away from us with the
greatest urgency and with many blandishments,
while we the more eagerly strove to keep him
with us, all the people cried out that it should
rather be done as the old man himself pleased ;
and when silence was obtained, the old man,
with an oath, said : " To-day I shall stay with no
* [Comp. John i. 1-3. The expression seems to be used here
with a polemic purpose. — R. J
* [This incident is peculiar to the Recognitions. There seems
to be a reminiscence of this chief man in Homily IV. 10, where a
rich man provides a place for the discussion; comp. chap. 38 here. —
R.J
Chap. XXXIX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
175
one, nor take anything from any one, lest the
choice of the one should prove the sorrow of
the other ; afterwards these things may be, if so
it seem right."
CHAP. XXXVI. ARRANGEMENTS FOR TO-MORROW.
And when the old man had said this, Peter
said to the chief man of the city : " Since you
have shown your good-will in our presence, it is
not right that you should go away sorrowful ;
but we will accept from you favour for favour.
Show us your house, and make it ready, so that
the discussion which is to be to-morrow may be
held there, and that any who wish to be present
to hear it may be admitted." When the chief
man of the city heard this, he rejoiced greatly ;
and all the people also heard it gladly. And
when the crowds had dispersed, he pointed out
his house ; and the old man also was preparing
to depart. But 1 commanded one of my attend-
ants to follow the old man secretly, and find
out where he stayed. And when we returned to
our lodging, we told our brethren all our dealings
with the old man ; and so, as usual, we supped
and went to sleep.
CHAP. XXXVII. "the form OF SOUND WORDS,
WHICH YE HAVE HEARD OF ME."
But on the following day Peter arose early
and called us, and we went together to the secret
place in which we had been on the previous
day, for the purpose of prayer. And when, after
prayer, we were coming thence to the appointed
place, he exhorted us by the way, saying : '
" Hear me, most beloved fellow-servants : It is
good that every one of you, according to his
ability, contribute to the advantage of those who
are approaching to the faith of our religion ; and
therefore do not shrink from instructing the
ignorant, and teaching according to the wisdom
which has been bestowed upon you by the
providence of God, yet so that you only join the
eloquence of your discourse with those things
which you have heard from me, and which have
been committed to you. But do not speak any-
thing which is your own, and which has not
been committed to you, though it may seem to
yourselves to be true ; but hold forth those
things, as I have said, which I myself have re-
ceived from the true Prophet, and have deliv-
ered to you, although they may seem to be less
full of authority. For thus it often happens that
men turn away from the truth, while they believe
that they have found out, by their own thoughts,
a form of truth more true and powerful."
^ [VecuWar to the Reco£'?iiiions,' there is probably here an ariti-
Pauline purpose. — R.J
CHAP. XXXVIII. THE CHIEF MAN'S HOUSE.
To these counsels of Peter we willingly assent-
ed, saying to him that we should do nothing but
what was pleasing to him. Then said he : " That
you may therefore be exercised without danger,
each of you conduct the discussion in my pres-
ence, one succeeding another, and each one
elucidating his own questions. Now, then, as
Niceta discoursed sufficiently yesterday, let
Aquila conduct the discussion to-day ; and after
Aquila, Clement ; and then I, if the case shall
require it, will add something." Meantime,
while we were talking in this way, we came to
the house ; and the master of the house wel-
comed us, and led us to a certain apartment,
arranged after the manner of a theatre, and beau-
tifully built. There we found great crowds wait-
ing for us, who had come during the night, and
amongst them the old man who had argued with
us yesterday. Therefore we entered, having
Peter in the midst of us, looking about if we
could see the old man anywhere ; and when
Peter saw him hiding in the midst of the crowd,
he called him to him, saying : " Since you possess
a soul more enlightened than most, why do you
hide yourself, and conceal yourself in modesty?
Rather come hither, and propound your senti-
ments."
CHAP. XXXIX. — RECAPITULATION OF YESTERDAY'S
ARGUMENT.
When Peter had thus spoken, immediately the
crowd began to make room for the old man.^
And when he had come forward, he thus be-
gan : " Although I do not remember the words
of the discourse which the young man de-
livered yesterday, yet I recollect the purport
and the order of it ; and therefore I think it
necessary, for the sake of those who were not
present yesterday, to call up what was said, and
to repeat everything shortly, that, although some-
thing may have escaped me, I may be reminded
of it by him who delivered the discourse, who
is now present. This, then, was the purport of
yesterday's discussion : that all things that we
see, inasmuch as they consist in a certain pro-
portion, and art, and form, and species, must
be believed to have been made by intelligent
power ; but if it be mind and reason that has
formed them, it follows that the world is gov-
erned by the providence of the same reason,
although the things which are done in the world
may seem to us to be not quite rightly done.
But it follows, that if God and mind is the cre-
ator of all things. He must also be just ; but if
2 [The second day's discussion, in which Aquila is the main
speaker, is also of a high order. It is, as already indicated, pecul-
iar to the Recognitions, though with the usual incidental correspond-
ences in the Homilies. — R. |
176
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VIII.
He is just, He necessarily judges. If He judges,
it is of necessity tliat men be judged with re-
spect to tlieir doings ; and if every one is judged
in respect of his doings, there shall at some
time be a righteous separation between righteous
men and sinners. This, I think, was the sub-
stance of the whole discourse.
CHAP. XL.
■ GENESIS.
" If, therefore, it can be shown that mind and
reason created all things, it follows that those
things which come after are also managed by
reason and providence. But if unintelligent and
bhnd nature produces all things, the reason of
judgment is undoubtedly overthrown ; and there
is no ground to expect either punishment of sin
or reward of well-doing where there is no judge.
Since, then, the whole matter depends upon this,
and hangs by this head, do not take it amiss
if I wish this to be discussed and handled some-
what more fully. For in this the first gate, as it
were, is shut towards all things which are pro-
pounded, and therefore I wish first of all to have
it opened to me. Now therefore hear what my
doctrine is ; and if any one of you pleases, let
him reply to me : for I shall not be ashamed to
learn, if I hear that which is true, and to assent
to him who speaks rightly. The discourse, then,
which you delivered yesterday, which asserted
that all things consist by art, and measure, and
reason, does not fully persuade me that it is mind
and reason that has made the world ; for I have
many things which I can show to consist by
competent measure, and form, and species, and
which yet were not made by mind and reason.
Then, besides, I see that many things are done
in the world without arrangement, consequence,
or justice, and that nothing can be done without
the course of genesis. This I shall in the sequel
prove most clearly from my own case."
CHAP. XLI. THE RAINBOW.
When the old man had thus spoken, Aquila
answered : " As you yourself proposed that any
one who pleased should have an opportunity of
answering to what you might say, my brother
Niceta permits me to conduct the argument to-
day." Then the old man : " Go on, my son,
as you please." And Aquila answered : " You
promised that you would show that there are
many things in the world which have a form and
species arranged by equal reason, which yet it is
evident were not effected by God as their Cre-
ator. Now, then, as you have promised, point
out these things." Then said the old man :
" Behold, we see the bow in the heaven assume
a circular shape, completed in all proportion,
and have an appearance of reality, which per-
haps neither mind could have constructed nor
reason described ; and yet it is not made by any
mind. Behold, I have set forth the whole in a
word : now answer me."
CHAP. XLII. TYPES AND FORMS.
Then said Aquila : " If anything is expressed
from a type and form, it is at once understood
that it is from reason, and that it could not be
made without mind ; since the. type itself, which
expresses figures and forms, was not made with-
out mind. For example, if wax be applied to
an engraved ring, it takes the stamp and figure
from the ring, which undoubtedly is without
sense ; but then the ring, which expresses the
figure, was engraven by the hand of a work^nan,
and it was mind and reason that gave the type
to the ring. So then the bow also is expressed
in the air ; for the sun, impressing its rays on
the clouds in the process of rarefaction, and
affixing the type of its' circularity to the cloudy
moisture, as it were to soft wax, produces the
appearance of a bow ; and this, as I have said, is
effected by the reflection of the sun's brightness
upon the clouds, and reproducing the brightness
of its circle from them. Now this does not
always take place, but only when the opportu-
nity is presented by the rarefaction of moistened
clouds. And consequently, when the clouds
again are condensed and unite, the form of the
bow is dissolved and vanishes. Finally, the bow
never is seen without sun and clouds, just as the
image is not produced, unless there be the type,
and wax, or some other material. Nor is it
wonderful if God the Creator in the beginning
made types, from which forms and species may
now be expressed. But this is similar to that,
that in the beginning God created insensible ele-
ments, which He might use for forming and
developing all other things. But even those who
form statues, first make a mould of clay or wax,
and from it the figure of the statue is produced.
And then afterwards a shadow is also produced
from the statue, which shadow always bears the
form and likeness of the statue. What shall we
say then? That the insensible statue forms a
shadow finished with as diligent care as the
statue itself? Or shall the finishing of the shadow
be unhesitatingly ascribed to him who has also
fashioned the statue?
CHAP. XLIII. — THINGS APPARENTLY USELESS AND
VILE MADE BY GOD.
" If, then, it seems to you that this is so, and
what has been said on this subject is enough, let
us come to inquire into other matters ; or if you
think that something is still wanting, let us go
over it again." And the old man said : " I wish
Chap. XLVI.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
177
you would go over this again, since there are
many other things which I see to be made in
hke manner : for both the fruits of trees are pro-
duced in hke manner, beautifuUy formed and
wonderfully rounded ; and the appearance of the
leaves is formed with immense gracefulness, and
the green membrane is woven with exquisite art :
then, moreover, fleas, mice, lizards, and such hke,
shall we say that these are made by God?
Hence, from these vile objects a conjecture is
derived concerning the superior, that they are
by no means formed by the art of mind." "You
infer well," said Aquila, " concerning the texture
of leaves, and concerning small animals, that
from these belief is withdrawn from the superior
creatures ; but let not these things deceive you,
that you should think that God, working as it
were only with two hands, could not complete
all things that are made ; but remember how
my brother Niceta answered you yesterday, and
truly disclosed the mystery before the time, as a
son speaking with his father, and explained why
and how things are made which seem to be
useless."
CHAP. XLIV. — ORDINATE AND INORDINATE.
Then the old man : " I should like to hear
from you why those useless things are made by
the will of that supreme mind? " " If," said he,
"it is fully manifest to you that there is in them
the work of mind and reason, then you will not
hesitate to say also why they were made, and to
declare that they have been rightly made." To
this the old man answered : " I am not able, my
son, to say that those things which seem formed
by art are made by mind, by reason of other
things which we see to be done unjustly and
disorderly in- the world." " If," says Aquila,
" those things which are done disorderly do not
allow you say that they are done by the provi-
dence of God, why do not those things which
are done orderly compel you to say that they
are done by God, and that irrational nature can-
not produce a rational work? For it is certain,
nor do we at all deny, that in this world some
things are done orderly, and some disorderly.
Those things, therefore, that are done rationally,
believe that they are done by providence ; but
those that are done irrationally and inordinately,
that they befall naturally, and happen accidentally.
But I wonder that men do not perceive, that
where there is sense things may be dgne ordi-
nately and inordinately, but where there is no
sense neither the one nor the other can be done ;
for reason makes order, and the course of order
necessarily produces something inordinate, if
anything contrary happen to disturb order."
Then the old man : " This very thing I wish you
to show me."
CtLAP. XLV. MOTIONS OF THE SUN AND MOON.
Says Aquila : " I shall do so without delay.
Two visible signs are shown in heaven — one of
the sun, the other of the moon ; and these are
followed by five other stars, each describing its
own separate orbit. These, therefore, God has
placed in the heaven, by which the temperature
of the air may be regulated according to the
seasons, and the order of vicissitudes and alter-
nations may be kept. But by means of the very
same sipis, if at any time plague and corruption
is sent upon the earth for the sins of men, the
air is disturbed, pestilence is brought upon
animals, blight upon crops, and a destructive
year in every way upon men ; and thus it is that
by one and the same means order is both kept
and destroyed. For it is manifest even to the
unbelieving and unskilful, that the course of the
sun, which is useful and necessary to the world,
and which is assigned by providence, is always
kept orderly ; but the courses of the moon, in
comparison of the course of the sun, seem to the
unskilful to be inordinate and unsettled in her
waxings and wanings. For the sun moves in
fixed and orderly periods : for from him are
hours, from him the day when he rises, from him
also the night when he sets ; from him months
and years are reckoned, from him the variations
of seasons are produced ; while, rising to the
higher regions, he tempers the spring ; but when
he reaches the top of the heaven, he kindles the
summer's heats : again, sinking, he produces the
temper of autumn ; and when he returns to his
lowest circle, he bequeaths to us the rigour of
winter's cold from the icy binding of heaven.
CHAP. XLVI. — SUN AND MOON MINISTERS BOTH OF
GOOD AND EVIL.
" But we shall discourse at greater length on
these subjects at another time. Now, meantime,
we remark that though he is that good servant
for regulating the changes of the seasons, yet,
when chastisement is inflicted upon men accord-
ing to the will of God, he glows more fiercely,
and burns up the world with more vehement
fires. In like manner also the course of the
moon, and that changing which seems to the un-
skilful to be disorderly, is adapted to the growth
of crops, and cattle, and all living creatures ; for
by her waxings and wanings, by a certain won-
derful contrivance of providence, everything that
is born is nourished and grows ; concerning
which we could speak more at length and unfold
the matter in detail, but that the method of the
question proposed recalls us. Yet, by the very
same appliances by which they are produced, all
things are nourished and increased ; but when,
from any just cause, the regulation of the ap-
178
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VIII.
pointed order is changed, corruption and dis-
temper arise, so that chastisement may come
upon men by the will of God, as we have said
above.
CHAP. XLVII. CHASTISEMENTS ON THE RIGHT-
EOUS AND THE WICKED.
" But perhaps you will say, What of the fact
that, in that common chastisement, like things
befall the pious and the impious? It is true,
and we confess it ; but the chastisement turns
to the advantage of the pious, that, being af-
flicted in the present life, they may come more
purified to the future, in which perpetual rest is
prepared for them, and that at the same time
even the impious may somewhat profit from
their chastisement, or else that the just sen-
tence of the future judgment may be passed
upon them ; since in the same chastisements
the righteous give thanks to God, while the
unrighteous blaspheme. Therefore, since the
opinion of things is divided into two parts, that
some things are done by order and others against
order, it ought, from those things which are done
according to order, to be believed that there is
a providence ; but with respect to those things
which are done against order, we should inquire
their causes from those who have learned them
by prophetic teaching : for those who have be-
come acquainted with prophetic discourse know
when, and for what reason, blight, hail, and pesti-
lence, and such like, have occurred in every gen-
eration, and for what sins these have been sent
as a punishment ; whence causes of sadness,
lamentations, and griefs have befallen the human
race ; whence also trembling sickness has ensued,
and that this has been from the beginning the
punishment of parricide.'
CHAP. XLVIII.
CHASTISEMENTS FOR SINS.
" For in the beginning of the world there
were none of these evils, but they took their
rise from the impiety of men ; and thence, with
the constant increase of iniquities, the number
of evils has also increased. But for this reason
divine providence has decreed a judgment with
respect to all men, because the present life was
not such that every one could be dealt with ac-
cording to his deservings. Those things, there-
fore, which were well and orderly appointed from
the beginning, when no causes of evil existed,
are not to be judged of from the evils which
have befallen the world by reason of the sins of
men. In short, as an indication of the things
which were from the beginning, some nations
are found which are strangers to these evils. For
the Seres, because they live chastely, are kept
• Gen. iv. 12, in LXX.
free from them all ; for with them it is unlawful
to come at a woman after she has conceived, or
while she is being purified. No one there eats
unclean flesh, no one knows aught of sacrifices ;
all are judges to themselves according to justice.
For this reason they are not chastened with those
plagues which we have spoken of ; they live to
extreme old age, and die without sickness. But
we, miserable as we are, dwelling as it were with
deadly serpents' — I mean with wicked men —
necessarily suffer with them ■ the plagues of af-
flictions in this world, but we cherish hope from
the comfort of good things to come."
CHAP. XLIX. god's PRECEPTS DESPISED.
" If," said the old man, " even the righteous
are tormented on account of the iniquities of
others, God ought, as foreseeing this, to have
commanded men not to do those things from
which it should be necessary that the righteous
be afflicted with the. unrighteous ; or if they did
them, He ought to have applied some correction
or purification to the world." ^ " God," said
Aquila, " did so command, and gave precepts
by the prophets how men ought to live ; but
even these precepts they despised : yea, if any
desired to observe them, them they afflicted with
various injuries, until they drove them from their
purposed observance, and turned them to the
rabble of infidelity, and made them like unto
themselves.
CHAP. L.
THE FLOOD.
" Wherefore, in short, at the first, when all the
earth had been stained with sins, God brought a
flood upon the world, which you say happened
under Deucalion ; and at that time He saved a
certain righteous man, with his sons, in an ark,
and with him the race of all plants and animals.'*
And yet even those who sprang from them, after
a time, again did deeds like to those of their
predecessors ; for those things that had befallen
them were forgotten, so that their descendants
did not even believe that the flood had taken
place. Wherefore God also decreed that there
should not be another flood in the present
world, else there should have been one in every
generation, according to the account of their
sins by reason of their unbelief ; but He rather
granted that certain angels who delight in evil
should bear sway over the several nations — and
to them was given power over individual men,
yet only on this condition, if any one first had
made himself subject to them by sinning — until
He should come who delights in good, and by
Him the number of the righteous should be com-
pleted, and by the increase of the number of
2 Ezek. ii. 6.
3 This rendering is according to a marginal reading.
* [Comp book IV. iz; Homily VIII. 17. — R.]
Chap. LIV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
179
pious men all over the world impiety should
be in some measure repressed, and it should be
known to all that all that is good is done by
God.
CHAP. LI.
EVILS BROUGHT IN BY SIN.
" But by the freedom of the will, every man,
while he is unbelieving in regard to things to
come, by evil deeds runs into evils. And these
are the things in the world which seem to be
done contrary to order, which owe their existence
to unbelief. Therefore the dispensation of
divine providence is withal to be admired, which
granted to those men in the beginning, walking
in the good way of life, to enjoy incorruptible
good things ; but when they sinned, they gave
birth to evil by sin. And to every good thing
evil is joined as by a certain covenant of alliance
on the part of sin, since indeed the earth has
been polluted with human blood, and altars have
been lighted to demons, and they have polluted
the very air by the filthy smoke of sacrifices ;
and so at length the elements, being first cor-
rupted, have handed over to men the fault of
their corruption, as roots covununiccite their
qualities to the branches and the fruit.
CHAP. LII.
NO ROSE WITHOUT ITS THORN.
"Observe therefore in this, as I have said,
how justly divine providence comes to the help
of things vitiated; that, inasmuch as evils which
had derived their origin from sin were associated
with the good things of God, He should assign
two chiefs to these two departments.' And ac-
cordingly to Him who rejoices in good He has
appointed the ordering of good things, that He
might bring those who believe in Him to the
faith of His providence ; but to him who rejoices
in evil. He has given over those things which
are done without order and uselessly, from which
of course the faith of His providence comes into
doubt ; and thus a just division has been made
by a just God. Hence therefore it is, that
whereas the orderly course of the stars produces
faith that the world was made by the hand of a
designer, on the other hand, the disturbance of
the air, the pestilent breeze, the uncontrolled fire
of the lightning, cast doubt upon the work of
providence. For, as we have said, every good
thing has its corresponding contrary evil thing
joined with it ; as hail is opposite to the fertiliz-
ing showers, the corruption of mildew is asso-
ciated with the gende dew, the whirlwinds of
storms are joined with the soft winds, unfruitful
trees with fruitful, noxious herbs with useful,
wild and destructive animals with gentle ones.
But all these things are arranged by God, because
' [Compare with chaps. 52-54 the doctrine of pairs as stated in
book lii. 59-61 ; Homily II. 15, etc., iii. 23. — R.J
that the choice of men's will has departed from
the purpose of good, and fallen away to evil.
CHAP. LIIL EVERYTHING HAS ITS CORRESPONDING
CONTRARY.
"Therefore this division holds in all the
things of the world ; and as there are pious men,
so there are also impious ; as there are prophets,
so also there are false prophets ; and amongst
the Crentiles there are philosophers and false
philosophers. Also the Arabian nations, and
many others, have imitated the circumcision of
the Jews for the service of their impiety. So
also the worship of demons is contrary to the
divine worship, baptism to baptism, laws to the
law, false apostles to apostles, and false teachers
to teachers. And hence it is that among the
philosophers some assert providence, others deny
it ; some maintain that there is one God, others
that there are more than one : in short, the
matter has come to this, that whereas demons
are expelled by the word of God, by which it is
declared that there is a providence, the magical
art, for the confirmation of infidelity, has found
out ways of imitating this by contraries. Thus
has been discovered the method of counteract-
ing the poison of serpents by incantations, and
the effecting of cures contrary to the word and
power of God. The magic art has also found
out ministries contrary to the angels of God,
placing the calling up of souls and the figments
of demons in opposition to these. And, not to
prolong the discourse by a further enumeration,
there is nothing whatever that makes for the
belief of providence, which has not something,
on the other hand, prepared for unbelief; and
therefore they who do not know that division of
things, think that there is no providence, by
reason of those things in the world which are
discordant from themselves. But do you, my
father, as a wise man, choose from that division
the part which preserves order and makes for the
belief of providence, and do not only follow
that part which runs against order and neutralizes
the belief of providence."
CHAP. LIV. AN ILLUSTRATION.
To this the old man answered : " Show me a
way, my son, by which I may establish in my
mind one or other of these two orders, the one
of which asserts, and the other denies, provi-
dence." "To one having a right judgment,"
says Aquila, " the decision is easy. For this
very thing that you say, order and disorder, may
be produced by a contriver, but not by insensi-
ble nature. For let us suppose, by way of illus-
tration, that a great mass were torn from a high
rock, and cast down headlong, and when dashed
upon the ground were broken into many pieces,
i8o
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book VIII.
could it in any way happen that, amongst that
multitude of fragments, there should be found
even one which should have any perfect figure
and shape?" The old man answered: "It is
impossible." " But," said Aquila, " if there be
present a statuary, he can by his skilful hand
and reasonable mind form the stone cut from
the mountain into whatever figure he pleases."
The old man said : '*' That is true." " There-
fore," says Aquila, "when there is not a rational
mind, no figure can be formed out of the mass ;
but when there is a designing mind, there may
be both form and deformity : for example, if a
workman cuts from the mountain a block to
which he wishes to give a form, he must first
cut it out unformed and rough ; then, by de-
grees hammering and hewing it by the rule of
his art, he expresses the form which he has
conceived in his mind. Thus, therefore, from
informity or deformity, by the hand of the work-
man form is attained, and both proceed from
the workman. In like manner, therefore, the
things which are done in the world are ac-
complished by the providence of a contriver,
although they may seem not quite orderly. And
therefore, because these two ways have been
made known to you, and you have heard the
divisions of them, flee from the way of unbelief,
lest haply it lead you to that prince who delights
in evils ; but follow the way of faith, that you
may come to that King who delighteth in good
men."
CHAP. LV.
THE TWO KINGDOMS.
To this the old man answered : " But why
was that prince made who delights in evil ? '
And from what was he made ? Or was he not
made?" Aquila said : "The treatment of that
subject belongs to another time ; but that you
may not go away altogether without an answer
to this, I shall give a few hints on this subject
also. God, foreseeing all things before the cre-
ation of the world, knowing that the men who
were to be would some of them indeed incline to
good, but others to the opposite, assigned those
who should choose the good to His own govern-
ment and His own care, and called them His
peculiar uiheritance ; ^ but He gave over the gov-
ernment of those who should turn to evil to
those angels who, not by their substance, but by
opposition, were unwilling to remain with God,
being corrupted by the vice of envy and pride.
Those, therefore, he made worthy princes of
worthy subjects ; yet he so delivered them over
to those angels, that they have not the power
of doing what they will against them, unless they
transgress the bounds assigned to them from the
beginning. And this is the bound assigned, that
unless one first do the will of the demons, the
demons have no power over him."
CHAP. LVI. ORIGIN OF EVIL.
Then the old man said : " You have stated it
excellently, my son. It now remains only that
you tell me whence is the substance of evil : for
if it was made by God, the evil fruit shows that
the root is in fault ; for it appears that it also is
of an evil nature. But if this substance was
co-eternal with God, how can that which was
equally unproduced and co-eternal be subject to
the other? " " It was not always," said Aquila ;
" but neither does it necessarily follow, if it was
made by God, that its Creator should be thought
to be such as is that which has been made by
Him. For indeed God made the substance of
all things ; but if a reasonable mind, which has
been made by God, do not acquiesce in the laws
of its Creator, and g6 beyond the bounds of the
temperance prescribed to it, how does this re-
flect on the Creator? Or if there is any reason
higher than this, we do not know it ; for we
cannot know anything perfectly, and especially
concerning those things for our ignorance of
which we are not to be judged. But those
things for which we are to be judged are most
easy to be understood, and are despatched al-
most in a word. For almost the whole rule of
our actions is summed up in this, that what we
are unwilling to suffer we should not do to
others. For as you would not be killed, you
must beware of killing another ; and as you
would not have your own marriage violated,
you must not defile another's bed ; you would
not be stolen from, neither must you steal ; and
every matter of men's actions is comprehended
within this rule."
CHAP. LVII.
•THE OLD MAN UNCONVINCED.
' [On the creation of the evil one, see book x. 3, etc., and the
discussion with Simon in Homily XIX. 2-18. — R.]
2 I Deut. xxxii. 8, in LXX.
Then the old man : " Do not take amiss, my
son, what I am going to say. Though your
words are powerful, yet they cannot lead me to
believe that anything can be done apart from
GENESIS. For I know that all things have hap-
pened to me by the necessity of genesis,^ and
therefore I cannot be persuaded that either to
do well or to do ill is in our power ; and if
we have not our actions in our power, it cannot
be believed that there is a jdugment to come,
by which either punishments may be inflicted
on the evil, or rewards bestowed on the good.
In short, since I see that you are initiated in this
sort of learning, I shall lay before you a few
things from the art itself." " If," says Aquila,
" you wish to add anything from that science, my
3 [Comp Homily XIV. 3, etc. — R.j
Chap. LX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
i8i
brother Clement will answer you with all care,
since he has attended more fully to the science
of mathematics. For I can maintain in other
ways that our actions are in our own power ;
but I ought not to presume upon those things
which I have not learned."
CHAP. LVIII. — SITTING IN JUDGMENT UPON GOD.
When Aquila had thus spoken, then I Clement
said : " To-morrow, my father, you shall speak
as you please, and we will gladly hear you ; for
I suppose it will also be gratifying to you that
you have to do with those who are not ignorant
of the science which you profess." When, there-
fore, it had been settled between the old man
and me, that on the following day we should
hold a discussion on the subject of genesis —
whether all things are done under its influence,
or there be anything in us which is not done by
GENESIS, but by the judgment of the mind —
Peter rose up, and began to speak to the follow-
ing effect : ' " To me it is exceedingly wonder-
ful, that things which can easily be found out
men make difficult by recondite thoughts and
words ; and those especially who think them-
selves wise, and who, wishing to comprehend the
will of God, treat God as if He were a man, yea,
as if He were something less than a man : for
no one can know the purpose or mind of a man
unless he himself reveal his thoughts ; and nei-
ther can any one learn a profession unless he
be for a long time instructed by a master. How
much more must it be, that no one can know
the mind or the work of the invisible and incom-
prehensible God, unless He Himself send a
prophet to declare His purpose, and expound
the way of His creation, so far as it is lawful for
men to learn it ! Hence I think it ridiculous
when men judge of the power of God in natural
ways, and think that this is possible and that
impossible to Him, or this greater and that less,
while they are ignorant of everything ; who, be-
ing unrighteous men, judge the righteous God ;
unskilled, judge the contriver ; corrupt, judge
the incorruptible ; creatures, judge the Creator.
CHAP. LIX. THE TRUE PROPHET.
But I would not have you think, that in say-
ing this I take away the power of judging con-
cerning things ; but I give counsel that no one
walk through devious places, and rush into errors
without end. And therefore I advise not only
wise men, but indeed all men who have a de-
sire of knowing what is advantageous to them,
that they seek after the true Prophet ; for it is
He alone who knoweth all things, and who
' [This discouise of Peter is peculiar to the Recognitions; it re-
sembles somewhat the earlier discourse to Clement in book i. — R.]
knoweth what and how every man is seeking.^
For He is within the mind of every one of us,
but in those who have no desire of the knowl-
edge of God and His righteousness, He is in-
operative ; but He works in those who seek
after that which is profitable to their souls, and
kindles in them the light of knowledge. Where-
fore seek Him first of all ; and if you do not find
Him, expect not that you shall learn anything
from any other. But He is soon found by those
who diligently seek Him through love of the
truth, and whose souls are not taken possession
of by wickedness. For He is present with those
who desire Him in the innocency of their spirits,
who bear patiently, and draw sighs from the
bottom of their hearts through love of the truth ;
but He deserts malevolent minds,^ because as a
prophet He knows the thoughts of every one.
And therefore let no one think that he can find
Him by his own wisdom, unless, as we have said,
he empty his mind of all wickedness, and con-
ceive a pure and faithful desire to know Him.
For when any one has so prepared himself, He
Himself as a prophet, seeing a mind prepared
for Him, of His own accord offers Himself to
his knowledge.
CHAP. LX. HIS DELIVERANCES NOT TO BE QUES-
TIONED.
"Therefore, if any one wishes to learn all
things, he cannot do it by discussing them
one by one ; for, being mortal, he shall not be
able to trace the counsel of God, and to scan
immensity itself. But if, as we have said, he
desires to learn all things, let him seek after the
true Prophet ; and when he has found Him, let
him not treat with Him by questions and dispu-
tations and arguments ; but if He has given any
response, or pronounced any judgment, it can-
not be doubted that this is certain. And there-
fore, before all things, let the true Prophet be
sought, and His words be laid hold of. In re-
spect to these this only should be discussed by
every one, that he may satisfy himself if they are
truly His prophetic words ; that is, if they con-
tain undoubted faith of things to come, if they
mark out definite times, if they preserve the
order of things, if they do not relate as last
those things which are first, nor as first those,
things which were done last, if they contain
nothing subtle, nothing composed by magic art
to deceive, or if they have not transferred to
themselves things which were revealed to others,
and have mixed them with falsehoods. And
when, all these things having been discussed by
2 [ The introduction of these chapters concerning the true
Prophet shows a far more orderly method of constructing the entire
discussion with the father than that of the Homilies; comp. book xi.
1,2. — R.]
3 Wisd. i. 4.
l82
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IX.
right judgment, it is established that they are
prophetic words, so they ought to be at once
beheved concerning all things on which they
have spoken and answered.
CHAP. LXI.
IGNORANCE OF THE PHILOS-
OPHERS.
" For let us consider carefully the work of
divine providence.' For whereas the philoso-
phers have introduced certain subtile and diffi-
cult words, so that not even the terms that they
use in their discourses can be known and under-
stood by all, God has shown that those who
thought themselves word-framers are altogether
unskilful as respects the knowledge of the truth.
For the knowledge of things which is imparted
by the true Prophet is simple, and plain, and
brief; which those men walking through devious
places, and through the stony difficulties of
words, are wholly ignorant of. Therefore, to
modest and simple minds, when they see things
come to pass which have been foretold, it is
enough, and more than enough, that they may
receive most certain knowledge from most cer-
tain prescience ; and for the rest may be at
peace, having received evident knowledge of the
truth. For all other things are treated by opin-
ion, in which there can be nothing firm. For
what speech is there which may not be contra-
dicted? And what argument is there that may
not be overthrown by another argument ? And
hence it is, that by disputation of this sort men
can never come to any end of knowledge and
learning, but find the end of their life sooner
than the end of their questions.
CHAP. LXII. END OF THE CONFERENCE.
" And, therefore, since amongst these phi-
losophers are things uncertain, we must come
to the true Prophet. Ilim God the Father
wished to be loved by all, and accordingly He
has been pleased wholly to extinguish those
opinions which have originated with men, and
in regard to which there is nothing like certainty
— that He the true Prophet might be the more
sought after, and that He whom ^ they had ob-
scured should show to men the way of truth.
For on this account also God made the world,
and by Him the world is filled ; whence also
He is everywhere near to them who seek Him,
though He be sought in the remotest ends of
the earth. But if any one seek Him not purely,
nor holily, nor faithfully. He is indeed within
him, because He is everywhere, and is found
within the m.inds of all men ; but, as we have
said before. He is dormant to the unbelieving,
and is held to be absent from those by whom
His existence is not. believed." And when Pe-
ter had said this, and more to the same effect,
concerning the true Prophet, he dismissed the
crowds ; and when he very earnestly entreated
the old man to remain with us, he could prevail
nothing ; but he also departed, to return next
day, as had been agreed upon. And after this,
we also, with Peter, went to our lodging, and
enjoyed our accustomed food and rest.
I [Comp. Homily XV. 5. — R.j
^ If we were lo read gitain instead o{ quein, the sense would be:
that He might lay open to men the way of truth which they had
blocked up. So Whiston.
BOOK IX.
CHAP. I.
•AN EXPLANATION.
On the following day, Peter, along with us,
hastened early to the place in which the discus-
sion had been held the day before ; and when
he saw that great crowds had assembled there
to hear, and saw the old man with them, he said
"to him : ' " Old man, it was agreed yesterday
that you should confer to-day with Clement ;
and that you should either show that nothing
takes place apart from genesis, or that Clement
should prove that there is no such thing as gene-
sis, but that what we do is in our own power."
To this the old man answered : " I both re-
member what was agreed upon, and I keep in
' [The discourses in book ix. are peculiar to the Recognitions
not only in their position in the story, but to a remarkably large ex-
tent in the matter. — R.j
memory the words which you spoke after the
agreement was made, in which you taught that
it is impossible for man to know any thing, un-
less he learn from the true Prophet." Then
Peter said : " You do not know what I meant ;
but I shall now explain to you. I spoke of the
will and purpose of God, which He had before
the world was, and by which purpose He made
the world, appointed times, gave the law, prom-
ised a world to come to the righteous for the
rewarding of their good deeds, and decreed
punishments to the unjust according to a judi-
cial sentence. I said that this counsel and this
will of God cannot be found out by men, be-
cause no man can gather the mind of God from
conjectures and opinion, unless a prophet sent
by Him declare it. 1 did not therefore speak
Chap. V.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
183
of any doctrines or studies, that they cannot be
found out or known without a prophet ; for I
know that both arts and sciences can be known
and practised by men, whith they have learned,
not from the true Prophet, but from human in-
structors.
CHAP. II. PRELIMINARIES.
" Since, therefore, you profess to be conver-
sant with the position of the stars and the
courses of the heavenly bodies, and that from
these you can convince Clement that all things
are subject to genesis, or that you will learn from
him that all things are governed by providence,
and that we have something in our own power,
it is now time for you two to set about this."
To this the old man answered : " Now indeed
it was not necessary to raise questions of this
kind, if it were possible for us to learn from the
true Prophet, and to hear in a definite proposi-
tion, that anything depends on us and on the
freedom of our will ; for your yesterday's dis-
course affected me greatly, in which you disput-
ed concerning the prophetic power.' Whence
also I assent to and confirm your judgment, that
nothing can be known by man with certainty,
and without doubt, seeing that he has but a
short period of Ufe, and a brief and slender
breath, by which he seems to be kept in life.
However, since I am understood to have prom-
ised to Clement, before I heard anything of the
prophetic power, that I should show that all
things are subject to genesis, or that I should
learn from him that there is something in our-
selves, let him do me this favour, that he first
begin, and propound and explain what may be
objected : for I, ever since I heard from you a
few words concerning the power of prophecy,
have, I confess, been confounded, considering
the greatness of prescience ; nor do I think
that anything ought to be received which is col-
lected from conjectures and opinion."
CHAP. III.
BEGINNING OF THE DISCUSSION.
When the old man had said this, I Clement
began to speak as follows : " God by His Son
created the world as a double house, separated
by the interposition of this firmament, which is
called heaven ; and appointed angelic powers
to dwell in the higher, and a multitude of men to
be born in this visible world, from amongst
whom He might choose friends for His Son,
with whom He might rejoice, and who might be
prepared for Him as a beloved bride for a bride-
groom. But even till the time of the marriage,
which is the manifestation of the world to come,
He has appointed a certain power, to choose
out and watch over the tjood ones of those who
' [Comp. book viii. 58-62. — R.]
are born in this world, and to preserve them for
His Son, set apart in a certain place of the
world, which is without sin ; in which there are
already some, who are there being prepared, as
I said, as a bride adorned for the coming of the
bridegroom. For the prince of this world and
of the present age is like an adulterer, who
corrupts and violates the minds of men, and,
seducing them from the love of the true bride-
groom, allures them to strange lovers.
CHAP. IV. WHY the EVIL PRINCE WAS MADE.
But some one will say. How then was it neces-
sary that that prince should be made, who was
to turn away the minds of men from the true
prince ? ^ Because God, who, as I have said,
wished to prepare friends for His Son, did not
wish them to be such as by necessity of nature
could not be aught else, but such as should
desire of their own choice and will to be good ;
because neither is that praiseworthy which is not
desirable, nor is that judged to be good which is
not sought for with purpose. For there is no credit
in being that from which the necessity of your
nature does not admit of your changing. There-
fore the providence of God has willed that a
multitude of men should be born in this world,
that those who should choose a good life might
be selected from many. And because He fore-
saw that the present world could not consist ex-
cept by variety and inequality. He gave to each
mind freedom of motions, according to the di-
versities of present things, and appointed this
prince, through his suggestion of those things
v/hich run contrary, that the choice of better
things might depend upon the exercise of virtue ?
chap. v. NECESSITY OF INEQUALITY.
" But to make our meaning plainer, we shall
explain it by particulars. Was it proper, for ex-
ample, that all men in this world should be kings,
or princes, or lords, or teachers, or lawyers, or
geometers, or goldsmiths, or bakers, or smiths,
or grammarians, or rich men, or farmers, or per-
fumers, or fishermen, or poor men? It is cer-
tain that all could not be these. Yet all these
professions, and many more, the life of men
requires, and without these it cannot be passed ;
therefore inequality is necessary in this world.
For there cannot be a king, unless he has sub-
jects over whom he may rule and reign ; nor
can there be a master, unless he has one over
whom he may bear sway ; and in like manner of
the rest.
2 [Comp. book viii. 55, 56; Homily XIX. 2-18. — R.]
3 [The doctrine of free-will, and the necessity of evil in conse-
quence, appears throughout. Comp. book iii. 21, v. 6. In the
Homilies there is not so much emphasis laid upon this point; but
see Homily XI. 8. — R.J
1 84
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IX.
CHAP. VI. — ARRAXGEMENTS OF THE WORLD FOR
THE EXERCISE OF VIRTUE.
" Therefore the Creator, knowing that no one
would come to the contest of his own accord,
while labour is shunned, — that is, to the prac-
tice of those professions which we have men-
tioned, by means of which either the justice or
the mercy of every one can be manifested, —
made for men a body susceptible of hunger, and
thirst, and cold, in order that men, being com-
pelled for the sake of supporting their bodies,
might come down to all the professions which
we have mentioned, by the necessity of liveli-
hood. For we are taught to cultivate every one
of these arts, for the sake of food, and drink,
and clothing. And in this the purpose of each
one's mind is shown, whether he will supply the
demands of hunger and cold by means of thefts,
and murders, and perjuries, and other crimes of
that sort ; or whether, keeping justice and mercy
and continence, he will fulfil the service of im-
minent necessity by the practice of a profession
and the labour of his hands. For if he supply
his bodily wants with justice, and piety, and
mercy, he comes forth as a victor in the contest
set before him, and is chosen as a friend of the
Son of God. But if he serve carnal lusts, by
frauds, iniquities, and crimes, he becomes a
friend of the prince of this world, and of all de-
mons ; by whom he is also taught this, to ascribe
to the courses of the stars the errors of his own
evil doings, although he chose them of purpose,
and willingly. For arts are learned and prac-
tised, as we have said, under the compulsion of
the desire of food and drink ; which desire, when
the knowledge of the truth comes to any one,
becomes weaker, and frugality takes its place.
For what expense have those who use water and
bread, and only expect it from God ?
CHAP. VII. THE OLD AND THE NEW BIRTH.
" There is therefore, as we have said, a cer-
tain necessary inequality in the dispensation of
the world. Since indeed all men cannot know
all things, and accomplish all works, yet all need
the use and service of almost all. And on this
account it is necessary that one work, and an-
other pay him for his work ; that one be servant,
and another be master ; that one be subject,
another be king. But this inequality, which is a
necessary provision for the life of men, divine
providence has turned into an occasion of jus-
tice, mercy, and humanity : that while these
things are transacted between man and man,
every one may have an opportunity of acting
justly with him to whom he has to pay wages
for his work ; and of acting mercifully to him
who, perhaps through sickness or poverty, can-
not pay his debt ; and of acting humanely
towards those who by their creation seem to be
suljject to him ; also of maintaining gentleness
towards subjects, and of doing all things accord-
ing to the law of God. For He has given a
law, thereby aiding the minds of men, that they
may the more easily perceive how they ought to
act with respect to everything, in what way they
may escape evil, and in what way tend to future
blessings ; and how, being regenerate in water,
they may by good works extinguish the fire of
their old birth. For our first birth descends
through the fire of lust, and therefore, by the
divine appointment, this second birth is intro-
duced by water, which may extinguish the na-
ture of fire ; ' and that the soul, enlightened
by the heavenly Spirit, may cast away the fear of
the first birth : provided, however, it so live for
the time to come, that it do not at all seek after
any of the pleasures of this world, but be, as it
were, a pilgrim and a stranger/ and a citizen of
another city.
CHAP. VIII. — USES OF EVII>S.
" But perhaps you will say, that in those things
indeed in which the necessity of nature demands
the service of arts and works, any one may have
it in his power to maintain justice, and to put
what restraint he pleases either upon his desires
or his actions ; but what shall we say of the
sicknesses and infirmities which befall men, and
of some being harassed with demons, and fevers,
and cold fits, and some being attacked with mad-
ness, or losing their reason, and all those things
which overwhelm the race of man with innumer-
able misfortunes? To this we say, that if any
one consider the reason of the whole mystery,
he will pronounce these things to be more just
than those that we have already explained. For
God has given a nature to men, by which they
may be taught concerning what is good, and
to resist evil ; that is, they may learn arts, and to
resist pleasures, and to set the law of God be-
fore them in all things. And for this end He
has permitted certain contrary powers to wander
up and down in the world, and to strive against
us, 3 for the reasons which have been stated be-
fore, that by striving with them the palm of vic-
tory and the merit of rewards may accrue to
the righteous.
CHAP. IX. " CONCEIVED IN SIN."
" From this, therefore, it sometimes happens,
that if any persons have acted incontinently, and
have been willing not so much to resist as to
' [Compare Homily XI. 26 on this view of baptism. — R.]
^ Ps. xxxix. 12.
3 fOn the doctrine of demons compare book iv. 14-22; Homily
IX. 8-18. — R.
Chap. XII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
185
yield, and to give liarbour to these demons in
tliemselves, by their noxious breath an intemper-
ate, ill-conditioned, and diseased progeny is be-
gotten. For while lust is wholly gratified, and
no care is taken in the copulation, undoubtedly
a weak generation is affected with the defects
and frailties of those demons by whose instiga-
tion these things are done. And therefore par-
ents are responsible for their children's defects of
this sort, because they have not observed the law
of intercourse. Though there are also more se-
cret causes, by which souls are made subject to
these evils, which it is not to our present purpose
to state, yet it behoves every one to acknowledge
the law of God, that he may learn from it the
observance of generation, and avoid causes of
impurity, that that which is begotten may be
pure. For it is not right, while in the planting
of shrubs and the sowing of crops a suitable
season is sought for, and the land is cleaned, and
all things are suitably prepared, lest haply the
seed which is sown be injured and perish, that
in the case of man only, who is over all these
things, there should be no attention or caution
in sowing his seed.
CHAP. X.
•TOW SMEARED WITH PITCH.
" But what, it is sa'd, of the fact that some
who in their childhood are free from any bodily
defect, yet in process of time ' fall into those
evils, so that some are even violently hurried on
to death? Concerning these also the account
is at hand, and is almost the same : for those
powers which we have said to be contrary to
the human race, are in some way invited into the
heart of every one by many and diverse lusts,
and find a way of entrance ; and they have in
them such influence and power as can only en-
courage and incite, but cannot compel or ac-
complish. If, therefore, any one consents to
them, so as to do those things which he wicked-
ly desires, his consent and deed shall find the
reward of destruction and the worst kind of
death. But if, thinking of the future judgment,
he be checked by fear, and reclaim himself, so
that he do not accomplish in action what he has
conceived in his evil thought, he shall not only
escape present destruction, but also future pun-
ishments. For every cause of sin seems to be
like tow smeared over with pitch, which imme-
diately breaks into flame as soon as it receives
the heat of fire ; and the kindling of this fire
is understood to be the work of demons. If,
therefore, any one be found smeared with sins
and lusts as with pitch, the fire easily gets the
mastery of him. But if the tow be not steeped
in the pitch of sin, but in the water of purifica-
tion and regeneration, the fire of the demons
shall not be able to be kindled in it.
CHAP. XI. --- FEAR.
" But some one will say. And what shall we
do now, whom it has already happened to us to
be smeared with sins as with pitch ? I answer :
Nothing ; but hasten to be washed, that the fuel
of the fire may be cleansed out of you by the
invocation of the holy name, and that for the
future you may bridle your lusts by fear of
the judgment to come, and with all constancy
beat back the hostile powers whenever they ap-
proach your senses. But you say, If any one
fall into love, how shall he be able to contain
himself, though he see before his eyes even that
river of fire which they call Pyriphlegethon?
This is the excuse of those who will not be con-
verted to repentance. But now I would not
have you talk of Pyriphlegethon. Place before
you human punishments, and see what influence
fear has. When any one is brought to punish-
ment for the crime of love, and is bound to the
stake to be burned, can he at that time conceive
any desire of her whom he loved, or place her
image before his eyes ? By no means, you will
say. You see, then, that present fear cuts off
unrighteous desires. But if those who believe
in God, and who confess the judgment to come,
and the penalty of eternal fire, — if they do
not refrain from sin, it is certain that they do not
believe with full faith : for if faith is certain,
fear also becomes certain ; but if there be any
defect in faith, fear also is weakened, and then
the contrary powers find opportunity of enter-
ing. And when they have consented to their
persuasions, they necessarily become subject also
to their power, and by their instigation are
driven to the precipices of sin.
CHAP. XII. — ASTROLOGERS.
" Therefore the astrologers,' being ignorant
of such mysteries, think that these things hap-
pen by the courses of the heavenly bodies :
hence also, in their answers to those who go to
them to consult them as to future things, they
are deceived in very many instances. Nor is it
to be wondered at, for they are not prophets ;
but, by long practice, the authors of errors find
a sort of refuge in those things by which they
were deceived, and introduce certain climacteric
PERIODS, that they may pretend a knowledge of
uncertain things. For they represent these
CLIMACTERICS as times of danger, in which one
sometimes is destroyed, sometimes is not de-
stroyed, not knowing that it is not the course of
the stars, but the operation of demons, that
regulates these things ; and those demons, being
anxious to confirm the error of astrology, de-
' [On the error of astrology compare book x. 7-12. In Homily
XIV. 5 and elsewhere "genesis "and the science of astrology are
identified.] — R.
i86
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IX.
ceive men to sin by mathematical calculations,
so that when they suffer the punishment of sin,
either by the permission of God or by legal sen-
tence, the astrologer may seem to have spoken
truth. And yet they are deceived even in this ;
for if men be quickly turned to repentance, and
remember and fear the future judgment, the
punishment of death is remitted to those who
are converted to God by the grace of bap-
tism.
CHAP. Xril. RETRIBUTION HERE OR HEREAFTER.
" But some one will say, Many have committed
even murder, and adultery, and other crimes, and
have suffered no evil. This indeed rarely hap-
pens to men, but to thos'e who know not the
counsel of God it frequently seems to happen.
But God, who knows all things, knows how and
why he who sins does sin, and what cause leads
each one to sin. This, however, is in general to
be noticed, that if any are evil, not so much in
their mind as in their doings, and are not borne
to sin under the incitement of purpose, upon
them punishment is inflicted more speedily, and
more in the present life ; for everywhere and
always God renders to every one according to his
deeds, as He judges to be expedient. But those
who practise wickedness of purpose, so that they
sometimes even rage against those from whom
they have received benefits, and who take no
thought for repentance — their punishment He
defers to the future. For these men do not, like
those of whom we spoke before, deserve to end
the punishment of their crimes in the present
life ; but it is allowed them to occupy the present
time as they will, because their correction is not
such as to need temporal chastisements, but such
as to demand the punishment of eternal fire in
hell ; and there their souls shall seek repentance,
where they shall not be able to find it.
CHAP. XIV.
KNOWLEDGE DEADENS LUSTS.
" But if, while in this life, they had placed be-
fore their eyes the punishments which they shall
then suffer, they would certainly have bridled
their lusts, and would in nowise have fallen into
sin. For the understanding in the soul has much
power for cutting off all its desires, especially
when it has acquired the knowledge of heavenly
things, by means of which, having received the
light of truth, it will turn away from all darkness
of evil actions. For as the sun obscures and
conceals all the stars by the brightness of his
shining, so also the mind, by the light of knowl-
edge, renders all the lusts of the soul ineffective
and inactive, sending out upon them the thought
of the judgment to come as its rays, so that they
can no longer appear in the soul.
CHAP. XV. FEAR OF MEN AND OF GOD.
" But as a proof that the fear of God has much
efificacy for the repressing of lusts, take the ex-
ample of human fear. Who is there among men
that does not covet his neighbour's goods?
And yet they are restrained, and act honestly,
through fear of the punishment which is pre-
scribed by the laws. Through fear, nations are
subject to their kings, and armies obey with
arms in their hands. Slaves, although they are
stronger than their masters, yet through fear sub-
mit to their masters' rule. Even wild beasts are
tamed by fear ; the strongest bulls submit their
necks to the yoke, and huge elepliants obey their
masters, through fear. But why do we use hu-
man examples, when even divine are not want-
ing-? Does not the earth itself remain under the
fear of precept, which it testifies by its motion
and quaking? The sea keeps its prescribed
bounds ; the angels maintain peace ; the stars
keep their order, and the rivers their channels :
it is certain also that demons are put to flight by
fear. And not to lengthen the discourse by too
many particulars, see how the fear of God, re-
straining everything, "keeps all things in proper
harmony, and in their fixed order. How much
more, then, may you be sure that the lusts of de-
mons which arise in your hearts may be extin-
guished and wholly abolished by the admonition
of the fear of God, when even the inciters of
lust are themselves put to flight by the influ-
ence of fear? You know that these things are
so ; but if you have anything to answer, pro-
ceed."
CHAP. XVI. IMPERFECT CONVICTION.
Then said the old man : " My son Clement
has wisely framed his argument, so that he has
left us nothing to say to these things ; but all his
discourse which he has delivered on the nature
of men has this bearing, that along with the fact
that freedom of will is in man, there is also some
cause of evil without him, whereby men are in-
deed incited by various lusts, yet are not com-
pelled to sin ; and that for this reason, he said,
because fear is much more powerful than they,
and it resists and checks the violence of desires,
so that, although natural emotions may arise, yet
sin may not be committed, those demons being
put to flight who incite and inflame these emo-
tions. But these things do not convince me ;
for I am conscious of certain things from which
I know well, that by the arrangement of the
heavenly bodies men become murderers or adul-
terers, and perpetrate other evils ; and in like
manner honourable and modest women are com-
pelled to act well.
Chap. XXL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
187
CHAP. XVII. ASTROLOGICAL LORE.'
" In short, when Mars, holding the centre in
his house, regards Saturn quarterly, with Mercury
towards the centre, the full moon coming upon
him, in the daily genesis, he produces murderers,
and those who are to fall by the sword,^ bloody,
drunken, lustful, devilish men, inquirers into se-
crets,^ malefactors, sacrilegious persons, and such
like ; especially when there was no one of the
good stars looking on. But again Mars himself,
having a quarterly position with respect to
Venus, in a direction toward the centre, while no
good star looks on, produces adulterers and in-
cestuous persons. Venus with the Moon, in the
borders and houses of Saturn, if she was with Sat-
urn, and Mars looking on, produces women that
are viragos, ready for agriculture, building, and
every manly work, to commit adultery with whom
they please, and not to be convicted by their
husbands, to use no delicacy, no ointments, nor
feminine robes and shoes, but to live after the
fashion of men. But the unpropitious Venus
makes men to be as women, and not to act in
any respect as men, if she is with Mars in Aries ;
on the contrary, she produces women if she is
in Capricorn or Aquarius."
CHAP. XVIII. THE REPLY.
And when the old man had pursued this sub-
ject at great length, and had enumerated every
kind of mathematical figure, and also the posi-
tion of the heavenly bodies, wishing thereby to
show that fear is not sufficient to restrain lusts,
I answered again : " Truly, my father, you have
argued most learnedly and skilfully ; and reason
herself invites me to say something in answer to
your discourse, since indeed I am acquainted
with the science of mathematics, and gladly hold
a conference with so learned a man. Listen,
therefore, while I reply to what you have said,
that you may learn distinctly that genesis is not
at all from the stars, and that it is possible for
those to resist the assault of demons who have
recourse to God ; and, as I said before, that not
only by the fear of God can natural lusts be re-
strained, but even by the fear of men, as we shall
now instruct you.
CHAP. XIX. REFUTATION OF ASTROLOGY.
" There are, in every country or kingdom, laws
imposed by men, enduring either by writing or
simply through custom, which no one easily trans-
gresses. In short, the first Seres, who dwell at
' Ch. 17 and ch. 19-29 are taken in an altered form from the writ-
ing ascribed to Bardesanes, De Fato. [These chapters have no par-
allel in the Hottiilies, but the argument of the old man respecting
genesis implies the same position ; comp. Homily XIV. 3-7, 11. — R.]
^ Conjectural reading, " to kill with the sword."
3 That is, violators of the sacred mysteries, which was regarded as
one of the most horrid of crimes.
the beginning of the world,'* have a law not to
know murder, nor adultery, nor whoredom, and
not to commit theft, and not to worship idols ;
and in all that country, which is very large, there
is neither temple, nor image, nor harlot, nor
adulteress, nor is any thief brought to trial. But
neither is any man ever slain there ; and no
man's liberty of will is compelled, according to
your doctrine, by the fiery star of Mars, to use
the sword for the murder of man ; nor does
Venus in conjunction with Mars compel to adul-
tery, although of course with them Mars occu-
pies the middle circle of heaven every day. But
amongst the Seres the fear of laws is more pow-
erful than the configuration of genesis.
CHAP. XX. BRAHM.\NS.
"There are likewise amongst the Bactrians, in
the Indian countries, immense multitudes of
Brahmans, who also themselves, from the tradi-
tion of their ancestors, and peaceful customs
and laws, neither commit murder nor adultery,
nor worship idols, nor have the practice of eat-
ing animal food, are never drunk, never do any-
thing maliciously, but always fear God. And
these things indeed they do, though the rest of
the Indians commit both murders and adulteries,
and worship idols, and are drunken, and prac-
tise other wickednesses of this sort. Yea, in the
western parts of India itself there is a certain
country, where strangers, when they enter it, are
taken and slaughtered and eaten ; and neither
have good stars prevented these men from such
wickednesses and from accursed food, nor have
malign stars compelled the Brahmans to do any
evil. Again, there is a custom among the Per-
sians to marry mothers, and sisters, and daugh-
ters. In all that district the Persians contract
incestuous marriages.
CHAP. XXI. DISTRICTS OF HEAVEN.
" And that those who study mathematics may
not have it in their power to use that subterfuge
by which they say that there are certain districts
of heaven to which it is granted to have some
things peculiar to themselves, some of that na-
tion of Persians have gone to foreign countries,
who are called Magusaei, of whom there are
some to this day in Media, others in Parthia,
some also in Egypt, and a considerable number
in Galatia and Phrygia, all of whom maintain the
form of this incestuous tradition without varia-
tion, and hand it down to their posterity to be
observed, even although they have changed their
district of heaven ; nor has Venus with the
Moon in the confines and houses of Saturn, with
4 That is, the farthest east, not, as some of the annotators suppose,
from the beginning of the world.
i88
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Look IX.
Saturn also and Mars looking on, compelled
them to have a genesis among other men.'
CHAP. XXII. CUSTOMS OF THE GELONES.
" Amongst the Geli also there is a custom, that
women cultivate the fields, build, and do every
manly work ; and they are also allowed to have
intercourse with whom they please, and are not
found fault with by their husbands, or called
adulteresses : for they have promiscuous inter-
course everywhere, and especially with strangers ;
they do not use ointments ; they do not wear
dyed garments, nor shoes. On the other hand,
the men of the Gelones are adorned, combed,
clothed in soft and various-coloured garments,
decked with gold, and besmeared with ointments,
ana that not through lack of manliness, for they
are most warlike, and most keen hunters. Yet
the whole women of the Gelones had not at their
birth the unfavourable Venus in Capricornus or
Acjuarius ; nor had all their men Venus placed
with Mars in Aries, by which configuration the
Chaldean science asserts that men are born ef-
feminate and dissolute.
CHAP. XXIII. MANNERS OF THE SUSID/E.
" But, further, in Susje the women use oint-
ments, and indeed of the best sort, being decked
with ornaments and precious stones ; also they
go abroad supported by the aid of their maid-
servants, with much greater ambition than the
men. They do not, however, cultivate modesty,
but have intercourse indifferently with whomso-
ever they please, with slaves and guests, such
liberty being allowed them by their husbands ;
and not only are they not blamed for this, but
they also rule over their husbands. And yet the
GENESIS of all the Susian women has not Venus
with Jupiter and Mars in the middle of the heav-
en in the houses of Jupiter. In the remoter
parts of the East, if a boy be treated unnaturally,
when it is discovered, he is killed by his brothers,
or his parents, or any of his relations, and is left
unburied. And again, among the Gauls, an old
law allows boys to be thus treated publicly ; and
no disgrace is thought to attach to it. And is it
possible, that all those who are so basely treated
among the Gauls, have had Lucifer with Mercury
in the houses of Saturn and the confines of Mars ?
CHAP. XXIV. DIFFERENT CUSTOMS OF DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES.
" In the regions of Britain several men have
one wife ; in Parthia many women have one hus-
^ This is a literal translation of text. If we read g^enesi (or gen-
esim, we get: " nor has Venus, etc., compelled them to keep up this
custom in the midst of others through the force of genesis." Euse-
biiis reads: " And assuredly Venus, etc., is not found in the genesis
of all of them.''
band ; and each part of the world adheres to its
own manners and institutions. None of the
Amazons have husbands, but, like animals, they
go out from their own territories once a year
about the vernal equinox, and live with the men
of the neighbouring nation, observing a sort of
solemnity the while, and when they have con-
ceived by them they return ; and it they bring
forth a male child, they cast him away, and rear
only females. Now, since the birth of all is at
one season, it is absurd to suppose that in the
case of males Mars is at the time in equal por-
tions with Saturn, but never in the genesis of
females ; and that they have not Mercury placed
with Venus in his own houses, so as to produce
either painters, or sculptors, or money-changers ;
or in the houses of Venus, so that perfumers, or
singers, or poets might be produced. Among
the Saracens, and Upper Libyans, and Moors,
and the dwellers about the mouths of the ocean,
and also in the remote districts of Germany, and
among the Sarmatians and Scythians, and all the
nations who dwell in the regions of the Pontic
shore, and in the island Chrysea, there is never
found a money-changer, nor a sculptor, nor a
painter, nor an architect, nor a geometrician, nor
a tragedian, nor a poet. Therefore the influence
of Mercury and Venus must be wanting among
them.
CHAP. XXV. NOT genesis, BUT FREE-WILL.
" The Medes alone in all the world, with the
greatest care, throw men still breathing to be de-
voured by dogs ; yet they have not Mars with the
Moon placed in Cancer all through their daily
GENESIS. The Indians burn their dead, and the
wives of the dead voluntarily offer themselves, and
are burned with them. But all the Indian women
who are burned alive have not the Sun under the
earth in nightly genesis, with Mars in the regions
of Mars. Very many of the Germans end their
lives by the halter ; but all have not therefore the
Moon wqth Hora begirt by Saturn and Mars.
From all this it appears that the fear of the laws
bears sway in every country, and the freedom
of will which is implanted in man by the Spirit
complies with the laws ; and genesis can neither
compel the Seres to commit murder, nor the
Brahmans to eat flesh, nor the Persians to shun in-
cest, nor the Indians to refrain from burning, nor
the Medes from being devoured by dogs, nor the
Parthians from having many wives, nor the women
of Mesopotamia from preserving their chastity,
nor the Greeks from athletic exercises, nor the
Gallic boys from being abused ; nor can it com-
pel the barliarous nations to be instructed in the
studies of the Greeks ; but, as we have said, each
nation observes its own laws according to free-
will, and annuls the decrees of genesis by the
strictness of laws.
Chap. XXX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
189
CHAP. XXVI. CLIMATES.
" But some one skilled in the science of math-
ematics will say that genesis is divided into seven
parts, wliich they call climates, and that over each
climate one of the seven heavenly bodies bears
rule ; and that those diverse laws to which we
have referred are not given by men, but by those
dominant stars according to their will, and that
that which pleases the star is observed by men
as a law. To this we shall answer, in the first
place, that the world is not divided into seven
parts ; and in the second place, that if it were
so, we find many different laws in one part and
one country; and therefore there are neither
seven laivs according to the number of the
heavenly bodies, nor twelve according to the
number of the signs, nor thirty-six according to
that of the divisions of ten degrees ; but they
are innumerable.
CH.AP.
XXVII. DOCTRINE OF
UNTENABLE.
CLIMATES
" Moreover, we ought to remember the things
which have been mentioned, that in the one
country of India there are both persons who feed
on human flesh, and persons who abstain even
from the flesh of sheep, and birds, and all living
creatures ; and that the Magus^i marry their
mothers and daughters not only in Persia, but
that in every nation where they' dwell they keep
up their incestuous customs.' Then, besides,
we have mentioned also innumerable nations,
which are wholly ignorant of the studies of
literature, and also some wise men have changed
the laws themselves in several places ; and some
laws have been voluntarily abandoned, on ac-
count of the impossibility of observing them, or
on account of their baseness. Assuredly we can
easily ascertain how many rulers have changed
the laws and customs of nations which they have
conquered, and subjected them to their own
laws. This is manifestly done by the Romans,
who have brought under the Roman law and
the civil decrees almost the whole world, and all
nations who formerly lived under various laws
and customs of their own. It follows, therefore,
that the stars of the nations which have been
conquered by the Romans have lost their cli-
mates and their portions.
CHAP. XXVIII. — JEWISH CUSTOMS.
" I shaU add another thing which may satisfy
even the most incredulous. All the Jews who
live under the law of Moses circumcise their
sons on the eighth day without fail, and shed
' The text reads: " the incestuous customs of their evils, or of
their evil persons." Hilgenfeld {Bardesaiies, p. 113) notices that
it should be, " of their ancestors."
the blood of the tender infant. But no one of
the Gentiles has ever submitted to this on the
eighth day ; and, on the other hand, no one of
the Jews has ever omitted it. How then shall
the account of genesis stand with this, since
Jews live in all parts of the world, mixed with
Gentiles, and on the eighth day suffer the cut-
ting of a member? And no one of the Gen-
tiles, but only they themselves, as I have said, do
this, induced to it not by the compulsion of any
star, nor by the perfusion ^ of blood, but by the
law of their religion ; and in whatever part of
the world they are, this sign is familiar to them.
But also the fact that one name is among them
all, wheresoever they are, does this also come
through genesis? And also that no child born
among them is ever exposed, and that on every
seventh day they all rest, wherever they may be,
and do not go upon a journey, and do not use
fire ? ^ Why is it, then, that no one of the Jews
is compelled by genesis to go on a journey, or to
build, or to sell or buy anything on that day?
CHAP. XXIX. THE GOSPEL MORE POWERFUL
THAN " GENESIS."
" But I shall give a still stronger proof of the
matters in hand. For, behold, scarcely seven
years have yet passed since the advent of the
righteous and true Prophet ; and in the course
of these, men of all nations coming to Judaea,
and moved both by the signs and miracles which
they saw, and by the grandeur of His doctrine,
received His faith ; and then going back to their
own countries, they rejected the lawless rites of
the Gentiles, and their incestuous marriages. In
short, among the Parthians — as Thomas, who
is preaching the Gospel amongst them, has writ-
ten to us — not many now are addicted to po-
lygamy ; nor among the Medes do many throw
their dead to dogs ; nor are the Persians pleased
with intercourse with their mothers, or incestu-
ous marriages with their daughters ; nor do the
Susian women practise the adulteries that were
allowed them ; nor has genesis been able to force
those into crimes whom the teaching of religion
restrained.
CHAP. XXX. — " genesis " INCONSISTENT WITH
god's justice.
" Behold, from the very matter in which we
are now engaged,-* draw an inference, and from
the circumstances in which we are now placed
deduce a conclusion, how, through a rumour only
2 Prob.ibly vi'e should read perfitsionetn instead oi fier/usione,
and then the transl.uion would be: "no star compelling, or even
urging on them the shedding of blood." So VVhiston translates.
3 Ex. XXXV. 3.
* [This conclusion of the argument by a reference to the Prophet is
much more dignified than the personal boast of miraculous power,
which, in the Homilies, is placed in the mouth of the Apostle just
before the recognition. — R.J
190
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book IX,
reaching the ears of men that a Prophet had ap-
peared in Judaea to teach men with signs and
miracles to worship one God, all were expecting
with prepared and eager minds, even before the
coming of my lord Peter, that some one would
announce to them what He taught who had ap-
peared. But lest I should seem to carry the
enumeration too far, I shall tell you what con-
clusion ought to be drawn from the whole.
Since God is righteous, and since He Himself
made the nature of men, how could it be that
He should place genesis in opposition to us,
which should compel us to sin, and then that
He should punish us when we do sin ? Whence
it is certain that God punishes no sinner either
in the present life or in that to come, except
because He knows that he could have conquered,
but neglected victory. For even in the present
world He takes vengeance upon men, as He did
upon those who perished in the deluge, who were
all destroyed in one day, yea, in one hour, al-
though it is certain that they were not all born
in one hour according to the order of genesis.
But it is most absurd to say that it befalls us by
nature to suffer evils, if sins had not gone before.
CHAP. XXXI. VALUE OF KNOWLEDGE.
" And therefore, if we desire salvation, we
ought above all to seek after knowledge, being
sure that if our mind remain in ignorance, we
shall endure not only the evils of genesis, but
also whatever other evils from without the demons
may please, unless fear of laws and of the judg-
ment to come resist all our desires, and check
the violence of sinning. For even human fear
does much good, and also much evil, unknown
to GENESIS, as we have shown above. Therefore
our mind is subject to errors in a threefold man-
ner : from those things which come to us through
evil custom ; or from those lusts which the body
naturally stirs up in us ; or from those which
hostile powers compel us to. But the mind has
it in its own nature to oppose and fight against
these, when the knowledge of truth shines upon
it, by which knowledge is imparted fear of the
judgment to come, which is a fit governor of
the mind, and which can recall it from the preci-
pices of lusts. That these things, therefore, are
in our power, has been sufiiciently stated.
CHAP. XXXII.
STUBBORN FACTS.
" Now, old man, if you have any thing to say
in answer to these things, say on." Then said
the old man : ' " You have most fully argued,
my son ; but I, as I said at first, am prevented
by my own consciousness from according assent
to all this incomparable statement of yours. For
' [To chaps. 32-37 a partial parallel is found in Homily XIV.
6-9. The arrangement is quite different, and the details vary. — R.J
I know both my own genesis and that of my wife,
and I know that those things have happened
which our genesis prescribed to each of us ; and
I cannot now be withdrawn by words from those
things which I have ascertained by facts and
deeds. In short, since I perceive that you are
excellently skilled in this sort of learning, hear
the horoscope of my wife, and you shall find the
configuration whose issue has occurred. For she
had Mars with Venus above the centre, and the
Moon setting in the houses of Mars and the con-
fines of Saturn. Now this configuration leads
women to be adulteresses, and to love their own
slaves, and to end their days in foreign travel
and in waters. And this has so come to pass.
For she fell in love with her slave, and fearing at
once danger and reproach, she fled with him,
and going abroad, where she satisfied her love,
she perished in the sea."
CHAP. XXXIII. an approaching RECOGNITION.
Then I answered : " How know you that she
cohabited with her slave abroad, and died in his
society? " Then the old man said : " I know it
with perfect certainty ;• not indeed that she was
married to the slave, as indeed I had not even
discovered that she loved him. But after she
was gone, my brother gave me the whole story,
telling me that first she had loved himself; but
he, being honourable as a brother, would not
pollute his brother's bed with the stain of incest.
But she, being both afraid of me, and unable to
bear the unhappy reproaches (and yet she should
not be blamed for that to which her genesis com-
pelled her), pretended a dream, and said to me :
' Some one stood by me in a vision, who ordered
me to leave the city without delay with my two
twins.' When I heard this, being anxious for
her safety and that of my sons, I immediately
sent away her and the children, retaining with
myself one who was younger. For this she said
that he had permitted who had given her warning
in her sleep."
chap. XXXIV. — the other side of the story.
Then I Clement, understanding that he per-
chance was my father, was drowned in tears,
and my brothers also were ready to rush forward
and to disclose the matter ; but Peter restrained
them, saying : " Be quiet, until I give you per-
mission." Therefore Peter, answering, said to
the old man : " What was the name of your
younger son?" And he said: "Clement."
Then Peter : " If I shall this day restore to you
your most chaste wife and your three sons, will
you believe that a modest mind can overcome
unreasonable impulses, and that all things that
have been spoken by us are true, and that gene-
sis is nothing ? " Then said the old man : "As
Chap. XXXVIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
191
it is impossible for you to perform what you have
promised, so it is impossible that anything can
take place apart from genesis." Then says Pe-
ter : " I wish to have all who are here present as
witnesses that I shall this day hand over to you
your wife, who is living most chastely, with your
three sons. And now take a token of these
things from this, that I know the whole story
much more accurately than you do ; and I shall
relate the whole occurrences in order, both that
you may know them, and that those who are
present may learn."
CHAP. XXXV. — REVELATIONS.
When he had said this, he turned to the
crowds, and thus began : " This person whom
you see, O men, in this poor garb, is a citizen of
the city Rome, descended of the stock of Csesar
himself. His name is Faustinianus. He obtained
as his wife a woman of the highest rank, Matthi-
dia by name. By her he had three sons, two of
whom were twins ; and the one who was the
younger, whose name was Clement, is this man ! "
When he said this, he pointed to me with his
finger. "And his twin sons are these men, Ni-
ceta and Aquila, the one of whom was formerly
called Faustinus and the other Faustus." ' But
as soon as Peter pronounced our names, all the
old man's limbs were weakened, and he fell down
in a swoon. But we his sons rushed to him, and
embraced and kissed him, fearing that we might
not be able to recall his spirit. And while these
things were going on, the people were confounded
with very wonder.
CHAP. XXXVI.
■NEW REVELATIONS.
But Peter ordered us to rise from embracing
our father, lest we should kill him ; and he him-
self, laying hold of his hand, and lifting him up
as from a deep sleep; and gradually reviving him,
began to set forth to him the whole transactions
as they had really happened : ^ how his brother
had fallen in love with Matthidia, and how she,
being very modest, had been unwilling to inform
her husband of his brother's lawless love, lest she
should stir up hostility between the brothers, and
bring disgrace upon the family ; and how she had
wisely pretended a dream, by which she .was or-
dered to depart from the city with her twin sons,
leaving the younger one with his father ; and how
on their voyage they 'had suffered shipwreck
through the violence of a storm ; and how, when
tliey were cast upon an island called Antaradus,
Matthidia was thrown by a wave upon a rock, but
her twin children were seized by pirates and car-
ried to Caesarea, and there sold to a pious woman,
who treated them as sons, and brought them
up, and caused them to be educated as gentle-
men ; and how the pirates had changed their
names, and called the one Niceta and the other
Aquila ; and how afterwards, through common
studies and acquaintanceship, they had adhered
to Simon ; and how they had turned away from
him when they saw him to be a magician and a
deceiver, and had come to Zacchaeus ; and how
subsequently they had been associated with him-
self;, and how Clement also, setting out from
the city for the sake of learning the truth, had,
through his acquaintance with Barnabas, come
to Caesarea, and had become known to him, and
had adhered to him, and how he had been taught
by him the faith of his religion ; and also how he
had found and recognised his mother begging at
Antaradus, and how the whole island rejoiced at
his recognition of her ; and also concerning her
sojourn with her most chaste hostess, and the
cure that he had wrought upon her, and con-
cerning the liberality of Clement to those who
had been kind to his mother ; and how after-
wards, when Niceta and Aquila asked who the
strange woman was, and had heard the whole
story from Clement, they cried out that they
were her twin sons Faustinus and Faustus ; and
how they had unfolded the whole history of what
had befallen them ; and how afterwards, by the
persuasion of Peter himself, they were presented
to their mother with caution, lest she should be
cut off by the sudden joy.
CHAP. XXXVII.
•ANOTHER RECOGNITION.
But while Peter was detailing these things in
the hearing of the old man, in a narrative which
was most pleasing to the crowd, so that the
hearers wept through wonder at the events, and
through compassion for sufferings incident to
humanity,^ my mother, hearing (I know not
how) of the recognition of my father, rushed
into the middle of us in breathless haste, crying
out, and saying : " Where is my husband, my
lord Faustinianus, who has been so long afflicted,
wandering from city to city in search of me?"
While she shouted thus like one demented, and
gazed around, the old man, running up, began
to embrace and hug her with many tears.'* And
while these things were going on, Peter requested
the crowds to disperse, saying that it was un-
seemly to remain longer ; but that opportunity
must be afforded them of seeing one another
more privately. " But to-morrow," said he, " if
any of you wish it, let them assemble to hear the
word."
■ [Compare the account of the recognition in Homily XIV. 9.
^ [This recapitulation is peculiar to the Recognitions; in Homily
XV. 4 the mam facts are cited as a proof of divine providence. — R.J
3 Lit. " through pity of humanity."
■< I Comp Homily XIV. 9. The recognition of the mother is
represented as occurring first; the variations are quite remarkable. —
192
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Hook X.
CHAP. XXXVIII. "angels UNAWARES."
When Peter had said this, the crowds dis-
persed ; and when we also were intending to go
to our lodging, the master of the house said to
us : ' " It is base and wicked that such and so
great men should stay in a hostelry, when I have
almost my whole house empty, and very many
beds spread, and all necessary things provided."
But when Peter refused, the wife of the house-
holder prostrated herself before him with her
children, and besought him, saying, " I eytreat
you, stay with us." But not even so did Peter
consent, until the daughter of those people who
asked him, who had been for a long time vexed
with an unclean spirit, and bound with chains,
who had been shut up in- a closet, having had
the demon expelled from her, and the door of
the closet opened, came with her chains and fell
down at Peter's feet, saying : " It is right, my
lord, that you keep my deliverance-feast here
to-day, and not sadden me or my parents." But
when Peter asked what was the meaning of her
chains and of her words, her parents, gladdened
beyond hope by the recovery of their daughter,
were, as it were, thunderstruck with astonish-
■ [This chapter is peculiar to the Recogm'tinns ; the detailed
description of the exorcism is a curious piece of literature. — R.]
ment, and could not speak ; but the servants
who were in attendance said : " This girl has
been possessed of a demon from her seventh
year, and used to cut, and bite, and even to tear
in pieces, all who attempted to approach her,
and this she has never ceased to do for twenty
years till the present time. Nor could any one
cure her, or even approach her, for s'he rendered
many helpless, and even destroyed some ; for
she was stronger than any man, being doubtless
strengthened by the power of the demon. But
now, as you see, the demon has fled from your
presence, and the doors which were shut with
the greatest strength have been opened, and she
herself stands before you in her sound mind,
asking of you to make the day of her recovery
gladsome both to herself and her parents, and to
remain with them." When one of the servants
had made this statement, and the chains of their
own accord were loosened from her hands and
feet, Peter, being sure that it was by his means
that soundness was restored to the girl, con-
sented to remain with them. And he ordered
those also who had remained in the lodging,
with his wife, to come over ; and every one of
us having got a separrate bed-chamber, we re-
mained ; and having taken food in the usual
manner, and given praises to God, we went to
sleep in our several apartments.
BOOK X.
CHAP. I. — PR043ATION.
But in the morning, after sunrise, I Clement,
and Niceta and Aquila, along with Peter, came
to the apartment in which my father and motlier
were sleeping ; and finding them still asleep, we
sat down before the door, when Peter addressed
us in such terms as these : ' " Listen to me, most
beloved fellow-servants : I know that you have
a great affection for your father ; therefore I am
afraid that you will urge him too soon to take
upon himself the yoke of religion, while he is
not yet prepared for it ; and to this he may per-
haps consent, through his affection for you. But
this is not to be depended on ; for what is done
for the sake of men is not worthy of approba-
' [In book X. the arrangement, to the close of chap. 51, differs
from that oi ihe. Hoini'lies. Here Peter proposes a delay. In Homily
XV. an account is given of the attempt to convert the father immedi-
ately; the Apostle arguing with him, and urging the importance of
being of the same mind with his family. Then in Homilies XVI.-
XIX. a second discussion with Simon is given, occurring in the
presence of the father of Clement. Here the argument is carried on
by Clement (chaps. 7-28), Niceta (chaps. 30-34, 41), Aquila (chaps.
35-38), and concluded by Peter himself (chaps 42-51). Much of the
mythological matter finds a parallel in the discussion with Appion
(Homily IV.-VI.), but there is no direct agreement in the two works
from this point to chap. 52. Comp. Homily XX. 11. — R.]
tion, and soon falls to pieces. Therefore it seems
to me, that you should permit him to live for a
year according to his own judgment ; and during
that time he may travel with us, and while we
are instructing others he may hear with sim-
plicity ; and as he hears, if he has any right
purpose of acknowledging the truth, he will
himself request that he may take up the yoke
of religion ; or if he do not please to take it,
he may remain a friend. For those who do not
take it up heartily, when they begin not to be
able to bear it, not only cast off that which they
had taken up, but by way of excuse, as it were,
for their weakness, they begin to speak evil of
the way of religion, and to malign those whom
they have not been able to follow or to imitate."
CHAP. II. — A DIFFICULTY.
To this Niceta answered : " My lord Peter, I
say nothing against your right and good coun-
sels ; but I wish to say one thing, that thereby
I may learn something that I do not know.
What if my father should die within the year
Chap. V.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
193
during which you recommend that he should be
put off? He will go down to hell helpless, and
so be tormented for ever." Then said Peter :
" I embrace your kindly purpose towards your
father, and I forgive you in respect of things of
which you are ignorant. For do you suppose
that, if any one is thought to have lived right-
eously, he shall forthwith be saved ? Do you not
think that he must be examined by Him who
knows the secrets of men, as to how he has lived
righteously, whether perchance according to the
rule of the Gentiles, obeying their institutions
and laws ; or for the sake of the friendship of
men ; or merely from custom, or any other cause ;
or from necessity, and not on account of right-
eousness itself, and for the sake of God? For
tliose who have lived righteously, for the sake of
God alone and His righteousness, they shall
come to eternal rest, and shall receive the per-
petuity of the heavenly kingdom. For salvation
is not attained by force, but by liberty ; and not
through the favour of men, but by the faith of God.
Then, besides, you ought to consider that God
is prescient, and knows whether this man is one
of His. But if He knows that he is not, what
shall we do with respect to those things which
have been determined by Him from the begin-
ning? But wherein I can, I give counsel : when
he is awake, and we sit down together, then do
you, as if you wished to learn something, ask a
question about those matters which it is fitting
for him to learn; and while we speak to one
another, he will gain instruction. But yet wait
first to see if he himself ask anything ; for if he
do so, the occasion of discourse will be the
fitter. But if he do not ask anything, let us
by turns put questions to one another, wishing to
learn something, as I have said. Such is my
judgment, state what is yours."
CHAP. III.
•A SUGGESTION.
And when we had commended his right coun-
sel, I Clement said : " In all things, the end for
the most part looks back upon the beginning,
and the issue of. things is similar to their com-
mencement. I hope, therefore, with respect to
our father also, since God by your means has
given a good beginning, that He will bestow also
an ending suitable to the beginning, and worthy
of Himself. Howevei*, I make this suggestion,
that if, as you have said, we begin to speak, in
presence of my father, as if for the purpose of
discussing some subject, or learning something
from one another, you, my lord Peter, ought
not to occupy the place of one who has any-
thing to learn ; for if he see this, he will rather
be offended. For he is convinced that you
fully know all things, as indeed you do. How
then will it be, if he see you pretending igno-
rance? This, as I have said, will rather hurt
him, being ignorant of your design. But if we
brothers, while we converse among ourselves, are
in any doubt, let a fitting solution be given by
you to our inquiry. For if he see even you hesi-
tating and doubting, then truly he will think that
no one has knowledge of the truth."
CHAP. IV. FREE INQUIRY.
To this Peter answered : " Let us not concern
ourselves about this ; and if indeed it is fitting
that he enter the gate of life, God will afford a
fitting opportunity ; and there shall be a begin-
ning from God, and not from man. And there-
fore, as I have said, let him journey with us, and
hear our discussions ; but because I saw you in
haste, therefore I said that opportunity must be
sought ; and when God shall give it, do you
comply with my advice in what I shall say."
While we were thus talking, a boy came to tell
us that our father was now awake ; and when we
were intending to go in to him, he himself came
to us, and saluting us with a kiss, after we had
sat down again, he said : " Is it permitted to one
to ask a question, if he wishes it ; or is silence
enforced, after the manner of the Pythagoreans ? "
Then said Peter : " We do not compel those
who come to us either to keep silence continu-
ally, or to ask questions ; but we leave them free
to do as they will, knowing that he who is anx-
ious about his salvation, if he feels pain in any
part of his soul, does not suffer it to be silent.
But he who neglects his salvation, no advantage
is conferred upon him if he is compelled to ask,
excepting this only, that he may seem to be ear-
nest and diligent. Wherefore, if you wish to get
any information, ask on."
CHAP. V. — GOOD AND EVIL.
Then the old man said : " There is a saying
very prevalent among the Greek philosophers,
to the effect that there is in reality neither good
nor evil in the life of man ; but that men call
things good or evil as they appear to them, preju-
diced by the use and custom of life. For not
even murder is really an evil, because it sets the
soul free from the bonds of the flesh. Further,
they say that even just judges put to death those
who commit crimes ; but if they knew homicide
to be an evil, just men would not do that. Nei-
ther do they say that adultery is an evil ; for if
the husl;and does not know, or does not care,
there is, they say, no evil in it. But neither, say
they, is theft an evil ; for it takes away what one
does not possess from another who has it. And,
indeed, it ought to be taken freely and openly ;
but in that it is done secretly, that is rather a re-
proof of his inhumanity from whom it is secretly
taken. For all men ought to have the common
194
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book X.
use of all things that are in this world ; but
through injustice one says that this is his, and
another that that is his, and so division is caused
among men. In short, a certain man, the
wisest among the Greeks," knowing that these
things are so, says that friends should have all
things common. Now, in all things unquestion-
ably wives are included. He says also that, as
the air and the sunshine cannot be divided, so nei-
ther ought other things to be divided, which are
given in this world to all to be possessed in com-
mon, but should be so possessed. But I wished
to say this, because I am desirous to turn to well-
doing, and I cannot act well unless I first learn
what is good ; and if I can understand that, I
shall thereby perceive what is evil, that is, oppo-
site to good.
CHAP. VI. — Peter's authority.
" But I should like that one of you, and not
Peter, should answer what I have said ; for it is
not fitting to take words and instruction at his
hand, with questions ; but when he gives a deliv-
erance on any subject, that should be held with-
out answering again. And therefore let us keep
him as an umpire ; so that if at any time our
discussion does not come to an issue, he may
declare what seems good to him, and so give an
undoubted end to doubtful matters. And now
therefore I could believe, content with his sole
opinion, if he expressed any opinion ; and this
is what I shall do at last. Yet I wish first to see
if it is possible by discussion to find what is
sought. My wish therefore is, that Clement
should begin first, and should show if there is
any good or evil in substance or in actions."
CHAP. VII. — Clement's argument.
To this I answered : " Since indeed you wish
to learn from me if there is any good or evil in
nature or in act, or whether it is not rather that
men, prejudiced by custom, think some things
to be good, and others to be evil, forasmuch as
they have made a division among themselves of
common things, which ought, as you say, to be
as common as the air and the sunshine ; I think
that I ought not to bring before you any state-
ments from any other quarter than from those
studies in which you are well versed, and which
you sup]:)ort, so that what I say you will receive
without hesitation. You assign certain bounda-
ries of all the elements and the heavenly bodies,
and these, you say, meet in some without hurt,
as in marriages ; but in others they are hurtfully
united, as in adulteries. And you say that some
things are general to all, but other things do not
belong to all, and are not general. But not to
■ Allusion is made to Socrates and community of wives, as stated
in the Republic of Plato.
make a long discussion, I shall speak briefly of
the matter. The earth which is dry is in need
of the addition and admixture of water, that it
may be able to produce fruits, without which
man cannot live : this is therefore a legitimate
conjunction. On the contrary, if the cold of
hoar-frost be mixed with the earth, or heat with
the water, a conjunction of this sort produces
corruption ; and this, in such things, is adultery."
CHAP. VIII.
ADMITTED EVILS.
Then my father answered : " But as the harm-
fulness of an inharmonious conjunction of ele-
ments or stars is immediately betrayed, so ought
also adultery to be immediately shown that it is
an evil." Then I : " First tell me this, whether,
as you yourself have confessed, evils are pro-
duced from incongruous and inharmonious mix-
ture ; and then after that we shall inquire into
the other matter." Then my father said : " The
nature of things is as you say, my son." Then
I answered : " Since, then, you wish to learn of
these things, see how many things there are which
no one doubts to be evils. Do you think that a
fever, a fire, sedition, the fall of a house, murder,
bonds, racks, pains, mournings, and such like, are
evils?" Then said my father: "It is true, my
son, that these things are evil, and very evil ; or,
at all events, whoever denies that they are evil,
let him suffer them ! "
CHAP. IX. — EXISTENCE OF EVIL ON ASTROLOGICAL
PRINCIPLES.
Then I answered : " Since, therefore, I have
to deal with one who is skilled in astrological
science,^ I shall treat the matter with you ac-
cording to that science, that, taking my method
from those things with which you are familiar,
you may the more readily acquiesce. Listen
now, therefore : you confess that those things
which we have mentioned are evils, such as
fevers, conflagrations, and such like. Now these,
according to you, are said to be produced by
malignant stars, such as the humid Saturn and
the hot Mars ; but things contrary to these are
produced by benignant stars, such as the tem-
perate Jupiter and the humid Venus. Is it not
so?" My father answered : " It is so, my son;
and it cannot be otherwise." Then said I :
" Since you say, therefore, that good things are
produced by good stars — by Jupiter and Venus,
for example — let us see what is the product
where any one of the evil stars is mixed with the
good, and let us understand that that is evil.
For you lay it down that Venus makes mar-
riages, and if she have Jupiter in her configura-
2 [Comp. book ix. 15, 17, etc. The question of astrology is much
more prominent in the Recognitions; but comp. Homily XIV. 5, and
elsewhere. — R.]
Chap. XII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
195
tion she makes the marriages chaste ; but if
Jupiter be not regarding, and Mars be present,
"then you pronounce that the marriages are cor-
rupted by adultery." Then said my father : " It
is even so." Then I answered: "Therefore
adultery is an evil, seeing that it is committed
through the admixture of evil stars ; and, to
state it in a word, all things that you say that
the good stars suffer from the mixture of evil
stars, are undoubtedly to be pronounced to be
evil. Those stars, therefore, by whose admix-
ture we have said that fevers, conflagrations, and
other such like evils are produced, — those, ac-
cording to you, work also murders, adulteries,
thefts, and also produce haughty and stoHd
men."
CHAP. X.
HOW TO MAKE PROGRESS.
Then my father said : " Truly you have shown
briefly and incomparably that there are evils in
actions ; but still 1 should wish to learn this, how
God justly judges those who sin, as you say, if
GENESIS compels them to sin ? " Then I an-
swered : " I am afraid to speak anything to
you, my father, because it becomes me to hold
you in all honour ; else I have an answer to give
you, if it were becoming." Then says my
father : " Speak what occurs to you, my son ;
for it is not you, but the method of inquiry,
that does the wrong, as a modest woman to an
incontinent man, if she is indignant for her
safety and her honour." Then I answered :
" If we do not hold by the principles that we
have acknowledged and confessed, but if those
things which have been defined are always
loosened by forgetfulness, we shall seem to be
weaving Penelope's web, undoing what we have
done. And therefore we ought either not to ac-
quiesce too easily, before we have diligently ex-
amined the doctrine propounded ; or if we have
once acquiesced, and the proposition has been
agreed to, then we ought to keep by what has
been once determined, that we may go on with
our inquiries respecting other matters." And
my father said :• " You say well, my son ; and I
know why you say this : it is because in the dis-
cussion yesterday on natural causes, you showed
that some malignant power, transferring itself
into the order of the stars, excites the lusts of
men, provoking them in various ways to sin, yet
not compelling or producing sins." To this I
answered : " It is well that you remember it ;
and yet, though you do remember it, you have
fallen into error." Then said my father : " Par-
don me, my son ; for I have not yet much prac-
tice in these things : for indeed your discourses
yesterday, by their truth, shut me up to agree
with you ; yet in my consciousness there are, as
it were, some remains of fevers, which for a
little hold me back from faith, as from health.
For I am distracted, because I know that many
things, yea, almost all things, have befallen me
according to genesis."
CHAP. XI. test of astrology.
Then I answered : " I shall therefore tell you,
my father, what is the nature of mathematics, and
do you act according to what I tell you. Go to
a mathematician,' and tell him first that such
and such evils have befallen you at such a time,
and that you wish to learn of him whence, or
how, or through what stars they have befallen
you. He will no doubt answer you that a ma-
lignant Mars or Saturn has ruled your times, or
that Some one of them has been periodic ; or
that some one has regarded you diametrically,
or in conjunction, or centrally ; or some such
answer will he give, adding that in all these some
one was not in harmony with the malignant one,
or was invisible, or was in the figure, or was be-
yond the division, or was eclipsed, or was not in
contact, or was among the dark stars ; and many
other like things will he answer, according to
his own reasons, and will condescend upon par-
ticulars. After him go to another mathemati-
cian, and tell him the opposite, that such and
such good happened to you at that time, men-
tioning to him the same time, and ask him from
what parts of your genesis this good has come to
you, and take care, as I said, that the times are
the same with those about which you asked con-
cerning evils. And when you have deceived
him concerning the times, see what figures he
will invent for you, by which to show that good
things ought to have befallen you at those very
times. For it is impossible for those treating of
the genesis of men not to find in every quarter,
as they call it, of the heavenly bodies, some stars
favourably placed, and some unfavourably ; for
the circle is equ?^lly complete in every part, ac-
cording to mathematics, admitting of diverse and
various causes, from which they can take occa-
sion of saying whatever they please.
CHAP. XII. astrology BAFFLED BY FREE-WILL.
" For, as usually happens when men see un-
favourable dreams, and can make nothing certain
out of them, when any event occurs, then they
adapt what they saw in the dream to what has
occurred ; so also is mathematics. For before
anything happens, nothing is declared with cer-
tainty ; but after something has happened, they
gather the causes of the event. And thus often,
when they have been at fault, and the thing has
fallen out otherwise, they take the blame to them-
selves, saying that it was such and such a star
which opposed, and that they did not see it ; not
« [The connection of mathematics and astrology is indicated also
in Homily XIV. 3. — R.]
196
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book X.
knowing that their error does not proceed from
their unskilfuhiess in their art, but from the in-
consistency of the whole system. For they do
not know what those things are which we indeed
desire to do, but in regard to which we do not
indulge our desires. But we who have learned
the reason of this mystery know the cause, since,
having freedom of will, we sometimes oppose
our desires, and sometimes yield to them.' And
therefore the issue of human doings is uncertain,
because it depends upon freedom of will. For
a mathematician can indeed indicate the desire
which a malignant power produces ; but whether
the acting or the issue of this desire shall be
fulfilled or not, no one can know before the ac-
complishment of the thing, because it depends
upon freedom of will. And this is why ignorant
astrologers have invented to themselves the talk
about climacterics as their refuge in uncertain-
ties, as we showed fully yesterday.
CHAP. XIII.
■PEOPLE ADMITTED.
" If you have anything that you wish to say to
this, say on." Then my father : " Nothing can
be more true, my son, than what you have stated."
And while we were thus speaking among our-
selves, some one informed us that a great multi-
tude of people were standing outside, having
assembled for the purpose of hearing. Then
Peter ordered them to be admitted, for the place
was large and convenient. And when they had
come in, Peter said to us : " If any one of you
wishes, let him address the people, and discourse
concerning idolatry." To whom I Clement an-
swered : " Your great benignity and gentleness
and patience towards all encourages us, so that
we dare speak in your presence, and ask what
we please ; and therefore, as I said, the gentle-
ness of your disposition invites and encourages
all to undertake the precepts of saving doctrine.
This I never saw before in any one else, but in
you only, with whom there is neither envy nor
indignation. Or what do you think ?
CHAP, XIV. NO MAN HAS UNIVERSAL KNOWL-
EDGE.
Then Peter said : " These things come not
only from envy or indignation ; but sometimes
there is a bashfulness in some persons, lest haply
they may not be able to answer fully the ques-
tions that may be proposed, and so they avoid
the discovery of their want of skill. But no one
ought to be ashamed of this, because there is
no man who ought to profess that he knows all
things ; for there is only One who knows all
things, even He who also made all things. For
if our Master declared that He knew not the
' [This argument from human freedom is the favourite one
throughout. — R.j
day and the hour whose signs even He foretold,
and referred the whole to the Father, how shall
we account it disgraceful to confess that we are
ignorant of some things, since in this we have
the example of our Master? But this only we
profess, that we know those things which we
have learned from the true Prophet ; and that
those things have been delivered to us by the
true Prophet, which He judged to be sufficient
for human knowledge."
CHAP. XV. — Clement's discourse.
Then I Clement went on to speak thus : " At
Tripolis, when you were disputing against the
Gentiles, my lord Peter, I greatly wondered at
you, that although you were instructed by your
father according to the fashion of the Hebrews
and in observances of your own law, and were
never polluted by the studies of Greek learning,
you argued so magnificently and so incompara-
bly ; and that you ,even touched upon some
things concerning the histories of the gods,
which are usually declaimed in the theatres.
But as I perceived that their fables and blas-
phemies are not so well known to you, I shall
discourse upon these in your hearing, repeating
them from the very beginning, if it please you "
Then says Peter : " Say on ; you do well to
assist my preaching." Then said I : "I shall
speak, therefore, because you order me, not by
way of teaching you, but of making public what
foolish opinions the Gentiles entertain of the
gods."
CHAP. XVI. — " WOULD THAT ALL GOD'S PEOPLE
WERE PROPHETS."
But when I was about to speak, Niceta, biting
his lip, beckoned to me to be silent. And Avhen
Peter saw him, he said : " Why would you re-
press his liberal disposition and noble nature,
that you would have him be silent for my hon-
our, which is nothing? Or do you not know,
that if all nations, after they have heard from
me the preaching of the truth, and have be-
lieved, would betake themselves to teaching,
they would gain the greater glory for me, if
indeed you think me desirous of glory? For
what so glorious as to prepare disciples for
Christ, not who shall be silent, and shall be
saved alone, but who shall speak what they have
learned, and shall do good to others? I wish
indeed that both you, Niceta, and you, beloved
Aquila, would aid me in preaching the word of
God, and the rather because those things in
which the Gentiles err are well known to you ;
and not you only, but all who hear me, I wish,
as I have said, so to hear and to learn, that they
may be able also to teach : for the world needs
many helpers, by whom men may be recalled
Chap. XX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
197
from error." When he had spoken thus, he said
to me : " Go on then, Clement, with what you
have begun."
CILA.P. XVII. GENTILE COSMOGONY.
And I immediately rejoined : " Seeing that
when you were disputing at Tripolis, as I said,
you discoursed much concerning the gods of the
Gentiles profitably and convincingly, I desire to
set forth in your presence the ridiculous legends
concerning their origin, both that you may not
be unacquainted with the falsehood of this vain
superstition, and that the hearers who are present
may know the disgraceful character of their
error. The wise men, then, who are among the
Gentiles, say that first of all things was chaos ; '
that this, through a long time solidifying its outer
parts, made bounds to itself and a sort of foun-
dation, being gathered, as it were, into the man-
ner and form of a huge egg, within which, in the
course of a long time, as within the shell of the
egg, there was cherished and vivified a certain
animal ; and. that afterwards, that huge globe
being broken, there came forth a certain kind
of man of double sex, which they call masculo-
feminine. This they called Phanetas, from
appearing, because when it appeared, they say,
then also light shone forth. And from this,
they say that there were produced substance,
prudence, motion, and coition,, and from these
the heavens and the earth were made. From
the heaven they say that six males were pro-
duced, whom they call Titans ; and in like
manner, from the earth six females, whom they
called Titanides. And these are the names of
the males who sprang from the heaven : Oceanus,
Cceus, Crios, Hyperion, lapetus, Chronos, who
amongst us is called Saturn. In like manner,
the names of the females who sprang from the
earth are these : Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemos-
yne, Tethys, Hebe.^
CHAP. XVIII. FAMILY OF SATURN.
"Of all these, the first-born of the heaven
took to wife the first-born of earth ; the second
the second, and in like manner all the rest. The
first male, therefore, who had married the first
female, was on her account drawn downwards ;
but the second female rose upwards, by reason
of him to whom she was married ; and so each
doing in their order, remained in those places
which fell to their share by the nuptial lot.
From their intercourse they assert that innumer-
able others sprang. But of these six males, the
one who is called Saturn received in marriage
Rhea, and having been warned by a certain
' [With this cosmogony (chaps. 17-1Q, 30-34) compare the dis-
course of Appion, Homily VI. 3-10. — R.J
^ [Comp. chap. 31 and Homily VI. 2. — R.]
oracle that he who should be born of her should
be more powerful than himself, and should drive
him from his kingdom, he determined to devour
all the sons that should be born to him. First,
then, there is born to him a son called Aides,
who amongst us is called Orcus ; and him, for
the reason we have just stated, he took and de-
voured. After him he begot a second son, called
Neptune ; and him he devoured in like manner.
Last of all, he begot him whom they call Jupiter ;
but him his mother Rhea pitying, by stratagem
withdrew from his father when he was about to
devour him. And first, indeed, that the crying
of the child might not be noticed, she made
certain Corybantes strike cymbals and drums,
that by the deafening sound the crying of the
infant might not be heard.
CHAP. XIX. THEIR DESTINIES.
" But when he understood from the lessening
of her belly that her child was born, he de-
manded it, that he might devour it ; then Rhea
presented him with a large stone, and told him
that that was what she had brought forth. And
he took it, and swallowed it ; and the stone,
when it was devoured, pushed and drove forth
those sons whom he had formerly swallowed.
Therefore Orcus, coming forth first, descended,
and occupies the lower, that is, the infernal
regions. The second, being above him — he
whom they call Neptune — is thrust forth upon
the waters. The third, who survived by the
artifice of his mother Rhea, she put upon a she-
goat and sent into heaven.
CHAP. XX. — DOINGS OF JUPITER.
" But enough of the old wife's fables and
genealogy of the Gentiles ; for it were endless
if I should set forth all the generations of those
whom they call gods, and their wicked doings.
But by way of example, omitting the rest, I shall
detail the wicked deeds of him only whom they
hold to be the greatest and the chief, and whom
they call Jupiter.^ For they say that he pos-
sesses heaven, as being superior to the rest ; and
he, as soon as he grew up, married his own sis-
ter, whom they call Juno, in which truly he at once
becomes like a beast. Juno bears Vulcan ; but,
as they relate, Jupiter was not his father. How-
ever, by Jupiter himself she became mother of
Medea ; and Jupiter having received a response
that one who should be born of her should be
more powerful than himself, and should expel
him from his kingdom, took her and devoured
her. Again Jupiter produced Minerva from his
brain, and Bacchus from his thigh. After this,
when he had fallen in love with Thetis, they say
3 [Comp. Homily V. 12-15 for «> parallel to chaps. 20-23. — ''^■J
igS
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book X.
that Prometheus informed him that, if he lay
with her, he who should be born of her should
be more powerful than his father ; and for fear
of this, he gave her in marriage to one Peleus.
Subsecjuently he had intercourse with Perseph-
one, who was his own daughter by Ceres ; and
by her he begot Dionysius,' who was torn in
pieces by the Titans. But calling to mind, it is
said, that perhaps his own father Saturn might
beget another son, who might be more powerful
than himself, and might expel him from the
kingdom, he went to war with his father, along
with his brothers the Titans ; and having beaten
them, he at last threw his father into prison, and
cut off his genitals, and threw them into the sea.
But the blood which flowed from the wound,
being mixed with the waves, and turned into
foam by the constant churning, produced her
Avhom they call Aphrodite, and whom with us
they call Venus. From his intercourse with her
who was thus his own sister, they say that this
same Jupiter begot Cypris, who, they say, was
the mother of Cupid.
CHAP. XXI. — A BLACK CATALOGUE.
" Thus much of his incests ; I shall now speak
of his adulteries. He defiled Europa, the wife
of Oceanus, of whom was born Dodonseus ;
Helen, the wife of Pandion, of whom Musaeus ;
Eurynome, the wife of Asopus, of whom Ogygias ;
Hermione, the wife of Oceanus, of whom the
Graces, Thalia, Euphrosyne, Aglaia ; Themis, his
own sister, of whom the Hours, Eurynomia, Dice,
Irene ; Themisto, the daughter of Inachus, of
whom Areas ; Idaea, the daughter of Minos, of
whom Asterion ; Phoenissa, the daughter of Al-
phion, of whom Endymion ; lo, the daughter of
Inachus, of whom Epaphus ; Hippodamia and
Isione, daughters of Danaus, of whom Hippo-
damia was the wife of Olenus, and Isione of
Orchomenus or Chryses ; Carme, the daughter
of Phoenix, of whom was born Britomartis, who
was an attendant of Diana ; Callisto, the daugh-
ter of Lycaon, of whom Orcas ; Lybee, the
daughter of Munantius, of whom Belus ; Latona,
of whom Apollo and Diana ; Leandia, the daugh-
ter of Eurymedon, of whom Coron ; Lysithea,
the daughter of Evenus, of whom Helenus ;
Hippodamia, the daughter of Bellerophon, of
whom SarpSdon ; Megaclite, the daughter of
Macarius, of whom Thebe and Locrus ; Niobe,
the daughter of Phoroneus, of whom Argus and
Pelasgus ; Olympias, the daughter of Neoptole-
mus, of whom Alexander ; Pyrrha, the daughter
of Prometheus, of whom Helmetheus ; Protogenia
and Pandora, daughters of Deucalion, of whom
he begot ^thelius, and Dorus, and Melera, and
' Dionysius appears here and subsequently in the text for Diony-
sus, the Greek god corresponding to the Latin Bacchus. Some of the
other names are more or less corrupt forms.
Pandorus ; Thaicrucia, the daughter of Proteus,
of whom was born Nympheus ; Salamis, the
daughter of Asopus, of whom Saracon ; Taygete,
Electra, Maia, Plutide, daughters of Atlas, of
whom respectively he begot Lacedsmon, Dar-
danus, Mercury, and Tantalus ; Phthia, the daugh-
ter of Phoroneus, of whom he begot Achaeus ;
Chonia, the daughter of Aramnus, of whom he
begot Lacon ; Chalcea, a nymph, of whom was
born Olympus ; Charidia, a nymph, of whom
Alcanus ; Chloris, who was the. wife of Ampycus,
of whom Mopsus was born ; Cotonia,the daughter
of Lesbus, of whom Polymedes ; Hippodamia,
the daughter of Anicetus ; Chrysogenia, the
daughter of Peneus, of whom was born This-
sseus.
CHAP. XXn. VILE TRANSFORMATION OF JUPITER.
" There are also innumerable adulteries of
his, of which no offspring was the result, which
it were tedious to enumerate. But amongst
those whom we have, mentioned, he violated
some being transformed, like a magician. In
short, he seduced Antiope, the daughter of Nyc-
teus, when turned into a satyr, and of her were
born Amphion and Zethus ; Alcmene, when
changed into her husband Amphitryon, and of
her was born Hercules ; yEgina, the daughter
of Asopus, when changed into an eagle, of
whom ^^acus was born. So also he defiled
Ganymede, the son of Dardanus, being changed
into an eagle ; Manthea, the daughter of Phocus,
when changed into a bear, of whom was born
Arctos ; Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, being
changed into gold, of whom Perseus ; Europa,
the daughter of Phoenix, changed into a bull, of
whom were born Minos, Rhadamanthus, and
Sarpedon ; Eurymedusa, the daughter of Ache-
laus, being changed into an ant, of whom Myr-
midon ; Thalia, the nymph, being changed into
a vulture, of whom were born the Palisci, in
Sicily ; Imandra, the daughter of Geneanus, at
Rhodes, being changed into a shower ; Cassi-
opeia, being changed into her husband Phoenix,
and of her was born Anchinos ; Leda, the
daughter of Thestius, being changed into a
swan, of whom was born Helen ; and again the
same, being changed into a star, and of her were
born Castor and Pollux ; Lamia, being changed
into a lapwing ; Mnemosyne, being changed into
a shepherd, of whom were born the nine Muses ;
Nemesis, being changed into a goose ; the Cad-
mian Semele, being changed into fire, and of her
was born Dionysius. By his own daughter Ceres
he begot Persephone, whom also herself he de-
filed, being changed into a dragon.
CHAP. XXIII. — WHY A GOD ?
" He also committed adultery with Europa,
the wife of his own uncle Oceanus, and with her
Chap. XXVII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
199
sister Eurynome, and punished their father ; and
he committed adultery with Pkite, the daughter
of his own son Atlas, and condemned Tantalus,
whom she bore to him. Of Larisse, the daughter
of Orchomenus, he begot Tityon, whom also he
consigned to punishment. He carried off Dia,
the wife of his own son Ixion, and subjected him
to perpetual punishment ; and almost all the
sons who sprang from his adulteries he put to
violent deaths ; and indeed the sepulchres of
almost all of them are well known. Yea, the
sepulchre of this parricide himself, who destroyed
his uncles and defiled their wives, who com-
mitted whoredom with his sisters, this magician
of many transformations, is shown among the
Cretans, who, although they know and acknowl-
edge his horrid and incestuous deeds, and tell
them to all, yet are not ashamed to confess him
to be a god. Whence it seems to me to be
wonderful, yea, exceeding wonderful, how he
who exceeds all men in wickedness and crimes,
has received that holy and good name which is
above every name, being called the father of
gods and men ; unless perhaps he who rejoices
in the evils of men has persuaded unhappy souls
to confer honour above all others upon him
whom he saw to excel all others in crimes, in
order that he might allure all to the imitation of
his evil deeds.
CHAP. XXIV. FOLLY OF POLYTHEISM.
" But also the sepulchres of his sons, who are
regarded amongst these the Gentiles as gods,
are openly pointed out, one in one place, and
another in another : that of Mercury at Her-
mopolis ; that of the Cyprian Venus at Cyprus ;
that of Mars in Thrace ; that of Bacchus at
Thebes, where he is said to have been torn in
pieces ; that of Hercules at Tyre, where he was
burnt with fire ; that of ^sculapius in Epidaurus.
And all these are spoken of, not only as men
who have died, but as wicked men who have
been punished for their crimes ; and yet they
are adored as gods by foolish men.'
CHAP. XXV, DEAD MEN DEIFIED.
" But if they choose to argue, and affirm that
these are rather the places of their birth than
of their burial or death, the former and ancient
doings shall be convicted from those at hand and
still recent, since we have shown that they wor-
ship those whom they themselves confess to
have been men, and to have died, or rather to
have been punished ; as the Syrians worship
Adonis, and the Egyptians (Jsiris ; the Trojans,
Hector ; Achilles is worshipped at Leuconesus,
Patroclus at Pontus, Alexander the Macedonian
at Rhodes ; and many others are worshipped,
one in one place and another in another, whom
they do not doubt to have been dead men.
Whence it follows that their predecessors also,
falling into a like error, conferred divine honour
upon dead men, who perhaps had had some
power or some skill, and especially if they had
stupefied stolid men by magical phantasies.-
CHAP. XXVI.
•METAMORPHOSES.
' f Comp. Homily V. 23, where these details appear in a letter,
written by Clement as if from a woman; also Homily VI. zi. — R.J
" Hence there has now been added, that the
poets also adorn the falsehoods of error by ele-
gance of words, and by sweetness of speech per-
suade that mortals have been made immortal ;
yea more, they say that men are changed into
stars, and trees, and animals, and flowers, and
birds, and fountains, and rivers. And but that
it might seem to be a waste of words, I could
even enumerate almost all the stars, and trees,
and fountains, and rivers, which they assert to
have been made of men ; yet, by way of ex-
ample, I shall mention at least one of each
class. They say that Andromeda, the daughter
of Cepheus, was turned into a star ; Daphne, the
daughter of the river Lado, into a tree ; Hya-
cinthus, beloved of Apollo, into a flower ; Callisto
into the constellation which they call Arctos ;
Progne and Philomela, with Tereus, into birds ;
that Thysbe in Cilicia was dissolved into a foun-
tain ; and Pyramus, at the same place, into a
river. And they assert that almost all the stars,
trees, fountains, and rivers, flowers, animals, and
birds, were at one time human beings."
CHAP. XXVII. — INCONSISTENCY OF POLYTHEISTS,
But Peter, when he heard this, said : "Accord-
ing to them, then, before men were changed into
stars, and the other things which you mention,
the heaven was without stars, and the earth with-
out trees and animals ; and there were neither
fountains, nor rivers, nor birds. And without
these, how did those men themselves live, who
afterwards were changed into them, since it is
evident that, without these things, men could
not live upon the earth?" Then I answered:
" But they are not even able to observe the wor-
ship of their own gods consistently ; for every
one of those whom they worship has something
dedicated to himself, from which his worshippers
ought to abstain : as they say the olive is dedi-
cated to Minerva, the she-goat to Jupiter, seeds
to Ceres, wine to Bacchus, water to Osiris, the
ram to Hammon, the stag to Diana, the fish and
the dove to the demon of the Syrians, fire to
Vulcan ; and to each one, as I have said, is there
something specially consecrated, from which the
worshippers are bound to abstain, for the honour
2 [Comp. Homily VI. 22. — R.]
200
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book X.
of those to whom they are consecrated. But
were one abstaining from one thing, and another
from another, by doing honor to one of the gods,
they incur the anger of all the rest ; and there-
fore, if they would conciliate them all, they must
abstain from all things for the honour of all, so
that, being self-condemned by a just sentence
before the day of judgment, they should perish
by a most wretched death through starvation.
CHAP. XXVIII. BUTTRESSES OF GENTILISM.
" But let us return to our purpose. What
reason is there, yea, rather, what madness pos-
sesses the minds of men, that they worship and
adore as a god, a man whom they not only know
to be impious, wicked, profane — I mean Jupiter
— incestuous, a parricide, an adulterer, but even
proclaim him publicly as such in their songs in
the theatres? Or if by means of these deeds
he has deserved to be a god, then also, when
they hear of any murderers, adulterers, parricides,
incestuous persons, they ought to worship them
also as gods. But I cannot understand why they
venerate in him what they execrate in others."
Then Peter answered : " Since you say that you
cannot understand it, learn of me why they ven-
erate wickedness in him. In the first place, it is
that, when they themselves do like deeds, they
may know that they shall be acceptable to him, in-
asmuch as they have but imitated him in his wick-
edness. In the second place, because the ancients
have left these things skilfully composed in their
writings, and elegantly engrafted in their verses.
And now, by the aid of youthful education,
since the knowledge of these things adheres to
their tender and simple minds, it cannot without
difficulty be torn from them and cast away."
CHAP. XXIX.
• ALLEGORIES.
When Peter had said this, Niceta answered :
" Do not suppose, my lord Peter, but that the
learned men of the Gentiles have certain plaus-
ible arguments,, by which they support those
things which seem to be blameworthy and dis-
graceful. And this I state, not as wishing to
confirm their error (for far be it from me that
such a thing should ever come into my thought) ;
but yet I know that there are amongst the more
intelligent of them certain defences, by which
they are accustomed to support and colour over
those things which seem to be absurd. And if
it please you that I should state some of them
— for I am to some extent acquainted with
them — I shall do as you order me." And when
Peter had given him leave, Niceta proceeded as
follows.
CHAP. XXX. COSMOGONY OF ORPHEUS.
" All the literature among the Greeks which is
written on the subject of the origin of antiquity,
is based upon many authorities, but especially
two, Orpheus and Hesiod.' Now their writings
are divided into two parts, in respect of their
meaning, — that is, the literal and the allegorical ;
and the vulgar crowd has flocked to the literal,
but all the eloquence of the philosophers and
learned men is expended in admiration of the
allegorical. It is Orpheus, then, who says that
at first there was chaos, eternal, unbounded, uri-
produced, and that from it all things were made.
He says that this chaos was neither darkness
nor light, neither moist nor dry, neither hot nor
cold, but that it was all things mixed together,
and was always one unformed mass ; yet that at
length, as it were after the manner of a huge egg,
it brought forth and produced from itself a certain
double form, which had been wrought through
immense periods of time, and which they call
masculo-feminine, a form concrete from the con-
trary admixture of such diversity ; and that this
is the principle of all things, which came of pure
matter, and which, coming forth, effected a sepa-
ration of the four elements, and made heaven
of the two elements which are first, fire and
air, and earth of the others, earth and water;
and of these he says that all things now are born
and produced by a mutual participation of them.
So far Orpheus.
CHAP. XXXI. — HESIOD'S COSMOGONY.
" But to this Hesiod adds, that after chaos the
heaven and the earth were made immediately,
from which he says that those eleven were pro-
duced (and sometimes also he speaks of them
as twelve) of whom he makes six males and five
females. And these are the names that he gives
to the males : Oceanus, Cceus, Crius, Hyperion,
lapetus, Chronos, who is also called Saturn. Also
the names of the females are :• Theia, Rhea,
Themis, Mnemosyne, Tethys.^ And these names
they thus interpret allegorically. They say that
the number is eleven or twelve : that the first is
nature itself, which also they would have to be
called Rhea, from flowing ; and they say that the
other ten are her accidents, which also they call
qualities ; yet they add a twelfth, namely Chronos,
who with us is called Saturn, and him they take
to be time.^ Therefore they assert that Saturn
and Rhea are time and matter ; and these, when
they are mixed with moisture and dryness, heat
and cold, produce all things.
CHAP. XXXII.
ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION.
"She therefore (Rhea, or nature), it is said,
produced, as it were, a certain bubble which had
been collecting for a long time ; and it being
' [Comp. chaps. 1719 and Homily VI. 3-10, 12-19. — R-l
2 [Comp. chap, 17 and Homily VI. 2. — R.]
3 [Comp. Homily VI. 5, 12. — R.]
Chap. XXXV.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
20I
gradually collected from the spirit which was in
the waters, swelled, and being for some time
driven over the surface of matter, from which it
had come forth as from a womb, and being
hardened by the rigour of cold, and always in-
creasing by additions of ice, at length was broken
off and sunk into the deep, and drawn by its
own weight, went down to the infernal regions ;
and because it became invisible it was called
Aides, and is also named Orcus or Pluto.' And
since it was sunk from the top to the bottom, it
gave place to the moist element to flow together ;
and the grosser part, which is the earth, was laid
bare by the retirement of the waters. They say,
therefore, that this freedom of the waters, which
was formerly restrained by the presence of the
bubble, was called Neptune after the bubble
attained the lowest place. After this, when the
cold element had been sucked down to the lower
regions by the concretion of the icy bubble, and
the dry and the moist element had been sepa-
rated, there being now no hindrance, the warm
element rushed by its force and lightness to the
upper regions of the air, being borne up by
wind and storm. This storm, therefore, which
in Greek is called Karatyt?, they called /egis —
that is, a she-goat ; and the fire which ascended
to the upper regions they called Jupiter ; where-
fore they say that he ascended to Olympus riding
on a she-goat.
CHAP. XXXIII. ALLEGORY OF JUPITER, ETC.
" Now this Jupiter the Greeks would have to
be called from his living, or giving life, but our
people from his giving succour.^ They say,
therefore, that this is the living substance, which,
placed in the upper regions, and drawing all
things to itself by the influence of heat, as by
the convolution of the brain, and arranging them
by the moderation of a certain tempering, is
said from his head to have produced wisdom,
whom they call Minerva, who was called 'AO-qvr]
by the Greeks on account of her immortality ;
who, because the father of all created all things
by his wisdom, is also said to have been pro-
duced from his head, and from the principal
place of all, and is represented as having formed
and adorned the whole world by the regulated
admixture of the elements.^ Therefore the forms
which were impressed upon matter, that the world
might be made, because they are constrained by
the force of heat, are said to be held together
by the energy of Jupiter. And since there are
enough of these, and they do not need anything
new to be added to them, but each thing is re-
paired by the produce of its own seed, the
hands of Saturn are said to be bound by Jupi-
Comp. Homily VI. 6. — R.l
Comp. Homily VI. 7. — R.]
With chaps. 33, 34, compare Homily VI. 8-10. — R.]
ter ; because, as I have said, time now produces
from matter nothing new : but the warmth of
seeds r&stores all things according to their kinds ;
and no birth of Rhea — that is, no increase of
flowing matter — ascends further. And there-
fore they call that first division of the elements
the mutilation of Saturn, because he cannot any
more produce a world.
CHAP. XXXIV. — OTHER ALLEGORIES.
" And of Venus they give forth an allegory to
this effect. When, say they, the sea was put
under the air, and when the brightness of the
heavens shone more pleasantly, being reflected
from the waters, the loveliness of things, which
appeared fairer from the waters, was called Venus ;
and she, it, being united with the air as with her,
its, own brother, so as to produce beauty, which
might be the object of desire, is said to have
given birth to Cupid. In this way, therefore, as
we have said, they teach that Chronos, who is
Saturn, is allegorically time ; Rhea is matter ;
Aides — that is, Orcus — is the de])th of the in-
fernal regions ; Neptune is water ; Jupiter is air
— that is, the element of heat ; Venus is the
loveliness of things ; Cupid is desire, which is
in all things, and by which posterity is propa-
gated, or even the reason of things, which gives
delight when wisely looked into. Hera — that
is, Juno — is said to be that middle air which
descends from heaven to earth. To Diana,
whom they call Proserpine, they hand over the
air below. They say that Apollo is the Sun him-
self, which goes round the heaven ; that Mer-
cury is speech, by which a reason is rendered
for everything ; that Mars is unrestrained fire,
which consumes all things. But not to delay
you by enumerating everything, those who have
the more abstruse intelligence concerning such
things think that they give fair and just reasons,
by applying this sort of allegory to every one of
their objects of worship."
CHAP. XXXV. USELESSNESS OF THESE ALLEGO-
RIES.
When Niceta had thus spoken, Aquila an-
swered : '' " Whoever he was that was the author
and inventor of these things, he seems to me to
have been very impious, since he covered over
those things which seem to be pleasant and
seemly, and made the ritual of his superstition
to consist in base and shameful observances,
since those things which are written according
to the letter are manifestly unseemly and base ;
and the whole observance of their religion con-
sists in these, that by such crimes arid impieties
they may teach men to imitate their gods whom
* [With this treatment of the allegories compare Homily VI. 17,
18. -R.]
202
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book X.
they worship. For in these allegories what profit
can there be to them ? For although they are
framed so as to be decent, yet no use is derived
from them for worship, nor for amendment of
morals.
CHAP. XXXVI. THE ALLEGORIES AN AFTER-
THOUGHT,
"Whence it is the more evident that prudent
men, when they saw that the common supersti-
tion was so disgraceful, so base, and yet they
had not learned any way of correcting it, or any
knowledge, endeavoured with what arguments
and interpretations they could to veil unseemly
things under seemly speech, and not, as they
say, to conceal seemly reasons under unseemly
fables. For if this were the case, surely their
statues and their pictures would never be made
vi^ith representations of their vices and crimes.
The swan, which committed adultery with Leda,
would not be represented, nor the bull which
committed adultery with Europa ; nor would
they turn into a thousand monstrous shapes, him
whom they think better than all. And assuredly,
if the great and wise men who are amongst them
knew that all this is fiction and not truth, would
not they charge with impiety and sacrilege those
who should exhibit a picture or carve an image
of this sort, to the injury of the gods? In
short, let them present a king of their own time
in the form of an ox, or a goose, or an ant, or a
vulture, and let them write the name of their
king upon it, and set up such a statue or figure
in a public place, and they will soon be made to
feel the wrong of their deed, and the greatness
of its punishment.
CHAP. XXXVII. LIKE GODS, LIKE WORSHIPPERS.
" But since those things rather are true which
the public baseness testifies, and concealments
have been sought and fabricated by prudent men
to excuse them by seemly speeches, therefore
are they not only not prohibited, but even in the
very mysteries figures are produced of Saturn
devouring his sons, and of the boy hidden by
the cymbals and drums of the Corybantes ; and
with respect to the mutilation of Saturn, what
better proof of its truth could there be, than that
even his worshippers are mutilated, by a like
miserable fate, in honour of their god? Since
then these things are manifestly seen, who shall
be found of so little sense, yea, of such stolidity,
that he does not perceive that those things are
true concerning the unfortunate gods, which
their more unfortunate worshippers attest by the
wounding and mutilation of their bodies ?
CHAP. XXXVIII. WRITINGS OF THE POETS.
" But if, as they say, these things, so creditably
and piously done, are dispensed by so discredit-
able and impious a ritual, assuredly he is sacri-
legious, whoever either gave forth these things
at first, or persists in fulfilling them, now that
they have unhappily been given forth. And what
shall we say of the books of the poets? Ought
not they, if they have debased the honourable
and pious deeds of the gods with base fables, to
be forthwith cast away and thrown into the fire,
that they may not persuade the still tender age
of boys that Jupiter himself, the chief of the
gods, was a parricide towards his parents, in-
cestuous towards his sisters and his daughters,
and even impure towards boys ; that Venus and
Mars were adulterers, and all those things which
have been spoken of above? What do you
think of this matter, my lord Peter? "
CHAP. XXXIX. — ALL FOR THE BEST.
Then he answered : " Be sure, beloved Aquila,
that all things are done by the good providence
of God, that the cause which was to be contrary
to the truth should not' only be infirm and weak,
but also base. For if the assertion of error had
been stronger and more truth-like, any one who
had been deceived by it would not easily return
to the path of truth. If even now, when so
many wicked and disgraceful things are related
concerning the gods of the Gentiles, scarce any
one forsakes the base error, how much more if
there had been in it anything seemly and truth-
like? For the mind is with difficulty transferred
from those things with which it has been imbued
in early youth ; and on this account, as I said,
it has been effected by divine providence, that
the substance of error should be both weak and
base. But all other things also divine providence
dispenses fitly and advantageously, although the
method of the divine dispensation, as good, and
the best possible, is not clear to us who are ig-
norant of the causes of things."
CHAP. XL. FURTHER INFORMATION SOUGHT.
When Peter had thus said, I Clement asked
Niceta that he would explain to us, for the sake
of instruction, some things concerning the alle-
gories of the Gentiles, which he had carefully
studied; "for," said I, "it is useful that when
we dispute with the Gentiles, we should not be
unacquainted with these things." Then said
Niceta : " If my lord Peter permits me, I can
do as you ask me." Then said Peter: "To-day
I have given you leave to speak in opposition to
the Gentiles, as you know." And Niceta said :
" Tell me then, Clement, what you would have
me speak about." And I said to him : " Inform
us how the Gentiles represent matters concern-
ing the supper of the gods, which they had at
the marriage of Peleus and Thetis.' What do
' [Comp. Homily VI. 2, 14, 15, on the supper of the gods. — R.]
Chap. XLIII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
203
they make of the shepherd Paris, and what of
less Juno, Minerva, and Venus, between whom
he acted as judge ? What of Mercury ? and what
of tlie apple, and the other things which follow
in order? "
CHAP. XLI. EXPLANATION OF MYTHOLOGY.
Then Niceta : " The affair of the supper of
the gods stands in this wise. They say that the
banquet is the world, that the order of the gods
sitting at table is the position of the heavenly
bodies. Those whom Hesiod calls the first
children of heaven and earth, of whom six were
males and six females, they refer to the number
of the twelve signs, which go round all the
world. They say that the dishes of the ban-
quet are the reasons and causes of things, sweet
and desirable, which in the shape of inferences
from the positions of the signs and the courses
of the stars, explain how the world is ruled and
governed. Yet they say these things exist after
the free manner of a banquet, inasmuch as the
mind of every one has the option whether he
shall taste aught of this sort of knowledge, or
whether he shall refrain ; and as in a banquet
no one is compelled, but every one is at liberty
to eat, so also the manner of philosophizing de-
pends upon the choice of the will. They say
that discord is the lust of the flesh, which rises
up against the purpose of the mind, and hinders
the desire of philosophizing ; and therefore they
say that the time was that in which the marriage
was celebrated. Thus they make Peleus and the
nymph Thetis to be the dry and the moist ele-
ment, by the admixture of which the substance
of bodies is composed. They hold that Mercury
is speech, by which instruction is conveyed to
the mind ; that Juno is chastity, Minerva cour-
age, Venus lust, Paris the understanding. If
therefore, say they, it happens that there is in
a man a barbarous and uncultivated understand-
ing, and ignorant of right judgment, he will
despise chastity and courage, and will give the
prize, which is the apple, to lust ; and thereby
ruin and destruction will come not only upon
himself, but also upon his countrymen and the
whole race. These things, therefore, it is in
their power to compose from whatever matter
they please ; yet they can be adapted to every
man ; because if any one has a pastoral and rus-
tic and uncultivated understanding, and does
not wish to be instructed, when the heat of his
body shall make suggestions concerning the
pleasure of lust, straightway he despises the vir-
tues of studies and the blessings of knowledge,
and turns his mind to bodily pleasures. And
hence it is that implacable wars arise, cities are
destroyed, countries fall, even as Paris, by the
abduction of Helen, armed the Greeks and the
barbarians to their mutual destruction."
CHAP. XLIL
INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.
Then Peter, commending his statement, said : '
"Ingenious men, as I perceive, take many veri-
similitudes from the things which they read ; and
therefore great care is to be taken, that when the
law of God is read, it be not read according to
the understanding of our own mind. For there
are many sayings in the divine Scriptures which
can be drawn to that sense which every one has
preconceived for himself; and this ought not to
be done. For you ought not to seek a foreign
and extraneous sense, which you have brought
from without, which you may confirm from the
authority of the Scriptures, but to take the sense
of truth from the Scriptures themselves ; and
therefore it behoves you to learn the meaning of
the Scriptures from him who keeps it accord-
ing to the truth handed down to him from his
fathers, so that he can authoritatively declare
what he has rightly received. But when one
has received an entire and firm rule of truth
from the Scriptures, it will not be improper if he
contribute to the estabhshment of true doctrine
anything from common education and from lib-
eral studies, which, it may be, he has attached
himself to in his boyhood ; yet so that, when
he has learned the truth, he renounce falsehood
and pretence."
CHAP. XLIII.
■A WORD OF EXHORTATION.
And when he had said this, he looked to our
father, and said : " You therefore, old man, if
indeed you care for your soul's safety, that when
you desire to be separated from the body, it
may, in consequence of this short conversion,
find eternal rest, ask about whatever you please,
and seek counsel, that you may be able to cast
off any doubt that remains in you. For even
to young men the time of life is uncertain ; but to
old men it is not even uncertain, for there is no
doubt that there is but little time remaining to
them. And therefore both young and old ought
to be very earnest about their conversion and
repentance, and to be taken up with the adorn-
ment of their souls for the future with the wor-
thiest ornaments, such as the doctrines of truth,
the grace of chastity, the splendour of righteous-
ness, the fairness of piety, and all other things
with which it becomes a reasonable mind to be
adorned. Then, besides, they should break off
from unseemly and unbelieving companions, and
keep company with the faithful, and frequent
those assemblies in which subjects are handled
relating to chastity, righteousness, and piety ; to
pray to God always heartily, and to ask of Him
those things which ought to be asked of God ; to
give thanks to Him ; to repent truly of their past
' [This discourse of the Apostle (chaps. 42-51) has no exact par-
allel in the Homilies. It is a fitting conclusion to the discussion. — R.]
204
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book X.
doings ; in some measure also, if possible, by
deeds of mercy towards the poor, to help their
penitence : for by these means pardon will be
more easily bestowed, and mercy will be sooner
shown to the merciful,
CHAP. XLIV. EARNESTNESS.
" But if he who comes to repentance is of
more advanced age, he ought the more to give
thanks to God, because, having received the
knowledge of the truth, after all the violence of
carnal lust has been broken, there awaits him no
fight of contest, by which to repress the pleasures
of the body rising against the mind. It remains,
therefore, that he be exercised in the learning of
the truth, and in works of mercy, that he may
bring forth fruits worthy of repentance ; and that
he do, not suppose that the proof of conversion
is shown by length of time, but by strength of
devotion and of purpose. For minds are mani-
fest to God; and He does not take account of
times, but of hearts. For He approves if any
one, on hearing the preaching of the truth, does
not delay, nor spend time in negligence, but im-
mediately, and if I may say so, in the same mo-
ment, abhorring the past, begins to desire things
to come, and burns with love of the heavenly
kingdom.
CHAP. XLV. ALL OUGHT TO REPENT.
" Wherefore, let no one of you longer dis-
semble nor look backwards, but willingly ap-
proach to the Gospel of the kingdom of God.
Let not the poor man say, \Vhen I shall become
rich, then I shall be converted. God does not
ask money of you, but a merciful heart and a pious
mind. Nor let the rich man delay his conver-
sion by reason of worldly care, while he thinks
how he may dispose the abundance of his fruits ;
nor say within himself, ' What shall I do ? where
shall I bestow my fruits ? ' Nor say to his soul,
' Thou hast much goods laid up for many years ;
feast and rejoice.' For it shall be said to him,
' Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be taken
from thee, and whose shall those things be which
thou hast provided ? ' ' Therefore let every age,
every sex, every condition, haste to repentance,
that they may obtain eternal life. Let the young
be thankful that they put their necks under the
yoke of discipline in the very violence of their
desires. The old also are themselves praise-
worthy, because they change for the fear of God,
the custom of a long time in which they have
been unhappily occupied.
CHAP. XLVL THE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY.
" Let no one therefore put off. Let no one
delay. For what occasion is there for delaying
to do well? Or are you afraid, lest, when you
have done well, you do not find the reward as
you supposed? And what loss will you sustain
if you do well without reward? Would not con-
science alone be sufficient in this? But if you
find as you anticipate, shall you not receive great
things for small, and eternal for temporal? But
I say this for the sake of the unbelieving. For
the things which we preach are as we preach
them ; because they cannot be otherwise, since
they have been promised by the prophetic word.
CHAP. XLVIL — "a FAITHFUL SAYING, AND
WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION."
" But if any one desires to learn exactly the
truth of our preaching, let him come to hear,
and let him ascertain what the true Prophet is ;
and then at length all doubtfulness will cease to
him, unless with obstinate mind he resist those
things which he finds to be true. For there are
some whose only object it is to gain the victory
in any way whatever, and who seek praise for
this rather than their salvation. These ought
not to have a single word addressed to them, lest
both the noble word suffer injury, and condemn
to eternal death him who is guilty of the wrong
done to it. For what is there in respect of
which any one ought to oppose our preaching?
or in respect of which the word of our preaching
is found to be contrary to the belief of what is
true and honourable ? It says that the God the
Father, the Creator of all, is to be honoured, as
also His Son, who alone knows Him and His
will, and who alone is to be believed concerning
all things which He has enjoined. For He alone
is the law and the Lawgiver, and the righteous
Judge, whose law decrees that God, the Lord of
all, is to be honoured by a sober, chaste, just, and
merciful life, and that all hope is to be placed
in Him alone.
CHAP. XLVIII. — ERRORS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS.
" But some one will say that precepts of this
sort are given by the philosophers also.^ Noth-
ing of the kind : for they do indeed give com-
mandments concerning justice and sobriety, but
they are ignorant that God is the recompenser
of good and evil deeds ; and therefore their laws
and precepts only shun a public accuser, but
cannot purify the conscience. For why should
one fear to sin in secret, who does not know that
there is a witness and a judge of secret things ?
Besides, the philosophers in their precepts add
that even the gods, who are demons, are to be
honoured ; and this alone, even if in other re-
spects they seemed worthy of approbation, is suf-
ficient to convict them of the most dreadful im-
* Luke xii. 17, 19, 20.
2 [Compare the argument of Clement, as a heathen inquirer,
against the philosophers, in Homily VI. 20. — R.]
Chap. LII.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
205
piety, and condemn them by their own sentence,
since they declare indeed thtit there is one God,
yet command that many be worshipped, by way
of humouring human error. But also the phi-
losophers say that God is not angry, not knowing
what they say. For anger is evil, when it dis-
turbs the mind, so that it loses right counsel.
But that anger which punishes the wicked does
not bring disturbance to the mind ; but it is one
and the same affection, so to speak, which as-
signed rewards to the good and punishment to
the evil ; for if He should bestow blessings upon
the good and the evil, and confer equal rewards
upon the pious and the impious, He would ap-
pear to be unjust rather than good.
CHAP. XLIX. — god's long-suffering.
" But you say, Neither ought God to do evil.
You say truly ; nor does He. But those who
have been created by Him, while they do not
believe that they are to be judged, indulging
their pleasures, have fallen away from piety and
righteousness. But you will say, If it is right to
punish the wicked, they ought to be punished
immediately when they do wickedly. You in-
deed do well to make haste ; but He who is
eternal, and from whom nothing is secret, inas-
much as He is without end, in the same propor-
tion is His patience extended, and He regards
not the swiftness of vengeance, but the causes
of salvation. P'or He is not so much pleased
with the death as with the conversion of a sin-
ner.' Therefore, in short. He has bestowed upon
men holy baptism, to which, if any one makes
haste to come, and for the future remains with-
out stain, all his sins are thenceforth blotted
out, which were committed in the time of his
ignorance.
CttA.P. L. — PHILOSOPHERS NOT BENEFACTORS OF
MEN.
" For what have the philosophers contributed
to the life of man, by saying that God is not
angry with men? Only to teach them to have
no fear of any punishment or judgment, and
thereby to take away all restraint from sinners.
Or what have they benefited the human race,
who have said that there is no God, but that all
things happen by chance and accident? What
but that men, hearing this, and thinking that
there is no judge, no guardian of things, are
driven headlong, without fear of any one, to
every deed which either rage, or avarice, or lust
may dictate. For they truly have much benefited
the life of man who have said that nothing can
be done apart from genesis ; that is, that every
one, ascribing the cause of his sin to genesis,
■ Ezek. xviii. 33.
might in the midst of his crimes declare himself
innocent, while he does not wash out his guilt
by repentance, but doubles it by laying the blame
upon fate. And what shall I say of those phi-
losophers who have maintained that the gods are
to be worshipped, and such gods as were de-
scribed to you a little while ago ? What else was
this but to decree that vices, crimes, and base
deeds should be worshipped? I am ashamed of
you, and I pity you, if you have not yet discov-
ered that these things were unworthy of belief,
and impious, and execrable, or if, having discov-
ered and ascertained them to be evil, ye have
nevertheless worshipped them as if they were
good, yea, even the best.
CHAP. LI. CHRIST THE TRUE PROPHET.
"Then, besides, of what sort is that which
some of the philosophers have presumed to
speak even concerning God, though they are
mortal, and can only speak by opinion concern-
ing invisible things, or concerning the origin of
the world, since they were not present when it
was made, or concerning the end of it, or con-
cerning the treatment and judgment of souls in
the infernal regions, forgetting that it belongs
indeed to a reasonable man to know things pres-
ent and visible, but that it is the part of prophetic
prescience alone to know things past, and things
future, and things invisible ? These things, there-
fore, are not to be gathered from conjectures
and opinions, in which men are greatly deceived,
but from faith in prophetic truth, as this doctrine
of ours is. For we speak nothing of ourselves,
nor announce things gathered by human judg-
ment ; for this were to deceive our hearers.
But we preach the things which have been com-
mitted and revealed to us by the true Prophet.
And concerning His prophetic prescience and
power, if any one, as I have said, wishes to re-
ceive clear proofs, let him come instantly and be
alert to hear, and we shall give evident proofs
by which he shall seem not only to hear the
power of prophetic prescience with his ears, but
even to see it with his eyes and handle it with
his hand ; and when he has entertained a sure
faith concerning Him, he will without any labour
take upon him the yoke of righteousness and
piety ; - and so great sweetness will he perceive
in it, that not only will he not find fault with any
labour being in it, but will even desire something
further to be added and imposed upon him."
CHAP. LII. APPION AND ANUBION.
And when he had said this, and more to the
same purpose, and had cured some who were
present who were infirm and possessed of de-
2 Matt, xi 30.
2o6
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book X.
mons, he dismissed the crowds, while they gave
thanks and praised God, charging them to come
to the same place on the following days also for
the sake of hearing. And when we were to-
gether at home, and were preparing to eat, one
entering told us that Appion Pleistonices,' with
Anubion, were lately come from Antioch, and
were lodging with Simon.- Then my father,
when he heard this, rejoiced, and said to Peter :
" If you permit me, I should like to go and sa-
lute Appion and Anubion, for they are great
friends of mine ; and perhaps I shall be able to
persuade Anubion to dispute with Clement on
the subject of genesis." Then Peter said : " I
consent ; and I commend you, because you re-
spect your friends. But consider how all things
occur to you according to • your wish by God's
providence ; for, behold, not only have the ob-
jects of proper affection been restored to you
by the appointment of God, but also the pres-
ence of your friends is arranged for you." Then
said my father : " Truly I consider that it is so
as you say." And when he had said this, he
went away to Anubion.
CHAP. LIII. A TRANSFORMATION.
But we, sitting with Peter the whole night,
asking questions, and learning of him on many
subjects, remained awake through very delight
in his teaching and the sweetness of his words ;
and when it was daybreak, Peter, looking at me
and my brothers, said : " I wonder what has be-
fallen your father." And while he was speaking
my father came in, and found Peter speaking to
us about him. And when he had saluted he
began to apologize, and to explain the reason
why he had remained abroad. But we, looking
at him, were horrified ; for we saw on him the
face of Simon, yet we heard the voice of our
father. And when we shrank from him, and
cursed him, my father was astonished at our
treating him so harshly and barbarously. Yet
Peter was the only one who saw his natural
countenance ; and he said to us : " Why do you
curse your father?" And we, along with our
mother, answered him : " He appears to us to
be Simon, though he has our father's voice."
Then Peter : " You indeed know only his voice,
which has not been changed by the sorceries ;
but to me also his face, which to others appears
changed by Simon's art, is known to be that of
your father Faustinianus." And looking at my
' The name is generally written Apion. The meaning of Pleis-
tonices is doubtful, some supposing that it indicates his birthplace,
some his father; but generally it is taken as an epithet, and it will
then refer to his frequent victories in literary contests. [See Homily
IV. 3, and the discussions with Appion which follow in that homily
and in V., VI. — R.]
2 [From this point the resemblance to the close of Homily XX.
{chaps. 11-22) is quite marked. But in the Recognitions \}c\& concXM-
sion is more detailed and complete; see chap. 65. This is in accord-
ance with the general design of this narrative, which gives greater
prominence to the family of Clement. — R.J
father, he said : " The cause of the dismay of
your wife and your sons is this, — the appear-
ance of your countenance does not seem to be
as it was, but the face of the detestable Simon
appears in you."
CHAP. LIV. EXCITEMENT IN ANTIOCH,
And while he was thus speaking, one of those
returned who had gone before to Antioch, and
said to Peter : " I wish you to know, my lord
Peter, that Simon at Antioch, doing many signs
and prodigies in public, has inculcated upon
the people nothing but what tends to excite
hatred against you, calling you a magician, a
sorcerer, a murderer ; and to such an extent
has he stirred up hatred against you, that they
greatly desire, if they can find you anywhere,
even to devour your flesli. And therefore we
who were sent before, seeing the city greatly
moved against you, met together in secret, and
considered what ought to be done.
CHAP. LV. A STRATAGEM.
" And when we saw no way of getting out of
the difficulty, there came Cornelius the centu-
rion, being sent by Caesar to the president of
Csesarea on public business. Him we sent for
alone, and told him the reason why we were sor-
rowful, and entreated him that, if he could do
anything, he should help us. Then he most
readily promised that he would straightway put
him to flight, if only we would aid his plans.
And when we promised that we would be active
in doing everything, he said, ' Caesar has ordered
sorcerers to be sought out and destroyed in the
city of Rome and through the provinces, and a
great number of them have been already de-
stroyed. I shall therefore give out, through my
friends, that I am come to apprehend that magi-
cian, and that I am sent by Caesar for this pur-
pose, that he may be punished with the rest of
his fraternity. Let your people, therefore, who
are with him in disguise, intimate to him, as if
they had heard it from some quarter, that I am
sent to apprehend him ; and when he hears this,
he is sure to take to flight. Or if you think of
anything better, tell me. Why need I say more ? '
It was so done by those of ours who were with
him, disguised for the purpose of acting as spies
on him. And when Simon learned that this was
come upon him, he received the information as
a great kindness conferred upon him by them,
and took to flight. He therefore departed from
Antioch, and, as we have heard, came hither
with Athenodorus.
CHAP. Lvi. — Simon's design in the tr.ansfor-
MATION.
" All we, therefore, who went before you, con-
sidered that in the meantime you should not go
Chap. LX.]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
207
up to Antioch, till we see if the hatred of you
which he has sown among the people be in any
degree lessened by his departure." When he
who had come from Antioch had imparted this
information, Peter, looking to our father, said,
" Faustinianus, your countenance has been trans-
formed by Simon Magus, as is evident ; for he,
thinking that he was being sought for by Caesar
for punishment, has fled in terror, and has placed
his own countenance upon you, if haply you
might be apprehended instead of him, and put
to death, that so he might cause sorrow to your
sons." But my father, when he heard this, cry-
ing out, said with tears : " You have judged
rightly, O Peter : for Anubion also, who is very
friendly with me, began to inform me in a cer-
tain mysterious way of his plots ; but unhappily
I did not believe him, because I had done him
no harm."
CHAP. LVII. GREAT GRIEF.
And when all of us, along with my father,
were agitated with sorrow and weeping, mean-
time Anubion came to us, intimating to us that
Simon had fled during the night, making for
Judaea. But seeing our father lamenting and
bewailing himself, and saying, "Wretch that I
am, not to believe when I heard that he is a
magician ! What has befallen wretched me, that
on one day, being recognised by my wife and
my sons, I have not been able to rejoice with
them, but have been rolled back to the former
miseries which I endured in my wandering ! "
— but my mother, tearing her dishevelled hair,
bewailed much more bitterly, — we also, con-
founded at the change of our father's counte-
nance, were, as it were, thunderstruck and beside
ourselves, and could not understand what was
the matter. But Anubion, seeing us all thus
afflicted, stood like one dumb. Then Peter,
looking at us his sons, said : " Believe me that
this is your very father ; wherefore also I charge
you that you respect him as your father. For
God will afford some opportunity on which he
shall be able to put off the countenance of Si-
mon, and to recover the manifest figure of your
father — that is, his own."
CHAP. LVIII. — HOW IT ALL HAPPENED.
Then, turning to my father, he said : " I gave
you leave to salute Appion and Anubion, who,
you said, were your friends from boyhood, but
not that you should speak with Simon." Then
my father said : " I confess I have sinned."
Then said Anubion : " I also with him beg and
entreat of you to pardon the old man — good
and noble man as he is. He was unhappily se-
duced and imposed upon by the magician in
question ; for I will tell you how the thing was
done. When he came to salute us, it happened
that at that very time we were standing around
him, hearing him tell that he intended to flee
away that night, for that he had heard that some
persons had come even to this city of Laodicea
to apprehend him by command of the emperor,
but that he wjshed to turn all their rage against
this Faustinianus, who has lately come hither.
And he said to us : ' Only you make him sup
with us, and I shall compound a certain oint-
ment, with which, when he has supped, he shall
anoint his face, and from that time he shall seem
to all to have my countenance. But you first
anoint your faces with the juice of a certain herb,
that you may not be deceived as to the change
of his countenance, so that to all except you he
shall seem to be Simon.'
CHAP. LIX. A SCENE OF MOURNING.
" And when he said this, I said to him, ' And
what advantage will you gain from this deed ? '
Then Simon said : ' In the first place, that those
who are seeking me may lay hold on him, and
so give over the search for me. But if he be
punished by Caesar, that his sons may have much
sorrow, who forsook me, and fled to Peter, and
are now his assistants.' Now I confess to you,
Peter, what is true. I did not dare then tell
Faustinianus ; but neither did Simon give us op-
portunity of speaking with him in private, and
disclosing to him fully Simon's design. Mean-
time, about the middle of the night, Simon has
fled away, making for Judaea. And Athenodorus
and Appion have gone to convoy him ; but I
pretended bodily indisposition, that I might
remain at home, and make him return quickly
to you, if haply he may in any way be concealed
with you, lest, being seized by those who are in
quest of Simon, he be brought before Caesar, and
perish without cause.. And now, in my anxiety
about him, I have come to see him, and to
return before those who have gone to convoy
Simon come back." And turning to us, Anubion
said : " I, Anubion, indeed see the true counte-
nance of your father, because I was previously
anointed by Simon himself, as I have told you,
that the real face of Faustinianus might appear
to my eyes ; whence I am astonished and wonder
at the art of Simon Magus, because you standing
here do not recognise your father." And while
my father and mother, and all of us, wept for the
things which had befallen, Anubion, moved with
compassion, also wept.
CHAP. LX. — A COUNTERPLOT.
Then Peter, moved with compassion, promised
that he would restore the face of our father,
saying to him : " Listen, Faustinianus : As soon
as the error of your transformed countenance
shall have conferred some advantage on us, and
208
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book X.
shall have subserved the designs which we have
in view, then I sliall restore to you the true form
of your countenance ; on condition, however,
that you first despatch what I shall command
you." And when my father promised that he
would with all his might fulfil everything that he
might charge him with, provided only that he
might recover his own countenance, Peter thus
began : " You have heard with your own ears,
that one of those who had been sent before has
returned from Antioch, and told us how Simon,
while he was there, stirred up the multitudes
against me, and inflamed the whole city into
hatred of me, declaring that I am a magician,
and a murderer, and a deceiver, so that they are
eager, if they see me, even to eat my flesh. Do
therefore what I tell you : leave Clement with
me, and go before us to Antioch, with your wife,
and your sons Faustus and Faustinus. And I
shall also send others with you, whom I think
fit, who shall observe whatsoever I command
them.
CHAP. LXI. — A MINE DUG.
"When therefore you come with them to An-
tioch, as you will be thought to be Simon, stand
in a public place, and proclaim your repentance,
and say : ' I Simon declare to you, and confess
that all that I said concerning Peter was false :
for he is neither a seducer, nor a magician, nor
a murderer, nor an,y of the things that I spoke
against him ; but I said all these things under
the instigation of madness, I therefore entreat
you, even I myself, who erewhile gave you causes
of hatred against him, that you think no such
thing concerning him. But lay aside your hatred ;
cease from your indignation ; because he is truly
sent by God for the salvation of the world — a
disciple and apostle of the true Prophet. Where-
fore I advise, exhort, and charge you that you
hear him, and believe him when he preaches to
you the truth, lest haply, if you despise him,
your very city suddenly perish. But I will tell
you why I now make this confession to you.
This night an angel of God rebuked me for my
wickedness, and scourged me terribly, because I
was an enemy to the herald of the truth. There-
fore I entreat you, that even if I myself should
ever again come to you, and attempt to say any-
thing against Peter, you will not receive nor
believe me. For I confess to you, I was a ma-
gician, a seducer, a deceiver ; but I repent, for
it is possible by repentance to blot out former
evil deeds.' "
CHAP. LXn. — A CASE OF CONSCIENCE.
When Peter made this intimation to my father,
he answered : "I know what you wish ; do not
trouble yourself further : for I understand and
know what I am to undertake when I come to
the place." And Peter gave him further instruc-
tion, saying : " When therefore you come to the
place, and see the people turned by your dis-
course, and laying aside their hatred, and return-
ing to their longing for me, send and tell me,
and I shall come immediately ; and when I come,
I shall without delay set you free from this strange
countenance, and restore to you your own, which
is known to all your friends." And having said
this, he ordered my brothers to go with him,
and at the same time our mother Matthidia, and
some of our friends. But my mother refused to
go along with him, and said : " It seems as if I
should be an adulteress if I were to associate
with the countenance of Simon ; but if I be
compelled to go along with him, it is at all
events impossible that I can lie in the same bed
with him ; but I do not know if I can consent
even to go with him." And when she stoutly
refused, Anubion began to exhort her, saying :
" Believe me and Peter. But does not even
his voice persuade you that he is your husband
Faustinianus, whom truly I love not less than you
do ? And, in short, I also myself shall come with
you." And when Anubion had said this, my
mother promised that she would go with him.
CHAP. LXIII. A PIOUS FRAUD.
Then said I : " God arranges our affairs to our
liking ; for we have with us Anubion an astrolo-
ger, with whom, if we come to Antioch, we shall
dispute with all earnestness on the subject of
GENESIS." And when our father had set out,
after the middle of the night, with those whom
Peter had ordered to accompany him, and with
Anubion ; in the morning, before Peter went to
the discussion, those men returned who had
convoyed Simon, namely Appion and Athenodo-
rus, and came to us inquiring after my father.
But Peter, when he was informed of their com-
ing, ordered them to enter. And when they
were seated, they asked, " Where is Faustini-
anus?" Peter answered: "We do not know;
for since the evening that he went to you, no
one of his friends has seen him. But yesterday
morning Simon came inquiring for him ; and
because we gave him no answer, I know not what
he meant, but he said that he was Faustinianus.
But when nobody believed him, he went and
lamented, and threatened that he would destroy
himself; and afterwards he went away towards the
sea."
CHAP. LXIV. A COMPETITION IN LYING.
When Appion heard this, and those who were
with him, they raised a great howling, saying :
"Why have you done this? Why did you not
receive him?" And when Athenodorus was
going to tell me that it was my father Faustini-
anus himself, Appion prevented him, and said :
Chap. LXVIIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
209
*' We have learned from some one that he has
gone with Simon, and that at the entreaty of
Faustinianus himself, being unwilling to see his
sons, because they are Jews. When therefore
we heard this, we came to inquire after him here ;
but since he is not here, it appears that he must
have spoken truly who told us that he has gone
with Simon. This, therefore, we tell you." But
I Clement, when I understood the designs of
Peter, that he wished to make them suppose that
the old man would be required at their hands,
so that they might be afraid and flee away, I
began to aid his design, and said to Appion :
" Listen, dear Appion : what we believe to be
good, we wish to deliver to our father also ; but
if he will not receive it, but rather, as you say,
flees away tlirough abhorrence of us — it may
perhaps be harsh to say so — we care nothing
about him." And when I had said this, they
departed, cursing my cruelty, and followed the
track of Simon, as we learned on the following
day.
CHAP. LXV. — SUCCESS OF THE PLOT.
Meantime, while Peter was daily, according to
his custom, teaching the people, and working
many miracles and cures, after ten days came
one of our people from Antioch, sent by my
father, informing us how my father stood in pub-
lic, accusing Simon, whose face indeed he seemed
to wear, and extolling Peter with unmeasured
praises, and commending him to all the people,
and making them long for him, so that all were
changed by his speech, and longed to see him ;
and that many had come to love Peter so much,
that they raged against my father in his charac-
ter of Simon, and thought of laying hands on
him, because he had done such wrong to Peter !
"Wherefore," said he, "make haste, lest haply
he be murdered ; for he sent me with speed to
you, being in great fear, to ask you to come with-
out delay, that you may find him alive, and also
that )'OU may appear at the favourable moment,
when the city is growing in affection towards
you." ' He also told us how, as soon as my
father entered the city of Antioch, the whole
people were gathered to him, supposing him to
be Simon ; and he began to make public con-
fession to them all, according to what the restora-
tion of the people demanded : for all, as many
as came, both noble and common, both rich
and poor, hoping that some prodigies would be
wrought by him in his usual way, he addressed
thus : —
CHAP. LXVI. TRUTH TOLD BY LYING LIPS.
" It is long that the divine patience bears with
me, Simon, the most unhappy of men ; for what-
■ [At this point the narrative in the //ow/'/Z^i- virtually ends; a
sentence follows, resembling a passage in chap. 68. See note on
Homily XX. 23. — R.J
ever you have wondered at in me was done, not
by means of truth, but by the lies and tricks of
demons, that I might subvert your faith and
condemn my own soul. I confess that all things
that I said about Peter were lies ; for he never
was either a magician or a murderer, but has
been sent by God for the salvation of you all ;
and if from this hour you think that he is to be
despised, be assured that your very city may
suddenly be destroyed. But, you will ask,
what is the reason that I make this confession
to you of my own accord? I was vehemently
rebuked by an angel of God this night, and most
severely scourged, because I was his enemy. I
therefore entreat you, that if from this hour even
I myself shall ever open my mouth against him,
you will drive me from your sight ; for that foul
demon, who is an enemy to the salvation of men,
speaks against him through my mouth, that you
may not attain to life by his means. For what
miracle could the magic art show you through me ?
I made brazen dogs bark, and statues move, men
change their appearances, and suddenly vanish
from men's sight ; and for these things you ought
to have cursed the magic art, which bound your
souls with devilish fetters, that I might show you
a vain miracle, that you might not believe Peter,
who cures the sick in the name of Him by whom
he is sent, and expels demons, and gives sight to
the blind, and restores health to the palsied, and
raises the dead."
CHAP. LXVII. FAUSTINIANUS IS HIMSELF AGAIN.
Whilst he made these and similar statements,
the people began to curse him, and to weep and
lament because they had sinned against Peter,
believing him to be a magician or wicked man.
But the same day, at evening, Faustinianus had
his own face restored to him, and the appearance
of Simon Magus left him. Now Simon, hearing
that his face on Faustinianus had contributed to
the glory of Peter, caiTie in haste to anticipate
Peter, and intending to cause by his art that his
likeness should be taken from Faustinianus, when
Christ had already accomplished this according
to the word of His apostle. But Niceta and
Aquila, seeing their father's face restored after
the necessary proclamation, gave thanks to God,
and would not suffer him to address the people
any more.
CHAP. Lxviii. — Peter's entry into antioch.
But Simon began, though secretly, to go
amongst his friends and acquaintances, and to
malign Peter more than before. Then all spat
in his face, and drove him from the city, saying :
" You will be chargeable with your own death,
if you think of coming hither again, speaking
against Peter." These things being known at
2IO
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
[Book X.
Laodicea, Peter ordered the people to meet on
the following day ; and having ordained one of
those who followed him as bishop over them,
and others as presbyters, and having baptized
multitudes, and restored to health all who were
troubled with sicknesses or demons, he stayed
there three days longer ; and all things being
properly arranged, he bade them farewell, and
set out from Laodicea, being much longed for
by the people of Antioch/ And the whole city
began to hear, through Niceta and Aquila, that
Peter was coming. Then all the people of the
city of Antioch, hearing of Peter's arrival, went
to meet him, and almost all the old men and the
nobles came with ashes sprinkled on their heads,
in this way testifying their repentance, because
they had listened to the magician Simon, in op-
position to his preaching.
CHAP. Lxix, — Peter's thanksgiving.
Stating these and such like things, they bring
to him those distressed with sicknesses, and tor-
mented with demons, paralytics also, and those
suflering diverse perils ; and there was an infinite
number of sick people collected. And when
Peter saw that they not only repented of the evil
thoughts they had entertained of him through
means of Simon, but also that they showed so
entire faith in God, that they believed that all
who suffered from every sort of ailment could be
healed by him, he spread out his hands towards
heaven, pouring out prayers with tears, and gave
thanks to God, saying : " I bless thee, O Father,
worthy of all praise, who hast deigned to fulfil
every word and promise of Thy Son, that every
creature may know that Thou alone art God in
heaven and in earth."
CHAP. LXX. MIRACLES.
With such sayings, he went up on a height,
and ordered all the multitude of sick people to
be ranged before him, and addressed them all in
these words : " As you see me to be a man like
to yourselves, do not suppose that you can re-
cover your health from me, but through Him
who, coming down from heaven, has shown to
those who believe in Him a perfect medicine for
body and soul. Hence let all this people be
witnesses to your declaration, that with your
whole heart you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that they may know that themselves also may be
saved by Him." And when all the multitude of
the sick with one voice cried out that He is the
true God whom Peter preaches, suddenly an
overpowering light of the grace of God appeared
in the midst of the people ; and the paralytics
' [The substance of this sentence forms the somewhat abrupt con-
clusion of the Homilies; xx. 23. — R.]
being cured, began to run to Peter's feet, the
blind to shout on the recovery of their sight,
the lame to give thanks on regaining the power of
walking, the sick to rejoice in restored health ;
some even who were barely alive, being already
without consciousness or the power of speech,
were raised up ; and all the lunatics, and those
possessed of demons, were set free.
CHAP. LXXI. — SUCCESS.
So great grace of His power did the Holy
Spirit show on that day, that all, from the least to
the greatest, with one voice confessed the Lord ;
and not to delay you with many words, within
seven days, more than ten thousand men, be-
lieving in God, were baptized and consecrated
by sanctification : so that Theophilus,^ who was
moie exalted than all the men of power in that
city, with all eagerness of desire consecrated the
great palace of his house under the name of a
church, and a chair was placed in it for the
Apostle Peter by all the people ; and the whole
multitude assembling daily to hear the word,
believed in the healthful doctrine which was
avouched by the efficacy of cures.
CHAP. LXXII. HAPPY ENDING.
Then I Clement, with my brothers and our
mother, spoke to our father, asking him whether
any remnants of unbehef remained in him. And
he said : " Come, and you shall see, in the pres-
ence of Peter, what an increase of faith has
grown in me." Then Faustinianus approached,
and fell down at Peter's feet, saying : "The seeds
of your word, which the field of my mind has
received, are now sprung up, and have so ad-
vanced to fruitful maturity, that nothing is want-
ing but that you separate me from the chaff by
that spiritual reaping-hook of yours, and place
me in the garner of the Lord, making me par-
taker of the divine table." Then Peter, with all
alacrity grasping his hand, presented him to me
Clement, and my brothers, saying : " As God has
restored your sons to you, their father, so also
your sons restore their father to God." And he
proclaimed a fast to all the people, and on the
next Lord's day he baptized him ; and in the
midst of the people, taking occasion from his
conversion, he related all his fortunes, so that the
whole city received him as an angel, and paid
him no less honour than they did to the apostle.^
2 [It is possible that this character was suggested to the writer by
the well-known Theophilus of Antioch. But, in view of the evident
anachronism, it seems more probable that he had in mind the " The-
ophilus " named in the prologue to the Gospel of Luke (i. 1-4) and in
Acts i. I. — R.]
3 [The worlc probably closes with these words; the added sen-
tence is not in harmony with the general plan of the Recognitions,
which skilfully treats the material so as to give prominence to the
family of Clement. Some scribe, zealous for the authority of the
Apostle Peter, has doubtless contributed the unnecessary sentence
Chap. LXXIL]
RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
211
Aiid these things being known, Peter ordered the
people to meet 071 the following day ; and havi?ig
which follows. See next note. The ordination of a bishop at Anti-
och by Peter is simply an absurdity. It is unlikely that even the
writer of the Recognitions would venture to ignore the previous exist-
ence of a Christian church in that city. — R.]
ordained one of his followers as bishop, and oth-
ers as presbyters, he baptized also a great nutjiber
of people, ajid restored to health all who had been
distressed with sicknesses ^
' This sentence occurs only in one Ms.
L\7R0DUCT0RY NOTICE TO THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[BY THE REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D.]
We have already given an account of the Cieme}ifi?tes in the Introductory Notice to the Recog-
nitions.^ All that remains for us to do here, is to notice the principal editions of the Homilies.
The first edition was published by Cotelerius in his collection of the Apostolic Fathers, from a
manuscript in the Royal Library at Paris, the only manuscript of the work then known to exist.
He derived assistance from an epitome of the work which he found in the same library. The
text of Cotelerius was revised by Clericus in his edition of Cotelerius, but more carefully by
Schwegler, Stuttgart, 1847. The Paris MS. breaks off in the middle of the fourteenth chapter of
of the nineteenth book.
In 1853 (Gottingen) Dressel pubHshed a new recension of the Homilies, having found a com-
plete manuscript of the twenty Homilies in the Ottobonian Library in Rome. In 1859 (Leipzig)
he published an edition of two Epitomes of the Homilies, — the one previously edited by Turne-
bus and Cotelerius being given more fully, and the other appearing for the first time. To these
Epitomes were appended notes by Frederic Wieseler on the Homilies. The last edition of the
Clei7ientines is by Paul de Lagarde (Leipzig, 1865), which has no new sources, is pretentious, but
far from accurate.
' [The reader is referred to the Introductory Notice prefixed to this edition of the Clementine literature for a brief summary of the views
respecting the relations of the two principal works. The footnotes throughout will aid in making a comparison. The preparation of these
notes has strengthened the conviction of the writer that the Recognitions are not dependent on the Homilies, but that the reverse may be
true. — R.]
213
EPISTLE OF PETER TO JAMES.
Peter to James, the lord and bishop of the
holy Church, under the Father of all, through
Jesus Christ, wishes peace always.'
CHAP. I. DOCTRINE OF RESERVE,
Knowing, my brother, your eager desire after
that which is for the advantage of us all, I beg
and beseech you not to communicate to any one
of the Gentiles the books of my preachings which
I sent to you, nor to any one of our own tribe
before trial ; but if any one has been proved
and found worthy, then to commit them to him,
after the manner in which Moses delivered his
books to the Seventy who succeeded to his
chair. Wherefore also the fruit of that caution
appears even till now. For his countrymen keep
the same rule of monarchy and polity every-
where, being unable in any way to think other-
wise, or to be led out of the way of the much-
indicating Scriptures. For, according to the
rule delivered to them, they endeavour to correct
the discordances of the Scriptures, if any one,
haply not knowing the traditions, is confounded
at the various utterances of the prophets. Where-
fore they charge no one to teach, unless he has
first learned how the Scriptures must be used.
And thus they have amongst them one God, one
law, one hope.
CHAP. II. — MISREPRESENTATION OF PETER's
DOCTRINE.
In order, therefore, that the like may also
happen to those among us as to these Seventy,
give the books of my preachings to our breth-
ren, with the like mystery of initiation, that they
may indoctrinate those who wish to take part in
teaching ; for if it be not so done, our word of
truth will be rent into many opinions. And this
I know, not as being a prophet, but as already
seeing the beginning of this very evil. For some
from among the Gentiles have rejected my legal
preaching, attaching themselves to certain law-
less and trifling preaching of the man who is my
* [The object of this apocryphal epistle is to account for the late
appearance of the Homilies. It would seem to be the latest 'portion
of the literature. — R.]
enemy.^ And these things some have attempted
while I am still alive, to transform my words by
certain various interpretations, in order to the
dissolution of the law ; as though I also myself
were of such a mind, but did not freely proclaim
it, which God forbid ! For such a thing were to
act in opposition to the law of God which was
spoken by Moses, and was borne witness to by
our Lord in respect of its eternal continuance ;
for thus he spoke : " The heavens and the earth
shall pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in
no wise pass from the law."^ And this He has
said, that all things might come to pass. But
these men, professing, I know not how, to know
my mind, undertake to explain my words, which
they have heard of me, more intelligently than I
who spoke them, telling their catechumens that
this is my meaning, which indeed I never
thought of. But if, while I am still alive, they
dare thus to misrepresent me, how much more
will those who shall come after me dare to do
so !
CHAP, III. — INITIATION.
Therefore, that no such thing may happen,
for this end I have prayed and besought you
not to communicate the books of my preaching
which I have sent you to any one, whether of
our own nation or of another nation, before trial ;
but if any one, having been tested, has been
found worthy, then to hand them over to him,
according to the initiation of Moses, by which
he delivered his books to the Seventy who
succeeded to his chair ; in order that thus they
may keep the faith, and everywhere deliver the
rule of truth, explaining all things after our tra-
dition ; lest being themselves dragged down by
ignorance, being drawn into error by conjectures
after their mind, they bring others into the like
pit of destruction. Now the things that seemed
good to me, I have fairly pointed out to you ;
and what seems good to you, do you, my lord,
becomingly perform. Farewell.
2 [This is one of the strongest anti-Pauline insinuations in the
entire literature. — R. ]
3 Matt. V. i8; comp. Matt. xxiv. 35; Mark xiii. 31; Luke xxii. 33.
[This is a fair specimen of the loose method of Scripture citation
characteristic of the Clementine literature. Sometimes the meaning
is perverted. — R.]
.215
2l6
EPISTLE OF PETER TO JAMES.
CHAP. IV. — AN ADJURATION CONCERNING THE
RECEIVERS OF THE BOOK.
1. Therefore James, having read the epistle,
sent for the elders ; and having read it to them,
said : " Our Peter has strictly and becomingly
charged us concerning the establishing of the
truth, that we should not communicate the
books of his preachings, which have been sent
to us, to any one at random, but to one who is
good and religious, and who wishes to teach,
and who is circumcised, and faithful. And these
are not all to be committed to him at once ;
that, if he be found injudicious in the first, the
others may not be entrusted to him. Wherefore
let him be proved not less than six years. And
then according to the initiation of Moses, he
that is to deliver the books should bring him
to a river or a fountain, which is living water,
where the regeneration of the righteous takes
place, and should make him, not swear — for
that is not lawful — but to stand by the water
and adjure, as we ourselves, when we were re-
generated,' were made to do for the sake of not
sinning.
2. "And let him 'say: 'I take to witness
heaven, earth, water, in which all things are
comprehended, and in addition to all these, that
air also which pervades all things, and without
which I cannot breathe, that I shall always be
obedient to him who gives me the books of the
preachings ; and those same books which he may
give me, I shall not communicate to any one in
any way, either by writing them, or giving them
in writing, or giving them to a writer, either
myself or by another, or through any other ini-
tiation, or trick, or method, or by keeping them
carelessly, or placing them before any one,
or granting him permission to see them, or in
any way or manner whatsoever communicating
them to another ; unless I shall ascertain one to
be worthy, as I myself have been judged, or
even more so, and that after a probation of not
less than six years ; but to one who is religious
and good, chosen to teach, as I have received
them, so I will commit them, doing these things
also according to the will of my bishop.
3. " ' But otherwise, though he were my son
or my brother, or my friend, or otherwise in any
way pertaining to me by kindred, if he be un-
worthy, that I will not vouchsafe the favour to
him, as is not meet ; and I shall neither be ter-
rified by plot nor mollified by gifts. But if even
it should ever seem to me that the books of the
preachings given to me are not true, I shall not
so communicate them, but shall give them back.
And when I go abroad, I shall carry them with
' [The form of adjuration has some points of resemblance with
the baptismal forms given by Hippolytus, as those of the Elkesaites.
See Introductory Notice to Recognitions, and comp. Recognitions,
i. 45-48. - R.j
me, whatever of them I happen to possess. But
if I be not minded to carry them about with me,
I shall not sufi'er them to be in my house, but
shall deposit them with my bishop, having the
same faith, and setting out from the same per-
sons as myself? But if it befall me to be
sick, and in expectation of death, and if I be
childless, I shall act in the same manner. But
if I die having a son who is not worthy, or not
yet capable, I shall act in the same manner.
For I shall deposit them with- my bishop, in
order that if my son, when he grows up, be
worthy of the trust, he may give them to him as
his father's bequest, according to the terms of
this engagement.
4. " ' And that I shall thus do, I again call to
witness heaven, earth, water, in which all things
are enveloped, and in addition .to all these, the
all-pervading air, without which I cannot breathe,
that I shall always be obedient to him who giv-
eth me these books of the preachings, and shall
observe in all things as I have engaged, or even
something more. To me, therefore, keeping
this covenant, there shall be a part with the holy
ones ; but to me doing anything contrary to
what I have covenanted, may the universe be
hostile to me, and the all-pervading ether, and
the God who is over all, to whom none is supe-
rior, than whom none is greater. But if even I
should come to the acknowledgment of another
God, I now swear by him also, be he or be he
not, that I shall not do otherwise. And in ad-
dition to all these things, if I shall lie, I shall be
accursed living and dying, and shall be punished
with everlasting punishment.'
" And after this, let him partake of bread and
salt with him who commits them to him,"
CHAP. V. — THE ADJURATION ACCEPTED.
James having thus spoken, the elders were in
an agony of terror. Therefore James, perceiv-
ing that they were greatly afraid, said : " Hear
me, brethren and fellow-servants. If we should
give the books to all indiscriminately, and they
should be corrupted by any daring men, or be
perverted by interpretations, as you have heard
that some have already done, it will remain even
for those who really seek the truth, always to
wander in error. Wherefore it is better that they
should be with us, and that we should communi-
cate them with all the fore-mentioned care to
those who wish to live piously, and to save
others. But if any one, after taking this adjura-
tion, shall act otherwise, he shall with good rea-
son incur eternal punishment. For why should
not he who is the cause of the destruction of
- Unless the reading be corrupt here, I suppose the reference
I must be to episcopal succession.
EPISTLE OF PETER TO JAMES.
217
others not be destroyed himself?" The elders,
therefore, being pleased with the sentiments of
James, exclaimed, " Blessed be He who, as fore-
seeing all things, has graciously appointed thee
as our bishop ; " and when they had said this,
we all rose up, and prayed to the Father and
God of all, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.'
' [Rufinus, in his preface to the Recognitions, makes no allusion
to this letter. — R.]
EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO JAMES.
Clement to James, the lord,' and the bishop
of bishops, who rules Jerusalem, the holy church
of the Hebrews, and the churches everywhere
excellently founded by the providence of God,
with the elders and deacons, and the rest of the
brethren, peace be always.
CHAP. I. — Peter's martyrdom.
Be it known to you, my lord, that Simon, who,
for the sake of the true faith, and the most sure
foundation of his doctrine, was set apart to be
the foundation of the Church, and for this end
was by Jesus Himself, with His truthful mouth,
named Peter, the first-fruits of our Lord, the
first of the apostles ; to whom first the Father
revealed the Son ; whom the Christ, with good
reason, blessed ; the called, and elect, and asso-
ciate at table and in the journeyings of Christ ;
the excellent and approved disciple, who, as
being fittest of all, was commanded to enlighten
the darker part of the world, namely the West,
and was enabled to accomplish it, — and to what
extent do I lengthen my discourse, not wishing
to indicate what is sad, which yet of necessity,
though reluctantly, I must tell you, — he him-
self, by reason of his immense love towards men,
having come as far as Rome, clearly and publicly
testifying, in opposition to the wicked one who
withstood him, that there is to be a good King
over all the world, while saving men by his God-
inspired doctrine, himself, by violence, exchanged
this present existence for life.
CHAP. II. — ORDINATION OF CLEMENT.
But about that time, when he was about to
die, the brethren being assembled together, he
suddenly seized my hand, and rose up, and said
in presence of the church : " Hear me, brethren
and fellow-servants. Since, as I have been taught
by the Lord and Teacher Jesus Christ, whose
apostle I am, the day of my death is approach-
ing, I lay hands upon this Clement as your bish-
op ; and to him I entrust my chair of discourse,
' More probably " the Lord's brother." So it must have been in
the text from which Rufinus translated. [That this means " James
the Lord's brother" is quite certain, but it is not necessary to adopt
this reading here; comp. chap. 20 and the opening sentence of the
previous epistle. In Recogtiitions, iii. 74, Clement is represented as
writing '' my lord James." — R.]
2-8
even to him who has journeyed with me from
the beginning to the end, and thus has heard all
my homilies — who, in a word, having had a
share in all my trials, has been found stedfast in
the faith ; whom I have found, above all others,
pious, philanthropic, pure, learned, chaste, good,
upright, large-hearted, and striving generously
to bear the ingratitude of some of the catechu-
mens. Wherefore I communicate to him the
power of binding and loosing, so that with re-
spect to everything which he shall ordain in the
earth, it shall be decreed in the heavens. For
he shall bind what ought to be bound, and loose
what ought to be loosed, as knowing the rule of
the Church. Therefore hear him, as knowing
that he who grieves the president of the truth,
sins against Christ, and offends the Father of all.
Wherefore he shall not live ; and therefore it
becomes hihi who presides to hold the place of
a physician, and not to cherish the rage of an
irrational beast."
CHAP. IIL — NOLO EPISCOPARI.
While he thus spoke, I knelt to him, and
entreated him, declining the honour and the
authority of the chair. But he answered : "Con-
cerning this matter do not ask me ; for it has
seemed to me to be good that thus it be, and
all the more if you decline it. For this chair
has not need of a presumptuous man, ambitious
of occupying it, but of one pious in conduct and
deeply skilled in the word of God. But show
me a better than yourself, who has travelled more
with me, and has heard more of my discourses,
and has learned better the regulations of the
Church, and I shall not force you to do well
against your will. But it will not be in your
power to show me your superior ; for you are
the choice first-fruits of the multitudes saved
through me. However, consider this further,
that if you do not undertake the administration
of the Church, through fear of the danger of sin,
you may be sure that you sin more, when you
have it in your power to help the godly, who are,
as it were, at sea and in danger, and will not do
so, providing only for your own interest, and not
for the common advantage of all. But that it
behoves you altogether to undertake the danger,
EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO JAMES.
219
while I do not cease to ask it of you for the help
of all, you well understand. The sooner, there-
fore, you consent, so much the sooner will you
relieve me from anxiety.
CHAP. IV. — THE RECOMPENSE OF THE REWARD.
" But I myself also, O Clement, know the
griefs and anxieties, and dangers and reproaches,
that are appointed you from the uninstructed
multitudes ; and these you will be able to bear
nobly, looking to the great reward of patience
bestowed on you by God, But also consider
this fairly with me: When has' Christ need of
your aid? Now, when the wicked one has
sworn war against His bride ; or in the time
to come, when He shall reign victorious, having
no need of further help ? Is it not evident to
any one who has even the least understanding,
that it is now? Therefore with all good-will
hasten in the time of the present necessity to do
battle on the side of this good King, whose char-
acter it is to give great rewards after victory.
Therefore take the oversight gladly ; and all the
more in good time, because you have learned
from me the administration of the Church, for
the safety of the brethren who have taken refuge
with us.
CHAP. V. — A CHARGE.
" However, I wish, in the presence of all, to
remind you, for the sake of all, of the things be-
longing to the administration. It becomes you,
living without reproach, with the greatest ear-
nestness to shake off all the cares of life, being
neither a surety, nor an advocate, nor involved
in any other secular business. For Christ does
not wish to appoint you either a judge or an
arbitrator in business, or negotiator of the secular
affairs of the present life, lest, being confined to
the present cares of men, you should not have
leisure by the word of truth to separate the good
among men from the bad. But let the disciples
perform these offices to one another, and not
withdraw you from the discourses which are able
to save. For as it is wicked for you to under-
take secular cares, and to omit the doing of what
you have been commanded to do, so it is sin for
every layman, if .they do not stand by one an-
other even in secular necessities. And if all do
not understand to take order that you be with-
out care in respect of the things in which you
ought to be, let them learn it from the deacons ;
that you may have the care of the Church always,
in order both to your administering it well, and
to your holding forth the words of truth.
CHAP. VI. — THE DUTY OF A BISHOP.
" Now, if you were occupied with secular
cares, you should deceive both yourself and your
hearers. For not being able, on account of
occupation, to point out the things that are ad-
vantageous, both you should be punished, as
not having taught what was profitable, and they,
not having learned, should perish by reason of
ignorance. Wherefore do you indeed preside
over them without occupation, so as to send
forth seasonably the words that are able to save
them ; and so let them listen to you, knowing
that whatever the ambassador of the truth shall
bind upon earth is bound also in heaven, and
what he shall loose is loosed. But you shall
bind what ought to be bound, and loose what
ought to be loosed. And these, and such like,
are the things that relate to you as president.
CHAP. VII. — DUTIES OF PRESBYTERS.
"And with respect to the presbyters, take
these instructions. Above all things, let them
join the young betimes in marriage, anticipating
the entanglements of youthful lusts. But nei-
ther let them neglect the marriage of those who
are already old ; for lust is vigorous even in some
old men. Lest, therefore, fornication find a place
among you, and bring upon you a very pesti-
lence, take precaution, and search, lest at any
time the fire of adultery be secretly kindled
among you. For adultery is a very terrible
thing, even such that it holds the second place
in respect of punishment, the first being assigned
to those who are in error, even although they be
chaste. Wherefore do you, as elders of the
Church, exercise the spouse of Christ to chas-
tity (by the spouse I mean the body of the
Church) ; for if she be apprehended to be
chaste by her royal Bridegroom, she shall obtain
the greatest honour ; and you, as wedding guests,
shall receive great commendation. But if she
be caught having sinned, she herself indeed shall
be cast out ; and you shall suffer punishment,
if at any time her sin has been through your
negligence.
CHAP. VIII. — " DO GOOD UNTO ALL."
" Wherefore above all things be careful about
chastity ; for fornication has been marked out as
a bitter thing in the estimation of God. But
there are many forms of fornication, as also
Clement himself will explain to you. The first
is adultery, that a man should not enjoy his own
wife alone, or a woman not enjoy her own hus-
band alone. If any one be chaste, he is able
also to be philanthropic, on account of which
he shall obtain eternal mercy. For as adultery
is a great evil, so philanthropy is the greatest
good. Wherefore love all your brethren with
grave and compassionate eyes, performing to
orphans the part of parents, to widows that of
husbands, affording them sustenance with all
kindliness, arranging marriages for those who are
220
EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO JAMES.
in their prime, and for those who are without
a profession, the means of necessary support
through employment ; giving work to the artifi-
cer, and ah"ns to the incapable.
CHAP. IX. — " LET BROTHERLY LOVE CONTINUE."
" But I know that ye will do these things if
you fix love into your minds ; and for its entrance
there is one only fit means, viz., the common par-
taking of food.' Wherefore see to it that ye be
frequently one another's guests, as ye are able,
that you may not fail of it. For it is the
cause of well-doing, and well-doing of salvation.
Therefore all of you present your provisions in
common to all your brethren in God, knowing
that, giving temporal things, you shall receive
eternal things. Much more feed the hungry,
and give drink to the thirsty, and clothing to the
naked ; visit the sick ; showing yourselves to
those who are in prison, help them as ye are able,
and receive strangers into your houses with all
alacrity. However, not to speak in detail, phi-
lanthropy will teach you to do everything that
is good, as misanthropy suggests ill-doing to
those who will not be saved.
CHAP. X. — "whatsoever THINGS ARE HONEST."
" Let the brethren who have causes to be
settled not be judged by the secular authorities ;
but let them by all means be reconciled by the
elders of the church, yielding ready obedience
to them. Moreover, also, flee avarice, inasmuch
as it is able, under pretext of temporal gain, to
deprive you of eternal blessings. Carefully keep
your balances, your measures, your weights, and
the things belonging to your traffic, just. Be
faithful with respect to your trusts. Moreover,
you will persevere in doing these things, and
things similar to these, until the end, if you have
in your hearts an ineradicable remembrance of
the judgment that is from God. For who would
sin, being persuaded that at the end of life there
is a judgment appointed of the righteous God,
who only now is long-suffering and good,- that
the good may in future enjoy for ever unspeaka-
ble blessings ; but the sinners being found as
evil, shall oljtain an eternity of unspeakable pun-
ishnient. And, indeed, that these things are so,
it would be reasonable to doubt, were it not that
the Prophet of the truth has said and sworn that
it shall be.
CHAP. XI. — DOUBTS TO BE SATISFIED.
" Wherefore, being disciples of the true
Prophet, laying aside double-mindedness, from
which comes ill-doing, eagerly undertake well-
' Literally, " of salt."
2 The common reading would give " who alone is now long-suf-
fering; " but the change of a letter gives the reading which we have
adopted.
doing. But if any of you doubt concerning the
things which I have said are to be, let him con-
fess it without shame, if he cares for his own
soul, and he shall be satisfied by the president.
But if he has believed rightly, let his conversa-
tion be with confidence, as fleeing from the
great fire of condemnation, and entering into
the eternal good kingdom of. God.
CHAP. XII. — DUTIES OF DEACONS.
" Moreover let the deacons of the church,
going about with intelligence, be as eyes to the
bishop, carefully inquiring into the doings of
each member of the church, asceriaining who
is about to sin, in order that, being arrested
with admonition by the president, he may haply
not accomplish the sin. Let them check the
disorderly, that they may not desist from assem-
bling to hear the discourses, so that they may
be able to counteract by the word of truth those
anxieties that fall upon the heart from every
side, by means of worldly casualties and evil
communications ; for if they long remain fallow,
they become fuel for the fire. And let them
learn who are suffering -under bodily disease, and
let them bring them to the notice of the multi-
tude who do not know of them, that they may
visit them, and supply their wants according to
the judgment of the president. Yea, though
they do this without his knowledge, they do
nothing amiss. These things, then, and things
like to these, let the deacons attend to.
CHAP. XIII. — DUTIES OF CATECHISTS.
" Let the catechists instruct, being first in-
structed ; for it is a work relating to the souls
of men. For the teacher of the word must ac-
commodate himself to the various judgments of
the learners. The catechists must therefore be
learned, and unblameable, of much experience,
and approved, as you will know that Clement is,
who is to be your instructor after me. For it
were too much for me now to go into details.
However, if ye be of one mind, you shall be
able to reach the haven of rest, where is the
peaceful city of the great King.
CHAP. XIV. — THE VESSEL OF THE CHURCH.
" For the whole business of the Church is like
unto a great ship, bearing through a violent
storm men who are of many places, and who
desire to inhabit the city of the good kingdom.
Let, therefore, God be your shipmaster ; and
let the pilot be likened to Christ, the mate ^ to
the bishop, and the sailors to the deacons, the
midshipmen to the catechists, the multitude of
the brethren to the passengers, the world to the
3 It is impossible to translate these terms very accurately. I sup-
pose the 7rpu>peu5 was rather the " bow-oarsman" in the galley.
EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO JAMES.
221
sea ; the foul winds to temptations, persecutions,
and dangers ; and all manner of afflictions to
the waves ; the land winds and their squalls to the
discourses of deceivers and false prophets ; the
promontories and rugged rocks to the judges
in high places threatening terrible things ; the
meetings of two seas, and the wild places, to
unreasonable men and those who doubt of the
promises of truth. Let hypocrites be regarded
as like to pirates. Moreover, account the strong
whirlpool, and the Tartarean Charybdis, and
murderous wrecks, and deadly founderings, to be
nought but sins. Li order, therefore, that, sail-
ing with a fair wind, you may safely reach the
haven of the hoped-for city, pray so as to be
heard. But prayers become audible by good
deeds.
CHAP. XV. — INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE.
"Let therefore the passengers remain quiet,
sitting in their own places, lest by disorder they
occasion rolling or careening. Let the midship-
men give heed to the fare. Let the deacons
neglect nothing with which they are entrusted ;
let the presbyters, like sailors, studiously arrange
what is needful for each one. Let the bishop,
as the mate, wakefully ponder the words of the
pilot alone. Let Christ, even the Saviour, be
loved as the pilot, and alone believed in the
matters of which He speaks ; and let all pray to
God for a prosperous voyage. ' Let those sailing
expect every tribulation, as travelling over a
great and troubled sea, the world : sometimes,
indeed, disheartened, persecuted, dispersed, hun-
gry, thirsty, naked, hemmed in ; and, again,
sometimes united, congregated, at rest ; but also
sea-sick, giddy, vomiting, that is, confessing sins,
like disease-producing bile, — I mean the sins
proceeding from bitterness, and the evils accu-
mulated from disorderly lusts, by the confession
of which, as by vomiting, you are relieved of
your disease, attaining nealthful safety by means
of carefulness.
CHAP,
XVI. — THE bishop's LABOURS AND
REWARD.
" But know all of you that the bishop labours
more than you all ; because each of you suffers
his own affliction, but he his own and that of
every one. Wherefore, O Clement, preside as a
helper to every one according to your ability,
being careful of the cares of all. Whence I
know that in your undertaking the administra-
tion, I do not confer, but receive, a favour. But
take courage and bear it generously, as knowing
that God will recompense you when you enter
the haven of rest, the greatest of blessings, a
reward that cannot be taken from you, in pro-
portion as you have undertaken more labour for
the safety of all. So that, if many of the brethren
should hate you on account of your lofty right-
eousness, their hatred shall nothing hurt you,
but the love of the righteous God shall greatly
benefit you. Therefore endeavour to shake oft
the praise that arises from injustice, and to attain
the profitable praise that is from Christ on ac-
count of righteous administration."
CHAP. XVII. — THE people's DUTIES.
Having said this, and more than this, he
looked again upon the multitude, and said :
"And you also, my beloved brethren and fellow-
servants, be subject to the president of the truth
in all things, knowing this, that he who grieves
him has not received Christ, with whose chair
he has been entrusted ; and he who has not
received Christ shall be regarded as having
despised the Father ; wherefore he shall be cast
out of the good kingdom. On this account,
endeavour to come to all the assemblies, lest as
deserters you incur the charge of sin through
the disheartening of your captain. AV'herefore
all of you think before all else of the things that
relate to him, knowing this, that the wicked one,
being the more hostile on account of every one
of you, wars against him alone. Do you there-
fore strive to live in affection towards him, and in
kindliness towards one another, and to obey him,
in order that both he may he comforted and you
may be saved.
CHAP. XVIII. — "AS A HEATHEN MAN AND A
PUBLICAN.
" But some things also you ought of yourselves
to consider, on account of his not being able to
speak openly by reason of the plots. Such as :
if he be hostile to any one, do not wait for his
speaking ; and do not take part with that man,
but prudently follow the bishop's will, being
enemies to those to whom he is an enemy, and
not conversing with those with whom he does
not converse, in order that every one, desiring to
have you all as his friends, may be reconciled
to him and be saved, listening to his discourse.
But if any one remain a friend of those to whom
he is an enemy, and speak to those with whom he
does not converse, he also himself is one of
those who would waste the church. For, being
with you in body, but not with you in judgment,
he is against you ; and is much worse than the
open enemies from without, since with_ seeming
friendship he disperses those who are within."
CHAP. XIX. — INSTALLATION OF CLEMENT.
Having thus spoken, he laid his hands upon
me in the presence of all, and compelled me to
sit in his own chair. And when I was seated,
he immediately said to me : " I entreat you, in
the presence of all the brethren here, that when-
soever I depart from this life, as depart I must,
222
EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO JAMES.
you send to James the brother of the Lord
a brief account of your reasonings from your
boyhood, and how from the beginning until
now you have journeyed with me, hearing the
discourses preached by me in every city, and
seeing my deeds. And then at the end you
will not fail to inform him of the manner of my
death, as I said before. For that event will not
grieve him very much, when he knows that I
piously went through what it behoved me to
suffer. And he will get the greatest comfort
when he learns, that not an unlearned man, or
one ignorant of life-giving words, or not knowing
the rule of the Church, shall be entrusted with
the chair of the teacher afte^' me. For the dis-
course of a deceiver destroys the souls of the
multitudes who hear."
CHAP. XX. — Clement's obedience.
Whence I, my lord James, having promised
as I was ordered, have not failed to write in
books by chapters the greater part of his dis-
courses in every city, which have been already
written to you, and sent by himself, as for a
token ; and thus 1 despatched them to you,' in-
scribing them " Clement's Epitome of the Popu-
lar Sermons of Peter." However, I shall begin
to set them forth, as I was ordered.
' [Compare with this the remarkable chapter, Recognitions, iii.
75, where a summary is given of previous writings sent to James.
The design of this letter, evidently known to Rufinus, was to authen-
ticate the work which follows. The language of Rufinus may fairly
imply that this letter, known to be of later origin, was sometimes
prefixed to the Recognitions also. The entire literature gives James
of Jerusalem a marked supremacy. This is an evidence of Jewish-
Christian origm. — R. j
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
BOOKS I. TO V. HAVE BEEN TRANSLATED BY REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. ; BOOKS VI.-XH. BY
PETER PETERSON, M.A. ; AND BOOKS XHI.-XX. BY DR. DONALDSON.
HOMILY I.
CHAP. I. — BOYISH QUESTIONINGS.
I Clement, being a Roman citizen,' even from
my earliest youth was able to live chastely, my
mind from my boyhood drawing away the lust
that was in me to dejection and distress. For
I had a habit of reasoning — how originating I
know not — making frequent cogitations con-
cerning death : When I die, shall 1 neither exist,
nor shall any one ever have any remembrance of
me, while boundless time bears all things of all
men into forgetfulness ? and shall I then be with-
out being, or acquaintance with .those who are;
neither knowing nor being known, neither having
been nor being? And has the world ever been
made? and was there anything before it was
made ? For if it has been always, it shall also
continue to be ; but if it has been made, it shall
also be dissolved. And after its dissolution, shall
there ever be anything again, unless, perhaps,
silence and forgetfulness? Or perhaps some-
thing shall be which is not possible now to con-
ceive.
CHAP. II.
•GOOD OUT OF EVIL.
As I pondered without ceasing these and such
like questions — I know not whence arising —
I had such bitter grief, that, becoming pale, I
wasted away ; and, what was most terrible, if at
any time I wished to drive away this meditation
as unprofitable, my suffering became all the more
severe ; and I grieved over this, not knowing
that I had a fair inmate, even my thought, which
was to be to me the cause of a blessed immor-
tality, as I afterwards knew by experience, and
gave thanks to God, the Lord of all. For it was
by this thought, which at first afflicted me, that
I was compelled to come to the search and the
finding of things ; and then I pitied those whom
at first, through ignorance, I ventured to call
blessed.
' [The first six chapters agree closely with the corresponding
passage in the Recognitiotis. — R.]
CHAP. III. — PERPLEXITY.
From my boyhood, then, being involved in
such reasonings, in order to learn something defi-
nite, I used to resort to the schools of the phi-
losophers. But nought else did I see than the
setting up and the knocking down of doctrines,
and strifes, and seeking for victory, and the arts
of syllogisms, and the skill of assumptions ; and
sometimes one opinion prevailed, — as, for ex-
ample, that the soul is immortal, and sometimes
that it is mortal. If, therefore, at any time the
doctrine prevailed that it is immortal, I was glad ;
and when the doctrine prevailed that it is mortal,
I was grieved. And again, I was the more dis-
heartened because I could not establish either
doctrine to my satisfaction. However, I per-
ceived that the opinions on subjects under discus-
sion are taken as true or false, according to their
defenders, and do not appear as they really are.
Perceiving, therefore, now that the acceptance
does not depend on the real nature of the sub-
jects discussed, but that opinions are proved to
be true or false, according to ability of those who
defend them, I was still more than ever at a loss
in regard of things. Wherefore I groaned from
the depth of my sdul. For neither was I able to
establish anything, nor could I shake off the
consideration of such things, though, as I said
before, I wished it. For although I frequently
charged myself to be at peace, in some way or
other thoughts on these subjects, accompanied
with a feeling of pleasure, would come into my
mind.
CHAP. IV. — MORE PERPLEXITY.
And again, living in doubt, I said to myself.
Why do I labour in vain, when the matter is
clear, that if I lose existence when I die, it is not
fitting that I should distress myself now while
I do exist? Wherefore I shall reserve my grief
till that day, when, ceasing to exist, I shall not be
affected with grief. But if I am to exist, what
223
224
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily I.
does it profit me now to distress myself gratu-
itously? And immediately after this another
reasoning assailed me ; for I said, Shall I not
have something worse to suffer then than that
which distresses me now, if I have not lived
piously ; and shall I not be delivered over, ac-
cording to the doctrines of some philosophers,
to Pyriphlegethon and Tartarus, like Sisyphus, or
Tityus, or Ixion, or Tantalus, and be punished
for ever in Hades? But again I replied, saying :
But there are no such things as these. Yet
again I said : But if there be ? Therefore, said
I, since the matter is uncertain, the safer plan is
for me rather to live piously. But how shall I be
able, for the sake of righteousness, to subdue
bodily pleasures, looking, as I do, to an uncer-
tain hope? But I am neither fully persuaded
what is that righteous thing that is pleasing to
God, nor do I know whether the soul is immortal
or mortal. Neither can I find any well-estab-
lished doctrine, nor can I abstain from such de-
batings.
CHAP. V. — A RESOLUTIOX.
What, then, am I to do, unless this ? I shall go
into Egypt, and I shall become friendly with the
hierophants of the shrines, and with the proph-
ets ; and I shall seek and find a magician, and
persuade him with large bribes to effect the call-
ing up of a soul, which is called necromancy, as
if I were going to inquire of it concerning some
business. And the inquiry shall be for the pur-
pose of learning whether the soul is immortal.
But the answer of the soul that it is immortal
shall not give me the knowledge from its speak-
ing or my hearing, but only from its being seen ;
so that, seeing it with my very eyes, I may have
a self-sufficient and fit assurance, from the very
fact of its appearing, that it exists ; and never
again shall the uncertain words of hearing be
able to overturn the things which the eyes have
made their own. However, I submitted this
very plan to a certain companion who was a phi-
losopher ; and he counselled me not to venture
upon it, and that on many accounts. " For if,"
said he, " the soul shall not listen to the magi-
cian, you will live with an evil conscience, as
having acted against the laws which forbid the
doing of these things. But if it shall listen to
him, then, besides your living with an evil con-
science, I think that matters of piety will not be
promoted to you on account of your making this
attempt. For they say that the Deity is angry
with those who disturb souls after their release
from the body." ' And I, when I heard this,
became indeed more backward to undertake
such a thing, but I did not abandon my original
plan ; but I was distressed, as being hindered in
the execution of it.
' This rendering is from the text in the corresponding passage of
the Epitome de gestis S. Petri.
CHAP. VI. — TIDINGS FROM JUDiEA.
And, not to discuss such matters to you in a
long speech, while I was occupied with such rea-
sonings and doings, a certain report, taking its
rise in the spring-time,^ in the reign of Tiberius
Caesar, gradually grew everywhere, and ran
through the world as truly the good tidings of
God, being unable to stifle the counsel of God
in silence. Therefore "it everywhere became
greater and louder, saying that a certain One in
Judaea, beginning in the spring season, was
preaching to the Jews the kingdom of the invisi-
ble God, and saying that whoever of them would
reform his manner of living should enjoy it. And
in order that He might be believed that He
uttered these things full of the Godhead, He
wrought many wonderful miracles and signs by
His mere command, as having received power
from God. For He made the deaf to hear, the
blind to see, the lame to walk, raised up the
bowed down, drove away every disease, put to
flight every demon ; and even scabbed lepers,
by only looking on Him from a distance, were
sent away cured by Him ; and the dead being
brought to Him, were, raised ; and there was
nothing which He could not do. And as time
advanced, so much the greater, through the ar-
rival of more persons, and the stronger grew — I
say not now the report, but — the truth of the
thing ; for now at length there were meetings in
various places for consultation and inquiry as to
who He might be that had appeared, and what
was His purpose.
CHAP. VII. — THE GOSPEL IN ROME.
And then in the same year, in the autumn
season, a certain one, standing in a public place,
cried and said, " Men of Rome, hearken. The
Son of God is come in Judaea, proclaiming eter-
nal life to all who will, if they shall live accord-
ing to the counsel of the Father, who hath sent
Him. Wherefore change your manner of life
from the worse to the better, from things tem-
poral to things eternal ; for know ye that there
is one God, who is in heaven, whose world ye
unrighteously dwell in before His righteous eyes.
But if ye be changed, and live according to His
counsel, then, being born into the other world,
and becoming eternal, ye shall enjoy His un-
speakable good things. But if ye be unbeliev-
ing, your souls, after the dissolution of the body,
shall be thrown into the place of fire, where,
being punished eternally, they shall repent of
their unprofitable deeds. For every one, the
term of repentance is the present Ufe." I there-
fore, when I heard these things, was grieved,
because no one among so great multitudes, hear-
2 [This clause is represented in the Recognitions as follows:
" which took its rise in the regions of the East." — R. j
Chap. XI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
225
ing such an announcement, said : I shall go into
Judaea, that I may know if this man who tells us
these things speaks the truth, that the Son of
God has come into Jud.^a, for the sake of a
good and eternal hope, revealing the will of the
Father who sent Him. For it is no small mat-
ter which they say that He preaches : for He
asserts that the souls of some, being themselves
immortal, shall enjoy eternal good things ; and
that those of others, being thrown into un-
quenchable fire, shall be punished for ever.
CHAP. VIII. — DEPARTURE FROM ROME.
While I spoke thus concerning others, I also
lectured myself, saying. Why do I blame others,
being myself guilty of the very same crime of
heedlessness? But I shall hasten into Judaea,
having first arranged my affairs.' And when I
had thus made up my mind, there occurred a
long time of delay, my worldly affairs being dif-
ficult to arrange. Therefore, meditating further
on the nature of life, that by involving ^ men in
hope it lays snares for those who are making
haste, yea, and how much time I had been
robbed of while tossed by hopes, and that we
men die while thus occupied, I left all my affairs
as they were, and sped to Portus ; ^ and coming
to the harbour, and being taken on board a ship,
I was borne by adverse winds to Alexandria in-
stead of Judaea ; and being detained there by
stress of weather, I consorted with the philoso-
phers, and told them about the rumour and the
sayings of him who had appeared in Rome.
And they answered that indeed they knew noth-
ing of him who had appeared in Rome ; but
concerning Him who was born in Judaea, and
who was said by the report to be the Son of
God, they had heard from many who had come
from thence, and had learned respecting all the
wonderful things that He did with a word.
CHAP. IX. — PREACHING OF BARNABAS.
And when I said that I wished I could meet
with some one of those who had seen Him, they
immediately brought me to one, saying, " There
is one here who not only is acquainted with
Him, but is also of that country, a Hebrew, by
name Barnabas, who says that he himself is one
of His disciples ; and hereabouts he resides, and
readily announces to those who will the terms
of His promise." Then I went with them ; and
when I came, I stood listening to his words with
the crowd that stood round him ; and I per-
ceived that he was speaking the truth not with
dialectic art, but was setting forth simply and
' [The narrative here varies from that of the Recogtiitioiis;
comp. book i. chaps. 7-11. — R.]
2 For fKirAoittoi' Wieseler proposes eKKAen-Twi', " that deceiving
by hopes it lays snares," etc.
■3 Portus, the port of Rome. One MS. reads ■novrov, " the sea."
without preparation what he had heard and seen
the manifested Son of God do and say. And
even from the crowd who stood around him he
produced many witnesses of the miracles and
discourses which he narrated.
CHAP. X. — CAVILS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS.
But while the multitudes were favourably dis-
posed towards the things that he so artlessly
spoke, the philosophers, impelled by their
worldly learning, set upon laughing at him
and making sport of him, upbraiding and re-
proaching him with excessive presumption, mak-
ing use of the great armoury of syllogisms. But
he set aside their babbling, and did not enter
into their subtle questioning, but without embar-
rassment went on with what he was saying. And
then one of them asked. Wherefore it was that
a gnat, although it be so small, and has six feet,
has wings also ; while an elephant, the largest of
beasts, is wingless, and has but four feet? But
he, after the question had been put, resuming
his discourse, which had been interrupted, as
though he had answered the question, resumed
his original discourse, only making use of this
preface after each interruption : " We have a
commission only to tell you the words and the
wondrous doings of Him who sent us ; and in-
stead of logical demonstration, we present to
you many witnesses from amongst yourselves
who stand by, whose faces I remember, as living
images. These sufficient testimonies it is left
to your choice to submit to, or to disbelieve.'*
But I shall not cease to declare unto you what
is for your profit ; for to be silent were to me a
loss, and to disbelieve is ruin to you. But in-
deed I could give answers to your frivolous ques-
tions, if you asked them through love of truth.
But the reason of the different structure of the
gnat and elephant it is not fitting to tell to
those who are ignorant of the God of all."
CHAP. XI. — Clement's zeal.
When he said this, they all, as in concert, set
up a shout of laughter, trying to silence him and
put him out, as a barbarous madman. But I,
seeing this, and seized, I know not how, with
enthusiasm, could no longer keep silence with
righteous indignation, but boldly cried out, say-
ing, " Well has God ordained that His counsel
should be incapable of being received by you,
foreseeing you to be unworthy, as appears mani-
festly to such of those who are now present as
have minds capable of judging. For whereas
now heralds of His counsel have been sent forth,
not making a show of grammatical art, but set-
■♦ We have here adopted a conjectural reading of Davis. The
common text is thus translated: " whose faces I remember, and who
as being living images are satisfactory testimonies. These it is left,"
etc.
226
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily I.
ting forth His will in simple and inartificial
words, so that whosoever hear can understand
what is spoken, and not with any invidious feel-
ing, as though unwilling to offer it to all ; you
come here, and besides your not understand-
ing what is for your advantage, to your own
injury you laugh at the truth, which, to your con-
demnation, consorts with the barbarians, and
which you will not entertain when it visits you,
by reason of your wickedness and the plainness
of its words, lest you be convicted of being
merely lovers of words, and not lovers of truth
and lovers of wisdom. How long will you be
learning to speak, who have not the power of
speech ? ' For many sayings of yours are not
worth one word. What, then, will your Grecian
multitude say, being of one mind, if, as he says,
there shall be a judgment ? " Why, O God, didst
Thou not proclaim to us Thy counsel? " Shall
you not, if you be thought worthy of an answer
at all, be told this ? " I, knowing before the
foundation of the world all characters that were
to be, acted towards each one by anticipation
according to his deserts without making it
known ; ^ but wishing to give full assurance to
those who have fled to me that this is so, and to
explain why from the beginning, and in the first
ages, I did not suffer my counsel to be publicly
proclaimed ; I now, in the end of the world,^
have sent heralds to proclaim my will, and they
are insulted and flouted by those who will not be
benefited, and who wilfully reject my friendship.
Oh, great wrong ! The preachers are exposed to
danger even to the loss of life,'' and that by the
men who are called to salvation.
CHAP. xn. — Clement's rebuke of the people.
" And this wrongful treatment of my heralds
would have been against all from the beginning,
if from the beginning the unworthy had been
called to salvation. For that which is now done
wrongfully by these men serves to the vindica-
tion of my righteous foreknowledge, that it was
well that I did not choose from the beginning to
expose uselessly to public contempt the word
which is worthy of honour ; but determined to
suppress it, as being honourable, not indeed from
those who were worthy from the beginning — for
to them also I imparted it — but from those,
and such as those, unworthy, as you see them to
be, — those who hate me, and who will not love
themselves. And now, give over laughing at
this man, and hear me with respect to his an-
nouncement, or let any one of the hearers who
' The Vatican MS. and Epit. have " the power of speaking well."
^ Lit., " I met each one beforehand secretly." The Latin has,
" unicuique praeviiis occurri."
3 The Greek is 0iov, " life."
* The Paris MS. reads <p86vov, " envy," instead of (^dcov, " mur-
der."
pleases answer. And do not bark like vicious
dogs, deafening with disorderly clamour the ears
of those who would be saved, ye unrighteous
and God-haters, and perverting the saving
method to unbelief. How shall you be able
to obtain pardon, who scorn him who is sent to
speak to you of the Godhead of God.? And this
you do towards a man whom you ought to have
received on account of his good-will towards
you, even if he did not speak truth."
CHAP. XIIL — CLEMENT INSTRUCTED BY BAR-
NABAS.
While I spake these words, and others to the
same effect, there arose a great excitement
among the crowd ; and some as pitying Barna-
bas, sympathized with me ; but others, being
senseless, terribly gnashed their teeth against
me. But, as the evening had already come, I
took Barnabas by the , hand, and by force con-
ducted him, against his will, to my lodging, and
constrained him to remain there, lest some one
might lay hands on him. And having spent
several days, and instructed me briefly in the
true doctrine, as well as he could in a few days,
he said that he should hasten into Judaea for the
observance of the festival, and also because he
wished for the future to consort with those of his
own nation.
CHAP, XIV. — DEPARTURE OF BARNABAS.
But it plainly appeared to me that he was dis-
concerted. For when I said to him, " Only set
forth to me the words which you have heard of
the Man who has appeared, and I will adorn
them with my speech, and preach the counsel of
God ; and if you do so, within a few days I will
sail with you, for I greatly desire to go to the
land of Judaea, and perhaps I shall dwell with
you all my life ; " — when he heard this, he an-
swered : " If you wish to inquire into our affairs,
and to learn what is for your advantage, sail with
me at once. But if you will not, I shall now
give you directions to my house, and that of
those whom you wish /o meet, that when you
choose to come you may find us. For I shall
set out to-morrow for my home." And when I
saw that he could not be prevailed upon, I went
with him as far as the harbour ; and having
learned of him the directions which he had
promised to give me for finding the dwellings, I
said to him, "Were it not that to-morrow I am
to recover a debt that is due to me, I should
straightway set sail with you. But I shall soon
overtake you." And having said this, and having
given him in charge to those who commanded
the ship, I returned grieving, remembering him
as an excellent and dear friend.
Chap. XIX.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
227
CHAP. XV. — INTRODUCTION TO PETER.
But having spent some days, and not having
been able to recover the whole debt, for the sake
of speed I neglected the balance, as being a
hindrance, and myself also set sail for Jud^a,
and in fifteen days arrived at CaesareaStratonis.'
And when I had landed, and was seeking for a
lodging, I learned that one named Peter, who
was the most esteemed disciple of the Man who
had appeared in Judaea, and had done signs and
wonders, v/as going to have a verbal controversy
next day with Simon, a Samaritan of Gitthi.
^Vhen I heard this, I begged to be shown his
lodging ; and as soon as I learned it, I stood
before the door. And those who were in the
house, seeing me, discussed the question who I
was, and whence I had come. And, behold,
Barnabas came out ; and as soon as he saw me
he embraced me, rejoicing greatly, and weeping.
And he took me by the hand, and conducted me
to where Peter was, saying to me, " This is Peter,
of whom I told you as being the greatest in the
wisdom of God, and I have spoken to him of
you continually. Therefore enter freely,^ for I
have told him your excellent qualities, without
falsehood ; and, at the same time, have disclosed
to him your intention, so that he himself also is
desirous to see you. Therefore I offer him a
great gift when by my hands I present you to
him." Thus saying, he presented me, and said,
" This, O Peter, is Clement."
CHAP. XVI. — PETER'S SALUTATION.
Then the blessed man, springing forward as
soon as he heard my name, kissed me ; and mak-
ing me sit down, straightway said, " You acted
nobly in entertaining Barnabas, a herald of the
truth, to the honour of the living God, being
magnanimously not ashamed, nor fearing the re-
sentment of the rude multitude. Blessed shall
you be. For as you thus with all honour enter-
tained the ambassador of the truth, so also truth
herself shall constitute you, who are a stranger,
a citizen of her own city. And thus you shall
greatly rejoice,- because you have now lent a
small favour; I mean the kindness of good
words. You shall be heir of blessings which
are both eternal and cannot possibly be taken
from you. And do not trouble yourself to detail
to me your manner of life ; for the veracious
Barnabas has detailed to us everything relating
to you, making favourable mention of you almost
every day. And in order that I may tell to you
briefly, as to a genuine friend, what is in hand,
travel with us, unless anything hinders you, par-
taking of the words of truth which I am going
' [Here the two accounts become again closely parallel. — R.]
^ The text is corrupt. Dressel's reading is adopted in the text,
being based on Rufinus's translation. Some conjecture, " as you
will know of your own accord."
to speak from city to city, as far as Rome itself.
And if you wish to say anything, speak on."
CHAP. XVII. — QUESTIONS PROPOUNDED.
Then I set forth my purpose from the begin-
ning, and how I had spent myself upon difficult
questions, and all the things that I disclosed to
you at the outset, so that I need not write the
same things again. Then I said, "I hold my-
self in readiness to journey with you ; for this, I
know not how, I gladly wish. Plowever, I wish
first to be convinced concerning the truth, that I
may know whether the soul is mortal or immortal ;
and whether, if it is eternal, it is to be judged
concerning the things which it hath done here.
Also, whether there is anything that is righteous
and well-pleasing to God ; and whether the world
was made, and for what end it was made ; and
whether it shall be dissolved ; and if it shall be
dissolved, whether it shall be made better, or
shall not be at all." And not to mention them
in detail, I said that I wished to learn these
things, and things consequent upon these. And
to this he answered : " I shall shortly convey to
you, O Clement, the knowledge of the things
that are ; and even now listen.
CHAP. XVIII. — CAUSES OF IGNORANCE.
"The will of God has been kept in obscurity
in many ways. In the first place, there is evil in-
struction, wicked association, terrible society, un- .
seemly discourses, wrongful prejudice. Thereby
is error, then fearlessness, unbelief, fornication,
covetousness, vainglory ; and ten thousand other
such evils, filling the world as a quantity of smoke
fills a house, have obscured the sight of the men
inhabiting the world, and have not suffered them
to look up and become acquainted with God the
Creator from the delineation of Himself ivhich
He has given, and to know what is pleasing to
Him. Wherefore it behoves the lovers of truth,
crying out inwardly from their breasts, to call
for aid, with truth-loving reason, that some one
living within the house ^ which is filled with smoke
may approach and open the door, so that the
light of the sun which is without may be admitted
into the house, and the smoke of the fire which
is within may be driven out.
CHAP. XIX.
■THE TRUE PROPHET.
" Now the Man who is the helper I call the
true Prophet ; and He alone is able to enlighten
the souls of men, so that with our own eyes we
may be able to see the way of eternal salvation.
But otherwise it is impossible, as you also know,
since you said a little while ago that every doc-
trine is set up and pulled down, and the same is
3 A conjectural reading, " being without the house," seems
preferable.
228
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily I.
thought true or false, according to the power of
him who advocates it ; so that doctrines do not
appear as they are, but take the appearance of
being or not being truth or falsehood from those
who advocate them.' On this account the whole
business of religion needed a true prophet, that
he might tell us things that are, as they are, and
how we must believe concerning all things. So
that it is first necessary to test the prophet by
every prophetic sign, and having ascertained that
he is true, thereafter to believe him in every
thing, and not to sit in judgment upon his several
sayings, but to receive them as certain, being
accepted indeed by seeming faith, yet by sure
judgment. For by our initial proof, and by strict
inquiry on every side, all things are received with
right reason. Wherefore before all things it is
necessary to seek after the true Prophet, because
without Him it is impossible that any certainty
can come to men."
CHAP. XX. — Peter's satisfaction with
CLEMENT.
And, at the same time, he satisfied me by ex-
pounding to me who He is, and how He is found,
and holding Him forth to me as truly to be
found, showing that the truth is more manifest
to the ear by the discourse of the prophet than
things that are seen with the eye ; so that I was
astonished, and wondered that no one sees those
things which are sought after by all, though they
lie before him. However, having written this
discourse concerning the Prophet by his order,
he caused the volume to be despatched to you
from Csesarea Stratonis, saying that he had a
charge from you to send his discourses and his
acts year by year.' Thus, on the very first day,
beginning only concerning the prophet of the
truth, he confirmed me in every respect ; and
then he spoke thus : " Henceforth give heed to
the discussions that take place between me and
those on the other side ; and even if I come off
at a disadvantage, I am not afraid of your ever
doubting of the truth that has been delivered to
you, knowing well that I seem to be beaten, but
not the doctrine that has been delivered to us
by the Prophet. However, I hope not to come
off in our inquiries at a disadvantage with men
who have understanding — I mean lovers of truth,
who are able to know what discourses are specious,
artificial, and pleasant, and what are unartificial
and simple, trusting only to the truth that is
conveyed through them."
' [Comp. Recognitions, i. i6, where the discourse is more fully
given. — R.]
2 The text is probably corrupt or defective. As it stands, gram-
matically Peter writes the discourse and sends it, and yet " by his
order " must also apply to Peter. The Recognitions make Clement
write the book and send it. The passage is deemed important, and is
accordingly discussed in Schliemann, p. 83; Hilgenfeld, p. 37; and
Uhlhorn, p. loi. [See Recognitions, i. 17. Both passages, despite
the variation, may be urged in support of the existence of an earlier
document as the common basis of the Clementine literature. — R.]
CHAP. XXI.
UNALTERABLE CONVICTION.
When he had thus spoken, I answered : " Now
do I thank God ; for as I wished to be con-
vinced, so He has vouchsafed to me. Howev^er,
so far as concerns me, be you so far without
anxiety that I shall never doubt ; so much so,
that if you yourself should ever wish to remove
me from the prophetic doctrine, you should not
be able, so well do I know what I have received.
And do not think that it is a great thing that I
promise you that I shall never doubt ; for neither
I myself, nor any man who has heard your dis-
course concerning the Prophet, can ever doubt
of the true doctrine, having first heard and un-
derstood what is the truth of the prophetic
announcement. Wherefore have confidence in
the God-willed dogma ; for every art of wicked-
ness has been conquered. For against prophecy,
neither arts of discourses, nor tricks of sophisms,
nor syllogisms, nor any other contrivance, can
prevail anything; that. is, if he who has heard
the true Prophet really is desirous of truth, and
does not give heed to aught else under pretext
of truth. So that, my lord Peter, be not discon-
certed, as though you had presented the greatest
good to a senseless person ; for you have pre-
sented it to one sensible of the favour, and who
cannot be seduced from the truth that has been
committed to him. For I know that it is one of
those things which one wishes to receive quickly,
and not to attain slowly. Therefore I know that
I should not despise, on account of the quick-
ness with ivhich I have got it, what has been
committed to me, what is incomparable, and what
alone is safe."
CHAP. XXII.
THANKSGIVING.
"When I had thus spoken, Peter said : " I give
thanks to God, both for your salvation and for
my satisfaction. For I am truly pleased to know
that you apprehend what is the greatness of
prophecy. Since, then, as you say, if I myself
should ever wish — which God forbid — to trans-
fer you to another doctrine, I shall not be able
to persuade you, begin from to-morrow to attend
upon me in the discussions with the adversaries.
And to-morrow I have one with Simon Magus."
And having spoken thus, and he himself having
partaken of food in private, he ordered me also
to partake ; ^ and having blessed the food, and
having given thanks after being satisfied, and
having giving me an account of this matter, he
went on to say : " May God grant you in all
things to be made like unto me, and having been
baptized, to partake of the same table with me."
And having thus spoken, he enjoined me to go
to rest ; for now indeed my bodily nature de-
manded sleep.
3 [Comp Homily XIII. 4 and Recognitions, i. 19. — R.]
Chap. VI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
229
HOMILY IL
CH..\p. I. — Peter's attendants.
Therefore the next day, I Clement, awaking
from sleep before dawn, and learning that Peter
was astir, and was conversing with his attendants
concerning the worship of God (there were six-
teen of them,' and I have thought good to set
forth their names, as I subsequently learned them,
that you may also know who they were. The
first of them was Zacchaeus, who was once a
publican, and Sophonias his brother ; Joseph and
his foster-brother Michaias ; also Thomas and
Eliezer the twins ; also ^neas and Lazarus the
priests ; besides also Elisaeus, and Benjamin
the son of Saphrus ; as also Rubilus and Zacharias
the builders ; and Ananias and Haggaeus the
Jamminians ; and Nicetas and Aquila the friends) ,
— accordingly I went in and saluted him, and at
his request sat down.
CHAP. II. — A SOUND MIND IN A SOUND BODY.
And he, breaking off the discourse in which
he was engaged, assured me, by way of apology,
why he had not awakened me that I might hear
his discourses, assigning as the reason the dis-
comfort of my voyage. As he wished this to be
dispelled,^ he had suffered me to sleep. " For,"
said he, " whenever the soul is distracted con-
cerning some bodily want, it does not properly
approach the instructions that are presented to
it. On this account I am not willing to converse,
either with those who are greatly grieving through
some calamity, or are immoderately angry^ or are
turned to the frenzy of love, or are suffering un-
der bodily exhaustion, or are distressed with the
cares of life, or are harassed with any other suf-
ferings, whose soul, as I said, being downcast,
and sympathizing with the suffering body, occu-
pies also its own intelligence therewith.
CHAP. III. — .FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED.
" And let it not be said, Is it not, then, proper
to present comforts and admonitions to those
who are in any bad case? To this I answer,
that if, indeed, any one is able, let him present
them ; but if not, let him bide his time. For
I know 3 that all things have their proper season.
Wherefore it is proper to ply men with words
which strengthen the soul in anticipation of evil ;
so that, if at any time any evil comes upon them,
the mind, being forearmed with the right argu-
' [With but two exceptions, these names, or their equivalents, oc-
cur in Recognitions, lii. 68, where importance is altachcd to the num-
ber twelve. Comp. also Recognitions , ii. i. A comparison of these
lists favours the theory of a common documentary basis. — R.]
^ Literally, " to be boiled out of me."
3 Eccles. iii. i.
ment, may be able to bear up under that which
befalls it : for then the mind knows in the crisis
of the struggle to have recourse to him who suc-
coured it by good counsel.
CHAP. IV. — A REQUEST.
" However, I have learned, O Clement, how
that in Alexandria Barnabas perfectly expounded
to you the word respecting prophecy. Was it
not so?" I answered, "Yes, and exceeding
well." Then Peter : " Therefore it is not neces-
sary now to occupy with the instructions which
you know, the time which may serve us for other
instructions which you do not know." Then
said I : " You have rightly said, O Peter. But
vouchsafe this to me, who purpose always to
attend upon you, continuously to expound to me,
a delighted hearer, the doctrine of the Prophet.
For, apart from Him, as I learned from Barna-
bas, it is impossible to learn the truth."
CHAP. V. — EXCELLENCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF
THE TRUE PROPHET.
And Peter, being greatly pleased with this,
answered : " Already hath the rectifying process
taken its end, as regards you, knowing as you
do the greatness of the infallible prophecy, with-
out which it is impossible for any one to receive
that which is supi-emely profitable. For of many
and diverse blessings which are in the things
which are or which may be, the most blessed of
all — whether it be eternal life, or perpetual
health, or a perfect understanding, or light, or
joy, or immortality, or whatever else there is or
that can be supremely good in the nature of
things — cannot be possessed without first know-
ing things as they are ; and this knowledge can-
not be otherwise obtained than by first becoming
acquainted with the Prophet of the truth.
CHAP. VI. — THE TRUE PROPHET.
" Now the Prophet of the truth is He who
always knows all things — things past as they
were, things present as they are, things future as
they shall be ; sinless, merciful, alone entrusted
with the declaration of the truth. Read, and
you shall find that those were deceived^ who
thought that they had found the truth of them-
selves. For this is peculiar to the Prophet, to
declare the truth, even as it is peculiar to the sun
to bring the day. W'herefore, as many as have
even desired to know the truth, but have not had
the good fortune to learn it from Him, have not
< " \\'ere deceived " is not in the text, but the sense demands that
some such expression should be supplied.
230
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily II.
found it, but have died seeking it. For how can
he find the truth who seeks it from his own igno-
rance ? And even if he find it, he does not know
it, and passes it by as if it were not. Nor yet
shall he be able to obtain possession of the truth
from, another, who, in like manner, promises to
him knowledge from ignorance ; excepting only
the knowledge of morality and things of that
sort, which can be known through reason, which
affords to every one the knowledge that he ought
not to wrong another, through his not wishing
himself \.o be wronged.
CHAP. VII. — UNAIDED QUEST OF TRUTH PROFIT-
LESS. .
" All therefore who ever sought the truth, trust-
ing to themselves to be able to find it, fell into
a snare. This is what both the philosophers of
the Greeks, and the more inteUigent of the bar-
barians, have suffered. For, applying themselves
to things visible, they have given decisions by
conjecture on things not apparent, thinking that
that was truth which at any time presented itself
to them as such. For, like persons who know
the truth, they, still seeking the truth, reject some
of the suppositions that are presented to them,
and lay hold of others, as if they knew, while
they do not know, what things are true and what
are false. And they dogmatize concerning truth,
even those who are seeking after truth, not know-
ing that he who seeks truth cannot learn it from
his own wandering. For not even, as I said, can
he recognise her when she stands by him, since
he is unacquainted with her.
CHAP. VIII. — TEST OF TRUTH.
" And it is by no means that which is true,
but that which is pleasing, which persuades
every one who seeks to learn from himself.
Since, therefore, one thing is pleasing to one,
and another to another, one thing prevails over
one as truth, and another thing over another.
But the truth is that which is approved by the
Prophet, not that which is pleasant to each indi-
vidual. For that which is one would be many,
if the pleasing were the true ; which is impossible.
Wherefore also the Grecian philologers — rather
than philosophers ' — going about matters by con-
jectures, have dogmatized much and diversely,
thinking that the apt sequence of hypotheses is
truth, not knowing that when they have assigned
to themselves false beginnings, their conclusion
has corresponded with the beginning.
CHAP. IX. — "the WEAK THINGS OF THE
WORLD."
" Whence a man ought to pass by all else, and
commit himself to the Prophet of the truth alone.
' <i>iK6Koyoi, ov ^ikoao^oi., " lovers of words, not lovers of wis-
dom."
And we are all able to judge of Him, whether he is
a prophet, even although we be wholly unlearned,
and novices in sophisms, and unskilled in geome-
try, and uninitiated in music. For God, as car-
ing for all, has made the discovery concerning
Himself easier to all, in order that neither the
barbarians might be powerless, nor the Greeks
unable to find Him. Therefore the discovery
concerning Him is easy ; and thus it is : —
CHAP. X. — TEST OF THE PROPHET.
" If he is a Prophet, and is able to know how
the world was made, and the things that are in
it, and the things that shall be to the end, if
He has foretold us anything, and we have ascer-
tained that it has been perfectly accomplished,
we easily believe that the things shall be which
He says are to be, from the things that have
been already ; we believe Him, I say, as not only
knowing, but foreknowing. To whom then, how-
ever limited an understanding he may have, does
it not appear, that it behoves us, with respect to
the things that are pleasing to God, to believe
beyond all others Him who beyond all men
knows, eveii though He-has not learned ? Where-
fore, if any one should be unwilling to concede
the power of knowing the truth to such an one
— I mean to Him who has foreknowledge through
the divinity of the Spirit that is in Him — con-
ceding the power of knowing to any one else, is
he not void of understanding, in conceding to
him who is no prophet, that power of knowing
which he would not concede to the Prophet?
CHAP. XI. — IGNORANCE, KNOWLEDGE, FORE-
KNOWLEDGE.
"Wherefore, before all things, we must test
the Prophet with all judgment by means of the
prophetic promise ; and having ascertained Him
to be the Prophet, we must undoubtingly follow
the other words of His teaching ; and having
confidence concerning things hoped for, we must
conduct ourselves according to the first judg-
ment, knowing that He who tells us these things
has not a nature to lie. Wherefore, if any of the
things that are afterwards spoken by Him do not
appear to us to be well spoken, we must know
that it is not that it has been spoken amiss, but that
it is that we have not conceived it aright. For
ignorance does not judge knowledge, and so
neither is knowledge competent truly to judge
foreknowledge ; but foreknowledge affords knowl-
edge to the ignorant.
CHAP. XII.
DOCTRINE OF THE TRUE PROPHET.
" Hence, O beloved Clement, if you would
know the things pertaining to God, you have to
learn them from Him alone, because He alone
knows the truth. For if any one else knows any-
Chap. XVII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
231
thing, he has received it from Him or from His
disciples. And this is His doctrine and true
proclamation, that there is one God, whose work
the world is ; who being altogether righteous,
shall certainly at some time render to every one
according to his deeds.
CHAP. XIII. — FUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISH-
MENTS.
" For there is every necessity, that he who
says that God is by His nature righteous, should
believe also that the souls of men are immortal :
for where would be His justice, when some,
having lived piously, have been evil-treated, and
sometimes violently cut off, while others who
have been wholly impious, and have indulged in
luxurious living, have died the common death
of men? Since therefore, without all contradic-
tion, God who is good is also just, He shall not
otherwise be known to be just, unless the soul
after its separation from the body be immortal,
so that the wicked man, being in hell," as having
here received his good things, may there be
punished for his sins ; and the good man, who
has been punished here for his sins, may then, as
in the bosom of the righteous, be constituted an
heir of good things. Since therefore God is
righteous, it is fully evident to us that there is a
judgment, and that souls are immortal.
CHAP. XIV. — RIGHTEOUSNESS AND UNRIGHTEOUS-
NESS.
'" But if any one, according to the opinion of
this Simon the Samaritan, will not admit that
God is just, to whom then can any one ascribe
justice, or the possibility of it? For if the Root
of all have it not, there is every necessity to
think that it must be impossible to find it in
human nature, which is, as it were, the fruit.
And if it is to be found in man, how much more
in God ! But if righteousness can be found no-
where, neither in God nor in man, then neither
can unrighteousness. But there is such a thing
as righteousness, for unrighteousness takes its
name from the existence of righteousness ; for it
is called unrighteousness, when righteousness is
compared with it, and is found to be opposite
to it.
CHAP. XV. — PAIRS.
"Hence therefore God, teaching men with
respect to the truth of existing things, being
Himself one, has distinguished all principles
into pairs and opposites,^ Himself being one
and sole God from the beginning, having made
heaven and earth, day and night, light and fire,
sun and moon, life and death. But man alone
amongst these He made self-controlling, having
' Lit. Hades.
^ Literally, " twofoldly and oppositely." £0n the doctrine of
pairs compare chap. 33, iii. 23, Recognitions, ui. 61. — R.]
a fitness to be either righteous or unrighteous.
To him also he hath varied the figures of com-
binations, placing before him small things first,
and great ones afterwards, such as the world and
eternity. But the world that now is, is tempo-
rary ; that which shall be, is eternal. First is
ignorance, then knowledge. So also has He
arranged the leaders of prophecy. For, since
the present world is female, as a mother bring-
ing forth the souls of her children, but the world
to come is male, as a father receiving his chil-
dren from their mother, therefore in this world
there come a succession of prophets, as being
sons of the world to come, and having knowledge
of men. And if pious men had understood this
mystery, they would never have gone astray, but
even now they should have known that Simon,
who now enthralls all men, is a fellow-worker of
error and deceit. Now, the doctrine of the pro-
phetic rule is as follows.
CHAP. XVI. — man's ways OPPOSITE TO GOD'S.
" As in the beginning God, who is one, like a
right hand and a left, made the heavens first and
then the earth, so also He constituted all the
combinations in order ; but upon men He no
more does this, but varies all the combinations.
For whereas from Him the greater things come
first, and the inferior second, we find the oppo-
site in men — the first worse, and the second
superior. Therefore from Adam, who was made
after the image of God, there sprang first the
unrighteous Cain, and then the righteous Abel.
Again, from him who amongst you is called
Deucalion,^ two forms of spirits were sent forth,
the impure namely, and the pure, first the black
raven, and then the white dove. From Abraham
also, the patriarchs of our nation, two firsts ^
sprang — Ishmael first, then Isaac, who was
blessed of God. And from Isaac himself, in
like manner, there were again two — Esau the
profane, and Jacob the pious. So, first in birth,
as the first born in the world, was the high
priest Aaron, then the lawgiver Moses.
CHAP. XVIL — FIRST THE WORSE, THEN THE
BETTER.
" In like manner, the combination with re-
spect to Elias, which behoved to have come,
has been willingly put off to another time, having
determined to enjoy it conveniently hereafter.5
Wherefore, also, he who was among those born
of woman came first ; then he who was among
3 Noah.
4 For " first " Wieseler conjectures " different," — two different
persons.
5 In this sentence the text is probably corrupted. The general
meaning seems to be, that he does not enter fully at present into the
subject of Elias, or John the Baptist, the greatest of those born of
woman, coming first, and Christ, the greatest among the sons of
men, coming after, but that he will return to the subject on a fitting
occasion.
232
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily II.
the sons of men came second It were possi-
ble, following this order, to perceive to what
series Simon belongs, who came before me to
the Gentiles, and to which I belong who have
come after him, and have come in upon him as
light upon darkness, as knowledge upon igno-
rance, as healing upon disease. And thus, as
the true Prophet has told us, a false prophet
must first come from some deceiver ; and then,
in like manner, after the removal of the holy
place, the true Gospel must be secretly sent
abroad for the rectification of the heresies that
shall be. After this, also, towards the end, Anti-
christ must first come, and then our Jesus must
be revealed to be indeed the Christ ; and after
this, the eternal light having sprung up, all the
things of darkness must disappear.
CHAP. XVIII. — MISTAKE ABOUT SIMON MAGUS.
" Since, then, as I said, some men do not
know the rule of combination, thence they do
not know who is my precursor Simon. For if
he were known, he would not be believed ; but
now, not being known, he is improperly believed ;
and though his deeds are those of a hater, he
is loved ; and though an enemy, he is received
as a friend ; and though he be death, he is de-
sired as a saviour ; and though fire, he is es-
teemed as light ; and though a deceiver, he is
believed as a speaker of truth."
Then I Clement, when I heard this, said,
" Who then, I pray you, is this who is such a
deceiver? I should like to be informed." Then
said Peter : " If you wish to learn, it is in your
power to know it from those from whom I also
got accurate information on all points respecting
him.
CHAP. XIX. — JUSTA, A PROSELYTE.
"There is amongst us one Justa, a Syro-Phoe-
nician, by race a Canaanite, whose daughter was
oppressed with a grievous disease.' And she
came to our Lord, crying out, and entreating
that He would heal her daughter. But He,
being asked also by us, said, ' It is not lawful to
heal the Gentiles, who are like to dogs on ac-
count of their using various ^ meats and prac-
tices, while the table in the kingdom has been
given to the sons of Israel.' But she, hearing
this, and begging to partake like a dog of the
crumbs that fall from this table, having changed
what she was,^ by living like the sons of the
kingdom, she obtained healing for her daughter,
as she asked. For she being a Gentile, and
remaining in the same course of life. He would
' [Chaps. IQ-2I are pecniiar to the Homilies^ though in the
Recognitions, vii. 32, Justa is named as having purchased and edu-
cated Niceta and Aquila. — R.]
^ For 6ia06pois Duncker proposes d8ta06pois, " meats without
distinction."
3 That is, having ceased to be a Gentile, by abstaining from for-
bidden foods.
not have healed had she remained a Gentile, on
account of its not being lawful to heal her as a
Gentile."*
CHAP. XX. — DIVORCED FOR THE FAITH.
" She, therefore, having taken up a manner of
life according to the law, was, with the daughter
who had been healed, driven out from her home
by her husband, whose sentiments were opposed
to ours. But she, being faithful to her engage-
ments, and being in affluent circumstances, re-
mained a widow herself, but gave her daughter
in marriage to a certain man who was attached
to the true faith, and who was poor. And, ab-
staining from marriage for the sake of her daugh-
ter, she bought two boys and educated them,
and had them in place of sons. And they being
educated from their boyhood with Simon Magus,
have learned all things concerning him. For
such was their friendship, that they were associ-
ated with him in all things in which he wished
to unite with them.
CHAP. XXI. — JUSTA'S ADOPTED SONS, ASSOCIATES
WITH SIMON.
" These men having fallen in with Zacchseus,
who sojourned here, and having received the
word of truth from him, and having repented of
their former innovations, and immediately de-
nouncing Simon as being privy with him in all
things, as soon as I came to sojourn here, they
came to me with their foster-mother, being pre-
sented to me by him, Zacchceus, and ever since
they continue with me, enjoying instructions in
the truth." When Peter had said this, he sent
for them, and charged them that they should
accurately relate to me all things concerning
Simon. And they, having called God to witness
that in nothing they would falsify, proceeded with
the relation.
CHAP. XXII. — DOCTRINES OF SIMON.
First Aquila began to speak in this wise :
" Listen, O dearest brother, that you may know
accurately everything about this man, whose he
is, and what, and whence ; and what the things are
which he does, and how and why he does them. 5
This Simon is the son of Antonius and Rachel,
a Samaritan by race, of the village of Gitthae,
which is six schoeni distant from the city. He
having disciplined himself greatly in Alexandria,^
and being very powerful in magic, and being
ambitious, wishes to be accounted a certain su-
preme power, greater even than the God who
created the world. And sometimes intimating
■• There are several various readings in this sentence, and none
of them can be strictly construed: but the general sense is obvious.
5 [For the parallel account of Simon, given also by Aquila, see
Recognitioits, 11. j-i^. — ^.^
6 The Vatican MS. adds, " which is in Egypt (or, on the Nile), in
Greek culture."
Chap. XXVI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
233
that he is Christ, he styles himself the Standing
One.' And this epithet he employs, as intimat-
ing that he shall always stand, and as not having
any cause of corruption so that his body should
fall. And he neither says that the God who
created the world is the Supreme, nor does he
believe that the dead will be raised. He rejects
Jerusalem, and substitutes Mount Gerizzim for
it. Instead of our Christ, he proclaims himself.
The things of the law he explains by his own
presumption ; and he says, indeed, that there
is to be a judgment, but he does not expect it.
For if he were persuaded that he shall be judged
by God, he would not dare be impious towards
God Himself. Whence some not knowing that,
using religion as a cloak, he spoils the things of
the truth, and faithfully believing the hope and
the judgment which in some way he says are to
be, are ruined.
CHAP. XXIII. — SIMON A DISCIPLE OF THE BAP-
TIST.
"But that he came to deal with the doctrines
of religion happened on this wise. There was
one John, a day-baptist,^ who was also, accord-
ing to the method of combination, the forerun-
ner of our Lord Jesus ; and as the Lord had
twelve apostles, bearing the number of the twelve
months of the sun, so also \\t,John, had thirty
chief men, fulfilling the monthly reckoning of the
moon, in which number was a certain woman
called Helena,^ that not even this might be with-
out a dispensational significance. For a woman,
being half a mau, made up the imperfect num-
ber of the triacontad ; as also in the case of the
moon, whose revolution does not make the com-
plete course of the month."* But of these thirty,
the first and the most esteemed by John was
Simon ; and the reason of his not being chief
after the death of John was as follows : —
CHAP. XXIV. — ELECTIONEERING STRATAGEMS.
" He being absent in Egypt for the practice
of magic, and John being killed, Dositheus de-
siring the leadership, 5 falsely gave out that Simon
was dead, and succeeded to the seat. But Si-
mon, returning not long after, and strenuously
holding by the place as his own, when he met
with Dositheus did not demand the place, know-
ing that a man who has attained power beyond
his expectations cannot be removed from it.
Wherefore with pretended friendship he gives
himself for a while to the second place, under
Dositheus. But taking his place after a few days
among the thirty fellow-disciples, he began to
' [Comp. Recognitions, i. 72. — R]
^ A day-b.Tptist is l.Tken to mean " one who baptizes every day."
3 [Called " Luna " in the Recognitions. — R. |
* [Peculiar, in this detailed form, to the Hotnilics. — R.]
S [Compare the varied account in Recognit iotis , ii. 8. — R.]
malign Dositheus as not delivering the instruc-
tions correctly. And this he said that he did,
not through unwillingness to deliver them cor-
rectly, but through ignorance. And on one
occasion, Dositheus, perceiving that this artful
accusation of Simon was dissipating the opinion
of him with respect to many, so that they did
not think that he was the Standing One, came in
a rage to the usual place of meeting, and finding
Simon, struck him with a staff. But it seemed
to pass through the body of Simon as if he had
been smoke. Thereupon Dositheus, being con-
founded, said to him, ' If you are the Standing
One, I also will worship you.' Then Simon said
that he was ; and Dositheus, knowing that he
himself was not the Standing One, fell down and
worshipped ; and associating himself with the
twenty-nine chiefs, he raised Simon to his own
place of repute ; and thus, not many days after,
Dositheus himself, while he (Simon) stood, fell
down and died.
CHAP. XXV.
SIMON S DECEIT.
" But Simon is going about in company with
Helena, and even till now, as you see, is stirring
up the people. And he says that he has brought
down this Helena from the highest heavens to
the world ; being queen, as the all-bearing being,
and wisdom, for whose sake, says he, the Greeks
and barbarians fought, having before their eyes
but an image of truth ; ^ for she, who really is the
truth, was then with the chiefest god. More-
over, by cunningly explaining certain things of
this sort, made up from Grecian myths, he de-
ceives many ; especially as he performs many
signal marvels, so that if we did not know that he
does these things by magic, we ourselves should
also have been deceived. But whereas we were
his fellow-labourers at the first, so long as he did
such things without doing wrong to the interests
of religion ; now that he has madly begun to at-
tempt to deceive those who are religious, we
have withdrawn from him.
CHAP. XXVI. — HIS WICKEDNESS.
" For he even began to commit murder,^ as
himself disclosed to us, as a friend to friends,
that, having separated the soul of a child from
its own body by horrid incantations, as his as-
sistant for the exhibition of anything that he
pleased, and having drawn the likeness of the
boy, he has it set up in the inner room where
he sleeps, saying that he once formed the boy
of air, by divine arts, and having painted his like-
ness, he gave him back again to the air. And
6 We have here an allusion to the tradition that it was only an
image of Helen that was taken to Troy, and not the real Helen her-
self.
7 [With the account of Simon's doings in chaps. 26-32 compare
Recognitions, ii. 9, 10, 13-15; iii. 47. — R.]
234
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily II.
he explains that he did the deed thus. He says
that the first soul of man, being turned into the
nature of heat, drew to itself, and sucked in the
surrounding air, after the fashion of a gourd ; '
and then that he changed it into water, when it
was within the form of the spirit ; and he said
that he changed into the nature of blood the air
that was in it, which could not be poured out on
account of the consistency of the spirit, and that
he made the blood solidified into flesh ; then,
the flesh being thus consolidated, that he ex-
hibited a man not made from earth, but from
air. And thus, having persuaded himself that
he was able to make a new sort of man, he said
that he reversed the changes,, and again restored
him to the air. And when he told this to others,
he was believed ; but by us who were present
at his ceremonies he was religiously disbelieved.
Wherefore we denounced his impieties, and with-
drew from him."
CHAP. XXVII. — HIS PROMISES.
When Aquila had thus spoken, his brother
Nicetas said : " It is necessary, O Clement our
brother, for me to mention what has been left
out by Aquila. For, in the first place, God is
witness that we assisted him in no impious
work, but that we looked on while he wrought ;
and as long as he did harmless things, and ex-
hibited them, we were also pleased. But when,
in order to deceive the godly, he said that he
did, by means of godhead, the things that were
done by magic, we no longer endured him,
though he made us many promises, especially
that our statues should be thought worthy of a
place in the temple,^ and that we should be
thought to be gods, and should be worshipped
by the multitude, and should be honoured by
kings, and should be thought worthy of public
honours, and enriched with boundless wealth.
CHAP. XXVIII. — FRUITLESS COUNSEL.
" These things, and things reckoned greater
than these, he promised us, on condition only
that we should associate with him, and keep si-
lence as to the wickedness of his undertaking, so
that the scheme of his deceit might succeed.
But still we would not consent, but even coun-
selled him to desist from such madness, saying
to him : ' We, O Simon, remembering our friend-
ship towards you from our childhood, and out
of affection for you, give you good counsel. De-
sist from this attempt. You cannot be a God.
Fear Him who is really God. Know that you
are a man, and that the time of your life is short ;
and though you should get great riches, or even
become a king, few things accrue to the short
time of your life for enjoyment, and things wick-
edly gotten soon flee away, and procure ever-
lasting punishment for the adventurer. Where-
fore we counsel you to fear God, by whom the
soul of every one must be judged for the deeds
that he hath done here.'
CHAP. XXIX. — IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.
" When he heard this he laughed ; and when
we asked him why he laughed at us for giving
him good counsel, he answered : ' I laugh at
your foolish supposition, because you believe
that the soul of man is immortal.' Then I said :
' We do not wonder, O Simon, at your attempt-
ing to deceive us, but we are confounded at the
way in which you deceive even yourself. Tell
me, O Simon, even if no one else has been fully
convinced that the soul is immortal, at all events
you and we ought to be so : you as having sepa-
rated one from a human body, and conversed
with it, and laid your commands upon it ; and
we as having been present, and heard your com-
mands, and clearly witnessed the performance
of what was ordered.' • Then said Simon : * I
know what you mean ; but you know nothing
of the matters concerning which yoy reason.'
Then said Nicetas : ' If you know, speak ; but
if you do not know, do not suppose that we can
be deceived by your saying that you know, and ^
that we do not. For we are not so childish, that
you can sow in us a shrewd suspicion that we
should think that you know some unutterable
things, and so that you should t«.ke and hold us
in subjection, by holding us in restraint through
means of desire.'
' Which was used by the ancients as cupping-glasses are now
used.
2 The Vatican MS. and Epitome read, " that a shrine and statues
should be erected in honour of us."
CHAP. XXX.
AN ARGUMENT.
" Then Simon said : ' I am aware that you
know that I separated a soul from a human body ;
but I know that you are ignorant that it is not
the soul of the dead person that ministers to me,
for it does not exist ; but a certain demon works,
pretending to be the soul.' Then said Nicetas :
' Many incredible things we have heard in our
lifetime, but aught more senseless than this
speech we do not expect ever to hear. For if a
demon pretends to be the soul of the dead per-
son, what is the use of the soul at all, that it
should be separated from the body? Were
not we ourselves present, and heard you conjur-
ing the soul from the body ? And how comes
it' that, when one is conjured, another who is not
conjured obeys, as if it were frightened? And
you yourself, when at any time we have asked
you why the conferences sometimes cease, did
not you say that the soul, having fulfilled the
time upon earth which it was to have passed in
the body, goes to Hades ? And you added, that
Chap. XXXVI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
235
the souls of those who commit suicide are not
easily permitted to come, because, having gone
home into Hades, they are guarded.' "
CHAP. XXXI. — A DILEMMA,
Nicetas having thus spoken, Aquila himself in
turn said : " This only should I wish to learn of
you, Simon, whether it is the soul or whether it
is a demon that is conjured : what is it afraid
of, that it does not despise the conjuration?
Then Simon said : ' It knows that it should
suffer punishment if it were disobedient.' Then
said Aquila : 'Therefore, if the soul comes when
conjured, there is also a judgment. If, there-
fore, souls are immortal, assuredly there is also a
judgment. As you say, then, that those which
are conjured on wicked business are punished
if they disobey, how are you not afraid to com-
pel them, when those that are compelled are
punished for disobedience ? For it is not won-
derful that you do not already suffer for your
doings, seeing the judgment has not yet come,
when you are to suffer the penalty of those
deeds which you have compelled others to do,
and when that which has been done under com-
pulsion shall be pardoned, as having been out
of respect for the oath which led to the evil ac-
tion.' ' And he hearing this was enraged, and
threatened death to us if we did not keep silence
as to his doings."
CHAP. XXXII.
SIMON S PRODIGIES.
Aquila having thus spoken, I Clement in-
quired : " What, then, are the prodigies that he
works?" And they told me that he makes
statues walk, and that he rolls himself on the
fire, and is not burnt ; and sometimes he flies ;
and he makes loaves of stones ; he becomes
a serpent ; he transforms himself into a goat ;
he becomes two-faced ; he changes himself into
gold ; he opens lockfast gates ; he melts iron ;
at banquets he produces images of all manner of
forms. In his house he makes dishes be seen
as borne of themselves to wait upon him, no
bearers being seen. I wondered when I heard
them speak thus ; but many bore witness that
they had been present, and had seen such things.
CHAP. XXXIII. — DOCTRINE OF PAIRS.
These things having been thus spoken, the ex-
cellent Peter himself also proceeded to speak : ^
" You must perceive, brethren, the truth of the
rule of conjunction, from which he who departs
not cannot be misled. For since, as we have
said, we see all things in pairs and contraries,
and as the night is first, and then the day ; and
' The Latin translates: " as having preferred the oath to the evil
action "
2 [Chaps. 33, 34, find a parallel in Recognitions, iii. 59, 60, at the
close of the discussion with Simon. — R. j
first ignorance, then knowledge ; first disease,
then healing, so the things of error come first
into our life, then truth supervenes, as the physi-
cian upon the disease. Therefore straightway,
when our God-loved nation was about to be
ransomed from the oppression of the Egyptians,
first diseases were produced by means of the
rod turned into a serpent, which was given to
Aaron, and then remedies were superinduced
by the prayers of Moses. And now also, when
the Gentiles are about to be ransomed from the
superstition with respect to idols, wickedness,
which reigns over them, has by anticipation
sent forth her ally like another serpent, even
this Simon whom you see, who works wonders
to astonish and deceive, not signs of healing to
convert and save. Wherefore it behoves you
also from the miracles that are done to judge
the doers, what is the character of the performer,
and what that of the deed. If he do unprofit-
able miracles, he is the agent of wickedness ;
but if he do profitable things, he is a leader of
goodness.
CHAP. XXXIV. — USELESS AND PHILANTHROPIC
MIRACLES.
" Those, then, are useless signs, which you say
that Simon did. But I say that the making statues
walk, and rolling himself on burning coals, and
becoming a dragon, and being changed into a
goat, and flying in the air, and all such things,
not being for the healing of man, are of a na-
ture to deceive many. But the miracles of com-
passionate truth are philanthropic, such as you
have heard that the Lord did, and that I after
Him accomplish by my prayers ; at which most
of you have been present, some being freed from
all kinds of diseases, and some from demons,
some having their hands restored, and some
their feet, some recovering their eyesight, and
some their hearing, and whatever else a man can
do, being of a philanthropic spirit."
CHAP. XXXV. — DISCUSSION POSTPONED.
When Peter had thus spoken, towards dawn
Zacch?eus entered and saluted us, and said to
Peter : " Simon puts off the inquiry till to-mor-
row ; for to-day is his Sabbath, which occurs
at intervals of eleven days." To him Peter
answered : " Say to Simon, ^Vhenever thou
wishest ; and know thou that we are always in
readiness to meet thee, by divine providence,
when thou desirest." And Zacchieus hearing
this, went out to return the answer.
CHAP. XXXVI. — ALL FOR THE BEST.
But he (Peter) saw me disheartened, and
asked the reason ; and being told that it pro-
ceeded from no cause but the postponement of
236
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily II.
the inquiry,' he said : " He who has apprehended
that the world is regulated by the good provi-
dence of God, O beloved Clement, is not vexed
by things howsoever occurring, considering that
things take their course advantageously under
the providence of the Ruler. Whence, know-
ing that He is just, and hving with a good con-
science, he knows how by right reason to shake
off from his soul any annoyance that befalls him,
because, when complete, it must come to some
unknown good. Now then, let not Simon the
magician's postponement of the inquiry grieve
you ; for perhaps it has happened from the prov-
idence of God for your profit. Wherefore I
shall not scruple to speak to you as being my
special friend.
CHAP. XXXVII. — SPIES IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP.
" Some 2 of our people attend feignedly upon
Simon as companions, as if they were persuaded
by his most atheistic error, in order that they
may learn his purpose and disclose it to us, so
that we may be able to encounter this terrible
man on favourable terms. And now I have
learned from them what arguments he is going
to employ in the discussion. And knowing this,
I give thanks to God on the one hand, and I
congratulate you on the other, on the postpone-
ment of the discussion ; for you, being instructed
by me before the discussion, of the arguments
that are to be used by him for the destruction
of the ignorant, will be able to listen without
danger of falling.
CHAP. XXXVIII. — CORRUPTION OF THE LAW.
'' For the Scriptures have had joined to them
many falsehoods against God on this account.
The prophet Moses having by the order of God
delivered the law, with the explanations, to cer-
tain chosen men, some seventy in number, in
order that they also might instruct such of the
people as chose, after a little the written law had
added to it certain falsehoods contrary to the
law of God,^ who made the heaven and the
earth, and all things in them ; the wicked one
having dared to work this for some righteous
purpose. And this took place in reason and
judgment, that those might be convicted who
should dare to listen to the things written
against God, and those who, through love to-
wards Him, should not only disbelieve the things
spoken against Him, but should not even endure
to hear them at all, even if they should happen
to be true, judging it much safer to incur dan-
ger with respect to religious faith, than to live
with an evil conscience on account of blasphe-
mous words.
CHAP. XXXIX. — TACTICS.
" Simon, therefore, as I learn, intends to come
into public, and to speak of those chapters
against God that are added to the Scriptures, for
the sake of temptation, that he may seduce as
many wretched ones as he can from the love
of God. For we do not wish to say in public
that these chapters are added to the Bible, since
we should thereby perplex the unlearned multi-
tudes, and so accomplish the purpose of this
wicked Simon. For they not having yet the pow-
er of discerning, would flee from us as impious ;
or, as if not only the blasphemous chapters were
false, they would even withdraw from the word.
W'herefore we are under a necessity of assenting
to the false chapters, and putting questions in
return to him concerning them, to draw him into
a strait, and to give in private an explanation of
the chapters that are spoken against God to the
well-disposed after a trial of their faith ; and of
this there is but one way, and that a brief one.
It is this.+
CHAP. XL. — PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTION.
" Everything that is spoken or written against
God is false. But that we say this truly, not
only for the sake of reputation, but for the sake
of truth, I shall convince you when my discourse
has proceeded a little further. Whence you, ray
most beloved Clement, ought not to be sorry at
Simon's having interposed a day between this
and the discussion. For to-day, before the dis-
cussion, you shall be instructed concerning the
chapters added to the Scriptures ; and then in
the discussion concerning the only one and good
God, the Maker also of the world, you ought not
to be distracted. But in the discussion you will
even wonder how impious men, overlooking the
multitudes of things that are spoken in the Scrip-
tures for God, and looking at those that are
spoken against Him, gladly bring these forward ;
and thus the hearers, by reason of ignorance, be-
lieving the things against God, become outcasts
from His kingdom. Wherefore you, by advan-
tage of the postponement, learning the mystery
of the Scriptures, and gaining the means of noX.
sinning against God, will incomparably rejoice."
' rComp. Recognitions, i. 21. — R.]
^ [From chap. 27 to iii. 28 the matter is peculiar to the Homilies.
The views stated are obviously coloured by the Gnostic Ebionism of
the author. — R.]
3 The Vatican MS. reads: " against the only God."
CHAP. XLI.
•ASKING FOR INFORMATION, NOT
CONTRADICTION.
Then I Clement, hearing this, said : " Truly
I rejoice, and I give thanks to God, who in all
things doeth well. However, he knows that I
shall be able to think nothing other than that all
■» [This view of the Scriptures, as held by Peter, is one of the
marked characteristics of the Homilies. — R.]
Chap. XLVIL]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
237
things are for God. Wherefore do not suppose
that I ask questions, as doubting the words con-
cerning God/ or those that are to be spoken,
but rather that I may learn, and so be able my-
self to instruct another who is ingenuously willing
to learn. Wherefore tell me what are the false-
hoods added to the Scriptures, and how it comes
that they are really false." Then Peter answered :
" Even although you had not asked me, I should
have gone on in order, and afforded you the ex-
position of these matters, as I promised. Learn,
then, how the Scriptures misrepresent Him in
many respects, that you may know when you
happen upon them.
CHAP. XLII. — RIGHT NOTIONS OF GOD ESSENTIAL
TO HOLINESS.
"But what I am going to tell you will be suffi-
cient by way of example. But I do not think,
my dear Clement, that any one who possesses
ever so little love to God and ingenuousness,
will be able to take in, or even to hear, the j
things that are spoken against Him. For how
is it that he can have a monarchic ^ soul, and be
holy, who supposes that there are many gods, and
not one only? But even if there be but one,
who will cherish zeal to be holy, that finds in Him
many defects, since he will hope that the Be-
ginning of all things, by reason of the defects of
his own nature, will not visit the crimes of others?
CHAP. XLIII. — A PRIORI ARGUMENT ON THE DI-
VINE ATTRIBUTES.
" Wherefore, far be it from us to believe that
the Lord of all, who made the heaven and the
earth, and all things that are in them, shares
His government with others, or that He hes.
For if He hes, then who speaks truth? Or
that He makes experiments as in ignorance ; for
then who foreknows? And if He deliberates,
and changes His purpose, who is perfect in un-
derstanding and permanent in design? If He
envies, who is above rivalry? If He hardens
hearts, who makes wise? If He makes blind
and deaf, who has given sight and hearing? If
He commits pilfering, who administers justice?
If He mocks, who is sincere ? If He is weak,
who is omnipotent? If He is unjust, who is
just? If He makes evil things, who shall make
good things? If He does evil, who shall do
good?
CHAP. XLIV. — THE SAME CONTINUED.
" But if He desires the fruitful hill,' whose
then are all things ? If He is false, who then is
' The text has vno, " by," which has been altered into iirip. Da-
vis would read crov, " by yon."
2 Cotelerius doubts whether this expression means a soul ruling
over his body, or a soul disposed to favour monarchical rule. The for-
mer explanation seems to us more probable.
3 Wieseler considers this corrupt, and amends: " if He desires
more."
true ? If He dwells in a tabernacle, who is with-
out bounds ? If He is fond of fat, and sacrifices,
and offerings, and drink-offerings, who then is
without need, and who is holy, and pure, and
perfect? If He is pleased with candles and can-
dlesticks, who then placed the luminaries in
heaven? If He dwells in shadow, and darkness,
and storm, and smoke, who is the light that
hghtens the universe ? If He comes with trum-
pets, and shoutings, and darts, and arrows, who
is the looked-for tranquillity of all ? If He loves
war, who then wishes peace ? If He makes evil
things, who makes good things ? If He is without
affection, who is a lover of men ? If He is not
faithful to His promises, who shall be trusted?
If He loves the wicked, and adulterers, and mur-
derers, who shall be a just judge ? If He changes
His mind, who is stedfast? If He chooses evil
men, who then takes the part of the good ?
CHAP. XLV. — HOW GOD IS TO BE THOUGHT OF.
" Wherefore, Clement, my son, beware of
thinking otherwise of God, than that He is the
only God, and Lord, and Father, good and right-
eous, the Creator, long-suffering, merciful, the sus-
tainer, the benefactor, ordaining love of men,
counselling purity, immortal and making immor-
tal, incomparable, dwelling in the souls of the
good, that cannot be contained and yet is con-
tained,'^ who has fixed the great world as a cen-
tre in space, who has spread out the heavens and
solidified the earth, who has stored up the water,
who has disposed the stars in the sky, who has
made the fountains flow in the earth, has pro-
duced fruits, has raised up mountains, hath set
bounds to the sea, has ordered winds and blasts,
who by the spirit of counsel has kept safely the
body comprehended in a boundless sea.
CHAP. XLVI. — JUDGMENT TO COME.
" This is our Judge, to whom it behoves us to
look, and to regulate our own souls, thinking all
things^in His favour, speaking well of Him, per-
suaded that by His long-suffering He brings to
light the obstinacy of all, and is alone good. And
He, at the end of all, shall sit as a just Judge
upon every one of those who have attempted
what they ought not."
CHAP. XLVII. — A PERTINENT QUESTION.
When I Clement heard this, I said, " Truly,
this is a godliness ; truly this is piety." And
again I said : "I would learn, therefore, why the
Bible has written anything of this sort? For I
remember that you said that it was for the con-
* The Latin has here, " imperceptus et perceptus; " but Wieseler
points out that ytopou/jfi'o? has reference to God's dwelling in the
souls of tlie good, and thus He is contained by them.
2 -.8
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily II.
viction of those who should dare to beheve any-
thing that was spoken against God. But since
you permit us, .we venture to ask, at your com-
mand : If any one, most beloved Peter, should
choose to say to us, 'The Scriptures are true, al-
though to you the things spoken against God
seem to be false,' how should we answer him ? "
CHAP. XLVIII. — A PARTICULAR CASE.
Then Peter answered : " You speak well in
your inquiry ; for it will be for your safety. There-
fore listen : Since there are many things that are
spoken by the Scriptures against God, as time
presses on account of the evening, ask with re-
spect to any one matter that you please, and I
will explain it, showing that it is false, not only
because it is spoken against God, but because it
is really false." Then I answered: 'T wish to
learn how, when the Scriptures say that God is
ignorant, you can show that He knows?"
CHAP. XLIX.^REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM.
Then Peter answered : " You have presented
us with a matter that can easily be answered.
However, listen, how God is ignorant of nothing,
but even foreknows. But first answer me what I
ask of you. He who wrote the Bible, and told
how the world was made, and said that God does
not foreknow, was he a man or not?" Then I
said : " He was a man." Then Peter answered :
"How, then, was it possible for him, being a
man, to know assuredly how the world was made,
and that God does not foreknow? "
CHAP. L. — A SATISFACTORY ANSWER.
Then I, already perceiving the explanation,
smiled, and said that he was a prophet. And
Peter said : " If, then, he was a prophet, being a
man, he was ignorant of nothing, by reason of
his having received foreknowledge from God ;
how then, should He, who gave to man the gift
of foreknowledge, being God, Himself be igno-
rant?" And I said : "You have spoken rightly."
Then Peter said : " Come with me one step fur-
ther. It being acknowledged by us that God
foreknows all things, there is every necessity that
the scriptures are false which say that He is ig-
norant, and those are true which say that He
knows." Then said I : 'Tt must needs be so."
CHAP. LI.
WEIGH IN THE BALANCE.
Then Peter said : " If, therefore, some of the
Scriptures are true and some false, with good
reason said our Master, ' Be ye good money-
changers,' ' inasmuch as in the Scriptures there
are some true sayings and some spurious. And
to those who err by reason of the false scriptures
He fitly showed the cause of their error, saying,
'Ye do therefore err, not knowing the true things
of the Scriptures ; ^ for this reason ye are igno-
rant also of the power of God.' " Then said I :
" Vou have spoken very excellently."
CHAP. LII. — SINS OF THE SAINTS DENIED.
Then Peter answered : "Assuredly, with good
reason, I neither believe anything against God,
nor against the just men recorded in the law,
taking for granted that they are impious imagi-
nations. For, as I am persuaded, neither was
Adam a transgressor, who was fashioned by the
hands of God ; nor was Noah drunken, who was
found righteous above all the world ; ^ nor did
Abraham live with three wives at once, who, on
account of his sobriety, was thought worthy of a
numerous posterity ; nor-did Jacob associate with
four — of whom two were sisters — ^,who was the
father of the twelve tribes, and who intimated
the coming of the presence of our Master ; nor
was Moses a murderer, nor did he learn to judge
from an idolatrous priest — he who set forth the
law of God to all the world, and for his right
judgment has been testified to as a faithful
steward.
CHAP. LIII. — CLOSE OF THE CONFERENCE.
"But of these and such like things I shall
afford you an explanation in due time. But for
the rest, since, as you see, the evening has come
upon us, let what has been said be enough for
to-day. But whenever you wish, and about
whatever you wish, ask boldly of us, and we
shall gladly explain it at once." Thus having
spoken, he rose up. And then, having partaken
of food, we turned to sleep, for the night had
come upon us.
' This is quoted three times in the Homilies as a saying of our
Lord, viz., here and in Homily III. chap. 50, and Homily XVIII.
chap. 20. It is probably taken from one of the apocryphal Gospels.
In Homily XVIII. chap. 20 the meaning is shown to be, that as it is
the part of a money-changer to distinguish spurious coins from genu-
ine, so it is the part of a Christian to distinguish false statemento from
true.
- A corruption of the texts, Matt. xxii. 29, Mark xii. 24.
.5 Gen. vii. i.
Chap. VI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
239
HOMILY III.
CHAP. I.
THE MORNING OF THE DISCUSSION.
Two days, therefore, having elapsed, and while
the third was dawning, I Clement, and the rest
of our companions, being roused about the sec-
ond cock-crowing, in order to the discussion with
Simon, found the lamp still alight, and Peter
kneeling in prayer. Therefore, having finished
his supplication, and turning round, and seeing
us in readiness to hear, he said : ' —
CHAP. II. — Simon's design.
" I wish you to know that those who, accord-
ing to our arrangement, associate with Simon
that they may learn his intentions, and submit
them to us, so that we may be able to cope with
his variety of wickedness, these men have sent
to me, and informed me that Simon to-day is, as
he arranged, prepared to come before all, and
show from the Scriptures that He who made the
heaven and the earth, and all things in them, is
not the Supreme God, but that there is another,
unknown and supreme, as being in an unspeaka-
ble manner God of gods ; and that He sent two
gods, one of whom is he who made the world,
and the other he who gave the law. And these
things he contrives to say, that he may dissipate
the right faith of those who would worship the
one and only God who made heaven and earth.
CHAP. III. — HIS OBJECT.
" When L heard this, how was I not disheart-
ened ! Wherefore I wished you also, my breth-
ren, who associate with me, to know that I am
beyond measure grieved in my soul, seeing the
wicked one awake for the temptation of men,
and men wholly indifferent about their own sal-
vation. For to those from amongst the Gentiles
who were about being persuaded respecting the
earthly images that they are no gods, he has
contrived to" bring in opinions of many other
gods, in order that, if they cease from the poly-
theo-mania, they may be deceived to speak
otherwise, and even worse thati they now do,
against the sole government of God, so that they
may not yet value the truths connected with that
monarchy, and may never be able to obtain
mercy. And for the sake of this attempt Simon
comes to do battle with us, armed with the false
chapters of the Scriptures. And what is more
dreadful, he is not afraid to dogmatize thus
against the true God from the prophets whom
he does not in fact believe.
' [The first twenty-eight chapters of this homily have no exact
pari)lel in the Recognitions ; much of the matter is peculiar to this
work. — K.J
CHAP. IV. — SNARES LAID FOR THE GENTILES.
" And with us, indeed, who have had handed
down from our forefathers the worship of the
God who made all things, and also the mystery
of the books which are able to deceive, he will
not prevail ; but with those from amongst the
Gentiles who have the polytheistic fancy bred in
them, and who know not the falsehoods of the
Scriptures, he will prevail much. And not only
he ; but if any other shall recount to those from
among the Gentiles any vain, dreamlike, richly
set out story against God, he will be believed,
because from their childhood their minds are
accustomed to take in things spoken against
God. And {^w there shall be of them, as a few
out of a multitude, who through ingenuousness
shall not be willing so much as to hear an evil
wordl against the God who made all things. And
to these alone from amongst the Gentiles it shall
be vouchsafed to be saved. Let not any one of
you, therefore, altogether complain of Simon, or
of any one else ; for nothing happens unjustly,
since even the falsehoods of Scripture are with
good reason presented for a test."
CHAP. V. — USE OF ERRORS.
Then I Clement, hearing this, said : " How
say you, my lord, that even the falsehoods of the
Scriptures are set forth happily for the proof of
men? " And he answered : "The falsehoods of
the Scriptures have been permitted to be written
for a certain righteous reason, at the demand of
evil. And when I say happily, I mean this : In
the account of God, the wicked one, not loving
God less than the good one, is exceeded by the
good in this one thing only, that he, not par-
doning those who are impious on account of
ignorance, through love towards that which is
profound, desires the destruction of the impious ;
but the good one desires to present them with a
remedy. For the good one desires all to be
healed by repentance, but saves those only who
know God. But those who know Him not He
does not heal : not that He does not wish to do
so, but because it is not lawful to afford to those
who, through want of judgment, are like to irra-
tional animals, the good things which have been
prepared for the children of the kingdom.
CHAP. VI. — PURGATORY AND HELL.
" Such is the nature of the one and only God,
who made the world, and who created us, and
who has given us all things, that as long as any
one is within the hmit of piety, and does not
240
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily III.
blaspheme His Holy Spirit, through His love
towards him He brings the soul to Himself by
reason of His love towards it. And although it
be sinful, it is His nature to save it, after it has
been suitably punished for the deeds it hath
done. But if anyone shall deny Him, or in any
other way be guilty of impiety against Him, and
then shall repent, he shall be punished indeed
for the sins he hath committed against Him, but
he shall be saved, because he turned and lived.
And perhaps excessive piety and supplication
shall even be delivered from punishment, igno-
rance being admitted as a reason for the pardon
of sin after repentance.' But those who do not
repent shall be destroyed by the punishment of
fire, even though in all other things they are
most holy. But, as I said, at an appointed time
a fifth ^ part, being punished with eternal fire,
shall be consumed. For they cannot endure
for ever who have been impious against the one
God.
CHAP. VII. — WHAT IS IMPIETY?
" But impiety against Him is, in the matter of
religion, to die saying there is another God,
whether superior or inferior, or in any way say-
ing that there is one besides Him who really is.
For He who truly is, is He whose form the body
of man bears ; for whose sake the heaven and
all the stars, though in their essence superior,
submit to serve him who is in essence inferior,
on account of the form of the Ruler. So much
has God blessed man above all, in order that,
loving the Benefactor in proportion to the mul-
titude of His benefits, by means of this love he
may be saved for the world to come.
CHAP. VIII.
WILES OF THE DEVIL.
" Therefore the love of men towards God is
sufficient for salvation. And this the wicked
one knows ; and while we are hastening to sow
the love towards Him which makes immortal
in the souls of those who from among the Gentiles
are ready to believe in the one and only God,
this wicked one, having sufficient armour against
the ignorant for their destruction, hastens to sow
the supposition of many gods, or at least of one
greater, in order that men, conceiving and being
persuaded of what is not wisdom, may die, as in
the crime of adultery, and be cast out from His
kingdom.
CHAP. IX. — UNCERTAINTY OF THE SCRIPTURES.
" Worthy, therefore, of rejection is every one who
is willing so much as to hear anything against the
monarchy of God ; but if any one dares to hear
anything against God, as trusting in the Scrip-
tures, let him first of all consider with me that
I The text manifestly corrupt.
^ Perhaps, rather, " the greater part."
if any one, as he pleases, form a dogma agree-
able to himself, and then carefully search the
Scriptures, he will be able to produce many tes-
timonies from them in favour of the dogma that
he has formed. How, then, can confidence be
placed in them against God, when what every
man wishes is found in them ?
CHAP. X. — Simon's intention.
"Therefore Simon, who is going to discuss
in public with us to-morrow, is bold against the
monarchy of God, wishing to produce many
statements from these Scriptures, to the effect
that there are many gods, and a certain one who
is not He who made this world, but who is supe-
rior to Him ; and, at the same time, he is going
to offer many scriptural proofs. But we also can
easily show many passages from them that He
who made the world alone is God, and that
there is none other besides Him. But if any
one shall wish to speak, otherwise, he also shall
be able to produce proofs from them at his
pleasure. For the Scriptures say all manner of
things, that no one of those who inquire un-
gratefully may find the truth, but shnp/y what
he wishes to find, the truth being reserved for
the grateful ; now gratitude is to preserve our
love to Him who is the cause of our being.
CHAP. XI. — DISTINCTION BETWEEN PREDICTION
AND PROPHECY.
" Whence it must before all things be known,
that nowhere can truth be found unless from a
prophet of truth. But He is a true Prophet,
who always knows all things, and even the
thoughts of all men, who is without sin, as being
convinced respecting the judgment of God.
Wherefore we ought not simply to consider re-
specting His foreknowledge, but whether His
foreknowledge can stand, apart from other cause.
For physicians predict certain things, having the
pulse of the patient as matter submitted to them ;
and some predict by means of having fowls, and
some by having sacrifices, and others by having
many various matters submitted to them ; yet
these are not prophets.
CHAP. XII.
THE SAME.
" But if any one should say that the fore-
knowledge shown by these predictions is like
to that foreknowledge which is really implanted,
he were much deceived. For he only declares
such things as being present, and that if he
speaks truth. However, even these things are
serviceable to me, for they establish that there
is such a thing as foreknowledge. But the fore-
knowledge of the one true Prophet does not
only know things present, but stretches out
prophecy without limit as far as the world to
Chap. XVIIL]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
241
come, and needs nothing for its interpretation,
not prophesying darkly and ambiguously, so that
the things spoken would need another prophet
for the interpretation of them ; but clearly and
simply, as our Master and Prophet, by the inborn
and ever-flowing Spirit, always knew all things.
CHAP. XIII. — PROPHETIC KNOWLEDGE CONSTANT.
" Wherefore He confidently made statements
respecting things that are to be — I mean suf-
ferings, places, limits. For, being a faultless
Prophet, and looking upon all things with the
boundless eye of His soul. He knows hidden
things. But if we should hold, as many do,
that even the true Prophet, not always, but
sometimes, when He has the Spirit, and through
it, foreknows, but when He has it not is igno-
rant, — if we should suppose thus, we should de-
ceive ourselves and mislead others. For such a
matter belongs to those who are madly inspired
by the spirit of disorder — to those who are
drunken beside the altars, and are gorged with
fat.
CHAP. XIV. — PROPHETIC SPIRIT CONSTANT.
" For if it were permitted to any one who will
profess prophecy to have it believed in the cases
in which he was found false, that then he had
not the Holy Spirit of foreknowledge, it will be
difficult to convict him of being a false prophet ;
for among the many things that he speaks, a few
come to pass, and then he is believed to have
the Spirit, although he speaks the first things
last, and the last first ; speaks of past events
as future, and future as already past ; and also
without sequence ; or things borrowed from
others and altered, and some that are lessened, '
unformed, foolish, ambiguous, unseemly, ob-
scure, proclaiming all unconscientiousness.
CHAP. XV. — Christ's prophecies.
" But our Master did not prophesy after this
fashion ; but, as I have already said, being a
prophet by an inborn and ever-flowing Spirit,
and knowing all things at all times, He confi-
dently set forth, plainly as I said before, suffer-
ings, places, appointed times, manners, limits.
Accordingly, therefore, prophesying concerning
the temple, He said : ' See ye these buildings ?
Verily I say to you, There shall not be left here
one stone upon another which shall not be taken
away ; and this generation shall not pass until
the destruction begin. For they shall come,
and shall sit here, and shall besiege it, and shall
slay your children here.' ' And in like manner
He spoke in plain words the things that were
straightway to happen, which we can now see
with our eyes, in order that the accomplishment
' Mail. xxiv. 2, 34; Luke xix. 43, 44.
might be among those to whom the word was
spoken. For the Prophet of truth utters the
word of proof in order to the faith of His
hearers.
chap. XVI. — DOCTRINE OF CONJUNCTION.
" However, there are many proclaimers of
error, having one chief, even the chief of wick-
edness, just as the Prophet of truth, being one,
and being also the chief of piety, shall in His
own times have as His prophets all who are
found pure. But the chief cause of men being
deceived is this, their not understanding before-
hand the doctrine of conjunction, which I shall
not fail to expound to you in private every day,
summarily ; for it were too long to speak in de-
tail. Be you therefore to me truth-loving judges
of the things that are spoken.
chap. XVII. — WHETHER ADAM HAD THE SPIRIT.
" But I shall begin the statement now. God
having made all things, if any one will not allow
to a man, fashioned by His hands, to have pos-
sessed His great and Holy Spirit of foreknowl-
edge, how does not he greatly err who attributes
it to another born of a spurious stock ! ^ And I
do not think that he will obtain pardon, though
he be misled by spurious scripture to think
dreadful things against the Father of all. For
he who insults the image and the things belong-
ing to the eternal King, has the sin reckoned as
committed against Him in whose likeness the
image was made. But then, says he, the Divine
Spirit left him when he sinned. In that case the
Spirit sinned along with him ; and how can he
escape peril who says this? But perhaps he re-
ceived the Spirit after he sinned. Then it is
given to the unrighteous ; and where is justice ?
But it was afforded to the just and the unjust.
This were most unrighteous of all. Thus every
falsehood, though it be aided by ten thousand
reasonings, must receive its refutation, though
after a long time.
CHAP. XVIII. — ADAM NOT IGNORANT.
" Be not deceived. Our father was ignorant
of nothing ; since, indeed, even the law publicly
current, though charging him with the crime of
ignorance for the sake of the unworthy, sends to
him those desirous of knowledge, saying, ' Ask
your father, and he will tell you ; your elders,
and they will declare to you.' ^ This father,
these elders ought to be inquired of. But you
have not inquired whose is the time of the king-
dom, and whose is the seat of prophecy, though
He Himself points out Himself, saying, 'The
2 [Here we find another view, suggesting the speculative opinions
for which the author desires the indorsement of Peter. — R.]
3 Deut xxxii. 7,
242
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily III.
scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat ; all
things whatsoever they say to you, hear them.' '
Hear them, He said, as entrusted with the key
of the kingdom, which is knowledge, which
alone can open the gate of life, through which
alone is the entrance to eternal life. But truly,
He says, they possess the key, but those wishing
to enter they do not suffer to do so.
CHAP. XIX. — REIGN OF CHRIST.
"On this account, I say. He Himself, rising
from His seat as a father for his children, pro-
claiming the things which from the beginning
were delivered in secret to the worthy, extending
mercy even to the Gentiles-, and compassionat-
ing the souls of all, neglected His own kindred.
For He, being thought worthy to be King of the
world to come, fights against^ him who, by pre-
destination, has usurped the kingdom that now
is. And the thing which exceedingly grieved
Him is this, that by those very persons for
whom, as for sons, he did battle, He was as-
sailed, on account of their ignorance. And yet
He loved even those who hated Him, and wept
over the unbelieving, and blessed those who
slandered Him, and prayed for those who were
in enmity against Him.^ And not only did He
do this as a father, but also taught His disciples
to do the like, bearing themselves as towards
brethren.4 This did our Father, this did our
Prophet. This is reasonable, that He should be
King over His children ; that by the affection
of a father towards his children, and the en-
grafted respect of children towards their father,
eternal peace might be produced. For when
the good man reigneth, there is true joy among
those who are ruled over, on account of him
who rules.
CHAP. XX. — CHRIST THE ONLY PROPHET HAS
APPEARED IN DIFFERENT AGES.
" But give heed to my first discourse of the
truth. If any one do not allow the man fash-
ioned by the hands of God to have had the
Holy Spirit of Christ, how is he not guilty of
the greatest impiety in allowing another born
of an impure stock to have it? But he would
act most piously, if he should not allow to an-
other to have it, but should say that he alone
has it, who has changed his forms and his names
from the beginning of the world, and so reap-
peared again and again in the world, until com-
ing upon his own times, and being anointed with
mercy for the works of God, he shall enjoy rest
for ever. His honour it is to bear rule and lord-
ship over all things, in air, earth, and waters.
■ Matt, xxiii. 2, 3.
2 From a conjectural reading by Neander.
3 Matt, xxiii. 37; Luke xiii. 34; Luke xxiii. 34.
■* Matt. V. 44.
But in addition to these, himself having made
man, he had breath, the indescribable garment
of the soul, that he might be able to be immortal.
CHAP. XXI. — THE EATING OF THE FORBIDDEN
FRUIT DENIED.
" He himself being the only true prophet,
fittingly gave names to each animal, according
to the merits of its nature, as having made it.
For if he gave a name to any one, that was also
the name of that which was made, being given
by him who made it.5 How, then, had he still
need to partake of a tree, that he might know
what is good and what is evil, if he was com-
manded not to eat of it? But this senseless men
believe, who think that a reasonless beast was
more powerful than the God who made these
things.
CHAP. XXII. — MALE AND FEMALE.
" But a companion was created along with
him, a female nature, n'luch differing from him,
as quality from substance, as the moon from the
sun, as fire from light. She, as a female ruling
the present world as her like,^ was entrusted to
be the first prophetess, announcing prophecy
with all amongst those born of woman. ^ But
the other, as the son of man, being a male,
prophesies better things to the world to come as
a male.
CHAP. XXIII. — TWO KINDS OF PROPHECY.
" Let us then understand that there are two
kinds of prophecy : ^ the one male ; and let it
be defined that the first, being the inale, has
been ranked after the other in the order of ad-
vent ; but the second, being female, has been
appointed to come first in the advent of the
pairs. This second, therefore, being amongst
those born of woman, as the female superin-
tendent of this present world, wishes to be
thought masculine.9 Wherefore, stealing the
seeds of the male, and sowing them with her
own seeds of the flesh, she brings forth the fruits
— that is, words — as wholly her own. And she
promises that she will give the present earthly
riches as a dowry, wishing to change the slow
for the swift, the small for the greater.
CHAP. XXIV. — THE PROPHETESS A MISLEADER.
" However, she, not only presuming to say
and to hear that there are many gods, but also
believing herself to be one, and in hope of being
5 Gen ii. 20.
6 That is, the present world is female, and is under the rule of the
female: the world to come is male, and is under the rule of the male.
7 The allusion is to the fact that John the Baptist is called the
greatest of those born of woman, while Christ is called the Son of man.
8 Literally, " Let there be to us two genuine prophecies."
9 [The doctrine of these chapters is tinged with Gnostic dualism;
much of the matter might, according to tradition, have been equally
well put in the mouth of Simon. — R.J
Chap. XXIX.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
243
that which she had not a nature to be, and
throwing away what she had, and as a female
being in her courses at the offering of sacrifices,
is stained with blood ; and then she pollutes
those who touch her. But when she conceives
and brings forth temporary kings, she stirs up
wars, shedding much blood ; and those who de-
sire to learn truth from her, by telling them all
things contrary, and presenting many and vari-
ous services, she keeps them always seeking and
finding nothing, even until death. For from the
beginning a cause of death lies upon blind men ;
for she, prophesying deceit, and ambiguities, and
obliquities, deceives those who believe her.
CHAP. XXV. — gain's name AND NATURE.
" Hence the ambiguous name which she gave
to her first-born son, calling him Cain, which
has a capability of interpretation in two ways ; '
for it is interpreted both possession and envy,
as signifying that in the future he was to envy
either a woman, or possessions, or the love of
the parents towards her.^ But if it be none
of these, then it will befall him to be called the
POSSESSION. For she possessed him first, which
also was advantageous to him. For he was a
murderer and a liar, and with his sins was not
willing to be at peace with respect to the govern-
ment. Moreover, those who came forth by suc-
cession from him were the first, adulterers. And
there were psalteries, and harps, and forgers of
instruments of war. Wherefore also the proph-
ecy of his descendants being full of adulterers
and of psalteries, secretly by means of pleasures
excites to wars.
CHAP. xxvr. — Abel's name and nature.
'" But he who amongst the sons of men had
prophecy innate to his soul as belonging to it,
expressly, as being a male, indicating the hopes
of the world to come, called his own son Abel,
which without any ambiguity is translated grief.
For he assigns to his sons to grieve over their
deceived brethren. He does not deceive them
when he pronlises them comfort in the world to
come. AVhen he says that we must pray to one
only God, he neither himself speaks of gods, nor
does he believe another who speaks of them.
He keeps the good which he has, and increases
more and more. He hates sacrifices, bloodshed,
and libations ; he loves the chaste, the pure, the
holy. He quenches the fire of altars, represses
wars, teaches pious preachers wisdom, purges
sins, sanctions marriage, approves temperance,
leads all to chastity, makes men liberal, pre-
scribes justice, seals those of them who are per-
fect, publishes the word of peace, prophesies
' [Note the fantastic mysticism of the interpretations here given.
- Qu towards Abel " ?
explicitly, speaks decidedly, frequently makes
mention of the eternal fire of punishment, con-
stantly announces the kingdom of God, indicates
heavenly riches, promises unfading glory, shows
the remission of sins by works.
CHAP. XXVII. — THE PROPHET AND THE PROPH-
ETESS.
" And what need is there to say more ? The
male is wholly truth, the female wholly false-
hood. But he who is born of the male and the
female, in some things speaks truth, in some
falsehood. For the female, surrounding the
white seed of the male with her own blood, as
with red fire, sustains her own weakness with the
extraneous supports of bones, and, pleased with
the temporary flower of flesh, and spoiling the
strength of the judgment by short pleasures,
leads the greater part into fornication, and thus
deprives them of the coming excellent Bride-
groom. For every person is a bride, whenever,
being sown with the true Prophet's whole word
of truth, he is enlightened in his understanding.
CHAP. XXVIII. — SPIRITUAL ADULTERY.
" Wherefore, it is fitting to hear the one only
Prophet of the truth, knowing that the word
that is sown by another bearing the charge of
fornication, is, as it were, cast out by the Bride-
groom from His kingdom. But to those who
know the mystery, death is also produced by
spiritual adultery. For whenever the soul is
sown by others, then it is forsaken by the Spirit,
as guilty of fornication 05 adultery ; and so the
living body, the life-giving Spirit being withdrawn,
is dissolved into dust, and the rightful punishment
of sin is suffered at the time of the judgment by
the soul, after the dissolution of the body ; even
as, among men, she who is caught in adultery is
first cast out from the house, and then afterwards
is condemned to punishment."
CHAP. XXIX.
THE SIGNAL GIVEN.
While Peter was about to explain fully to us
this mystic word, Zacchaeus came, saying : " Now
indeed, O Peter, is the time for you to go out
and engage in the discussion ; for a great crowd
awaits you, packed together in the court ; and
in the midst of them stands Simon, like a war-
chieftain attended by his spearmen." And Pe-
ter, hearing this, ordered me to withdraw for
prayer, as not yet having received baptism for
salvation, and then said to those who were al-
ready perfected : " Let us rise and pray that.
God, by His unfailing mercies, may help me
striving for the salvation of the men whom He
has made." And having thus said, and having
prayed, he went out into the uncovered portion
of the court, which was a large space ; and there
244
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily III.
were many come together for the purpose of, heavens, settled the earth, set bounds to the sea,
seeing him, his pre-eminence having made them
more eagerly hasten to hear.'
CHAP. XXX.
APOSTOLIC SALUTATION.
Therefore, standing and seeing all the people
gazing upon him in profound silence, and Simon
the magician standing in the midst, he began to
speak thus : " Peace be to all you who are in
readiness to give your right hands to the truth
of God,2 which, being His great and incompara-
ble gift in the present world, He who sent us,
being an infallible Prophet of that which is su-
premely profitable, gave us in charge, by way of
salutation before our words of instruction, to
announce to you, in order that if there be any
son of peace among you, peace may take hold
of him through our teaching ; but if any of you
will not receive it, then we, shaking off for a
testimony the road-dust of our feet, which we
have borne through our toils, and brought to you
that you may be saved, will go to the abodes and
the cities of others.^
CHAP. XXXI. — FAITH IN GOD.
" And we tell you truly, it shall be more toler-
able in the day of judgment to dwell in the land
of Sodom and Gomorrah, than in the place of
unbelief. In the first place, because you have
not preserved of yourselves what is reasonable ;
in the second place, because, hearing the things
concerning us, you have not come to us ; and in
the third place, because you have disbelieved us
when we have come to you. Wherefore, being
concerned for you, we* pray of our own accord
that our peace may come upon you. If there-
fore ye will have it, you must readily promise
not to do injustice, and generously to bear wrong ;
which the nature of man would not sustain, un-
less it first received the knowledge of that which
is supremely profitable, which is to know the
righteous nature of Him who is over all, that
He defends and avenges those who are wronged,
and does good for ever to the pious.
CHAP. XXXII. — INVITATION.
" Do you, therefore, as thankful servants of
God, perceiving of yourselves what is reasonable,
take upon you the manner of life that is pleasing
to Him, that so, loving Him, and being loved of
Him, you may enjoy good for ever. For to Him
alone is it most possible to bestow it, who gave
being to things that were not, who created the
' [For a general comparison of the discussions with Simon, see
Recognitions, ii. 19. Comp. Homily XVI. i. — R.]
2 [In Recognitions, ii. 20, this sentence occurs; but the opening
discourse of Peter is quite different, far more dignified and consistent
with the real character of the Apostle. — R.]
3 Matt. X. 12, etc.; Mark. vi. 11, etc. ; Luke. x. 5, etc. [Comp.
Recognitions, ii 20, where the exordium is quite different, present-
ing the righteousness of God — RJ
Stored up the things that are in Hades, and filled
all places with air.
CHAP. XXXIII. — WORKS OF CREATION.
" He alone turned into the four contrary ele-
ments-* the one, first, simple substance. Thus
combining them. He made of them myriads of
compounds, that, being turned into opposite
natures, and mingled, they might effect the pleas-
ure of life from the combination of contraries.
In like manner. He alone, having created races
of angels and spirits by the fiat of His will,
peopled the heavens ; as also He decked the
visible firmament with stars, to which also He as-
signed their paths and arranged their courses.
He compacted the earth for the production of
fruits. He set bounds to the sea, marking out a
dwelling-place on the dry land.s He stores up
the things in Hades, designating it as the place
of souls ; and He filled, all places with air, that
all living creatures might be able to breathe
safely in order that they might live.
CHAP. XXXIV. — EXTENT OF CREATION.
" O the great hand of the wise God, which
doeth all in all ! For a countless multitude of
birds have been made by Him, and those various,
differing in all respects from one another ; I
mean in respect of their colours, beaks, talons,
looks, senses, voices, and all else. And how
many different species of plants, distinguished
by boundless variety of colours, qualities, and
scents ! And how many animals on the land
and in the water, of which it were impossible to
tell the figures, forms, habitats, colour, food,
senses, natures, multitude ! Then also the mul-
titude and height of mountains, the varieties of
stones, awful caverns, fountains, rivers, marshes,
seas, harbours, islands, forests, and all the in-
habited world, and places uninhabited !
CHAP. XXXV. — " THESE ARE A PART OF HIS
WAYS."
" And how many things besides are unknown,
having eluded the sagacity of men ! And of
those that are within our comprehension, who
of mankind knows the hmit? I mean, how the
heaven rolls, how the stars are borne in their
courses, and what forms they have, and the sub-
sistence of their being, ^ and what are their
ethereal paths. And whence- the blasts of winds
are borne around, and have different energies ;
whence the fountains ceaselessly spring, and the
rivers, being ever flowing, run down into the sea,
4 This is rather a paraphrase than a strict translation.
s Various reading, " assigned it the sea as a habitation for
aquatic animals."
6 Literally, " of their life," according to the idea prevalent of old,
that the heavenly bodies were living creatures.
Chap. XXXIX.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
245
and neither is that fountain emptied whence
they come, nor do they fill that sea whither they
come ! How far reaches the unfathomable
depth of the boundless Tartarus ! Upon what
the heaven is upborne which encircles all ! How
the clouds spring from air, and are absorbed into
air ! What is the nature of thunder and light-
ning, snow, hail, mist, ice, storms, showers, hang-
ing clouds ! And how He makes plants and
animals ! And these things, with all accuracy,
continually perfected in their countless varieties !
CHAP. XXXVI. — DOMINION OVER THE CREATURES.
" Therefore, if any one shall accurately scan
the whole with reason, he shall find that God has
made them for the sake of man. For showers
fall for the sake of fruits, that man may partake
of them, and that animals may be fed, that
they may be useful to men. And the sun shines,
that he may turn the air into four seasons, and
that each time may afford its peculiar service to
man. And the fountains spring, that drink may
be given to men. And, moreover, who is lord
over the creatures, so far as is possible ? Is it
not man, who has received wisdom to till the
earth, to sail the sea : to make fishes, birds, and
beasts his prey ; to investigate the course of the
stars, to mine the earth, to sail the sea ; to build
cities, to define kingdoms, to ordain laws, to exe-
cute justice, to know the invisible God, to be
cognizant of the names of angels, to drive away
demons, to endeavour to cure diseases by medi-
cines, to find charms against poison-darting ser-
pents, to understand antipathies ?
CHAP. XXXVII. — " WHOM TO KNOW IS LIFE
ETERNAL."
But if thou art thankful, O man, understand-
ing that God is thy benefactor in all things, thou
mayest even be immortal, the things that are
made for thee having continuance through thy
gratitude. And now thou art able to become
incorruptible, if thou acknowledge Him whom
thou didst not know, if thou love Him whom
thou didst forsake, if thou pray to Him alone
who is able to punish or to save thy body and
soul. Wherefore, before all things, consider
that no one shares His rule, no one has a name
in common with Him — that is, is called God.
For He alone is both called and is God. Nor
is it lawful to think that there is any other, or to
call any other by that name. And if any one
should dare do so, eternal punishment of soul
is his."
CHAP. XXXVIII. — Simon's challenge.
When Peter had thus spoken, Simon, at the
outside of the crowd, cried aloud : ' " Why
' [The reply of Simon in the Recognitions is quite different,
though the subslance of this attack is given in the progress of this
discussion; see Recognitions, ii. 39. — R.]
would you lie, and deceive the unlearned multi-
tude standing around you, persuading them that
it is unlawful to think that there are gods, and
to call them so, when the books that are current
among the Jews say that there are many gods ? ^
And now 1 wish, in the presence of all, to dis-
cuss with you from these books on the necessity
of thinking that there are gods ; first showing
respecting him whom you call God, that he is
not the supreme and omnipotent Being, inas-
much as he is without foreknowledge, imperfect,
needy, not good, and underlying many and in-
numerable grievous passions. Wherefore, when
this has been shown from the Scriptures, as I
say, it follows that there is another, not written
of, foreknowing, perfect, without want, good,
removed from all grievous passions. But he
whom you call the Creator is subject to the
opposite evils.
CHAP. XXXIX. — DEFECTS ASCRIBED TO GOD.
" Therefore also Adam, being made at first
after his likeness, is created blind, and is said
not to have knowledge of good or evil, and is
found a transgressor, and is driven out of para-
dise, and is punished with death. In like man-
ner also, he who made him, because he sees
not in all places, says with reference to the
overthrow of Sodom, 'Come, and let us go
down, and see whether they do according to
their cry which comes to me ; or if not, that I
may know.' ^ Thus he shows himself ignorant.
And in his saying respecting Adam, ' Let us
drive him out, lest he put forth his hand and
touch the tree of life, and eat, and live for
ever ; ' * in saying lest he is ignorant ; and in
driving him out lest he should eat and live for
ever, he is also envious. And whereas it is
written that ' God repented that he had made
man,' s this implies both repentance and igno-
rance. For this reflection is a view by which
one, through ignorance, wishes to inquire into
the result of the things which he wills, or it is
the act of one repenting on account of the
event not being according to his expectation.
And whereas it is written, 'And the Lord smelled
a scent of sweetness,' '' it is the part of one in
need ; and his being pleased with the fat of
flesh is the part of one who is not good. But
his tempting, as it is written, ' And God did
tempt Abraham,' ^ is the part of one who is
wicked, and who is ignorant of the issue of the
experiment."
2 [The Ebionitic tendency appears in this representation of
Simon, as opposing the monotheism of the Old Testament. Comp.
Recognitions, ii. 38. — R.]
3 Gen. xviii. 21.
* Gen. iii. 22.
5 Gen. vi. 6.
^ Gen. viii. 21.
7 Gen. xxii. i. [These objections from the anthropomorphism of
the Jewish Scriptures are not found in the Recognitions. — R.]
246
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily III.
CHAP. XL. — PETER'S ANSWER.
In like manner Simon, by taking many pas-
sages from the Scriptures, seemed to show that
God is subject to every infirmity. And to this
Peter said : " Does he who is evil, and wholly
wicked, love to accuse himself in the things in
which he sins? xA.nswer me this." Then said
Simon : " He does not." Then said Peter :
" How, then, can God be evil and wicked, see-
ing that those evil things which have been com-
monly written regarding Him, have been added
by His own will ! " Then said Simon : " It may
be that the cliarge against Him is written by an-
other power, and not according to His choice."
Then said Peter : " Let us. then, in the first
place, inquire into this. If, indeed. He has of
His own will accused Himself, as you formerly
acknowledged, then He is not wicked ; but if it
is done by another power, it must be inquired
and investigated with all energy who hath sub-
jected to all evils Him who alone is good,"
CHAP. XLI.— "STATUS QU.ESTIONIS."
Then said Simon : " You are manifestly avoid-
ing the hearing of the charge from the Scriptures
against your God." Then Peter : " You your-
self appear to me to be doing this ; for he who
avoids the order of inquiry, does not wish a true
investigation to be made. Hence I, who proceed
in an orderly manner, and wish that the writer
should first be considered, am manifestly desir-
ous to walk m a straight path." Then Simon :
" First confess that if the things written against
the Creator are true, he is not above all, since,
according to the Scriptures, he is subject to all
evil ; then afterwards we shall inquire as to the
writer." Then said Peter : " That I may not ;
seem to speak against your want of order through j
unwillingness to enter upon the investigation,' |
I answer you. I say that if the things written j
against God are true, they do not show that God
is wicked." Then said Simon : " How can you
maintain that?"
CHAP. XLII. — WAS ADAM BLIND?
Then said Peter : " Because things are written
opposite to those sayings which speak evil of
him ; wherefore neither the one nor the other
can be confirmed." Then Simon : " How, then,
is the truth to be ascertained, of those Scriptures
that say he is evil, or of those that say he is
good?" Then Peter: "Whatever sayings of
the Scriptures are in harmony with the creation
that was made by Him are true, but whatever
are contrary to it are false." ^ Then Simon said :
' The text of this passage in all the editions is meaningless. It
becomes clear by change of punctuation.
- [Comp. ii. 38 and many other passages for this view of the
errors of Scripture. The test of truth as here stated is noteworthy.
li suggests some modern affinities. — R. )
" How can you show that the Scriptures contra-
dict themselves?" And Peter said : "You say
that Adam was created blind, which was not so ;
for He would not have pointed out the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil to a blind man, and
commanded him not to taste of it." Then said
Simon : " He meant that his mind was blind."
Then Peter : " How could he be blind in respect
of his mind, who, before tasting of the tree, in
harmony with Him who made him, imposed ap-
propriate names on all the animals?" Then
Simon : " If .\dam had foreknowledge, how did
he not foreknow that the serpent would deceive
his wife?" Then Peter: "If Adam had not
foreknowledge, how did he give names to the
sons of men as they were born with reference
to their future doings, calling the first Cain
(which is interpreted ' envy'), who through envy
killed his brother Abel (which is interpreted
'grief') ; for his parents grieved over him, the
first slain?
CHAP. .XLIII. — god's FOREKNOWLEDGE.
" But if Adam, being the work of God, had
foreknowledge, much more the God who cre-
ated him. And that is false which is written that
God reflected, as if using reasoning on account
of ignorance ; and that the Lord tempted Abra-
ham, that He might know if he would endure
it ; and that which is written, ' Let us go down,
and see if they are doing according to the cry
of them which cometh to me ; and if not, that
I may know.' And, not to extend my discourse
too far, whatever sayings ascribe ignorance to
Him, or anything else that is evil, being upset
by other sayings which aflirm the contrary, are
proved to be false. But because He does in-
deed foreknow, He says to Abraham, 'Thou
shalt assuredly know that thy seed shall be so-
journers in a land that is not their own ; and
they shall enslave them, and shall evil entreat
them, and humble them four hundred years.
But the nation to which they shall be in bond-
age will I judge, and after that they shall come
out hither with much property ; but thou shalt
depart to thy fathers with peace, being nourished
in a good old age ; and in the fourth generation
they shall return hither, for the sins of the Amo-
rites are hitherto not filled up.' 3
CHAP. XLIV. — god's DECREES.
" But what? Does not Moses pre-intimate the
sins of the people, and predict their dispersion
among the nations? But if He gave foreknowl-
edge to Moses, how can it be that He had it
not Himself? But He has it. And if He has
it, as we have also shown, it is an extravagant
saying that He reflected, and that He repented,
3 Gen. XV. 13-16.
Chap. L.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
247
and that He went down to see, and whatever
else of this sort. Whatsoever things being fore-
known before they come to pass as about to
befall, take issue by a wise economy, without
repentance.
CHAP. XLV. — SACRIFICES.
" But that He is not pleased with sacrifices,
is shown by this, that those who lusted after
flesh were slain as soon as they tasted it, and
were consigned to* a tomb, so that it was called
the grave of lusts.' He then who at the first
was displeased with the slaughtering of animals,
not v/ishing them to be slain, did not ordain
sacrifices as desiring them ; nor from the begin-
ning did He require them. For neither are
sacrifices accomplished without the slaughter of
animals, nor can the first-fruits be presented.
But how is it possible for Him to abide in dark-
ness, and smoke, and storm (for this also is
written), who created a pure heaven, and created
the sun to give light to all, and assigned the
invariable order of their revolutions to innumer-
able stars? Thus, O Simon, the handwriting of
God — I mean the heaven — shows the counsels
of Him who made it to be pure and stable.
CHAP. XLVI.
DISPARAGEMENTS OF GOD.
" Thus the sayings accusatory of the God who
made the heaven are both rendered void by the
opposite sayings which are alongside of them,
and are refuted by the creation. For they were
not written by a prophetic hand. Wherefore
also they appear opposite to the hand of God,
who made all things." Then said Simon : " How
can you show this? "
CHAP. XLVII. — FOREKNOWLEDGE OF MOSES.
Then said Peter : " The law of God was given
by Moses, without writing, to seventy wise men,
to be handed down, that the government might
be carried on by succession. But after that
Moses was taken up, it was written by some one,
but not by Moses. For in the law itself it is
written, ' And Moses died ; and they buried him
near the house of Phogor,^ and no one knows
his sepulchre till this day.' But how could
Moses write that Moses died ? And whereas in
the time after Moses, about 500 years or there-
abouts, it is found lying in the temple which was
built, and after about 500 years more it is carried
away, and being burnt in the time of Nebuchad-
nezzar it is destroyed ; and thus being written
after Moses, and often lost, even this shows the
foreknowledge of Moses, because he, foreseeing
its disappearance, did not write it ; but those
who wrote it, being convicted of ignorance
' That is, Kibroth-Hattaavah; Num. xi. 34.
* Deut. .\xxiv. 6, LXX.
through their not foreseeing its disappearance,
were not prophets." ^
CHAP. XLVIII. — TEST OF TRUTH.
Then said Simon : " Since, as you say, we
must understand the things concerning God by
comparing them with the creation, how is it pos-
sible to recognise the other things in the law
which are from the tradition of Moses, and are
true, and are mixed up with these falsehoods?"
Then Peter said : " A certain verse has been
recorded without controversy in the written law,
according to the providence of God, so as to
show clearly which of the things written are
true and which are false." Then said Simon :
" Which is that? Show it us."
CHAP. XLIX. — THE TRUE PROPHET.
Then Peter said : " I shall tell you forthwith.
It is written in the first book of the law, towards
the end : ' A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor
a leader from his thighs, until He come whose
it is ; and He is the expectation of the nations.' ■♦
If, therefore, any one can apprehend Him who
came after the failure of ruler and leader from
Judah, and who was to be expected by the
nations, he will be able by this verse to recognise
Him as truly having come ; 5 and believing His
teaching, he will know what of the Scriptures
are true and what are false." Then said Simon :
" I understand that you speak of your Jesus as
Him who was prophesied of by the scripture.
Therefore let it be granted that it is so. Tell us,
then, how he taught you to discriminate the
Scriptures."
CHAP. L. — HIS TEACHING CONCERNING THE
SCRIPTURES.
Then Peter : " As to the mixture of truth with
falsehood,^^ I remember that on one occasion
He, finding fault with the Sadducees, said,
' Wherefore ye do err, not knowing the true
things of the Scriptures ; and on this account ye
are ignorant of the power of God.' ^ But if He
cast up to them that they knew not the true
things of the Scriptures, it is manifest that there
are false things in them. And also, inasmuch as
He said, * Be ye prudent money-changers,' ^ it is
because there are genuine and spurious words.
And whereas He said, 'Wherefore do ye not
3 [It is curious to find the post-exilian theory of the Pentateuch
in this place, \yui in the mouth of the Apostle Peter, — R.]
4 Gen. xlix. lo.
5 Prom the amended reading of Davis.
* [Comp. Homily II. 40. The attitude of Peter, as here repre-
sented, disparaging the Old Testament, appearing to exalt the author-
ity of Christ's teaching, and yet ignoring the claims of His Person
and Work, seeks its justification in rationalistic interpretation. The
attitude is not an uncominon one at present. — R.l
' MaTt. xxii. 29. [Misquoted and misapplied here, as in Homily
II. 51— R.]
5 This is frequently quoted as a saying of Christ. It is probably
from one of the apocryphal Gospels. [Comp. Homily II. 51. — R.J
248
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily III.
perceive that which is reasonable in the Scrip-
tures ? ' He makes the understanding of him
stronger who voluntarily judges soundly.
CHAP. LI. — HIS TEACHING CONCERNING THE
LAW.
" And His sending to the scribes and teachers
of the existing Scriptures, as to those who knew
the true things of the law that then was, is well
known. And also that He said, ' I am not come
to destroy the law,' ' and yet that He appeared
to be destroying it, is the part of one intimating
that the things which He destroyed did not be-
long to the law. And His saying, ' The heaven
and the earth shall pass away, but one jot or one
tittle shall not pass from the' law,' ^ intimated
that the things which pass away before the
heaven and the earth do not belong to the law
in reality.
CHAP. LII. — OTHER SAYINGS OF CHRIST.
" Since, then, while the heaven and the earth
still stand, sacrifices have passed away, and king-
doms, and prophecies among those who are born
of woman, and such like, as not being ordinances
of God ; hence therefore He says, ' Every plant
which the heavenly Father has not planted shall
be rooted up.' ^ Wherefore He, being the true
Prophet, said, ' I am the gate of life ; * he who
entereth through me entereth into life,' there
being no other teaching able to save. Wherefore
also He cried, and said, ' Come unto me, all who
labour,' s that is, who are seeking the truth, and
not finding it ; and again, ' My sheep hear my
voice ; ' ^ and elsewhere, ' Seek and find,' 7 since
the truth does not lie on the surface.
CHAP. LIII.
OTHER SAYINGS OF CHRIST.
" But also a witnessing voice was heard from
heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased ; hear Him.' * And in
addition to this, willing to convict more fully of
error the prophets from whom they asserted that
they had learned. He proclaimed that they died
desiring the truth, but not having learned it, say-
ing, ' Many prophets and kings desired to see
what ye see, and to hear what you hear ; and
verily Psay to you, they neither saw nor heard.' 9
Still further He said, ' I am he concerning whom
Moses prophesied, saying, A Prophet shall the
Lord our God raise unto you of your brethren,
like unto me : Him hear in all things ; and who-
soever will not hear that Prophet shall die.' '°
' Matt. V. 17.
2 Matt. V. 18.
3 Matt. XV. 13.
* John X. 9.
5 Matt. xi. 28.
^ John X. 3.
7 Matt. vii. 7. •
8 Matt. xvii. 5.
9 Matt. xiii. 17 ; Luke x 24.
'^ Deut. xviii. 15-19 ; Acts iii. 22, vii. 37.
CHAP. LIV.
■OTHER SAYINGS.
" Whence it is impossible without His teach-
ing to attain to saving truth, though one seek it
for ever where the thing that is sought is not.
But it was, and is, in the word of our Jesus.
Accordingly, He, knowing the true things of the
law, said to the Sadducees, asking on what ac-
count Moses permitted to marry seven," " Moses
gave you commandments according to your
hard-heartedness ; for from the beginning it was
not so : for He who created man at first, made
him male and female.' '^
CHAP. LV.
■TEACHING OF CHRIST.
" But to those who think, as the Scriptures
teach, that God swears. He said, ' Let your yea
be yea, and nay, nay ; for what is more than
these is of the evil one.' '^ And to those who
say that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are dead,
He said, ' God is not of the dead, but of the
living.' "t And to those who suppose that God
tempts, as the Scriptures say. He said, 'The
tempter is the wicked one,' '5 who also tempted
Himself. To those who suppose that God does
not foreknow. He said,- ' For your heavenly
Father knoweth that ye need all these things
before ye ask Him.' "" And to those who be-
lieve, as the Scriptures say, that He does not see
all things, He said, ' Pray in secret, and your
Father, who seeth secret things, will reward
you.' '7
CHAP. LVI. TEACHING OF CHRIST.
"And to those who think that He is not good,
as the Scriptures say. He said, ' From which of
you shall his son ask bread, and he will give
him a stone ; or shall ask a fish, and he will give
him a serpent ? If ye then, being evil, know to
give good gifts to your children, how much more
shall your heavenly Father give good things to
those who ask Him, and to those who do His
will ! "S But to those who affirmed that He was
in the temple, He said, ' Swear not by heaven,
for it is God's throne ; nor by the earth, for it is
the footstool of His feet.' '9 And to those who
supposed that God is pleased with sacrifices. He
said, ' God wishes mercy, and not sacrifices ' ^°
— the knowledge of Himself, and not holocausts.
CHAP. LVII.
•TEACHING OF CHRIST.
" But to those who are persuaded that He is
evil, as the Scriptures say, He said, ' Call not
" [A curious confusion of two Gospel narratives, mistaking the
significance of both. — R.]
•2 Matt. xix. 8; Mark x. 5, 6.
■3 Matt. V. 37.
'■i Matt. xxii. 32; Mark xii. 27; Luke xx. 38.
'5 Perhaps Matt. xiii. 39.
'6 Matt. vi. 8,32.
'■' Matt. vi. 6.
■8 Matt, vii 9-11.
'9 Matt. V. 34, 35.
20 Matt. ix. 13, xii. 7. fComp. Hos. vi. 6. — R. j
Chap. LXIL]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
249
me good, for One only is good.' ' And again,
' Be ye good and merciful, as your Father in the
heavens, who makes the sun rise on good and
evil men, and brings rain upon just and unjust.'^
But to those who were misled to imagine many
gods, as the Scriptures say, He said, ' Hear, O
Israel ; the Lord your God is one Lord.' " ^
CH.4P. LVm. FLIGHT OF SIMON.
Therefore Simon, perceiving that Peter was
driving him to use the Scriptures as Jesus taught,
was unwilling that the discussion should go into
the doctrine concerning God, even although
Peter had changed the discussion into question
and answer, as Simon himself asked. However,
the discussion occupied three days.'* And while
the fourth was dawning, he set off darkling as
far as Tyre of Pho^nicia.s And not many days
after, some of the precursors came and said to
Peter : " Simon is doing great miracles in Tyre,
and disturbing many of the people there ; and
by many slanders he has made you to be hated."
CHAP. Lix. — Peter's resolution to follow.
Peter, hearing this, on the following night
assembled the multitude of hearers ; and as
soon as they were come together, he said :
" While I am going forth to the nations which
say that there are many gods,' to teach and to
preach that God is one, who made heaven and
earth, and all things that are in them, in order
that they may love Him and be saved, evil has
anticipated me, and by the very law of conjunc-
tion has sent Simon before me, in order that
these men, if they shall cease to say that there
are many gods, disowning those upon earth that
are called gods, may think that there are many
gods in heaven ; so that, not feeling the excel-
lency of the monarchy, they may perish with
eternal punishment. And what is most dreadful,
since true doctrine has incomparable power, he
forestalls me with slanders, and persuades them
to this, not even at first to receive me ; lest he
who is the slanderer be convicted of being him-
self in reality a devil, and the true doctrine be
received and believed. Therefore I must quickly
catch him up, lest the false accusation, through
gaining time, wholly get hold of all men.
all with one consent pray to God, that He would
make manifest who amongst us is the best, that,
sitting in the chair of Christ, he may piously rule
His Church. Who, then, shall be set apart?
For by the counsel of God that man is set forth
as blessed, ' whom his Lord shall appoint over the
ministry of his fellow-servants, to give them their
meat in their season, not thinking and saying in
his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming, and
who shall not begin to beat his fellow-servants,
eating and drinking with harlots and drunkards.
And the Lord of that servant shall come in an
hour when he doth not look for Him, and in a
day when he is not aware, and shall cut him in
sunder, and shall assign his unfaithful part with
the hypocrites.' ^
CHAP. LXI. monarchy.
" But if any one of those present, being able
to instruct the ignorance of men, shrink from it,
I thinking only of his own ease, let him expect to
hear this sentence : ' O wicked and slothful ser-
vant, thou oughtest to have given my money to
the exchangers, and I at my coming should have
got my own. Cast out the unprofitable servant
into the outer darkness.' ^ And with good rea-
son ; ' for,' says He, ' it is thine, O man, to prove
my words, as silver and money are proved among
the exchangers.' ^ Therefore the multitude of
the faithful ought to obey some one, that they
may live in harmony. For that which tends to
the government of one person, in the form of
monarchy, enables the subjects to enjoy peace
by means of good order ; but in case of all,
through desire of ruling, being unwilling to sub-
mit to one only, they must altogether fall by
reason of division.
CHAP. LX.
■SUCCESSOR TO BE APPOINTED.
" Since, therefore, it is necessary to set apart
some one instead of me to fill my place, let us
■ Matt. xix. 17; Mark x. 18; Luke xviii. 19.
^ Matt. V. 44, 45.
3 Mark xii. 29. [Comp. Deut. vi. 4. — R.]
4 [The three days' discussion is detailed in Recognitions, ii. 20-
iii. 48; the account here is confined to the first day. — R.]
5 [Comp. Recognitions, lii. 73. The historical incidents of the
two narratives vary greatly from this point onward. — R.J
CHAP. LXIL
OBEDIENCE LEADS TO PEACE.
" But, further, let the things that are happen-
ing before your eyes persuade you ; how wars
are constantly arising through there being now
many kings all over the earth. For each one
holds the government of another as a pretext for
war. But if one were universal superior, he,
having no reason why he should make war,
would have perpetual peace. In short, there-
fore, to those who are thought worthy of eternal
life, God ap])oints one universal King in the
world that shall then be, that by means of mon-
archy there may be unfailing peace. It behoves
all, therefore, to follow some one as a leader,
honouring him as the image of God ; and it be-
hoves the leader to be acquainted with the road
that entereth into the holy city.
* Matt. xxiv. 45-50.
^ Matt. XXV. 27-30.
8 Probably from an apocryphal Gospel.
250
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily III.
CHAP, LXIII. — ZACCH^US APPOINTED.
"But of those who are present, whom shall I
choose but Zacchoeus,' to whom also the Lord
went in - and rested, judging him worthy to be
saved? " And having said this, he laid his hand
upon Zacchasus, who stood by, and forced him to
sit down in his own chair. But Zacch^us, fall-
ing at his feet, begged that he would permit him
to decline the rulership ; promising, at the same
time, and saying, " Whatever it behoves the
ruler to do, I will do ; only grant me not to have
this name : for I am afraid of assuming the name
of the rulership, for it teems with bitter envy and
danger."
CHAP. LXIV.
■THE BISHOPRIC.
Then Peter said : " If you are afraid of this, do
not be called ruler, but the appointed one, the
Lord having permitted you to be so called, when
He said, 'Blessed is that man whom his Lord
shall APPOINT to the ministry of his fellow-
servants.' 3 But if you wish it to be altogether
unknown that you have authority of administra-
tion, you seem to me to be ignorant that the
acknowledged authority of the president has
great influence as regards the respect of the
multitude. For every one obeys him who has
received authority, having conscience as a great
constraint. And are you not well aware that
you are not to rule as the rulers of the nations,
but as a servant ministering to them, as a father
to the oppressed, visiting them as a physician,
guarding them as a shepherd, — in short, taking
all care for their salvation? And do you think
that I am not aware what labours I compel you
to undertake, desiring you to be judged by mul-
titudes whom it is impossible for any one to
please? But it is most possible for him who
does well to please God. Wherefore I entreat
you to undertake it heartily, by God, by Christ,
for the salvation of the brethren, for their order-
ing, and your own profit.
t>
CHAP. LXV. NOLO EPISCOPARI.
" And consider this other thing, that in pro-
portion as there is labour and danger in ruling
the Church of Christ, so much greater is the re-
ward. And yet again the greater is also the
punishment to him who can, and refuses. I
wish, therefore, knowing that you are the best
instructed of my attendants, to turn to account
those noble powers of judging with which you
have been entrusted by the Lord, in order that
you may be saluted with the Well done, good
AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, and not be found fault
* JComp. Recognitions, iii. 66. The account here is much fuller.
-R.J
2 Luke XIX. 5, etc.
3 Luke xii. 42.
with, and declared liable to punishment, like him
who hid the one talent. But if you will not be
appointed a good guardian of the Church, point
out another in your stead, more learned and
more faithful than yourself. But you cannot do
this ; for you associated with the Lord, and wit-
nessed His marvellous doings, and learned the
administration of the Church.
CHAP. LXVI. — DANGER OF DISOBEDIENCE.
" And your work is to order what things are
proper ; and that of the brethren is to submit,
and not to disobey. Therefore submitting they
shall be saved, but disobeying they shall be pun-
ished by the Lord, because the president is en-
trusted with the place of Christ. Wherefore,
indeed, honour or contempt shown to the pres-
ident is handed on to Christ, and from Christ to
God. And this I have said, that these brethren
may not be ignorant of the danger they incur
by disobedience to you, because whosoever dis-
obeys your orders, disobeys Christ ; and he who
disobeys Christ offends God.
CHAP. LXVII. — DUTIES OF CHURCH OFFICE-BEARERS.
" It is necessary, therefore, that the Church, as
a city built upon a hill, have an order approved
of God, and good government. In particular,
let the bishop, as chief, be heard in the things
which he speaks ; and let the elders give heed
that the things ordered be done. Let the dea-
cons, going about, look after the bodies and the
souls of the brethren, and report to the bishop.
Let all the rest of the brethren bear wrong
patiently ; but if they wish judgment to be given
concerning wrongs done to them, let them be
reconciled in presence of the elders ; and let
the elders report the reconciliation to the bishop.
CHAP. LXVIII.
MARRIAGE ALWAYS HONOUR-'VBLE.
"And let them inculcate marriage not only
upon the young, but also upon those advanced
in years, lest burning lust bring a plague upon
the Church by reason of whoredom or adultery.
For, above every other sin, the wickedness of
adultery is hated by God, because it not only
destroys the person himself who sins, but those
also who eat and associate with him. For it is
like the madness of a dog, because it has the
nature of communicating its own madness. For
the sake of chastity, therefore, let not only the
elders, but even all, hasten to accomplish mar-
riage. For the sin of him who commits adultery
necessarily comes upon all. Therefore, to urge
the brethren to be chaste, this is the first charity.
For it is the healing of the soul. For the nour-
ishment of the body is rest.
Chap. LXXIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
251
CHAP. LXIX. " NOT FORSAKING THE ASSEMBLING
OF YOURSELVES TOGETHER."
" But if you love your brethren, take nothing
from them, but share with them such things as
ye have. Feed the hungry ; give drink to the
thirsty ; clothe the naked ; visit the sick ; so far
as you can, help those in prison ; receive stran-
gers gladly into your own abodes ; hate no one.
And how you must be pious, your own mind will
teach you, judging rightly. But before all else,
if indeed I need say it to you, come together
frequently, if it were every hour, especially on
the appointed days of meeting. For if you do
this, you are within a wall of safety. For dis-
orderliness is the beginning of perdition. Let
no one therefore forsake the assembly on the
ground of envy towards a brother. For if any
one of you forsake the assembly, he shall be re-
garded as of those who scatter the Church of
Christ, and shall be cast out with adulterers.
For as an adulterer, under the influence of the
spirit that is in him, he separates himself on
some pretext, and gives place to the wicked one
against himself, — a sheep for the stealing, as
one found outside the fold.'
CRAP. LXX. " HEAR THE BISHOP."
" However, hear your bishop, and do not weary
of giving all honour to him ; knowing that, by
showing it to him, it is borne to Christ, and from
Christ it is borne to God ; and to him who offers
it, is requited manifold.^ Honour, therefore, the
throne of Christ. For you are commanded even
to honour the chair of Moses, and that although
they who occupy it are accounted sinners. ^ And
now I have said enough to you ; and I deem it
superfluous to say to him how he is to live un-
blameably, since he is an approved disciple of
Him who taught me also.
CHAP. LXXI. — VARIOUS DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS.
" But, brethren, there are some things that you
must not wait to hear, but must consider of your-
selves what is reasonable. Zacch^eus alone hav-
ing given himself up wholly to labour for you,
and needing sustenance, and not being able to
attend to his own affairs, how can he procure
necessary support? Is it not reasonable that
you are to take forethought for his living? not
waiting for his asking you, for this is the part of
a beggar. But he will rather die of hunger than
submit to do this. And shall not you incur pun-
' There seems to be a corruption of the text here, but the general
meaning is evident enough.
2 There are several conjectural readings of this sentence. We
have not exactly followed any one of them, but have ventured on a
conjecture of our own.
3 Matt, xxiii. 2, 3.
ishment, not considering that the workman is
worthy of his hire ? And let no one say : Is,
then, the word sold which was freely given ? Far
be it. For if any one has the means of living,
and takes anything, he sells the word ; but if he
who has not takes support in order to live — as
the Lord also took at supper and among His
friends, having nothing, though He alone is the
owner of all things — he sins not. Therefore
suitably honour elders, catechists, useful deacons,
widows who have lived well, orphans as children
of the Church. But wherever there is need of
any provision for an emergency, contribute all
together. Be kind one to another, not shrinking
from the endurance of anything whatever for
your own salvation."
CHAP. LXXII.
ORDINATION.
And having thus spoken, he placed his hand
upon Zacch^eus, saying, " O Thou Ruler and
Lord of all. Father and God, do Thou guard the
shepherd with the flock. Thou art the cause,
Thou the power. We are that which is helped ;
Thou the helper, the physician, the saviour, the
wall, the life, the hope, the refuge, the joy, the
expectation, the rest. In a word, Thou art all
things to us. In order to the eternal attainment
of salvation, do Thou co-operate, preserve, pro-
tect. Thou canst do all things. For Thou art
the Ruler of rulers, the Lord of lords, the Gov-
ernor of kings. Do Thou give power to the
president to loose what ought to be loosed, to
bind what ought to be bound. Do Thou make
him wise. Do Thou, as by His name, protect
the Church of Thy Christ as a fair bride. For
Thine is eternal glory. Praise to the Father and
the Son and the Holy Ghost to all ages. Amen."
CHAP. LXXIII.
BAPTISiMS.
And having thus spoken, he afterwards said :
"Whoever of you wish to be baptized, begin from
to-morrow to fast, and have hands laid upon you
day by day, and inquire about what matters
you please. For I mean still to remain with you
ten days." And after three days, having begun to
baptize, he called me, and Aquila, and Nicetas,
and said to us : " As I am going to set out for
Tyre after seven days, I wish you to go away
this very day, and to lodge secretly with Bernice
the Canaanite, the daughter of Justa, and to
learn from her, and write accurately to me what
Simon is about. For this is of great conse-
quence to me, that I may prepare myself
accordingly. Therefore depart straightway in
peace." And leaving him baptizing, as he
commanded, we preceded him to Tyre of
Phoenicia.
252
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily IV.
HOMILY IV.
CHAP. I. — bernice's hospitality.
Thus I Clement, departing from Caesarea Stra-
tonis, together with Nicetas and Aquila, entered
into Tyre of Phoenicia ; ' and according to the
injunction of Peter, who sent us, we lodged with
Bernice, the daughter of Justa the Canaanitess.
She received us most joyfully ; and striving with
much honour towards me, and with affection
towards Aquila and Nicetas, and speaking freely
as a friend, through joy she treated us cour-
teously, and hospitably urged us to take bodily
refreshment. Perceiving, therefore, that she was
endeavouring to impose a short delay upon us, I
said : " You do well, indeed, to busy yourself in
fulfilling the part of love ; but the fear of our
God must take the precedence of this. For,
having a combat on hand on behalf of many
souls, we are afraid of preferring our own ease
before their salvation.
CHAP. II. — Simon's practices.
" For we hear that Simon the magician, being
worsted at Ceesarea in the discussion with our
lord Peter, immediately hastened hither, and is
doing much mischief. For he is slandering
Peter, in opposition to truth, to all the adver-
saries, and stealing away the souls of the multi-
tude. For he being a magician, calls him a
magician ; and he being a deceiver, proclaims
him as a deceiver. And although in the discus-
sions he was beaten in all points, and fled, yet
he says that he was victorious ; and he con-
stantly charges them that they ought not to lis-
ten to Peter, — as if, forsooth, he were anxious
that they may not be fascinated by a terrible
magician.
CHAP. III. OBJECT OF THE MISSION.
" Therefore our lord Peter, having learned
these things, has sent us to be investigators of
the things that have been told him ; that if they
be so, we may write to him and let him know,
so that he may come and convict him face to
face of the accusations that he has uttered
against him. Since, therefore, danger on the
part of many souls lies before us, on this ac-
count we must neglect bodily rest for a short
time ; and we would learn truly from you who
live here, whether the things which we have
heard be true. Now tell us particularly."
' [III the Recogm'ttons (iv. i) mention is made of Clement and
others accompanying Peter to Dora, Ptolemais, Tyre, Sidon, and
Berytus (Beyrout), but no record is made of any discourses. In
HomiUes IV. -VII. the details of this journey are given, but with a
variation in some particulars. These Homilies are peculiar, in form,
to this work; but much of the matter occurs in the Recogttitions, in
the final discussion with the father of Clement. — R.J
CHAP. IV. — SIMON'S DOINGS.
But Bernice, being asked, said : " These
things are indeed as you have heard ; antl I will
tell you other things respecting this same Simon,
which perhaps you do not know. For he aston-
ishes the whole city every day, by making
spectres and ghosts appear in the midst of the
market - place \ and when he walks abroad,
statues move, and many shadows go before
him, which, he says, are souls of the dead. And
many who attempted to prove him an impostor
he speedily reconciled to him ; and afterwards,
under pretence of a banquet, having slain an ox,
and given them to eat of it, he infected them
with various diseases, and subjected them to de-
mons. And in a word, having injured many,
and being supposed to be a god, he is both
feared and honoured." ^
CHAP. V. DISCRETION _THE BETTER PART OF
VALOUR.
" Wherefore I do not think that any one will
be able to quench such a fire as has been kin-
dled. For no one doubts his promises ; but
every one affirms that this is so. Wherefore,
lest you should expose yourselves to danger, I
advise you not to attempt anything against him
until Peter come, who alone shall be able to
resist such a power, being the most esteemed
disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. For so much
do I fear this man, that if he had not elsewhere
been vanquished in disputing with my lord Pe-
ter, I should counsel you to persuade even Peter
himself not to attempt to oppose Simon."
CHAP. VI. — Simon's departure.
Then I said : "If our lord Peter did not know
that he himself alone can prevail against this
power, he would not have sent us before him
with orders to get information secretly concern-
ing Simon, and to wTite to him." Then, as
evening had come on, we took supper,^ and
went to sleep. But in the morning, one of Ber-
nice's friends came and said that Simon had set
sail for Sidon, and that he had left behind him
Appion Pleistonices,'* — a man of Alexandria, a
2 fComp. Acts viii. g-ii. — R.]
3 Literally, " partook of salt."
4 This epithet means, " the conqueror of very many." Suidas
makes Appion the son of Pleistonices. [Comp. Recognitions, x.
52. It is evident that the writer has in mind Apion, the opponent
of the Jews, against whom Josephus wrote his treatise Compare
the statement of Homily V. 2. The entire discussion with Appion,
extending over Homilies IV. -VI. is peculiar to this narrative,
though much of the argument occurs in the discussion of Clement
with his father {Recognitions, x.). Appion and Annubion are intro-
duced in Recog)iitions , x. 52, but not as disputants. The discussion
here is constructed with much skill. — R.]
Chap. XII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
253
grammarian by profession, whom I knew as be-
ing a friend of my father ; and a certain astrol-
oger, Annubion the Diospolitan, and Athenodo-
rus the Athenian, attached to the doctrine of
Epicurus. And we, having learned these things
concerning Simon, in the morning wrote and
despatched a letter to Peter, and went to take
a walk.
CHAP. VII. APPION'S salutation.
And Appion met us, not only with the two
companions just named, but with about thirty
other men. And as soon as he saw me, he
saluted and kissed me, and said, " This is Clem-
ent, of whose noble birth and liberal education
I have often told you ; for he, being related to
the family of Tiberius Caesar, and equipped with
all Grecian learning, has been seduced by a
certain barbarian called Peter to speak and act
after the manner of the Jews. Wherefore I beg
of you to strive together with me for the setting
of him right. And in your presence I now ask
him. Let him tell me, since he thinks that he
has devoted himself to piety, whether he is not
acting most impiously, in forsaking the customs
of his country, and falling away to those of the
barbarians."
chap. viii.
a challenge.
I answered : " I accept, indeed, your kindly
affection towards me, but I take exception to
your ignorance. For your affection is kindly,
because you wish to continue in those customs
which you consider to be good. But your
inaccurate knowledge strives to lay a snare for
me, under the guise of friendship." Then said
Appion : " Does it seem to you to be ignorance,
that one should observe the customs of his
fathers, and judge after the manner of the
Greeks? " Then I answered : " It behoves one
who desires to be pious not altogether to ob-
serve the customs of his fathers ; but to observe
them if they be pious, and to shake them off if
they be impious. For it is possible that one
who is the son of an impious father, if he
wishes to be pious, should not desire to follow
the religion of his father." ' Then answered
Appion: "What then? Do you say that your
father was a man of an evil life?" Then said I :
" He was not of an evil life, but of an evil opin-
ion." Then Appion: "I should like to know
what was his evil apprehension." Then said I :
"Because he believed the false and wicked
myths of the Greeks." Then Appion asked :
"What are these false and evil myths of the
Greeks?" Then I said: "The wrong opinion
concerning the gods, which, if you will bear with
* We have adopted the emendation of Wieseler, who reads
o-ePaoTfiaTi for atfidiTixaTa. He also proposes iOei (habit) instead of
cre/3d(7/aaTt. The readings in the Mss. vary.
me, you shall hear, with those who are desirous
to learn.
CHAP. IX. UNWORTHY ENDS OF PHILOSOPHERS.
" Wherefore, before beginning our conversation,
let us now withdraw into some quieter place,
and there I shall converse with you. And the
reason why I wish to speak privately is this,
because neither the multitude, nor even all the
philosophers, approach honestly to the judgment
of things as they are. For we know many, even
of those who pride themselves on their philoso-
phy, who are vainglorious, or who have put on
the philosopher's robe for the sake of gain, and
not for the sake of virtue itself; and they, if
they do not find that for which they take to
philosophy, turn to mockery. Therefore, on
account of such as these, let us choose some
place fit for private conference."
CHAP. X. A COOL RETREAT.
And a certain one amongst them — a rich
man, and possessing a garden of evergreen
plants^ — said : "Since it is very hot, let us retire
for a little from the city to my gardens." Ac-
cordingly they went forth, and sat down in a
place where there were pure streams of cool
water, and a green shade of all sorts of trees.
There I sat pleasantly, and the others round
about me ; and they being silent, instead of a
verbal request made to me, showed by their
eager looks to me that they required the proof
of my assertion. And therefore I proceeded to
speak thus : —
CHAP. XI. TRUTH AND CUSTOM.
"There is a certain great difference, O men of
Greece, between truth and custom. For truth
is found when it is honestly sought ; but custom,
whatsoever be the character of the custom re-
ceived, whether true or false, is strengthened by
itself without the exercise of judgment ; and he
who has received it is neither pleased with it as
being true, nor grieved with it as false. For
such an one has believed not by judgment, but
by prejudice, resting his own hope on the opinion
of those who have lived before him on a mere
peradventure. And it is not easy to cast off the
ancestral garment, though it be shown to himself
to be wholly foolish and ridiculous.
CHAP. XII. — GENESIS.
"Therefore I say that the whole learning of
the Greeks is a most dreadful fabrication of a
wicked demon. For they have introduced many
2 The text here is corrupt. If we adopt Lobeck's emendation of
7ra(iMiov(7u)i' into nafni\ov<Tiov, the literal translation is, " possessing
a property around him continually rich in leaves." (The offer of this
man has a partial parallel in Recosm'tions, viii. 35-38. — R.]
254
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily IV.
gods of their own, and these wicked, and subject
to all kinds of passion ; so that he who wishes
to do the hke things may not be ashamed, which
belongs to a man, having as an example the
wicked and unquiet lives of the mythological
gods. And through his not being ashamed, such
an one affords no hope of his repenting. And
others have introduced fate, which is called
genesis, contrary to which no one can suffer or
do anything. This, therefore, also is like to the
first. For any one who thinks that no one has
aught to do or suffer contrary to genesis easily
falls into sin ; and having sinned, he does not
repent of his impiety, holding it as his apology
that he was borne on by genesis to do these
things. And as he cannot rectify genesis, he has
no reason to be ashamed of the sins he com-
mits.'
CHAP. XIII. DESTINY.
"And others introduce an unforeseeing des-
tiny, as if all things revolved of their own accord,
without the superintendence of any master. But
thus to think these things is, as we have said, the
most grievous of all opinions. For, as if there
were no one superintending and fore -judging
and distributing to every one according to his
deserving, they easily do everything as they can
through fearlessness. Therefore those who have
such opinions do not easily, or perhaps do not at
all, live virtuously ; for they do not foresee the
danger which might have the effect of converting
them. But the doctrine of the barbarous Jews,
as you call them, is most pious, introducing One
as the Father and Creator of all this world, by
nature good and righteous ; good, indeed, as
pardoning sins to those who repent ; but right-
eous, as visiting to every one after repentance
according to the worthiness of his doings.
CHAP. XIV. — " DOCTRINE ACCORDING TO GODLI-
NESS."
"This doctrine, even if it also be mythical,
being pious, would not be without advantage for
this life. For every one, in expectation of being
judged by the all-seeing God, receives the greater
impulse towards virtue. But if the doctrine be
also true, it withdraws him who has lived virtu-
ously from eternal punishment, and endows him
with eternal and unspeakable blessings from
God.
CHAP. XV. — WICKEDNESS OF THE GODS.
" But I return to the foremost doctrine of the
Greeks, that which states in stories^ that there
are gods many, and subject to all kinds of
passions. And not to spend much time upon
' [Compare the discussion on Genesis in Homily XIV. 3, etc.,
but especially the full arguments in Recognitions, \\i\., ix. — R.J
2 ixvdoKoyov<Tav,
things that are clear, referring to the impious
deeds of every one of those who are called gods,
I could not tell all their amours ; those of Zeus
and Poseidon, of Pluto and Apollo, of Dionysus
and Hercules, and of them all singly.^ And
of these you are yourselves not ignorant, and
have been taught their manners of life, being
instructed in the Grecian learning, that, as
competitors with the gods, you might do like
things.
CHAP. XVI. WICKEDNESS OF JUPITER.
" But I shall begin with the most royal Zeus,
whose father Kronos, having, as you say, de-
voured his own children, and having shorn off
the members of his father Uranus with a sickle
of adamant, showed to those who are zealous for
the mysteries of the gods an example of piety
towards parents and of love towards children.
And Jupiter himself bound his own father, and
imprisoned him in Tartarus ; and he also pun-
ishes the other gods.'* And for those who wish
to do things not to be spoken of, he begat Metis,
and devoured her. But Metis was seed ; for it
is impossible to devour a child. And for an
excuse to abusers of themselves with mankind,
he carries away Ganymedes. And as a helper
of adulterers in their adultery, he is often found
an adulterer. And to those who wish to commit
incest with sisters, he sets the example in his
intercourse with his sisters Hera and Demeter,
and the heavenly A]jhrodite, whom some call
Dodona.5 And to those who wish to commit
incest with their daughters, there is a wicked
example from his story, in his committing incest
with Persephone. But in myriads of instances
he acted impiously, that by reason of his exces-
sive wickedness the fable of his being a god
might be received by impious men.
CHAP. XVII. — " THEIR MAKERS ARE LIKE UNTO
THEM."
" You will hold it reasonable for ignorant men
to be moderately indignant at these fancies.
But what must we say to the learned, some of
whom, professing themselves to be grammarians
and sophists, affirm that these acts are worthy
of gods? For, being themselves incontinent,
they lay hold of this mythical pretext ; and as
imitators of the gods,^ they practise unseemly
things with freedom.
CHAP. XVIII. — SECOND NATURE.
" On this account, they who live in the coun-
try sin much less than they do, not having been
3 [See Homily V. 11-15, and comp. Recognitions, x. 20. — R.J
■• Wieseler proposes 8c40u? instead of Seovs ; and he punishes his
uncles also, as in vi. 2, 21.
5 This is properly regarded as a mistake for Dione, or Didone,
which is another form of the name Dione.
* Lit. " of those who are superior or better."
Chap. XXIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
255
indoctrinated in those things in which they have
been indoctrinated who dare do these things,
having learned from evil instruction to be im-
pious. For they who from their childhood learn
letters by means of such fables, while their soul
is yet pliant, engraft the impious deeds of those
who are called gods into their own minds.;
whence, when they are grown up, they ripen
fruit, like evil seeds cast into the soul. And
what is worst of all, the rooted impurities cannot
be easily cut down, when they are perceived to
be bitter by them when they have attained to
manhood. For every one is pleased to remain
in those habits which he forms in childhood ; and
thus, since custom is not much less powerful
than nature, they become difficult to be con-
verted to those good things which were not sown
in their souls from the beginning.
CH.AP. XIX. — "where igxor.-\nce is bliss."
" Wherefore it behoves the young not to be
satisfied with those corrupting lessons, and those
who are in their prime should carefully avoid
listening to the mythologies of the Greeks. For
lessons about their gods are much worse than
ignorance, as we have shown from the case of
those dwelling in the country, who sin, less
through their not having been instructed by
Greeks. Truly, such fables of theirs, and spec-
tacles, and books, ought to be shunned, and if
it were possible, even their cities. For those
who are full of evil learning, even with their
breath infect as with madness those who asso-
ciate with them, with their own passions. And
what is worst, whoever is most instructed among
them, is so much the more turned from the
judgment which is according to nature.
CHAP. XX. — FALSE THEORIES OF PHILOSOPHERS.
" And some of those amongst them who even
profess to be philosophers, assert that such sins
are indifferent, and say that those who are indig-
nant at such practices are senseless.' For they
say that such things are not sins by nature, but
have been proscribed by laws made by wise men
in early times, through their knowing that men,
through the instability of their minds, being
greatly agitated on these accounts, wage war with
one another ; for which reason, wise men have
made laws to proscribe such things as sins. But
this is a ridiculous supposition. For how can
they be other than sins, which are the cause of
tumults, and murders, and every confusion? For
do not shortcomings of life^ and many more
evils proceed from adultery ?
' [Compare the argument against the philosophers, as put in the
mouth n{ the ."Xpostle, in Rrcogtn'ti'ims, \. 48-50 — R.l
2 The Vatican MS inserts hero, " upturning of nouses, magic
practices, deceptions, perplexities."
CHAP. XXI.
EVILS OF ADULTERY.
" But why, it is said, if a man is ignorant of
his wife's being an adulteress, is he not indig-
nant, enraged, distracted ? why does he not make
war? Thus these things are not evil by nature,
but the unreasonable opinion of men make them
terrible. But I say, that even if these dreadful
things do not occur, it is usual for a woman,
through association with an adulterer, either to
forsake her husband, or if she continue to live
with him, to plot against him, or to bestow upon
the adulterer the goods procured by the labour
of her husband ; and having conceived by the
adulterer while her husband is absent, to attempt
the destruction of that which is in her womb,
through shame of conviction, and so to become
a child-murderer ; or even, while destroying it,
to be destroyed along with it. But if while her
husband is at home she conceives by the adul-
terer and bears a child, the child when he grows
up does not know his father, and thinks that he
is his father who is not ; and thus he who is not
the father, at his death leaves his substance to
the child of another. And how many other evils
naturally spring from adultery ! And the secret
evils we do not know. For as the mad dog de-
stroys all that he touches, infecting them with
the unseen madness, so also the hidden evil of
adultery, though it be not known, effects the
cutting off of posterity.
CHAP. XXII. — A MORE EXCELLENT WAY.
" But let us pass over this now. But this we
all know, that universally men are beyond meas-
ure enraged on account of it, that wars have
been waged, that there have been overthrows
of houses, and captures of cities, and myriads of
other evils. On this account I betook myself to
the holy God and law of the Jews, putting my
faith in the well-assured conclusion that the law
has been assigned by the righteous judgment of
God, and that the soul must at some time re-
ceive according to the desert of its deeds."
CHAP. XXIII.
" WHITHER SHALL I GO FROM THY
PRESENCE? "
When I had thus spoken, Appion broke in
upon my discourse. " What ! " said he ; " do
not the laws of the Greeks also forbid wicked-
ness, and punish adulterers?" Then said I:
" Then the gods of the Greeks, who acted con-
trary to the laws, deserve punishment. But how
shall I be able to restrain myself, if I suppose
that the gods themselves first practised all wick-
ednesses as well as adultery, and did not suffer
punishment ; whereas they ought the rather to
have suffered, as not being slaves to lust? But
if they were subject to it, how were they gods? "
256
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily V.
Then Appion said : " Let us have in our eye not
the gods, but the judges ; and lool:ing to them,
we shall be afraid to sin." Then I said : " This
is not fitting, O Appion : for he who has his eye
upon men will dare to sin, in hope of escaping
detection ; but he who sets before his soul the
all-seeing God, knowing that he cannot escape
His notice, will refrain from sinning even in
secret."
CHAP. XXIV. ALLEGORY.
When Appion heard this, he said : " I knew,
ever since I heard that you were consorting with
Jews, that you had alienated your judgment.
For it has been well said by some one, ' Evil com-
munications corrupt good manners.' " Then
said I : " Therefore good communications cor-
rect evil manners." And Appion said : " To-
day I am fully satisfied to have learned your
position ; therefore I permitted you to speak
first. But to-morrow, in this place, if it is agree-
able to you, I will show, in the presence of these
friends when they meet, that our gods are neither
adulterers, nor murderers, nor corrupters of
children, nor guilty of incest with sisters or
daughters. But the ancients, wishing that only
lovers of learning should know the mysteries,
veiled them with those fables of which you have
spoken. For they speak physiologically of boil-
ing substance under the name of Zen, and of
time under that of Kronos, and of the ever-flow-
ing nature of water under that of Rhea. How-
ever, as I have promised, I shall to-morrow
exhibit the truth of things, explaining them one
by one to you when you come together in the
morning." ' In reply to this I said : "To-mor-
row, as you have promised, so do. But now
hear something in opposition to what you are
going to say.
CHAP. XXV. — AN ENGAGEMENT FOR TO-MORROW.
" If the doings of the gods, being good, have
been veiled with evil fables, the wickedness of
him who wove the veil is shown to have been
great, because he concealed noble things with
evil narratives, that no one imitate them. But
if they really did things impious, they ought, on
the contrary, to have veiled them with good nar-
ratives, lest men, regarding them as their supe-
riors, should set about sinning in like manner."
As I spoke thus, those present were evidently
beginning to be well-disposed towards the words
spoken by me ; for they repeatedly and earnestly
asked me to come on tiie following day, and
departed.
' [See Homily VL i-io. Homily V. contains an account of
Clement's previous acquaintance wilh Appion. — R.J
HOMILY V.
CHAP. L
■APPION DOES NOT APPEAR.
The next day, therefore, in Tyre, as we had
agreed, I came to the quiet place, and there I
found the rest, with some others also. Then
I saluted them. But as I did not see Appion, I
asked the reason of his not being present ; and
some one said that he had been unwell ever since
last evening. Then, when I said that it was rea-
sonable that we should immediately set out to
visit him, almost all begged me first to discourse
to them, and that then we could go to see him.
Therefore, as all were of one opinion, I pro-
ceeded to say : ' —
CHAP. II. — Clement's previous knowledge of
APPION.
" Yesterday, when I left this, O friends, I con-
fess that, through much anxiety about the discus-
sion that was to take place with Appion, I was
' [The historical setting of Homily V. is peculiar to this narrative;
most of the views appear in a different connection in the RecognitioHs
(mainly book x.). — R.]
not able to get any sleep. And while I was un-
able to sleep, I remembered a trick that I played
upon him in Rome. It was this. From my boy-
hood I Clement was a lover of truth, and a seeker
of the things that are profitable for the soul, and
spending my time in raising and refuting theo-
ries ; but being unable to find anything perfect,
through distress of mind I fell sick. And while
I was confined to bed Appion came to Rome,
and being my father's friend, he lodged with me ;
and hearing that I was in bed, he came to me,
as being not unacquainted with medicine, and
inquired the cause of my being in bed. But I,
being aware that the man exceedingly hated the
Jews, as also that he had written many books
against them, and that he had formed a friend-
ship with this Simon, not through desire of learn-
ing, but because he knew that he was a Samaritan
and a hater of the Jews, and that he had come
forth in opposition to the Jews, therefore he had
formed an alliance with him, that he might learn
something from him against the Jews ; ^ —
2 [See Homily IV. 6, footnote. — R.]
Chap. VIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
257
CH.A.P. III.
CLEMENTS TRICK.
" I, knowing this before concerning Appion,
as soon as he asked me the cause of my sickness,
answered feignedly, that I was sutTering and dis-
tressed in my mind after the manner of young
men. And to this he said, ' My son, speak freely
as to a father: what is your soul's ailment?'
And when I again groaned feignedly, as being
ashamed to speak of love, by means of silence
and down-looking I conveyed the impression
of what I wished to intimate. But he, being
persuaded that I was in love with a woman, said :
'There is nothing in life which does not admit
of help. For indeed I myself, when I was
young, being in love with a most accomplished
woman, not only thought it impossible to obtain j
her, but did not even hope ever to address her.
And yet, having fallen in with a certain Egyptian
who was exceedingly well versed in magic, and
having become his friend, I disclosed to him my
love, and not only did he assist me in all that I
wished, but, honouring me more bountifully, he
hesitated not to teach me an incantation by
means of which I obtained her ; and as soon as
I had obtained her, by means of his secret in-
struction, being persuaded by the liberality of
my teacher, I was cured of love.
CHAP. IV. — appion's undertaking.
" ' Whence, if you also suffer any such thing
after the manner of men, use freedom vvith me
with all security ; for within seven days I shall
put you fully in possession of her.' When I
heard this, looking at the object I had in view,
I said : ' Pardon me that I do not altogether
believe in the existence of magic ; for I have
already tried many who have made many prom-
ises, and have deceived me. However, your un-
dertaking influences me, and leads me to hope.
But when I think of the matter, I am afraid that
the demons are sometimes not subject to the
magicians with respect to the things that are
commanded them.'
CH.'\P. V.
•THEORY OF MAGIC.
"Then Appion said: 'Admit that I know
more of these things than you do. However,
that you may not think that there is nothing
in what you have heard from me in reference
to what you have said, I will tell you how the
demons are under necessity to obey the magi-
cians in the matters about which they are com-
manded. For as it is impossible for a soldier to
contradict his general, and impossible for the
generals themselves to disobey the king — for
if any one oppose those set over him, he is alto-
gether deserving of punishment — so it is impos-
sible for the demons not to serve the angels who
are their generals ; and when they are adjured
by them, they yield trembling, well knowing that
if they disobey they shall be fully punished. But
the angels also themselves, being adjured by the
magicians in the name of their ruler, obey, lest,
being found guilty of disobedience, they be
destroyed. For unless all things that are living
and rational foresaw vengeance from the ruler,
confusion would ensue, all revolting against one
another.'
CHAP. VI. SCRUPLES.
" Then said I : ' Are those things correct, then,
which are spoken by poets and philosophers, that
in Hades the souls of the wicked are judged and
punished for their attempts ; such as those 01
Ixion, and Tantalus, and Tityus, and Sisyphus,
and the daughters of Danaus, and as many others
as have been impious here? And how, if these
things are not so, is it possible that magic can
subsist ? ' Then he having told me that these
things are so in Hades, I asked him : ' Why are
not we ourselves afraid of magic, being persuaded
of the punishment in Hades for adultery? For
I do not admit that it is a righteous thing to
compel to adultery a woman who is unwilling ;
but if any one will engage to persuade her, I am
ready for that, besides confessing my thanks.'
CHAP. VII. A DISTINCTION WITH A DIFFERENCE.
"Then Appion said : 'Do you not think it is
the same thing, whether you obtain her by magic,
or by deceiving her with words ? ' Then said I :
' Not altogether the same ; for these differ widely
from one another. For he who constrains aa
unwilling woman by the force of magic, subjects-
himself to the most terrible punishment, as hav-
ing plotted against a chaste woman ; but he who
persuades her with words, and puts the choice
in her own power and will, does not force her.
And I am of opinion, that he who has persuaded
a woman will not suffer so great punishment as
he who has forced her. Therefore, if you can
persuade her, I shall be thankful to you when I
have obtained her ; but otherwise, I had rather
die than force her against her will.'
CHAP. VIII. FLATTERY OR MAGIC.
" Then Appion, being really puzzled, said :
' What am I to say to you ? For at one time, as
one perturbed with love, you pray to obtain her ;
and anon, as if you loved her not, you make
more account of your fear than your desire : and
you think that if you can persuade her you shall
be blameless, as without sin ; but obtaining her
by the power of magic, you will incur punish-
ment. But do you not know that it is the end
of every action that is judged, the fact that it has
been committed, and that no account is made
2:^8
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily V.
of the means by which it has been effected?
And if you commit adultery, being enabled by
magic, shall you be judged as having done wick-
edly ; and if by persuasion, shall you be absolved
from sin in respect of the adultery?' Then I
said : ' On account of my love, there is a neces-
sity for me to choose one or other of the means
that are available to procure the object of my
love ; and I shall choose, as far as possible, to
cajole her rather than to use magic. But neither
is it easy to persuade her by flattery, for the wo-
man is very much of a philosopher.'
CHAP. IX. A LOVE-LETTER.
" Then Appion said : ' I am all the more hope-
ful to be able to persuade her, as you wish, pro-
vided only we be able to converse with her.'
' That,' said I, ' is impossible.' Then Appion
asked if it were possible to send a letter to her.
Then I said : * That indeed may be done.' Then
Appion said : ' This very night I shall write a
paper on encomiums of adultery, which you
shall get from me and despatch to her ; and I
hope that she shall be persuaded, and consent.'
Appion accordingly wrote the paper, and gave
it to me ; and I thought of it this very night, and
I remembered that fortunately I have it by me,
along with other papers which I carry about with
me." Having thus spoken, I showed the paper
to those who were present, and read it to them
as they wished to hear it ; and having read it, I
said : " This, O men, is the instruction of the
Greeks, affording a bountiful licence to sin with-
out fear.' The paper was as follows : —
CHAP. X. THE LOVER TO THE BELOVED ONE.
"'Anonymously, on account of the laws of
foolish men. At the bidding of Love, the first-
born of all, salutation : I know that you are
devoted to philosophy, and for the sake of virtue
you affect the life of the noble. But who are
nobler than the gods among all, and philoso-
phers among men ? For these alone know what
works are good or evil by nature, and what, not
being so, are accounted so by the imposition of
laws. Now, then, some have supposed that the
action which is called adultery is evil, although
it is in every respect good. For it is by the
appointment of Eros for the increase of life.
And Eros is the eldest of all the gods. For
without Eros there can be no mingling or gen-
eration either of elements, or gods, or men, or
irrational animals, or aught else. For we are
all instruments of Eros. He, by means of us,
is the fabricator of all that is begotten, the mind
inhabiting our souls. Hence it is not when we
ourselves wish it, but when we are ordered by
him, that we desire to do his will. But if, while
we desire according to his will, we attempt to
restrain the desire for the sake of what is called
chastity, what do we do but the greatest impiety,
when we oppose the oldest of all gods and men?
CHAP. XL "all UNCLEAXNESS WITH GREEDI-
NESS."
" ' But let all doors be opened to him, and let
all baneful and arbitrary laws be set aside, which
have been ordained by fanatical men, who, under
the power of senselessness, and not willing to
understand what is reasonable, and, moreover,
suspecting those who are called adulterers, are
with good reason mocked with arbitrary laws by
Zeus himself, through Minos and Rhadamanthus.
For there is no restraining of Eros dwelling in
our souls ; for the passion of lovers is not vol-
untary. Therefore Zeus himself, the giver of
these laws, approached myriads of women ; and,
according to some wise men, he sometimes had
intercourse with human beings, as a benefactor
for the production of children. But in the case
of those to whom he knew that his being un-
known would be a favour,^ he changed his form,
in order that he might neither grieve them, nor
seem to act in opposition to the laws given by
himself. It becomes you, therefore, who are
debaters of philosophy, for the sake of a good
life, to imitate those who are acknowledged to
be the nobler, who have had sexual intercourse
ten thousand times.
CHAP. XII. — Jupiter's amours.
"'And not to spend the time to no purpose
in giving more examples, I shall begin with
mentioning some embraces of Zeus himself, the
father of gods and men.^ For it is impossible
to mention all, on account of their multitude.
Hear, therefore, the amours of this great Jupiter,
which he concealed by changing his form, on
account of the fanaticism of senseless men.
For, in the first place, wishing to show to wise
men that adultery is no sin, when he was going
to marry, being, according to the multitude,
knowingly an adulterer, in his first marriage, but
not being so in reality, by means, as I said, of a
seeming sin he accomplished a sinless marriage.-*
For he married his own sister Hera, assuming
the likeness of a cuckoo's wing ; and of her
were born Hebe and Ilithyia. For he gave birth
to Metis without copulation with any one, as did
also Hera to Vulcan.
' [The introduction of the letters is an ingenious literarj" artifice.
Much of the mythological matter is given in Recognitions, x. — R.J
2 We have adopted the punctuation of Wieseler.
3 [Comp. Recognitions, x. 20-23, for ^ parallel to chaps. 12-15. —
R]
< I have no doubt that this is the general meaning; but the text
I is hopelessly corrupt.
Chap. XVII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
259
CH.AP. XIII. — Jupiter's amours continued.
" ' Then he committed incest with his sister,
who was born of Kronos and Thalasse, after
the dismemberment of Kronos, and of whom
were born Eros and Cypris, whom they call also
Dodone. Then, in the likeness of a satyr, he
had intercourse with Antiope the daughter of
Nycteus, of whom were born Amphion and Ze-
thus. And he embraced Alcmene, the wife of
Amphitryon, in the form of her husband Amphi-
tryon, of whom was born Hercules. And, changed
into an eagle, he approached ^gina, the daugh-
ter of Asclepius, of whom ^acus was born.
And in the form of a bear he lay with Amalthea
the daughter of Phocus ; and in a golden shower
he fell upon Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, of
whom sprang Perseus. He became wild as a lion
to Callisto the daughter of Lycaon, and begat Ar-
cus the second. And with Europa the daughter
of Phoenix he had intercourse by means of a bull,
of whom sprang Minos, and Rhadamanthus, and
Sarpedon ; and with Eurymedusa the daughter
of Achelous, changing himself into an ant, of
whom was born Myrmidon. With a nymph of
Hersseus, in the form of a vulture, from whom
sprang the wise men of old in Sicily. He came
to Juno the earth-born in Rhodes, and of her
were born Pargaeus, Kronius, Kytis. And he
deflowered Ossia, taking the likeness of her hus-
band Phoenix, of whom Anchinous was born to
him. Of Nemesis the daughter of Thestius,
who is also thought to be Leda, he begot
Helena, in the form of a swan or goose ; and
again, in the form of a star, he produced Castor
and Polydeuces. With Lamia he was trans-
formed into a hoopoo.
CHAP. XIV. — Jupiter's undisguised amours.
" ' In the likeness of a shepherd he made
Mnemosyne mother of the Muses. Setting him-
self on fire, he married Semele, the daughter of
Cadmus, of whom he begat Dionysus. In the
likeness of a dragon he deflowered his daughter
Persephone, thought to be the wife of his brother
Pluto. He had intercourse with many other
women without undergoing any change in his
form ; for the husbands had no ill-will to him
as if it were a sin, but knew well that in associ-
ating with their wives he bountifully produced
children for thftn, bestowing upon them the
Hermeses, the Apollos, the Dionysi, the Endym-
ions, and others whom we have spoken of, most
excellent in beauty through his fatherhood.
CHAP. XV. unnatural LUSTS.
" ' And not to spend the time in an endless
exposition, you will find numerous unions with
Jupiter of all the gods. But senseless men call
these doings of the gods adulteries ; even of
those gods who did not refrain from the abuse
of males as disgraceful, but who practised even
this as seemly. For instance, Jupiter himself
was in love with Ganymede : Poseidon with
Pelops ; Apollo with Cinyras, Zacyinthus, Hya-
cinthus, Phorbas, Hylas, Admetus, Cyparissus,
Amyclas, Troilus, Branchus the Tymnsean, Parus
the Potnian, Orpheus ; Dionysus with Laonis,
Ampelus, Hymenjeus, Hermaphrodites, Achilles ;
Asclepius with Hippolytus, and Hephaestus with
Peleus ; Pan with Daphnis ; Hermes with Per-
seus, Chrysas, Theseus, Odrysus ; Hercules with
Abderus, Dryops, Jocastus, Philoctetes, Hylas,
Polyphemus, Haemon, Chonus, Eurystheus.
CHAP. XVI.
PRAISE OF UNCHASTITY.
" ' Thus have I in part set before you the
amours of all the more noted gods, beloved,
that you may know that fanaticism respecting
this thing is confined to senseless men. There-
fore they are mortal, and spend their lives sadly,
because through their zeal they proclaim those
things to be evil which the gods esteem as ex-
cellent. Therefore for the future you will be
blessed, imitating the gods, and not men. For
men, seeing you preserving that which is thought
to be chastity, on account of what they them-
selves feel, praise you indeed, but do not help
you. But the gods, seeing you like unto them-
selves, will both praise and help.
CHAP. XVII.
• THE CONSTELLATIONS.
" ' For reckon to me how many mistresses
they have rewarded, some of whom they have
placed among the stars ; and of some they have
blessed both the children and the associates.
Thus Zeus made Callisto a constellation, called
the Little Bear, which some also call the Dog's
Tail. Poseidon also placed the dolphin in the
sky for the sake of Amphitrite ; and he gave a
place among the stars to Orion the son of
Euryale, the daughter of Minos, for the sake of
his mother Euryale. And Dionysus made a
constellation of the crown of Ariadne, and Zeus
invested the eagle which assisted him in the rape
of Ganymede, and Ganymede himself with the
honour of the Water-pourer. Also he honoured
the bull for the sake of Europa ; and also having
bestowed Castor, and Polydeuces, and Helena
upon Leda, he made them stars. Also Perseus
for the sake of Danae ; and Arcus for the sake
of Callisto. The virgin who also is Dice, for the
sake of Themis ; and Heracles for the sake of
Alcmene. But I do not enlarge further ; for it
were long to tell particularly how many others
the gods have blessed for the sake of their many
mistresses, in their intercourse with human
beings, which senseless men repudiate as evil
26o
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily V.
deeds, not knowing that pleasure is the great
advantage among men.
CHAP. XVIII.
THE PHILOSOPHERS ADVOCATES OF
ADULTERY.
" ' But why ? Do not the celebrated philoso-
phers extol pleasure, and have they not had
intercourse with what women they would ? Of
these the first was that teacher of Greece, of
whom Phoebus himself said, " Of all men, Soc-
rates is the wisest." Does not he teach that in
a well-regulated state women should be com-
mon?' and did he not conceal the fair Alcibia-
des under his philosopher's gown? And the
Socratic Antisthenes writes of the necessity of
not abandoning what is called adultery. And
even his disciple Diogenes, did not he freely
associate with Lais, for the hire of carrying her
on his shoulders in public? Does not Epicurus
extol pleasure? Did not Aristippus anoint him-
self with perfumes, and devote himself wholly to
Aphrodite? Does not Zeno, intimating indiffer-
ence, say that the deity pervades all things, that
it may be known to the intelligent, that with
whomsoever a man has intercourse, it is as with
himself; and that it is superfluous to forbid
what are called adulteries, or intercourse with
mother, or daughter, or sister, or children. And
Chrysippus, in his erotic epistles, makes mention
of the statue in Argos, representing Hera and
Zeus in an obscene position.
CHAP. XIX. CLOSE OF THE LOVE-LETTER.
" ' I know that to those uninitiated in the truth
these things seem dreadful and most base ; but
not so to the gods and the philosophers of the
Greeks, nor to those initiated in the mysteries of
Dionysus and Demeter. But above all these,
not to waste time in speaking of the lives of all
the gods, and all the philosophers, let the two
chief be your marks — Zeus the greatest of the
gods, and Socrates of philosophic men. And
the other things which I have mentioned in this
letter, understand and attend to, that you may
not grieve your lover ; since, if you act contra-
rily to gods and heroes, you will be judged
wicked, and will subject yourself to fitting punish-
ment. But if you offer yourself to every lover,
then, as an imitator of the gods, you shall receive
benefits from them. For the rest, dearest one,
remember what mysteries I have disclosed to
you, and inform me by letter of your choice.
Fare thee well.'
CHAP. XX. THE USE MADE OF FT.
" I therefore, having received this billet from
Appion, as though I were really going to send it
to a beloved one, pretended as if she had written
in answer to it ; and the next day, when Appion
came, I gave him the reply, as if from her, as
follows : —
CHAP. XXI. ANSWER TO APPION'S LETTER,
" ' I wonder how, when you commend me for
wisdom, you write to me as to a fool. For, wish-
ing to persuade me to your passion, you make
use of examples from the mythologies of the
gods, that Eros is the eldest of all, as you say,
and above all gods and men, not being afraid to
blaspheme, that you might corrupt my soul and
insult my body. For Eros is not the leader of
the gods, — he, I mean, who has to do with
lusts. For if he lusts willingly, he is himself
his own suffering and punishment ; and he who
should suffer willingly could not be a god. But
if against his will he lust for copulation, and,
pervading our souls as through the members of
our bodies, is borne into intermeddling with our
minds, then he that impels him to love is greater
than he. And again, he who impels him, being
himself impelled by another desire, another
greater than he is found impelling him. And
thus we come to an endless succession of lov-
ers,2 which is impossible. Thus, neither is there
an impeller nor an impelled ; but it is the lust-
ful passion of the lover himself, which is in-
creased by hope and diminished by despair.
' This from a marginal reading.
CHAP. XXII.
LYING FABLES.
" ' But those who will not subdue base lusts
belie the gods, that, by representing the gods as
first doing the things which they do, they may
be set free from blame. For if those who are
called gods committed adulteries for the sake of
begetting children, and not through lascivious-
ness, why did they also debauch males ? But it
is said they complimented their mistresses by
making them stars. Therefore before this were
there no stars, until such time as, by reason of
wantonness, the heaven was adorned with stars
by adulterers? And how is it that the children
of those who have been made stars are punished
in Hades, — Atlas loaded, Tantalus tortured with
thirst, Sisyphus pushing a stone, Tityus thrust
through the bowels, Ixion continually rolled
round a wheel? How is it that these divine
lovers made stars of the womeft whom they de-
filed, but gave no such grace to these ?
CHAP. XXIII.
THE GODS NO GODS.
" 'They were not gods, then, but representations
of tyrants. For a certain tomb is shown among
the Caucasian mountains, not in heaven, but in
2 I suspect it should rather be impellers, reading <t>ep6vTiAii> for
Chap. XXIX.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
261
earth, as that of Kronos, a barbarous man and a
clevourer of children. Further, the tomb of the \
lascivious Zeus, so famed in story, who in like
manner devoured his own daughter Metis, is to
be seen in Crete, and those of Pluto and Posei-
don in the Acherusian lake ; and that of Helius
in Astra, and of Selene in Carrie, of Hermes in
Hermopolis, of Ares in Thrace, of Aphrodite in
Cyprus, of Dionysus in Thebes, and of the rest
in other places. At all events, the tombs are
shown of those that I have named ; for they
were men, and in respect of these things, wicked
men and magicians.' For else they should not
have become despots — I mean Zeus, renowned
in story, and Dionysus — but that by changing
their forms they prevailed over whom they
pleased, for whatever purpose they designed.
CHAP. XXIV. — IF A PRINCIPLE BE GOOD, CARRY
IT OUT.
" ' But if we must emulate their lives, let us
imitate not only their adulteries, but also their
banquets. For Kronos devoured his own chil-
dren, and Zeus in like manner his own daughter.
And what must I say? Pelops served as a sup-
per lor all the gods. Wherefore let us also, be-
fore unhallowed marriages, perpetrate a supper
like that of the gods : for thus the supper would
be worthy of the marriages. But this you would
never consent to ; no more will I to adultery.
Besides this, you threaten me with the anger of 1
Eros as of a powerful god, Eros is not a god,
as I conceive him, but a desire occurring from
the temperament of the living creature in order
to the perpetuation of life, according to the fore-
sight of Him who worketh all things, that the
whole race may not fail, but by reason of pleas-
ure another may be produced out of the sub-
stance of one who shall die, springing forth by
lawful marriage, that he may know to sustain his
own father in old age. And this those born
from adultery cannot do, not having the nature
of affection towards those who have begotten
them.
CHAP. XXV. BETTER TO MARRY THAN TO BURN.
" ' Since, therefore, the erotic desire occurs for
the sake of continuation and legitimate increas-
ing, as I have said, it behoves parents providing
for the chastity of their children to anticipate
the desire, by imbuing them with instruction by
means of chaste books, and. to accustom them
beforehand by excellent discourses ; for custom
is a second nature. And in addition to this,
frequently to remind them of the punishments
appointed by the laws, that, using fear as a
bridle, they may not run on in wicked pleasures.
And it behoves them also, before the springing
of the desire, to satisfy the natural passion of
puberty by marriage, first persuading them not
to look upon the beauty of another woman.
CHAP. XXVI.
CLOSE OF THE ANSWER.
* [Compare the different use of these details in Recognitions, x
34; aUo in Homily VI. 21. — R.]
" ' For our mind, whenever it is impressed de-
lightfully with the image of a beloved one, al-
ways seeing the form as in a mirror, is tormented
by the recollection ; and if it do not obtain its
desire, it contrives ways of obtaining it ; but if
it do obtain it, it is rather increased, like fire
having a supply of wood, and especially when
there is no fear impressed upon the soul of the
lover before the rise of passion. For as water
extinguishes fire, so fear is the extinguisher of
unreasonable desire. Whence I, having learned
from a certain Jew both to understand and to do
the things that are pleasing to God, am not to
be entrapped into adultery by your lying fables.
But may God help you in your wish and efforts
to be chaste, and afford a remedy to your soul
burning with love.'
CHAP. XXVII. A REASON FOR HATRED.
" When Appion heard the pretended answer,
he said : " Is it without reason that I hate the
Jews ? Here now some Jew has fallen in with
her, and has converted her to his religion, and
persuaded her to chastity, and it is henceforth
impossible that she ever have intercourse with
another man ; for these fellows, setting God be-
fore them as the universal inspector of actions,
are extremely persistent in chastity, as being un-
able to be concealed from Him.'
CH.'\P. XXVIII. THE HO.\X CONFESSED.
" When I heard this, I said to Appion : ' Now
I shall confess the truth to you. I was not
enamoured of the woman, or of any one else,
my soul being exceedingly spent upon other de-
sires, and upon the investigation of true doc-
trines. And till now, although I have examined
many doctrines of philosophers, I have inclined
to none of them, excepdng only that of the
Jews, — a certain merchant of theirs having so-
journed here in Rome, selling linen clothes, and
a fortunate meeting having set simply before me
the doctrine of the unity of God.'
CHAP. XXIX. APPION'S RESENTMENT.
"Then Appion, having heard from me the
truth, with his unreasonable hatred of the Jews,
and neither knowing nor wishing to know what
their faith is, being senselessly angry, forthwith
quitted Rome in silence. And as this is my first
meeting with him since then, I naturally expect
his anger in consequence. However, I shall ask
him in your presence what he has to say con-
262
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily VI.
earning those who are called gods, whose lives,
fabled to be filled with all passions, are con-
stantly celebrated to the people, in order to
their imitation ; while, besides their human pas-
sions as I have said, their graves are also shown
in different places."
CHAP. XXX. A DISCUSSION PROMISED.
The others having heard these things from
me, and desiring to learn what would ensue, ac-
companied me to visit Appion. And we found
him bathed, and sitting at a table furnished.
Wherefore we inquired but little into the matter
concerning the gods. But he, understanding,. I
suppose, our wish, promised that next day he
would have something to say about the gods,
and appointed to us the same place where he
would converse with us. And we, as soon as he
had promised, thanked him, and departed, each
one to his home.
HOMILY VI.
CHAP. I. — CLEMENT MEETS APPION.
And on the third day, when I came with my
friends to the appointed place in Tyre, I found
Appion sitting between Anubion and Athenodo-
rus, and waiting for us, along with many other
learned men. But in no wise dismayed, I greeted
them, and sat down opposite Appion. And in a
little he began to speak : —
" I wish to start from the following point, and
to come with all speed at once to the question.
Before you, my son Clement, joined us, my
friend Anubion here, and Athenodorus, who yes-
terday were among those who heard you dis-
course, were reporting to me what you said of
the numerous false accusations I brought against
the gods when I was visiting you in Rome, at the
time you were shamming love, how I charged
them with psederasty, lasciviousness, and numer-
ous incests of all kinds. But, my son, you ought
to have known that I was not in earnest when I
wrote such things about the gods, but was con-
cealing the truth, from my love to you. That
truth, however, if it so please you, you may hear
from me now.
CHAP. II. THE MYTHS ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN
LITERALLY.
" The wisest of the ancients, men who had by
hard labour learned all truth, kept the path of
knowledge hid from those who were unworthy
and had no taste for lessons in divine things.'
For it is not really true that from Ouranos and
his mother Ge were born twelve children, as the
myth counts them : six sons, OkeanoS, Koios,
Krios, Hyperion, Japetos, Kronos ; and six
daughters, Thea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Demeter,
Tethys, and Rhea.^ Nor that Kronos, with the
knife of adamant, mutilated his father Ouranos,
as you say, and threw the part into the sea ; nor
' [Compare in general, with chaps. 2-22, the mythological state-
ments in Rccognitipiis, x. 17-41. — R.]
^ [Comp. Recognitions, x. 17, 31. — R.]
that Aphrodite sprang from the drops of blood
which flowed from it ; nor that Kronos associ-
ated with Rhea, and devoured his first-begotten
son Pluto, because a certain saying of Prome-
theus led him to fear that a child born from him
would wax stronger than himself, and spoil him
of his kingdom ; nor that he devoured in the
same v/ay Poseidon, his second child ; nor that,
when Zeus was born next, his mother Rhea con-
cealed him, and when Kronos asked for him that
he might devour him, gave him a stone instead ;
nor that this, when it was devoured, pressed
those who had been previously devoured, and
forced them out, so that Pluto, who was devoured
first, came out first, and after him Poseidon, and
then Zeus ; ^ nor that Zeus, as the story goes,
preserved by the wit of his mother, ascended
into heaven, and spoiled his father of the king-
dom ; nor that he punished his father's broth-
ers ; nor that he came down to lust after mortal
women ; nor that he associated with his sisters,
and daughters, and sisters-in-law, and was guilty
of shameful paederasty ; nor that he devoured
his daughter Metis, in order that from her he
might make Athene be born out of his own
brain (and from his thigh might bear Dionysos,-*
who is said to have been rent in pieces by the
Titans) ; nor that he held a feast at the marriage
of Peleus and Thetis ; 5 nor that he excluded
Eris (discord) from the marriage ; nor that Eris
on her part, thus dishonoured, contrived an
occasion of quarrelling and discord among the
feasters ; nor that she took a golden apple from
the gardens of the Hesperides, and wrote on it
' For the fair.' And then they fable how Hera,
and Athena, and Aphrodite, found the apple,
and quarrelling about it, came to Zeus ; and he
3 The passage seems to be corrupt.
* The common story about Dionysus is, that he was the unborn
son, not of Metis, but of Semele. Wieseler supposes that some words
have fallen out, or that the latter part of the sentence is a careless in-
terpolation.
5 [Compare, on " the supper of the gods," chap. 15, and Recog-
nitions, X. 41. — R.]
Chap. VI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
263
did not decide it for them, but sent them by
Hermes to the shepherd Paris, to be judged of
their beauty. But there was no such judging
of the goddesses ; nor did Paris give the apple to
Aphrodite ; nor did Aphrodite, being thus hon-
oured, honour him in return, by giving him
Helen to wife. For the honour bestowed by
the goddess could never have furnished a pre-
text for a universal war, and that to the ruin of
him who was honoured, himself nearly related
to the race of Aphrodite. But, my son, as I
said, such stories have a peculiar and philosophi-
cal meaning, which can be allegorically set forth
in such a way that you yourself would listen with
wonder." And I said, " I beseech you not to
torment me with delay." And he said, "Do not
be afraid ; for I shall lose no time, but commence
at once.
CHAP. III. — APPION PROCEEDS TO INTERPRET THE
MYTHS.
" There was once a time when nothing existed
but chaos and a confused mixture of orderless
elements, which were as yet simply heaped to-
gether.' This nature testifies, and great men
have been of opinion that it was so. Of these
great men I shall bring forward to you him who
excelled them all in wisdom. Homer, where he
says, with a reference to the original confused
niasSj ' But may you all become water and
earth ; ' ' implying that from these all things had
their origin, and that all things return to their
first state, which is chaos, when the watery and
earthy substances are separated. And Hesiod
in the theogony says, ' Assuredly chaos was the
very first to come into being.' ^ Now, by 'come
into being,' he evidently means that chaos came
into being, as having a beginning, and did not
always exist, without beginning. And Orpheus
likens chaos to an egg, in which was the confused
mixture of the primordial elements. This chaos,
which Orpheus calls an egg, is taken for granted
by Hesiod, having a beginning, produced from
infinite matter, and originated in the following
way.
chap. IV. — origin of chaos.
" This matter, of four kinds, and endowed
with life, was an entire infinite abyss, so to speak,
in eternal stream, borne about without order, and
forming every now and then countless but in-
effectual combinations (which therefore it dis-
solved again from want of order) ; ripe indeed,
but not able to be bound so as to generate a
living creature. And once it chanced that this
infinite sea, which was thus by its own nature
' [With this discourse and its cosmogony compare the discourse
of Clement and his brothers in Recognitions, x. 17-19, 30-34. — R.J
^ Ih'ady vii, gg,
3 L. 116.
driven about with a natural motion, flowed in an
orderly manner from the same to the same (back
on itself), like a whirlpool, mixing the substances
in such a way that from each ■♦ there flowed down
the middle of the universe (as in the funnel of a
mould) precisely that which was most useful and
suitable for the generation of a living creature.
This was carried down by the all-carrying whirl-
pool, drew to itself the surrounding spirit, and
having been so conceived that it was very fertile,
formed a separate substance. For just as a
bubble is usually formed in water, so everything
round about contributed to the conception of
this ball-like globe. Then there came forth to
the light, after it had been conceived in itself,
and was borne upwards by the divine spirit which
surrounded it,5 perhaps the greatest thing ever
born ; a piece of workmanship, so to speak,
having life in it which had been conceived from
that entire infinite abyss, in shape like an egg,
and as swift as a bird.
CHAP. V. KRONOS AND RHEA EXPLAINED.
" Now you must think of Kronos as time
(CHR0NOs),and Rhea as the flowing (rheon) of
the watery substance.'^ For the whole body of
matter was borne about for some time, before it
brought forth, like an egg, the sphere-like, all-
embracing heaven (ouranos), which at first was
full of productive marrow, so that it was able to
produce out of itself elements and colours of all
sorts, while from the one substance and the one
colour it produced all kinds of forms. For as a
peacock's egg seems to have only one colour,
while potentially it has in it all the colours of the
animal that is to be, so this living egg, conceived
out of infinite matter, when set in motion by the
underlying and ever-flowing matter, produces
many different forms. For within the circum-
ference a certain living creature, which is both
male and female, is formed by the skill of the
indwelling divine spirit. This Orpheus calls
Phanes, because when it appeared (phaneis) the
universe shone forth from it, with the lustre of
that most glorious of the elements, fire, perfected
in moisture. Nor is this incredible, since in
glowworms nature gives us to see a moist light.
CHAP. VI.
PHANES AND PLUTO.
" This egg, then, which was the first substance,
growing somewhat hot, was broken by the living
creature within, and then there took shape and
came forth something ; 7 such as Orpheus also
speaks of, where he says, ' when the capacious
■♦ This is the emendation of Davisius. The Greek has f'f a/cou<r-
roj ; the Latin, " mirum in modum." Wieseler suggests i^anovTiaTov,
5 This is Wieseler's emendation for " received."
6 [Comp. Recognitions, x. 17, 31, 32. — R.]
'' Wieseler corrects to " some such being," etc.; and below, " of
him who appeared," etc.; and " he took his seat."
264
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily VI.
egg was broken," etc. And so by the miglity
power of that which appeared (phaneis) and
came forth, the globe attained coherency, and
maintained order, while it itself took its seat, as
it were, on the summit of heaven, there in inef-
fable mystery diffusing light through endless ages.
But the productive matter left inside the globe,
separated the substances of all things. For first
its lower part, just like the dregs, sank down-
wards of its own weight ; and this they called
Pluto from its gravity, and weight, and great
quantity (polu) of underlying matter, styling it
the king of Hades and the dead.^
CHAP. VII. POSEIDON, ZEUS, AND METIS.
"When, then, they say that this primordial
substance, although most filthy and rough, was
devoured by Kronos, that is, time, this is to be
understood in a physical sense, as meaning that
it sank downwards. And the water which flowed
together after this first sediment, and floated on
the surface of the first substance, they called Po-
seidon. And then what remained, the purest and
noblest of all, for it was translucent fire, they
called Zeus, from its glowing (zeousa) nature.
Now since fire ascends, this was not swallowed,
and made to descend by time or Kronos ; but,
as I said, the fiery substance, since it has hfe in
it, and naturally ascends, flew right up into the
air, which from its purity is very intelligent. By
his own proper heat, then, Zeus — that is, the
glowing substance — draws up what is left in the
underlying moisture, to wit, that very strong ^
and divine spirit which they called Metis.
chap. VIII. PALLAS AND HER..\,
" And this, when it had reached the summit
of the aether, was devoured by it (moisture be-
ing mixed with heat, so to say) ; and causing in
it that ceaseless palpitation, it begat intelligence,
which they call Pallas from this palpitating (pal-
LESTH.'\i) .4 And this is artistic wisdom, by which
the cCtherial artificer wrought out the whole
world. And from all-pervading Zeus, that is,
from this very hot aether, air (aer) extends all
the way to our earth ; and this they call Hera.
Wherefore, because it has come below the aether,
which is the purest substance (just as a woman,
as regards purity, is inferior), when the two were
comjjared to see which was the better, she was
rightly regarded as the sister of Zeus, in respect
of her origin from the same substance, but as
his spouse, as being inferior like a wife.
' The first word of this quotation gives no sense, and has been
omitted in the translation. Lobeck suggests " at its prime:" Her-
mann, " Heracapeian; " Duentzer, "ancient;" and Wieseler,
" white."
2 [Comp. Recognitions, x. 32. — R.]
3 The Paris ms. has " verj' fine."
* [With chaps. 8-10 compare Recognitions, x. 32, 34. — R.]
CHAP. IX. ARTEMIS.
" And Hera we understand to be a happy tem-
pering of the atmosphere, and therefore she is
very fruitful ; but Athena, as they call Pallas, was
reckoned a virgin, because on account of the
intense heat she could produce nothing. And
in a similar fashion Artemis is explained : for her
they take as the lowest depth of air, and so they
called her a virgin, because she could not bear
anything on account of the extreme cold. And
that troubled and drunken composition which
arises from the upper and lower vapours they
called Dionysus, as troubling the intellect. And
the water under the earth, which is in nature in-
deed one, but which flows through all the jjaths
of earth, and is divided into many parts, they
called Osiris, as being cut in pieces. And they
understand Adonis as favourable seasons, Aphro-
dite as coition and generation, Demeter as the
earth, the Girl (Proserpine) as seeds; and Dio-
nysus some understand as the vine.
CHAP. X. ALL SUCH STORIES ARE ALLEGORICAL.
" And I must ask you to think of all such
stories as embodying some such allegory. Look
on Apollo as the wandering Sun (peri-polon), a
son of Zeus, who was also called Mithras, as
completing the period of a year. And these said
transformations of the all-pervading Zeus must
be regarded as the numerous changes of the sea-
sons, while his numberless wives you must under-
stand to be years, or generations. For the power
which proceeds from the aether and passes
througli the air unites with all the years and
generations in turn, and continually varies them,
and so produces or destroys the crops. And ripe
fruits are called his children, the barrenness of
some seasons being referred to unlawful unions."
CH.'VP. XL CLEMENT HAS HEARD ALL THIS BE-
FORE.
While Appion was allegorizing in this way, I
became plunged in thought, and seemed not to
be following what he was saying. So he inter-
rupted his discourse, and said to me, " If you do
not follow what I am saying, why should I speak
at all?" And I answered, " Do not suppose that
I do not understand what you say. I understand
it thoroughly ; and that the more that this is not
the first time I have heard it. And that you
may know that I am not ignorant of these things,
I shall epitomize what you have said, and supply
in their order, as I have heard them from others,
the allegorical interpretations of those stories
you have omitted." And Appion said : " Do
so."
Chap. XVII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
265
CHAP. XII. EPITOME OF APPION'S EXPLANATION.
And I answered : ' " I shall not at present
speak particularly of that living egg, which was
conceived by a happy combination out of infinite
matter, and from which, when it was broken, the
masculo-feminine Phaaes leaped forth, as some
say. I say little about all that, up to the point
when this broken globe attained coherency, there
being left in it some of its marrow-like matter ;
and I shall briefly run over the description of
what took place in it by the agency of this mat-
ter, with all that followed. For from Kronos and
Rhea were born, as you say — that is, by time
and matter — first Pluto, who represents the sedi-
ment which settled down ; and then Poseidon,
the liquid substance in the middle,^ which floated
over the heavier body below ; and the third child
— that is, Zeus — is the ^ther, and is highest of
all. It was not devoured ; but as it is a fiery
power, and naturally ascends, it flew up as with
a bound to the very highest aether.
CHAP. XIII. KRONOS AND APHRODITE.
"And the bonds of Kronos are the binding
together of heaven and earth, as I have heard
others allegorizing ; and his mutilation is the sep-
aration and parting of the elements ; for they
all were severed and separated, according to
their respective natures, that each kind might be
arranged by itself. And time ' no longer begets
anything ; but the things which have been be-
gotten of it, by a law of nature, produce their
successors. And the Aphrodite who emerged
from the sea is the fruitful substance which arises
out of moisture, with which the warm spirit mix-
ing, causes that sexual desire, and perfects the
beauty of the world.
CHAP. XIV. PELEUS AND THETIS, PROMETHEUS,
ACHILLES, AND POLVXENA.
" And the marriage banquet, at which Zeus
held the feast on the occasion of the marriage
of the Nereid Thetis and the beautiful Peleus,
has in it this, allegory,^ — that you may know,
Appion, that you are not the only one from whom
I have heard this sort of thing. The banquet,
then, is the world, and the twelve are these
■ heavenly props of the Fates,-* called the Zodiac.
Prometheus is foresight (prometheia), by which
all things arose; Peleus is clay (pelos), namely,
that which was collected 5 from the earth and
mixed with Nereis, or water, to produce man ;
and from the mixing of the two, i.e., water and
' fComp. Recognitions, x. 17-19, 29-36, 41, for statements simi-
lar to those in chaps. 12-19. — ^^1
^ This is VVieseler's conjecture.
3 (Comp. chap. 2, and Recognitions, 40, 41. — R.]
4 The Latin takes " moira " in the sense of " district," and trans-
lates, " these props of the districts of the sky."
5 This is Wieseler's conjecture for the reading of the mss., " con-
trived."
earth, the first offspring was not begotten, but
fashioned complete, and called Achilles, because
he never put his lips (cheile) to the breast.^
Still in the bloom of life, he is slain by an arrow
while desiring to have Polyxena, that is, some-
thing other than the truth, and foreign (xene) to
it, death stealing on him through a wound in his
foot.
chap. XV.
•the judgment of PARIS.
"Then Hera, and Athena, and Aphrodite, and
Eris, and the apple, and Hermes, and the judg-
ment, and the shepherd, have some such hidden
meaning as the following : — Hera is dignity ;
Athena, manliness ; Aphrodite, pleasure ; Hermes,
language, which interprets (hermeneutikos)
thought ; the shepherd Paris, unreasoned and
brutish passion. Now if, in the prime of life, rea-
son, that shepherd of the soul, is brutish, does
not regard its own advantage, will have nothing to
do with manliness and temperance, chooses only
pleasure, and gives the prize to lust alone, bargain-
ing that it is to receive in return from lust what
may delight it, — he who thus judges incorrectly
will choose pleasure to his own destruction and
that of his friends, x^nd Eris is jealous spite ; and
the golden apples of the Hesperides are perhaps
riches, by which occasionally even temperate
persons like Hera are seduced, and manly ones
like Athena are made jealous, so that they do
things which do not become them, and the soul's
beauty like Aphrodite is destroyed under the
guise of refinement. To speak briefly, in all
men riches provoke evil discord.
CH.'^P. XVI. HERCULES.
"And Hercules, who slew the serpent which
led and guarded riches, is the true philosophical
reason which, free from all wickedness, wanders
all over the world, visiting the souls of men, and
chastising all it meets, — namely, men like fierce
lions, or timid stags, or savage boars, or multi-
form hydras ; and so with all the other fabled
labours of Hercules, they all have a hidden refer-
ence to moral valour. But these instances must
suffice, for all our time would be insufficient if
we were to go over each one.
CHAP. XVII. THEY ARE BLAMEWORTHY WHO IN-
VENTED SUCH STORIES.
"Now,7 since these things can be clearly, prof-
itably, and without prejudice to piety, set forth
in an open and straightforward manner, I won-
der you call those men sensible and wise who
concealed them under crooked riddles, and over-
6 This is Schwegler's restoration of the passage. Davisius pro-
poses, " He IS in the bloom of life, at which time if any one desires,"
etc.
7 [Compare with the arguments here, Recognitions, x. 35-38. —
R.J
266
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily VI.
laid them with filthy stories, and thus, as if im-
pelled by an evil spirit, deceived almost all men.
For either these things are not riddles, but real
crimes of the gods, in which case they should
not have been exposed to contempt, nor should
these their needs have been set before men at
all as models ; or things falsely attributed to the
gods were set forth in an allegory, and then, Ap-
pion, they whom you call wise erred, in that, by
concealing under unworthy stories things in them-
selves worthy, they led men to sin, and that not
without dishonouring those whom they believed
to be gods.
CHAP. XVIII. THE SAME.
"Wherefore do not suppose that they were
wise men, but rather evil spirits, who could cover
honourable actions with wicked stories, in order
that they who wish to imitate their betters may
emulate these deeds of so-called gods, which
yesterday in my discourse I spoke so freely of,
— namely, their parricides, their murders of their
children, their incests of all kinds, their shame-
less adulteries and countless impurities. The
most impious of them are those who wish these
stories to be believed, in order that they may not
be ashamed when they do the like. If they had
been disposed to act reverently, they ought, as I
said a little ago, even if the gods really did the
things which are sung of them, to have veiled
their indecencies under more seemly stories, and
not, on the contrary, as you say they did, when
the deeds of the gods were honourable, clothed
them in wicked and indecent forms, which, even
when interpreted, can only be understood by
much labour ; and when they were understood
by some, they indeed got for their much toil
the privilege of not being deceived, which they
might have had without the toil, while they who
were deceived were utterly ruined. (Those,
however, who trace the allegories to a more hon-
ourable source I do not object to ; as, for in-
stance, those who explain one allegory by saying
that it was wisdom which sprang from the head
of Zeus.) On the whole, it seems to me more
probable that wicked men, robbing the gods of
their honour, ventured to promulgate these in-
sulting stories.
CHAP. XIX. NONE OF THESE ALLEGORIES ARE
CONSISTENT.
" Nor do we find the poetical allegory about
any of the gods consistent with itself. To go no
further than the fashioning of the universe, the
poets now say that nature was the first cause of
the whole creation, now that it was mind. For,
say they, the first moving and mixture of the ele-
ments came from nature, but it was the foresight
of mind which arranged them in order. Even
when they assert that it was nature which fash-
ioned the universe, being unable absolutely to
demonstrate this on account of the traces of de-
sign in the work, they inweave the foresight of
mind in such a way that they are able to entrap
even the wisest. But we say to them : If the
world arose from self-moved nature, how did it
ever take proportion and shape, which cannot
come but from a superintending wisdom, and
can be comprehended only by knowledge, which
alone can trace such things? If, on the other
hand, it is by wisdom that all things subsist and
maintain order, how can it be that those things
arose from self-moved chance ?
CHAP. XX. THESE GODS WERE REALLY WICKED
MAGICIANS.
"Then those who chose to make dishonour-
able allegories of divine things — as, for instance,
that Metis was devoured by Zeus — have fallen
into a dilemma, because they did not see that
they who in these stories about the gods indi-
rectly taught physics, denied the very existence
of the gods, revolving all kinds of gods into mere
allegorical representations of the various sub-
stances of the universe. 'And so it is more likely
that the gods these persons celebrate were some
sort of wicked magicians, who were in reality
wicked men, but by magic assumed different
shapes, committed adulteries, and took away
hfe, and thus to the men of old who did not un-
derstand magic seemed to be gods by the things
they did ; and the bodies and tombs of these
men are to be seen in many towns.
CHAP. XXI.
■THEIR GRAVES ARE STILL TO BE
SEEN.
" For instance, as I have mentioned already,
in the Caucasian mountains there is shown the
tomb of a certain Kronos, a man, and a fierce
monarch who slew his children. And the son
of this man, called Zeus, became worse than his
father ; and having by the power of magic been
declared ruler of the universe, he committed
many adulteries, and inflicted punishment on
his father and uncles, and so died ; and the Cre-
tans show his tomb. And in Mesopotamia there
lie buried a certain Helios at Atir, and a certain
Selene at Carrhoe. A certain Hermes, a man,
lies buried in Egypt ; Ares in Thrace ; Aphro-
dite in Cyprus ; ^sculapius in Epidaurus ; and
the tombs of many other such persons are to be
seen.'
CHAP. XXII. THEIR CONTEMPORARIES, THERE-
FORE, DID NOT LOOK ON THEM AS GODS.
" Thus, to right-thinking men, it is clear that
they were admitted to be mortals. And their
contemporaries, knowing that they were mortal,
' [Comp. V. 23, and Recognitions, x. 24. — R.]
Chap. XXVI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
267
when they died paid them no more heed ; and it
was length of time which clothed them with the
glory of gods. Nor need you wonder that they
who lived in the times of ^sculapius and Her-
cules were deceived, or the contemporaries of
Dionysus or any other of the men of that time,
when even Hector in Ilium, and Achilles in the
island of Leuce, are worshipped by the inhabit-
ants of those places ; and the Opuntines worship
Patroclus, and the Rhodians Alexander of Mace-
don.'
CHAP. XXIII. THE EGYPTIANS PAY DIVINE HON-
OURS TO A MAN.
" Moreover, among the Egyptians even to the
present day, a man is worshipped as a god be-
fore his death. And this truly is a small im-
piety, that the Egyptians give divine honours
to a man in his lifetime ; but what is of all
things most absurd is, that they worship birds
and creeping things, and all kinds of beasts.
For the mass of men neither think nor do any-
thing with discretion. But look, I pray you, at
what is most disgraceful of all : he who is with
them the father of gods and men is said by them
to have had intercourse with Leda ; and many
of them set up in public a painting of this,
writing above it the name Zeus. To punish
this insult, I could wish that they would paint
their own present king in such base embraces
as they have dared to do with Zeus, and set it
up in public, that from the anger of a temporary
monarch, and him a mortal, they might learn
to render honour where it is due. I'his I say to
you, not as myself already knowing the true
God ; but I am happy to say that even if I do
not know who is God, I think I at least know
clearly what God is.
CHAP. XXIV. WHAT IS NOT GOD.
" And first, then, the four original elements
cannot be God, because they have a cause.
Nor can that mixing be God, nor that com-
pounding, nor that generating, nor that globe
which surrounds the visible universe ; nor the
dregs which flow together in Hades, nor the
water which floats over them ; nor the fiery sub-
stance, nor the air which extends from it to our
earth. For the four elements, if they lay out-
side one another, could not have been mixed
together so as to generate animal life without
some great artificer. If they have always been
united, even in this case they are fitted together
by an artistic mind to what is requisite for the
limbs and parts of animals, that they may be
able to preserve their respective proportions,
may have a clearly defined shape, and that all
the inward parts may attain the fitting cohe-
rency. In the same way also the positions suit-
able for each are determined, and that very
beautifully, by the artificer mind. To be brief,
in all other things which a living creature must
have, this great being of the world is in no re-
spect wanting.
CHAP. XXV. THE UNrVERSE IS THE PRODUCT OF
MIND.
"Thus we are shut up to the supposition that
there is an unbegotten artificer, who brought the
elements together, if they were separate ; or, if
they were together, artistically blended them so
as to generate life, and perfected from all one
work. For it cannot be that a work which is
completely wise can be made without a mind
which is greater than it. Nor will it do to say
that love is the artificer of all things, or desire,
or power, or any such thing. All these are liable
to change, and transient in their very nature.
Nor can that be God which is moved by an-
other, much less what is altered by time and
nature, and can be annihilated." ^
CHAP. XXVI. PETER ARRIVES FROM C^SAREA.
While I was saying these things to Appion,
Peter drew near from C^esarea, and in Tyre the
people were flocking together, hurrying to meet
him and unite in an expression of gratification
at his visit. And Appion withdrew, accompa-
nied by Anubion and Athenodorus only ; but
the rest of us hurried to meet Peter, and I was
the first J;o greet him at the gate, and I led him
towards the inn. When we arrived, we dis-
missed the people ; and when he deigned to
ask what had taken place, I concealed nothing,
but told him of Simon's slanders, and the mon-
strous shapes he had taken, and all the diseases
he had sent after the sacrificial feast, and that
some of the sick persons were still there in
Tyre, while others had gone on with Simon to
Sidon just as I arrived, hoping to be cured by
him, but that I had heard that none of them had
been cured by him. I also told Peter of the
controversy I had had with Appion ; and he,
from his love to me, and desiring to encourage
me, praised and blessed me. Then, having
supped, he betook himself to the rest the fa-
tigues of his journey rendered so necessary.
' [Comp. Recognitions, x. 25, where these facts are also used.
-R-]
2 [The conclusion of the discussion is noteworthy, not only from
the fairness of the argument, but from the skill with which the posi-
tion of Clement, as a heathen inquirer, is maintamed. — R.J
268
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily VII.
HOMILY VII.
CHAP. I. PETER ADDRESSES THE PEOPLE.
And on the fourth day of our stay in Tyre,'
Peter went out about daybreak, and there met
him not a few of the dwellers round about, with
very many of the inhabitants of Tyre itself, who
cried out, and said, " God through you have
mercy upon us, God through you heal us ! "
And Peter stood on a high stone, that all might
see him ; and having greeted them in a godly
manner, thus began : —
CHAP. n.
REASON OF SIMONS POWER.
" God, who created the heavens and the
whole universe, does not want occasion for the
salvation of those who would be saved. Where-
fore let no one, in seeming evils, rashly charge
Him with unkindness to man. For men do not
know the issue of those things which happen to
them, nav, suspect that the result will be evil ;
but God knows that they will turn out well. So
is it in the case of Simon. He is a power of
the left hand of God, and has authority to do
harm to those who know not God, so that he
has been able to involve you in diseases ; but
by these very diseases, which have been per-
mitted to come upon you by the good providence
of God, you, seeking and finding him who is
able to ciire, have been compelled to submit
to the will of God on the occasion of the cure of
the body, and to think of believing, in order
that in this way you may have your souls as well
as your bodies in a healthy state.
CHAP. in.
THE REMEDY.
" Now I have been told, that after he had
sacrificed an ox he feasted you in the middle
of the forum, and that you, being carried away
with much wine, made friends with not only the
evil demons, but their prince also, and that in
this way the most of you were seized by these
sicknesses, unwittingly drawing upon yourselves
with your own hands the sword of destruction.
For the demons would never have had power over
you, had not you first supped with their prince.
For thus from the beginning was a law laid by
God, the Creator of all things, on each of the
two princes, him of the right hand and him of
the left, that neither should have power over
any one whom they might wish to benefit or to
hurt, unless first he had sat down at the same
table with them. As, then, when you partook
of meat offered to idols, you became servants to
' [The historical details of this Homily also have no parallel in
the Recogiiitiotis. — R.]
the prince of evil, in like manner, if you cease
from these things, and flee for refuge to God
through the good Prince of His right hand,
honouring Him without sacrifices, by doing
whatsoever He wills, know of a truth that not
only will your bodies be healed, but your souls
also will become healthy. For He only, destroy-
ing with His left hand, can quicken with His
right ; He only can both smite and raise the
fallen.
CHAP. IV. THE GOLDEN RULE.
" Wherefore, as then ye were deceived by the
forerunner Simon, and so became dead in your
souls to God, and were smitten in your bodies ;
so now, if you repent, as I said, and submit to
those things which are well-pleasing to God, you
may get new strength to your bodies, and re-
cover your soul's health. And the things which
are well-pleasing to God are these : to pray to
Him, to ask from Him, fecognising that He is
the giver of all things, and gives with discrimi-
nating law ; to abstain from the table of devils,
not to taste dead flesh, not to touch blood ; to
be washed from all pollution ; and the rest in
one word, — as the God-fearing Jews have heard,
do you also hear, and be of one mind in many
bodies ; let each man be minded to do to his
neighbour those good things he wishes for him-
self. And you may all find out what is good, by
holding some such conversation as the following
with yourselves : You would not like to be mur-
dered ; do not murder another man : you would
not like your wife to be seduced by another ; do
not you commit adultery : you would not like
any of your things to be stolen from you ; steal
nothing from another. And so understanding
by yourselves what is reasonable, and doing it,
you will become dear to God, and will obtain
healing ; otherwise in the life which now is your
bodies will be tormented, and in that which is
to come your souls will be punished."^
CHAP. V.
PETER DEPARTS FOR SIDON.
After Peter had spent a few days in teaching
them in this way, and in healing them, they
were baptized. And after that,^ all sat down
together in the market-places in sackcloth and
j ashes, grieving because of his other wondrous
works, and repenting their former sins. And
2 [With this discourse respecting Simon, compare RecogtiUions,
ii. 6-18. But the statements respecting Simon's power and the design
of it are much stronger than here. — R.]
3 We have adopted Wieseler's emendation. The te.xt may be
translated thus: "And after that, among his other wondrous deeds,
all the rest (who had not been baptized) sat down," etc.
Chap. X.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
269
when they of Sidon heard it, they did hkewise,
and sent to beseech Peter, since they could not
come themselves for their diseases. And Peter
did not spend many days in Tyre ; but when he
had instructed all its inhabitants, and freed them
from all manners of diseases and had founded
a church, and set over it as bishop one of the
elders who were with him, he departed for
Sidon. But when Simon heard that Peter was
coming, he straightway fled to Beyrout with
Appion and his friends.
CHAP. VI. PETER IN SIDON.
And as Peter entered Sidon, they brought
many in couches, and laid them before him.
And he said to them : " Think not, I pray you,
that I can do anything to heal you, who am a
mortal man, myself subject to many evils. But
I shall not refuse to show you the way in which
you must be saved. For I have learned from
the Prophet of truth the conditions fore-ordained
of God before the foundation of the world ; that
is to say, the evil deeds which if men do He has
ordained that they shall be injured by the prince
of evil, and in like manner the good deeds for
which He has decreed that they who have be-
lieved in Him as their Physician shall have their
bodies made whole, and their souls estabhshed
in safety.
CHAP. VII.
■THE TWO PATHS.
" Knowing, then, these good and evil deeds,
I make known unto you as it were two paths,'
and I shall show you by which travellers are
lost and by which they are saved, being guided
of God. The path of the lost, then, is broad
and very smooth — it ruins them without trou-
bling them ; but the path of the saved is narrow,
rugged, and in the end it saves, not without
much toil, those who have journeyed through it.
And these two paths are presided over by un-
belief and faith ; and these journey through the
path of unbelief, those who have preferred pleas-
ure, on account of which they have forgotten i
the day of judgment, doing that which is not
pleasing to God, and not caring to save their
souls by the word, and have not anxiously sought
their own good. Truly they know not that the
counsels of God are not like men's counsels ;
for, in the first place, He knows the thoughts of
all men, and all must give an account not only
of their actions, but also of their thoughts. And
their sin is much less who strive to understand
well and fail, than that of those who do not at
all strive after good things. Because it has
pleased God that he who errs in his knowledge
of good, as men count errors, should be saved
' [Compare with this chapter the recently discovered " Teaching "
and Apostolic Constitutions, book vii. chap, i, in vol. vii. pp. 377, 465.
— R.]
after being slightly punished. But they who have
taken no care at all to know the better way, even
though they may have done countless other
good deeds, if they have not stood in the service
He has Himself appointed, come under the
charge of indifference, and are severely punished,
and utterly destroyed.
CHAP. VIII. THE SERVICE OF GOD'S APPOINT-
MENT.
" And this is the service He has appointed :
To worship Him only, and trust only in the
Prophet of truth, ancl to be baptized for the
remission of sins, and thus by this pure baptism
to be born again unto God by saving water ; to
abstain from the table of devils, that is, from
food offered to idols, from dead carcases, from
animals which have been suffocated or caught
by wild beasts, and from blood ;^ not to live any
longer impurely ; to wash after intercourse ; that
the women on their part should keep the law of
purification ; that all should be sober-minded,
given to good works, refraining from wrong-
doing, looking for eternal life from the all-
powerful God, and asking with prayer and con-
tinual supplication that they may win it." Such
was Peter's counsel to the men of Sidon also.
And in few days many repented and believed,
and were healed. And Peter having founded
a church, and set over it as bishop one of the
elders who were with him, left Sidon.
CHAP. IX.
•SIMON ATTACKS PETER.
No sooner had he reached Beyrout than an
earthquake took place ; and the multitude, run-
ning to Peter, said, " Help us, for we are afraid
we shall all utterly perish." Then Simon ven-
tured, along with Appion and Anubion and
Athenodorus, and the rest of his companions, to
cry out to the people against Peter in public :
" Flee, friends, from this man ! he is a magi-
cian ; trust us, he it was who caused this earth-
quake : he sent us these diseases to terrify us, as
if he were God Himself." And many such false
charges did Simon and his friends bring against
Peter, as one who could do things above human
power. But as soon as the people gave him a
moment's quiet, Peter with surprising boldness
gave a little laugh, and said, " Friends, I admit
that I can do, God willing, what these men say ;
and more than that, I am ready, if you do not
believe what I say, to overturn your city from
top to bottom."
CHAP. X.
•SIMON IS DRIVEN AWAY.
And the people were afraid, and promised to
do whatever he should command. " Let none
2 [Comp. Recognitions, 'vi. 36. The language recalls Acts xv. 20
and I Cor. x. 21. — R.]
270
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily VIII.
of you, then," said Peter, " either hold conver-
sation with these sorcerers, or have any thing to
do with them." And as soon as the people
heard this concise command, they took up sticks,
and pursued them till they had driven them
wholly out of the town. And they who were
sick and possessed with devils came and cast
themselves at Peter's feet. And he seeing all
this, and anxious to free them from their terror,
said to them : —
CHAP. XI.
•THE WAY OF SALVATION.
"Were I able to cause earthquakes, and do
all that I wish, I assure you I. would not destroy
Simon and his friends (for not to destroy men
am I sent), but would make him my friend, that
he might no longer, by his slanders against my
preaching the truth, hinder the salvation of
many. But if you believe me, he himself is a
magician ; he is a slanderer ; he is a minister of
evil to them who know not the truth. There-
fore he has power to bring diseases on sinners,
Jiaving the sinners themselves to help him in his
power over them. But I am a servant of Ciod
the Creator of all things, and a disciple of His
Prophet who is at His right hand. Wherefore
I, being His apostle, preach the truth : to serve
a good man I drive away diseases, for I am His
second messenger, since first the disease comes,
but after that the healing. By that evil-working
magician, then, you were stricken with disease
because you revolted from God. By me, if you
beheve on Him ye shall be cured : and so hav-
ing had experience that He is able, you may turn
to good works, and have your souls saved."
CHAP. XII. PETER GOES TO BYBLUS AND
TRIPOLIS.
As he said these things, all fell on their knees
before his feet. And he, lifting up his hands to
heaven, prayed to God, and healed them all by
his simple prayer alone. And he remained not
many days in Beyrout ; but after he had accus-
tomed many to the service of the one God, and
had baptized them, and had set over them a
bishop from the elders who were with him, he
went to Byblus. And when he came there, and
learned that Simon had npt waited for them for
a day, but had gone straightway to Tripolis,
he remained there only a few days ; and after
that he had healed not a few, and exercised
them in the Scriptures, he followed in Simon's
track to Tripolis, preferring to pursue him rather
than flee from him.
HOMILY Vin.
CHAP. I. — Peter's arrival at tripolis.
Now, as Peter was entering Tripolis,' the
people from Tyre and Sidon, Berytus and By-
blus, who were eager ^ to get instruction, and
many from the neighbourhood, entered along with
him ; and not least were there gatherings of the
multitudes from the city itself wishing to see him.
Therefore there met with us in the suburbs the
brethren who had been sent forth by him to as-
certain as well other particulars respecting the
city, as the proceedings of Simon, and to come
and explain them. They received him, and
conducted him to the house of Maroones.^
CHAP. II. — Peter's thoughtfulness.
But he, when he was at the very gate of his
lodging, turned round, and promised to the
multitudes that after the next day he would con-
verse with them on the subject of religion. And
' [For the general parallelism of Homilies VIIL-XI. with Recogni-
tions, Iv-vi., see footnote on Recognitions, iv. i. Homilies VIII. ,
IX., contain matter included in the single discourse of Recognitions,
book iv. — R ]
' Lit.: More willing to learn //:««//;? oM<?^J.
3 [" Alaro" in Rfcogtiitions, iv. The resemblance between that
book and this Homily is quite marked. — K.J
when he had gone in, the forerunners assigned
lodgings to those who had come with him. And
the hosts and the entertainers did not fall short
of the desire of those who sought hospitality.
But Peter, knowing nothing of this, being asked
by us to partake of food, said that he would not
himself partake until those who had come with
him were settled. And on our assuring him
that this was already done, all having received
them eagerly by reason of their affection towards
him, so that those were grieved beyond measure
who had no guests to entertain, — Peter hearing
this, and being pleased with their eager philan-
thropy, blessed them and went out, and having
bathed in the sea, partook of food with the fore-
runners ; and then, the evening having come, he
slept.
CHAP. III. — A conversation INTERRUPTED.
But awaking about the second cock-crowing,
he found us astir. We were in all sixteen, viz.,
Peter himself, and I Clement, Nicetas and
Aquila, and the twelve who had preceded us.*
Having therefore saluted us, he said, " To-day,
* [Comp. Recognitions, iv. 3. — R.]
Chap. VIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
271
not being occupied with those without, we are
free to be occupied with one another. Where-
fore I shall tell you the things that happened after
your departure from Tyre ; and do you minutely
relate to me what have been the doings of Simon
here." While, therefore, we were answering one
another by narratives on either side, one of our
friends entered, and announced to Peter that
Simon, learning of his arrival, had set off for
Syria, and that the multitudes, thinking this one
night to be like a year's time, and not able to
wait for the appointment which he had made,
were standing before the doors conversing with
one another in knots and circles about the ac-
cusation brought by Simon, and how that, hav-
ing raised their expectations, and promised that
he would charge Peter when he came with many
evils, he had fled by night when he knew of his
arrival. " However," said he, " they are eager
to hear you ; and I know not whence some ru-
mour has reached them to the effect that you
are going to address them to-day. In order,
therefore, that they may not when they are very
tired be dismissed without reason, you yourself
know what it is proper for you to do."
CHAP. IV. MANY CALLED.
Then Peter, wondering at the eagerness of the
multitudes, answered,' " You see, brethren, how
the words of our Lord are manifestly fulfilled.
For I remember His saying, " Many shall come
from the east and from the west, the north and the
south, and shall recline on the bosoms of Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob.' ^ ' But many,' said He
also, ' are called, but few chosen.' ^ The coming,
therefore, of these called ones is fulfilled. But
inasmuch as it is not of themselves, but of God
who has called them and caused them to come,
on this account alone they have no reward, since
it is not of themselves but of Him who has
wrought in them. But if, after being called, |
they do things that are excellent, for this is of
themselves, then for this they shall have a re-
ward.
CHAP. V. — FAITH THE GIFT OF GOD.
" For even the Hebrews who believe Moses,
and do not observe the things spoken by him,
are not saved, unless they observe the things that
were spoken to them. For their believing Mo-
ses was not of their own will, but of God, who
said to Moses, ' Behold, I come to thee in a pil-
lar of cloud, that the people may hear me speak-
ing to thee, and may believe thee for ever.' ■♦
Since, therefore, both to the Hebrews and to
those who are called from the Gentiles, believ-
' [With chaps. 4-11 compare the closely resembling passage,
Recognitions, iv. 4-11. — R.J
^ Matt. viii. 11; Luke xiii. 29.
3 Matt. XX. 16.
* Ex. XIX. 9.
ing in the teachers of truth is of God, while ex-
cellent actions are left to every one to do by his
own judgment, the reward is righteously bestowed
upon those who do well. For there would have
been no need of Moses, or of the coming of Je-
sus, if of themselves they would have understood
what is reasonable. Neither is there salvation in
believing in teachers and calling them lords.
CHAP. VI. CONCEALMENT AND REVELATION.
" For on this account Jesus is concealed from
the Jews, who have taken Moses as their teacher,
and Moses is hidden from those who have be-
lieved Jesus. For, there being one teaching by
both, God accepts him who has believed either
of these. But believing a teacher is for the sake
of doing the things spoken by God. And that
this is so our Lord Himself says, ' I thank thee,
Father of heaven and earth, because Thou hast
concealed these things from the wise and elder,
and hast revealed them to sucking babes.' s
Thus God Himself has concealed a teacher from
some, as foreknowing what they ought to do, and
has revealed him to others, who are ignorant
what they ought to do.
CHAP. VII. MOSES AND CHRIST.
" Neither, therefore, are the Hebrews con-
demned on account of their ignorance of Jesus,
by reason of Him who has concealed Him, if,
doing the things commanded by Moses, they
do not hate Him whom they do not know. Nei-
ther are those from among the Gentiles con-
demned, who know not Moses on account of
Him who hath concealed him, provided that
these also, doing the things spoken by Jesus, do
not hate Him whom they do not know. And
some will not be profited by calling the teachers
lords, but not doing the works of servants. For
on this account our Jesus Himself said to one
who often called Him Lord, but did none of the
things which He prescribed, ' Why call ye me
Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say ?' ^
For it is not saying that will profit any one, but
doing. By all means, therefore, is there need of
good works. Moreover, if any one has been
thought worthy to recognise both as preaching
one doctrine, that man has been counted rich in
God, understanding both the old things as new
in time, and the new things as old."
CHAP. VIII. A LARGE CONGREG.-VTION.
While Peter was thus speaking, the multitudes,
as if they had been called by some one, entered
into the place where Peter was. Then he, see-
ing a great multitude, like the smooth current
of a river gently flowing towards him, said to
5 Matt. xi. 25
6 Luke vi. 46.
[Luke X. 21. — R.j
272
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily VIII.
Maroones, " Have you any place here that is
better able to contain the crowd?" Then Ma-
roones conducted him to a garden-plot in the
open air, and the multitudes followed. But Pe-
ter, standing upon a base of a statue which was
not very high, as soon as he had saluted the
multitude in pious fashion, knowing that many
of the crowd that stood by were tormented with
demons and many sufferings of long standing,
and hearing them shrieking with lamentation,
and falling down before hifn in supplication,
rebuked them, and commanded them to hold
their peace ; and promising healing to them
after the discourse,' began to speak on this
wise : —
CHAP. IX. "vindicate THE WAVS OF GOD TO
MEN."
"While beginning to discourse on the worship
of God to those who are altogether ignorant of
everything, and whose minds have been cor-
rupted by the accusations of our adversary
Simon, I have thought it necessary first of all
to speak of the blamelessness of the God who
hath made all things, starting from the occasion
seasonably afforded by Him according to His
providence, that it may be known how with
good reason many are held by many demons,
and subjected to strange sufferings, that in this
the justice of God may appear ; and that those
who through ignorance blame Him, now may '
learn by good speaking and well-doing what
sentiments they ought to hold, and recall them-
selves from their previous accusation, assigning '
ignorance as the cause of their evil presumption,
in order that they may be pardoned.
CHAP. X. THE ORIGECAL LAW.
" But thus the matter stands. The only good j
God having made all things well, and having 1
handed them over to man, who was made after |
His image, he who had been made breathing of!
the divinity of Him who made him, being a true ■
prophet and knowing all things, for the honour I
of the Father who had given all things to him, I
and for the salvation of the sons born of him, as ;
a genuine father preserving his affection towards
the children born of him, and wishing them, for
their advantage, to love God and be loved of
Him, showed them the way which leads to His
friendship, teaching them by what deeds of men
the one God and Lord of all is pleased ; and
having exhibited to them the things that are
pleasing to Him, appointed a perpetual law to
all, which neither can be abrogated by enemies,
nor is vitiated by any impious one, nor is con-
cealed in any place, but which can be read by
all. To them, therefore, by obedience to the
law, all things were in abundance, — the fairest
of fruits, fulness of years, freedom from grief
and from disease, bestowed upon them without
fear, with all salubrity of the air.
CHAP. XI. CAUSE OF THE FALL OF MAN.
" But they, because they had at first no expe-
rience of evils, being insensible to the gift of
good things, were turned to ingratitude by abun-
dance of food and luxuries, so that they even
thought that there is no Providence, since they
had not by previous labour got good things as the
reward of righteousness, inasmuch as no one of
them had fallen into any suffering or disease, or
any other necessity ; so that, as is usual for men
afflicted on account of wicked transgression, they
should look about for the God who is able to
heal them.^ But immediately after their despite,
which proceeded from fearlessness and secure
luxury, a certain just punishment met them, as
following from a certain arranged harmony, re-
moving from them good things as having hurt
them, and introducing evil things instead, as
advantageous.
CHAP. XII. METAMORPHOSES OF THE ANGELS.
" For of the spirits who inhabit the heaven,^
the angels who dwell in the lowest region, being
grieved at the ingratitude of men to God, asked
that they might come into the life of men, that,
really becoming men, by more intercourse they
might convict those who had acted ungratefully
towards Him, and might subject every one to
adequate punishment. When, therefore, their
petition was granted, they metamorphosed them-
selves into every nature ; for, being of a more
godlike substance, they are able easily to assume
any form. So they became precious stones, and
goodly pearl, and the most beauteous purple,
and choice gold, and all matter that is held in
most esteem. And they fell into the hands of
some, and into the bosoms of others, and suffered
themselves to be stolen by them. They also
changed themselves into beasts and reptiles, and
fishes and birds, and into whatsoever they
pleased. These things also the poets among
yourselves, by reason of fearlessness, sing, as
they befell, attributing to one the many and
diverse doings of all.
CHAP. XIII.
■THE FALL OF THE ANGELS.
" But when, having assumed these forms, they
convicted as covetous those who stole them, and
' [In Recognitions, iv. 7, the healing is represented as occurring
at once. — R.J
2 The general meaning seems to be as given ; but the text is un-
doubtedly corrupt, and scarcely intelligible.
3 [Chaps. 12-16 have no parallel in the corresponding discourse
of the Recognitions. The doctrine here is peculiar. But compare
Recognitions, iv. 26. — R.J
Chap. XVIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
273
changed themselves into the nature of men, in
order that, hving hohly, and showing the possi-
bihty of so living, they might subject the un-
grateful to punishment, yet having become in all
respects men, they also partook, of human lust,
and being brought under its subjection they fell
into cohabitation with women ; ' and being in-
volved with them, and sunk in defilement and
altogether emptied of their first power, were un-
able to turn back to the first purity of their
proper nature, their members turned away from
their fiery substance : ^ for the fire itself, being
extinguished by the weight of lust, arid changed
into flesh, they trode the impious path downward.
For they themselves, being fettered with the bonds
of flesh, were constrained and strongly bound ;
wherefore they have no more been able to as-
cend into the heavens.
CHAP. xrv.
THEIR DISCOVERIES.
" For after the intercourse, being asked to show
what they were before, and being no longer able
to do so, on account of their being unable to do
aught else after their defilement, yet wishing to
please their mistresses, instead of themselves, they
showed the bowels ^ of the earth ; I mean, the
choice metals,"* gold, brass, silver, iron, and the
like, with all the most precious stones. And
along with these charmed stones, they delivered
the arts of the things pertaining to each, and
imparted the discovery of magic, and taught
astronomy, and the powers of roots, and what-
ever was impossible to be found out by the hu-
man mind ; also the melting of gold and silver,
and the like, and the various dyeing of garments.
And all things, in short, which are for the adorn-
ment and delight of women, are the discov-
eries of these demons bound in flesh.
CHAP. XV.
THE GIANTS.
" But from their unhallowed intercourse spuri-
ous men sprang, much greater in stature than
ordinary men. whom they afterwards called
giants ; not those dragon-footed giants who
waged war against God, as those blasphemous
myths of the Greeks do sing, but wild in man-
ners, and greater than men in size, inasmuch as
they were sprung of angels ; yet less than angels,
as they were born of women. Therefore God,
knowing that they were barbarized to brutality,
and that the world was not sufficient to satisfy
them (for it was created according to the pro-
portion of men and human use), that they might
not through want of food turn, contrary to na-
' [Comp. Recognitions, i. 30. The detnils here are not only
fuller, but apparently represent a more developed speculation. — R.]
^ The text is somewhat obscure; but the following sentence shows
this to be the meaning of it.
3 Literally, " the marrow."
* Literally," the flowers of metals."
ture, to the eating of animals, and yet seem to
be blameless, as having ventured upon this
through necessity, the Almighty God rained
manna upon them, suited to their various tastes ;
and they enjoyed all that they would. But they,
on account of their bastard nature, not being
pleased with purity of food, longed only after
the taste of blood. Wherefore they first tasted
flesh.
CHAP. XVI. CANNIBALISM.
" And the men who were with them there for
the first time were eager to do the like. Thus,
although we are born neither good nor bad, we
become one or the other; and having formed
habits, we are with difficulty drawn from them.
But when irrational animals fell short, these bas-
tard men tasted also human flesh. For it was
not a long step to the consumption of flesh like
their own, having first tasted it in other forms.
CHAP. XVII. THE FLOOD.
" But by the shedding of much blood, the pure
air being defiled with impure vapour, and sicken-
ing those who breathed it, rendered them liable
to diseases, so that thenceforth men died pre-
maturely. But the earth being by these means
greatly defiled, these first teemed with poison-
darting and deadly creatures. All things, there-
fore, going from bad to worse, on account of
these brutal demons, God wished to cast them
away like an evil leaven, lest each generation
from a wicked seed, being like to that before it,
and equally impious, should empty the world to
come of saved men. And for this purpose, hav-
ing warned a certain righteous man, 5 with his
three sons, together with their wives and their
children, to save themselves in an ark. He sent
a deluge of water, that all being destroyed, the
purified world might be handed over to him who
was saved in the ark, in order to a second begin-
ning of life. And thus it came to pass,
CHAP. XVIII. THE LAW TO THE SURVIVORS.
" Since, therefore, the souls of the deceased
giants were greater than human souls, inasmuch
as they also excelled their bodies, they, as being
a new race, were called also by a new name.
And to those who survived in the world a law
was prescribed of God through an angel, how
they should live. For being bastards in race,
of the fire of angels and the blood of women,
and therefore liable to desire a certain race of
their own, they were anticipated by a certain
righteous law. For a certain angel was sent to
them by God, declaring to them His will, and
saying : —
5 [Comp. Recognitions, v. 12. — R.]
2 74
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily VIII.
CHAP. XIX.
THE LAW TO THE GIANTS OR
DEMONS.
" ' These things seem good to the all-seeing
God, that you lord it over no man ; that you
trouble no one, unless any one of his own ac-
cord subject himself to you, worshipping you,
and sacrificing and pouring libations, and par-
taking of your table, or accomplishing aught
else that they ought not, or shedding blood, or
tasting dead flesh, or filling themselves with that
which is torn of beasts, or that which is cut, or
that which is strangled, or aught else that is un-
clean. But those who betake themselves to my
law, you not only shall not touch, but shall also
do honour to, and shall flee from, their presence.
For whatsoever shall please them, being just,
respecting you, that you shall be constrained to
suffer. But if any of those who worship me go
astray, either committing adultery, or practising
magic, or living impurely, or doing any other of
the things which are not well-pleasing to me,
then they will have to suffer something at your
hands or those of others, according to my order.
But upon them, when they repent, I, judging of
their repentance, whether it be worthy of pardon
or not, shall give sentence. These things, there-
fore, ye ought to remember and to do, well
knowing that not even your thoughts shall be
able to be concealed from Him.'
CHAP. XX.
■WILLING CAPTIVES.
" Having charged them to this effect, the
angel departed. But you are still ignorant of
this law, that every one who worships demons, or
sacrifices to them, or partakes with them of their
table, shaU become subject to them and receive
all punishment from them, as being under wicked
lords. And you who, on account of ignorance
of this law, have been corrupted beside their
altars,' and have been satiated with food offered
to them, have come under their power, and do
not know how you have been in every way in-
jured in respect of your bodies. But you ought
to know that the demons have no power over
any one, unless first he be their table-compan-
ion ; since not even their chief can do anything
contrary to the law imposed upon them by God,
wherefore he has no power over any one who
does not worship him ; but neither can any one
receive from them any of the things that he
wishes, nor in anything be hurt by them, as you
may learn from the following statement.
CH.A.P. XXI. TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.
" For once the king of the present time came
to our King of righteousness, using no violence,
for this was not in his power, but inducing and
persuading, because the being persuaded lies in
the power of every one.^ Approaching Him,
therefore, as being king of things present, he said
to the King of things future, 'AH the kingdoms
of the present world are subject to me \ also the
gold and the silver and all the luxury of this world
are under my power. Wherefore fall down and
worship me, and I will give you all these things.'
And this he said, knowing that after He wor-
shipped him he would have power also over Him,
and thus would rob Him of the future glory and
kingdom. But He, knowing all things, not only
did not worship him, but would not receive
aught of the things that were offered by him.
For He pledged Himself with those that are
His, to the effect that it is not lawful henceforth
even to touch the things that are given over to
him. Therefore He answered and said, 'Thou
shalt fear the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt
thou serve.' ^
CHAP. XXII. THE MARRIAGE SUPPER.
" However, the king of the impious, striving
to bring over to his own counsel the King of the
pious, and not being able, ceased his efforts, un-
dertaking to persecute Him for the remainder of
His life. But you, being ignorant of the fore-
ordained law, are under his power through evil
deeds. Wherefore you are polluted in body and
soul, and in the present life you are tyrannized
over by sufferings and demons, but in that which is
to come you shall have your souls to be punished.
And this not you alone suffer through ignorance,
but also some of our nation, who by evil deeds
having been brought under the power of the
prince of wickedness, like persons invited to a
supper by a father celebrating the marriage of
his son, have not obeyed.-* But instead of those
who through preoccupation disobeyed, the Father
celebrating the marriage of his Son, has ordered
us, through the Prophet of the truth, to come
into the partings of the ways, that is, to you, and
to invest you with the clean wedding-garment,
which is baptism, which is for the remission of the
sins done by you, and to bring the good to the sup-
per of God by repentance, although at the first
they were left out of the banquet.
CHAP. XXIII. THE ASSEMBLY DISMISSED.
" If, therefore, ye wish to be the vesture of
the Divine Spirit, hasten first to put off your base
presumption, which is an unclean spirit and a
' Tots a.vta)v Puiiioli iTpo<r^6a.pivTi% koX avTuiV eK7r\7]pui9ivTe^.
2 [The conclusion of this homily resembles Rerogm'tiotts, iv. 34-
37, but much of the matter of that book is contained in Homily IX.;
see footnotes. — R.]
3 Matt. iv. ; Luke iv.
* Matt. xxii.
Chap. IV.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
275
foul garment. And this you cannot otherwise
put off, than by being first baptized in good
works. And thus being pure in body and in
soul, you shall enjoy the future eternal kingdom.
Therefore neither believe in idols, nor partake
with them of the impure table, nor commit mur-
der, nor adultery, nor hate those whom it is not
right to hate, nor steal, nor set upon any evil
deeds ; since, being deprived of the hope of fu-
ture blessings in the present life, you shall be
subjected to evil demons and terrible sufferings,
and in the world to come you shall be punished
with eternal fire. Now, then, what has been
said is enough for to-day. For the rest, those
of you who are afflicted with ailments remain
for healing; and of the others, you who please
go in peace."
CHAP. XXIV. THE SICK HEALED.
When he had thus spoken, all of them re-
mained, some in order to be healed, and others
to see those who obtained cures. But Peter,
only laying his hands upon them, and praying,
healed them ; ' so that those who were straight-
way cured were exceeding glad, and those who
looked on exceedingly wondered, and blessed
God, and believed with a firm hope, and with
those who had been healed departed to their own
homes, having received a charge to meet early
on the following day. And when they had gone,
Peter remained there with his associates, and
partook of food, and refreshed himself with
sleep.
' [Comp. Recognitions, iv. 7. — R.j
HOMILY IX.
CH.AP. I. — Peter's discourse resumed.
Therefore on the next day, Peter going out
with his companions, and coming to the former
place, and taking his stand, proceeded to say : '
" God having cut off by water, all the impious
men of old, having found one alone amongst
them all that was pious, caused him to be saved
in an ark, with his three sons and their wives.
Whence may be perceived that it is His nature
not to care for a multitude of wicked, nor to be
indifferent to the salvation of one pious. There-
fore the greatest impiety of all is forsaking the
sole Lord of all, and worshipping many, who are
no gods, as if they were gods.
CHAP. II.
•MONARCHY AND POLYARCHY.
" If, therefore, while I expound and show you
that this is the greatest sin, which is able to
destroy you all, it occur to your mind that you
are not destroyed, being great multitudes, you
are deceived. For you have the example of the
old world deluged. And yet their sin was much
less than that which is chargeable against you.
For they were wicked with respect to their
equals, murdering or committing adultery. But
you are wicked against the God of all, worship-
ping lifeless images instead of Him or along
with Him, and attributing His divine name to
every kind of senseless matter. In the first
place, therefore, you are unfortunate in not
knowing the difference between monarchy and
polyarchy — that monarchy, on the one hand,
is productive of concord, but polyarchy is effec-
' [Much of the matter in thus Homily is to be found in Recog-
nitions, iv. — R.]
tive of wars. For unity does not fight with
itself, but multitude has occasion of undertaking
battle one against another.
CHAP. III. FAMILY OF NOE.
" Therefore, straightway after the flood,^ Noe
continued to live three hundred and fifty years
with the multitude of his descendants in con-
cord, being a king according to the image of the
one God. But after his death many of his de-
scendants were ambitious of the kingdom, and
being eager to reign, each one considered how
it might be effected ; and one attempted it by
war, another by deceit, another by persuasion,
and one in one way and another in another;
one of whom was of the family of Ham, whose
descendant was Mestren, from whom the tribes
of the Egyptians and Babylonians and Persians
were multiplied.
CHAP. IV. ZOROASTER.
'' Of this family there was bom in due time a
certain one, who took up with magical practices,
by name Nebrod, who chose, giant-like, to de-
vise things in opposition to God- Him the
Greeks have called Zoroaster. He, after the
deluge, being ambitious of sovereignty, and be-
ing a great magician, by magical arts compelled
the world-guiding star of the wicked one who
now rules, to the bestowal of the sovereignty
as a gift from him. But he,^ being a prince,
2 [With this and the succeeding chapters compare Recognitions, i.
30,31, but more particularly iv. 27-31, which furnish a close par-
allel. — R.]
3 That IS, I suppose, the wicked one.
276
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily IX.
and having authority over him who compelled
him,' wrathfully poured out the fire of the king-
dom, that he might both bring to allegiance, and
might punish him who at first constrained him,
CHAP. V. HERO-WORSHIP.
"Therefore the magician Nebrod, being de-
stroyed by this lightning falling on earth from
heaven, for this circumstance had his name
changed to Zoroaster, on account of the living
(Cwaav) stream of the star (arrrepr)?) being
poured upon him. But the unintelligent amongst
the men who then were, thinking that through
the love of God his soul had been sent for by
lightning, buried the remains of his body, and
honoured his burial-place with a temple among
the Persians, where the descent of the fire oc-
curred, and worshipped him as a god. By this
example also, others there bury those who die
by lightning as beloved of God, and honour
them with temples, and erect statues of the dead
in their own forms. Thence, in like manner,
the rulers in different places were emulous qf
like honour, and very many of them honoured
the tombs of those who were beloved of them,
though not dying by lightning, with temples and
statues, and lighted up altars, and ordered them
to be adored as gods. And long after, by the
lapse of time, they were thought by posterity to
be really gods.
CHAP. VI.
FIRE-WORSHIP.
"Thus, in this fashion, there ensued many
partitions of the one original kingdom. The
Persians, first taking coals from the lightning
which fell from heaven, preserved them by or-
dinary fuel, and honouring the heavenly fire as
a god, were honoured by the fire itself with
the first kingdom, as its first worshippers. After
them the Babylonians, stealing coals from the
fire that was there, and conveying it safetly to
their own home, and worshipping it, they them-
selves also reigned in order. And the Egyptians,
acting in like manner, and calling the fire in
their own dialect PHXHAii, which is translated
Hephaistus or Osiris, he who first reigned
amongst them is called by its name. Those
also who reigned in different places, acting in
this fashion, and making an image, and kin-
dling altars in honour of fire, most of them were
excluded from the kingdom.
CHAP. Vll. sacrificial ORGIES.
" But they did not cease to worship images,^
by reason of the evil intelligence of the magi-
cians, who found excuses for them, which had
' I suppose Nimrod, or Zoroaster.
* [Comp. Recognitions, iv. 13. — R.]
power to constrain them to the foolish worship.
For, establishing this things by magical ceremo-
nies, they assigned them feasts from sacrifices,
libations, flutes, and shoutings, by means of
which senseless men, being deceived, and their
kingdom being taken from them, yet did not
desist from the worship that they had taken
up with. To such an extent did they prefer
error, on account of its pleasantness, before
truth. They also howl after their sacrificial
surfeit, their soul from the depth, as it were
by dreams, forewarning them of the punishment
that is to befall such deeds of theirs.
chap. VIII. THE BEST MERCHANDISE.
" Many forms of worship,^ then, having passed
away in the world, we come, bringing to you,
as good merchantmen, the worship that has
been handed down to us from our fathers, and
preserved ; showing you, as it were, the seeds
of plants, and placing them under your judg-
ment and in your power. Choose that which
seems good unto you. If, therefore, ye choose
our wares, not only shalL ye be able to escape
demons, and the sufferings which are inflicted by
demons, but yourselves also putting them to
flight, and having them reduced to make sup-
plication to you, shall for ever enjoy future
blessings.
CHAP. IX. HOW DEMONS GET POWER OVER MEN.
" Since, on the other hand, you are oppressed
by strange sufferings inflicted by demons, on
your removal from the body you shall have
your souls also punished for ever ; not indeed
by God's inflicting vengeance, but because such
is the judgment of evil deeds. For the demons,
having power by means of the food given to
them, are admitted into your bodies by your
own hands ; and lying hid there for a long time,
they become blended with your souls. And
through the carelessness of those who think not,
or even wish not, to help themselves, upon
the dissolution of their bodies, their souls being
united to the demon, are of necessity borne by
it into whatever places it pleases. And what is
most terrible of all, when at the end of all
things the demon is first consigned to the purify-
ing fire, the soul which is mixed with it is under
the necessity of being horribly punished, and
the demon of being pleased. For the soul,
being made of light, and not capable of bearing
the heterogeneous flame of fire, is tortured ; but
the demon, being in the substance of his own
kind, is gready pleased, becoming the strong
chain of the soul that he has swallowed up.
3 [Compare with chaps. 8-18 the parallel passage in Recoct-
iions, iv. z.i,-'Z'z. The resemblances are quite close. — R.]
Chap. XIV.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
277
CHAP. X. HOW THEY ARE TO BE EXPELLED.
" But the reason why the demons delight in
entering into men's bodies is this. Being spirits,
and having desires after meats and drinks, and
sexual pleasures, but not being able to partake
of these by reason of their being spirits, and
wanting organs fitted for their enjoyment, they
enter into the bodies of men, in order that, get-
ting organs to minister to them, they may obtain
the things that they wish, whether it be meat,
by means of men's teeth, or sexual pleasure, by
means of men's members. Hence, in order to
the putting of demons to flight, the most useful
help is abstinence, and fasting, and suffering of
affliction. For if they enter into men's bodies
for the sake of sharing pleasures, it is manifest
that they are put to flight by suffering. But
inasmuch as some,' being of a more malignant
kind, remain by the body that is undergoing
punishment, though they are punished with it,
therefore it is needful to have recourse to God
by prayers and petitions, refraining from every
occasion of impurity, that the hand of God
may touch him for his cure, as being pure and
faithful.
CHAP. XL
■UNBELIEF THE DEMONS STRONGHOLD.
" But it is necessary in our prayers to ac-
knowledge that we have had recourse to God,
and to bear witness, not to the apathy, but to
the slowness of the demon. For all things are
done to the believer, nothing to the unbeliever.
Therefore the demons themselves, knowing the
amount of faith of those of whom they take
possession, measure their stay proportionately.
Wherefore they stay permanently with the un-
believing, tarry for a while with the weak in
faith ; but with those who thoroughly believe,
and who do good, they cannot remain even for
a moment. For the soul being turned by faith,
as it were, into the nature of water, quenches
the demon as a spark of fire. The labour, there-
fore, of every one is to be solicitous about the
putting to flight of his own demon. For, being
mixed up with men's souls, they suggest to every
one's mind desires after what things they please,
in order that he may neglect his salvation.
CHAP. XIL THEORY OF DISEASE.
" Whence many, not knowing how they are
influenced, consent to the evil thoughts sug-
gested by the demons, as if they were the
reasoning of their own souls. Wherefore they
become less active to come to those who are
able to save them, and do not know that they
themselves are held captive by the deceiving
demons. Therefore the demons who lurk in
their souls induce them to think that it is not a
demon that is distressing them, but a bodily dis-
ease, such as some acrid matter, or bile, or
phlegm, or excess of blood, or inflammation of
a membrane, or something else. But even if
this were so, the case would not be altered of its
being a kind of demon. For the universal and
earthly soul, which enters on account of all kinds
of food, being taken to excess by over- much
food, is itself united to the spirit, as being cog-
nate, which is the soul of man ; and the ma-
terial part of the food being united to the body,
is left as a dreadful poison to it. Wherefore in
all respects moderation is excellent.
CHAP. XIII. DECEITS OF THE DEMONS.
" But some of the maleficent demons deceive
in another way. For at first they do not even
show their existence, in order that care may not
be taken against them ; but in due time, by
means of anger, love, or some other affection,
they suddenly injure the body, by sword, or
halter, or precipice, or something else, and at
last bring to punishment the deceived souls of
those who have been mixed up with them, as we
said, withdrawing into the purifying fire. But
others, who are deceived in another way, do not
approach us, being seduced by the instigations
of maleficent demons, as if they suffered these
things at the hands of the gods themselves, on
account of their neglect of them, and were able
to reconcile them by sacrifices, and that it is not
needful to come to us, but rather to flee from
and hate us. And at the same time ^ they hate
and flee from those who have greater compas-
sion for them, and who follow after them in
order to do good to them.
CHAP. XIV.
■MORE TRICKS.
' The gender is here changed, but the sense shows that the ref-
erence is still to the demons. I suppose the author forgot that in the
preceding sentences he had written Oai^AOves {masc.) and not 6ai-
li.Qvi.0. {ueut,).
" Therefore shunning and hating us they are
deceived, not knowing how it happens that they
devise things opposed to their health. For
neither can we compel them against their will to
incline towards health, since now we have no
such power over them, nor are they able of them-
selves to understand the evil instigation of the
demon ; for they know not whence these evil
instigations are suggested to them. And these
are they whom the demons affright, appearing in
such forms as they please. And sometimes they
prescribe remedies for those who are diseased,
and thus they receive divine honours from those
who have previously been deceived. And they
conceal from many that they are demons, but
not from us, who know their mystery, and why
^ Some read ovtios, thus.
278
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily IX.
they do these things, changing themselves in
dreams against those over whom they have pow-
er ; and why they terrify some, and give orac-
ular responses to others, and demand sacrifices
from them, and command them to eat with
them, that they may swallow up their souls.
CHAP. XV. TEST OF IDOLS.
" For as dire serpents draw sparrows to them
by their breath, so also these draw to their own
will those who partake of their table, being
mixed up with their understanding by means of
food and drink, changing themselves in dreams
according to the forms of the "images, that they
may increase error. For the image is neither a
living creature, nor has it a divine spirit, but the
demon that appeared abused the form.' How
many, in like manner, have been seen by others
in dreams ; and when they have met one another
when awake, and compared them with what they
saw in their dream, they have not accorded :
so that the dream is not a manifestation, but is
either the production of a demon or of the soul,
giving forms to present fears and desire. For
the soul, being struck with fear, conceives forms
in dreams. But if you think that images, as
being alive, can accomplish such things, place
them on a beam accurately balanced, and place
an equipoise in the other scale, then ask them
to become either heavier or lighter ; and if this
be done, then they are alive. But it does not
so happen. But if it were so, this would not
prove them to be gods. For this might be ac-
complished by the finger of the demon. Even
maggots move, yet they are not called gods.
CHAP. XVI. POWERS OF THE DEMONS.
" But that the soul of each man embodies the
forms of demons after his own preconceptions,
and that those who are called gods do not ap-
pear, is manifest from the fact that they do not
appear to the Jews. But some one will say.
How then do they give oracular responses, fore-
casting future things ? This also is false. But
suppose it were true, this does not prove them
to be gods ; for it does not follow, if anything
prophesies, that it is a god. For pythons pro-
phesy, yet they are cast out by us as demons,
and put to flight. But some one will say. They
work cures for some persons. It is false. But
suppose it were true, this is no proof of God-
head ; for physicians also heal many, yet are not
gods. But, says one, physicians do not com-
pletely heal those of whom they take charge, but
these heal oracularly. But the demons know
' The meaning is: " the idols or images of the heathen deities
are not hving, but the demons adopt the forms of these images when
they appear to men in dreams."
the remedies that are suited to each disease.
Wherefore, being skilful physicians, and able to
cure those diseases which can be cured by men,
and also being prophets, and knowing when each
disease is healed of itself, they so arrange their
remedies that they may gain the credit of pro-
ducing the cure.
CHAP. XVII. REASONS WHY THEIR DECEITS ARE
NOT DETECTED.
"For why do they oracularly foretell cures
after a long time? And why, if they are al-
mighty, do they not effect cures without admin-
istering any medicine ? And for what reason do
they prescribe remedies to some of those who
pray to them, while to some, and it may be more
suitable cases, they give no response? Thus,
whenever a cure is going to take place spontane-
ously, they promise, in order that they may get
the credit of the cure ; and others, having been
sick, and having prayed, and having recovered
spontaneously, attributed the cure to those whom
they had invoked, and make offerings to them.
Those, however, who, after praying, have failed,
are not able to offer their. sacrifices. But if the
relatives of the dead, or any of their children,
inquired into the losses, you would find the fail-
ures to be more than the successes. But no one
who has been taken in by them is willing to ex-
hibit an accusation against them, through shame
or fear ; but, on the other hand, they conceal the
crimes which they believe them to be guilty of.
CHAP. XVIII. PROPS OF THE SYSTEM.
" And how many also falsify the responses
given and the cures effected by them, and con-
firm them with an oath ! And how many give
themselves up to them for hire, undertaking false-
ly to suffer certain things, and thus proclaiming
their suffering, and being restored by remedial
means, they say that they oracularly promised
them healing, in order that they may assign as
the cause the senseless worship ! And how many
of these things were formerly done by magical
art, in the way of interpreting dreams, and divin-
ing ! Yet in course of time these things have
disappeared. And how many are there now,
who, wishing to obtain such things, make use of
charms ! However, though a thing be prophetical
or healing, it is not divine.
CHAP. XIX. PRIVILEGES OF THE BAPTIZED.
" For God is almighty. For He is good and
righteous, now long-suffering to all, that those
who will, repenting of the evils which they have
done, and living well, may receive a worthy re-
ward in the day in which all things are judged.
Wherefore now begin to obey God by reason of
Chap. XXIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
279
good knowledge,' and to oppose your evil lusts
and thoughts, that you may be able to recover
the original saving worship which was committed
to humanity. For thus shall blessings straight-
way spring up to you, which, when you receive,
you will thenceforth quit the trial of evils. But
give thanks to the Giver ; being kings for ever
of unspeakable good things, with the King of
peace. But in the present life, washing in a
flowing river, or fountain, or even in the sea, with
the thrice-blessed invocation, you shall not only
be able to drive away the spirits which lurk in
you ; but yourselves no longer sinning, and un-
doubtingly believing God, you shall drive out
evil spirits and dire demons, with terrible dis-
eases, from others. And sometimes they shall
flee when you but look on them. For they
know those who have given themselves up to
God. Wherefore, honouring them, they flee af-
frighted, as you saw yesterday, how, when after
the address I delayed praying for those who were
suffering these maladies, through respect towards
the worship they cried out, not being able to en-
dure it for a short hour.
CHAP. XX. "not almost, BUT ALTOGETHER
SUCH AS I AM."
"Do not then suppose that we do not fear de-
mons on this account, that we are of a diff"erent
nature from you. For we are of the same na-
ture, but not of the same worship. Wherefore,
being not only much but altogether superior to
you, we do not grudge you becoming such as
we are ; but, on the other hand, counsel you,
knowing that all these demons beyond measure
honour and fear those who are reconciled to God.
CHAP. XXL THE DEMONS SUBJECT TO THE BE-
LIEVER.
" For, in like manner as the soldiers who are
put under one of Caesar's captains know to hon-
our him who has received authority on account
of him who gave it, so that the commanders say
to this one. Come, and he comes, and to an-
other. Go, and he goes ; so also he who has given
himself to God, being faithful, is heard when he
only speaks to demons and diseases ; and the
demons give place, though they be much strong-
er than they who command them. For with un-
speakable power God subjects the mind of every
one to whom He pleases. For as many cap-
tains, with whole camps and cities, fear Caesar,
who is but a man, every one's heart being eager
to honour the image of all ; ^ for by the will of
• [With chaps, ig-21 compare Recognitions, iv. 32, 35, which
closely resemble them. — R.]
^ I prefer here the common text to any of the proposed emenda-
tions, and suppose that the author represents Caesar, though but one
man, as the ipiage or personification of the whole empire.
God, all things being enslaved by fear, do not
know the cause ; so also all disease-producing
spirits, being awed in some natural way, honour
and flee from him who has had recourse to God,
and who carries right faith as His image in his
heart.
CHAP. XXIL " RATHER REJOICE,"
" But Still, though all demons, with all diseases,
flee before you, you are not to rejoice in this only,
but in that, through grace, your names, as of die
ever-living, are written in heaven. Thus also
the Divine Holy Spirit rejoices, because man hath
overcome death ; for the putting of the demons
to flight makes for the safety of another. But this
we say, not as denying that we ought to help oth-
ers, but that we ought not to be inflated by this
and neglect ourselves. It happens, also, that the
demons flee before some wicked men by reason
of the honoured name, and both he who expels
the demon and he who witnesses it are deceived :
he who expels him, as if he were honoured on ac-
count of righteousness, not knowing the wicked-
ness of the demon. For he has at once honoured
the name, and by his flight has brought the wick-
ed man into a thought of his righteousness, and
so deceived him away from repentance. But
the looker-on, associating with the expeller as a
pious man, hastens to a like manner of life, and
is ruined. Sometimes also they pretend to flee
before adjurations not made in the name of God,
that they may deceive men, and destroy them
whom they will.
CHAP. XXIII.
■THE SICK HEALED.
" This then we would have you know, that un-
less any one of his own accord give himself over
as a slave to demons, as I said before, the demon
has no power against him. Choosing, therefore, to
worship one God, and refraining from the table of
demons, and undertaking chastity with philan-
thropy and righteousness, and being baptized with
the thrice-blessed invocation for the remission
of sins, and devoting yourselves as much as you
can to the perfection of purity, you can escape
everlasting punishment, and be constituted heirs
of eternal blessings."
Having thus spoken, he ordered those to ap-
proach who were distressed with diseases ; ^ and
thus many approached, having come together
through the experience of those who had been
healed yesterday. And he having laid his hands
upon them and prayed, and immediately healed
them, and having charged them and the others
to come earlier, he bathed and partook of food,
and went to sleep.
3 [Comp. Recognitions, iv. 7. — R.J
28o
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily X.
HOMILY X.
CHAP. I. — THE THIRD DAY IN TRIPOLIS.
Therefore on the third day in Tripolis,'
Peter rose early and went into the garden,
where there was a great water-reservoir, into
which a full stream of water constantly flowed.
There having bathed, and then having prayed,
he sat down ; and perceiving us sitting around
and eagerly observing him, as wishing to hear
something from him, he said :" —
CHAP. II.
■IGNORANCE AND ERROR.
" There seems to me to be a great difference
between the ignorant and the erring. For the
ignorant man seems to me to be like a man who
does not wish to set out for a richly stored city,
through his not knowing the excellent things
that are there ; but the erring man to be like
one who has learned indeed the good things
that are in the city, but who has forsaken the
highway in proceeding towards it, and so has
wandered. Thus, therefore, it seems to me that
there is a great difference between those who
worship idols and those who are faulty in the
worship of God. For they who worship idols
are ignorant of eternal life, and therefore they
do not desire it; for what they do not know,
they cannot love. But those who have chosen
to worship one God, and who have learned of
the eternal life given to the good, if they either
believe or do anything different from what is
pleasing to God, are like to those who have
gone out from the city of punishment, and are
desirous to come to the well-stored city, and on
the road have strayed from the right path."
CHAP. III. MAN THE LORD OF ALL.
While he was thus discoursing to us, there
entered one of our people, who had been ap-
pointed to make the following announcement
to him, and said : " My lord Peter, there are
great multitudes standing before the doors."
With his consent, therefore, a great multitude
entered. Then he rose up, and stood on the
basis, as he had done the day before ; and
having saluted them in religious fashion, he said :
" God having formed the heaven and the earth,
and having made all things in them, as the true
Prophet has said to us, man, being made after
the image and likeness of God, was appointed
to be ruler and lord of things, I say, in air and
' [Book V. of the Recognitions, assigned to the second day at
Tripolis. contains most of the matter in this Homily, but has many
passages without a parallel here. — R.]
earth and water, as may be known from the very
fact that by his intelligence he brings down the
creatures that are in the air, and brings up those
that are in the deep, hunts those that are on the
earth, and that although they are much greater
in strength than he ; I mean elephants, and lions,
and such hke.
CHAP. rV. — FAITH AND DUTY.
" While, therefore, he was righteous, he was
also superior to all sufferings, as being unable
by his immortal body to have any experience of
pain ; but when he sinned, as I showed you
yesterday and the day before, becoming as it
were the servant of sin, he became subject to all
sufferings, being by a righteous judgment de-
prived of all excellent things. For it was not
reasonable, the Giver having been forsaken, that
the gifts should remain with the ungrateful.
\\'hence, of His abundant mercy, in order to
our receiving, with the first, also future blessings,
He sent His Prophet. And the Prophet has
given in charge to us to tell you what you ought
to think, and what to do. Choose, therefore ;
and this is in your power. What, therefore, you
ought to think is this, to worship the God who
made all things ; whom if you receive in your
minds, you shall receive from Him, along with
the first excellent things, also the future eternal
blessings.
CHAP. V. THE FEAR OF GOD.
" Therefore you shall be able to persuade
yourselves with respect to the things that are
profitable, if, like charmers, you say to the hor-
rible serpent which lurks in your heart, ' The
Lord God thou shalt fear, and Him alone thou
shalt serve.' ^ On every account it is advan-
tageous to fear Him alone, not as an unjust, but
as a righteous God. For one fears an unjust
being, lest he be wrongfully destroyed, but a
righteous one, lest he be caught in sin and pun-
ished. You can therefore, by fear towards Him,
be freed from many hurtful fears. For if you do
not fear the one Lord and Maker of all, you shall
be the slaves of all evils to your own hurt, I mean
of demons and diseases, and of everything that
can in any way hurt you.
CHAP. VI.
RESTORATION OF THE DFVTNE IMAGE.
" Therefore approach with confidence to God,
you who at first were made to be rulers and
2 Matt. iv. lo; [Luke iv. 8; Deut. vi. 13. — R.].
Chap. XI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
281
lords of all things : ye who have His image in
your bodies, have in like manner the likeness of
His judgment in your minds. Since, then, by
acting like irrational animals, you have lost the
soul of man from your soul, becoming like swine,
you are the prey of demons. If, therefore, you
receive the law of God, you become men. For
it cannot be said to irrational animals, ' Thou
shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not steal,' and so forth. Therefore
do not refuse, when invited, to return to your
first nobility ; for it is possible, if ye be con-
formed to God by good works. And being ac-
counted to be sons by reason of your likeness to
Him, you shall be reinstated as lords of all.
CHAP. VII.
UNPROFITABLENESS OF IDOLS.
"Begin,' then, to divest yourselves of the in-
jurious fear of vain idols, that you may escape
unrighteous bondage. For they have become
your masters, who even as servants are unprofit-
able to you. I speak of the material of the life-
less images, which are of no use to you as far as
service is concerned. For they neither hear nor
see nor feel, nor can they be moved. For is
there any one of you who would like to see as
they see, and to hear as they hear, and to feel
as they feel, and to be moved as they are ? God
forbid that such a wrong should be done to any
man bearing the image of God, though he have
lost His likeness.
CHAP. VIII. NO GODS WHICH ARE MADE WITH
HANDS.
" Therefore reduce your gods of gold and sil-
ver, or any other material, to their original na-
ture ; I mean into cups and basins and all other
utensils, such as may be useful to you for ser-
vice ; and those good things which were given
you at first shall be able to be restored. But
perhaps you will say. The laws of the emperors
do not permit us to do this.^ You say well that
it is the law, and not the power of the vain idols
themselves, which is nothing. How, then, have
ye regarded them as gods, who are avenged by
human laws, guarded by dogs, kept by multi-
tudes?— and that if they are of gold, or silver,
or brass. For those of wood or earthenware are
preserved by their worthlessness, because no man
desires to steal a wooden or earthenware god ! I
So that your gods are exposed to danger in pro-
portion to the value of the material of which
they are made. How, then, can they be gods,
which are stolen, molten, weighed, guarded ?
CHAP. IX. " EYES HAVE THEY, BUT THEY SEE
NOT."
" Oh the minds of wretched men, who fear
things deader than dead men ! For I cannot
call them even dead, which have never lived,
unless they are the tombs of ancient men. For
sometimes a person, visiting unknown places,
does not know whether the temples which he
sees are monuments of dead men, or whether
they belong to the so-called gods ; but on in-
quiring and hearing that they belong to the gods,
he worships, without being ashamed that if he
had not learned on inquiring, he would have
passed them by as the monument of a dead
man, on account of the strictness of the resem-
blance. However, jt is not necessary that I
should adduce much proof in regard to such
superstition. For it is easy for any one who
pleases to understand that it, an idol, is nothing,
unless there be any one who does not see. How-
ever, now at least hear that it does not hear, and
understand that it does not understand. For the
hands of a man who is dead made it. If, then,
the maker is dead, how can it be that that which
was made by him shall not be dissolved ? Why,
then, do you worship the work of a mortal which
is altogether senseless ? whereas those who have
reason do not worship animals, nor do they seek
to propitiate the elements which have been made
by God, — I mean the heaven, the sun, the moon,
lightning, the sea, and all things in them, —
rightly judging not to worship the things that He
has made, but to reverence the Maker and Sus-
tainer of Uiem. For in this they themselves also
rejoice, that no one ascribes to them the hon-
our that belongs to their Maker.
CHAP. X. IDOLATRY A DELUSION OF THE SER-
PENT.
" For His alone is the excellent glory of being
alone uncreated, while all else is created. As,
therefore, it is the prerogative of the imcreated
to be God, so whatever is created is not God in-
deed. Before all things, therefore, you ought to
consider the evil-working suggestion of the de-
ceiving serpent that is in you, which seduces you
by the promise of better reason, creeping from
your brain to your spinal marrow, and setting
great value upon deceiving you.^
' [Recognitions, v. 14, is parallel to this chapter, and the resem-
blance is close throughout some of the succeeding chapters. — R.]
^ [This, with the corresponding passage in Recognitions, v. 15,
points to an early origin of the literature, under the heathen emperors.
CHAP. XI.
WHY THE SERPENT TEMPTS TO SIN.
" For he knows the original law, that if he
bring you to the persuasion of the so-called
gods, so that you sin against the one good of
monarchy, your overthrow becomes a gain to
him. And that for this reason, because he being
3 [Comp. Recognitions, ii. 45, and especially the full discussion
about the serpent in Recognitions, v. 17-26. — R.]
282
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily X.
condemned eats earth, he has power to eat him
who through sin being dissolved into earth, has
become earth, your souls going into his belly of
fire. In order, therefore, that you may suffer
these things, he suggests every thought to your
hurt.
CHAP. XII. IGNORANTIA NEMINEM EXCUSAT.
" For all the deceitful conceptions against the
monarchy are sown in your mind by him to your
hurt. First, that you may not hear the dis-
courses of piety, and so drive away ignorance,
which is the occasion of evils, he ensnares you
by a pretence of knowledge, giving in the first
instance, and using throughout this presumption,
which is to think and to be unhappily advised,
that if any one do not hear the word of piety.
he is not subject to judgments. Wherefore also
some, being thus deceived, are not willing to
hear, that they may be ignorant, not knowing
that ignorance is of itself a sufficient deadly
drug. For if any one should take a deadly drug
in ignorance, does he not die ? So naturally sins
destroy the sinner, though he commit them in
ignorance of what is right.
CHAP. XIII. CONDEMNATION OF THE IGNORANT.
" But if judgment follows upon disobedience
to instruction, much more shall God destroy
those who will not undertake His worship. For
he who will not learn, lest that should make him
subject to judgment, is already judged as know-
ing, for he knew what he will not hear ; so that
that imagination avails nothing as an apology
in presence of the heart-knowing God. Where-
fore avoid that cunning thought suggested by
the serpent to your minds. But if any one end
this life in real ignorance, this charge will lie
against him, that, having lived so long, he did
not know who was the bestower of the food sup-
plied to him : and as a senseless, and ungrateful,
and very unworthy servant, he is rejected from
the kingdom of God.
CHAP. XIV. POLYTHEISTIC ILLUSTRATION.
" Again, the terrible serpent suggests this sup-
position to you, to think and to say that very
thing which most of you do say ; viz., We
know that there is one Lord of all, but there
also are gods. For in like manner as there is
one Caesar, but he has under him procurators,
proconsuls, prefects, commanders of thousands,
and of hundreds, and of tens ; in the same way,
there being one great God, as there is one
Caesar, there also, after the manner of inferior
powers, are gods, inferior indeed to Him, but
ruling over us. Hear, therefore, ye who have
been led away by this conception as by a terri-
ble poison — I mean the evil conception of this
illustration — that you may know wliAt is good
and what is evil. For you do not yet see it, nor
do you look into the things that you utter.
CHAP. XV.
■ ITS INCONCLUSIVENESS.
" For if you say that, after the manner of
Caesar, God has subordinate powers — those,
namely, which are called gods — you do not thus
go by your illustration. For if you went by it,
you must of necessity know that it is not lawful
to give the name of Caesar to another, whether
he be consul, or prefect, or captain, or any one
else, and that he who gives such a name shall not
live, and he who takes it shall be cut off. Thus,
according to your own illustration, the name of
God must not be given to another ; and he who
is tempted either to take or give it is destroyed.
Now, if this insult of a man induces punishment,
much more they who call others gods shall be
subject to eternal punishment, as insulting God.
And with good reason ; because you subject to
all the insult that you can the name which it was
committed to you to honour, in order to His mon-
archy. For God is not properly His name ; but
you having in the meantime received it, insult
what has been given you, that it may be accounted
as done against the real name, according as you
use that. But you subject it to every kind of
insult.
CHAP. XVI. GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
" Therefore you ringleaders among the Egyp-
tians, boasting of meteorology, and promising to
judge the natures of the stars, by reason of the
evil opinion lurking in them, subjected that name
to all manner of dishonour as far as in them lay.
For some of them taught the worship of an ox
called Apis, some that of a he-goat, some of
a cat, some of a serpent ; yea, even of a fish,
and of onions, and rumblings in the stomach,'
and common sewers, and members of irrational
animals, and to myriads of other base abomina-
tions they gave the name of god^
CHAP. XVII. THE EGYPTIANS' DEFENCE OF THEIR
SYSTEM.
On Peter's saying this, the surrounding multi-
tude laughed. Then Peter said to the laughing
multitude : " You laugh at their proceedings, not
knowing that you are yourselves much more ob-
jects of ridicule to them. But you laugh at one
another's proceedings ; for, being led by evil
custom into deceit, you do not see your own.
But I admit that you have reason to laugh at the
idols of the Egyptians, since they, being rational,
worship irrational animals, and these altogether
dying. But listen to what they say when they
deride you. We, they say, though we worship
■yao'Tpujj' TTi'EUfiaTa.
Chap. XXII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
283
dying creatures, yet still such as have once had
life : but you reverence things that never lived.
And in addition to this, they say. We wish to
honour the form of the one God, but we cannot
find out what it is, and so we choose to give honour
to every form. And so, making some such state-
ments as these, they think that they judge more
rightly than you do.
CHAP. XVIII.
•ANSWER TO THE EGYPTIANS.
" Wherefore answer them thus : You lie, for
you do not worship these things in honour of
the true God, for then all of you would worship
every form ; not as ye do. For those of you
who suppose the onion to be the divinity, and
those who worship rumblings in the stomach,
contend with one another ; and thus all in like
manner preferring some one thing, revile those
that are preferred by others. And with diverse
judgments, one reverences one and another
another of the limbs of the same animal. More-
over, those of them who still have a breath of
right reason, being ashamed of the manifest base-
ness, attempt to drive these things into allegories,
wishing by another vagary to establish their
deadly error. But we should confute the alle-
gories, if we were there, the foolish passion for
which has prevailed to such an extent as to con-
stitute a great disease of the understanding.
For it is not necessary to apply a plaster to a
whole part of the body, but to a diseased part.
Since then, you, by your laughing at the Egyp-
tians, show that you are not affected with their
disease, with respect to your own disease it were
reasonable I should afford to you a present cure
of your own malady.
CHAP. XX. NEITHER THE WORLD NOR ANY OF
ITS PARTS CAN BE GOD.
" But the world, not being incomparable and
unsurpassable, and altogether in all respects with-
out defect, cannot be God. But if the whole
world cannot be God, in respect of its having
been made, how much more should not its parts
be reasonably called God ; I mean the parts
that are by you called gods, being made of gold
and silver, brass and stone, or of any other
material whatsoever ; and they constructed by
mortal hand. However, let us further see how
the terrible serpent through man's mouth poisons
those who are seduced by his solicitations.
CHAP. XXI.
■IDOLS NOT ANIMATED BY THE
DIVINE SPIRIT.
CHAP. XIX.
•GODS PECULIAR ATTRIBUTE.
" He who would worship God ought before
all things to know what alone is peculiar to the
nature of God, which cannot pertain to another,
that, looking at His peculiarity, and not finding
it in any other, he may not be seduced into
ascribing godhead to another. But this is pe-
culiar to God, that He alone is, as the Maker of
all, so also the best of all. That which makes is
indeed superior in power to that which is made ;
that which is boundless is superior in magnitude
to that which is bounded : in respect of beauty,
that which is comeliest ; in respect of happiness,
that which is most blessed ; in respect of under-
standing, that which is most perfect. And in
like manner, in other respects. He has incom-
parably the pre-emenince. Since then, as I said,
this very thing, viz., to be the best of all, is pe-
culiar to God, and the all-comprehending world
was made by Him, none of the things made
by Him can come into equal comparison with
Him.
" For many say, We do not worship the gold
or the si.lver, the wood or the stone, of the ob-
jects of our worship. For we also know that
these are nothing but lifeless matter, and the art
of mortal man. But the spirit that dwells in
them, that we call God. Behold the immorality
of those who speak thus ! For when that which
appears is easily proved to be nothing, they have
recourse to the invisible, as not being able to be
convicted in respect of what is non-apparent.
However, they agree with us in part, that one
half of their images is not God, but senseless
matter. It remains for them to show how we
are to believe that these images have a divine
spirit. But they cannot prove to us that it is so,
for it is not so ; and we do not believe them
when they say that they have seen it. We shall
afford them proofs that they have not a divine
spirit, that lovers of truth, hearing the refutation
of the thought that they are animated, may turn
away from the hurtful delusion.
CHAP. XXII. — CONFUTATION OF IDOL-WORSHIP.
" In the first place, indeed, if you worship
them as being animated, why do you also worship
the sepulchres of memorable men of old, who
confessedly had no divine spirit? Thus you do
not at all speak truth respecting this. But if
your objects of worship were really animated,
they would move of themselves ; they would
have a voice ; they would shake off the spiders
that are on them ; they would thrust forth those
that wish to surprise and to steal them ; they
would easily capture those who pilfer the offer-
ings. But now they do none of these things, but
are guarded, like culprits, and especially the
more costly of them, as we have already said.
But what? Is it not so, that the rulers demand
of you imposts and taxes on their account, as if
you were greatly benefited by them? But what?
Have they not often been taken as plunder by
enemies, and been broken and scattered ? And
284
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XI.
do not the priests, more than the outside wor-
shippers, carry off many of the offerings, thus
acknowledging the uselessness of their worship ?
CHAP. XXIII.
FOLLY OF IDOLATRY.
" Nay, it will be said ; but they are detected
by their foresight. It is false ; for how many
of them have not been detected? And if on
account of the capture of some it be said that
they have power, it is a mistake. For of those
who rob tombs, some are found out and some
escape ; but it is not by the power of the dead
that those who are apprehended are detected.
And such ought to be our conclusion with re-
spect to those who steal and pilfer the gods.
But it will be said, The gods that are in them
take no care of their images. Why, then, do
you tend them, wiping them, and washing them,
and scouring them, crowning them, and sacri-
ficing to them? Wherefore agree with me that
you act altogether without right reason. For
as you lament over the dead, so you sacrifice
and make libations to your gods.
CHAP. XXIV. IMPOTENCE OF IDOLS.
" Nor yet is that in harmony with the illustra-
tion of Ceesar, and of the powers under him, to
call them administrators ; whereas you take all
care of them, as I said, tending your images in
every respect. For they, having no power, do
nothing. Wherefore tell us what do they ad-
minister? what do they of that sort which rulers
in different places do? and what influence do
they exert, as the stars of God ? Do they show
anything like the sun, or do you light lamps be-
fore them ? Are they able to bring showers, as
the clouds bring rain, — they which cannot even
move themselves, unless men carry them ? Do
they make the earth fruitful to your labours,
these to whom you supply sacrifices? Thus
they can do nothing.
CHAP. XXV. SERVANTS BECOME MASTERS.
" But if they were able to do something, you
should not be right in calling them gods : for it
is not right to call the elements gods, by which
good things are supplied ; but only Him who
ordereth them, to accomplish all things for our
use, and who commandeth them to be service-
able to man, — Him alone we call God in pro-
priety of speech, whose beneficence you do not
perceive, but permit those elements to rule over
you which have been assigned to you as your
servants. And why should I speak of the ele-
ments, when you not only have made and do
worship lifeless images, but deign ' to be subject
to them in all respects as servants? Wherefore,
by reason of your erroneous judgments, you have
become subject to demons. However, by ac-
knowledgment of God Himself, by good deeds
you can again become masters, and command
the demons as slaves, and as sons of God be
constituted heirs of the eternal kingdom."
CHAP. XXVI. THE SICK HEALED.
Having said this, he ordered the demoniacs,
and those taken with diseases, to be brought to
him ; and when they were brought, he laid his
hands on them, and prayed, and dismissed them
healed, reminding them and the rest of the
multitude to attend upon him there every day
that he should discourse. Then, when the
others had withdrawn, Peter bathed in the reser-
voir that was there, with those who pleased ;
and then ordering a table to be spread on the
ground under the thick fohage of the trees, for
the sake of shade, he ordered us each to recline,
according to our worth ; and thus we partook
of food. Therefore having blessed and having
given thanks to God for the enjoyment, accord-
ing to the accustomed faith of the Hebrews ;
and there being still a long time before us, he
permitted us to ask him questions about what-
ever we pleased ; and thus, though there were
twenty of us putting questions to him all round,
he satisfied every one. And now evening hav-
ing descended, we all went with him into the
largest apartment of the lodging, and there we
all slept.
HOMILY XI.
CHAP. I. MORNING EXERCISES.
Therefore on the fourth day at Tripolis, Peter
rising and finding us awake, saluted us and went
out to the reservoir, that he might bathe and
pray ; and we also did so after him. To us,
therefore, when we had prayed together, and
were set down before him, he gave a discourse
touching the necessity of purity. And when
thereafter it was day, he permitted the multitudes
to enter. Then, when a great crowd had en-
tered, he saluted them according to custom, and
began to speak.
Chap. VI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
285
CHAP. II. " GIVING ALL DILIGENCE."
" Inasmuch as, by long-continued neglect on
your part, to your own injury, your mind has
caused to sprout many hurtful conceptions about
religion, and ye have become like land fallow by
the carelessness of the husbandman, you need
a long time for your purification, that your mind,
receiving like good seed the true word that is
imparted to you, may not choke it with evil cares,
and render it unfruitful with respect to works
that are able to save you. Wherefore it behoves
those who are careful of their own salvation to
hear more constantly, that their sins which have
been long multiplying may, in the short time that
remains, be matched with constant care for their
purification. Since, therefore, no one knows the
time of his end, hasten to pluck out the many
thorns of your hearts ; but not by little and little,
for then you cannot be purified, for you have
been long fallow.'
CH.A.P. III. " BEHOLD WHAT INDIGNATION."
" But not otherwise will you endure to under-
take much care for your purification unless you
be angry with yourselves, and chastise yourselves
for those things with which, as unprofitable ser-
vants, you have been ensnared, consenting to
your evil lusts, that you may be able to let in your
righteous indignation upon your mind, as fire
upon a fallow field. If, therefore, ye have not
righteous fire, I mean indignation, against evil
lusts, learn from what good things ye have been
seduced, and by whom ye have been deceived,
and for what punishment ye are prepared ; and
thus, your mind being sober, and kindled into
indignation like fire by the teaching of Him
who sent us, may be able to consume the evil
things of lust. Believe me, that if you will, you
can rectify all things.
CH.-^P. IV. — THE GOLDEN RULE.
"Ye are the image of the invisible God.^
Whence let not those who would be pious say that
idols are images of God, and therefore that it is
right to worship them. For the image of God
is man. He who wishes to be pious towards God
does good to man, because the body of man
bears the image of God. But all do not as yet
bear His Ukeness, but the pure mind of the good
soul does. However, as we know that man was
made after the image and after the likeness of
God, we tell you to be pious towards him, that
the favour may be accounted as done to God,
whose image he is. Therefore it behoves you to
give honour to the image of God, which is man
' [With chaps. 2, 3, the corresponding chapters in Recognitions,
vi., agree. The parallel is resumed in chap. 19. — R.]
2 [Most of the matter in chaps. 4-18 is found in Recognitions, v.
23-36. -R.]
— in this wise : food to the hungry, drink to the
thirsty, clothing to the naked, care to the sick,
shelter to the stranger, and visiting him who is
in prison, to help him as you can. And not to
speak at length, whatever good things any one
wishes for himself, so let him afford to another
in need, and then a good reward can be reck-
oned to him as being pious towards the image of
God. And by like reason, if he will not under-
take to do these things, he shall be punished as
neglecting the image.
CHAP. v. — FORASMUCH AS YE DID IT UNTO ONE
OF THESE.
" Can it therefore be said that, for the sake of
piety towards God, ye worship every form, while
in all things ye injure man who is really the
image of God, committing murder, adultery,
stealing, and dishonouring him in many other
respects? But you ought not to do even one
evil thing on account of which man is grieved.
But now you do all things on account of which
man is disheartened, for wrong is also distress.
Wherefore you murder and spoil his goods, and
whatever else you know which you would not
receive from another. But you, being seduced
by some malignant reptile to malice, by the sug-
gestion of polytheistic doctrine, are impious to-
wards the real image, which is man, and think
that ye are pious towards senseless things.
CHAP. VI. WHY GOD SUFFERS OBJECTS OF IDOL-
ATRY TO SUBSIST.
" But some say. Unless He wished these
things to be, they should not be, but He would
take them away. But I say this shall assuredly
be the case, when all shall show their preference
for Him, and thus there shall be a change of the
present world. However, if you wished him to
act thus, so that none of the things that are
worshipped should subsist, tell me what of exist-
ing things you have not worshipped. Do not
some of you worship the sun, and some the
moon, and some water, and some the earth, and
some the mountains, and some plants, and some
seeds, and some also man, as in Egypt? There-
fore God must have suffered nothing, not even
you, so that there should have been neither wor-
shipped nor worshipper. Truly this is what the
terrible serpent which lurks in you would have,
and spares you not. But so it shall not be. For
it is not the thing that is worshipped that sins ;
for it suffers violence at the hands of him who
will worship it. For though unjust judgment is
passed by all men, yet not by God. For it is
not just that the sufferer and the disposer receive
the same punishment, unless he willingly receive
the honour which belongs only to the Most Hon-
ourable.
286
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XI.
CHAP. VII. " LET BOTH GROW TOGETHER TILL
THE HARVEST."
" But it will be said that the worshippers them-
selves ought to be taken away by the true God,
that others may not do it. But you are not
wiser than God, that you should give Him coun-
sel as one more prudent than He. He knows
what He does ; for He is long-suffering to all
who are in impiety, as a merciful and philan-
thropic father, knowing that impious men be-
come pious. And of those very worshippers of
base and senseless things, many becoming sober
have ceased to worship these things and to sin,
and many Greeks have been saved so as to pray
to the true God.
CHAP. VIII.
LIBERTY AND NECESSITY.
" But, you say, God ought to have made us
at first so that we should not have thought at all
of such things. You who say this do not know
what is free-will, and how it is possible to be really
good ; that he who is good by his own choice is
really good ; but he who is made good by another
under necessity is not really good, because he is
not what he is by his own choice.' Since there-
fore every one's freedom constitutes the true
good, and shows the true evil, God has contrived
that friendship or hostility should be in each man
by occasions. But no, it is said : everything
that we think He makes us to think. Stop !
Why do you blaspheme more and more, in say-
ing this? For if we are under His influence in
all that we think, you say that He is the cause of
fornications, lusts, avarice, and all blasphemy.
Cease your evil-speaking, ye who ought to speak
well of Him, and to bestow all honour upon
Him. And do not say that God does not claim
any honour ; for if He Himself claims nothing,
you ought to look to what is right, and to an-
swer with thankful voice Him who does you good
in all things.
CHAP. rx. — GOD A JEALOUS GOD.
" But, you say, we do better when we are
thankful at once to Him and to all others. Now,
when you say this, you do not know the plot
that is formed against you. For as, when many
physicians of no power promise to cure one pa-
tient, one who is really able to cure him does
not apply his remedy, considering that, if he
should cure him, the others would get the credit ;
so also God does not do you good, when He is
asked along with many who can do nothing.
What ! it will be said, is God enraged at this, if,
when He cures, another gets the credit? I an-
swer : Although He be not indignant, at all
events He will not be an accomplice in deceit ;
for when He has conferred a benefit, the idol,
which has done nothing, is credited with the pow-
er. But also I say to you, if he who crouches in
adoration before senseless idols had not been in-
jured naturally, perhaps He (God) would have
endured even this. Wherefore watch ye that
you may attain to a reasonable understanding on
the matter of salvation.^ For God being with-
out want, neither Himself needs anything, nor re-
ceives hurt ; for it belongs to us to be profited
or injured. For in like manner as Csesar is
neither hurt when he is evil spoken of, nor prof-
ited when he is thanked, but safety accrues to
the Tenderer of thanks, and ruin to the evil-speak-
er, so they who speak well of God indeed profit
Him nothing, but save themselves ; and in like
manner, those who blaspheme Him do not in-
deed injure Him, but themselves perish.
CHAP. X. THE CREATURES AVENGE GOD'S CAUSE.
" But it will be said that the cases are not
parallel between God and man ; and I admit
that they are not parallel : for the punishment is
greater to him who is guijty of impiety against
the greater, and less to him who sins against the
less. As, therefore, God is greatest of all, so he
who is impious against Him shall endure greater
punishment, as sinning against the greater ; not
through His defending Himself with His own
hand, but the whole creation being indignant at
him, and naturally taking vengeance on him.
For to the blasphemer the sun will not give his
light, nor the earth her fruits, nor the fountain its
water, nor in Hades shall he who is there con-
stituted prince give rest to the soul ; since even
now, while the constitution of the world subsists,
the whole creation is indignant at him. Where-
fore neither do the clouds afford sufficient rains,
nor the earth fruits, whereby many perish ; yea,
even the air itself, inflamed with anger, is turned
to pestilential courses. However, whatsoever
good things we enjoy. He of His mercy compels
the creature to our benefits. Still, against you
who dishonour the Maker of all, the whole cre-
ation is hostile.
CHAP. XI. IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.
" And though by the dissolution of the body
you should escape punishment, how shall you be
able by corruption to flee from your soul, which
is incorruptible? For the soul even of the
wicked is immortal, for whom it were better not
to have it incorruptible. For, being punished
with endless torture under unquenchable fire, and
never dying, it can receive no end of its misery.
But perhaps some one of you will say, ' You ter-
rify us, O Peter.' Teach us then how we can be
' fComp. Recognitions, iii. 21, etc. In that work the freedom of 2 We have adopted the reading of Codex O. The reading in the
the will, as necessary to goodness, is more frequently affirmed. — R.] others is corrupt.
Chap. XV.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
287
silent about these things, and yet tell you things as
they are, for not otherwise can we tell you them.
But if we should be silent, you should be en-
snared by evils through ignorance. But if we
speak, we are suspected of terrifying you with a
false theory. How then shall we charm that
wicked serpent that lurks in your soul, and sub-
tilely insinuates suspicions hostile to God, under
the guise of love of God? Be reconciled with
yourselves ; for in order to your salvation re-
course is to Him with well-doing. Unreasonable
lust in you is hostile to God, for by conceit of
wisdom it strengthens ignorance.
CHAP. XII. IDOLS UNPROFITABLE.
''■ But Others say, God does not care for us.
This also is false. For if really He did not care.
He would neither cause His sun to rise on the
good and the evil, nor send His rain on the just
and the unjust. But others say, W^e are more
pious than you, since we worship both him and
images. I do not think, if one were to say to a
king, ' I give you an equal share of honour with
that which I give to corpses and to worthless
dung ' — I do not think that he would profit by
it. But some one will say. Do you call our ob-
jects of worship dung? I say Yes, for you have
made them useless to yourselves by setting them
aside for worship, whereas their substance might
perhaps have been serviceable for some other
purpose, or for the purpose of manure. But now
it is not useful even for this purpose, since you
have changed its shape and worship it. And how
do you say that you are more pious, you who are
the most wicked of all, who deserve destruction
of your souls by this very one incomparable sin,
at the hands of Him who is true, if you abide
in it ? For as if any son having received many
benefits from his father, give to another, who is
not his father, the honour that is due to his
father, he is certainly disinherited ; but if he live
according to the judgment of his father, and so
thanks him for his kindnesses, he is with good
reason made the heir.
CHAP. XIII. ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF IDOLATRY
ANSWERED.
" But others say, We shall act impiously if we
forsake the objects of worship handed down to
us by our fathers ; for it is like the guarding of
a deposit. But on this principle the son of a
robber or a debauchee ought not to be sober
and to choose the better part, lest he should act
impiously, and sin by doing differently from his
parents ! How foolish, then, are they who say,
We worship these things that we may not be
troublesome to Him ; as if God were troubled
by those who bless Him, and not troubled by
tliose who ungratefully blaspheme Him. Why
is it, then, that when there is a withholding of
rain, you look only to heaven and pour out
prayers and supplications ; and when you obtain
it, you quickly forget? For when you have
reaped your harvest or gathered your vintage,
you distribute your first-fruits among those idols
which are nothing, quickly forgetting God your
benefactor ; and thus you go into groves and
temples, and offer sacrifices and feasts. Where-
fore some of you say, These things have been
excellently devised for the sake of good cheer
and feasting.
CHAP. XIV.
HEATHEN ORGIES.
" Oh men without understanding ! Judge ye
rightly of what is said. For if it were neces-
sary to give one's self to some pleasure for the
refreshment of the body, whether were it better
to do so among the rivers and woods and groves,
where there are entertainments and conviviali-
ties and shady places, or where there is the mad-
ness of demons, and cuttings of hands, and
emasculations, and fury and mania, and dis-
hevelling of hair, and shoutings and enthusiasms
and bowlings, and all those things which are
done with hypocrisy for the confounding of the
unthinking, when you offer your prescribed
prayers and thanksgivings even to those who are
deader than the dead ?
CHAP. XV. HEATHEN WORSHIPPERS UNDER THE
POWER OF THE DEMON.
" And why do ye take pleasure in these doings ?
Since the serpent which lurks in you, which has
sown in you fruitless lust, will not tell you, I shall
speak and put it on record. Thus the case
stands. According to the worship of God, the
proclamation is made to be sober, to be chaste,
to restrain passion, not to pilfer other men's
goods, to live uprightly, moderately, fearlessly,
gently^ rather to restrain one's self in necessi-
ties, than to supply his wants by wrongfully tak-
ing away the property of another. But with the
so-called gods the reverse is done. And ye
renounce some things as done by you, in or-
der to the admiration of your righteousness ;
whereas, although you did all that you are com-
manded, ignorance with respect to God is alone
sufficient for your condemnation. But meeting
together in the places which you have dedicated
to them, you delight in making yourselves drunk,
and you kindle your altars, of which the diffused
odour through its influence attracts the blind
and deaf spirits to the place of their fumigation.
And thus, of those who are present, some are
filled with inspirations, and some with strange
fiends, and some betake themselves to lascivious-
ness, and some to theft and murder. For the
exhalation of blood, and the libation of wine,
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XL
satisfies even these unclean spirits, which lurk
within you and cause you to take pleasure in
the things that are transacted there, and in
dreams surround you with false phantasies, and
punish you with myriads of diseases. For under
the show of the so-called sacred victims you are
filled with dire demons, which, cunningly con-
cealing themselves, destroy you, so that you
should not understand the plot that is laid for
you. For, under the guise of some injury, or
love, or anger, or grief, or strangling you with a
rope, or drowning you, or throwing you from a
precipice, or by suicide, or apoplexy, or some
other disease, they deprive you pf life.
CHAP. XVI. ALL THINGS WORK FOR GOOD TO
THEM THAT LOVE GOD.
" But no one of us can suffer such a thing ;
but they themselves are punished by us, when,
having entered into any one, they entreat us
that they may go out slowly. But some one
will say perhaps, Even some of the worshippers of
God fall under such sufferings. I say that that is
impossible. For he is a worshipper of God, of
whom I speak, who is truly pious, not one who
is such only in name, but who really performs
the deeds of the law that has been given him.
If any one acts impiously, he is not pious ; in
like manner as, if he who is of another tribe
keeps the law, he is a Jew ; but he who does not
keep it is a Greek. For the Jew believes God
and keeps the law, by which faith he removes
also other sufferings, though like mountains and
heavy.' But he who keeps not the law is mani-
festly a deserter through not believing God ; and
thus as no Jew, but a sinner, he is on account
of his sin brought into subjection to those suffer-
ings which are ordained for the punishment of
sinners. For, by the will of God prescribed at
the beginning, punishment righteously follows
those who worship Him on account of trans-
gressions ; and this is so, in order that, having
reckoned with them by punishment for sin as for
a debt, he may set forth those who have turned
to Him pure in the universal judgment. For
as the wicked here enjoy luxury to the loss of
eternal blessings, so punishments are sent upon
the Jews who transgress for a settlement of
accounts, that, expiating their transgression here,
they may there be set free from eternal punish-
ments.
CHAP. XVII. SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE.
" But you cannot speak thus ; for you do not
believe that things are then as we say ; I mean,
when there is a recompense for all. And on this
account, you being ignorant of what is advanta-
' Matt. xvii. 20.
geous, are seduced by temporal pleasures from
taking hold of eternal things. Wherefore we
attempt to make to you exhibitions of what is
profitable, that, being convinced of the promises
that belong to piety, you may by good deeds
inherit with us the griefless world. Until then
you know us, do not be angry with us, as if we
spoke falsely of the good things which we desire
for you. For the things which are regarded by
us as true and good, these we have not scrupled
to bring to you, but, on the contrary, have
hastened to make you fellow-heirs of good
things, which we have considered to be such.
For thus it is necessary to speak to the unbe-
lievers. But that we really speak the truth in
what we say, you cannot know otherwise than
by first listening with love of the truth.
CHAP, xviii.
■CHARMING OF THE SERPENT.
" Wherefore, as to the matter in hand, although
in ten thousand ways the serpent that lurks in
you suggesting evil reasonings and hindrances,
wishes to ensnare you, therefore so much the
more ought ye to resist him, and to listen to us
assiduously. For it behoves you, consulting, as
having been grievously deceived, to know hov/
he must be charmed. But in no other way is it
possible. But by charming I mean the setting
yourselves by reason in opposition to their evil
counsels, remembering that by promise of knowl-
edge he brought death into the world at the
first.^
CHAP. XIX. NOT PEACE, BUT A SWORD.
" Whence the Prophet of the truth, knowing
that the world was much in error, and seeing it
ranged on the side of evil, did not choose that
there should be peace to it while it stood in
error. So that till the end he sets himself
against all those who are in concord with
wickedness, setting truth over against error,
sending as it were fire upon those who are sober,
namely wrath against the seducer, which is
likened to a sword,^ and by holding forth the
word he destroys ignorance by knowledge, cut-
ting, as it were, and separating the living from
the dead. Therefore, while wickedness is being
conquered by lawful knowledge, war has taken
hold of all. For the submissive son is, for the
sake of salvation, separated from the unbelieving
father, or the father from the son, or the mother
from the daughter, or the daughter from the
mother, and relatives from relatives, and friends
from associates.
^ [At this point the first discourse in the R ecogfiitions (v. 36)
ends; the following chapters (19-33) agree with the discourse in
Recognitiois, vi. 4-14. — R.J
•3 Matt. X. 34.
Chap. XXV.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
289
CHAP. XX. — WHAT IF IT BE ALREADY KINDLED ?
" And let not any one say, How is this just,
tliat parents should be separated from their chil-
dren, and children from their parents ? It is
just, even entirely. For if they remained with
-them, and, after profiting them nothing, were
also destroyed along with them, how is it not
just that he who wishes to be saved should be
separated from him who will not, but who wishes
to destroy him along with himself. Moreover,
it is not those who judge better that wish to be
separated, but they wish to stay with them, and
to profit them by the exposition of better things ;
and therefore the unbelievers, not wishing to
hearken to them, make war against them, ban-
ishing, persecuting, hating them. But those
who suffer these things, pitying those who are
ensnared by ignorance, by the teaching of wis-
dom pray for those who contrive evil against
them, having learned that ignorance is the cause
of their sin. For the Teacher Himself, being
nailed to the cross, prayed to the Father that the
sin of those who slew Him might be forgiven,
saying, ' Father, forgive them their sins, for they
know not what they do.' ' They also therefore,
being imitators of the Teacher in their sufferings,
pray for those who contrive them, as they have
been taught. Therefore they are not separated
as hating their parents, since they make con-
stant prayers even for those who are neither par-
ents nor relatives, but enemies, and strive to love
them, as they have been commanded.
CHAP. XXI. "if I BE A FATHER, WHERE IS MY
FEAR?"
"But tell me, how do you love your parents?
If, indeed, you do it as always regarding what is
right, I congratulate you ; but if you love them
as it happens, then not so, for then you may on
a small occasion become their enemies. But if
you love them intelligently, tell me, what are
parents ? You will say rhey are the sources of
our being. Why, then, do ye not love the
source of the being of all things, if indeed you
have with right understanding elected to do this ?
But you will now say again, we have not seen
Him. Why, then, do ye not seek for Him, but
worship senseless things? But what? If it were
even difficult for you to know what God is, you
cannot fail to know what is not God, so as to
reason that God is not wood, nor stone, nor
brass, nor anything else made of corruptible
matter.
CHAP. XXII. — " THE GODS THAT HAVE NOT MADE
THE HEAVENS."
" For are not they graven with iron ? And has
not the graving iron been softened by fire ? And
' Luke xxiii. 34.
is not the fire itself extinguished with water?
And has not the water its motion from the spirit ?
And has not the spirit the beginning of its course
from the God who hath made all things ? For thus
said the prophet Moses : ' In the beginning God
made the heaven and the earth. And the earth
was unsightly, and unadorned ; and darkness was
over the deep : and the Spirit of God was borne
above the waters.' ^Vhich Spirit, at the bidding
of God, as it were His hand, makes all things,
dividing light from darkness, and after the invis-
ible heaven spreading out the visible, that the
places above might be inhabited by the angels
of light, and those below by man, and all the
creatures that were made for his use.
CHAP. XXIII. — "to whom much IS GIVEN."
" For on thy account, O man, Go'd com-
manded the water to retire upon the face of the
earth, that the earth might be able to bring forth
fruits for thee. And He made water-courses,
that He might provide for thee fountains, and
that river-beds might be disclosed, that animals
might teem forth ; in a word, that He might fur-
nish thee with all things. For is it not for thee
that the winds blow, and the rains fall, and the
seasons change for the production of fruits?
Moreover, it is for thee that the sun and moon,
with the other heavenly bodies, accomplish
their risings and settings ; and rivers and pools,
with all fountains, serve thee. Whence to thee,
O senseless one, as the greater honour has been
given, so for thee, ungrateful, the greater punish-
ment by fire has been prepared, because thou:
wouldest not know Him whom it behoved thee-
before all things to know.
CHAP. XXIV. " BORN OF WATER."
" And now from inferior things learn the cause
of all, reasoning that water makes all things, and
water receives the production of its movement
from spirit, and the spirit has its beginning from
the God of all. And thus you ought to have
reasoned, in order that by reason you might
attain to God, that, knowing your origin, and
being born again by the first-born water, you
may be constituted heir of the parents who have
begotten you to incorruption.
CHAP. XXV. — GOOD WORKS TO BE WELL DONE.
" Wherefore come readily, as a son to a father,
that God may assign ignorance as the cause of
your sins. But if after being called you will not,
or delay, you shall be destroyed by the just judg-
ment of God, not being willed, through your not
willing. And do not think, though you were
more pious than all the pious that ever were, but
if you be unbaptized, that you shall ever obtain
hope. For all the more, on this account, you
290
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XL
shall endure the greater punishment, because
vou have done excellent works not excellently.
For well-doing is excellent when it is done as
God has commanded. But if you will not be
baptized according to His pleasure, you serve
your own will and oppose His counsel.
CHAP. XXVI.
■ BAPTISM.
" But perhaps some one will say, What does
it contribute to piety to be baptized with water?
In the first place, because you do that which is
pleasing to God ; and in the second place, being
born again to God of water, by reason of fear
you change your first generation, which is of
lust, and thus you are able to obtain salvadon.
But otherwise it is impossible. For thus the
prophet has sworn to us, saying, " Verily I say
to you, Unless ye be regenerated by living water
into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.'
Wherefore approach. For there is there some-
thing that is merciful from the beginning, borne
upon the water, and rescues from the future
punishment those who are baptized with the
thrice blessed invocation, offering as gifts to God
the good deeds of the baptized whenever they
are done after their baptism. Wherefore flee to
the waters, for this alone can quench the vio-
lence of fires.^ He who will not now come to it
still bears the spirit of strife, on account of which
he will not approach the living water for his own
salvation.
CHAP. XXVII. — ALL NEED BAPTISM.
" Therefore approach, be ye righteous or un-
righteous. For if you are righteous, baptism
alone is lacking in order to salvation. But if
you are unrighteous, come to be baptized for the
remission of the sins formerly committed in igno-
rance. And to the unrighteous man it remains
that his well-doing after baptism be according to
the proportion of \\\% preinous impiety. Where-
fore, be ye righteous or unrighteous, hasten to be
born to God, because delay brings danger, on
account of the fore-appointment of death being
unrevealed ; and show by well-doing your like-
ness to the Father, who begetteth you of water.
As a lover of truth, honour the true God as your
Father. But His honour is that you live as He,
being righteous, would have you live. And the
will of the righteous One is that you do no wrong.
But wrong is murder, hatred, envy, and such
like ; and of these there are many forms.
CHAP. XXVIII. — PURIFICATION.
" However, it is necessary to add something to
these things which has not community with man.
' Altered from John iii. 5.
2 [Corap. RecogiiitioHS, ix. 7. — R.]
but is peculiar to the worship of God. I mean
purification, not approaching to a man's own
wife when she is in separation, for so the law of
God commands. But what? If purity be not
added to the service of God, you would roll
pleasantly like the dung- flies. Wherefore as man,
having something more than the irrational ani-
mals, namely, rationality, purify your hearts from
evil by heavenly reasoning, and wash your bodies
in the bath. For purification according to the
truth is not that the purity of the body precedes
purification after the heart, but that purity fol-
lows goodness. For our Teacher also, dealing
with certain of the Pharisees and Scribes among
us, who are separated, and as Scribes know the
matters of the law more than others, still He re-
proved them as hypocrites, because they cleansed
only the things that appear to men, but omitted
purity of heart and the things seen by God alone.
CHAP. XXIX. OUTWARD AND INWARD PURITY.
"Therefore He made use of this memorable
expression, speaking the truth with respect to the
hypocrites of them, not with respect to all. For
to some He said that obedience was to be
rendered, because they were entrusted with the
chair of Moses. However, to the hypocrites he
said, ' Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypo-
crites, for ye make clean the outside of the cup
and the platter, but the inside is full of filth.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of
the cup and the platter, that theii outsides may
be clean also.' And truly : for when the mind
is enlightened by knowledge, the disciple is able
to be good, and thereupon purity follows ; for
from the understanding within a good care of
the body without is produced. As from negli-
gence with respect to the body, care of the
understanding cannot be produced, so the pure
man can purify both that which is without and
that which is within. And he who, purifying the
things without, does it looking to the praise of
men, and by the praise of those who look on,
he has nothing from God.
CHAP. XXX. — "WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE PURE."
"But who is there to whom it is not manifest
that it is better not to have intercourse with a
woman in her separation, but purified and washed.
And also after copulation it is proper to wash.
But if you grudge to do this, recall to mind how
you followed after the parts of purity when you
served senseless idols ; and be ashamed that
now, when it is necessary to attain, I say not
more, but to attain the one and whole of purity,
you are more slothful. Consider, therefore, Him
who made you, and you will understand who He
is that casts upon you this sluggishness with
respect to purity.
Chap. XXXV.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
291
CH--^. XXXI.
"what do ye more TH.\isr
OTHERS?"
" But some one of you will say, Must we then
do whatsoever things we did while we were idol-
aters ? I say to you, Not all things ; but what-
soever you did well, you must do now, and more :
for whatsoever is well done in error hangs upon
truth, as if anything be ill done in the truth it is
from error. Receive, therefore, from all quarters
the things that are your own, and not those that
are another's, and do not say, If those who are
in ea"or do anything well we are not bound to do
it. For, on this principle, if any one who wor-
ships idols do not commit murder, we ought to
commit murder, because he who is in error does
not commit it.
CHAP. XXXII. — "to whom MUCH IS GIVEN."
" No ; but rather, if those who are in error do
not kill, let us not be angry ; if he who is in
error do not commit adultery, let us not lust
even in the smallest degree ; if he who is in
error lo\'es him who loves him, let us love even
those who hate us ; if he who is in error lends
to those who have, let us give to those who have
not. Unquestionably we ought — we who hope
to inherit eternal life — to do better things than
the good things that are done by those who know
only the present life, knowing thg.t if their works,
being judged with oars in the clay of judgment,
be found equal in goodness, we shall have shame,
and they perdition, having acted against them-
selves through error. And I say that we shall
be put to shame on this account, because we
have not done more than they, though we have
known more than they. And if we shall be put
to shame if we show well-doing equal to theirs,
and no more, how much more if we show less
than their well-doing?
CHAP. XXXIII. THE QUEEN OF THE SOUTH AND
THE MEN OF NINEVEH.
*' But that indeed in the day of judgment the
doings of those who have known the truth are
compared with the good deeds of those who
have been in error, the unlying One Himself has
taught us, saying to those who neglected to come
and listen to Him, 'The queen of the south shall
rise up with this generation, and shall condemn
it ; because she came from the extremities of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon : and
behold, a greater than Solomon is here,' ■ and
ye do not believe Him. And to those amongst
the people who would not repent at His preach-
ing He said, 'The men of Nineveh shall rise up
with this generation and shall condemn it, for
they heard and repented on the preaching of
' Matt, xii 42; [Luke xi. 31. — R.].
Jonas : and behold, a greater is here, and no one
believes.' ^ And thus, setting over against all
their impiety those from among the Gentiles
who have done well, in order to condemn those
who, possessing the true religion, had not acted
so well as those who were in error, he exhorted
those having reason not only to do equally with
the Gentiles whatsoever things are excellent, but
more than they. And this speech has been sug-
gested to me, taking occasion from the neces-
sity of respecting the separation, and of washing
after copulation, and of not denying such purity,
though those who are in error do the same, since
those who in error do well, without being saved,
are for the condemnation of those who are in
the worship of God, and do ill ; because their
respect for purity is through error, and not
through the worship of the true Father and God
of all."
CHAP, xxxrv, — Peter's daily work.
Having said this, he dismissed the multitudes ;
and according to liis custom, having partaken of
food with those dearest to him, he went to rest.
And thus doing and discoursing day by day, he
strongly buttressed the law of God, challenging
the reputed gods with the reputed genesis,^ and
arguing that there is no automatism, but that the
world is governed according to providence.
CHAP. XXXV. " beware OF FALSE PROPHETS."
Then after three months were fulfilled, he
ordered me to fast for several days, and then
brought me to the fountains that are near to the
sea, and baptized me as in ever-flowing water.
Thus, therefore, when our brethren rejoiced at
my God-gifted regeneration, not many days after
he turned to the elders in presence of all the
church, and charged them, saying : " Our Lord
and Prophet, who hath sent us, declared to us
that the wicked one, having disputed with Him
forty days, and having prevailed nothing against
Him, promised that he would send apostles from
amongst his subjects, to deceive. Wherefore,
above all, remember to shun apostle or teacher
or prophet who does not first accurately com-
pare his preaching with that of James, who was
called the brother of my Lord, and to whom
was entrusted to administer the church of the
Hebrews in Jerusalem, — and that even though
he come to you with witnesses : * lest the wick-
edness which disputed forty days with the Lord,
and prevailed nothing, should afterwards, like
lightning falling from heaven upon the earth,
2 [Matt, xii 41]: Luke xi. 32. [The order of the two citations
suggests that they were taken from Luke. — R.].
J [Comp. Homily IV. 12 and the full discussion in XIV. 3-11.
In the Recognitions there is no reference to " genesis" before book
viii. 2, etc., which is parallel with the passage just referred to. — R.]
•* A conjectural reading, which seems probable, is. Unless he come
to you with credentials, viz., from James. [The whole charge is
peculiar to the Homilies. — R. j.
292
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XII.
send a preacher to your injury, as now he has
sent Simon upon us, preaching, under pretence
of the truth, in the name of the Lord, and sow-
ing error. Wherefore He who hath sent us,
said, ' Many shall come to me in sheep's cloth-
ing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By
their fruits ye shall know them.' "
CHAP. XXXVI. FAREWELL TO TRIPOLIS.
Having spoken thus, he sent the harbingers
into Antioch of Syria, bidding them expect him
there forthwith. Then when they had gone,
Peter having driven away diseases, sufferings, and
demons from great multitudes who were per-
suaded, and having baptized them in the foun-
tains which are near to the sea, and having
celebrated ' the Eucharist, and having appointed
Maroones, who had received him into his house,
and was now perfected, as their bishop, and
having set apart twelve elders, and having desig-
nated deacons, and arranged matters relating to
widows, and having discoursed on the common
good what was profitable for the ordering of the
church, and having counselled them to obey
the bishop Maroones, three months being now
fulfilled, he bade those in TriJDolis of Phoenicia
farewell, and took his journey to Antioch of
Syria, all the people accompanying us with due
honour.
' Literally, " having broken."
HOMILY XII.
CHAP. I. TWO BANDS.
Therefore starting from Tripolis of Phoenicia
to go to Antioch of Syria, on the same day we
came to Orthasia, and there stayed.' And on
account of its being near the city which we had
left, almost all having heard the preaching be-
fore, we stopped there only one day, ai;id set out
to Antaradus. And as there were many who
journeyed with us, Peter, addressing Nicetus
and Aquila, said, " Inasmuch as the great crowd
of those who journey with us draws upon us no
little envy as we enter city after city, I have
thought that we must of necessity arrange, so
that neither, on the one hand, these may be
grieved at being prevented from accompanying
us, nor, on the other hand, we, by being so con-
spicuous, may fall under the envy of the wicked.^
Wherefore I wish you, Nicetus and Aquila, to
go before me in two separate bodies, and enter
secretly into the Gentile cities.
chap. n. — love of preachers and their con-
verts. .
" I know, indeed, that you are distressed at
being told to do this, being separated from me
by a space of two days. I would have you
know, therefore, that we the persuaders love
you the persuaded much more than you love us
who have persuaded you. Therefore loving one
another as we do by not unreasonably doing
what we wish, let us provide, as much as in us
lies, for safety. For I prefer, as you also know,
' [On the correspondence of Homilies XII., XIII., with Recog-
nitions, vii., see note on vii. i. Chaps. 1-24 here agree quite closely,
even in the divisions of chapters, with Recogttitions, vii. 1-24. — R.J
^ Literally, " of wickedness."
to go into the more riotable cities of the prov-
inces, and to remain some days, and discourse.
And for the present lead the way into the neigh-
bouring Laodicea, and, after two or three days,
so far as it depends upon my choice, I shall
overtake you. And do you alone receive me
at the gates, on account of the confusion, that
thus we may enter along with you without tu-
mult. And thence, in like manner, after some
days' stay, others in your stead will go forward
by turns to the places beyond, preparing lodg-
ings for us."
CHAP. III. SUBMISSION.
When Peter had thus spoken they were com-
pelled to acquiesce, saying, " It does not alto-
gether grieve us, my lord, to do this on account
of its being your command ; in the first place,
indeed, because you have been chosen by the
providence of God, as being worthy to think and
counsel well in all things ; and in addition to this,
for the most part we shall be separated from you
only for two days by the necessity of preceding
you. And that were indeed a long time to be
without sight of thee, O Peter, did we not con-
sider that they will be more grieved who are
sent much farther forward, being ordered to
wait for thee longer in every city, distressed that
they are longer deprived of the sight of thy
longed-for countenance. And we, though not
less distressed than they, make no opposition,
because you order us to do it for profit." Thus,
having spoken, they went forward, having it in
charge that at the first stage they should address
the accompanying multitude that they should
enter the cities apart from one another.
Chap. VII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
293
CHAP. rv. CLEMENTS JOY.
When, therefore, they had gone, I, Clement,
rejoiced greatly that he had ordered me to re-
main with himself. Then I answered and said,
" I thank God that you have not sent me away
.as you have done the others, as I should have
died of grief." But he said, " But what? If
there shall ever be any necessity that you be
sent away for the sake of teaching, would you,
on account of being separated for a little while
from me, and that for an advantageous purpose,
would you die for that? Would you not rather
impress upon yourself the duty of bearing the
things that are arranged for you through neces-
sity, and cheerfully submit? And do you not
know that friends are present with one another
in their memories, although they are separated
bodily ; whereas some, being bodily present,
wander from their friends in their souls, by rea-
son of want of memory?"
CH,A.p. V. — Clement's office of service.
Then I answered, " Do not think, my lord,
that I should endure that grief foolishly, but
with some good reason. For since I hold you,
my lord, in place of all, father, mother, brothers,
relatives, you who are the means through God
of my having the saving truth, holding you in
place of all, I have the greatest consolation.
And in addidon to this, being' afraid of my
natural youthful lust, I was concerned lest, be-
ing left by you (being but a young man, and
having now such a resolution that it would be
impossible to desert you without incurring the
anger of God,) ' I should be overcome by lust.
But since it is much better and safer for me to
remain with you, when my mind is with good
reason set upon venerating, therefore I pray that
I may always remain with you. Moreover, I
remember you saying in Cssarea, ' If any one
wishes to journey with me, let him piously jour-
ney.' And by piously you meant, that those
who are devoted to the worship of God should
grieve no one . in respect of God, such as by
leaving parents, an attached wife, or any others.^
Whence I am in all respects a fitting fellow-trav-
eller for you, to whom, if you would confer the
greatest favour, you would allow to perform
the functions of a servant."
chap. VI. — Peter's frugality.
Then Peter, hearing, smiled and said, " What
think you, then, O Clement? Do you not think
that you are placed by very necessity in the
' Here the text is hopelessly corrupt, and the meaning can only
be guessed at.
2 I have ventured to make a very slight change on the reading
here, so as to bring out what I suppose to be the sense.
position of my servant ? For who else shall take
care of those many splendid tunics, with all my
changes of rings and sandals ? And who shall
make ready those pleasant and artistic dainties,
which, being so various, need many skilful cooks,
and all those things which are procured with
great eagerness, and are prepared for the appe-
tite of effeminate men as for some great wild
beast? However, such a choice has occurred
to you, perhaps, without you understanding or
knowing my manner of life, that I use only
bread and olives, and rarely pot-herbs ; and that
this is my only coat and cloak which I wear ;
and I have no need of any of them, nor of aught
else : for even in these I abound. For my
mind, seeing all the eternal good things that
are there, regards none of the things that are
here. However, I accept of your good will ;
and I admire and commend you, for that you,
a man of refined habits, have so easily submitted
your manner of living to your necessities. For
we, from our childhood, both I and Andrew,
my brother, who is also my brother as respects
God, not only being brought up in the condition
of orphans, but also accustomecl to labour through
poverty and misfortune, easily bear the discom-
forts of our present journeys. Whence, if you
would obey me, you would allow me, a working
man, to fulfil the part of a servant to you."
CHAP. VII. " NOT TO BE MINISTERED UNTO, BUT
TO MINISTER."
But I, when I heard this, fell a-trembling and
weeping, that such a word should be spoken by
a man to whom all the men of this generation
are inferior in point of knowledge and piety.
But he, seeing me weeping, asked the cause of
my tears. Then I said, " In what have I sinned
so that you have spoken to me such a word ? "
Then Peter answered, " If it were wrong of me
to speak of being your servant, you were first in
fault in asking to be mine." Then I said, "The
cases are not parallel ; for to do this indeed be-
comes me well ; but it is terrible for you, the
herald of God, and who savest our souls, to do
this to me." Then Peter answered, " I should
agree with you, but that^ our Lord, who came
for the salvation of all the world, being alone
noble above all, submitted to the condition of
a servant, that He might persuade us not to be
ashamed to perform the ministrations of ser-
vants to our brethren, however well-born we
may be." Then I said, " If I think to over-
come you in argument, I am foolish. However,
I thank the providence of God, that I have
been thought worthy to have you instead of
parents."
3 A negative particle seems to be dropped from the text.
294
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XII.
CHAP. VIII.
FAMILY HISTORY.
Then Peter inquired, "Are you really, then,
alone in your family.?" Then I answered,
" There are indeed many and great men, being
of the kindred of Caesar. Wherefore Ceesar him-
self gave a wife of his own family to my father,
who was his foster-brother ; and of her three
sons of us were born, two before me, who were
twins and very like each other, as my father told
me. But I scarcely know either them or our
mother, but bear about with me an obscure
image of them, as through dreams. My moth-
er's name was Mattidia, and my father's, Faustus ;
and of my brothers one was called Faustinus,
and the other Faustinianus.' Then after I, their
third son, was born, my mother saw a vision —
so ray father told me — which told her, that un-
less she immediately took away her twin sons,
and left the city of Rome for exile for twelve
years, she and they must die by an all-destruc-
tive fate.
CHAP. IX. — THE LOST ONES.
"Therefore my father, being fond of his chil-
dren, supplying them suitably for the journey with
male and female servants, put them on board
ship, and sent them to Athens with her to be
educated, and kept me alone of his sons with
him for his comfort ; and for this I am very
thankful, that the vision had not ordered me also
to depart with my mother from the city of Rome.
Then, after the lapse of a year, my father sent
money to them to Athens, and at the same time
to learn how they did. But those who went on
this errand did not return. And in the third
year, my father being distressed, sent others in
like manner with supplies, and they returned in
the fourth year with the tidings that they had
seen neither my mother nor my brothers, nor
had they ever arrived at Athens, nor had they
found any trace of any one of those who set out
with them.
CHAP. X. THE SEEKER LOST.
" Then my father, hearing this, and being stu-
pefied with excessive grief, and not knowing
where to go in quest of them, used to take me
with him and go down to the harbour, and in-
quire of many where any one of them had seen
or heard of a shipwreck four years ago. And
one turned one place, and another another. Then
he inquired whether they had seen the body of
a woman with huo children cast ashore. And
when they told him they had seen many corpses
in many places, my father groaned at the infor-
mation. But, with his bowels yearning, he asked
' [The family names as given in the ^^c»^«/V/o«j are: Matthidia;
Faustinianus (the father); Faustinus and Faustus, the twin sons. —
Comp. Recosnitio7is, viii. 8, and/aw/;«. — R.]
unreasonable questions, that he might try to
search so great an extent of sea. However, he
was pardonable, because, through affection to-
wards those whom he was seeking for, he fed
on vain hopes. And at last, placing me under
guardians, and leaving me at Rome when I was
twelve years old, he himself, weeping, went down
to the harbour, and went on board ship, and set
out upon the search. And from that day till this
I have neither received a letter from him, nor
do I know whether he be alive or dead. But I
rather suspect that he is dead somewhere, either
overcome by grief, or perished by shipwreck.
And the proof of that is that it is now tlie twen-
tieth year that I have heard no true intelligence
concerning him."
CHAP. XI. — THE AFFLICITONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
But Peter, hearing this, wept through sym-
pathy, and immediately said to the gentlemen
who were present : " If any worshipper of God
had suffered these things, such as this man's
father hath suffered, he would immediately have
assigned the cause of it to be his worship of
God, ascribing it to the wicked one. Thus also
it is the lot of the wretched Gentiles to suffer ;
and we worshippers of God know it not. But
with good reason I call them wretched, because
here they are ensnared, and the hope that is thine
they obtain not. For those who in the worship
of God suffer afflictions, suffer them for the ex-
piation of their transgressions."
CHAP. XII.
•A PLEASURE TRIP.
When Peter had spoken thus, a certain one
amongst us ventured to invite him, in the name
of all, that next day, early in the morning, he
should sail to Aradus, an island opposite, distant,
I suppose, not quite thirty stadia, for the pur-
pose of seeing two pillars of vine-wood that
were there, and that were of very great girth.
Therefore the indulgent Peter consented, saying,
" When you leave the boat, do not go many of
you together to see the things that you desire to
see ; for I do not wish that the attention of the
inhabitants should be turned to you." And so
we sailed, and in short time arrived at the island.
Then landing from the boat, we went to the
place where the vine-wood pillars were, and
along with them we looked at several of the
works of Phidias.
CHAP. XIII.
■A WOMAN OF A SORROWFUL SPIRIT.
But Peter alone did not think it worth while
to look at the sights that were there ; but no-
ticing a certain woman sitting outside before
the doors, begging constantly for her support, he
said to her, " O woman, is any of your limbs
Chap. XVII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
295
defective, that you submit to such disgrace — I
mean that of begging, — and do not rather work
with the hands which God has given you, and
procure your daily food?" But she, groaning,
answered, " Would that I had hands able to
work ! But now they retain only the form of
hands, being dead and rendered useless by
m)' gnawing of them." Then Peter asked her,
" \\'hat is the cause of your suffering so terri-
bly?" And she answered, "Weakness of soul;
and nought else. For if I had the mind of a
man, there was a precipice or a pool whence I
should have thrown myself, and have been able
to rest from my tormenting misfortunes."
CHAP. XIV. BALM IN GILEAD.
Then said Peter, " What then ? Do you sup-
pose, O woman, that those who destroy them-
selves are freed from punishment? Are not the
souls of those who thus die punished with a
worse punishment in Hades for their suicide?"
But she said, " Would that I were persuaded
that souls are really found alive in Hades ; then
I should love death, making light of the punish-
ment, that I might see, were it but for an hour,
my longed-for sons ! " Then said Peter, " What
is It that grieves you ? I should like to know, O
woman. For if you inform me, in return for
this favour, I shall satisfy you that souls live in
Hades ; and instead of precipic(? or pool, I shall
give you a drug, that you may live and die with-
out torment."
CHAP. XV. THE woman's STORY.
Then the woman, not understanding what was
spoken ambiguously, being pleased with the
promise, began to speak thus: — "Were I to
speak of my family and my country, I do not
suppose that I should be able to persuade any
one. But of what consequence is it to you to
learn this, excepting only the reason why in my
anguish I have deadened my hands by gnawing
them ? Yet I shall give you an account of my-
self, so far as it is in your power to hear it. I,
being very nobly born, by the arrangement of
a certain man in authority, became the wife of a
man who was related to him. And first I had
twins sons, and afterwards another son. But my
husband's brother, being thoroughly mad, was
enamoured of wretched me, who exceedingly at"-
fected chastity. And I, wishing neither to con-
sent to my lover nor to expose to my husband
his brother's love of me, reasoned thus : that I
may neither defile myself by the commission of
adultery nor disgrace my husband's bed, nor set
brother at war with brother, nor subject the
whole family, which is a great one, to the re-
proach of all, as I said. I reasoned that it was
best for me to leave the city for some time with
my twin children, until the impure love should
cease of him who flattered me to my disgrace.
The other son, however, I left with his father, to
remain for a comfort to him.
CHAP. XVI. THE SHIPWRECK.
" However, that matters might be thus ar-
ranged, I resolved to fabricate a dream, to the
effect that some one stood by me by night, and
thus spoke : ' O woman, straightway leave tlie
city with your twin children for some time, un-
til I shall charge you to return hither again ;
otherwise you forthwith shall die miserably, with
your husband and all your children.' And so I
did. For as soon as I told the false dream to
my husband, he being alarmed, sent me off by
ship to Athens with my two sons, and with slaves,
maids, and abundance of money, to educate the
boys, until, said he, it shall please the giver of
the oracle that you return to me. But, wretch
that I am, while sailing with my children, I was
driven by the fury of the winds into these re-
gions, and the ship having gone to pieces in the
night, I was wrecked. i\nd all the rest having
died, my unfortunate self alone was tossed by a
great wave and cast upon a rock ; and while I
sat upon it in my misery, I was prevented, by
the hope of finding my children alive, from
throwing myself into the deep then, when I could
easily have done it, having my soul made drunk
by the waves.
CHAP. XVII. THE FRUITLESS SEARCH.
" But when the day dawned, I shouted aloud,
and howled miserably, and looked around, seek-
ing for the dead bodies of my hapless children.
Therefore the inhabitants took pity on me, and
seeing me naked, they first clothed me and then
sounded the deep, seeking for my children. And
when they found nothing of what they sought,
some of the hospitable women came to me to
comfort me, and every one told her own mis-
fortunes, that I might obtain comfort from
the occurrences of similar misfortunes. But
this only grieved me the more ; for I said
that I was not so wicked that I could take
comfort from the misfortunes of others. And
so, when many of them asked me to accept
their hospitality, a certain poor woman with
much urgency constrained me to come into her
cottage, saying to me, ' Take courage, woman,
for my husband, who was a sailor, also died at
sea, while he was still in the bloom of his youth ;
and ever since, though many have asked me in
marriage, 1 have preferred living as a widow, re-
gretting the loss of my husband. But we shall
have in common whatever we can both earn
with our hands.'
296
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XII.
CHAP. XVIII. TROUBLE UPON TROUBLE.
" And not to lengthen out unnecessary details,
I went to live with her, on account of her love to
her husband. And not long after, my hands were
debilitated by my gnawing of them ; and the
woman who had taken me in, being wholly seized
by some malady, is confined in the house. Since
then the former compassion of the women has
declined, and I and the woman of the house are
both of us helpless. For a long time I have sat
here, as you see, begging ; and whatever I get I
convey to my fellow-sufferer for our support. Let
this suffice about my affairs. For the rest, what
hinders your fulfilling of your promise to give me
the drug, that I may give it to her also, who de-
sires to die ; and thus I also, as you said, shall
be able to escape from life ? "
CHAP. XIX. EVASIONS.
While the woman thus spoke, Peter seemed to
be in suspense on account of many reasonings.
But I came up and said, " I have been going
about seeking you for a long time. And now,
what is in hand?" But Peter ordered me to
lead the way, and wait for him at the boat ; and
because there was no gainsaying when he com-
manded, I did as I was ordered. But Peter, as
he afterwards related the whole matter to me,
being struck in his heart with some slight suspi-
cion, inquired of the woman, saying, "Tell me,
O woman, your family, and your city, and the
names of your children, and presently I shall
give you the drug." But she, being put under
constraint, and not wishing to speak, yet being
eager to obtain the drug, cunningly said one
thing for another. And so she said that she was
an Ephesian, and her husband a Sicilian ; and in
like manner she changed the names of the three
children. Then Peter, supposing that she spoke
the truth, said, " Alas ! O woman, I thought that
this day was to bring you great joy, suspecting
that you are a certain person of whom I was
thinking, and whose affairs I have heard and ac-
curately know." But she adjured him, saying,
"Tell me, I entreat of you, that I may know if
there is among women any one more wretched
than myself."
CHAP. XX. PETER'S ACCOUNT OF THE MATTER.
Then Peter, not knowing that she had spoken
falsely, through pity towards her, began to tell
her the truth :• "There is a certain young man
in attendance upon me, thirsting after the dis-
courses on religion, a Roman citizen, who told
me how that, having a father and two twin broth-
ers, he has lost sight of them all. For," says he,
" my mother, as my father related to me, having
seen a vision, left the city Rome for a time with
her twin children, lest she should perish by an evil
fate, and having gone away with them, she can-
not be found ; and her husband, the young man's
father, having gone in search of her, he also can-
not be found."
CHAP. XXI.
•A DISCLOSURE.
While Peter thus spoke, the woman, who had
listened attentively, swooned away as if in stupor.
But Peter approached her, and caught hold of
her, and exhorted her to restrain herself, per-
suading her to confess what was the matter with
her. But she, being powerless in the rest of her
body, as through intoxication, turned her head
round, being able to sustain the greatness of the
hoped-for joy, and rubbing her face : " Where,"
said she, "is this youth?" And he, now seeing
through the whole affair, said, " Tell me first ; for
otherwise you cannot see him." Then she ear-
nestly said, " I am that youth's mother." Then
said Peter, " What is his name? " And she said,
" Clement." Then Peter said, " It is the same,
and he it was that spoke to me a little while ago,
whom I ordered to wait for me in the boat. And
she, falling at Peter's feet, entreated him to make
haste to come to the boat." Then Peter, " If
you will keep terms with me, I shall do so."
Then she said, " I will do anything ; only show
me my only child. For I shall seem to see in
him my two children who died here." Then
Peter said, " When ye see him, be quiet, until
we depart from the island." And she said, " I
will."
CHAP. XXII.
■THE LOST FOUND.
Peter, therefore, took her by the hand, and
led her to the boat. But I, when I saw him
leading the woman by the hand, laughed, and
approaching, offered to lead her instead of him,
to his honour. But as soon as I touched her
hand, she gave a motherly shout, and embraced
me violently, and eagerly kissed me as her son.
But I, being ignorant of the whole affair, shook
her off as a madwoman. But, through my re-
spect for Peter, I checked myself.
CHAP. XXIII.
REWARD OF HOSPITALITY.
But Peter said, " Alas ! What are you doing,
my son Clement, shaking off your real mother? "
But I, when I heard this, wept, and falling down
by my mother, who had fallen, I kissed her. For
as soon as this was told me, I in some way re-
called her appearance indistinctly. Then great
crowds ran together to see the beggar woman,
telling one another that her son had recognised
her, and that he was a man of consideration.
Then, when we would have straightway left the
island with my mother, she said to us, " My
much longed-for son, it is right that I should
bid farewell to the woman who entertained me,
Chap. XXVI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
297
who, being poor and wholly debilitated, lies in
the house." And Peter hearing this, and all
the multitude who stood by, admired the good
disposition of the woman. And immediately
Peter ordered some persons to go and bring the
woman on her couch. And as soon as the couch
was brought and set down, Peter said, in the
hearing of the whole multitude, " If I be a her-
ald of the truth, in order to the faith of the by-
standers, that they may know that there is one
God, who made the world, let her straightway
rise whole." And while Peter was still speaking,
the woman arose healed, and fell down before
Peter, and kissed her dear associate, and asked
her what it all meant. Then she briefly detailed
to her the whole business of the recognition,' to
the astonishment of the hearers. Then also my
mother, seeing her hostess cured, entreated that
she herself also might obtain healing. And his
placing his hand upon her, cured her also.
CHAP. XXIV. ALL WELL ARRANGED.
And then Peter having discoursed concerning
God and the service accorded to Him, he con-
cluded as follows : " If any one wishes to learn
these things accurately, let him come to Antioch,
where I have resolved to remain some length of
time, and learn the things that pertain to his
salvation. For if you are familiar with leaving
your country for the sake of trading or of war-
fare, and coming to far-off places, you should
not be unwilling to go three days' journey for
the sake of eternal salvation." Then, after the
address of Peter, I presented the woman who
had been healed, in the presence of all the mul-
titude, with a thousand drachmas, for her sup-
port, giving her in charge to a certain good man,
who was the chief man of the city, and who of
his own accord joyfully undertook the charge.
Further, having distributed money amongst many
other women, and thanked those who at any
time had comforted my mother, I sailed away
to Antaradus, along with my mother, and Peter,
and the rest of our companions ; and thus we
proceeded to our lodging.
CHAP. XXV. PHILANTHROPY AND FRIENDSHIP.
And when we were arrived and had partaken
of food, and given thanks according to our cus-
tom, there being still time,^ I said to Peter :
" My lord Peter, my mother has done a work of
philanthropy in rememljering the woman her
hostess." And Peter answered, " Have you in-
deed, O Clement, thought truly that your mother
did a work of philanthropy in respect of her
' [Comp. Recognitions, vii. 23, where ihe translator prints the
word in italics. — R.]
^ [The remainder of this Homily has no parallel in the Recogni-
tions. 'J'he views presented are peculiar, and indicate a speculative
tendency, less marked in the Recognitions. — R.J
treatment of the woman who took her in after
her shipwreck, or have you spoken this word by
way of greatly complimenting your mother?
But if you spoke truly, and not by way of com-
pliment, you seem to me not to know what the
greatness of philanthropy is, which is affection
towards any one whatever in respect of his being
a man, apart from physical persuasion. But not
even do I venture to call the hostess who re-
ceived your mother after her shipwreck, philan-
thropic ; for she was impelled by pity, and per-
suaded to become the benefactress of a woman
who had been shipwrecked, who was grieving
for her children, — a stranger, naked, destitute,
and greatly deploring her misfortunes. When,
therefore, she was in such circumstances, who
that saw her, though he were impious, could but
pity her? So that it does not seem to me that
even the stranger-receiving woman did a work
of philanthropy, but to have been moved to as-
sist her by pity for her innumerable misfortunes.
And how much more is it true of your mother,
than when she was in prosperous circumstances
and requited her hostess, she did a deed, not of
philanthropy, but of friendship ! for there is much
difference between friendship and philanthropy,
because friendship springs from requital. But
philanthropy, apart from physical persuasion,
loves and benefits every man as he is a man.
If, therefore, while she pitied her hostess, she
also pitied and did good to her enemies who
have wronged her, she would be philanthropic ;
but if, on one account she is friendly or hostile,
and on another account is hostile or friendly,
such an one is the friend or enemy of some
quality, not of man as man."
CHAP. XXVI. WHAT IS PHILANTHROPY.
Then I answered, " Do you not think, then,
that even the stran,ger-receiver was philanthropic,
who did good to a stranger whom she did not
know? " Then Peter said, " Compassionate, in-
deed, I can call her, but I dare not call her
philanthropic, just as I cannot call a mother
philoteknic, for she is prevailed, on to have an
affection for them by her pangs, and by her
rearing of them. As the lover also is gratified
by the company and enjoyment of his mistress,
and the friend by return of friendship, so also the
compassionate man by misfortune. However the
compassionate man is near to the philanthropic,
in that he is impelled, apart from hunting after
the receipt of anything, to do the kindness. But
he is not yet philanthropic." Then I said, " By
what deeds, then, can any one be philanthropic ? "
And Peter answered, " Since I see that you are
eager to hear what is the work of philan-
thropy, I shall not object to teljing you. He is
the philanthropic man who does good even to
298
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XIT.
his enemies. And that it is so, hsten : Philan-
thropy is masculo-feminine ; and the feminine
part of it is called compassiox, and the male
part is named love to our neighbour. But every
man is neighbour to every man, and not merely
this man or that ; for the good and the bad, the
friend and the enemy, are alike men. It be-
hoves, therefore, him who practises philanthropy
to be an imitator of God, doing good to the
righteous and the unrighteous, as God Himself
vouchsafes His sun and His heavens to all in the
present world. But if you will do good to the
good, but not to the evil, or even will punish
them, you undertake to do the work of a judge,
you do not strive to hold by philanthropy."
CHAP. XXVII. WHO CAN JUDGE.
Then I said, " Then even God, who, as you
teach us, is at some time to judge, is not philan-
thropic." Then said Peter, " You assert a con-
tradiction ; for because He shall judge, on that
very account He is philanthropic. For he who
loves and compassionates those who have been
wronged, avenges those who have wronged
them." Then I said, " If, then, I also do good
to the good, and punish the wrong-doers in re-
spect of their injuring men, am I not philan-
thropic ? " And Peter answered, " If along with
knowledge ' you had also authority to judge,
you would do this rightly on account of your
having received authority to judge those whom
God made, and on account of your knowl-
edge infallibly justifying some as the righteous,
and condemning some as unrighteous. Then I
said, " You have spoken rightly and truly ; for it
is impossible for any one who has not knowledge
to judge rightly. For sometimes some persons
seem good, though they perpetrate wickedness in
secret, and some good persons are conceived to
be bad through the accusation of their enemies.
But even if one judges, having the power of tor-
turing and examining, not even so should he
altogether judge righteously. For some persons,
being murderers, have sustained the tortures,
and have come off as innocent ; while others,
being; innocent, have not been able to sustain
the tortures, but have confessed falsely against
themselves, and have been punished as guilty."
CHAP. XXVIII. DIFFICULTY OF JUDGING.
Then said Peter, " These things are ordinary :
now hear what is greater. There are some men
whose sins or good deeds are partly their own,
and partly those of others ; but it is right that
each one be punished for his own sins, and re-
warded for his own merits. But it is impossible
for any one except a prophet, who alone has
omniscience, to know with respect to the things
that are done by any one, which are his own, and
which are not ; for all are seen as done by him."
Then I said, " I would learn how some . of
men's wrong-doings or right-doings are their
own, and some belong to others."
CHAP. XXIX. SUFFERINGS OF THE GOOD.
Then Peter answered, " The prophet of the
truth has said, ' (jood things must needs come,
and blessed, said he, is he by whom they come ;
in like manner evil things must needs come, but
woe to him through whom they come.' ^ But if
evil things come by means of evil men, and good
things are brought by good men, it must needs
be in each man as his own to be either good or
bad, and proceeding from what he has proposed,
in order to the coming of the subsequent good
or evil,3 which, being of his own choice, are not
arranged by the providence of God to come
from him. This being so, this is the judgment
of God, that he who, as by a combat, comes
through all misfortune and is found blameless,
he is deemed worthy of eternal life ; for those
who by their own will continue in goodness, are
tempted by those who continue in evil by their
own will, being persecuted, hated, slandered,
plotted against, struck, cheated, accused, tor-
tured, disgraced, — suffering all these things by
which it seems reasonable that they should be
enraged and stirred up to vengeance.
CHAP. XXX.
OFFENCES MUST COME.
' The word repeatedly rendered knowledge and once onuiisci-
ence in this passage, properly signifies yiirf^^iOM'/^^^f. The argu-
ment shows clearly that it means onimscience, of which foreknowledge
is the most signal manifestation.
" But the Master knowing that those who
wrongfully do these things are guilty by means
of their former sins, and that the spirit of
wickedness Avorks these things by means of the
guilty, has counselled to compassionate men, as
they are men, and as being the instruments of
wickedness through sin; and this counsel He
has given to His disciples as claiming philan-
thropy, and, as much as in us lies, to absolve the
wrong-doers from condemnation, that, as it were,
the temperate may help the drunken, by prayers,
fastings, and benedictions, not resisting, not
avenging, lest they should compel them to sin
more. For when a person is condemned by any
one to suffer, it is not reasonable for him to be
angry with him by whose means the suffering
comes ; for he ought to reason, that if he had
not ill-used him, yet because he was to be ill-
used, he must have suffered it by means of
another. Why, then, should I be angry with
the dispenser, when I was condemned at all
ev^ents to suffer? But yet, further: if we do
these same things to the evil on pretence of
2 An mcorrect quotation from Matt, xviii. 7; Luke xvii. i.
■3 I'his from a various reading.
Chap. XXXIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
299
revenge, we who are good do the very things
which the evil do, excepting that they do them
first, and we second ; and, as I said, we ought
not to be angry, as knowing that in the provi-
dence of God, the evil punish the good. Those,
therefore, who are bitter against their punishers,
sin, as disdaining the messengers of God ; but
those wlio honour them, and set themselves in
opposition to those who think to injure them,'
are pious towards God who has thus decreed."
CHAP. XXXI. " HOWBEIT, THEY MEANT IT NOT."
To this I answered, " Those, therefore, who
do wrong are not guilty, because they wrong the
just by the judgment of God." Then Peter
said, " They indeed sin greatly, for they have
given themselves to sin. Wherefore knowing
this, God chooses from among them some to
punish those who righteously repented of their
former sins, that the evil things done by the just
before their repentance may be remitted through
this punishment. But to the wicked who punish
and desire to ill-use them, and will not repent,
it is permitted to ill-use the righteous for the
filling up of their own punishment. For without
the will of God, not even a sparrow can fall into a
girn.- Thus even the hairs of the righteous are
numbered by God.
CHAP. XXXII. THE GOLDEN RULE.
" But he is righteous who for the sake of what
is reasonable fights with nature. For example,
it is natural to all to love those who love them.
But the righteous man tries also to love his
enemies and to bless those who slander him,
and even to pray for his enemies, and to
compassionate those who do him wrong.
^Vherefore also he refrains from doing wrong,
and blesses those who curse him, pardons
those who strike him, and submits to those
who persecute him, and salutes those who do
not salute him, shares such things as he has
with those who have not, persuades him that is
angry with him, conciliates his enemy, exhorts
the disobedient, instructs the unbelieving, com-
forts the mourner ; being distressed, he endures ;
being ungratefully treated, he is not angry. But
having devoted himself to love his neighbour as
himself, he is not afraid of poverty, but becomes
' That is, I suppose, who render good for evil.
2 See Luke xii. 6, 7; [Matt. x. 29, 30. — R.].
poor by sharing his possessions with those who
have none. But neither does he punish the sin-
ner. For he who loves his neighbour as himself,
as he knows that when he has sinned he does
not wish to be punished, so neither does he
punish those who sin. And as he wishes to be
praised, and blessed, and honoured, and to have
all his sins forgiven, thus he does to his neigh-
bour, loving him as himself.^ In one word, what
he wishes for himself, he wishes also for his
neighbour. For this is t^he law of God and of
the prophets ; * this is the doctrine of truth.
And this perfect love towards every man is the
male part of philanthropy, 'but the female part
of it is compassion ; that is, to feed the hungry,
to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked,
to visit the sick, to take in the stranger, to show
herself to, and help to the utmost of her power,
him who is in prison,^ and, in short, to have
compassion on him who is in misfortune."
CHAP. XXXIII.
•FEAR AND LOVE.
But I, hearing this, said : " These things, in-
deed, it is impossible to do ; but to do good to
enemies, bearing all their insolences, I do not
think can possibly be in human nature." Then
Peter answered : " You have said truly ; for phi-
lanthropy, being the cause of immortality, is
given for much." Then I said, " How then is
it possible to get it in the mind? " Then Peter
answered : " O Ijeloved Clement, the way to get
it is this : if any one be persuaded that enemies,
ill-using for a time those whom they hate, be-
come the cause to them of deliverances from
eternal punishment ; and forthwith he will ar-
dently love them as benefactors. But the way
to get it, O dear Clement, is but one, which is
the fear of God. For he who fears God can-
not indeed from the first love his neighbour as
himself; for such an order does not occur to
the soul. But by the fear of God he is able to
do the things of those who love ; and thus, while
he does the deeds of love, the bride Love is, as
it were, brought to the bridegroom Fear. And
thus this bride, bringing forth philanthropic
thoughts, makes her possessor immortal, as an
accurate image of God, which cannot be sub-
ject in its nature to corruption." Thus while he
expounded to us the doctrine of philanthropy,
the evening having set in, we turned to sleep.
3 Matt. xxii. 39.
■< Malt. vii. 12.
5 Matt. XXV. 35, 36.
;oo
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
['lOMILY XIII.
HOMILY XIII.
CHAP. I. — JOURNEY TO LAODICEA.
Now at break of day Peter entered, and
said : ' " Clement, and his motlier Mattidia, and
my wife, must take their seats immediately on
the waggon." And so they did straightway.
And as we were hastening along the road to
Balanxee, my mother asked me how my father
was ; and I said : " My father went in search of
you, and of my twin brothers Faustinus and
Faustinianus, and is now nowhere to be found.
But I fancy he must have died long ago, either
perishing by shipwreck, or losing his way,^ or
wasted away by grief." When she heard this,
she burst into tears, and groaned through grief;
but the joy which she felt at finding me, miti-
gated in some degree the painfulness of her
recollections. And so we all went down together
to Balauteas. And on the following day we went
to Paltus, and from that to Gabala ; and on the
next day we reached Laodicea. And, lo ! before
the gates of the city Nicetas and Aquila met us,
and embracing us, brought us to our lodging.
Now Peter, seeing that the city was beautiful
and great, said : " It is worth our while to stay
here for some days ; for, generally speaking, a
populous place is most capable of yielding us
those whom we seek." 3 Nicetas and Aquila
asked me who that strange woman was ; and I
said : " My mother, whom God, through my lord
Peter, has granted me to recognise."
CHAP. 11.
■PETER RELATES TO NICETAS AND
AQUILA THE HISTORY OF CLEMENT AND HIS
FAMILY.
On my saying this, Peter gave them a sum-
mary account " of all the incidents, — how, when
they had gone on before, I Clement had ex-
plained to him my descent, the journey under-
taken by my mother with her twin children on
the false pretext of the dream ; and furthermore,
the journey undertaken by my father in search
of her ; and then how Peter himself, after hearing
this, went into the island, met with the woman,
saw her begging, and asked the reason of her
so doing ; and then ascertained who she was,
and her mode of life, and the feigned dream, and
the names of her children — that is, the name
borne by me, who was left with my father, and
' [Comp. Recpgnitiotts, vii. 25. Here the narrative is some-
what fuller in detail. — R.]
- Cotelerius conjectured a^ayivra. iox iT<i>a\evra. — "being slain
on onr journey."
3 The first Epitovie explains " those whom we seek " as those
who are worthy to share in Christ or in Christ's Gospel
^ I In Recognitions, vii. 26, 27, the recapitulation is more ex-
tended. — R.J
the names of the twin children who travelled
along with her, and who, she supposed, had per-
ished in the deep.
CHAP. III. — RECOGNITION OF NICETAS AND AQUILA.
Now when this summary narrative had been
given by Peter, Nicetas and Aquila in amaze-
ment said : " Is this indeed true, O Ruler and
Lord of the universe, or is it a dream?" And
Peter said : " Unless we are asleep, it certainly
is true." On this they waited for a little in deep
meditation, and then said : " We are Faustinus
and Faustinianus. From the commencement of
your, conversation we looked at each other, and
conjectured much with regard to ourselves,
whether what was said had reference to us or
not ; for we reflected that many coincidences take
place in life. Wherefore we remained silent
while our hearts beat fast. But when you came
to the end of your narrative, we saw clearly 5 that
your statements referred to us, and then w^e
avowed who we were." And on saying this,
bathed in tears, they rushed in to see their
mother ; and although they found her asleep,
they were yet anxious to embrace her. But Peter
forbade them, saying : " Let me bring you and
present you to your mother, lest she should, in
consequence of her great and sudden joy, lose
her reason, as she is slumbering, and her spirit is
held fast by sleep."
CHAP. IV.
■THE MOTHER MUST NOT TAKE FOOD
WITH HER SON. THE REASON STATED.
As soon as my mother had enough of sleep, she
awoke, and Peter at once began first to talk to her
of true piety, saying : " I wish you to know, O wo-
man, the course of life involved in our religion.^
We worship one God, who made the world which
you see ; and we keep His law, which has for its
chief injunctions to worship Him alone, and to
hallow His name, and to honour our parents,
and to be chaste, and to live piously. In addition
to this, we do not live with all indiscriminately ;
nor do we take our food from the same table as
Gentiles, inasmuch as we cannot eat along with
them, because they live impurely. But when we
have persuaded them to have true thoughts, and
to follow a right course of action, and have bap-
tized them with a thrice blessed invocation, then
we dwell with them. For not even if it were our
father, or mother, or wife, or child, or brother, or
s The text is somewhat doubtful. We have given the meaning
contained in the first Epitome.
Chap. VIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
\oi
any other one having a claim l^y nature on our
affection, can we venture to take our meals with
him ; for our religion compels us to make a dis-
tinction. Do not, therefore, regard it as an insult
if your son does not take his food along with you,
until vou come to have the same opinions and
adopt the same course of conduct as he fol-
lows."
CHAP. V. MATTIDIA WISHES TO BE BAPTIZED.
When she heard this, she said : "What, then,
prevents me from being baptized this day? for
before I saw you I turned away from the so-
called gods, induced by the thought that, though
I sacrificed much to them almost every day, they
did not aid me in my necessities. And with
regard to adultery, what need I say ? for not even
when I was rich was I betrayed into this sin by
luxury, and the poverty which succeeded has
been unable to force me into it, since I cling to
my chastity as constituting the greatest beauty,'
on account of which I fell into so great distress.
But I do not at all imagine that you, my lord
Peter, are ignorant that the greatest temptation -
arises when everything looks bright. And there-
fore, if I was chaste in my prosperity, I do not
in my despondency give myself up to pleasures.
Yea, indeed, you are not to suppose that my soul
has now been freed from distress, although it has
received some measure of consolation by the
recognition of Clement. For the gloom which
I feel in consequence of the loss of my two
children rushes in upon me, and throws its
shadow to some extent over my joy ; for I am
grieved, not so much because they perished in
the sea, but because they were destroyed, both
soul and body, without possessing true ^ piety
towards God. Moreover, my husband, their
father, as I have learned from Clement, went
away in search of me and his sons, and for so
many years has not been heard of; and, without
doubt, he must have died. For the miserable
man, loving me as he did in chastity, was fond
of his children ; and therefore the old man, de-
prived of all of us who were dear to him above
everything else, died utterly broken-hearted."
CHAP. VI. THE SONS REVEAL THEMSELVES TO
THE MOTHER.
The sons, on hearing their mother thus speak,
could no longer, in obedience to the exhortation
of Peter, restrain themselves, but rising up, they
clasped her in their arms, showering down upon
her tears and kisses. But she said : " What is
' One MS. and the first Epitome read, " as being the greatest
blessing."
2 Lit., " desire."
3 The Greek has, " apart from divine piety towards God." As
Wieseler rernarks, the epithet " divine " is corrupt. The meaning
may be, " without having known the proper mode of worshipping
God."
the meaning of this?" And Peter answered:
" Courageously summon up your spirits, O woman,
that you may enjoy your children ; for these are
Faustinus and Faustinianus, your sons, who, you
said, had perished in the deep. For how they
are alive, after they had in your opinion died
on that most disastrous night, and how one of
them now bears the naine of Nicetas, and the
other that of Aquila, they will themselves be
able to tell you ; for we, as well as you, have yet
to learn this." When Peter thus spoke, my
mother fainted away through her excessive joy,
and was like to die. But when we had revived
her she sat up, and coming to herself, she said :
" Be so good, my darling children, as tell us what
happened to you after that disastrous night."
CHAP. VII.
•NICETAS TELLS WHAT BEFELL HIM.
And Nicetas, who in future is to be called
Faustinus, began to speak. " On that very night
when, as you know, the ship went to pieces, we
were taken up by some men, who did not fear
to follow the profession of robbers on the deep.
They placed us in a boat, and brought us along
the coast, sometimes rowing and sometimes
sending for provisions, and at length took us to
Csesarea Stratonis,'^ and there tormented us by
hunger, fear, and blows, that we might not reck-
lessly disclose anything which they did not wish
us to tell ; and, moreover, changing our names,
they succeeded in selling us. Now the woman
who bought us was a proselyte of the Jews, an
altogether worthy person, of the name of Justa.
She adopted us as her own children, and zeal-
ously brought us up in all the learning of the
Greeks. But we, becoming discreet with our
years, were strongly attached to her religion,
and we paid good heed to our culture, in order
that, disputing with the other nations, we might
be able to convince them of their error. We
also made an accurate study of the doctrines of
the philosophers, especially the most atheistic,
— I mean those of Epicurus and Pyrrho, — in
order that we might be the better able to refute
them. 5
CHAP. VTII. NICETAS LIKE TO BE DECEIVED BY
SIMON MAGUS.
"■ We were brought up along with one Simon,
a magician ; and in consequence of our friendly
intercourse with him, we were in danger of being
■< This clause, literally translated, is, " and sometimes impelling it
with oars, they brought us along the land; and sometimes sendmg
for provisions, they conveyed us to Caesarea Slratonis." The Latin
translator renders " to land," not " along the land." The passage
assumes a different form in the Recognitions, the first Epitotne, and
the second Epitome; and there is, no doubt, some corruption in the
text. The text has haKpvovTo.^, which makes no sense. We have
adopted the rendering given in the Recognitions. Various attempts
have been made to amend the word.
5 [Comp Recognitions, viii. j, where the studies of the brothers
are more fully indicated, as a preface to the discussions in which they
appear as disputants. — R.]
302
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XIII.
led astray. Now there is a report in regard to
some man, that, when he appears, the mass of
those who have been pious are to Hve free from
death and pain in his kingdom. This matter,
however, mother, will be explained more fully at
the proper time. But when we were going to
be led astray by Simon, a friend of our lord Pe-
ter, by name Zacchseus, came to us and warned
us not to be led astray by the magician ; and
when Peter came, he brought us to him that he
might give us full information, and convince us
in regard to those matters that related to piety.
Wherefore we beseech you, mother, to partake
of those blessings which have been vouchsafed
to us, that we may unite around the same ta-
ble ! ' This, then, is the reason, mother, why
you thought we were dead. On that disastrous
night we had been taken up in the sea by pi-
rates, but you supposed that we had perished."
CHAP. IX. THE MOTHER BEGS BAPTISM FOR
HERSELF AND HER HOSTESS.
When Faustinus had said this, our mother fell
down at Peter's feet, begging and entreating him
to send for her and her hostess, and baptize
them immediately, in order that, says she, not a
single day may pass after the recovery of my
children, without my taking food with them.
When we united with our mother in making the
same request, Peter said : " What can you im-
agine? Am I alone heartless, so as not to wish
that you should take your meals with your
mother, baptizing her this very day? But yet
it is incumbent on her to fast one day before
she be baptized. And it is only one day, be-
cause, in her simplicity, she said something in
her own behalf, which I looked on as a suffi-
cient indication of her faith ; otherwise, her
purification must have lasted many days."
CHAP. X. IMATITDIA VALUES BAPTISM ARIGHT.
And I said : " Tell us what it was that she said
which made her faith manifest." And Peter
said : " Her request that her hostess and bene-
factress should be baptized along with her. For
she would not have besought this to be granted
to her whom she loves, had she not herself first
felt that baptism was a great gift. And for this
reason I condemn many that, after being bap-
tized, and asserting that they have faith, they yet
do nothing worthy of faith ; nor do they urge
those whom they love — I mean their wives, or
sons, or friends — to be baptized.^ For if they
had believed that God grants eternal life with
good works on the acceptance of baptism,^ they
without delay would urge those whom they loved
' Lit., " that we may be able to partake of common salt and
table."
2 Lit., "to this."
3 iin TioJJajTTicrjAaTi; lit., " on the condition of baptism."
to be baptized. But some one of you will say,
' They do love them, and care for them.' That
is nonsense. For do they not, most assuredly,
when they see them sick, or led away along the
road that ends in death, or enduring any other
trial, lament over them and pity them ? So, if
they believed that eternal fire awaits those who
worship not God, they would not cease admon-
ishing them, or being in deep distress for them
as unbelievers, if they saw them disobedient,
being fully assured that punishment awaits them.
But now I shall send for the hostess, and ques-
tion her as to whether she deliberately accepts
the law which is proclaimed through us ; ■♦ and
so, according to her state of mind, shall we do
what ought to be done.
CHAP. XI. MATTIDIA HAS UNINTENTIONALLY
FASTED ONE DAY.
" But since your mother has real confidence
in the efficacy of baptism, 5 let her fast at least
one day before her baptism." But she swore :
" During the two past days, while I related to
the woman ^ all the events connected with the
recognition, I could not, in consequence of my
excessive joy, partake of food : only yesterday
I took a little water." Peter's wife bore testi-
mony to her statement with an oath, saying :
" In truth she did not taste anything." And
Aquila, who must rather be called Faustinianus 7
in future, said : " There is nothing, therefore, to
prevent her being baptized." And Peter, smil-
ing, replied : " But that is not a baptismal fast
which has not taken place on account of the
baptism itself." And Faustinus answered :
" Perhaps God, not wishing to separate our
mother a single day after our recognition from
our table, has arranged beforehand the fast. For
as she was chaste in the times of her ignorance,
doing what the true religion inculcated,** so even
now perhaps God has arranged that she should
fast one day before for the sake of the true
baptism, that, from the first day of her recog-
nising us, she might take her meals along with
us."
CHAP. XII.
■THE DIFFICULTY SOLVED.
And Peter said : " Let not wickedness have
dominion over us, finding a pretext in Provi-
dence and your affection for your mother ; but
rather abide this day in your fast, and I shall join
you in it, and to-morrow she will be baptized.
And, besides, this hour of the day is not suit-
able for baptism." Then we all agreed that it
should be so.
•* Lit., " the law which is by means of us." But the Epitomes,
and a various reading in Cotelerius, give " our law."
s Lit., " since your mother is faithfully disposed in regard to
baptism."
6 The second Epitome makes her the wife of Peter: a various
reading mentions also her hostess.
^ Dressel strangely prefers the reading " Faustinus."
8 Lit., " doing what was becoming to the truth."
Chap. XVII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
\03
CH.\P. XIII. PETER ON CHASTITY.
That same evening we all enjoyed the benefit
of Peter's mstruction. Taking occasion by what
had happened to our mother, he showed us how
the results of chastity are good, while those of
- adultery are disastrous, and naturally bring de-
struction on the whole race, if not speedily, at
all events slowly.' " And to such an extent,"
he says, " do deeds of chastity please God, that
in this life He bestowsrsome small favour on ac-
count of it, even on those who are in error ; for
salvation in the other world is granted only to
those who have been baptized on account of
their trust - in Him, and who act chastely and
righteously. This ye yourselves have seen in the
case of your mother, that the results of chastity
are in the end good. For perhaps she would
have been cut off if she had committed adul-
tery ; but God took pity on her for having be-
haved chastely, rescued her from the death that
threatened her, and restored to her her lost chil-
dren.
CHAP. XIV. — Peter's speech continued.
" But some one will say, ' How many have
perished on account of chastity ! ' Yes ; but it
was because they did not perceive the danger.
For the woman who perceives that she is in love
with any one, or is beloved by any one, should
immediately shun all associatioij with him as she
would shun a blazing fire or a mad dog. And
this is exactly what your mother did, for she
really loved chastity as a blessing : wherefore she
was preserved, and, along with you, obtained the
fijU knowledge of the everlasting kingdom. The
woman who wishes to be chaste, ought to know
that she is envied by wickedness, and that be-
cause of love many lie in wait for her. If, then,
she remain holy through a stedfast persistence in
chastity, she will gain the victory over all temp-
tations, and be saved ; whereas, even if she were
to do all that is right, and yet should once com-
mit the sin of adultery, she must be punished,
as said the prophet.
chap. XV. — Peter's speech continued.
" The chaste wife, doing the will of God, is a
^ good reminiscence of His first creation ; for God,
being one, created one woman for one man.
She is also still more chaste if she does not for-
get her own creation, and has future punishment
before her eyes, and is not ignorant of the loss
of eternal blessings. The chaste woman takes
pleasure in those who wish to be saved, and is a
pious example to the pious, for she is the model
of a good life. She who wishes to be chaste,
cuts off all occasions for slander ; but if she be
slandered as by an enemy, though affording him
no pretext, she is blessed and avenged by God.
The chaste woman longs for God, loves God,
pleases God, glorifies God ; and to men she af-
fords no occasion for slander. The chaste wo-
man perfumes the Church with her good reputa-
tion, and glorifies it by her piety. She is, more-
over, the praise of her teachers, and a helper
to them in their chastity.^
chap. XVI.
peter s speech continued.
" The chaste woman is adorned with the Son
of God as with a bridegroom. She is clothed
with holy light. Her beauty lies in a well-regu-
lated soul ; and she is fragrant with ointment,
even with a good reputation. She is arrayed in
beautiful vesture, even in modesty. She wears
about her precious pearls, even chaste words.
And she is radiant, for ■» her mind has been bril-
liantly lighted up. Into a beautiful mirror does
she look, for she looks into God. Beautiful cos-
metics 5 does she use, namely, the fear of God,
with which she admonishes her soul. Beautiful
is the woman, not because she has chains of gold
on her,^ but because she has been set free from
transient lusts. The chaste woman is greatly
desired by the great King ; 7 she has been wooed,
watched, and loved by Him. The chaste wo-
man does not furnish occasions for being desired,
except by her own husband. The chaste wo-
man is grieved when she is desired by another.
The chaste woman loves her husband from the
heart, embraces, soothes, and pleases him, acts
the slave to him, and is obedient to him in all
things, except when she would be disobedient to
God. For she who obeys God is without the
aid of watchmen chaste in soul and pure in body.
CHAP. XVII. — Peter's speech continued.
" Foolish, therefore, is every husband who sep-
arates his wife from the fear of God ; for she
who does not fear God is not afraid of her hus-
band. If she fear not God, who sees what is
invisible, how will she be chaste in her unseen
choice ? ^ And how will she be chaste, who does
not come to the assembly to hear chaste-making
words? And how could she obtain admonition?
And how will she be chaste without watchmen,
' [This detailed discourse is peculiar to the Homilies. In Recog-
nitions, vii. 37, 38, there is, however, a briefer statement on the same
topic. — R.]
- Lit., " hope."
3 The Greek is ai'iToi? crwjpovoi/o-t. The Latin translator and
Lehmann (Die Ckinentitiischen Schriften, Gotha, 1S69) render,
" to those who are chaste, i.e., love or practise chastity," as if the
leading were Toi.% <Tu>4>povoii<Ti,.
* Lit., " when."
5 Kotr/xtu — properly ornaments; but here a peculiar meaning is
evidently required.
* Lit., " as being chained with gold."
' Ps xlv II.
8 " In her unseen choice " means, in what course of conduct she
really prefers in her heart. This reading occurs in one MS. ; in the
other .MS. it is corrupt. Schwegler amended it into, How shall
she be chaste towards him who does not see what is invisible? " and
the emendation is adopted by Dressel.
;o4
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XIII.
if she be not informed in regard to tlie coming and tliou shalt not wish that it be polluted. By
judgment of God, and if she be not fully assured ' adultery alone is the breath of God polluted.
that eternal punishment is the penalty for the
slight pleasure ? Wherefore, on the other hand,
compel her even against her will always to come
to hear the chaste- making word, yea, coax her
to do so.
CHAP. XVIII. — PETER'S SPEECH CONTINUED.
" Much better is it if you will take her by the
hand and come, in order that you yourself may
become chaste ; for you will desire to become
chaste, that you may experience the full fruition
of a holy marriage, and you will not scruple, if
you desire it, to become a father,' to love your
own children, and to be loved by your own chil-
dren. He who wishes to have a chaste wife is
also himself chaste, gives her what is due to a
wife, takes his meals with her, keeps company
with her, goes with her to the word that makes
chaste, does not grieve her, does not rashly quar-
rel with her, does not make himself hateful to
her, furnishes her with all the good things he can,
and when he has them not, he makes up the de-
ficiency by caresses. The chaste wife does not
expect to be caressed, recognises her husband
as her lord, bears his poverty when he is poor, is
hungry with him when he is hungry, travels with
him when he travels, consoles him when he is
grieved, and if she have a large ^ dowry, is sub-
ject to him as if she had nothing at all. But if
the husband have a poor wife, let him reckon her
chastity a great dowry. The chaste wife is tem-
perate in her eating and drinking, in order that
the weariness of the body, thus pampered, may
not drag the soul down to unlawful desires.
Moreover, she never assuredly remains alone with
young men, and she suspects ^ the old ; she turns
away from disorderly laughter, gives herself up
to God alone ; she is not led astray ; she delights
in listening to holy words, but turns away from
those which are not spoken to produce chastity.
CHAP. XIX. — PETER'S SPEECH ENDED.
" God is my witness : one adultery is as bad
as many murders ; and what is terrible in it is
this, that the fearfulness and impiety of its mur-
ders are not seen. For, when blood is shed, the
dead body remains lying, and all are struck by
the terrible nature of the occurrence. But the
murders of the soul caused by adultery, though
they are more frightful, yet, since they are not
seen by men, do not make the daring a whit less
eager in their impulse. Know, O man, whose
breath it is that thou hast to keep thee in life,
And therefore it drags him who has polluted it
into the fire ; for it hastens to deliver up its in-
sulter to everlasting punishment."
CHAP. XX.
PETER ADDRESSES MATTIDU.
While Peter was saying this, he saw the good
and chaste Mattidia weeping for joy ; but think-
ing that she was grieved at having suffered so
much in past times, he said : •♦ " Take courage, O
woman ; for while many have suffered many evils
on account of adultery, you have suffered on
account of chastity, and therefore you did not
die. But if you had died, your soul would have
been saved. You left your native city of Rome
on account of chastity, but through it you found
the truth, the diadem of the eternal kingdom.
You underwent danger in the deep, but you did
not die ; and even if you had died, the deep
itself would have proved to you, dying on account
of chastity, a baptism for the salvation of your
soul. You were deprived of 3'our children for
a little ; but these, the true offspring of your
husband, have been found in better circum-
stances. When starving, you begged for food,
but you did not defile your body by fornication.
You exposed your body to torture, but you saved
your soul ; you fled from the adulterer, that you
might not defile the couch of your husband :
but, on account of your chastity, God, who knows
your flight, will fill up the place of your husband.
Grieved and left desolate, you were for a short
time deprived of husband and children, but all
these you must have been deprived of, some time
or other, by death, the preordained lot of man.
But better is it that you were willingly deprived
of them on account of chastity, than that you
should have perished unwillingly after a time,
simply on account of sins.
CHAP. XXI. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.
" Much better is it, then, that your first cir-
cumstances should be distressing. For when
this is the case, they do not so deeply grieve
you, because you hope that they will pass away,
and they yield joy through the expectation of
better circumstances. But, above all, I wish
you to know how much chastity is pleasing to
God. The chaste woman is God's choice, God's
good pleasure, God's glory, God's child. So
great a blessing is chastity,^ that if there had not
been a law that not even a righteous person
should enter into the kingdom of God unbap-
' There seems to be some corruption in this clause. Literally it
is, " and you will not scruple, if you love, I mean, to become a father."
- Lit., " larger " than usual.
3 i;7707rTei/et. The Latin translator and Lehmann render " re-
spects" or " reveres."
4 [Something similar to chaps. 20, 21, occurs in Recognitions, vii.
38, addressed to the sons of Mattidia after her baptism. But this is
much fuller. — R.l
s We have adopted an emendation of Wieseler's. The emenda-
tion is questionable; but the sense is the best that can be got out of
the words.
Chap. III.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
305
tized, perhaps even the erring Gentiles miglit
have been saved solely on account of chastity.
\Vherefore I am exceedingly sorry for those err-
ing ones who are chaste because they shrink from
baptism — thus choosing to be chaste without
good hope. Wherefore they are not saved ; for
the decree of God is clearly set down, that an
unbaptized person cannot enter into His king-
dom." When he said this, and much more, we
turned to sleep.
HOMILY XIV.
CHAP. I. MATTIDIA IS BAPTIZED IN THE SEA.
Much earlier than usual Peter awoke, and
came to us, and awaking us, said : " Let Faus-
tinas and Faustinianus, along with Clement and
the household, accompany me, that we may go
to some sheltered spot by the sea, and there be
able to baptize her without attracting observa-
tion." Accordingly, when we had come to the
sea-shore, he baptized her betweeen some rocks,
which supplied a place at once free from wind
and dust.' But we brothers, along with our
brother and some others, retired because of the
women and bathed, and coming again to the
women, we took them along with us, and thus
we went to a secret place and prayed. Then
Peter, on account of the multitude, sent the
women on before, ordering them to go to their
lodging by another way, and he permitted us
alone of the men to accompany our mother and
the rest of the women. ^ We went then to our
lodging, and while waiting for Peter's arrival, we
conversed with each other. Peter came several
hours after, and breaking the bread for the
Eucharist,^ and putting salt upon it, he gave it
first to our mother, and, after her, to us her sons.
And thus we took food along with her and blessed
God.
CHAP. II. THE REASON OF PETER'S LATENESS.
Then,4 at length, Peter seeing that the multi-
tude had entered, sat down, and bidding us sit
down beside him, he related first of all why he
had sent us on before him after the baptism, and
1 Lit., " tranquil and clean." [The baptism is narrated in Recog-
nitions, vii. 38. — R.]
2 We have adopted an emendation of Schwegler's. The MSS. read
either " these " or " the same " for " the rest of."
3 The words "for the Eucharist " might be translated "after
thanksgiving." But it is much the same which, for the Eucharist is
plainly meant. The £/'iiomes have it: "taking the bread, giving
thanks, blessing, and consecrating it, he gave it; " but no mention is
made of salt. [The details here are more specific than in Recogni-
tions, vii. 38. The mention of " salt" is peculiar. Compare " the
salt " named as one of the " seven witnesses " in the baptismal form of
the Elkesaites, Y^v^-poVjVaSyAnte-Nicene Fathers, v. pp. 132, 133. —
■* [For the extensive variations in the plan of the two narratives
from this point to the end, see footnote on Recognitions, viii. i. In
the Recognitions the family of Clement are brought into greater
prominence as disputants; in the Homilies Simon Magus, and Peter's
discourses against him, are the main features; both, however, pre-
serve the dramatic element of the re-united family, though the details
are given differently in the two narratives. — R.J
why he himself had been late in returning. 5 He
said that the following was the reason : " At the
time that you came up," ^ he says, " an old man,
a workman, entered along with you, concealing
himself out of curiosity. He had watched us
before, as he himself afterwards confessed, in
order to see what we were doing when we en-
tered into the sheltered place, and then he came
out secretly and followed us. And coming up
to me at a convenient place, and addressing me,
he said, ' For a long time I have been following
you and wishing to talk with you, but I was
afraid that you might be angry with me, as if I
were instigated by curiosity ; but now I shall tell
you, if you please, what I think is the truth.'
And I replied, ' Tell us what you think is good,
and we shall approve your conduct, even should
what you say not be really good, since with a
good purpose you have been anxious to state
what you deem to be good.'
CHAP. III. THE OLD M.AN DOES NOT BELIEVE IN
GOD OR PROVIDENCE,
"The old man began to speak as follows :
' When I saw you after you had bathed in the
sea retire into the secret place, I went up and
secretly watched what might be your object in
entering into a secret place, and when I saw you
pray, I retired ; ^ but taking pity on you, I waited
that I might speak with you when you came out,
and prevail on you not to be led astray. For
there is neither God nor providence ; but all
things are subject to Genesis.^ Of this I am
fully assured in consequence of what I have my-
self endured, having for a long time made a
careful study of the science.^ Do not there-
fore be deceived, my child. For whether you
pray or not, you must endure what is assigned
to you by Genesis. For if prayers could have
5 [The old man is introduced at once in Recognitions, viii. i, and
the subsequent discussion takes place in the presence of Clement and
many others. — R.]
'^ We have adopted an emendation of Wieseler's. The text has,
" at the time that you went away."
7 Wieseler thinks that the reading should be: "I did not retire."
8 Genesis is destiny determined by the stars which rule at each
man's birth. [Comp. iv. 12. In Recognitions, viii. 2, the long dis-
cussion with the old man begins in the same way. — R.]
9 ixdO-qixa, m.' thematical science specially, which was closely con-
nected with astrology. [Comp. Recognitions, x. 11-12. — R.J
;o6
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XIV,
done anything or any good, I myself should now
be in better circumstances. And now, unless my
needy garments mislead you, you will not refuse
to believe what I say. I was once in affluent
circumstances ; I sacrificed much to the gods,
I gave liberally to the needy ; and yet, though I
prayed and acted piously, I was not able to es-
cape my destiny.' And I said : ' What are the
calamities you have endured ? ' And he an-
swered : ' I need not tell you now ; perhaps at
the end you shall learn who I am, and who are
my parents, and into what straitened circum-
stances I have fallen. But at present I wish you
to become fully assured that everything is sub-
ject to Genesis.'
CHAP. IV. — Peter's arguments against genesis.
" And I said : ' If all things are subject to
Genesis, and you are fully convinced that this is
the case, your thoughts and advice are contrary
to your own opinion.' For if it is impossible
even to think in opposition to Genesis, why do
you toil in vain, advising me to do what cannot
be done? Yea, moreover, even if Genesis sub-
sists, do not make haste to prevail on me not to
worship Him who is also Lord of the stars, by
whose wish that a thing should not take place,
that thing becomes an impossibility. For al-
ways that which is subject must obey that which
rules. As far, however, as the worship of the
common gods is concerned, that is superfluous,
if Genesis has sway. For neither does anything
happen contrary to what seems good to fate, nor
are they themselves able to do anything, since
they are subject to their own universal Genesis.
If Genesis exists, there is this objection to it,
that that which is not first has the rule ; or, in
other luords, the uncreated cannot be subject, for
the uncreated, as being uncreated, has nothing
that is older than itself.' ^
CHAP. V. — PRACTICAL REFUTATION OF GENESIS.
" While we were thus talking, a great multi-
tude gathered round us. And then I looked to
the multitude, and said : ' I and my tribe have
had handed down to us from our ancestors the
worship of God, and we have a commandment
to give no heed to Genesis, I mean to the science
of astrology ; ^ and therefore I gave no attention
to it. For this reason I have no skill in astrol-
ogy, but I shall state that in which I have skill.
Since I am unable to refute Genesis by an appeal
to the science which relates to Genesis, I wish
' Lit., " thinking you counsel what is contrary to yourself."
2 The argument here is obscure. Probably what is intended is
as follows: Genesis means origination, coming into being. Origi-
nation cannot be the ruling power, for there must be something un-
originated which has given rise to the origination. The origination,
therefore, as not being first, cannot have sway, and it must itself be
subject to that which is unoriginated.
^ [On the error of astrology compare the full discussion in Recog-
nitions, ix. 12, X. 7-12. — R.J
to prove in another way that the affairs of this
worhi are managed by a providence, and that
each one will receive reward or punishment ac-
cording to his actions. Whether he shall do so
now or hereafter, is a matter of no consequence
to me ; all I affirm is, that each one without
doubt will reap the fruit of his deeds. The
proof that there is no Genesis is this. If any one
of you present has been deprived of eyes, or has
his hand maimed, or his foot lame, or some other
part of the body wrong, and if it is utterly incur-
able, and entirely beyond the range of the medi-
cal profession, — a case, indeed, which not even
the astrologers profess to cure, for no such cure
has taken place within the lapse of a vast period,
— yet I praying to God will cure it,^ although s
it could never have been set right by Genesis.^
Since this is so, do not they sin who blas-
pheme the God that fashioned all things ? ' And
the old man answered : ' Is it then blasphemy
to say that all things, are subject to Genesis?'
And I replied : ' Most certainly it is. For if all
the sins of men, and all their acts of impiety and
licentiousness, owe their origin to the stars, and
if the stars have been appointed by God to do
this work, so as to be the efficient causes of all
evils, then the sins of all are traced up to Him
who placed Genesis ^ in the stars.'
CHAP. VI. THE OLD MAN OPPOSES HIS PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE TO THE ARGUMENT OF PETER.
" And the old man answered : ^ ' You have
spoken truly,'' and yet, notwithstanding all your
incomparable demonstration, I am prevented
from yielding assent by my own personal knowl-
edge. For I was an astrologer, and dwelt first
at Rome ; and then forming a friendship with
one who was of the family of Caesar, I ascertained
accurately the genesis of himself and his wife.
And tracing their history, I find all the deeds
actually accomplished in exact accordance with
their genesis, and therefore I cannot yield to
your argument. For the arrangement '° of her
genesis was that which makes women commit
adultery, fall in love with their own slaves, and
perish abroad in the water. And this actually
took place ; for she fell in love with her own
slave, and not being able to bear the reproach,
she fled with him, hurried to a foreign land,
shared his bed, and perished in the sea.'
4 We have adopted the reading given in the two Epitomes.
5 Lit., " when."
6 [This method of proof, by appeal to the supernatural power of
the Apostle, is peculiar to the Homilies. In the Recognitions, ix.
30, an argument is made by Clement, who appeals to the power of the
true Prophet. — R.J
' That is, the power of origination.
8 [With chaps. 6-9 there is a general correspondence in Recog-
nitions, ix. 32-37. The arrangement is quite difterent. The old
man's representation, that the story he tells is that of a friend, is pecul-
iar to the Homilies. — R. ]
9 One MS. adds " greatly," and an Epitome " great things."
'° That is, the position of the stars at her birth.
Chap. X.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
307
CHAP. VII. THE OLD MAN TELLS HIS STORV.
" And I answered : ' How then do you know
that she who fled and took up her residence in
a foreign land married the slave, and marrying
him died ? ' And the old man said : ' I am quite
sure that this is true, not indeed that she married
him, for I did not know even that she fell in love
with him ; but after her departure, a brother of
her husband's told me the whole story of her
passion, and how he acted as an honourable
man, and did not, as being his brother, wish to
pollute his couch, and how she the wretched
woman (for she is not blameable, inasmuch as
she was compelled to do and suffer all this in
consequence of Genesis) longed for him, and
yet stood in awe of him and his reproaches, and
how she devised a dream, whether true or false
I cannot tell ; for he stated that she said, " Some
one in a vision stood by me, and ordered me to
leave the city of the Romans immediately with
my children." But her husband being anxious
that she should be saved with his sons, sent
them immediately to Athens for their educa-
tion, accompanied by their mother and slaves,
while he kept the third and youngest son with
himself, for he who gave the warning in the
dream permitted this son to remain with his
father. And when a long time had elapsed,
during which ' he received no letters from her,
he himself sent frequently to Athens, and at
length took me, as the truest of all his friends,
and went in search of her. And much did I
exert myself along with him in the course of our
travels with all eagerness ; for I remembered
that, in the old times of his prosperity, he had
given me a share of all he had, and loved me
above all his friends. At length we set sail from
Rome itself, and so we arrived in these parts of
Syria, and we landed at Seleucia, and not many
days after we had landed he died o^ a broken
heart. But I came here, and have procured my
livelihood from that day till this by the work of
my hands.'
CHAP. Vin. THE OLD MAN GIVES INFORMATION
IN REGARD TO FAUSTUS THE FATHER OF CLEM-
ENT.
" When the old man had thus spoken, I knew
from what he said that the old man who he
stated had died, was no other than your father.
I did not wish, however, to communicate your
circumstances to him until I should confer with
you. But I ascertained where his lodging was,
and I pointed out mine to him ; and to make
sure that my co7jjecture was right, I put this one
question to him : ' What was the name of the old
man?' And he said, 'Faustus.' 'And what
' We have inserted los from the Epitomes.
were the names of his twin sons ? ' And he
answered, ' Faustinus and Faustinianus.' ' What
was the name of the third son ? ' He said,
' Clement.' ' What was their mother's name ? '
He said, ' Mattidia.' Accordingly, from com-
passion, I shed tears along with him, and,
dismissing the multitudes, I came to you, in
order that I might take counsel with you after
we had partaken of food^ together. But I did
not wish to disclose the matter to you before we
had partaken of food, lest perchance you should
be overcome by sorrow, and continue sad on the
day of baptism, when even angels rejoice." At
these statements of Peter we all fell a weeping
along with our mother. But he beholding us in
tears, said : " Now let each one of you, through
fear of God, bear bravely what has been said ;
for certainly it was not to-day that your father
died, but long ago, as you conjecturing said."
CHAP. IX.
FAUSTUS HLMSELF APPEARS.
When Peter said this, our mother could no
longer endure it, but cried out, " Alas ! my hus-
band ! loving us, you died by your own decis-
ion,^ while we are still alive, see the light, and
have just partaken of food." This one scream
had not yet ceased, when, lo ! the old man
came in, and at the same time wishing to in-
quire into the cause of the cry, he looked on the
woman and said, " What does this mean ? ^Vhom
do I see?" And going up to her, and looking
at her, and being looked at more carefully, he
embraced her. But they were like to die
through the sudden joy, and wishing to speak
to each other, they could not get the power in
consequence of their unsatisfied joy, for they
were seized with speechlessness. But not long
after, our mother said to him : " I now have
you, Faustus, in every way the dearest being to
me. How then are you alive, when we heard
a short time ago that you were dead? But
these are our sons, Faustinus, Faustinianus, and
Clement." And when she said this, we all three
fell on him, and kissed him, and in rather an
indistinct way we recalled his form to our
memory.'*
CHAP. X. FAUSTUS EXPLAINS HIS NARRATIVE TO
PETER.
Peter seeing this, said : " Are you Faustus,
the husband of this woman, and the father of
her children? " And he said: "lam." And
Peter said : " How, then, did you relate to me
your own history as if it were another's ; telling
2 Lit., " of salt."
3 Lit., "you died by a judgment; " but it is thought that xpiaei
is corrupt.
* [In the Hecogftitions the old man is not recognised until long
discussions have been held; see book ix. 35, V7- Hints of the rela-
tionship are, however, given in advance. — R. J
3o8
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XV.
me of your toils, and sorrow, and burial? " And :
our father answered : " Being of the family of
Csesar, and not wishing to be discovered, I de- j
vised the narrative in another's name, in order
that it might not be perceived who I was. For
I knew that, if I were recognised, the governors
in the place would learn this, and recall me to
gratify Caesar, and would bestow upon me that I
former prosperity to which I had formerly bidden
adieu with all the resolution I could summon.
For I could not give myself up to a luxurious
life when I had pronounced the strongest con-
demnation on myself, because I believed that I
had been the cause of death to those who were
loved by me." '
CHAP. XI.
DISCUSSION ON GENESIS.
And Peter said : " You did this according to
your resolution. But in regard to Genesis, were
you merely playing a part when you affirmed it,
or were you in earnest in asserting that it ex-
isted?" Our father said: "I will not speak
falsely to you. I was in earnest when I main-
tained that Genesis existed. For I am not un-
initiated in the science ; on the contrary, I
associated with one who is the best of the as-
trologers, an Egyptian of the name of Annubion,
who became my friend in the commencement
of my travels, and disclosed to me the death of
my wife and children." ^ And Peter said : " Are
you not now convinced by facts, that the doc-
trine of Genesis has no firm foundation?" And
my father answered : " I must lay before you
all the ideas that occur to my mind, that listen-
ing to them I may understand your refutation of
them.3 I know, indeed, that asti-ologers both
make many mistakes, and frequently speak the
' Lit., " Having judged the greatest things in regard to those
who were loved by me, as having died." The text is doubtful; for
the first EpHoyne has something quite different.
2 [Comp. Homily IV. 6. Annubion and Appion are not intro-
duced in the Recognitions until book x. 52. — R.]
3 Here Mss. and Epitomes differ in their readings. The text
adopted seems a combination of two ideas: " that you may listen and
refute them, and that I may thus learn the truth."
truth. I suspect, therefore, that they speak the
truth so far as they are accurately acquainted
with the science, and that their mistakes are the
result of ignorance ; so that I conjecture that
the science has a firm foundation, but that the
astrologers themselves speak what is false solely
on account of ignorance, because they can-
not know all things with absolute"* accuracy."
And Peter answered : " Consider 5 whether their
speaking of the truth is not accidental, and
whether they do not make their declarations
without knowing the matters accurately. For
it must by all means happen that, when many
prophecies are uttered, some of them should
come true." And the old man said : " How,
then, is it possible to be fully convinced of this,
whether the science of Genesis has a sure foun-
dation or not?"
CHAP. XII. CLEMENT UNDERTAKES THE DISCUS-
SION.
When both were silent, I said : " Since I know
accurately the science, but our lord and our
father are not in this CQndition, I should like if
Annubion himself were here, to have a discussion
with him in the presence of my father. For
thus would the matter be able to become public,
when one practically acquainted with the subject
has held the discussion with one equally in-
formed." ^ And our father answered : " Where,
then, is it possible to fall in with Annubion?"
And Peter said : " In Antioch, for I learn that
Simon Magus is there, whose inseparable com-
panion Annubion is. When, then, we go there, if
we come upon them, the discussion can take
place." And so, when we had discussed many
subjects, and rejoiced at the recognition and
given thanks to God, evening came down upon
us, and we turned to sleep.
4 We have adopted the reading of Codex O, TravTco?. The other
MS. reads, " that all cannot know all things accurately."
5 The iMSS. read airex*, " hold back." The reading of the text is
in an Epitome.
. 6 Lit., " when artist has had discussion with fellow-artist."
HOMILY XV.
CHAP. I. PETER WISHES TO CONVERT FAUSTUS.
At break of day our father, with our mother
and his three sons, entered the place where
Peter was, and accosting him, sat down. Then
we also did the same at his request ; and Peter
looking at our father, said : ' " I am anxious that
' [In Recognitions, X. i, after the father becomes known, the
Apostle is represented as proposing delay in the attempt to convert
him. — R.]
you should become of the same mind as your
wife and children, in order that here you may live
along with them, and in the other world,- after
the separation of the soul from the body, you
will continue to be with them free from sorrow.
For does it not grieve you exceedingly that you
should not associate with each other ? " And my
2 Lit., " there."
Chap. V.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
309
father said : " Most assuredly." And Peter said :
" If, then, separation from each other here gives
you pain, and if without doubt the penalty awaits
you that after death you should not be with each
other, how much greater will your grief be that
you, a wise man, should be separated from your
own family on account of your opinions? They
too, must ' feel the more distressed from the
consciousness that eternal punishment awaits you
because you entertain different opinions from
theirs, and deny the established truth." ^
CHAP. II. REASON FOR LISTENING TO PETER'S
ARGUMENTS.
Our father said : " But it is not the case, my
very dear friend, that souls are punished in
Hades, for the soul is dissolved into air as soon
as it leaves the body." And Peter said : '•' Un-
til we convince you in regard to this point,
answer me, does it not appear to you that you are
not grieved as having no faith in a future pun-
ishment, but they who have full faith in it must
be vexed in regard to you?" And our father
said : " You speak sense." And Peter said :
"Why, then, will you not free them from the
greatest grief they can have in regard to you by
agreeing to their religion, not, I mean, through
dread, but through kindly feeling, listening and
judging about what is said by me, whether it be
so or not? and if the truth is as we state it,
then here you will enjoy life with those who are
dearest to you, and in the other world you will
have rest with them ; but if, in examining the
arguments, you show that what is stated by us is
a fictitious story,^ you will thus be doing good
service, for you will have your friends on your
side, and you will put an end to their leaning
upon false hopes, and you will free them from
false fears."
CHAP. III. OBSTACLES TO FAITH.
And our father said^: " There is evidently
much reason in what you say." And Peter said :
"What is it,' then, that prevents you from coming
to our faith ? Tell me, that we may begin our
discussion with it. For many are the hindrances.
The faithful are hindered by occupation with
merchandise, or public business, or the cultiva-
tion of the soil, or cares, and such like ; the un-
believers, of whom you also are one, are hindered
by ideas such as that the gods, which do not ex-
ist, really exist, or that all things are subject to
Genesis, or chance,* or that souls are mortal, or
■ We have inserted a Sei, probably omitted on account of the
previous hi.
2 The words are peculiar. Lit., " eternal punishment awaits you
thinking other things, through denial of the fixed dogma " (prjTou
S67/iaTo<;). The Latin translator gives: " ob veri dogmatis nega-
tionem."
3 ^.vQov Tiva \}/€vSr}.
* Properly, self-action.
that our doctrines are false because there is no
providence.
CHAP. IV. PROVIDENCE SEEN IN THE EVENTS OF
THE LIFE OF FAUSTUS AND HIS FAMILY.
" But I maintain, from what has happened to
you, 5 that all things are managed by the provi-
dence of God, and that your separation from
your family for so many years was providential ; ^
for since, if they had been with you, they per-
haps would not have listened to the doctrines of
the true religion, it was arranged that your chil-
dren should travel with their mother, should be
shipwrecked, should be supposed to have per-
ished, and should be sold ; 7 moreover, that they
should be educated in the learning of the Greeks,
especially in the atheistic doctrines, in order that,
as being acquainted with them, they might be the
better able to refute them ; and in addition to
this, that they should become attached to the
true religion, and be enabled to be united with
me, so as to help me in my preaching ; further-
more, that their brother Clement should meet in
the same place, and that thus his mother should
be recognised, and through her cure ^ should be
fully convinced of the right worship of God ; 9
that after no long interval the twins should rec-
ognise and be recognised, and the other day
should fall in with you, and that you should re-
ceive back your own. I do not think, then, that
such a speedy filling in of circumstances, com-
ing as it were from all quarters, so as to accom-
plish one design, could have happened without
the direction of Providence."
CHAP. V. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TRUE RE-
LIGION AND PHILOSOPHY.
And our father began to say : " Do not sup-
pose, my dearest Peter, that I am not thinking
of the doctrines preached by you. I was think-
ing of them. But during the past night, when
Clement urged me earnestly to give in my adhe-
sion to the truth preached by you, I at last an-
swered, ' Why should I ? for what new command-
ment can any one give more than what the
ancients urged us to obey?' And he, with a
gentle smile, said, ' There is a great difference,
father, between the doctrines of the true religion
and those of philosophy ; '° for the true religion
receives its proof from prophecy, while philoso-
5 [The recapitulation of Peter in Recngnitions, ix. 26, is in ex-
planation to the sons, and not for a doctrinal purpose. — R.]
6 We have adopted a reading suggested by the second Epitotne.
'' The word aTrpacriat is corrupt. We have adopted the emenda-
tion Trpacri?. The word is not given in the MS. O, nor in the
Epitomes.
8 uTTo Oepa-rreiai;, which Cotelerius translates recicperata sani-
tate.
9 Lit., " convinced of the Godhead." "Godhead" is omitted in
the Efittoines.
'° [Compare the fuller statement in Recognitions, viii. 61; also
Recognitions, x. 48-51. — R.]
3IO
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XV.
phy, furnishing us with beautiful sentences, seems
to present its proofs from conjecture.' On say-
ing this, he took an instance, and set before us
the doctrine of philanthropy,' which you had
explained to him,^ which rather appeared to me
to be very unjust, and I shall tell you how.
He alleged that it was right to present to him
who strikes you on the one cheek the other ^
also, and to give to him who takes away your
cloak your tunic also, and to go two miles with
him who compels you to go one, and such
like." 4
CHAP. VI, — THE LOVE OF MAN.
And Peter answered : " You have deemed un-
just what is most just. If you are inclined, will
you listen to me?" And my father said : "With
all my heart." And Peter said : " What is your
opinion ? Suppose that there were two kings,
enemies to each other, and having their countries
cut off from each other ; »and suppose that some
one of the subjects of one of them were to be
caught in the country of the other, and to incur
the penalty of death on this account : now if he
were let off from the punishment by receiving a
blow instead of death, is it not plain that he who
let him off is a lover of man? " And our father
said : "Most certainly." And Peter said : "Now
suppose that this same person were to steal from
some one something belonging to him or to an-
other ; and if when caught he were to pay double,
instead of suffering the punishment that was due
to him, namely, paying four times the amount,
and being also put to death, as having been
caught in the territories of the enemy ; is it not
your opinion that he who accepts double, and
lets him off from the penalty of death, is a lover
of man?" And our father said : " He certainly
seems so." And Peter said: "Why then? Is
it not the duty of him who is in the kingdom of
another, and that, too, a hostile and wicked mon-
arch, to be pleasing to alls for the sake of hfe,
and when force is applied to him, to yield still
more, to accost those who do not accost him,
to reconcile enemies, not to quarrel with those
who are angry, to give his own property freely to
all who ask, and such like?" And our father
said : " He should with reason endure all things
rather, if he prefers life to them."
' Or "love of man" in all its phases — kindliness, gentleness,
humanity, etc.
2 Horn. Xn. 25 ff.
3 Matt. V. 39-41 ; Luke vi. 29. The writer of the Homilies
changes the word xniavtx.^ " tunic," of the New Testament into
ma(>opia>', which Suicer describes " a covering for the head, neck,
and shoulders, used by women." Wieseler is in doubt whether the
writer of the Homilies uses fxaijopiof as equivalent to \i.ru>va., or
whether he intentionally changed the word, for the person who lost
both cloak and tunic would be naked altogether: and this, the writer
may have imagined, Christ would not have commanded.
■* [The larger part of the discussion in chaps. 5-1 1 is peculiar to
the Homi/ies. There is little matter in it found in the longer argu-
ments of Recognitions. — R.J
5 Lit., " to flatter."
CHAP. VII. THE EXPLANATION OF A PARABLE ;
THE PRESENT AND 'J HE FUTURE LIFE.
And Peter ^ said : "Are not those, then, who
you said received injustice, themselves transgTess-
ors, inasmuch as they are in the kingdom of
the other, and is it not by overreaching that they
have obtained all they possess? while those who
are thought to act unjustly are conferring a favour
on each subject of the hostile kingdom, so far as
they permit him to have property. For these
possessions belong to those who have chosen the
present. 7 And they are so far kind as to permit
the others to live. This, then, is the parable ;
now listen to the actual truth. The prophet of
the truth who appeared oji eai'th taught us that
the Maker and God of all gave two kingdoms
to two,'^ good and evil ; granting to the evil the
sovereignty over the present world along with
law, so that he, it, should have the right to punish
those who act unjustly ; but to the good He gave
the eternal 9 age to come. But He made each
man free with the power to give himself up to
whatsoever he prefers, either to the present evil
or the future good. Those men who choose the
present have power to be rich, to revel in luxury,
to indulge in pleasures, and to do whatever they
can. For they will possess none of the future
goods. But those who have determined to ac-
cept the blessings of the future reign have no
right to regard as their own the things that are
here, since they belong to a foreign king, with
the exception only of water and bread, and those
things procured with sweat to maintain life (for
it is not lawful for them to commit suicide), •°
and also one garment, for they are not permitted
to go naked on account of the all-seeing"
Heaven.
CHAP. VIIL THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE.
" If, then, you wish to have an accurate ac-
count of the matter, listen. Those of whom
you said a little before that they receive injus-
tice, rather act unjustly themselves ; for they
who have chosen the future blessings, live along
with the bad in the present world, having many
enjoyments the same as the bad, — such as life
itself, light, bread, water, clothing, and others
of a like nature. But they who are thought by
you to act unjustly, shall not live with the good
6 The following words would be more appropriately put in the
mouth of the father, as is done in fact by the Epitomes. Peter's
address would commence, "And the parable is." The Epitomes differ
much from each other and the text, and there seems to be confusion
ill the text.
? This sentence would be more appropriate in the explanation of
the parable.
° The Greek leaves it uncertain whether it is two persons or
two things, — whether it is a good being and an evil being, or good
and evil. Afterwards, a good being and an evil are distinctly intro-
duced.
9 The word niSio?, properly and strictly " eternal," is used.
'° Lit., " to die willingly."
'' We have adopted an obvious emendation, ■no.vta. for TrocTos.
Chap. XL]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
311
men in ' the coming age." And our father re-
plied to this : " Now when you have convinced
me that those who act unjustly suffer injustice
themselves, while those who suffer injustice have
by far the advantage, the whole affair seems to
me still more the most unjust of transactions ;
for those who seem to act unjustly grant many
things to those who have chosen the future bless-
ings, but those who seem to receive injustice
do themselves commit injustice, because they do
not give in the other world, to those who have
given them blessings here, the same advantages
which these gave to them." And Peter said :
" This is not unjust at all, because each one has
the power to choose the present or the future
goods, whether they be small or great. He who
chooses by his own individual judgment and
wish, receives no injustice, — I mean, not even
should his choice rest on what is small, since the
great lay within his choice, as in fact did also the
small." And our father said : "You are right;
for it has been said by one of the wise men of
the Greeks, ' The blame rests with those who
chose — God is blameless.'^
CHAP. IX. POSSESSIONS ARE TRANSGRESSIONS.
" Will you be so good as to explain this
matter also? I remember Clement saying to me,
that we suffer injuries and afflictions for the for-
giveness of our sins." Peter said : " This is
quite correct. For we, who have chosen the
future things, in so far as we possess more goods
than these, whether they be clothing, or food
or drink, or any other thing, possess sins, because
we ought not to have anything, as I explained
to you a little ago. To all of us possessions are
sins.3 The deprivation of these, in whatever
way it may take place, is the removal of sins."
And our father said : " That seems reasonable,
as you explained that these were the two boun-
dary lines of the two kings, and-* that it was in
the power of each to cltoose whatever he wished
of what was under their authority. But why are
the afflictions sent, ors do we suffer them
justly?" x^nd Peter said: "Most justly; for
since the boundary line of the saved is, as I said,
that no one should possess anything, but since
many have many possessions, or in other words
sins, for this reason the exceeding love of God
* We have translated Schwegler's emendation. He inserted ei*.
2 Plato, Rep., X. 617 E.
3 One MS. inserts before the sentence: " For if in all of us pos-
sessions are wont to occasion sins in those who have them."
■♦ Wc have adopted Wieseler's emendation of to. into icai.
5 We have changed ei into 17.
sends afftictions on those who do not act in
purity of heart, that on account of their having
some measure of the love of God, they might, by
temporary infiictions, be saved from eternal
punishments."
CHAP. X. POVERTY NOT NECESSARILY RIGHTEOUS.
And our father said : " How then is this ? Do
we not see many impious men poor? Then
do these belong to the saved on this account?"
And Peter said : " Not at all ; for that poverty
is not' acceptable which longs for what it ought
not. So that some are rich as far as their choice
goes, though poor in actual wealth, and they
are punished because they desire to have more.
But one is not unquestionably righteous be-
cause he happens to be poor. For he can be
a beggar as far as actual wealth is concerned,
but he may desire and even do what above every-
thing he ought not to do. Thus he may worship
idols, or be a blasphemer or fornicator, or he
may live indiscriminately, or perjure himself, or
lie, or live the life of an unbeliever. But our
teacher pronounced the faithful poor blessed ; ^
and he did so, not because they had given any-
thing, for they had nothing, but because they
were not to be condemned, as having done no
sin, simply because they gave no alms, because
they had nothing to give." And our father said :
" In good truth all seems to go right as far as the
subject of discussion is concerned ; wherefore I
have resolved to listen to the whole of your argu-
ment in regular order."
CHAP. XI. — EXPOSITION OF THE TRUE RELIGION
PROMISED.
And Peter said : " Since, then, you are eager
henceforth to learn what relates to our religion,
I ought to explain it in order, beginning with
God Himself, and showing that we ought to call
Him alone God, and that we neither ought
to speak of the others as gods nor deem them
such, and that he who acts contrary to this will
be punished eternally, as having shown the great-
est impiety to Him who is the Lord of all." And
saying this, he laid his hands on those who were
vexed by afflictions, and were diseased, and
possessed by demons ; and, praying, he healed
them, and dismissed the multitudes. And then
entering in this way, he partook of his usual food,
and went to sleep.
6 Matt. V. 3. The Epitomes run thus: " Our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the living God, said." And then they quote the words of
our Gospel.
312
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XVI.
HOMILY XVL
CHAP. I. — SIMON WISHES TO DISCUSS WITH PETER
THE UNITY OF GOD.
At break of day Peter went out, and reach-
ing the place where he was wont to discourse,
he saw a great multitude assembled. At the
very time when he was going to discourse, one
of his deacons entered, and said : " Sim&n has
come from Antioch,' starting as soon as it was
evening, having learned that you promised to
speak on the unity - of God ; and he is ready,
along with Athenodorus the Epicurean, to come
to hear your speech, in order that he may pub-
hcly oppose all the arguments ever adduced by
you for the unity of God." Just as the deacon
said this, lo ! Simon himself entered, accom-
panied by Athenodorus and some other friends.
And before Peter spoke at all, he took the first
word, and said : —
CHAP. 11. — THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.
" I heard that you promised yesterday to Faus-
tus to prove this day, giving out your arguments
in regular order, and beginning with Him who is
Lord of the universe, that we ought to say that
He alone is God, and that we ought neither to
say nor to think that there are other gods, because
he that acts contrary to this will be punished
eternally. But, above all, I am truly amazed at
your madness in hoping to convert a wise man,
and one far advanced in years, to your state of
mind. But you will not succeed in your de-
signs ; and all the more that I am present, and
can thoroughly refute your false arguments. For
perhaps, if I had not been present, the wise old
man might have been led astray, because he has
no critical acquaintance ^ with the books publicly
believed in amongst the Jews.'* At present I shall
omit much, in order that I may the more speedily
refute that which you have promised to prove.
Wherefore begin to speak what you promised to
say before us, who know the Scriptures. But if,
fearing our refutation, you are unwilling to fulfil
' [Homilies XVI. -XIX., giving the details of a second discussion
with Simon at Laodicea, are peculiar to this narrative. Much of the
matter finds a parallel in the longer account of the previous discus-
sion at Caesarea in Recognt'tions, li. iii. (comp. Homily III.), but all
the circumstances are different. Uhlhorn formerly regarded this
portion of the Homilies as the nucleus of the entire literature.
He has modified his view. An analysis of the discussion cannot be
attempted; but in the footnote to Rrcognitions, ii. 19, a general
comparison is given of the three accounts of discussions with Si-
mon Magus. — R.]
- The word properly signifies the " sole government or monarchy
of God." It means that God alone is ruler.
4 rMf Trapa "lovSat'oi? Srjuocrio ireniaTev ixivtav PijSAtov. The
literal translation, given in the le.xt, means that the Jews as a commu-
nity believed in these books as speaking the truth. Cotelerius trans-
lates: " the books which were publicly entrusted to the Jews." One
MS. reads, vi-KL(Trmixivtav, which might mean, " deemed trustworthy
among the Jews."
your promise in our presence, this of itself will
be sufficient proof that you are wrong, because
you did venture to speak in the presence of those
who know the Scriptures. And now, why should
I wait till you tell me, when I have a most satis-
factory witness of your promise in the old man
who is present?" And, saying this, he looked
to my father, and said : " Tell me, most excel-
lent of all men, is not this the man who prom-
ised to prove to you to-day that (jod is one,
and that we ought not to say or think that there
is any other god, and that he who acts contrary
to this will be punished eternally, as committing
the most heinous sin? Do you, then, refuse to
reply to me?"
CHAP. III. — THE MODE OF THE DISCUSSION.
And our father said : " Well might you have
demanded testimony from me, Simon, if Peter
had first denied /hat Ik had jnade the promise.
But now I shall feel no shame in saying what I
am bound to say. I think that you wish to
enter on the discussion inflamed with anger.
Now this is a state of mind in which it is improp-
er for you to speak and for us to listen to you ;
for we are no longer being helped on to the truth,
but we are watching the progress of a contest.
And now, having learned from Hellenic culture
how those who seek the truth ought to act, I
shall remind you. Let each of you give an
exposition of his own opinion,5 and let the right
of speech pass from the one to the other.^ For
if Peter alone should wish to expound his
thought, but you should be silent as to yours, it
is possible that some argument adduced by you
might crush both your and his opinion ; and
both of you, though defeated by this argument,
would not appear defeated, but only the one
who expounded his opinion ; while he who did not
expound his, though equally defeated, would not
appear defeated, but would even be thought to
have conquered." And Simon answered : " I
will do as you say ; but I am afraid lest you do
not turn out a truth-loving judge, as you have
been already prejudiced by his arguments."
CHAP. IV. — THE PREJUDICES OF FAUSTUS R.^THER
ON THE SIDE OF SIMON THAN ON TH.AT OF
PETER.
Our father answered : " Do not compel me
to agree with you without any exercise of my
judgment in order that I may seem to be a
^ One MS. and an Epitome have: " And you must address your
arguments to another who acts as judge."
Chap. VII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
313
truth-loving judge ; but if you wish me to tell
you the truth, my prepossessions are rather on
the side of your opinions." And Simon said :
"How is this the case, when you do not know
what my opinions are?" And our father said :
" It is easy to know this, and I will tell you how.
You promised that you would convict Peter of
error in maintaining the unity of God ; but if
one undertakes to convict of error him who
maintains the unity of God, it is perfectly plain
that he, as being in the right,' does not hold
the same opinion. For if he holds the same
opinion as the man who is thoroughly in error,
then he himself is in error ; but if he gives his
proofs holding opposite opinions, then he is in
the right. Not welP then do you assert that
he who maintains the unity of God is wrong,
unless you believe that there are many gods.
Now I maintain that there are many gods.
Holding, therefore, the same opinion as you
before the discussion, I am prepossessed rather
in your favour. For this reason you ought
to have no anxiety in regard to me, but Peter
ought, for I still hold opinions contrary to
his. And so after your discussion I hope
that, as a truth-loving judge, who has stripped
himself of his prepossessions, I shall agree to
that doctrine which gains the victory." When
my father said this, a murmur of applause burst
insensibly from the multitudes because my father
had thus spoken.
CHAP. V.
PETER COMMENCES THE DISCUSSION.
Peter then said : " I am ready to do as the
umpire of our discussion has said ; and straight-
way without any delay I shall set forth my opin-
ion in regard to God. I then assert that there
is one God who made the heavens and the earth,
and all things that are in them. And it is not
right to say or to think that there is any other."
And Simon said : " But I maintain that the
Scriptures believed in amongst the Jews say that
there are many gods, and that God is not angry
at this, because He has Himself spoken of many
gods in His Scriptures.
CHAP. VI. — SIMON APPEALS TO THE OLD TESTA-
MENT TO PROVE THAT THERE ARE MANY GODS.
edge of good and evil, the serpent having per-
suaded them by means of the woman, through
the promise that they would become gods, made
them look up ; ■♦ and then, when they had thus
looked up, God said,5 ' Behold, Adam is become
as one of us.' When, then, the serpent said,'^ ' Ye
shall be as gods,' he plainly speaks in the belief
that gods exist ; all the more as God also added
His testimony, saying, ' Behold, Adam is become
as one of us.' The serpent, then, who said that
there are many gods, did not speak falsely.
Again, the scripture,'' 'Thou shalt not revile the
gods, nor curse the rulers of thy people,' points
out many gods whom it does not wish even to
be cursed. But it is also somewhere else writ-
ten,^ ' Did another god dare to enter and take
him a nation from the midst of another nation,
as did I the Lord God?' When He says, ' Did
another God dare?' He speaks on the suppo-
sition that other gods exist. And elsewhere : ^
' Let the gods that have not made the heavens
and the earth perish ; ' as if those who had made
them were not to perish. And in another place,
when it says,'° ' Take heed to thyself lest thou
go and serve other gods whom thy fathers knew
not,' it speaks as if other gods existed whom
they were not to follow. And again:" 'The
names of other gods shall not ascend upon thy
lips.' Here it mentions many gods whose names
it does not wish to be uttered. And again it
is written,'^ ' Thy God is the Lord, He is God
of gods.' And again : '^ ' Who is like unto Thee,
O Lord, among the Gods ? ' And again : '•* ' God
is Lord of gods.' And again : '5 ' God stood in
the assembly of gods : He judgeth among the
gods.' Wherefore I wonder how, when there
are so many passages in writing which testify
that there are many gods, you have asserted that
we ought neither to say nor to think that there
are many.'^ Finally, if you have anything to
say against what has been spoken so distinctly, say
it in the presence of all."
CHAP. VII. PETER APPEALS TO THE OLD TES-
TAMENT TO PROVE THE UNITY OF GOD.
And Peter said : " I shall reply briefly to what
you have said. The law, which frequendy speaks
of gods, itself says to the Jewish multitude, '^ ' Be-
" For instance, in the very first words of the 4 ava&KeJ/ai. it signifies either to look up, or to recover one's
^■3^v Hf- pvirlpi-itlv cnpil'C r.f tlipm nc l^Hin.r lil-p sight. Possibly the second meaning is the one intended here, cor-
law, J-IC evidently speaks Ot tnem as Deing like respondmg to the words of our version: "Then your eyes shall be
even unto Himself. For thus it is written, that, opened."
when the first man received a commandment 6 oen! Hi. ""
from God to eat of every tree that was in the l fj^- ''^"- ^^•
11 /-I <- 1 1 1 Deut. IV. 34.
garden,^ but not to eat of the tree of the knowl- 9 jer. x. n.
'° Deut. xiii. 6.
" Josh, xxiii. 7, LXX.
' The words translated " e.ror," lieOcr/aa, and "to be in the '- Deut. x. 17.
right," <iA»)8tueii', are, properly rendered, " falsehood," and " to '3 Ps. xxxv. 10, Ixxxvi. 8.
speak the truth." ■•< Ps. 1. i._
2 Tlie Mss. read: "not otherwise." The reading of the text is '5 Ps. Ixxxii. i.
found in an Epitome. '^ IComp. Recognitiotis, ii. 39. — R.]
3 n-apa6eio-<u, " paradise." Gen. ii. 16, 17. '^ Deut. x. 14.
H
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XVI.
hold, the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy
God, with all that therein is ; ' implying that, even
if there are gods, they are under Him, that is, un-
der the God of the Jews. And again : ' * The
Lord thy God, He is God in heaven above, and
upon the earth beneath, and there is none other
except Him.' And somewhere else the Scrip-
ture says to the Jewish multitude,^ ' The Lord
your God is God of gods ; ' so that, even if there
are gods, they are under the God of the Jews.
And somewhere else the Scripture says in regard
to Him, 2 ' God, the great and true, who regard-
eth not persons, nor taketh reward. He doth exe-
cute the judgment of the fatherless and widow.'
The Scripture, in calling the God of the Jews
great and true, and executing judgment, marked
out the others as small, and not true. But also
somewhere else the Scripture says,^ ' As I live,
saith the Lord, there is no other God but me.
I am the first, I am after this ; except me there
is no God.' And again : '* ' Thou shalt fear the
Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.'
And again : 5 ' Hear, O Israel, the Lord your
God is one Lord.' And many passages besides
seal with an oath that God is one, and except
Him there is no God. Whence I wonder how,
when so many passages testify that there is one
God, you say that there are many."
CHAP. VIII. SIMON AND PETER CONTINUE THE
DISCUSSION.
And Simon said : ' My original stipulation
with you was that I should prove from the Scrip-
tures that you were wrong in maintaining that we
ought not to speak of many gods. Accordingly
I adduced many written passages to show that
the divine Scriptures themselves speak of many
gods." And Peter said : " Those very Scriptures
which speak of many gods, also exhorted us, say-
ing, ' The names of other gods shall not ascend
upon thy lips.' ^ Thus, Simon, I did not speak
contrary to what was written." And Simon said :
" Do you, Peter, listen to what I have to say.
You seem to me to sin in speaking against them,^
when the Scripture says,** ' Thou shalt not revile
the gods, nor curse the rulers of thy people.' "
And Peter said : " I am not sinning, Simon, in
pointing out their destruction according to the
Scriptures ; for thus it is written : 9 ' Let the gods
who did not make the heavens and the earth
perish.' And He said thus, not as though some
had made the heavens and were not to perish,
^ Deut. iv. 39.
2 Deut. X. 17.
3 Isa. xlix. 18, xlv. 21, xliv. 6.
4 Deut. vi. 13.
5 Deut. vi. 4.
^ Josh, xxiii. 7, LXX.
7 Namely, the gods.
8 Ex. xxii. 28. The mss. omit f'eov'?, though they insert it in the
passage as quoted a little before this. One MS. reads " the ruler "
with our version.
9 Jer. X. II.
as you interpreted the passage. For it is plainly
declared that He who made them is one in the
very first part of Scripture : '° 'In the begin-
ning God created the heaven and the earth.'
And it did not say, ' the gods.' And somewhere
else it says," 'And the firmament showeth His
handiwork.' And in another place it is written,'^
' The heavens themselves shall perish, but Thou
shalt remain for ever.' "
CHAP. IX. SIMON TRIES TO SHOW THAT THE
SCRIPTURES CONTRADICT THEMSELVES.
And Simon said : " I adduced clear passages
from the Scriptures to prove that there are many
gods ; and you, in reply, brought forward as
many or more from the same Scriptures, showing
that God is one, and He the God of the Jews.
And when I said that we ought not to revile
gods, you proceeded to show that He who cre-
ated is one, because those who did not create will
perish. And in reply to my assertion that w^e
ought to maintain that there are gods, because
the Scriptures also say so, you showed that we
ought not to utter their names, because the same
Scripture tells us not to utter the names of other
gods. Since, then, these very Scriptures say at
one time that there are many gods, and at another
that there is only one ; and sometimes that they
ought not to be reviled, and at other times that
they ought ; what conclusion ought we to come
to in consequence of this, but that the Scriptures
themselves lead us astray? "
CHAP. X. PETER'S EXPLANATION OF THE APPAR-
ENT CONTRADICTIONS OF SCRIPTURE.
And Peter said : " They do not lead astray,
but convict and bring to light the evil disposi-
tion against God which lurks like a serpent in
each one. For the Scriptures lie before each
one like many divers types. Each one, then,
has his own disposition like wax, and examining
the Scriptures and finding everything in them,
he moulds his idea of God according to his
wish, laying upon them, as I said, his own dis-
position, which is like wax.'^ Since, then, each
one finds in the Scriptures whatever opinion he
wishes to have in regard to God, for this reason
he, Simon, moulds from them the forms '* of
many gods, while we moulded the form of Him
who truly exists, coming to the knowledge of
the true type from our own shape.'s For assur-
edly the soul within us is clothed with His im-
age for immortality. If I abandon the parent
'^ Gen. i. I.
" Ps. xix. I.
'- Ps. cii. 26, 27,
'3 [This statement of the subjective method of interpretation is in
curious harmony with the prevalent theorj' of this work respecting
the mixture of error and truth in the Scriptures. — R.]
'5 jaop0^s.
Chap. XIV.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
3if
of this soul, it also will abandon me to just
judgment, making known the injustice by the
very act of daring ; ' and as coming from one
who is just, it will justly abandon me ; and so,
as far as the soul is concerned, I shall, after pun-
ishment, be destroyed, having abandoned the
help that comes from it. But if there is another
god, first let him put on another form, another
shape, in order that by the new shape of the
body I may recognise the new god. But if he
should change the shape, does he thereby
change the substance of the soul? But if he
should change it also, then I am no longer my-
self, having become another both in shape and
in substance. Let him, therefore, create others,
if there is another. But there is not. For if
there had been, he would have created. But
since he has not created, then let him, as non-
existent, leave him who is really existent.^ For
he is nobody,^ except only in the opinion of
Simon. I do not accept of any other god but
Him alone who created me."
CHAP. XI. GEN. I. 26 APPEALED TO BY SIMON.
And Simon said : " Since I see that you fre-
quently speak of the God who created you, learn
from me how you are impious even to him. For
there are evidently two who created, as the
Scripture says : ■* ' And God said. Let us make
man in our image, after our hkeness.' Now ' let
us make,' implies two or more ; certainly not
one only."
CHAP. XII. — Peter's explanation of the pas-
sage.
And Peter answered : " One is He who said
to His Wisdom, ' Let us make a man.' But His
Wisdom 5 was that with which He Himself al-
ways rejoiced^ as with His own spirit. It is
united as soul to God, but it is extended by
Him, as hand, fashioning the universe. On this
account, also, one man was made, and from him
went forth also the female. And being a unity
generically, it is yet a duality, for by expansion
and contraction the unity is thought to be a
duality. So that I act rightly in offering up all
the honour to one God as to parents." And
Simon said : "What then? Even if the Scrip-
tures say that there are other gods, will you not
accept the opinion?"
CHAP. XIII. the contradictions OF THE SCRIP-
TURES INTENDED TO "^RY THOSE WHO READ
THEM.
And Peter answered •.^ "If the Scriptures or
prophets speak of gods, they do so to try those
who hear. For thus it is written : ^ ' If there
arise among you a prophet, giving signs and
wonders, and that sign and wonder shall then
come to pass, and he say to thee, Let us go
after and worship other gods which thy fathers
have not known, ye ^ shall not hearken to the
words of that prophet ; let thy hands be among
the first to stone him. For he hath tried to turn
thee from the Lord thy God. But if thou say
in thy heart. How did he do that sign or won-
der? thou shalt surely know that he who tried
thee, tried thee to see if thou dost fear the Lord
thy God.' The words ' he who tried thee, tried
thee,' have reference to the earliest times ; '° but
it appears to be otherwise after the removal to
Babylon. For God, who knows all things, would
not, as can be proved by many arguments, try in
order that He Himself might know, for He fore-
knows all things. But, if you like, let us discuss
this point, and I shall show that God foreknows.
But it has been proved that the opinion is false
that He does not know, and that this was written
to try us. Thus we, Simon, can be led astray "
neither by the Scriptures nor by any one else ;
nor are we deceived into the admission of many
gods, nor do we agree to any statement that is
made against God.
' Probably To^/ii^iuaTi should be changed into opfxrjMari, or some
such word: making known that an act of injustice has been com-
mitted by taking its departure.
2 This might possibly be translated, " let him leave him who ex-
ists to him who exists; " i.e., let him leave the real God to man, who
really exists.
3 Wieseler proposes, " for he exists to no one."
* Gen. i. 26.
S This is the only passage in the Homilies relating to the (roifiia.
The text is m some parts corrupt. It is critically discussed by Uhl-
horn , some of whose emendations are adopted by Dressel and trans-
lated here.
* Prov. viii. 30.
CHAP. XIV.
OTHER BEINGS CALLED GODS.
" For we ourselves also know that angels are
called gods by the Scriptures, — as, for instance.
He who spake at the bush, and wrestled with
Jacob, — and the name is likewise applied to
Him who is born Emmanuel, and who is called
the mighty God.'^ Yea, even Moses became a
god to Pharaoh, though in reality he was a man.
The same is the case also with the idols of the
Gentiles. But we have but one God, one who
made creation and arranged the universe, whose
Son is the Christ. Obeying Christ,'^ we learn to
know what is false from the Scriptures. More-
over, being furnished by our ancestors with the
truths of the Scriptures, we know that there is
only one who has made the heavens and the
earth, the God of the Jews, and of all who
7 [On the theory of the Scriptures which is here set forth, compare
ii. 38, etc. , iii. 42, etc. — R.J
8 Deut. xiii. i ff.
9 The change from the singular to the plural is in the Greek.
1° Lit., " But it had been said that he who tried, tried." The idea
seems to be. Before the removal to Babylon true prophets tested the
people by urging them to worship these gods; but after that event
false prophets arose who really wished to .seduce the Jews from the
worship of the true God.
" Lit., " nor can we he made to stumble from the Scriptures nor
by any one else or anything else."
'- Isa. ix. 6.
■^ Lit., " whom obeying: " the " whom" might refer to God.
3i6
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XVI.
choose to worship Him. Our fathers, with pious
thought, setting down a fixed behef in Him as
the true God, handed down this belief to us,
that we may know that if any thing is said
against God, it is a falsehood. I shall add this
remark over and above what I need say : If the
case be not as I have said, then may I, and all
who love the truth, incur danger in regard to
the praise of the God who made us."
CHAP. XV. — CHRIST NOT GOD, BUT THE SON OF
GOD.
When Simon heard this, he said : " Since you
say that we ought not to believe even the proph-
et that gives signs and wonders if he say that
there is another god, and that you know that he
even incurs the penalty of death, therefore your
teacher also was with reason cut off for having
given signs and wonders." And Peter answered :
" Our Lord neither asserted that there were gods
except the Creator of all, nor did He proclaim
Himself to be God, but He with reason pro-
nounced blessed him who called Him the Son
of that God who has arranged the universe."
And Simon answered : " Does it not seem to
you, then, that he who comes from God is
God?"' And Peter said: "Tell us how this
is possible ; for we cannot affirm this, because
we did not hear it from Him.
CHAP. XVI. THE UNBEGOTTEN AND THE BEGOT-
TEN NECESSARILY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER.
" In addition to this, it is the peculiarity of
the Father not to have been begotten, but of the
Son to have been begotten ; but what is begot-
ten cannot be compared with that which is un-
begotten or self-begotten." And Simon said :
" Is it not the same on account of its origin? " ^
And Peter said : " He who is not the same in
all respects as some one, cannot have all the
same appellations applied to him as that person."
And Simon said: "This is to assert, not to
prove." And Peter said : " Why, do you not
see that if^ the one happens to be self- begot-
ten or unbegotten, they cannot be called the
same ; nor can it be asserted of him who has
been begotten that he is of the same substance
as he is who has begotten him?'^ Learn this
also : The bodies of men have immortal souls,
which have been clothed with the breath of God ;
and having come forth from God, they are of
' [Here we encounter marked evidence of Ebionism. Compare
with these chapters the letter of Rufinus prefixed to the Recognitions.
— R]
2 The word -iivttji^, " arising, coming into being," is here used,
not yei-rr/cri?, "begetting." The idea fully expressed is: "Is not
that which is begotten identical in essence with that which begets it? "
3 We have inserted ec The passage is amended in various ways;
this seems to be the simplest.
^ I The very ancient variant in John i. i8, " God only begotten,"
indicates the distinction between the Unbegotten (lod and the Son.
Even the Arians use the phrase, '" Only-begotten God." — R.]
the same substance, but they are not gods. But
if they are gods, then in this way the souls of
all men, both those who have died, and those
who are alive, and those who shall come into
being, are gods. But if in a spirit of contro-
versy you maintain that these also are gods, what
greal matter is it, then, for Christ to be called
God ? for He has only what all have.
CHAP. XVII.
•THE NATURE OF GOD.
" We call Him God whose peculiar attributes
cannot belong to the nature of any other ; for,
as He is called the Unbounded because He is
boundless on every side, it must of necessity be
the case that it is no other one's peculiar attri-
bute to be called unbounded, as another cannot
in like manner be boundless. But if any one
says that it is possible, he is wrong ; for two
things boundless on every side cannot co-exist,
for the one is bounded by the other. Thus it
is in the nature s of things that the unbegotten is
one. But if he possesses a figure, even in this
case the figure is one and incomparable.'^ Where-
fore He is called the Most High, because, being
higher than all, He haS the universe subject to
Him."
CHAP. XVIII.
THE NAME OF GOD.
And Simon said : Is this word ' God ' His in-
effable name, which all use, because you main-
tain so strongly in regard to a name that it can-
not be given to another? " And Peter said : ' I
know that this is not His ineffable name, but one
which is given by agreement among men ; but
if you give it to another, you will also assign to
this other that which is not used ; and that, too,
deliberately.'' The name which is used is the
forerunner of that which is not used. In this
way insolence is attributed even to that which
has not yet been spoken, just as honour paid to
that which is known is handed on to that which
has not yet been known."
CHAP. XIX. THE SHAPE OF GOD IN MAN.
And Simon said : " I should like to know, Peter,
if you really believe that the shape of man has
been moulded after the shape of God." ^ And
Peter said : " I am really quite certain, Simon,
that this is the case." And Simon said : " How
can death dissolve the body, impressed as it has
thus been with the greatest seal?" And Peter
said : " It is the shape of the just God. When,
then, the body begins to act unjustly, the form
which is in it takes to flight, and thus the body
5 Lit., " thus it is nature."
'' We have adopted an emendation here. The text has: " Even
thus the incomparable is one."
7 Wie>eler proposes to join this clause with the following: " And
in point of choice the name which."
8 Lit., "of that one, of Him " [The chapter is peculiar to the
Homilies ; comp. xvii. 7, 8. — R.]
Chap. XXL]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
Z^l
is dissolved, by the shape disappearing, in order
that an unjust body may not have the shape of
the just God. The dissokition, however, does
not take place in regard to the seal, but in regard
to the sealed body. But that which is sealed is
not dissolved without Him who sealed it. And
thus it is not permitted to die without judgment."
And Simon said : " What necessity was there to
give the shape of such a being to man, who was
raised from the earth?" And Peter said:
" This was done because of the love of God, who
made man. For while, as far as substance is
concerned, all things are superior to the flesh of
man, — I mean the ether, the sun, the moon,
the stars, the air, the water, the fire — in a word,
all the other things which have been made for
the service of man, — yet, though superior in
substance, they willingly endure to serve the in-
ferior in substance, because of the shape of the
superior. For as they who honour the clay
image of a king have paid honour to the king
himself, whose shape the clay happens to have,
so the whole creation with joy serves man, who
is made from earth, looking to the honour thus
paid to God.
CHAP. XX.
■THE CHARACTER OF GOD.
" Behold, then, the character of that God to
whom you, Simon, wish to persuade us to be
ungrateful, and the earth continues to bear you,
perhaps wishing to see who will venture to enter-
tain similar opinions to yours. For you were
the first to dare what no other dared : you were the
first to utter what we first heard. We first and
alone have seen the boundless long-suffering
of God in bearing with such great impiety as
yours, and that God no other than the Creator
of the world, against whom you have dared to
act impiously. And yet openings of the earth
took not place, and fire was not sent down from
heaven and went not forth to burn up men, and
rain was not poured out,' and a multitude of
beasts was not sent from the thickets, and upon
us ourselves' the destructive wrath of God did
not begin to show itself, on account of one who
sinned the sin, as it were, of spiritual adultery,
which is worse than the carnal. For it is not
God the Creator of heaven and earth that in
former times punished sins, since now, when He
is blasphemed in the highest degree, He would
' One MS. reads, " was not restrained."
inflict the severest punishment.- But, on the
contrary. He is long-suftering, calls to repent-
ance, having the arrows which end in the de-
struction of the impious laid up in His treasures,
which He will discharge like living animals when
He shall sit down to give judgment to those that
are His.^ W^herefore let us fear the just God,
whose shape the body of man bears for hon-
our."
CHAP. XXI. SIMON PROMISES TO APPEAL TO THE
TEACHING OF CHRIST. PETER DISMISSES THE
MULTITUDES.
When Peter said this, Simon answered :
" Since I see you skilfully hinting that what is
written in the books ■* against the framer 5 of the
woi'ld does not happen to be true, to-morrow I
shall show, from the discourses of your teacher,
that he asserted that the framer of the world wz.^
not the highest God." And when Simon said
this, he went out. But Peter said to the assem-
bled multitudes : " If Simon can do no other
injury to us in regard to God, he at least pre-
vents you from listening to the words that can
purify the soul." On Peter saying this, much
whispering arose amongst the crowds, saying,
" What necessity is there for permitting him to
come in here, and utter his blasphemies against
God?" And Peter heard, and said, "Would
that the doctrines against God which are in-
tended to try men^ went no further than Simon !
For there M'ill be, as the Lord said, false apos-
tles, false prophets,'' heresies, desires for su-
premacy, who, as I conjecture, finding their
beginning in Simon, who blasphemes God, will
work together in the assertion of the same opin-
ions against God as those of Simon." And say-
ing this with tears, he summoned the multitudes
to him by his hand ; and when they came, he
j laid his hands upon them and prayed, and then
j dismissed them, telling them to come at an
earlier hour next day. Saying this, and groan-
i ing, he entered and went to sleep, without tak-
ing food.
2 We have inserted ar, and suppose the sentence to be ironical.
The meaning might be the same without av. The text of Dressel is
as follows: " For is not He who then punished the sins God, Creator
of heaven and earlh; since even now, being blasphemed in the high-
est degree, He punished it in the highest degree ? "
3 Cotelerius translates: " to His enemies."
* i.e., the Scriptures.
5 A distinction has to be made between the Creator, or maker out
of nothing, and the framer, or fashioner, or Demiurge, who puts the
matter into shape.
6 Lit., " the word against God for the trial of men."
' Comp. Matt. xxiv. 24.
3i8
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XVII.
HOMILY XVII.
CHAP, I. — SIMON COMES TO PETER.
The next day, therefore, as Peter was to hold
a discussion with Simon, he rose earher than |
usual and prayed. On ceasing to pray, Zacchaeus ]
came in, and said : " Simon is seated without,
discoursing with about thirty of his own special
followers." And Peter said : " Let him talk until
the multitude assemble, and then let us begin the
discussion in the following" way. We shall hear
all that has been said by him, and having fitted
our reply to this, we shall go out and discourse."
And assuredly so it happened. Zacchaeus, there-
fore, went out, and not long after entered again,
and communicated to Peter the discourse de-
livered by Simon against him.'
CHAP. II. SIMON'S SPEECH AGAINST PETER.
Now he said : " He accuses you, Peter, of
being the servant of wickedness, of having great
power in magic, and as charming the souls of
men in a way worse than idolatry.^ To prove
that you are a magician, he seemed to me to
adduce the following evidence, saying : ' I am
conscious of this, that when I come to hold a
discussion with him, I do not remember a single
word of what I have been meditating on by my-
self. For while he is discoursing, and my mind
is engaged in recollecting what it is that I
thought of saying on coming to a conference
with him, I do not hear anything whatsoever of
what he is saying. Now, since I do not experi-
ence this in the presence of any other than in
his alone, is it not plain that I am under the
influence of his magic ? And as to his doctrines
being worse than those of idolatry, I can make
that quite clear to any one who has understand-
ing. For there is no other benefit than this, that
the soul should be freed from images ^ of every
kind. For when the soul brings an image before
its eye, it is bound by fear, and it pines away
through anxiety lest it should suffer some calam-
ity ; and being altered, it falls under the influence
of a demon ; and being under his influence, it
seems to the mass to be wise.
CHAP. III. — Simon's accusation of peter.
"'Peter does this to you while promising to
make you wise. For, under the pretext of pro-
claiming one God, he seems to free you from
many lifeless images, which do not at all injure
' The text has: " against Peter."
^ [Comp. Recognitiofis, iii. 12, for a similar accusation made by
Simon, at the beginning of the second day's discussion. — R.J
3 tiOuj.\aji', idols.
those who worship them, because they are seen
by the eyes themselves to be made of stone, or
brass, or gold, or of some other lifeless material.
Wherefore the soul, because it knows that what
is seen is nothing, cannot be spell-bound by fear
in an equal degree. by means of what is visible.
But looking to a terrible God through the influ-
ence of deceptive teaching, it has all its natural
foundations overturned. And I say this, not be-
cause I exhort you to worship images, but because
Peter, seeming to free your souls from terrible
images,* drives mad the mind of each one of you
by a more terrible image, introducing God in a
shape, and that, too, a God extremely just, — an
image which is accompanied by what is terrible
and awful to the contemplative soul, by that which
can entirely destroy the energy of a sound mind.
For the mind, when in the midst of such a storm,
is like the depth stirred by a violent wind, per-
turbed and darkened.- Wherefore, if he comes
to benefit you, let him not, while seeming to dis-
solv^e your fears which gently proceed from life-
less shapes, introduce in their stead the terrible
shape of God. But has God a shape? If He
has, He possesses a figure. And if He has a
figure, how is He not limited ? And if limited.
He is in space. But if He is in space. He is less
than the space which encloses Him. And if less
than anything, how is He greater than all, or
superior to all, or the highest of all? This,
then, is the state of the case,
CHAP. IV. IT IS ASSERTED THAT CHRIST'S TEACH-
ING IS DIFFERENT FROM PETER'S.
" ' And that he does not really believe even
the doctrines proclaimed by his teacher is evi-
dent, for he proclaims doctrines opposite to his. 5
For he said to some one, as I learn,^ " Call me
not good, for the good is one." Now, in speak-
ing of the good one, he no longer speaks of that
just one, 7 whom the Scriptures proclaim, who
kills and makes alive, — kills those who sin, and
makes alive those who live according to His will.
But that he did not really call Him who is the
framer of the world good, is plain to any one who
can reflect. For the framer of the world was
known to Adam whom He had made, and to
Enoch who pleased Him, and to Noah who was
seen to be just by Him ; likewise to Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob ; also to Moses, and the
people, and the whole world. But Jesus, the
4 ;«f,or.
5 [These chapters are peculiar to the Homilies. — R ]
6 Klalt. xix. 17.
7 The Gnostic distinction between the God who is just and the
God who is good, is here insisted on.
Chap. VII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
319
teacher of Peter himself, came and said,' " No
one knew the Father e.xcept the Son, as no one
knoweth ^ even the Son except the Father, and
those to whom the Son may wish to reveal Him."
If, then, it was the Son himself who was present,
it was from the time of his appearance that he
began to reveal to those to whom he wished,
Him who was unknown to all. And thus the
Father was unknown to all who lived before him,
and could not thus be He who was known to
all.
CHAP. V. JESUS INCONSISTENT IN HIS TEACHING.
" ' In saying this, Jesus is consistent not even
with himself. For sometimes by other utter-
ances, taken from the Scriptures, he presents
God as being terrible and just, saying, ^ " Fear
not him who killeth the body, but can do noth-
ing to the soul ; but fear Him who is able to cast
both body and soul into the Gehenna of fire. Yea,
I say unto you, fear Him." But that he asserted
that He is really to be feared as being a just God,
to whom he says those who receive injustice cry,
is shown in a parable of which he gives the inter-
pretation, saying : ■* " If, then, the unjust judge
did so, because he was continually entreated,
how much more will the Father avenge those
who cry to Him day and night? Or do you
think that, because He bears long with them. He
will not do it? Yea, I say to you, He will do it,
and that speedily." Now he who speaks of God
as an avenging and rewarding God, presents
Him as naturally just, and not as good. More-
over he gives thanks to the Lord of heaven and
earth. 5 But if He is Lord of heaven and earth.
He is acknowledged to be the framer of the
world, and if framer, then He is just. When,
therefore, he sometimes calls Him good and
sometimes just, he is not consistent with himself
in this point.*^ But his wise disciple maintained
yesterday a third point, that real sight ^ is more
satisfactory than vision, not knowing that real
sight can be human, but that vision confessedly
proceeds from divinity.'
CHAP. VI.
■PETER GOES OUT TO ANSWER SIMON.
"These and such like were the statements,
Peter, which Simon addressed to the multitudes
while he stood outside ; and he seems to me to
be disturbing the minds of the greater number.
Wherefore go forth immediately, and by the
power of truth break down his false statements."
* Matt. xi. 27; [Luke x. 22. Comp. Recognitions, ii. 47. — R.].
2 One MS. reads, " saw."
3 Matt. X. 28.
■t Luke xviii. 6-8.
5 Matt, xi 25; [Luke x. 21].
' [Comp. xviii. i, etc.; s\so Recognitions, iii. 37, 38. — R.]
' The Mss. read ivipyii.av, " activity." Clericus amended it into
ei'dpyeiau, which means, vision or sight in plain open day with one's
own eyes, in opposition to the other word un-rao-ia, vision in sleep, or
ecstasy, or some similar unusual state.
When Zacchreus said this, Peter prayed after his
usual manner and went out, and standing in the
place where he spoke the day before, and salut-
ing the multitudes according to the custom
enjoined by his religion, he began to speak as
follows : " Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
true prophet (as I shall prove conclusively at
the proper time), made concise declarations in
regard to those matters that relate to the truth,
for these two reasons : first, because He was in
the habit of addressing the pious, who had knowl-
edge enough to enable them to believe the opin-
ions uttered by Him by way of declaration ; for
His statements were not strange to their usual
mode of thought ; and in the second place,
because, having a limited time assigned Him for
preaching, He did not employ the method of
demonstration in order that He might not spend
all His limited time in arguments, for in this way
it might happen that He would be fully occupied
in giving the solutions of a few problems which
might be understood by mental exertion, while
He would not have given us to any great extent ^
those statements which relate to the truth. Ac-
cordingly He stated any opinions He wished, as
to a people who were able to understand Him,
to whom we also belong, who, whenever we did
not understand anything of what had been said
by Him, — a thing which rarely happened, — in-
quired of Him privately, that nothing said by
Hiin might be unintelligible to us.
CHAP. VII, MAN IN THE SHAPE OF GOD.
" Knowing therefore that we knew all that was
spoken by Him, and that we could supply the
proofs. He sent us to the ignorant Gentiles to
baptize them for remission of sins, and com-
manded us to teach them first.9 Of His com-
mandments this is the first and great one, to fear
the Lord God, and to serve Him only. But He
meant us to fear that God whose angels they are
who are the angels of the least of the faithful
amongst us, and who stand in heaven continually
beholding the face of the Father.'" For He has
shape, and He has every limb primarily and solely
for beauty's sake, and not for use," For He has
not eyes that He may see with them ; for He sees
on every side, since He is incomparably more
brilliant in His body than the visual spirit which
is in us, and He is more splendid than every-
thing, so that in comparison with Him the light
of the sun may be reckoned as darkness. Nor
has He ears that He may hear ; for He hears,
perceives, moves, energizes, acts on every side.
But He has the most beautiful shape on account
8 Lit. " to a greater extent."
9 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.
'° Matt, xviii 10.
" [Comp. xvi. 19. The theosophical views here presented are
peculiar to the Horn Hies, though some traces of them appear in the
Recognitions. — R.]
320
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XVII.
of man, that the pure in heart ' may be able to
see Him, that they may rejoice because they
suffered. For He moulded man in His own
shape as in the grandest seal, in order that he
may be the ruler and lord of all, and that all
may be subject to him. Wherefore, judging that
He is the univers'e, and that man is His image
(for He is Himself invisible, but His image man
is visible), the man who wishes to worship Him
honours His visible image, which is man. What-
soever therefore any one does to man, be it
good or bad, is regarded as being done to Him.
Wherefore the judgment which proceeds from
Him shall go before, giving to every one accord-
ing to his merits. For He avenges His own
shape.
CHAP. VIII. — god's figure : SIMON'S OBJECTION
THEREFROM REFUTED.
" But someone will say, If He has shape, then
He has figure also, and is in space ; but if He is
in space, and is, as being less, enclosed by it, how
is He great above everything? How can He be
everywhere if He has figure? The first remark
I have to make to him who urges these objec-
tions is this : The Scriptures persuade us to have
such sentiments and to believe such statements
in regard to Him ; and we know that their dec-
larations are true, for witness is borne to them
by our Lord Jesus Christ, by whose orders we
are bound to afford proofs to you that such is
the case. But first I shall speak of space. The
space of God is the non-existent, but God is that
which exists. But that which is non-existent
cannot be compared with that which is existent.
For how can space be existent? unless it be a
second space, such as heaven, earth, water, air,
and if there is any other body that fills up the
vacuity, which is called vacuity on this account,
that it is nothing. For ' nothing ' is its more ap-
propriate name. For what is that which is called
vacuity but as it were a vessel which contains
nothing, except the vessel itself? But being va-
cuity, it is not itself space ; but space is that in
which vacuity itself is, if indeed it is the vessel.
For it must be the case that that which exists is
in that which does not exist. But by this which
is non-existent I mean that which is called by
some, space, which is nothing. But being noth-
ing, how can it be compared with that which is,
except by expressing the contrary, and saying
that it is that which does not exist, and that that
which does not exist is called space? But even
if it were something, there are many examples
which I have at hand, but I shall content myself
with one only, to show that that which encloses
is not unquestionably superior to that which is
enclosed. The sun is a circular figure, and is
I Matt. V. 8.
entirely enclosed by air, yet it lightens up the
air, it warms it, it divides it ; and if the sun be
away from it, it is enveloped in darkness ; and
from whatsoever part of it the sun is removed,
it becomes cold as if it were dead ; but again it
is illuminated by its rising, and when it has been
warmed up by it, it is adorned with still greater
beauty. And it does this by giving a share of
itself, though it has its substance limited. What,
then, is there to prevent God, as being the
Framer and Lord of this and everything else,
from possessing figure and shape and beauty,
and having the communication of these qualities
proceeding from Himself extended infinitely ?
CHAP. IX. GOD THE CENTRE OR HEART OF THE
UNIVERSE.
" One, then, is the God who truly exists, who
presides in a superior shape, being the heart of
that which is above and that which is below
twice,^ which sends forth from Him as from a
centre the life-giving and incorporeal power ; the
whole universe with the stars and regions ^ of the
heaven, the air, the fire, and if anything else ex-
ists, is proved to be a substance infinite in height,
boundless in depth, immeasurable in breadth,
extending the life-giving and wise nature from
Him over three infinites.'' It must be, therefore,
that this infinite which proceeds from Him on
every side exists, s having as its heart Him who
is above all, and who thus possesses figure ; for
wherever He be. He is as it were in the centre
of the infinite, being the Hmit of the universe.
And the extensions taking their rise with Him,
possess the nature of six infinites ; of whom the
one taking its rise with Him penetrates^ into
the height above, another into the depth below,
another to the right hand, another to the left, an-
other in front, and another behind ; to whom
He Himself, looking as to a number that is equal
on every side,^ completes the world in six tem-
poral intervals,^ Himself being the rest,^ and
having the infinite age to come as His image,
being the beginning and the end. For in Him
the six infinites end, and from Him they receive
their extension to infinity.
CHAP. X. THE NATURE AND SHAPE OF GOD.
" This is the mystery of the hebdomad. For
He Himself is the rest of the whole who grants
2 The whole of this chapter is full of corruption; " twice " occurs
in one ms. Various attempts have been made to amend the passage.
3 An emendation.
4 The text is corrupt. We have translated 67r' arrei'pou? rpei?.
Some think " three " should be omitted. The three infinites are in
respect of height, depth, and breadth.
s As punctuated in Dressel, this reads, " that the infinite is the
heart."
6 The emendation of the transcriber of one of the MSS.
7 This refers to the following mode of e.xhibiting the number: .'.■.
where each side presents the number three.
^ The creation of the world in six days.
9 The seventh day on which God rested, the type of the rest of
the future age. See Epistle of Barnabas, c. xv.
Chap. XIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
321
Himself as a rest to those who imitate His great-
ness within their little measure. For He is alone,
sometimes comprehensible, sometimes incom-
prehensible, sometimes limi table, "^ sometimes il-
limitable, having extensions which proceed from
Him into infinity. For thus He is comprehen-
sible and incomprehensible, near and far, being
here and there, as being the only existent one,
and as giving a share of that mind which is in-
finite on every hand, in consequence of which
souls breathe and possess life ; ^ and if they be
separated from the body and be found with a
longing for Him, they are borne along into His
bosom, as in the winter time the mists of the
mountains, attracted by the rays of the sun, are
borne along immortal ^ to it. What affection
ought therefore to arise within us if we gaze with
our mind on His beautiful shape ! But other-
wise it is absurd to speak of beauty. For beauty
cannot exist apart from shape ; nor can one be
attracted to the love of God, nor even deem that
he can see Him, if God has no form.
CH.A.P. XI. THE FEAR OF GOD.
" But some who are strangers to the truth,
and who give their energies to the service of evil,
on pretext of glorifying God, say that He has
no figure, in order that, being shapeless and
formless. He may be visible to no one, so as not
to be longed for. For the mind, not seeing the
form of God, is empty of Him. But how can
any one pray if he has no one to whom he may
flee for refuge, on whom he may lean ? For if
he meets with no resistance, he falls out into
vacuity. Yea, says he, we ought not to fear
God, but to love Him. I agree ; but the con-
sciousness of having done well in each good act
will accomplish this. Now well-doing proceeds
from fearing. But fear, says he, strikes death
into the soul. Nay, but I affirm that it does not
strike death, but awakens the soul, and converts
it. And perhaps the injunction not to fear God
might be right, if we men did not fear many
other things .; such, for instance, as plots against
us by those who are like us, and wild beasts,
serpents, diseases, sufferings, demons, and a
thousand other ills. Let him, then, who asks us
not to fear God, rescue us from these, that we
may not fear them ; but if he cannot, why
should he grudge that we should be delivered
from a thousand fears by one fear, the fear of the
Just One, and that it should be possible by a
slight* faith in Him to remove a thousand
' The words in italics are inserted by conjecture. " Sometimes
incomprehensible, sometimes illimitable," occur only in one MS.
2 We have adopted Wieseler's suggestions.
3 This word is justly suspected. The passage is in other respects
corrupt.
< The word " slight " is not used in reference to the character of
the faith, but to indicate that the act of faith is a small act compared
with the results that flow from it.
afflictions from ourselves and others, and receive
instead an exchange of blessings, and that,
doing no ill in consequence of fear of the God
who sees everything, we should continue in
peace even in the present life.
CHAP. XII. THE FEAR AND LOVE OF GOD.
"Thus, then, grateful service to Him who is
truly Lord, renders us free from service to all
other masters. 5 If, then, it is possible for any
one to be free from sin without fearing God, let
him not fear ; for under the influence of love to
Him one cannot do what is displeasing to Him.
For, on the one hand, it is written that we are
to fear Him, and we have been commanded to
love Him, in order that each of us may use that
prescription which is suitable to his constitution.
Fear Him, therefore, because He is just ; but
whether you fear Him or love Him, sin not.
And may it be the case that any one who fears
Him shall be able to gain the victory over un-
lawful desires, shall not lust after what belongs
to others, shall practise kindness, shall be sober,
and act justly ! For I see some who are imper-
fect in their fear of Him sinning very much. Let
us therefore fear God, not only because He is
just ; for it is through pity for those who have
received injustice that He inflicts punishment on
those who have done the injustice. As water
therefore quenches fire, so does fear extinguish
the desire for evil practices. He who teaches
fearlessness does not himself fear ; but he who
does not fear, does not believe that there will
be a judgment, strengthens his lusts, acts as
a magician, and accuses others of the deeds
which he himself does."
CHAP. XIII. THE EVIDENCE OF THE SENSES-
CONTRASTED WITH THAT FROM SUPERNATURAL
VISION.
Simon, on hearing this, interrupted him, and
said : " I know against whom you are making
these remarks ; but in order that I may not
spend any time in discussing subjects which I do
not wish to discuss, repeating the same state-
ments to refute you, reply to that which is con-
cisely stated by us. You professed that you had
well understood the doctrines and deeds ^ of
your teacher because you saw them before you
with your own eyes,^ and heard them with your
5 We have adopted an emendation of a passage which is plainly
corrupt.
6 Doctrines and deeds; lit., the things of your teacher.
^ The MSS. have here eceoveia, " activity." This has been
amended into ivapyna, " with plainness, with distinctness. "
'Evdpyfia is used throughout m opposition to OTrracria, opa/xa, and
ivvTrvLov, and means the act of seeing and hearing by our own senses
in plain daylight, when to doubt the fact observed is to doubt the
senses; OTrrarrta is apparition or vision in ecstasy, or some extraor-
dinary way but that of sleep; opana and evvirviov are restricted to
visions in sleep. The last term implies this. The first means simply
" a thing seen."
322
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XVII.
own ears, and that it is not possible for any other
to have anything similar by vision or apparition.
But I shall show that this is false. He who hears
any one with his own ears, is not altogether fully
assured of the truth of what is said ; for his
mind has to consider whether he is wrong or
not, inasmuch as he is a man as far as appear-
ance goes. But apparition not merely presents
an object to view, but inspires him who sees it
with confidence, for it comes from God. Now
reply first to this." '
CHAP. XIV. — THE EVIDENCE OF THE SENSES MORE
TRUSTWORTHY THAN THAT OF SUPERNATURAL
VISION.
And Peter said : " You proposed to speak to
one point, you replied to another.^ For your
proposition was, that one is better able to know
more fully, and to attain confidence,^ when he
hears in consequence of an apparition, than when
he hears with his own ears ; but when you set
about the matter, you were for persuading us
that he who hears through an apparition is surer
than he who hears with his own ears. Finally,
you alleged that, on this account, you knew more
satisfactorily the doctrines of Jesus than I do,
because you heard His words through an appa-
rition. But I shall reply to the proposition you
made at the beginning. The prophet, because
he is a prophet, having first given certain infor-
mation with regard to what is objectively •♦ said
by him, is believed with confidence ; and being
known beforehand to be a true prophet, and
being examined and questioned as the disciple
wishes, he replies : But he who trusts to appari-
tion or vision and dream is insecure. For he
does not know to whom he is trusting. For it is
possible either that he may be an evil demon or
a deceptive spirit, pretending in his speeches to
be what he is not. But if any one should wish
to inquire of him who he is who has appeared,
he can say to himself whatever he hkes. And
thus, gleaming forth like a wicked one, and re-
maining as long as he likes, he is at length
extinguished, not remaining with the questioner
so long as he wished him to do for the purpose
of consulting him. For any one that sees by
means of dreams cannot inquire about whatever
he may wish. For reflection is not in the spe-
cial power of one who is asleep. Hence we, de-
siring to have information in regard to something
in our waking hours, inquire about something
else in our dreams ; or without inquiring, we
' [Comp. Recognitions, ii. 50, 51, 61-65. The emphasis laid
upon supernatural visions in the remainder of the Homily has been
supposed to convey an insinuation against the revelations to the
Apostle Paul. — R.]
- Probably it should be dTre/cAiVio instead of arrffoptVco, "you
turned aside to another."
3 The words in italics are inserted conjecturally, to fill up a lacuna
in the best ms.
4 £i'apya>s, " with reference to things palpable to our senses."
hear about matters that do not concern us, and
awaking from sleep we are dispirited because we
have neither heard nor inquired about those mat-
ters which we were eager to know."
CHAP. XV. — THE EVIDENCE FROM DREAMS DIS-
CUSSED.
And Simon said : " If you maintain that ap-
paritions do not always reveal the truth, yet for
all that, visions and dreams, being God-sent, do
not speak falsely in regard to those matters which
they wish to tell." And Peter said : " You were
right in saying that, being God-sent, they do not
speak falsely. But it is uncertain if he who sees
has seen a God-sent dream." And Simon said :
" If he who has had the vision is just, he has
seen a true vision." And Peter said: "You
were right. But who is just, if he stands in need
of a vision that he may learn what he ought to
learn, and do what he ought to do ? " And Si-
mon said : " Grant me this, that the just man
alone can see a true vision, and I shall then reply
to that other point. For I have come to the
conclusion that an impious man does not see a
true dream." And Peter said : " This is false ;
and I can prove it both apart from Scripture
and by Scripture ; but I do not undertake to
persuade you. For the man who is inclined
to fall in love with a bad woman, does not change
his mind so as to care for a lawful union with
another woman in every respect good ; but
sometimes they love the worse woman through
prepossessions, though they are conscious that
there is another who is more excellent. And
you are ignorant, in consequence of some such
state of mind." And Simon said : " Dismiss
this subject, and discuss the matter on which you
promised to speak. For it seems to me impos-
sible that impious men should receive dreams
from God in any way whatever.
CHAP. XVI. — NONE BUT EVIL DEMONS APPEAR TO
THE IMPIOUS.
And Peter said : " I remember that I promised
to prove this point, and to give my proofs in re-
gard to it from Scripture and apart from Scripture.
And now listen to what I say. We know that
there are many (if you will pardon me the state-
ment ; and if you don't, I can appeal to those who
are present as judges) who worship idols, com-
mit adultery, and sin in every way, and yet they see
true visions and dreams, and some of them have
also apparitions of demons. For I maintain
that the eyes of mortals cannot see the incor-
poreal form of the Father or Son, because it is
illumined by exceeding great light. Wherefore
it is not because God envies, but because He
pities, that He cannot be seen by man who has
been turned into flesh. For he who sees God
Chap. XIX.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
323
cannot live. For the excess of light dissolves
the flesh of him who sees ; unless by the secret
power of God the flesh be changed into the na-
ture of light, so that it can see light, or the sub-
stance of light be changed into flesh, so that it
can be seen by flesh. For the power to see the
Father, without undergoing any change, belongs
to the Son alone. But the just shall also in like
manner behold God ; ' for in the resurrection of
the dead, when they have been changed, as far
as their bodies are concerned, into light, and
become like the angels, they shall be able to see
Him. Finally, then, if any angel be sent that
he may he seen by a man, he is changed into
flesh, that he may be able to be seen by flesh.
For no one can see the incorporeal power not
only of the Son, but not even of an angel. But
if one sees an apparition, he should know that
this is the apparition of an evil demon.
CHAP. XVII. THE IMPIOUS SEE TRUE DREAMS
AND VISIONS.
" But it is manifest that the impious see true
visions and dreams, and I can prove it from
Scripture. Finally, then, it is written in the law,
how Abimelech, who was impious, wished to de-
file the wife of just Abraham by intercourse, and
how he heard the commandment from God in
his sleep, as the Scripture .saith, not to touch
her,^ because she was dwelling with her husband.
Pharaoh, also an impious man, saw a dream in
regard to the fulness and thinness of the ears of
corn, 3 to whom Joseph said, when he gave the
interpretation, that the dream had come from
God.-* Nebuchadnezzar, who worshipped images,
and ordered those who worshipped God to be
cast into fire, saw a dream 5 extending over the
whole age of tlie world.'' And let no one say,
' No one who is impious sees a vision when
awake.' That is false. Nebuchadnezzar him-
self, having ordered three men to be cast into
fire, saw a fourth when he looked into the fur-
nace, and said, ' I see the fourth as the Son of
God.' ^ And nevertheless, though they saw ap-
paritions, visions, and dreams, they were impious.
Thus, we cannot infer with absolute certainty
that the man who has seen visions, and dreams,
and apparitions, is undoubtedly pious. For in
the case of the pious man, the truth gushes
up natural and pure ^ in his mind, not worked up
through dreams, but granted to the good through
intelligence.
CHAP. XVIII. THE NATURE OF REVELATION.
" Thus to me also was the Son revealed by
the Father. Wherefore I know what is the
meaning of revelation, having learned it in my
own case. For at the very time when the Lord
said, ' Who do they say that I am ? ' 9 and when
I heard one saying one thing of Him, and an-
other another, it came into my heart to say (and
I know not, therefore, hovv I said it), 'Thou art
the Son of the living God.' '° But He, pronoun-
cing me blessed, pointed out to me that it was
the Father who had revealed it to me ; and
from this time I learned that revelation is knowl-
edge gained without instruction, and without ap-
parition and dreams. And this is indeed the
case. For in the soul^' which has been placed
in us by '^ God, there is all the truth ; but it is
covered and revealed by the hand of God, who
works so far as each one through his knowledge
deserves. '3 But the declaration of anything by
means of apparitions and dreams from without
is a proof, not that it comes from revelation, but
from wrath. Finally, then, it is written in the
law, that God, being angry, said to Aaron and
Miriam,''* ' If a prophet arise from amongst you,
I shall make myself known to him through vis-
ions and dreams, but not so as to my servant
Moses ; because I shall speak to him in an out-
ward appearance, and not through dreams, just
as one will speak to his own friend.' You see
how the statements of wrath are made through
visions and dreams, but the statements to a
friend are made face to face, in oi/tward ap-
pearance, and not through riddles and visions
and dreams, as to an enemy.
CHAP. XIX. OPPOSITION TO PETER UNREASONABLE.
" If, then, our Jesus appeared to you in a
vision, made Himself known to you, and spoke
to you, it was as one who is enraged with an
adversary ; and this is the reason why it was
through visions and dreams, or through revela-
tions that were from without, that He spoke to
you. But can any one be rendered fit for in-
strucdon through apparitions? And if you will
say, ' It is possible,' then I ask, ' Why did our
teacher abide and discourse a whole year to
those who were awake ? ' And how are we to
believe your word, when you tell us that He ap-
peared to you? And how did He appear to
you, when you entertain opinions contrary to
His teaching? But if you were seen and taught
' We have translated a bold conjecture. The text has, " The
just not in like manner," without any verb, which Schwegler amended:
" To the just this power does not belong in like manner."
- Gen. x.\. 3.
3 Gen. xli. 5, ff.
* Gen. xli. 25.
5 Dan. ii. 31.
* Lit , of the whole length of the age.
^ Dan. iii. 25.
8 We have amended this passage. The text applies the words
" natural or innate and pure " to the mind.
9 Matt. xvi. 13.
1° Matt. xvi. 16.
" This word is not in the text. Schliemann proposed the word
"heart." Possibly "breath" or "spirit" may be the lost word.
See above.
12 " By " should properly be " from."
13 Lit., " who produces according to the merit of each one know-
ing." Cotelerius translated, " who, knowing the merit of each man,
does to him according to it." The idea seems to be, that God un-
covers the truth hidden in the soul to each man according to his deserts.
'4 Num. xii. 6,7; Ex. xxxiii. 11.
324
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XVIII.
by Him, and became His apostle for a single
hour, proclaim His utterances, interpret His say-
ings, love His apostles, contend not with me
who companied with Him. For in direct oppo-
sition to me, who am a firm rock, the foundation
of the Church,' you now stand. If you were not
opposed to me, you would not accuse me, and
revile the truth proclaimed by me, in order that
I may not be believed when I state what I my-
self have heard with my own ears from the Lord,
as if I were evidently a person that was con-
demned and in bad repute.^ But if you say
that I am condemned, you bring an accusation
against God, who revealed the Christ to me, and
you inveigh against Him who pronounced me
blessed on account of the revelation. But if,
indeed, you really wish to work in the cause of
truth, learn first of all from us what we have
learned from Him, and, becoming a disciple of
the truth, become a fellow-worker with us."
' Matt. xvi. i8.
2 We have adopted an emendation of Schwegl'-r's. The text
reads, " in good repute." [The word "condemned" is supposed to
be borrowed from the account of the contest at Antioch in Gal. ii. ii,
where it is applied to the Apostle Peter. This passage has therefore
been regarded as a covert attack upon the Apostle Paul. — R.J
CHAP. XX. — ANOTHER SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION
PROPOSED.
When Simon heard this, he said : " Far be it
from me to become his or your disciple. For I
am not ignorant of what I ought to know ; but
the inquiries which I made as a learner were
made that I may see if you can prove that actual
sight is more distinct than apparition.s But you
spoke according to your own pleasure ; you did
not prove. And now, to-morrow I shall come
to your opinions in regard to God, whom you
affirmed to be the framer of the world ; and in
my discussion with you, I shall show that he is
not the highest, nor good, and that your teacher
made the same statements as I now do ; and I
shall prove that you have not understood him."
On saying this he went away, not wishing to
listen to what might be said to the propositions
which he had laid down.
3 This passage is corrupt in the text. Dressel reads, " that
activity is more distinct than apparition." By activity would be
meant, " acting while one is awake, and in full possession of his
senses; " and thus the meaning would be nearly ihe same as in our
translation.
HOMILY XVIII.
CHAP. I. SIMON MAINTAINS TH.AT THE FRAMER
OF THE WORLD IS NOT THE HKJHEST GOD.
At break of day, when Peter went forth to
discourse, Simon anticipated him, and said :
" When I went away yesterday, I promised to
you to return to-day, and in a discussion show
that he who framed the world is not the highest
God, but that the highest God is another who
alone is good, and who has remained unknown
up to this time. At once, then, state to me
whether you maintain that the framer of the
world is the same as the lawgiver or not? If,
then, he is the lawgiver, he is just ; but if he is
just, he is not good. But if he is not good, then
it was another that Jesus proclaimed, when he
said,' ' Do not call me good ; for one is good,
the Father who is in the heavens.' Now a law-
giver cannot be both just and good, for these
qualities do not harmonize." ^ And Peter said :
" First tell us what are the actions which in your
opinion constitute a person good, and what are
those which constitute him just, in order that
thus we may address our words to the same
mark." And Simon said : " Do you state first
what in your opinion is goodness, and what
justice."
J Matt. xix. 17.
^ [Comp. xvii. 5, and Recognitions, iii. 37, 38. ■
■R.]
CHAP. n. — DEFINITION OF GOODNESS AND JUSTICE.
And Peter said : " That I may not waste my
time in contentious discussions, while I make
the fair demand that you should give answers
to my propositions, I shall myself answer those
questions which I put, as is your wish. I then
affirm that the man who bestows ^ goods is good,
just as I see the Framer of the world doing when
He gives the sun to the good, and the rain to
the just and unjust." And Simon said : " It is
most unjust that he should give the same things
to the just and the unjust." And Peter said :
" Do you, then, in your turn state to us what
course of conduct would constitute Him good."
And Simon said : " It is you that must state
this." And Peter said : " I will. He who gives
the same things to the good and just, and also
to the evil and unjust, is not even just according
to you ; but you would with reason call Him
just if He gave goods to the good and evils to
the evil. What course of conduct, then, would
He adopt, if He does not adopt the plan of giv-
ing things temporal to the evil, if perchance
they should be converted, and things eternal to
the good, if at least they remain good? And
thus by giving to all, but by gratifying the more
3 There is a lacuna in one of the MSS. here, which is supplied in
various ways. We have inserted the word " goods."
Chap. V.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
325
excellent,' His justice is good ; and all the more
long-suffering in this, that to sinners who repent
He freely grants forgiveness of their sins, and to
those who have acted well He assigns even eter-
nal life. But judging at last, and giving to each
one what he deserves, He is just. If, then, this
is right, confess it ; but if it appears to you not
to be right, refute it."
CHAP. III. GOD BOTH GOOD AND JUST.
And Simon said : "I said once for all, ' Every
lawgiver, looking to jusdce, is just.' " And Peter
said : " If it is the part of him who is good not
to lay down a law, but of him who is just to lay
down a law, in this way the Framer of the world
is both good and just. He is good, inasmuch
as it is plain that He did not lay down a law in
writing from the times of Adam to Moses ; but
inasmuch as He had a written law from Moses to
the present times, ^ He is just also." And Simon
said : " Prove to me from the utterances of your
teacher that it is within the power of the same
man to be good and just ; for to me it seems
impossible that the lawgiver who is good should
also be just." And Peter said : " I shall explain
to you how goodness itself is just. Our teacher
Himself first said to the Pharisee who asked
Him, 3 ' What ^hall I do to inherit eternal life ? '
' Do not call me good ; for one is good, even the
Father who is in the heavens ; ' and straightway
He introduced these words, ' But if thou shalt
wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.'
And when he said, ' What commandments ? ' He
pointed him to those of the law. Now He
would not, if He were indicating some other
good being, have referred him to the com-
mandments of the Just One. That indeed justice
and goodness are different I allow, but you do
not know that it is within the power of the same
being to be good and just. For He is good, in
that He is now long-suffering with the penitent,
and welcomes them ; but just, when acting as
judge He will give to every one according to his
deserts."
CHAP. IV.
■THE UNREVEALED GOD.
And Simon said : " How, then, if the framer
of the world, who also fashioned Adam, was
known, and known too by those who were just
according to the law, and moreover by the just
and unjust, and the whole world, does your
teacher, coming after all these, say ,4 ' No one
has known the Father but the Son, even as no
' This translation of Cotelerius is doubtful. More correctly it
would be, "by gratifying different people," which does not make
sense. Wieseler proposes, " by gratifying in different ways."
2 The text seems corrupt here. Literally it is, " from Moses to
the present limes, as has been written, He is just also."
3 Luke xviii. i8, ff. ; Matt. xix. i6, ff.
* Matt. xi. 27; [Luke x. 22. Comp. Homily XVII. 4; Recogni-
tions, ii. 47, 48. The discussion here is much fuller. — R.J.
one knoweth the Son but the Father, and those to
whom the Son may wish to reveal Him ? ' But
he would not have made this statement, had he
not proclaimed a Father who was still unrevealed,
whom the law speaks of as the highest, and who
has not given any utterance either good or bad
(as Jeremiah testifies in the Lamentations s) ;
who also, limiting the nations to seventy lan-
guages, according to the number of the sons of
Israel who entered Egypt, and according to the
boundaries of these nations, gave to his own
Son, who is also called Lord, and who brought
into order the heaven and the earth, the Hebrews
as his portion, and defined him to be God of
gods, that is, of the gods who received the other
nations as their portions. Laws, therefore, pro-
ceeded from all the so-called gods to their own
divisions, which consist of the other nations. In
like manner also from the Son of the Lord of all
came forth the law which is established among
the Hebrews. And this state of matters was
determined on, that if any one should seek refuge
in the law of any one, he should belong to the
division of him whose law he undertook to obey.
No one knew the highest Father, who was unre-
vealed, just as they did not know that his Son
was his Son. Accordingly at this moment you
yourself, in assigning the special attributes of the
unrevealed Most High to the Son, do not know
that he is the Son, being the Father of Jesus,
who with you is called the Christ.
CHAP. V. PETER DOUBTS SIMON'S HONESTY.
When Simon had made these statements,
Peter said to him : " Can you call to witness that
these are your beliefs that being Himself, — I
do not mean Him whom you speak of now as
being unrevealed, but Him in whom you believe,
though you do not confess Him? For you are
talking nonsense when you define one thing in-
stead of another. Wherefore, if you call Him
to witness that you believe what you say, I shall
answer you. But if you continue discussing with
me what you do not believe, you compel me to
strike the empty air." And Simon said : " It
is from some of your own disciples that I have
heard that this is the truths ^ And Peter said :
" Do not bear false witness? " And Simon said :
" Do not rebuke me, most insolent man." And
Peter said : " So long as you do not tell who it
was who said so, / affirm that you are a liar."
And Simon said : " Suppose that I myself have
got up these doctrines, or that I heard them
from some other, give me your answer to them.
For if they cannot be overturned, then I have
learned that this is the truth." And Peter said :
" If it is a human invention, I will not reply to
5 Lam. iii. 38.
6 The words in italics are inserted to fill up a lacuna which occurs
here in the Vatican MS.
326
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XVIII,
it ; but if you are held fast by the supposition
that it is the truth, acknowledge to me that this
is the case, and I can then myself say something
in regard to the matter." i\nd Simon said :
" Once for all, then, these doctrines seem to me
to be true. Give me your reply, if you have
aught to say against them."
CHAP. VI. — THE NATURE OF REVELATION.
And Peter said : " If this is the case, you are
acting most impiously. For if it belongs to the
Son, who arranged heaven and earth, to reveal
His unrevealed Father to whomsoever He wishes,
you are, as I said, acting mr)st impiously in re-
vealing Him to those to whom He has not
revealed Him." And Simon said : " But he
himself wishes me to reveal him." And Peter
said : " You do not understand what I mean,
Simon. But listen and understand. When it is
said that the Son will reveal Him to whom He
wishes, it is meant that such an one is to learn
of Him not by instruction, but by revelation
only. For it is revelation when that which lies
secretly veiled in all the hearts of men is re-
vealed imveiled by His God's own will without
any utterance. And thus knowledge comes to
one, not because he has been instructed, but be-
cause he has understood. i\nd yet the person
who understands it cannot demonstrate it to
another, since he did not himself receive it by
instruction ; nor can he reveal it, since he is
not himself the Son, unless he maintains that he
is himself the Son. But you are not the standing
Son. For if you were the Son, assuredly you
would know those who are worthy of such a
revelation. But you do not know them. For if
you knew them, you would do as they do who
know."
CHAP. VII. — SIMON CONFESSES HIS IGNORANCE.
And Simon said : " I confess I have not un-
derstood what you mean by the expression, ' You
would do as they do who know.' " And Peter said :
" If you have not understood it, then you cannot
know the mind of every one ; and if you are
ignorant of this, then you do not know those
who are worthy of the revelation. You are not
the Son, for ' the Son knows. Wherefore He
reveals Him to whomsoever He wishes, because
they are worthy." And Simon said : " Be not
deceived. I know those who are worthy, and I
am not the Son. And yet I have not understood
what meaning you attach to the words, ' He re-
veals Him to whomsoever He wishes.' But I
said that I did not understand it, not because
I did not know it, but because I knew that those
who were present did not understand it, in order
^ The Greek has ' ' but."
that you may state it more distinctly, so that
they may perceive what are the reasons why we
are carrying on this discussion." And Peter said :
" I cannot state the matter more clearly : explain
what meaning you have attached to the words."
And Simon said : " There is no necessity why I
should state your opinions." And Peter said :
"You evidently, Simon, do not understand it,
and yet you do not wish to confess, that you
may not be detected in your ignorance, and thus
be proved not to be the standing Son. For you
hint this, though you do not wish to state it
plainly ; and, indeed, I who am not a prophet,
but a disciple of the true Prophet, know well from
the hints you have given what your wishes are.
For you, though you do not understand even
what is distinctly said, wish to call yourself son
in opposition to us." And Simon said : " I will
remove every pretext from you. I confess I do
not understand what can be the meaning of the
statement, ' The Son reveals Hi7n to whomso-
ever He wishes.' State therefore what is its
meaning more distinctly."
CHAP. VIII. THE W'ORK OF REVELATION BELONGS
TO THE SON ALONE.
And Peter said : " Since, at least in appear-
ance, you have confessed that yoH do not under-
stand it, reply to the question I put to you, and
you will learn the meaning of the statement. Tell
me, do you maintain that the Son, whoever he
be, is just, or that he is not just? " And Simon
said : " I maintain that he is most just." And
Peter said : " Seeing He is just, why does He
not make the revelation to all, but only to those
to whom He wishes?" And Simon said: " Be-
cause, being just, he wishes to make the revela-
tion only to the worthy." And Peter said :
" Must He not therefore know the mind of each
one, in order that He may make the revelation
to the worthy? " And Simon said : " Of course
he must." And Peter said : " With reason, there-
fore, has the work of giving the revelation been
confined to Him alone, for He a^one knows the
mind of every one ; and it has not been given
to you, who are not able to understand even that
which is stated by us."
CHAP. IX. — HOW SIMON BEARS HIS EXPOSURE.
When Peter said this, the multitudes applaud-
ed.^ But Simon, being thus exposed,^ blushed
through shame, and rubbing his forehead, said :
" Well, then, do they declare that I, a magician,
yea, even I who syllogize, am conquered by Pe-
ter? It is not so. But if one should syllogize,
though carried away and conquered, he still re-
2 [The remainder of the Homily is without a close parallel in the
Recognitions. — R.j
3 Lit., " caught m the act."
Chap. XIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
327
tains the truth that is in him. For the weakness
in the defender is not identical with the truth in
the conquered man,' But I assure you that I
have judged all those who are bystanders worthy
to know the unrevealed Father. Wherefore, be-
cause I publicly reveal him to them, you your-
self, through envy, are angry with me who wish
to confer a benefit on them."
CHAP. X.
•PETERS REPLY TO SIMON.
And Peter said : " Since you have thus spoken
to please the multitudes who are present, I shall
speak to them, not to please them, but to tell
them the truth. Tell me how you know all those
who are present to be worthy, when not even
one of them agreed with your exposition of the
subject ; for the giving of applause to me in op-
position to you is not the act of those who agree
with you, but of those who agree with me, to
whom they gave the applause for having spoken
the truth. But since God, who is just, judges
the mind of each one — a doctrine which you
affirm to be true — He would not have wished
this to be given through the left hand to those
on the right hand, exactly as the man who re-
ceives anything from a robber is himself guilty.
So that, on this account, He did not wish them
to receive what is brought by you ; but they
are to receive the revelation through the Son,
who has been set apart for this work. For to
whom is it reasonable that the Father should
give a revelation, but to His only Son, because
He knows Him to be worthy of such a revela-
tion ? And so this is a matter which one can-
not teach or be taught, but it must be revealed
by the ineffable hand to him who is worthy to
know it."
CHAP. XI. SIMON PROFESSES TO UTTER HIS REAL
SENTIMENTS.
And Simon said : " It contributes much to
victory, if the man who wars uses his own weap-
ons ; for what one loves he can in real earnest
defend, and that which is defended with genuine
earnestness has no ordinary power in it. Where-
fore in future I shall lay before you my real
opinions. I maintain that there is some unre-
vealed power, unknown to all, even to the
Creator himself, as Jesus himself has also de-
clared, though he did not know what he said.
For when one talks a great deal he sometimes hits
' This passage is deemed corrupt by commentators. We have
made no change in the reading of the mss , except that of vfvi.K-qij.ivqv
into vei'Kcrjmei'o?, and perhaps even this is unnecessary. The last
sentence means: "A man m:iy overcome the weakness of his ad-
versary; but he does not therefore strip him of the truth, which he
possesses even when he is conquered." The Latin translation of
Cotelerius, with some emendations from later editors, yields this:
" But they say that I, a magician, am not merely conquered by Peter,
but reduced to straits by his reasonings. But not even though one be
reduced to straits by reasonings, has he the truth which is in him con-
quered. For the weakness of the defender is not the truth of the con-
queror."
the truth, not knowing what he is saying. I am
referring to the statement which he uttered, ' No
one knows the Father.' " And Peter said : " Do
not any longer profess that you know His doc-
trines. And Simon said : " I do not profess to
believe his doctrines ; but I*am discussing points
in which he was by accident right." And Peter
said : *' Not to give you any pretext for escape, I
shall carry on the discussion with you in the way
you wish. At the same time, I call all to witness
that you do not yet believe the statement which
you just now made. For I know your opinions.
And in order that you may not imagine that I
am not speaking the truth, I shall expound your
opinions, that you may know that you are dis-
cussing with one who is well acquainted with
them.
CHAP. XII. — Simon's opinions expounded by
PETER.
" We, Simon, do not assert that from the great
power, which is also called the dominant - power,
two angels were sent forth, the one to create the
world, the other to give the law ; nor that each
one when he came proclaimed himself, on ac-
count of what he had done, as the sole creator ;
nor that there is one who stands, will stand, and
is opposed. 3 Learn how you disbelieve even in
respect to this subject. If you say that there is
an unrevealed power, that power is full of igno-
rance. For it did not foreknow the ingratitude
of the angels who were sent by it." And Simon
became exceedingly angry with Peter for say-
ing this, and interrupted his discourse, saying :
" What nonsense is this you speak, you daring
and most impudent of men, reveaUng plainly be-
fore the multitudes the secret doctrines, so that
they can be easily learned?" And Peter said:
" Why do you grudge that the present audience
should receive benefit?" And Simon said:
" Do you then allow that such knowledge is a
benefit? " And Peter said : " I allow it : for the
knowledge of a false doctrine is beneficial, inas-
much as you do not fall into it because of igno-
rance." And Simon said: "You are evidently
not able to reply to the propositions I laid before
you. I maintain that even your teacher affirms
that there is some Father unrevealed.
CH.4P. XIII. PETER'S EXPLANATION OF THE
PASSAGE.
And Peter said : " I shall reply to that which
you wish me to speak of, -y- namely, the passage,
' No one knows the Father but the Son, nor does
any one know the Son but the Father, and they to
2 Kvpca.
3 The text is corrupt. Various emendations have been proposed,
none of which are satisfactory. Uhlhorn proposes, " That there is a
standing one, one who will stand. You who are opposed, learn how
you disbelieve, and that this subject which you say is the power un-
revealed is full of Ignorance." P. 328, note i.
328
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XVIII.
whom the Son may wish to reveal Him.' First,
then, I am astonished that, while this statement
admits of countless interpretations, you should
have chosen the very dangerous position of main-
taining that the statement is made in reference
to the ignorance of the Creator (Demiurge), and
all who are under him. For, first, the statement
can apply to all the Jews who think that David
is the father of Christ, and that Christ himself is
his son, and do not know that He is the Son of
God. Wherefore it is appropriately said, ' No
one knows the Father,' since, instead of God,
they affirmed David to be His father ; and the
additional remark, that no one knows even the
Son, is quite correct, since' they did not know
that He was the Son. The statement also, ' to
whomsoever the Son may wish to reveal Him,' is
also correct ; for He being the Son from the be-
ginning, was alone appointed to give the revela-
tion to those to whom He wishes to give it.
And thus the first man (protoplast) Adam must
have heard of Him ; and Enoch, who pleased
God, must have known Him ; and Noah, the
righteous one, must have become acquainted with
Him ; and Abraam His friend must have under-
stood Him ; and Isaac must have perceived Him ;
and Jacob, who wrestled with Him, must have
believed in Him ; and the revelation must have
been given to all among the people who were
worthy.
CHAP. XIV. SIMON REFUTED.
" But if, as you say, it will be possible to know
Him, because He is now revealed to all through
Jesus,' are you not stating what is most unjust,
when you say that these men did not know Him,
who were the seven pillars of the world, and who
were able to please the most just God, and that
so many now from all nations who were impious
know Him in every respect? Were not those
who were superior to every one not deemed wor-
thy to know Him ? ^ And how can that be good
w^hich is not just? unless you wish to give the
name of ' good,' not to him who does good to
those who act justly, but to him who loves the
unjust, even though they do not believe, and
reveals to them the secrets which he would not
reveal to the just. But such conduct is befitting
neither in one who is good nor just, but in one
who has come to hate the pious. Are not you,
Simon, the standing one, who have the boldness
to make these statements which never have been
so made before?"
CHAP. XV. — MATTHEW XI. 25 DISCUSSED.
And Simon, being vexed at this, said : " Blame
your own teacher, who said, ' I thank Thee, Lord
' The text is corrupt. We have placed Sid to after eiSeVai.
2 Another reading is: " Were not those deemed better worthy
than any one else to know Him? "
of heaven and earth, that what was concealed
from the wise. Thou hast revealed to suckling
babes.' " 3 And Peter said : " This is not the
way in which the statement was made ; but I
shall speak of it as if it had been made in the
way that has seemed good to you. Our Lord,
even if He had made this statement, ' What was
concealed from the wise, the Father revealed to
babes,' could not even thus be thought to point
out another God and Father in addition to
Him who created the world. For it is possible
that the concealed things of which He spoke
may be those of the Creator (Demiurge) him-
self; because Isaiah * says, 'I will open my
mouth in parables, and I will belch forth things
concealed from the foundation of the world.'
Do you allow, then, that the prophet was not
ignorant of the things concealed, which Jesus
says were concealed from the wise, but revealed
to babes? And how was the Creator (Demi-
urge) ignorant of them, if his prophet Isaiah
was not ignorant of them ? But our Jesus did
not in reality say ' what was concealed,' but He
said what seems a harsher statement ; for He
said, ' Thou hast concealed these things from the
wise, and 5 hast revealed them to sucking babes.'
Now the word ' Thou hast concealed ' implies
that they had once been known to them ; for
the key of the kingdom of heaven, that is, the
knowledge of the secrets, lay with them.
CHAP. XVI. THESE THINGS HIDDEN JUSTLY FROM
THE WISE.
" And do not say He acted impiously towards
the wise in hiding these things from them. Far
be such a supposition from us. For He did not
act impiously ; but since they hid the knowledge
of the kingdom,^ and neither themselves entered
nor allowed those who wished to enter, on this
account, and justly, inasmuch as they hid the
ways from those who wished, were in like man-
ner the secrets hidden from them, in order that
they themselves might experience what they had
done to others, and with what measure they had
measured, an equal measure might be meted out
to them. 7 For to him who is worthy to know,
is due that which he does not know ; but from
him who is not worthy, even should he seem to
have any thing, it is taken away,'^ even if he be
wise in other matters ; and it is given to the
worthy, even should they be babes as far as the
times of their discipleship are concerned.
3 Matt. xi. 25; [Luke x. 21; comp. Recognitions, iv. 5].
< The passage does not occur in Isaiah, but in P.s. Ix.wiii. 2. The
words are quoted not from the LXX., but from the Gospel of
Matthew (xiii. 35), where in some Mss. they are attributed to Isaiah.
See Uhlhorn, p. 119.
5 The words in italics are omitted in the MSS. ; but the context
leaves no doubt that they were once in the text.
'i Luke xi. 52.
^ Matt. vii. 2; [Luke vi. 38].
8 Luke viii. 18.
Chap. XXI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
329
CHAP. XVII. THE WAY TO THE KINGDOM NOT
CONCEALED FROM THE ISR.A.ELITES.
" But if one shall say nothing was concealed
from the sons of Israel, because it is written,"
' Nothing escaped thy notice, O Israel (for do
not say, O Jacob, The way is hid from me),'
he ought to understand that the things that
belong to the kingdom had been hid from them,
but that the way that leads to the kingdom, that
is, the mode of life, had not been hid from them.
Wherefore it is that He says, ' For say not that
the way has been hid from me.' But by the way
is meant the mode of life ; for Moses says,^ ' Be-
hold, I have set before thy face the way of life
and the way of death.' And the Teacher spoke
in harmony with this : ^ ' Enter ye through the
strait and narrow way, through which ye shall
enter into life.' And somewhere else, when one
asked Him,'* ' What shall I do to inherit eternal
life ? ' He pointed out to him the command-
ments of the law.
CHAP. XVIII. ISAIAH I. 3 EXPLAINED.
" From the circumstance that Isaiah said, in
the person of God,7 ' But Israel hath not known
me, and the people hath not understood me,' it
is not to be inferred that Isaiah indicated another
God besides Him who is known ; ^ but he meant
that the known God was in. another sense un-
known, because the people sinned, being igno-
rant of the just character of the known God,
and imagined that they would not be punished
by the good God. Wherefore, after he said,
* But Israel hath not known me, and the people
hath not understood me,' he adds, ' Alas ! a sin-
ful nation, a people laden with sins.' For, not
being afraid, in consequence of their ignorance
of His justice, as I said, they became laden with
sins, supposing that He was merely good, and
would not therefore punish them for their sins.
CHAP. XIX. MISCONCEPTION OF GOD IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT.
" And some sinned thus, on account of im-
agining that there would be no judgment ^ be-
cause of His goodness. But others took an
opposite course. For, supposing the expressions
of the Scriptures which are against God, and are
unjust and false, to be true, they did not know
His real divinity and power. Therefore, in the
belief that He was ignorant and rejoiced in mur-
der, and let off the wicked in consequence of
the gifts of sacrifices ; yea, moreover, that He
deceived and spake falsely, and did every thing
that is unjust, they themselves did things like to
what their God did, and thus sinning, asserted
that they were acting piously. Wherefore it was
impossible for them to change to the better, and
when warned they took no heed. For they were
not afraid, since they became like their God
throu2;h such actions.
CHAP. XX.
SOME PARTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
WRITfEN TO TRY US.
' Isa. xl. 26, 27.
2 Deut. XXX. 15.
3 Matt, vii 13, 14.
^ Luke xviii. 18, ff. ; Matt. xix. 16, ff.
S I.sa. i. 3.
* Colelerius' MS. inserts " the Creator" (Demiurge).
^ We have adopted the Latin translation here, as giving the
meaning which viras intended by the writer; but the Greek will
scarcely admit of such a translation. Probably the text is corrupt, or
something is omitted. The literal translation is. " in consequence
of the unjndging supposition on account of the goodness."
" But one might with good reason maintain
that it was with reference to those who thought
Him to be such that the statement was made,
' No one knoweth the Father but the Son, as no
one knoweth even the Son, but the Father.' And
reasonably. For if they had known, they would
not have sinned, by trusting to the books written
against God, really for the purpose of trying.
But somewhere also He says, wishing to exhibit
the cause of their error more distinctly to them,
' On this account ye do err, not knowing the
true things of the Scriptures, on which account
ye are ignorant also of the power of God.'^
Wherefore every man who wishes to be saved
must become, as the Teacher said, a judge of
the books written to try us. For thus He spake :
' Become experienced bankers.' Now the need
of bankers arises from the circumstance that the
spurious is mixed up with the genuine,"
CHAP. XXI. — Simon's astonishment at peter's
TREATMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES.
When Peter said this, Simon pretended to be
utterly astonished at what was said in regard to
the Scriptures ; and as if in great agitation, he
said : " Far be it from me, and those who love
me, to Hsten to your discourses. And, indeed,
as long as I did not know that you held these
opinions in regard to the Scriptures, I endured
you, and discussed with you ; but now I retire.
Indeed, I ought at the first to have withdrawn,
because I heard you say, ' I, for my part, believe
no one who says anything against Him who
created the world, neither angels, nor prophets,
nor Scriptures, nor priests, nor teachers, nor any
one else, even though one should work signs and
miracles, even though he should lighten bril-
liantly in the air, or should make a revelation
through visions or through dreams.' Who, then,
can succeed in changing your mind, whether
well or ill, so as that you should hold opinions
different from what you have determined on,
seeing that you abide so persistently and im-
moveably in your own decision? "
8 Mark xii. 24.
130
.THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XIX.
CHAP. XXII.
PETER WORSHIPS ONE GOD.
When Simon said this, and was going to depart,
Peter said : " Listen to this one other remark,
and then go where you like." Whereupon Simon
turned back and remained, and Peter said : " I
know how you were then astonished when you
heard me say, 'Whosoever says anything what-
ever against God who created the world, I do
not believe him.' But listen now to something
additional, and greater than this. If God who
created the world has in reality such a character
as the Scriptures assign Him, and if somehow or
other He is incomparably wicked, more wicked '
than either the Scriptures were able to represent
Him, or any other can even conceive Him to
be, nevertheless - I shall not give up worshipping
Him alone, and doing His will. For I wish you
to know and to be convinced, that he who has
not affection for his own Creator, can never have
it towards another. And if he has it towards
another, he has it contrary to nature, and he is
ignorant that he has this passion for the unjust
from the evil one. Nor will he be able to retain
even it stedfastly. And, indeed, if there is an-
other above the Creator (Demiurge), he will
welcome me, since he is good, all the more that
I love my own Father ; and he will not welcome
you, as he knows that you have abandoned your
own natural Creator : for I do not call Him
Father, influenced by a greater hope, and not
caring for what is reasonable. Thus, even if you
find one who is superior to Him, he knows that
you will one day abandon him ; and the more
I " Incomparably wicked, more wicked than; " literally, " incom-
parably wicked as."
^ The Greek has o^uoicos, " in like manner." We have translated
SO that he has not been your father, since you
have abandoned Him who was really your
Father.
CHAP. XXIII. SIMON RETIRES.
" But you will say, ' He knows that there is no
other above him, and on this account he cannot
be abandoned.' Thanks, then, to there being
no other ; but He knows that the state of your
mind is one inclined to ingratitude. But if, know-
ing you to be ungrateful, He welcomes you, and
knowing me to be grateful, He does not receive
me. He is inconsiderate, according to your own
assertion, and does not act reasonably. And
thus, Simon, you are not aware that you are the
servant of wickedness." And Simon answered :
"Whence, then, has evil arisen? tell us." And
Peter said : " Since to-day you were the first to
go out, and you declared that you would not in
future hsten to me as being a blasphemer, come
to-morrow, if indeed you wish to learn, and I
shall explain the matter to you, and I will per-
mit you to ask me any questions you like, with-
out any dispute." And Simon said : " I shall do
as shall seem good to me." And saying this, he
went away. Now, none of those who entered
along with him went out along with him ; but,
falling at Peter's feet, they begged that they
might be pardoned for having been carried
away with Simon, and on repenting, to be wel-
comed. But Peter, admitting those persons who
repented, and the rest of the multitudes, laid his
hands upon them, praying, and healing those
who were sick amongst them ; and thus dismiss-
ing them, he urged them to return early about
dawn. And saying this, and going in with his
intimate friends, he made the usual preparations
for immediate repose, for it was now evening.
HOMILY XIX.
CHAP. I. SIMON UNDERTAKES TO PROVE THAT
THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD IS NOT BLAMELESS.
The next day Peter came forth earlier than
usual ; and seeing Simon with many others wait-
ing for him, he saluted the multitude, and began
to discourse. But no sooner did he begin than
Simon interrupted him, and said : " Pass by these
long introductions of yours, and answer clirectly
the questions I put to you. Since I perceive
that you ■ (as I know from what I heard at the
' This passage is corrupt. Wieseler has proposed to amend it by
bold transposition of the clauses. We make one slight alteration in
the text.
beginning, that you have no other purpose, than
by every contrivance to show that the Creator
himself is alone the blameless God), — since, as
I said, I perceive that you have such a decided
desire to maintain this, that you venture to de-
clare to be false some portions of the Scriptures
that clearly speak against him, for this reason I
have determined to-day to prove that it is im-
possible that he, being the Creator of all, should
be blameless. But this proof I can now begin,
if you reply to the questions which I put to
you.
Chap. IV.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
331
CHAP. II.
•THE EXISTENCE OF THE DEVIL AF-
FIRMED.
" Do you maintain that there is any prince of
evil or not ? ' For if you say that there is not, I
can prove to you from many statements, and
those too of your teacher, that there is ; but if
you honestly allow that the evil one exists, then
I shall speak in accordance with this belief."
And Peter said : " It is impossible for me to deny
the assertion of my Teacher. Wherefore I allow
that the evil one exists, because my Teacher,
who spoke the truth in all things, has frequently
asserted that he exists. For instance, then, he
acknowledges that he conversed with Him, and
tempted Him for forty days.^ And I know that
He has said somewhere else, ' If Satan casts out
Satan, he is divided against himself: how then
is his kingdom to stand ? ' ^ And He pointed
out that He saw the evil one like lightning fall-
ing down from heaven.-* And elsewhere He said,
* He who sowed the bad seed is the devil.' 5
And again, ' Give no pretext to the evil one.'
Moreover, in giving advice. He said, ' Let your
yea be yea, and your nay nay ; for what is more
than these is of the evil one.' ^ Also, in the
prayer which He delivered to us, we have it said,
* Deliver us from the evil one.' ^ And in another
place. He promised that He would say to those
who are impious, ' Go ye into outer darkness,
which the Father prepared for the devil and his
angels.' 9 And not to prolong this statement
further, I know that my Teacher often said that
there is an evil one. Wherefore I also agree in
thinking that he exists. If, then, in future you
have anything to say in accordance with this be-
lief, say it, as you promised."
CHAP. III. PETER REFUSES TO DISCUSS CERTAIN
QUESTIONS IN REGARD TO THE DEVIL.
And Simon said : " Since, then, you have hon-
estly confessed, on the testimony of the Scrip-
tures, that the evil one exists, state to us how he
has come into existence, if indeed he has come
into existence, and by whom, and why." '° And
Peter said : " Pardon me, Simon, if I do not
dare to affirm what has not been written. But
if you say that it has been written, prove it. But
if, since it has not been written, you cannot
prove it, why should we run risk in stating our
opinions in regard to what has not been written ?
For if we discourse too daringly in regard to
God, it is either because we do not believe that
we shall be judged, or that we shall be judged
only in respect to that which we do, but not also
in regard to what we believe and speak." " But
Simon, understanding that Peter referred to his
own madness, said : " Permit me to run the risk ;
but do not you make what you assert to be blas-
phemy a pretext for retiring. For I perceive
that you wish to withdraw, in order that you
may escape refutation before the masses, some-
times as if you were afraid to listen to blas-
phemies, and at other times by maintaining that,
as nothing has been written as to how, and by
whom, and why the evil one came into existence,
we ought not to dare to assert more than the
Scripture. Wherefore also as a pious man you
affirm this only, that he exists. But by these
contrivances you deceive yourself, not knowing
that, if it is blasphemy to inquire accurately re-
garding the evil one, the blame rests with me, the
accuser, and not with you, the defender of God.
And if the subject inquired into is not in Scrip-
ture,'^ and on this account you do not wish to
inquire into it, there are some satisfactory methods
which can prove to you what is sought not less
effectively than the Scriptures. For instance,
must it not be the case that the evil one, who
you assert exists, is either originated or unorigi-
nated?"'3
CHAP. IV.
SUPPOSITIONS IN REGARD TO THE
devil's ORIGIN.
' [Compare with this discussion respecting the origin of the evil
one, liecogiiitions, ix. 55, 56; x. 3, etc. In Recognitions, iii. 15-
23, the existence of evil is discussed. — R.]
^ ^L^^^: i. 13.
3 Matt. xii. 26.
■4 Luke X. i9.
S Matt. xiii. 39.
* This passage is not found in the New Testament. It resembles
Eph. iv. 27.
' Matt. V. 37; Jas. v. 12.
8 Matt. vi. 13.
9 Matt. XXV. 41.
10 [Comp. Homily XX. 8, 9. — R.]
And Peter -said : " It must be so." And
Simon : '" Therefore, if he is originated, he has
been made by that very God who made all
things, being either born as an animal, or sent
forth substantially, and resulting from an exter-
nal mixture of elements. For either '•♦ the matter,
being living or lifeless, from which he was made
was outside of Him,'s or he came into being
through God Himself, or through his own self,
or he resulted from things non-existent, or he is
a mere relative thing, or he always existed.
Having thus, as I think, clearly pointed out all
the possible ways by which we may find him, in
going along some one of these we must find
him. We must therefore go along each one of
these in search of his origin ; and when we find
him who is his author, we must perceive that he
is to blame. Or how does the matter seem to
you?"
'' This passage is probably corrupt. We have adopted the read-
ings of Cotelerius — >;, r\, instead of ei and ti.r\.
'2 Lit., " unwritten."
'3 The words yiv-i\T6<i and ayecTjro? are difficult to translate. The
first means one who has somehow or other come into being; the sec-
ond, one who has never come into being; but has always been. The
MSS. confound ycx/riTdj with yei'vrjTos, begotten, and j.yiv1\^Q<i with
ayti'i'rjTO?, unbegotten.
'■l We have changed ef into >?.
15 By " Him" is understood God, though it may mean the devil.
332
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XIX.
CHAP. V. — GOD NOT DESERVING OF BLAME IN
PERMITTING THE EXISTENCE OF THE DEVIL.
And Peter said : " It is my opinion that, even
if it be evident that he was made by God, the
Creator who made him should not be blamed ;
for it might perchance be found that the service
he performs ' was an absolute necessity. But if,
on the other hand, it should be proved that he
was not created, inasmuch as he existed for ever,
not even is the Creator to be blamed in this
respect, since He is better than all others, even
if He has not been able to put an end to a being
who had no beginning, because his nature did
not admit of it ; or if, being able. He does not
make away with him, deeming it unjust to put
an end to that which did not receive a begin-
ning, and pardoning that which was by nature
wicked, because he could not have become
anything else, even if he were to wish to do so.^
But if, wishing to do good. He is not able, even
in this case He is good in that He has the will,
though He has not the power ; and while He
has not the power. He is yet the most powerful
of all, in that the power is not left to another.
But if there is some other that is able, and yet
does not accomplish it, it must be allowed that,
in so far as, being able, he does not accomplish
it, he IS wicked in not putting an end to him, as
if he took pleasure in the deeds done by him.
But if not even he is able, then he is better
who, though unable, is yet not unwilling to
benefit us according to his ability."
CHAP. VI. PETER ACCUSES SIMON OF BEING
WORSE THAN THE DEVIL.
And Simon said : " When you have discussed
all the subjects which I have laid before you, I
shall show you the cause of evil. Then I shall
also reply to what you have now said, and prove
that that God whom you affirm to be blameless
is blameable." And Peter said : " Since I per-
ceive from what you say at the commencement
that you are striving after nothing else than to
subject God, as being the author of evil, to
blame, I have resolved to go along with you all
the ways you like, and to prove that God is
entirely free from blame." And Simon said :
" You say this as loving God, whom you sup-
pose you know; but you are not right." And
Peter said : " But you, as being wicked, and
hating God whom you have not known, utter
blasphemous words." And Simon said : " Re-
member that you have likened me to the author
of evil." And Peter said : " I confess it, I was
wrong in comparing you to the evil one ; for I
was compelled to do so, because I have not
' Lit., " his usefulness was most necessary of all."
^ This sentence is obscure in the original. We have, with Wiese-
ler, read €n-ec, omitting apxrj. Instead of supplying ix-q, we have
turned o-uyyi'iit'ai into the participle.
found one who is your equal, or worse than
you. For this reason I likened you to the evil
one ; for you happen to be much more wicked
than the author of evil. For no one can prove
that the evil one spoke against God ; but all of
us who are present see you speaking daringly
against Him." And Simon said : " He who
seeks the truth ought not to gratify any one
in any respect contrary to what is really true.
For why does he make the inquiry at all?
Why, I ask? for 1 am not also' able, laying aside
the accurate investigation of things, to spend
all ray time in the praise of that God whom I
do not know." ^
CHAP. VII. PETER SUSPECTS SIMON OF NOT BE-
LIEVING EVEN IN A GOD.
And Peter said : " You are not so blessed as
to praise Him, nor indeed can you do such a.
good deed as this ; for then you would be full
of Him. For thus said our Teacher, who always
spoke the truth : ' Out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh.' ^ Whence you,
abounding in evil purposes, through ignorance
speak against the only "good God. And not yet
suffering what you deserve to suffer for the words
which you have dared to utter,5 you either im-
agine that there will be no judgment, or per-
chance you think that there is not even a God.
Whence, not comprehending such long-suffering
as His, you are moving on to still greater mad-
ness." And Simon said : " Do not imagine that
you will frighten me into not investigating the
truth of your examples. For I am so eager for
the truth, that for its sake I will not shrink from
undergoing danger. If, then, you have anything
to say in regard to the propositions made by me
at the commencement, say it now."
CHAP. VIII. PETER UNDERTAKES TO DISCUSS THE
devil's ORIGIN.
And Peter said : " Since you compel us, after
we have made accurate investigations into the
contrivances of God, to venture to state them,
and that, too, to men who are not able to com-
prehend thoroughly the contrivances of their fel-
low-men, for the sake at least of those who are
present, I, instead of remaining silent — a course
which would be most pious — shall discuss the
subjects of which you wish me to speak. I
agree with you in believing that there is a prince
of evil, of whose origin the Scripture has ven-
tured to say nothing either true or false. But
let us follow out the inquiry in many ways, as to
how he has come into existence, if it is the fact
that he has come into existence ; and of the
3 We have adopted the pointing of Wieseler.
■* Matt. xii. 34..
5 We have altered the punctuation. Editors connect this clause
with the previous sentence, and change 17 of the MS. into ei.
Chap. XI.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
333
opinions which present themselves, let us select
that which is most reverential, since, in the case
of probable opinions, that one is assumed with
confidence which is based oti the principle that
we ought to attribute to God that which is more
reverential; and all the more so, if, when all
other suppositions are removed, there still re-
mains one which is adequate and involves less
danger.' But I promise you, before I proceed
with the investigation, that every method in the
investigation can show that God alone is
blameless.
CHAP. IX. — THEORIES IN REGARD TO THE ORIGIN
OF THE DEVIL.
" But, as you said, if the evil one is created,
either he has been begotten as an animal, or he
has been sent forth substantially by Him,^ or he
has been compounded externally, or his will has
arisen through composition ; or it happened that
he came into existence from things non-existent,
without composition and the will of God ; or he
has been made by God from that which in no
manner and nowhere exists ; or the matter, be-
ing lifeless or living, from which he has arisen
was outside of God ; or he fashioned himself,
or he was made by God, or he is a relative thing,
or he ever existed : for we cannot say that he
does not exist, since we have agreed in thinking
that he does exist." And Simon said: "Well
have you distinguished all the methods of ac-
counting for his existence in a summary manner.
Now it is my part to examine these various ideas,
and to show that the Creator is blameable. But
it is your business to prove, as you promised,
that he is free from all blame. But I wonder
if you will be able. For, first, if the devil has
been begotten from God as an animal, the vice
which is his is accordingly the same as that of
him who sends him forth." And Peter said :
" Not at all. For we see many men who are
good the fathers of wicked children, and others
who are wicked the fathers of good children, and
others again who are wicked producing both
good and wicked^ children, and others who are
good having both wicked and good children.
For instance, the first man who was created pro-
duced the unrighteous Cain and the righteous
Abel." To this Simon said : " You are acting
foolishly, in using human examples when dis-
' This sentence is regarded as corrupt by Wieseler. We have re-
tained the reading of the Paris MS., 6, and understand An/iSai/eTai
after it. Ae would naturally be inserted after rauTf), but it is not
necessary. KaSapStttrui' is translated in the Latin ^urj;^a its, which
may mean the same as in our translation if we take it in the sense of
" washed away; " but Kadaipcfteirruiv would be a better reading The
translation of Cotclerius gives, " Since this is reasonably assumed with
firmness, — namely, that it is right to give to fiod," etc.
2 The text here is evidently corrupt in many places. If the read-
ing " by him " is to be retained, we must suppose, with Wieseler, that
" by God " is omitted in the previous clause. Probably it should be,
" by himself."
3 '* And bad " is not in the mss., but is required by the context.
coursing about God." And Peter said : "Speak
you, then, to us about God without using human
examples, and yet so that what you say can be
understood ; but you are not able to do so,
CHAP. X. — THE ABSOLUTE GOD ENTIRELY INCOM-
PREHENSIBLE BY MAN.
" For instance, then, what did you say in the
beginning? If the wicked one has been begot-
ten of God, being of the same substance as He,
then God is wicked. But when I showed you,
from the example which you yourself adduced,
that wicked beings come from good, and good
from wicked, you did not admit the argument,
for you said that the example was a human one.
Wherefore I now do not admit that the term
' being begotten ' * can be used with reference
to God ; for it is characteristic of man, and not
of God, to beget. Not only so ; but God can-
not be good or evil, just or unjust. Nor indeed
can He have intelligence, or life, or any of the
other attributes which can exist in man ; for all
these are peculiar to man. And if we must not,
in our investigations in regard to God, give Him
the good attributes which belong to man, it
is not possible for us to have any thought or
make any statement in regard to God ; but all
we can do is to investigate one point alone, —
namely, what is His will which He has Himself
allowed us to apprehend, in order that, being
judged, we might be without excuse in regard
to those laws which we have not observed,
though we knew them."
CHAP. XI. THE APPLICATION OF THE ATTRIBUTES
OF MAN TO GOD.
And Simon, hearing this, said : " You will not
force me through shame to remain silent in re-
gard to His substance, and to inquire into His
will alone. For it is possible both to think and
to speak of His substance. I mean from the
good attributes that belong to man. For in-
stance, life and death are attributes of man ; but
death is not an attribute of God, but life, and
eternal life. Furthermore, men may be both
evil and good ; but God can be only incompa-
rably good. And, not to prolong the subject too
much, the better attributes of man are eternal
attributes of God." And Peter said : " Tell
me, Simon, is it an attribute of man to beget evil
and good, and to do evil and good?" And
Simon said : " It is." And Peter said : " Since
you made this assertion, we must assign the
better attributes of man to God ; and so, while
men beget evil and good, God can beget good
only ; and while men do evil and good, God
rejoices only in doing good. Thus, with regard
* The text is corrupt here. Literally it is, " I do not admit that
God had been begotten."
334
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XIX.
to God, we must either not predicate any of the
attributes of man and be silent, or it is reason-
able that we should assign the best of the good
attributes to Him. And thus He alone is the
cause of all good things."
CHAP. XII.
-GOD PRODUCED THE WICKED ONE, BUT
NOT EVIL.
And Simon said : " If, then, God is the cause
only of what is good, what else can we think
than that some other principle begot the evil
one ; ' or is evil unbegotten ? " And Peter said :
" No other power begot the wicked one, nor is
evil unbegotten, as I shall" show in the conclu-
sion ; for now my object is to prove, as I prom-
ised in the commencement, that God is blame-
less in every ^ respect. We have granted, then,
that God possesses in an incomparable way the
better attributes that belong to men. Where-
fore also it is possible for Him to have been the
producer of the four substances, — heat, I mean,
and cold, moist and dry. These, as being at
first simple and unmixed, were naturally indiffer-
ent in their desire ; 3 but being produced by
God, and mixed externally, they would naturally
become a living being, possessing the free choice
to destroy those who are evil. And thus, since
all things have been begotten from Him, the
wicked one is from no other source. Nor
has he derived his evil from the God who has
created all things (with whom it is impossible
that evil should exist), because the substances
were produced by Him in a state of indifference,
and carefully separated from each other ; and
when they were externally blended through his
art, there arose through volition the desire for
the destruction of the evil ones. But the good
cannot be destroyed by the evil that arose, even
though it should wish to do so : for it exercises
its power only-* against those who sin. Ignorant,
then, of the character of each, 5 he makes his
attempt against him, and convicting him, he
punishes him." And Simon said : " God being
able to mingle the elements, and to make His
mixtures so as to produce any dispositions that
He may wish, why did He not make the com-
position of each such as that it would prefer
wliat is good?"
CHAP. XIII. — GOD THE MAKER OF THE DEVIL.
And Peter said : " Now indeed our object is
to show how and by whom the evil one came
into being, since he did come into being ; but
we shall show if he came into being blamelessly,
' "Evil" is not in the mss. It is inserted from the next sen-
ice.
2 " Every " is inserted by a conjecture of Schwegler's.
3 Lit., " naturally had their desire towards neither."
< The MSS. have " by law." We have changed vo/u.a> into fkovov.
5 The devil is plainly meant by the " he."
when we have finished the subject now in hand.
Then I shall show how and on account of what
he came into being, and I shall fully convince
you that his Creator is blameless.^ We said, then,
that the four substances were produced by God.
And thus, through the volition of Him who min-
gled them, arose, as He wished, the choice of
evils. For if it had arisen contrary to His de-
termination, or from some other substance or
cause, then God would not have had firmness of
will : for perchance, even though He should not
wish it, leaders of evil might continually arise,
who would war against His wishes. But it is
impossible that this should be the case. For no
living being, and especially one capable of giving
guidance, can arise from accident : for every-
thing that is produced must be produced by
some one."
CH.'VP. XIV. IS M.^TTER ETERNAL ?
And Simon said : " But what if matter, being
coeval with Him, and possessing equal power,
produces as His foe leaders who hinder His
wishes?" And Peter said : " If matter is eter-
nal, then it is the foe of no one : for that which
exists for ever is impassible, and what is impas-
sible is blessed ; but what is blessed cannot be
receptive of hatred, since, on account of its eter-
nal creation, 7 it does not fear that it will be de-
prived of anything. But how does not matter
rather love the Creator, when '^ it evidently sends
forth its fruits to nourish all who are made by
Him? And how does it not fear Him as supe-
rior, as trembling through earthquakes it con-
fesses, and as, though its billows ran high, yet,
when the Teacher was sailing on it and com-
manded a calm, it immediately obeyed and be-
came still ? 9 What ! did not the demons go out
through fear and respect for Him, and others
of them desired to enter into swine; but they
first entreated Him before going, plainly because
i they had no power to enter even into swine
without His permission? " '°
CHAP. XV. — SIN THE CAUSE OF EVIL.
And Simon said : " But what if, being life-
less, it possesses a nature capable of producing
what is evil and what is good ? " And Peter said :
" According to this statement, it is neither good
nor evil, because it does not act by free choice,
being lifeless and insensible. Wherefore it is
possible to perceive distinctly in this matter,
how, being lifeless, it produces as if it were liv-
^ This passage is evidently corrupt. But it is not easy to amend it.
' Probably " eternity " should be read, instead of " eternal cre-
ation."
5 At this word the MS. of Cotelerius breaks off; and we have the
rest only in the Ottobonian MS., first edited by Dressel.
9 Matt, xxvii. 51, viii. 24-26.
*° Matt. viii. 31.
Chap. XVIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
ing ; ' and being insensible, it yet plainly fashions
artistic shapes both in animals and plants." And
Simon said : " What ! if God Himself gave it
life, is not He, then, the cause of the evils which
it produces?" And Peter said : " If God gave
it life according to His own will, then it is His
Spirit that produces it, and no longer is it any-
thing hostile to God, or of equal power with
Him ; or it is impossible that everything made
by Him is made according as He wishes. But
you will say. He Himself is the cause of evil,
since He Himself produces the evils through
it. What sort, then, are the evils of which you
speak? Poisonous serpents and deadly plants,
or demons, or any other of those things that can
disturb men ? — which things would not have
been injurious had not man sinned, for which
reason ^ death came in. For if man were sin-
less, the poison of serpents would have no effect,
nor the activities of injurious plants, nor would
there be the disturbances of demons, nor would
man naturally have any other suffering ; but los-
ing his immortality on account of his sin, he has
become, as I said, capable of every suffering.
But if you say. Why, then, was the nature of man
made at the beginning capable of death ? I tell
you, because of free-will ; for if we were not ca-
pable of death, we could not, as being immortal,
be punished on account of our voluntary sin.^
And thus, on account of our ■ freedom from suf-
fering, righteousness would be still more weak-
ened if we were wicked by choice ; for those
who should have evil purposes could not be pun-
ished, on account of their being incapable of
suffering.-*
CHAP. XVI. — WHY THE WICKED ONE IS ENTRUSTED
WITH POWER.
And Simon said to this : " I have one thing
more to say in regard to the wicked one. As-
suredly, since God made him out of nothing, he
is in this respect wicked, s especially since he was
able to make him good, by giving him at his
creation a nature in no way capable of selecting
wickedness." And Peter said : " The statement
that He created him out of nothing, with a
power of choice, is like the statement we have
made above, that, having made such a constitu-
tion as can rejoice in evils, He Himself appears
to be the cause of what took place. But since
there is one explanation of both statements, we
shall show afterwards why it was that He made
him rejoice in the destruction of the wicked."
And Simon said : " If he made the angels also
' Possibly the right reading is em/fu'xovs, " it produces living
beings."
^ Or, " on whose account."
3 [Comp. xi. 8; Rccogm'thtis, iii. 21, 26, etc. — R.]
* The text is corrupt.
5 The MS. reads: '" In this respect he who made him is wicked,
who gave existence to what was non-existent."
voluntary agents, and the wicked one departed
from a state of righteousness, why has he been
honoured with a post of command? Is it not
plain that he who thus honoured him takes
pleasure in the wicked, in that he has thus hon-
oured him?"^ And Peter said: "If God set
him by law, when he rebelled, to rule over those
who were like him, ordering him to inflict pun-
ishment on those who sin, He is not unjust. But
if it be the case that He has honoured him even
after his revolt, He who honoured him saw
beforehand his usefulness ; for the honour is
temporary, and it is right that the wicked should
be ruled by the wicked one, and that sinners
should be punished by him."
CHAP. XVII. THE DEVIL HAS NOT EQUAL POWER
WITH GOD.
And Simon said : " If, then, he exists for ever,
is not the fact of the sole government of God
thus destroyed, since there is another power,
namely, that concerned with matter, which rules
along with Him ? " And Peter said : " If they
are different in their substances, they are dif-
ferent also in their powers, and the superior rules
the inferior. But if they are of the same sub-
stance, then they are equal in power, and they
are in like manner good or bad. But it is plain
that they are not equal in power ; for the Creator
put matter into that shape of a world into which
He willed to put it. Is it then at all possible to
maintain that it always existed, being a substance ;
and is not matter, as it were, the storehouse of
God? For it is not possible to maintain that
there was a time 7 when God possessed nothing,
but He always was the only ruler of it. Where-
fore also He is an eternal sole ruler ; * and on this
account it would justly be said to belong to Him
who exists, and rules, and is eternal P 9 And
Simon said : " What then ? Did the wicked
one make himself? And was God good in such
a way, that, knowing he would be the cause of
evil, he yet did not destroy him at his origination,
when he could have been destroyed, as not yet
being perfectly made? For if he came into
being suddenly and complete, then on that ac-
count '° he is at war with the Creator, as having
come suddenly into being, possessed of equal
power with him."
CHAP. XVIII. IS THE DEVIL A RELATION?
And Peter said ; " What you state is impossi-
ble ; for if he came into existence by degrees,
_ * The Greek is either ungrammatical or corrupt, but the sense is
evident.
7 This passage is supposed by most to be defective, and various
words have been suggested to supply the lacuna.
^ Or, " monarch." But only two letters of the word are in the
MS. ; the rest is filled in by conjecture.
9 Supplied by conjecture.
'° Three words are struck out of the text of the MS. by all editors,
as being a repetition.
336
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XIX.
He could have cut him off as a foe by His
own free choice. And knowing beforehand
that he was coming into existence, He would
not have allowed him as a good, had He not
known that by reason of him what was useful
was being brought into existence." And he could
not have come into existence suddenly, complete,
of his own power. For he who did not exist
could not fashion himself; and he neither could
become complete out of nothing, nor could any
one justly say that he had substance,- so as al-
ways to be equal in power if he were begotten."
And Simon said : " Is he then a mere relation,
and in this way wicked? 3, — being injurious, as
water is injurious to fire, but good for the sea-
sonably thirsty land ; as iron is good for the cul-
tivation of the land, but bad for murders ; and
lust is not evil in respect of marriage, but bad in
respect of adultery ; as murder is an evil, but
good for the murderer so far as his purpose is
concerned ; and cheating is an evil, but pleasant
to the man who cheats ; and other things of a
like character are good and bad in like manner.
In this way, neither is evil evil, nor good good ;
for the one produces the other. For does not
that which seems to be done injuriously rejoice
the doer, but punish the sufferer ? And though
it seems unjust that a man should, out of self-
love, gratify himself by every means in his
power, to whom, on the other hand, does it not
seem unjust that a man should suffer severe pun-
ishments at the hand of a just judge for having
loved himself?"
CHAP. XIX. SOME ACTIONS REALLY WICKED.
And Peter said : " A man ought to punish
himself through self-restraint,4 when his lust
wishes to hurry on to the injury of another,
knowing that s the wicked one can destroy the
wicked, for he has received power over them
from the beginning. And not yet is this an evil
to those who have done evil ; but that their souls
should remain punished after the destruction,
you are right in thinking to be really harsh,
though the man who has been fore-ordained for
evil should say that it is right.*' Wherefore, as I
said, we ought to avoid doing injury ^ to another
for the sake of a shortlived pleasure, that we may
not involve ourselves in eternal punishment for
the sake of a httle pleasure." And Simon said :
' The editors punctuate differently, thus: "And knowing before-
hand that he was becoming not good, He would not have allowed
him, unless He knew that he would be useful to Himself." We sup-
pose the reference in the text to be to Gen. i. 31.
^ Or, " self-subsistence." We have supposed a transposition of
the words in the text. The text is without doubt corrupt.
3 We have adopted an emendation of Lagarde's.
4 Dressel translates viriliter, " manfully."
5 This word is supplied by conjecture.
6 This passage is hopelessly corrupt. We have changed Sticaitus
into SiKaiOKi, the verb, and I'ov TrpoSicopio'jaei'Of into toO TrpoStiopitr-
' We have adopted Wieseler's emendation of a.hi.Kov into aSi/ceiv.
" Is it the case, then, that there is nothing either
bad or good by nature, but the difference arises
through law and custom ? For is it not * the
the habit of the Persians to marry their own
mothers, sisters and daughters, while marriage
with other women is prohibited 9 as most bar-
barous? Wherefore, if it is not settled what
things are evil, it is not possible for all to look
forward to the judgment of God." And Peter
said : " This cannot hold ; for it is plain to all
that cohabitation with mothers is abominable,
even though the Persians, who are a mere frac-
tion of the whole, should under the effects of a
bad custom fail to see the iniquity of their abom-
inable conduct. Thus also the Britons publicly
cohabit in the sight of all, and are not ashamed ;
and some men eat the flesh of others, and feel
no disgust ; and others eat the flesh of dogs ;
and others practice other unmentionable deeds.
Thus, then, we ought not to form our judgments
with a perception which through habit has been
perverted from its natural action. For to be
murdered is an evil, even if all were to deny it ;
for no one wishes to suffer it himself, and in the
case of theft '° no one rejoices at his own punish-
ment. If, then, no one " were at all ever to con-
fess that these are sins, it is right even then to
look forward of necessity to a judgment in re-
gard to sins." When Peter said this, Simon
answered : " Does this, then, seem to you to be
the truth in regard to the wicked one? Tell
CHAP. XX. PAIN AND DEATH THE RESULT OF
SIN.
And Peter said : " We remember that our Lord
and Teacher, commanding us, said, ' Keep the
mysteries for me and the sons of my house.'
Wherefore also He explained to His disciples
privately the mysteries of the kingdom of heav-
en.'^ But to you who do battle with us, and ex-
amine into nothing else but our statements,
whether they be true or false, it would be im-
pious to state the hidden truths. But that none
of the bystanders may imagine that I am con-
triving excuses,'^ because I am unable to reply
to the assertions made by you, I shall answer you
by first putting the question. If there had been a
state of painlessness, what is the meaning of the
statement, ' The evil one was ? ' " And Simon
said : " The words have no meaning." And
Peter : " Is then evil the same as pain and death ? "
And Simon : " It seems so." And Peter said :
" EvU, then, does not exist always, yea, it can-
8 This is a conjectural filling up of a blank.
9 This is partly conjecture, to fill up a blank.
'° The text is likely corrupt.
" Uhlhorn changed oCc iv6<; into ovSei/ds. We have changed
Kttt TpLTriv into Koi t6t6 t)j>'. Various emendations have been pro-
posed.
'- Mark iv. 34. [More probably, Matt. xiii. 11. — R.]
13 We have adopted an emendation of Wieseler's.
Chap. XXII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
Z2>7
not even exist at all substantially ; for pain and
death belong to the class of accidents, nei-
ther of which can co-exist with abiding strength.
For what is pain but the interruption of har-
mony? And what is death but the separation
of soul from body? There is therefore no pain
when there is harmony. For death does not
even at all belong to those things which substan-
tially exist : for death is nothing, as I said, but
the separation of soul from body ; and when this
takes place, the body, which is by nature incapa-
ble of sensation, is dissolved ; but the soul, being
capable of sensation, remains in life and exists
substantially. Hence, when there is harmony
there is no pain, no death, no, not even deadly
plants nor poisonous reptiles, nor anything of such
a nature that its end is death. And hence, where
immortality reigns, all things will appear to have
been made with reason. And this will be the
case when, on account of righteousness, man be-
comes immortal through the prevalence of the
peaceful reign of Christ, when his composition
will be so well arranged as not to give rise ' to
sharp impulses ; and his knowledge, moreover,
will be unerring, so as that he shall not mistake '
evil for good ; and he will suffer no pain, so that
he will not be mortal."^
CHAP. XXI. THE USES OF LUST, ANGER, GRIEF.
And Simon said : ^ "You' were right in say-
ing this ; but in the present world does not man
seem to you to be capable of every kind ot af-
fection,—as, for instance, of lust, anger, grief,
and the like ? " And Peter said : " Yes, these
belong to the things that are accidental, not to
those that always exist, and it will be found
that they now occur with advantage to the soul.
For lust has, by the will of Him who created
all things well, been made to arise within the
living being, that, led by it to intercourse, he may
increase humanity, from a selection of which a
multitude of superior beings arise who are fit for
eternal life. But if it were not for lust, no one
would trouble himself with intercourse with his
wife ; but now, for the sake of pleasure, and, as
it were, gratifying himself, man carries out His
will. Now, if a man uses lust for lawful marriage,
he does not act impiously ; but if he rushes to
adultery, he acts impiously, and he is punished
because he makes a bad use of a good ordinance.
And in the same way, anger has been made by
God to be lighted up naturally within us, in or-
der that we may be iniluced by it to ward off
injuries. Yet if any one indulges it without re-
straint, he acts unjustly ; but if he uses it within
due bounds, he does what is right. Moreover, we
* The words in italics supplied by conjecture.
^ This last sentence has two blanks, which are filled up by con-
jectures: and one emendation has been adopted.
3 [With chaps. 21, 22, compare Homily XX. 4. — R.J
are capable of grief, that we may be moved with
sympathy at the death of relatives, of a wife, or
children, or brothers, or parents, or friends, or
some others, since, if we were not capable of
sympathy, we should be inhuman. In like man-
ner, all the other affections will be found to be
adapted for us, if at least the reason for their ex-
istence •♦ be considered."
CHAP. XXII. — SINS OF IGNORANCE.
And Simon : " Why is it, then, that some die
prematurely, and periodical diseases arise ; and
that there are, moreover, attacks of demons,
and of madness, and all other kinds of afflictions
which can greatly punish? " And Peter said:
" Because men, following their own pleasure in
all things, cohabit without observing the proper
times ; and thus the deposition of seed, taking
place unseasonably, naturally produces a multi-
tude of evils. For they ought to reflect, that as
a season has been fixed suitable for planting
and sowing,5 so days have been appointed as
appropriate for cohabitation, which are carefully
to be observed. Accordingly some one well in-
structed in the doctrines taught by Moses, find-
ing fault with the people for their sins, called
them sons of the new moons and the sabbaths.*^
Yet in the beginning of the world men lived long,
and had no diseases. But when through careless-
ness they neglected the observation of the proper
times, then the sons in succession cohabiting
through ignorance at times when^ they ought
not, place their children under innumerable af-
flictions. Whence our Teacher, when we in-
quired of Him^ in regard to the man who was
blind from his birth, and recovered his sight, if
this man sinned, or his parents, that he should
be born blind, answered, ' Neither did he sin at
all, nor his parents, but that the power of God
might be made manifest through him in healing
the sins of ignorance.' 9 And, in truth, such af-
flictions arise because of ignorance ; as, for in-
stance, by not knowing when one ought to cohabit
with his wife, as if she be pure from her dis-
charge. Now the afflictions which you men-
tioned before are the result of ignorance, and
not, assuredly, of any wickedness that has been
perpetrated. Moreover, give me the man who
sins not, and I will show you the man who suf-
fers not ; and you will find that he not only does
not suffer himself, but that he is able ■" to heal
others. For instance, Moses, on account of his
4 We have adopted an emendation of Lagarde's.
5 Eccles. iii. 2.
6 Lit., " new moons that are according to the moon." Gal. iv. 10.
' " At times when " is supplied by conjecture
^ We have followed an emendation of Wieseler's.
9 John i.\. 2, T,. [This clear instance of citation from the Gospel
of John is found m that portion of the te.xt recovered by Dressel. It
is of importance, since writers of the Tiibingen school previously
denied that this author uses the fourth Gospel. — R ]
10 We have adopted an obvious emendation of Wieseler's.
338
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XIX.
piety, continued free from suffering all his life,
and by his prayers he healed the Egyptians when
they suffered on account of their sins."
CHAP. XXIII. THE INEQUALITIES OF LOT IX HU-
MAN LIFE.
And Simon said : " Let me grant that this is
the case : does not the inequality of lot amongst
men seem to you most unjust? For one is in
penury, another is rich ; one is sick, another is
in good health : and there are innumerable dif-
ferences of a like character in human life." '
And Peter said : " Do you not perceive, Simon,
that you are again shooting'your observations be-
yond the mark ? For while we were discussing
evil, you have made a digression, and intro-
duced the question of the anomalies that appear
in this world. But I shall speak even to this
point. The world is an instrument artistically
contrived, that for the male who is to exist eter-
nally, the female may bear eternal righteous sons.
Now they could not have been rendered per-
fectly pious here, had there been no needy ones
for them to help. In like manner there are the
sick, that they may have objects for their care.
And the other afflictions admit of a hke expla-
nation." And Simon said : " Are not those in
humble circumstances unfortunate? for they are
subjected to distress, that others may be made
righteous." And Peter said : " If their humilia-
tion were eternal, their misfortune would be very
great. But the humiliations and exaltations of
men take place according to lot ; and he who is
not pleased with his lot can appeal,^ and by try-
ing his case according to law, he can exchange
his mode of hfe for another." And Simon
said : " What do you mean by this lot and this
appeal?" And Peter said : " You are now de-
manding the exposition of another topic ; but
if you permit me, we can show you how, being
born again, and changing your origin, and living
according to law, you will obtain eternal salva-
tion."
CHAP. XXIV.
■SIMON REBUKED BY FAUSTUS.
And Simon hearing this, said : " Do not im-
agine that, when I, while questioning you, agreed
with you in each topic, I went to the next, as
being fully assured of the truth of the previous ;
but I appeared to yield to your ignorance, that
you might go on to the next topic, in order that,
becoming acquainted with the whole range of
your ignorance, I might condemn you, not
through mere conjecture, but from full knowl-
edge.3 Allow me now to retire for three days,
and I shall come back and show that you
' [Comp. Recognitions, iii. 40, 41. — R.]
2 An amendation of Wieseler's.
3 The whole of this sentence is corrupt. We have adopted the
conjectures of Wieseler, though they are not entirely satisfactory.
know nothing." When Simon said this, and was
on the point of going out, my father said : " Lis-
ten to me, Simon, for a moment, and then go
wherever you like. I remember that in the be-
ginning, before the discussion, you accused me
of being prejudiced, though as yet you had had
no experience of me. But now, having heard
you discuss in turn, and judging that Peter has
the advantage, and now assigning to him the
merit of speaking the truth, do I appear to you
to judge correctly, and with knowledge ; "^ or is
it not so ? For if you should say that I have
judged correctly, but do not agree, then you are
plainly prejudiced, inasmuch as you do not wish
to agree, after confessing your defeat. But if
I was not correct in maintaining that Peter has
the advantage in the discussion, do you convince
us how we have not judged correctly, or you will
cease s to discuss with him before all, since you
will always be defeated and agree, and in conse-
quence your own soul will suffer pain, condemned
as you will be, and in disgrace, through your own
conscience, even if you do not feel shame be-
fore all the listeners as the greatest torture ; for
we have seen you conquered, in fact, and we
have heard your own lips confess it. Finally,
therefore, I am of opinion that you will not re-
turn to the discussion, as you promised ; but
that you may seem not to have been defeated,^
you have promised, when going away, that you
will return."
CHAP. XXV. SIMON RETIRES. SOPHONIAS ASKS
PETER TO STATE HIS REAL, OPINIONS IN RE-
GARD TO EVIL.
And Simon hearing this, gnashed his teeth
for rage, and went away in silence. But Peter
(for a considerable portion of the day still re-
mained) laid his hands on the large multitude
to heal them ; and having dismissed them, went
into the house with his more intimate friends,
and sat down. And one of his attendants, of
the name of Sophonias, said : " Blessed is God,
O Peter, who selected you and instructed ? you
for the comfort of the good. For, in truth, you
discussed with Simon with dignity and great pa-
tience. But we beg of you to discourse to us of
evil ; for we expect that you will state to us your
own genuine belief in regard to it, — not, how-
ever at the present moment, but to-morrow, if it
seems good to you : for we spare you, because
of the fatigue you feel on account of your dis-
cussion." And Peter said : " I wish you to
know, that he who does anything with pleasure,
finds rest in the very toils themselves ; but he
* Possibly something is corrupt here. The words may be trans-
lated: " Is it not plain that 1 know how to judge correctly ? "
5 The MS. has, " do not cease." We have omitted ixi\, and
changed Travcrjj into 7rau<Tei. We have inserted the /nij after ij,
changed into ec before aiSeicrflai.
*> We have adopted an emendation of Wieseler's.
7 An emendation of Wieseler's
Chap. III.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
339
who does not do what he wishes, is rendered
exceedingly weary by the very rest he takes.
Wherefore you confer on me a great rest when
you make me discourse on topics which please
me." Content, then, with his disposition, and
sparing him on account of his fatigue, we re-
quested him to put the discussion off till the
night, when it was his custom to discourse to his
genuine friends. And partaking of salt, we
turned to sleep.
HOMILY XX.
CHAP. I.
•PETER IS WILLING TO GRATIFY
SOPHONIAS.
In the night-time Peter rose up and wakened
us, and then sat down in his usual way, and said :
" Ask me questions about. anything you like."'
And Sophonias was the first to begin to speak to
him : " Will you explain to us who are eager to
learn what is the real truth in regard to evil ? "
And Peter said : " I have already explained it in
the course of my discussion with Simon ; but
because I stated the truth in regard to it in com-
bination with other topics, it was not altogether
clearly put ; for many topics that seem to be of
equal weight with the truth afford some kind of
knowledge of the truth to the masses. So that,
if now I state what I formerly stated to Simon
along with many topics, do not imagine that you
axQ not^ honoured with honour equal to his."
And Sophonias said : " You are right ; for if you
now separate it for us from many of the topics
that were then discussed, you will make the
truth more evident."
CHAP. II.
■THE TWO AGES.
And Peter said : " Listen, therefore, to the
truth of the harmony in regard to the evil one.
God appointed two kingdoms, and established
two ages, determining that the present world
should be given to the evil one, because it is
small, and passes quickly away ; but He prom-
ised to preserve for the good one the age to
come, as it will be great and eternal. Man,
therefore. He created with free-will, and possess-
ing the capability of inclining to whatever actions
he wishes. And his body consists of three parts,
deriving its origin from the female ; for it has
lust, anger, and grief, and what is consequent
on these. But the spirit not being uniform,^ but
consisting of three parts, derives its origin from
the male ; and it is capable of reasoning, knowl-
edge, and fear, and what is consequent on these.
And each of these triads has one root, so that
' [Chaps, i-io are also peculiar to the //^w/7/Vi-, though there are
incidental resemblances to passages in the Recognitions, particularly
in the presentation of free-will. — R.]
^ " Not" is supplied by conjecture.
3 A doubtful emendation of Wieseler's for the senseless rpiToytvii,
Possibly it may be for n-ptoToyects, original, and is underived.
man is a compound of two mixtures, the female
and the male. Wherefore also two ways have
been laid before him — those of obedience and
disobedience to law ; and two kingdoms have
been established, — the one called ■» the king-
dom of heaven, and the other the kingdom of
those who are now kings upon earth. Also two
kings have been appointed, of whom the one is
selected to rule by law over the present and
transitory world, and his composition is such that
he rejoices in the destruction of the wicked.
But the other and good s one, who is the King
of the age to come, loves the whole nature of
man ; but not being able to have boldness in the
present world, he counsels what is advantageous,
like one who tries to conceal who he really is.^
CHAP, III. THE WORK OF THE GOOD ONE AND
OF THE EVIL ONE.
" But of these two, f/ie one ^ acts violently
towards the other by the command of God.
Moreover, each man has power to obey which-
ever of them he pleases for the doing of good
or evil. But if any one chooses to do what is
good, he becomes the possession of the future
good king ; but if any one should do evil, he
becomes the servant of the present evil one, who,
having received power over him by just judg-
ment on account of his sins, and wishing to use //^
before the coming age, rejoices in punishing him
in the present life, and thus by gratifying, as it
were, his own private passion, he accomplishes
the will of God. But the other, being made to
rejoice in power over the righteous, when he
finds a righteous man, is exceedingly glad, and
saves him with eternal life ; and he also, as if
gratifying himself, traces the gratification which
he feels on account of these to God. Now it is
within the power of every unrighteous man to
repent and be saved ; and every righteous man
may have to undergo punishment for sins com-
mitted at the end of his career. Moreover,
* An obvious correction of the MS. is adopted.
S We have changed aiiTo; into aynSos.
* [With these views compare the doctrine of pairs, as repeatedly
set forth; Homily II. 33, 34; Recognitions, iii. 59, 60, etc. — R.]
7 " One" is supplied by Dressel's conjecture.
8 The words in italics are supplied by Dressel's conjecture.
340
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XX.
these two leaders are the swift liands of God,
eager to anticipate Him so as to accompHsh His
will. But that this is so, has been said even by
the law in the person of God : ' I will kill, and I
will make alive ; I will strike, and I will heal.' '
For, in truth. He kills and makes alive. He kills
through the left hand, that is, through the evil
one, who has been so composed as to rejoice in
afflicting the impious. And he saves and bene-
fits through the right hand, that is, through the
good one, who has been made to rejoice in
the good deeds and salvation of the righteous.
Now these have not their substances outside of
God : for there is no other primal source. Nor,
indeed, have they been sent forth as animals
from God, for they were of the same mind with
Him ; nor are they accidental,' arising sponta-
neously in opposition to His will, since thus the
greatest exercise of His power would have been
destroyed. But from God have been sent forth
the four first elements — heat and cold, moist
and dry. In consequence of this. He is the
father of every substance, but not of the dispo-
sition 3 which may arise from the combination of
the elements ; for when these were combined
from without, disposition was begotten in them
as a child. The wicked one, then, having served
God blamelessly to the end of the present world,
can become good by a change in his compo-
sition,'* since he assuredly is not of one uniform
substance whose sole bent is towards sin. For
not even more does he do evil, although he is
evil, since he has received power to afflict law-
fully."
CHAP. IV.
•MEN SIN THROUGH IGNOR.\NCE.
When Peter said this, Micah, who was himself
one of his followers, asked : " What, then, is the
reason why men sin?" And Peter said : " It is
because they are ignorant that they will without
doubt be punished for their evil deeds when
judgment takes place.s For this reason they,
having lust, as I elsewhere said, for the continu-
ance of life, gratify it in any accidental way, it
may be by the vitiation of boys,^ or by some
other flattering sin. For in consequence of
their ignorance, as I said before, they are urged
- on through fearlessness to satisfy their lust in an
unlawful manner. Wherefore God is not evil,
who has rightly placed lust within man, that
there may be a continuance of life, but they are
most impious who have used the good of lust
badly. The same considerations apply to anger
' Deut. xxxii. 39.
2 We have adopted an obvious emendation of Wieseler's.
3 We have changed oua-rj? into oit t^?.
4 We have given a meaning to fxeTacvyxoi-Oei'; not found in dic-
tionaries, but warranted by etymology, and demanded by the sense.
5 Part of this is supplied by Dressel's conjecture.
^ There is a lacuna, which h.'s been filled up in various ways.
We have supposed rj^i to be for >; /a., possibly ^rjrepwv ij. Wieseler
supposes "immature boys."
also, that if one uses it righteously, as is within
his power, he is pious ; but going beyond meas-
ure, and taking judgment to himself,'' he is im-
pious."
CH.\P. V. SOPHONIAS MAINTAINS THAT GOD CAN-
NOT PRODUCE WHAT IS UNLIKE HIMSELF,
And Sophonias said again : " Your great pa-
tience, my lord Peter, gives us boldness to ask
you many questions for the sake of accuracy.
Wherefore we make our inquiries with confi-
dence in every direction. I remember, then, that
Simon said yesterday, in his discussion with you,
that the evil one, if he was born of God, pos-
sesses in consequence the same substance as He
does who sent him forth, and he ought to have
been good, and not wicked. But you answered
that this was not always the case, since many
wicked sons are born of good parents, as from
Adam two unlike ^ sons were begotten, one of
whom was bad and the other good. And when
Simon found fault with you for having used
human examples, you answered that in this way
we ought not to admit that God begets at all ;
for this also is a human example. And I, So-
phonias, admit that God begets ; but I do not
allow that He begets what is bad, even though
the good among men beget bad children. And
do not imagine ^ that I am without reason attrib-
uting to God some of the qualities that distin-
guish men, and refusing to attribute others, when
I grant that He begets, but do not allow that He
begets what is unlike Himself. For men, as you
might expect, beget sons who are unlike them
in their dispositions for the following reason.
Being composed of four parts, they change their
bodies variously, according to the various changes
of the year ; and thus, the appropriate change
either of increase or decrease taking place in
the human body, each season destroys the har-
monious combination. Now, when the combi-
nations do not always remain exactly in the
same position, the seeds, having sometimes one
combination, sometimes another, are sent off;
and these are followed, according to the combi-
nation belonging to the season, by dispositions
either good or bad. But in the case of God we
cannot suppose any such thing ; for, being un-
changeable and always existing, whenever He
wishes to send forth, there is an absolute neces-
sity that what is sent forth should be in all
respects in the same position as that which has
begotten, I mean in regard to substance and
disposition. But if any one should wish to
maintain that He is changeable, I do not know
how it is possible for him to maintain that He
is immortal."
7 Dressel translates, " drawing judgment on himself."
* An emendation of Wieseler's.
Chap. VIII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
S4I
CHAP. VI. god's power OF CHANGING HIMSELF.
When Peter heard this, he thought for a httle,
and said .* " I do not think that any one can
converse about *evil without doing the will of the
evil one. Therefore knowing this, I do not
know what I shall do, whether I shall be silent
or speak. For if I be silent, I should incur the
laughter of the multitude, because, professing
to proclaim the truth, I am ignorant of the ex-
planation of vice. But if I should state my
opinion, I am afraid lest it be not at all pleasing
to God that we should seek after evil, for only
seeking after good is pleasing to Him. How-
ever, in my reply to the statements of Sophonias,
I shall make my ideas more plain. I then agree
with him in thinking that we ought not to attrib-
ute to God all the qualities of men. Tor in-
stance, men not having bodies that are convert-
ible are not converted ; but they have a nature
that admits of alteration by the lapse of time
through the seasons of the year. But this is not i
the case with God ; for through His inborn ' I
Spirit He becomes, by a power which cannot be i
described, whatever body He likes. And one i
can the more easily believe this, as the air,
which has received such a nature from Him, is j
converted into dew by the incorporeal mind
permeating it, and being thickened becomes
water, and water being compacted becomes
stone and earth, and stones through collision
light up fire. According to such ^ a change and
conversion, air becomes first water, and ends in
being fire through conversions, and the moist
is converted into its natural opposite. Why?
Did not God convert the rod of Moses into an
animal, making it a serpent,^ which He recon-
verted into a rod ? And by means of this very
converted rod he converted the water of the
Nile + into blood, which again he reconverted
into water. Yea, even man, who is dust. He
changed by the inbreathing of His breath s into
flesh, and changed him back again into dust.*"
And was not Moses,^ who himself was flesh, con-
verted into the grandest light, so that the sons
of Israel could not look him in the face? Much
more, then, is God completely able to convert
Himself into whatsoever He wishes.
CHAP. VII. THE OBJECTION ANSWERED, THAT
ONE CAN'NOT CHANGE HIMSELF.
"But perhaps some one of you thinks that
one may become something under the influence
of one, and another under the influence of
another, but no one can change himself into
2 We have changed tolovtov into toi
3 Ex. iv. 3, 4.
* Ex. vii. 19, 20.
S Gen. ii. j.
* Eccles. lii. 20.
7 Ex. xxxiv. 29.
whatever he wishes, and that it is the character-
istic of one who grows old, and who must die
according to his nature,^ to change, but we
ought not to entertain such thoughts of immor-
tal beings. For were not angels, who are free
from old age, and of a fiery substance,'' changed
into flesh, — those, for instance, who received
the hospitality of Abraham, '° whose feet men
washed, as if they were the feet of men of like
substance?" Yea, moreover, with Jacob, '^ who
was a man, there wrestled an angel, converted
into flesh that he might be able to come to close
quarters with him. And, in like manner, after
he had wrestled by his own will, he was con-
verted into his own natural form ; and now,
when he was changed into fire, he did not burn
up the broad sinew of Jacob, but he inflamed it,
and made him lame. Now, that which cannot
become anything else, whatever it may wish, is
mortal, inasmuch as it is subject to its own
nature ; but he who can become whatever he
wishes, whenever he wishes, is immortal, return-
ing to a new condition, inasmuch as he has con-
trol over his own nature. Wherefore much more
does the power of God change the substance
of the body into whatever He wishes, and when-
ever He wishes ; and by the change that takes
place '3 He sends forth what, on the one hand, is
of similar substance, but, on the other, is not of
equal power. Whatever, then, he who sends
forth turns into a diff"erent substance, that he
can again turn back into his own ; '^ but he who
is sent forth, arising in consequence of the
change which proceeds from him, and being his
child, cannot become anything else without the
will of him who sent him forth, unless he wills
it."
CHAP. VIII. THE ORIGIN OF THE GOOD ONE
DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF THE EVIL ONE.
When Peter said this, Micah,'5 who was him-
self also one of the companions that attended on
him, said : " I also should like to learn from you
if the good one has been produced in the same
way that the evil one came into being. But if
they came into being in a similar manner, then
they are brothers in my opinion." And Peter
said : " They have not come into being in a sim-
ilar way : for no doubt you remember what I
said in the beginning, that the substance of the
body of the wicked one, being fourfold in origin,
was carefully selected and sent forth by God ;
8 One word of this is supplied conjecturally by Dressel.
9 Gen. vi. 2. [Comp. Ps. civ. 4]
'° Part of this is conjectural.
'^ Gen. xviii. 4.
'2 Gen. xxxii. 24.
'3 We have adopted Wieseler's emendation of ixrj into iiev.
'•» This passage is corrupt. We have changed on into o, ti, and
supplied TpeVft.
■5 Dressel remarks that this cannot be the true reading. Some
other name mentioned in Horn. II. c. i must be substituted here or
in c. 4.
342
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XX.
but when it was combined externally, according
to the will of Him who sent it forth, there arose,
in consequence of the combination, the dispo-
sition which rejoices in evils : ' so that you may
see that the substance, fourfold in origin, which
was sent forth by Him, and which also always
exists, is the child of God ; but that the acci-
dentally arising disposition which rejoices in
evils has supervened when the substance ^ was
combined externally by him. And thus this dis-
position has not been begotten by God, nor by
any one else, nor indeed has it been sent forth
by Him, nor has it come forth spontaneously,^
nor did it always exist, like" the substance be-
fore the combination ; but it has come on as an
accident by external combination, according to
the will of God. And we have often said that
it must be so. But the good one having been
begotten from the most beautiful change of God,
and not having arisen accidentally through an
external combination, is really His Son. Yet,
since these doctrines are unwritten, and are con-
firmed to us only by conjecture, let us by no
means deem it as absolutely certain that this is
the true state of the case. For if we act other-
wise, our mind will cease from investigating the
truth, in the belief that it has already fully com-
prehended it. Remember these things, there-
fore ; for I must not state such things to all, but
only to those who are found after trial most
trustworthy. Nor ought we rashly to maintain
such assertions towards each other, nor ought ye
to dare to speak as if you were accurately ac-
quainted with the discovery of secret truths, but
you ought simply to reflect over them in silence ;
for in stating, perchance, that a matter is so,^ he
who says it will err, and he will suffer punish-
ment for having dared to speak even to himself
what has been honoured with silence."
CHAP. IX. WHY THE WICKED ONE IS APPOINTED
OVER THE WICKED BY THE RIGHTEOUS GOD.
When Peter said this, Lazarus, who also was
one of his followers, said : " Explain to us the
harmony, how it can be reasonable that the
wicked one should be appointed by the right-
eous God to be the punisher of the impious,
and yet should himself afterwards be sent into
lower darkness along with his angels and with sin-
ners : for I remember that the Teacher Himself
said this." 5 And Peter said: " I indeed allow
that the evil one does no evil, inasmuch as he is
accomplishing the law given to him. And al-
though he has an evil disposition, yet through
fear of God he does nothing unjustly ; but, ac-
• This passage is corrupt. We have adopted Wieseler's emen-
dations for the most part.
^ We have read t^? with Wieseler for ns.
3 Wieseler translates " accidentally."
* We have changed ovx (U5 ex,ov into oiJTios ix^i-v,
5 Matt. XXV. 41.
cusing the teachers of truth so as to entrap the
unwary, he is himself named the accuser (the
devil). But the statement of our unerring
Teacher, that he and his angels, along with the
deluded sinners, shall go into lower darkness,
admits of the following explanation. The evil
one, having ol)tained the lot ^ of rejoicing in
darkness according to his composition, delights
to go down to the darkness of Tartarus along
with angels who are his fellow-slaves ; for dark-
ness is dear to fire. But the souls of men, being
drops of pure light, are absorbed by the sub-
stance fire, which is of a different class ; and
not possessing a nature capable of dying, they
are punished according to their deserts. But if
he who is the leader of men ? into vice is not
sent into darkness, as not rejoicing in it, then his
composition, which rejoices in evils, cannot be
changed by another combination into the dispo-
sition for good. And thus he will be adjudged
to be with the good,^ all the more because, hav-
ing obtained a composition which rejoices in
evils, tlirough fear of God he has done nothing
contrary to the decrees of the law of God. And
did not the Scripture by a mysterious hint 9 point
out by the statement '° that the rod of the high
priest Aaron became a serpent, and was again
converted into a rod, that a change in the com-
position of the wicked one would afterwards
take place ? "
CHAP. X. WHY SOME BELIEVE, AND OTHERS DO
NOT.
And after Lazarus, Joseph, who also was one
of his followers, said : "You have spoken all
things rightly. Teach me also this, as I am
eager to know it, why, when you give the same
discourses to all, some believe and others dis-
believe? " And Peter said : "It is because my
discourses are not charms, so that every one
that hears them must without hesitation believe
them. The fact that some believe, and others
do not, points out to the intelligent the freedom
of the will." And when he said this, we all
blessed him.
CHAP. XI. ARRIVAL OF APPION AND ANNUBION.
And as as we were going to take our meals,"
some one ran in and said : " Appion Pleiston-
ices has just come with Annubion from Antioch,
and he is lodging with Simon." And my father
hearing this, and rejoicing, said to Peter : " If
you permit me, I shall go to salute Appion and
* We have adopted an emendation of Wieseler's.
7 Wieseler's emendation.
^ We have changed ayaOoq into ayaOoL';.
9 An emendation of Wieseler's.
'° Ex. vii. g.
■t [Chaps. 11-22 are almost identical with Recognitions, x. 52-
64. But the conclusion of that narrative is fuller, giving prominence
to the re-united family ; comp. also chap. 23 here. — R. j
Chap. XIV.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
343
Annubion, who have been my friends from child-
hood. For perchance I shall persaude Annu-
bion to discuss genesis with Clement." And
Peter said : " I permit you, and I praise you
for fulfilling the duties of a friend. But now
consider how in the providence of God there
come together from all quarters considerations
which contribute to your full assurance, render-
ing the harmony complete. But I say this be-
cause the arrival of Annubion happens advan-
tageously for you." And my father : " In truth,
I see that this is the case." And saying this, he
went to Simon.
CHAP. XII. FAUSTUS APPEARS TO HIS FRIENDS
WITH THE FACE OF SIMON.
Now all of US who were with Peter asked each
other questions the whole of the night, and
continued awake, because of the pleasure and
joy we derived from what was said. But when
at length the dawn began to break, Peter, look-
ing at me and my brothers, said : " I am puzzled
to think what your father has been about." And
just as he was saying this, our father came in and
caught Peter talking to us of him ; and seeing
him displeased, he accosted him, and rendered
an apology for having slept outside. But we
were amazed when we looked at him : for we
saw the form of Simon, but heard the voice of
our father Faustus. And \vhen we were fleeing
from him, and abhorring him, our father was
astonished at receiving such harsh and hostile
treatment from us. But Peter alone saw his
natural shape, and said to us : " Why do you in
horror turn away from your own father ? " But we
and our mother said : " It is Simon that we see
before us, with the voice of our father " And
Peter said : " You recognise only his voice,
which is unaffected by magic ; but as my eyes
also are unaffected by magic, I can see his form as
it really is, that he is not Simon, but your father
Faustus." Then, looking to my father, he said :
" It is not your own true form that is seen by
them, but that of Simon, our deadliest foe, and
a most impious man." '
CHAP. XIII. — THE FLIGHT OF SIMON.
While Peter was thus talking, there entered
one of those who had gone before to Antioch,
and who, coming back from Andoch, said to
Peter : " I wish you to know, my lord, that
Simon, by doing many miracles publicly in An-
tioch, and calling you a magician and a juggler
atid a murderer,^ has worked them up to such
hatred against you, that every man is eager to
• There are some blanks here, supplied from the Epitome.
^ Supplied from Epitome. The passage in Epitome Second ren-
ders it likely that the sentence ran: " But Simon, while doing many
miracles publicly in Antioch, did nothing else by his discourses than
excite hatred amongst them against you, and by calling you," etc.
taste your very flesh if you should sojourn there.^
Wherefore we who went before, along with our
brethren who were in pretence attached by you
to Simon, seeing the city raging wildly against
you, met secretly and considered what we ought
to do. And assuredly, while we were in great
perplexity, Cornelius the centurion arrived, who
had been sent by the emperor to the governor
of the province. He was the person whom our
Lord cured when he was possessed of a demon
in Ccesarea. This man we sent for secretly ; and
informing him of the cause of our despondency,
we begged his help. He promised most readily
that he would alarm Simon, and make him take
to flight, if we should assist him in his effort.
And when we all promised that we should read-
ily do everything, he said, ' I shall spread abroad
the news '• through many friends that I have se-
cretly come to apprehend him ; and I shall pre-
tend that I am in search of him, because the
emperor, having put to death many magicians,
and having received information in regard to
him, has sent me to search liim out, that he may
punish him as he punished the magicians before
him ; while those of your party who are with him
must report to him, as if they had heard it from
a secret source, that I have been sent to appre-
hend him. And perchance when he hears it from
them, he will be alarmed and take to flight.'
When, therefore, we had intended to do something
else, nevertheless the affair turned out in the fol-
lowing way. For when he heard the news from
many strangers who gratified him greatly by se-
cretly informing him, and also from our brethren
who pretended to be attached to him, and took
it as the opinion of his own followers, he re-
solved on retiring. And hastening away from
Antioch, he has come here with Athenodorus, as
we have heard. Wherefore we advise you not
yet to enter that city, until we ascertain whether
they can forget in his absence the accusations
which he brought against you."
CHAP. XIV. THE CHANGE IN THE FORM OF FAUS-
TUS CAUSED BY SIMON.
When the person who had gone before gave
this report, Peter looked to my father, and said :
" You hear, Faustus ; the change in your form
has been caused by Simon the magician, as is
now evident. For, thinking that a servant ^ of
the emperor was seeking him to punish him, he
became afraid and fled, putting you into his own
shape, that if you were put to death, your chil-
dren might have sorrow." When my father heard
this, he wept and lamented, and said : " You
have conjectured rightly, Peter. For Annubion,
3 This passage is amended principally according to Wieseler and
the Recognitions.
* An emendation of Wieseler's.
S Inserted by conjecture.
344
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XX.
who is my dear friend,' hinted his design to me ;
but I did not beheve him, miserable man that 1
am^ since I deserved to suffer."
CHAP. XV. THE REPENTANCE OF FAUSTUS.
When my father said this, after no long time
Annubion came^ to us to announce to us the
flight of Simon, and how that very night he had
hurried to Judaea. And he found our father wail-
ing, and with lamentations saying : " Alas, alas !
unhappy man ! I did not believe when I was
told that he was a magician. Miserable man that
I am ! I have been recognised for one day by my
wife and children, and have 'speedily gone back
to my previous sad condition when I was still
ignorant." And my mother lamenting, plucked
her hair ; and we groaned in distress on account
of the transformation of our father, and could
not comprehend what in the world it could be.
But Annubion stood speechless, seeing and hear-
ing these things ; while Peter said to us, his
children, in the presence of all : " Believe me,
this is Faustus your father. Wherefore I urge
you to attend to him as being your father. For
God will vouchsafe some occasion for his putting
off the shape of Simon, and exhibiting again
distinctly that of your father." And saying this,
and looking to my father, he said : " I permitted
you to salute Appion and Annubion, since you
asserted that they were your friends from child-
hood, but I did not permit you to associate with
the magician Simon."
CHAP. XVI. — WHY SIMON GAVE TO FAUSTUS HIS
OWN SHAPE.
And my father said : " I have sinned ; I con-
fess it." And Annubion said : " I also along
with him beg you to forgive the noble and good
old man who has been deceived : for the unfor-
tunate man has been the sport of that notorious
fellow. But I shall tell you how it took place.''
The good old man came to salute us. But at
that very hour we who were there happened to
be listening to Simon, who wished to run away
that night, for he had heard that some people
had come to Laodicea in search of him by the
command of the emperor. But as Faustus was
entering, he turned^ his own rage on him, and
thus addressed us : ' Make him, when he comes,
share your meals ; and I will prepare an oint-
ment, so that, when he has supped, he may take
some of it, and anoint his face with it, and then
he will appear to all to have my shape. But I
will anoint you with the juice ^ of some plant,
' Part of this is supplied from the Recognitions.
^ Inserted from the Recognitions.
3 These words are taken from the Recognitions.
* An emendation of Dressel's.
5 SuppUed by Dressel from the Recognitions.
^ An emendation of Wieseler's.
and then you will not be deceived by his new 7
shape ; but to all others Faustus will seem to be
Simon.'
CHAP. XVII. ANNUBION'S SERVICES TO FAUSTUS.
" And while he stated this beforehand, I said,
* What, then, is the advantage you now expect to
get from such a contrivance?' And Simon said,
' First, those who seek me, when they apprehend
him, will give up the search after me. But if
he be executed by the hand of the emperor,
very great sorrow will fall upon his children, who
left me, and fleeing to Peter, now aid him in his
work.' And now, Peter, I confess the truth to
you : I was prevented by fear of Simon from
informing Fausiw?, of this. But Simon did not
give us an opportunity for private conversation,
lest some one of us might reveal '^ to him the
wicked design of Simon. Simon then rose up
in the middle of the night and fled to Judeea,
convoyed by Appion arid Athenodorus. Then
I pretended that I was sick, in order that, re-
maining after they had gone, I might make
Faustus go back immediately to his own people,
if by any chance he might be able, by being
concealed with you, to escape observation, lest,
being caught as Simon by those who were in
search of Simon, he might be put to death
through the wrath of the emperor. At the dead
of night, therefore, I sent him away to you ; and
in my anxiety for him I came by night to see
him, with the intention of returning before those
who convoyed Simon should return." And look-
ing to us, he said : " I, Annubion, see the true
shape of your father ; for I was anointed, as I
related to you before, by Simon himself, that the
true shape of Faustus might be seen by my eyes.
Astonished, therefore, I exceedingly wonder at
the magic power of Simon, in that standing 9 you
do not recognise your own father." And while
our father and our mother and we ourselves wept
on account of the calamity common to all of
us, Annubion also through sympathy wept with
us.
CHAP. XVIII. — PETER PROMISES TO RESTORE TO
FAUSTUS HIS OWN SHAPE.
Then Peter promised to us to restore the
shape of our father, and he said to him : " Faus-
tus, you heard how matters stand with us.
When, therefore, the deceptive shape which in-
vests you has been useful to us, and you have
assisted us in doing what I shall tell you to do,
then I shall restore to you your true form, when
f MS. reads " empty." Wieseler proposed " new " or " assumed."
8 An emendation of Wieseler's. The parts in italics are sup-
plied by conjecture.
9 We should have expected " standing near" or something simi-
lar, as Weiseler remarks; but the Latin of the Recognitions agrees
with the Greek in having the simple " standing."
Chap. XXII.]
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
;45
you have first performed my commands." And
when my father said, " I sliall do everything that I
is in my power most willingly ; only restore to |
my own people my own form ; " Peter answered, j
" You yourself heard with your own ears how
those who went before me came back from i
Antioch, and said that Simon had been there,
and had strongly excited the multitudes against
me by calling me a magician and a murderer, a I
deceiver and a juggler, to such an extent that all
the people there were eager to taste my flesh.
You will do, then, as I tell you. You will leave
Clement with me, and you will go before us into
Antioch with your wife, and your sons Faustinus
and Faustinianus. And some others will accom-
pany you whom I deem capable of helping for-
ward my design.
CHAP. XIX. — Peter's instructions to faustus.
" When you are with these in Antioch, while
you look like Simon, proclaim publicly your re-
pentance, saying, ' I Simon proclaim this to you :
I confess ' that all my statements in regard to
Peter are utterly false ; ^ for he is not a deceiver,
nor a murderer, nor a juggler ; nor are any of
the evil things true which I, urged on by wrath,
said previously in regard to him. I myself
therefore beg of you, I who have been the cause
of your hatred to him, cease from hating him ;
for he is the true apostle of the true Prophet
that was sent by God for the salvation of the
world. Wherefore also I counsel you to believe
what he preaches ; ^ for if you do not, your
whole city will be utterly destroyed. Now I
wish you to know for what reason I have made
this confession to you. This night angels of God
scourged me, the impious one, terribly, as being
an enemy to the herald of the truth. I beseech
you, therefore, do not listen to me, even if I
myself should come at another time and attempt
to say anything against Peter. For I confess to
you I am a magician, I am a deceiver, I am a
juggler.. Yet perhaps it is possible for me by
repentance to wipe out the sins which were for-
merly committed by me.' "
CHAP. XX. — faustus, HIS WIFE, AND SONS, PRE-
PARE TO GO TO ANTIOCH.
When Peter suggested this, my father said :
" I know what you want ; wherefore take no
trouble. For assuredly I shall take good care,
when I reach that place, to make such state-
ments in regard to you as I ought to make."
And Peter again suggested : " When, then, you
perceive the city changing from its hatred of me,
and longing to see me, send information to me
of this, and I shall come to you immediately.
And when I arrive there, that same day I shall
remove the strange shape which now invests you,
and I shall make your own unmistakeably visible
to your own people and to all others." Saying this,
he made his sons, my brothers, and our mother
Mattidia to go along with him ; and he also
commanded some of his more intimate acquaint-
ances to accompany him. But my mother was*
unwilling to go with him, and said : " I seem to
be an adulteress if I associate with the shape of
Simon ; but if I shall be compelled to go along
with him,5 it is impossible for me to recline on
the same couch with him ! But I do not know
if I shall be persuaded to go along with him."
And while she was very unwilling to go, Annu-
bion urged her, saying : " Believe me and Peter,
and the very voice itself, that this is Faustus
your husband, whom I love not less than you.
And I myself w///^^^ along with him." When
Annubion said this, our mother promised to go
with him.
CHAP. XXI. APPION AND ATHENODORUS RETURN
IN QUEST OF FAUSTUS.
But Peter said : " God arranges our affairs in
a most satisfactory manner ; ^ for we have with
us Annubion the astroXogtx? For when we
arrive at Antioch, he will in future discourse re-
garding genesis, giving us his genuine opinions
as a friend." Now when, after midnight, our
father hurried with those whom Peter had or-
dered to go along with him and with Annubion
to Antioch, which was near, early next day, be-
fore Peter went forth to discourse, Appion and
Athenodorus, who had convoyed Simon, returned
to Laodicea in search of our father. But Peter,
ascertaining the fact, urged them to enter. And
when they came in and sat down, and said,
"Where is Faustus?" Peter answered: "We
know not ; for since the evening, when he went
to you, he has not been seen by his kinsmen.
But yesterday morning Simon came in search of
him ; and when we made no reply to him, some-
thing seemed to come over, him,^ for he called
himself Faustus ; but not being believed, he
wept and lamented, and threatened to kill him-
self, and then rushed out in the direction of the
sea."
CHAP. XXII. APPION AND ATHENODORUS RETURN
TO SIMON.
When Appion and those who were with him
heard this, they howled and lamented, saying :
' Amended according to Efiitome.
2 Partly filled up from Epitome and Recognitions.
^ MS. reads, " 1 preach."
4 We have changed elSe into eiKe, and added ical elffe, according
to the Recognitions.
5 One word, Tuxr??, is superfluous.
6 Supplied from the Recognitions.
7 We read e7riT7)6eioTaTa, in harmony with the Recognitions.
8 Part in italics supplied from Recognitions.
9 The Oreek is probably corrupt here, but there can scarcely be
a doubt about the meaning.
346
THE CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.
[Homily XX.
"Why did you not receive him?" And when
at the same time Athenodorus wished to say
to me, " It was Faustus, your father ; " Appion
anticipated him, and said, " We learned from
some one that Simon, finding him, urged him to
go along with hi/n,^ Faustus himself entreating
him, since he did not wish to see his sons after
they had become Jews. And hearing this, we
came, for his own sake, in search of him. But
since he is not here, it is plain that he spake the
truth who gave us the information which we,
hearing it from him, have given to you." And
I Clement, perceiving the design of Peter, that
he wished to beget a suspicion in them that he
intended to look out among them for the old
man, that they might be afraid and take to flight,
assisted in his design, and said to Appion : " Lis-
ten to me, my dearest Appion. We were eager
to give to him, as being our father, what we our-
selves deemed to be good. But if he himself
did not wish to receive it, but, on the contrary,
fled from us in horror, I shall make a some-
what harsh remark, ' Nor do we care for him.' "
And when I said this, they went away, as if
irritated by my savageness ; and, as we learn
next day, they went to Judaea in the track of
Simon.
I This is supplied purely by conjecture.
CHAP. XXIII.
PETER GOES TO ANTIOCH.
Now, when ten days had passed away, there
came one of our people^ fro-m our father to an-
nounce to us how our father stood foriuard pub-
licly in the shape of Simon, accusing him ; ^ and
how by praising Peter he had made the whole
city of Antioch long for him : and in consequence
of this, all said that they were eager to see him,
and that there were some who were angry with
him as being Simon, on account of their surpass-
ing affection for Peter, and wished to lay hands
on Faustus, believing he was Simon. Wherefore
he, fearing that he might be put to death, had
sent to request Peter to come immediately if he
wished to meet him alive, and to appear at the
proper time to the city, when it was at the height
of Its longing for him."* Peter, hearing this,
called the multitude together to deliberate, and
appointed one of his attendants bishop ; and
having remained three days in Laodicea bap-
tizing and healing, he hastened to the neighbor-
ing city of Antioch. Amen.
2 Supplied from the Bccogiiitions.
3 This part is restored by means of the Recognitions.
* [The narrative in the Recognitions (x. 65) is the same up to this
point. But, instead of this somewhat abrupt conclusion of this chap-
ter, we find there several chapters (from the close of chap. 65 to the
end, chap. 72), which round out the story: the confession of the father
in his metamorphosis, his restoration, the Apostle's entry into Anti-
och, his miracles there, with the happy re-union of the entire family
of Clement as believers. It should be added, as indicating the close
relation of the two narratives, that the closing sentence of the Homi-
lies is found, with slight variations, in Recognitions, x. 18. — R. j
APOCRYPHA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER WALKER, ESQ., ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S INSPECTORS OF
SCHOOLS FOR SCOTLAND.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
TO
APOCRYPHA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
By professor M. B. RIDDUE, D.D.
The translations which follow have been naade from the critical edition of Tischendorf (see
Bibliography at close of this volume). The text varies greatly from that of Fabricius. It was
found impossible to introduce the various readings and to cite the manuscript evidence supporting
them. Those who are interested in such study will have recourse to the volumes of Tischendorf.
The general character of the writings here grouped as " Apocrypha of the New Testament "
will appear from even a cursory perusal of them. It did not require any great discernment to
distinguish between these and the canonical books of the New Testament. The negative internal
evidence thus furnished in support of the authority of the latter need not be emphasized. But
attention may well be called to certain historical facts in regard to these apocryphal writings : —
1. No one of them ever obtained any general recognition among Christians ; still less, a place
in the Canon of the New Testament. A few so-called Gospels are referred to by early writers ;
some obtained local recognition ; others, written for a purpose, were pressed into notice by the advo-
cates of the tendency they were written to support : but, as a rule, the books were soon rejected,
and never obtained extensive circulation.
2. Though a few of the Apocryphal Gospels are of comparatively early origin (see Transla-
tor's Introduction), there is no evidence that any Gospels purporting to be what our four Gospels
are, existed in the first century, or that any other than fragmentary literature of this character
existed even in the second century. The Canon of the New Testament was not formed out of a
mass of writings possessing some claim to recognition, though there is a popular impression to
this effect. .
3. Here the character of the writings comes in as confirmatory evidence. Of the Apocryphal
Gospels in general, R. Hofmann ' well says : " The method employed in these compositions is
always the same, whether the author intended simply to collect and arrange what was floating in the
general tradition, or whether he intended to produce a definite dogmatical effect. Rarely he threw
himself on his own invention ; but generally he elaborated what was only hinted at in the Canoni-
cal Gospels, or transcribed words of Jesus into action, or described the literal fulfilment of some
Jewish expectation concerning the Messiah, or repeated the wonders of the Old Testament in an
inhanced form, etc. The work done, he took care to conceal his own name, and inscribed his
book with the name of some apostle or disciple, in order to give it authority." As a rule, there-
fore, the Apocryphal Gospels give details regarding those periods of our Lord's life about which
the New Testament is wisely silent.
' Schaff-Herzog, i. p. 105.
349
350 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
The genesis of much of the literature resembles that of modern " Lives of Christ " written to
present a view of the Person of our Lord which is not in accordance with the obvious sense of the
New Testament. Probably some of the Apocryphal Gospels and Acts were not intended to be
forgeries, but only novels with a purpose.'
4. But while the early Church exercised proper discernment, and the Canon of the New
Testament was soon definitely recognised and universally accepted, the apocryphal writings
were not without influence. The sacred legends, the ecclesiastical traditions, all too potent in
their effect, are in many cases to be traced to these writings. Much that Rome inculcates is
derived from these books, which the Western Church constantly rejected. It is, therefore, not
strange that modern Protestant scliolarship has been most active in the investigation of this litera-
ture. The study of these works furnishes not only a defence of the canonical books of the New
Testament, but an effective weapon against that " tradition " which would overbear the authority
of Holy Scripture. No attempt has been made to annotate the various works in illustration of
the above positions, although the temptation to do so was very great. A few notes have been
appended, but it was felt that in most cases the intelligent reader would not fail to draw the
proper conclusions from the documents themselves. Those who desire to investigate further will
find the best helps indicated either in the Introduction of the translator or in the Bibliography
which closes this volume and series.
It will be noticed that no Apocryphal Epistles are included in the literature which follows.
Such forgeries were less common, and the Apocryphal Acts furnished a more convenient channel
for heretical opinions and argument. Of the few in existence, some "appear, in connection
with other works, in the Acts of Thaddgeus, in the PseudoTgnatian Epistles, in the Clementine
Homilies (Epistles of Peter to James), and in Eusebius. The forged letters of Paul, to the
Laodiceans and a third to the Corinthians, deserve little attention, being made to supply the sup-
posed loss suggested by Col. iv. 16 and i Cor. v. 9. The correspondence of Paul and Seneca
(six letters from the former and eight from the latter) has a certain interest, but scarcely deserves
a place even among the apocryphal writings.
I In most cases the vocabulary of the books furnishes positive evidence of the late origin. A great number of terms can be traced to a
particular period of ecclesiastical development, while the dogmatic tendencies which point to a given (and comparatively late) period of con-
troversy are frequent and obvious.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
Our aim in these translations has been to give a rendering of the original as literal as possible ;
and to this we have adhered even in cases — and they are not a few — in which the Latin or the
Greek is not in strict accordance with grammatical rule. It was thought advisable in all cases to
give the reader the means of forming an accurate estimate of the style as well as the substance of
these curious documents.
PART L — APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
The portion of the volume, extending from page 361 to page 476, comprising the Apocryphal
Gospels properly so called, consists of twenty-two separate documents, of which ten are written in
Greek and twelve in Latin. These twenty-two may be classed under three heads : (a) those re-
lating to the history of Joseph and of the Virgin Mary, previous to the birth of Christ; {^) those
relating to the infancy of the Saviour ; and (r) those relating to the history of Pilate. The
origines of the traditions are the Protevangelium of James, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Acts
of Pilate. All or most of the others can be referred to these "three, as compilations, modifications,
or amplifications.
There is abundant evidence of the existence of many of these traditions in the second century,
though it cannot be made out that any of the books were then in existence in their present form.
The greater number of the autliorities on the subject, however, seem to agree in assigning to the
first four centuries of the Christian era, the following five books : i. The Protevangelium of James ;
2. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew; 4. The History of Joseph the Carpenter; 5. The Gospel of
Thomas ; 9. The Gospel of Nicodemus.
We proceed to give a very brief notice of each of them.
L The Protevangelium of James. — The name of Protevangelium was first given to it by Postel,
whose Latin version was pubUshed in 1552. The James is usually referred to St. James the Less,
the Lord's brother ; but the titles vary very much.' Origen, in the end of the second century,
mentions a book of James, but it is by no means clear that he refers to the book in question.
Justin Martyr, in two passages, refers to the cave in which Christ was born ; and from the end of
the fourth century down, there are numerous allusions in ecclesiastical writings to statements made
in the Protevangelium.
For his edition Tischendorf made use of seventeen mss., one of them belonging to the ninth
century. The Greek is good of the kind, and free from errors and corruptions. There are trans-
lations of it into English by Jones (1722) and Cowper (1867).
IL The Gospel of Psendo- Matthew. — The majority of the mss. attribute this book to Matthew,
though the titles vary much. The letters prefixed, professing to be written to and by St. Jerome,
exist in sevewil of the mss. ; but no one who is acquainted with the style of Jerome's letters will
think this one authentic. There are, however, in his works many allusions to some of the legends
mentioned in this book. Chapters i.-xxiv. were edited by Thilo, chapters xxv. to the end are edited
» [James the Lord's brother, in the earliest Christian literature, is not identified with James the son of Alphsus, one of the twelve.
On the titles, see footnote on first page of text. — R.]
352 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
for the first time by Tischendorf. It is not very clear whether the Latin be original, or a direct
translation from the Greek. In most part it seems to be original. The list of epithets, how-
ever, applied to the triangles of the Alpha in chapter xxxi. are pretty obviously mistranslatibns of
Greek technical terms, which it might not be difficult to reproduce.
III. Gospel of the Nativity of Mary. — This work, which is in substance the same as the earlier
part of the preceding, yet differs from it in several important points, indicating a later date and a
different author. It has acquired great celebrity from having been transferred almost entire to
the Historia Lombardica or Legenda Aurea in the end of the thirteenth century. Mediaeval poetry
and sacred art have been very much indebted to its pages.
The original is in Latin, and is not a direct translation from the Greek. In many passages it
follows very closely the Vulgate translation.
IV. Tlie History of Joseph the Carpenter. — The original language of this history is Coptic.
From the Coptic it was translated into Arabic. The Arabic was published by Wallin in 1722, with
a Latin translation and copious notes. Wallin's version has been republished by Fabricius, and
later in a somewhat amended form by Thilo. This amended form of Wallin's version is the text
adopted by Tischendorf Chapters xiv.-xxiii. have been published in the Sahidic text by Zoega in
1810 with a Latin translation, and more correctly by Dulaurier in 1835 ^^t'"* ^ French translation.
Tischendorf employs various arguments in support of his opinion that the work belongs to the
fourth century. It is found, he says, in both dialects of the Coptic : the esghatology of it is not
inconsistent with an early date : the feast of the thousand years of chapter xxvi. had become part
of heretical opinion after the third century. The death of the Virgin Mary in chapter v. is con-
sistent with the doctrine of the assumption, which began to prevail in the fifth century.
v., VI., VII. The Gospel of Thomas. — Like the Protevangelium of James, the Gospel of
Thomas is of undoubted antiquity. It is mentioned by name by Origen, quoted by Irenaeus and
the author of the Philosophumena, who says that it was used by the Nachashenes, a Gnostic sect
of the second century. Cyril of Jerusalem {d. 386) attributes the authorship not to the apostle,
but to a Thomas who was one of the three disciples of Manes. This fact, of course, indicates
that Cyril knew nothing of the antiquity of the book he was speaking of This Manichsean origin
has been adopted by many writers, of whom the best known are in recent times R. Simon and
Mingarelli.
The text of the first Greek form is obtained from a Bologna MS. published by Mingarelli with a
Latin translation in 1764, a Dresden MS. of the sixteenth century edited by Thilo, a Viennese frag-
ment edited by Lambecius, and a Parisian fragment first brought to light by Coteler in his edition
of the Apostolical Constitutions, and translated into English by Jones.
The second Greek form is published for the first time by Tischendorf, who got the ms., which
is on paper, of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, from one of the monasteries on Mount Sinai.
The Latin form is also published for the first time, from a Vatican ms. There is another Latin
text existing in a palimpsest, which Tischendorf assigns to the fifth century, and asserts to be much
nearer the ancient Greek copy than any of the other mss.
It seems pretty clear, from the contents of the book, that its author was a Gnostic, a Docetist,
and a Marcosian \ and it was held in estimation by the Nachashenes and the Manichseans. Its
bearing upon Christian art, and to some extent Christian dogma, is well known.
The Greek of the original is by no means good, and the Latin translator has in many cases
mistaken the meaning of common Greek words.
VIII. Arabic Gospel of the Saviour's Infancy. — Chapters i.-ix. are founded on the Gospels
of Luke and Matthew, and on the Protevangelium of James ; chapters xxxvi. to the end are com-
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 353
piled from the Gospel of Thomas ; the rest of the book, chapters x. to xxxv., is thoroughly Oriental
in its character, reminding one of the tales of the Arabian Nights, or of the episodes in the
Golden Ass of Apuleius.
It is evident that the work is a compilation, and that the compiler was an Oriental. Various
arguments are adduced to prove that the original language of it was Syriac.
It was first published, with a Latin translation and copious notes, by Professor Sike of Cam-
bridge in 1697, afterwards by Fabricius, Jones, Schmid, and Thilo. Tischendorfs text is Sike's
Latin version amended by Fleischer.
There are not sufficient data for fixing with any accuracy the time at which it was composed
or compiled.
IX.-XIV. The Gospel of Nicodemus^ — The six documents inserted under this name are
various forms of two books — two in Greek and one in Latin of the Acts of Pilate ; one in Greek
aod two in Latin of the Descent of Christ to the world below. Of twelve .mss., only two or three
give the second part consecutively with the first, nor does it so appear in the Coptic translation.
The title of Gospel of Nicodemus does not appear before the thirteenth century.
Justin Martyr mentions a book called the Acts of Pilate, and Eusebius informs us that the
Emperor Maximim allowed or ordered a book, composed by the pagans under this title, to be
pubhshed in a certain portion of the empire, and even to be taught in the schools ; but neither of
these could have been the work under consideration.
Tischendorf attributes it to the second century, which is probably too early, though without
doubt the legend was formed by the end of the second century. Maury {Mem. de la Societe des
Antiq. de France, t. xx.) places it in the beginning of the fifth century, from 405 to 420 ; and
Renan {Etudes d' Hist. Relig., p. 177) concurs in this opinion. An able writer in the Quarterly
Review (vol. cxvi.) assigns it to 439 ; the author of the article Pilate, in Smith's Bible Dictionary,
gives the end of the third century as the probable date.
The author was probably a Hellenistic Jew converted to Christianity, or, as Tischendorf and
Maury conclude, a Christian imbued with Judaic and Gnostic beliefs. The original language was
most probably Greek, though, as in the case of Pseudo-Matthew, the History of Joseph the Car-
penter, etc., the original language is, in many of the prefaces, stated to have been Hebrew. Some
think that Latin was the original language, on the ground that Pilate would make his report to the
Emperor in that, the official, language. The Latin text we have, however, is obviously a transla-
tion, made, moreover, by a man to whom Greek was not very familiar, as is obvious from several
instances specified in our notes to the text.
The editio princeps of the Latin text is without place or date, and it has been re-edited by
Jones, Birch, Fabricius, Thilo, and others. The Greek text of Part I., and of a portion of Part
II., was first published by Birch, and afterwards in a much improved form, with the addition of
copious notes and prolegomena, by Thilo. The latter part of his prolegomena contains a full
account of the English, French, Italian, and German translations. For his edition Tischendorf
consulted thirty- nine ancient documents, of which a full account is given in his prolegomena, pp.
Ixxi.-lxxvi.
For an interesting account of these documents, see the introduction to Mr. B. H. Cowper's
translation of the Apocryphal Gospels, pp. Ixxxv.-cii.
XV. The Letter of Pontius Pilate. — The text is formed from four authorities, none of them
ancient. A translation of the Greek text of the same letter will be found at p. 480.
XVI., XVII. The Report of Pilate. — The first of these documents was first published by
Fabricius with a Latin translation ; the second by Birch, and then by Thilo. Tischendorf has
' [The numbers here correspond with those of Tischendorf in his prolegometia. In his table of contents, however, he gives a sepa-
rate number to the letter of Pilate, which closes XIII. Hence the enumeration differs from that point. — R.J
354 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
made use of five mss., the earliest of the twelfth century. It does not seem possible to assign
the date.
XVIII. The Paradosis of Pilate. — It has been well remarked by the author of the article in
the Quarterly Review above referred to, that the early Church looked on Pilate with no unfavour-
able eye ; that he is favourably shown in the catacombs ; that the early Fathers interpreted him as
a figure of the early Church, and held him to be guiltless of Christ's death ; that the creeds do not
condemn him, and the Coptic Church has even made him a saint. He remarks also that Dante
finds punishments for Caiaphas and Annas, but not for Pilate.
The text was first edited by Birch, and afterwards by Thilo. Tischendorf makes use of five
MSS., of which the earliest belongs to the twelfth century.
XIX. The Death of Pilate. — This is published for the first time by Tischendorf from a Latin
MS. of the fourteenth century. The language shows it to be of a late date. It appears almost
entire in the Legenda Aurea.
XX. The Narrative of Joseph. — This history seems to have been popular in the middle ages,
if we may judge from the number of the Greek mss. of it which remain.
It was first published by Birch, and after him by Thilo. For his edition Tischendorf made
use of three mss., of which the oldest belongs to the twelfth century.
XXI. The Avenging of the Saviour. — This version of the Legend, of Veronica is written in
very barbarous Latin, probably of the seventh or eighth century. An Anglo-Saxon version, which
Tischendorf concludes to be derived from the Latin, was edited and translated for the Cambridge
Antiquarian Society, by C. W. Goodwin, in 1851. The Anglo-Saxon text is from a MS. in the Cam-
bridge Library, one of a number presented to the Cathedral of Exeter by Bishop Leofric in the
beginning of the eleventh century.
The reader will observe that there are in this document two distinct legends, somewhat clumsily
joined together — that of Nathan's embassy, and that of Veronica.'
PART n. — THE APOCRYPHAL ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
This portion of the volume, extending from page 477 to page 564, presents us with documents
written in a style considerably different from that of the Apocryphal Gospels properly so called.
There we have without stint the signs that the Jews desired ; here we begin to have some glimpses
of the wisdom which the Greeks sought after, along with a considerable share of
Quidquid Graecia mendax
Audet in historia.
We have less of miracle, more of elaborate discourse. The Apocryphal Gospels were suited to
the vilis plebecula, from which, as Jerome said, the Church originated ; the Apocryphal Acts appeal
more to the Academia.
We have in ancient literature, especially Greek literature, a long series of fabulous histories
attached to the names of men who made themselves famous either in arts or arms. This taste for
the marvellous became general after the expedition of Alexander ; and from that time down we
have numerous examples of it in the lives of Alexander, of Pythagoras, of Apollonius of Tyana,
of Homer, of Virgil, and others without number ; and we all know how much fabulous matter is
apt to gather round the names of popular heroes even in modern times.
I [For a full list of fragments and titles of other Apocryphal Gospels, see Schaff-Herzog, i. p. 106. Twenty-nine are given, but in some
cases the same work probably appears under two titles. — R.]
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 355
It is not to be wondered at, then, that round the names of Christ and His apostles, who had
brought about social changes greater than those effected by the exploits of any hero of old, there
should gather, as the result of the wondering awe of simple-minded men, a growth of the roman-
tic and the fabulous.
These stories came at length to form a sort of apostolic cycle, of which the documents follow-
ing are portions. They exists also in a Latin form in the ten books of the Acts of the Apostles,
compiled probably in the sixth century, and falsely attributed to Abdias, the first bishop of Baby-
lon, by whom it was, of course, written in Hebrew.'
We shall now give a brief account of each of the thirteen documents which make up this part
of the volume.
I. The Acts of Peter and Paul. — This book was first published in a complete form by Thilo
in 1837 and 1838. A portion of it had already been translated into Latin by the famous Greek
scholar Constantine Lascaris in 1490, and had been made use of in the celebrated controversy
as to the situation of the island Melita, upon which St. Paul was shipwrecked. For his edition
Tischendorf collated six mss., the oldest of the end of the ninth century.
Some portions at least of the book are of an early date. The Domine quo vadis story, p. 485,
is referred to by Origen, and others after him. A book called the Acts of Peter is condemned in
the decree of Pope Gelasius.
II. Acts of Paul and Thecla. — This book is of undoubted antiquity. There seems reason to
accept the account of it given by TertuUian, that it was written by an Asiatic presbyter in glorifi-
cation of St. Paul (who, however, unquestionably occupies only a secondary place in it), and in
support of the heretical opinion that women may teach and baptize. It is expressly mentioned
and quoted by a long line of Latin and Greek Fathers. The quotations are inserted in Tischen-
dorf s Prolegomena, p. xxiv.
The text was first edited in 1698 by Grabe from a Bodleian MS., republished by Jones in 1726.
A blank in the Bodleian MS. was supplied in 1715 by Thomas Hearne from another Oxford MS.
Tischendorf 's text is from a recension of three Paris mss., each of the eleventh century.
III. Acts of Barnabas. — This book has more an air of truth about it that any of the others.
There is not much extravagance in the details, and the geography is correct, showing that the
writer knew Cyprus well. It seems to have been written at all events before 478, in which year
the body of Barnabas is said to have been found in Cyprus.
Papebroche first edited the book in the Acta Sanctorum in 1698, with a Latin translation.
The Vatican MS. which he used was an imperfect one. Tischendorfs text is from a Parisian MS. of
the end of the ninth century.
IV. Acts of Philip. — A book under this name was condemned in the decree of Pope Gelasius ;
and that the traditions about Philip were well known from an early date, is evident from the abun-
dant references to them in ancient documents. The writings of the Hagiographers also, both
Greek and Latin, contain epitomes of Philip's fife.
The Greek text, now first published, is a recension of two mss., — a Parisian one of the
eleventh century, and a Venetian one. The latter is noticeable, from being superscribed From
the Fifteenth Act to the end, leaving us to infer that we have only a portion of the book.
V. Acts of Philip in Hellas. — This also is published for the first time by Tischendorf. It is
obviously a later document than the preceding, though composed in the same style. It is from a
Parisian ms. of the eleventh century.
' [That is, this is the tradition. Of such Hebrew original there is no trace. — R.J
356 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
VI. Acts of Andrew. — In the decree of Pope Gelasius (</. 496), a book under this name is
condemned as apocryphal. Epiphanius (</. 403) states that the Acts of Andrew were in favour
with the Encratites, the Apostohcs, and the Origenians ; Augustine {d. 430) mentions that the
Acts of the Apostles written by Leucius Charinus — discipulus diaboli, as Pope Gelasius calls him
— were held in estimation by the Manichseans. The authorship generally is attributed to Leucius
by early writers; Innocentius I. {^d. 417), however, says that the Acts of Andrew were composed
by the philosophers Nexocharis and Leonidas. This book is much the same in substance with the
celebrated Presbyierorum et Diaconorum Achaice de martyrio S. AndrecE aposioli epistola eticyclica,
first edited in Greek by Woog in 1 749, and by him considered to be a genuine writing of the
apostolic age, composed about a.d. 80. Thilo, while dissenting from this opinion of Woog's,
concludes that it is a fragijient from the Acts of Leucius, expurgated of most of its heresy, and
put into its present shape by an orthodox writer. Cardinals Baronius and Bellarmine assign
the epistle to the apostolic age ; Fabricius thinks it much later.
The probability is that the book was written by Leucius, following earlier traditions, and that
it was afterwards revised and fitted for general reading by an orthodox hand.
Though some of the traditions mentioned in the book are referred to by authors of the begiii-
ing of the fifth century, there does not seem to be any undoubted quotation of it before the
eighth and the tenth centuries. Some portions of Pseudo-Abdias, however, are almost in the
words of our Greek Acts.
The text is edited chiefly from two MSS., — the one of the eleventh, the other of the four-
teenth century.
The Greek of the original is good of the kind, and exhibits considerable rhetorical skill,
VII. Acts of Andrew ajid Matthias. — Thilo assigns the authorship of these Acts also to
Leucius, and the use of them to the Gnostics, Manichseans, and other heretics. Pseudo-Abdias
seems to have derived his account of Andrew and Matthias from the same source. Epiphanius
the monk, who wTote in the tenth century, gives extracts from the history. There is, besides, an
old English — commonly called Anglo-Saxon — poem, Andrew and Helene, published by Jacob
Grimm in 1840, the argument of which in great part coincides with that of the Acts of Andrew
and Matthias.
There is considerable doubt as to whether it is Matthias or Matthew that is spoken of,
Pseudo-Abdias, followed by all the Latin writers on the subject, calls him Matthew. The Greek
texts hesitate between the two. Tischendorf edits Matthias, on the authority of his oldest ms.
Tliere is also some discrepancy as to the name of the town. Some mss. say Sinope, others
Myrmene or Myrna : they generally, however, coincide in calling it a town of Ethiopia.
Thilo, and Tischendorf after him, made use chiefly of three mss., only one of which, of the
fifteenth century, contains the whole book. The oldest is an uncial ms. of about the eighth
century.
The Acts of Peter and Andrew, from the Bodleian MS., are inserted as an appendix to the
Acts of Andrew and Matthias.
VIII. Acts of Matthew. — This book is edited by Tischendorf for the first time. It is a much
later production than the last, written in bad Greek, and in a style rendered very cumbrous by the
use of participial plirases.
On the authority of the oldest ms., Matthew, not Matthias, is the name here. It is probably
owing to this confusion between the names, that there is much uncertainty in the traditions regard-
ing St. Matthew.
Tischendorf gives, in his Prolegomena, a long extract from Nicephorus, which shows that he
was acquainted with this book, or something very like it.
The text is edited from two mss., — a Parisian of the eleventh century, and a Viennese of a
later date.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 357
IX. Acts of Thotnas. — The substance of this book is of great antiquity, and in its original
form it was held in great estimation by the heretics of the first and second centuries. The main
heresy which it contained was that the Apostle Thomas baptized, not with water, but with oil only.
It is mentioned by Epiphanius, Turribius, and Nicephorus, condemned in the decree of Gelasius,
and in the Synopsis of Scripture ascribed to Athanasius, in which it is placed, along with the Acts
of Peter, Acts of John, and other books, among the Ajitilegomena. St. Augustine in three pas-
sages refers to the book in such a way as to show that he had it in something very like its present
form. Two centuries later, Pseudo-Abdias made a recension of the book, rejecting the more
heretical portions, and adapting it generally to orthodox use. Photius attributes the authorship
of this document, as of many other apocryphal Acts, to Leucius Charinus.
The Greek text was first edited, with copious notes and prolegomena, by Thilo in 1823. The
text from Which the present translation is made is a recension of five Mss., the ol4est of the tenth
century.
X. Consummation of Thomas. — This is properly a portion of the preceding book. Pseudo-
Abdias follows it very closely, but the Greek of some chapters of his translation or compilation has
not yet been discovered.
The text, edited by Tischendorf for the first time, is from a MS. of the eleventh century.
XI. Martyrdom of Bartholotnew. — This Greek text, now for the first time edited by Tischen-
dorf, is very similar to the account of Bartholomew in Pseudo-Abdias. The editor is inclined
to believe, not that the Greek text is a translation of Abdias, which it probably is, but that both it
and Abdias are derived from the same source. Tischendorf seems inclined to lay some weight
upon the mention made by Abdias of a certain Crato, said to be a disciple of the Apostles Simon
and Judas, having written a voluminous history of the apostles, which was translated into Latin by
Julius Africanus. The whole story, however, is absurd. It is very improbable that Julius Africanus
knew any Latin ; it is possible, however, that he may have compiled some stories of the apostles,
that these may have been translated into Latin, and that Pseudo-Crato and Pseudo-Abdias may
have derived some of their materials from this source.
The Greek text is edited from a Venetian ms. of the thirteenth century.
XII. Acts of ThaddcEus. — This document, of which our text is the editio princeps, is of some
consequence, as giving in another form the famous letters of Christ to Abgarus. Eusebius {^H. E.,
i. 13) says that he found in the archives of Edessa the letters written by their own hands, and that
he translated them from the Syriac. The story of the portrait was a later invention. It is found
in Pseudo-Abdias (x. i), and with great detail in Nicephorus {H. E., ii. 7). There is consider-
able variety in the texts of the letters. They were probably written in Syriac in the third century
by some native of Edessa, who wished to add to the importance of his city and the antiquity of
his church. See the whole subject discussed in Dr. Cureton's Ancient Syriac Documents relative
to the earliest establishment of Christianity in Edessa.
The Greek text, which is probably of the sixth or seventh century, seems, from allusions to the
synagogue, the hours of prayer, the Sabbath-day, etc., to have been written by a Jew. It is edited
from a Paris MS. of the eleventh century, and a Vienna one of a later date.
XIII. Acts of John. — A book under this title is mentioned by Eusebius, Epiphanius, Photius,
among Greek writers ; Augustine, Philastrius, Innocent I., and Turribius among Latin writers.
The two last named and Photius ascribe the authorship to Leucius, discipulus diaboli, who got
the credit of all these heretical brochures. It is not named in the decree of Gelasius.
-Augustine {Tractat. 124 in Johannem') relates at length the story of John going down alive
into his grave, and of the fact of his being alive being shown by his breath stirring about the dust
on the tomb. This story, which has some resemblance to the Teutonic legend of Barbarossa, is
repeated by Photius.
358 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
There is a Latin document published by Fabricius, Pseudo-Melitonis liber de Passione S. Jo-
hannis Evangelistcs, which the author professed to write with the original of Leucius before his
eyes. It has considerable resemblances in some passages to the present text. The only passages
in Pseudo-Abdias that appear to have any connection with the present document are those which
refer to the apostle's burial.
The text is edited from a Paris ms. of the eleventh century, and a Vienna one, to which no date
is assigned.
It is doubtful whether the narrative part of the Acts of John be by the same hand as the dis-
courses.
PART III. — APOCRYPHAL APOCALYPSES.
This portion of the volume, extending from page 565 to page 598, consists of seven docu-
ments, four of which are called Apocalypses by their authors. Of these, the Greek text of the
first three is edited for the first time ; the fourth, the Apocalypse of John, has appeared before.
The fifth, The Falling Asleep of Mary, appears for the first time in its Greek form, and in the
first Latin recension of it.
The MSS. of these documents are characterized by extreme variety of readings ; and in some
of them, especially the earlier portion of the Apocalypse of Esdras, the text is in a very corrupt
state.
I. The Apocalypse of Moses. — This document belongs to the Apocrypha of the Old Testa-
ment rather than that of the New. We have been unable to find in it any reference to any Christian
writing. In its form, too, it appears to be a portion of some larger work. Parts of it at least are
of an ancient date, as it is very likely from this source that the writer of the Gospel of Nicodemus
took the celebrated legend of the Tree of Life and the Oil of Mercy. An account of this legend
will be found in Cowper's Apocryphal Gospels, xcix.-cii. ; in Maury, Croyances et Legcndes de
PAntiquite, p. 294; in Kenan's commentary to the Syriac text of the Penitence of Adam, edited
and translated by Renan in \\\q Journal Asialigi/c for 1853. There appeared a poetical rendering
of the legend in Blackivoods Magazine ten or twelve years ago.
Tischendorfs text is made from four mss. : A, a Venice MS. of the thirteenth century ; B and C,
Vienna mss. of the thirteenth and twelfth centuries respectively ; and D, a Milan ms. of about the
eleventh century.
II. The Apocalypse of Esdras. — This book is a ^veak imitation of the apocryphal fourth book
of Esdras. Thilo, in his prolegomena to the Acts of Thomas, p. Ixxxii., mentions it, and doubts
whether it be the fourth book of Esdras or not. Portions of it were published by Dr. Hase of
the Paris Library, and it was then seen that it was a different production. The MS. is of about the
fifteenth century, and in the earlier portions very difficult to read.
III. The Apocalypse of Paul. — There are two apocryphal books bearing the name of Paul
mentioned by ancient writers : The Ascension of Paul, adopted by the Cainites and the Gnostics ;
and the Apocalypse of Paul, spoken of by Augustine and Sozomen. There seems to be no
doubt that the present text, discovered by Tischendorf in 1843, and published by him in 1866, is
the book mentioned by Augustine and Sozomen. It is referred to by numerous authorities, one
of whom, however, ascribes it to the heretic Paul of Samosata, the founder of the sect of the
Paulicians.
There appear to be versions of it in Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic. One of the Syriac versions,
from an Urumiyeh MS., was translated into English by an American missionary in 1864. This
translation, or the greater portion of it, is printed by Tischendorf along with his edition of the text.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 359
Tischendorf, upon what seems to be pretty good evidence, ascribes it to the year 380. It is
from a Milan ms. of not earher than the fifteenth century. There is another ms. two centuries
older ; but they both seem to be copied from the same original. The Syriac seems to be later
than the Greek, and, according to Eastern fashion, fuller in details.
IV. The Apocalypse of John. — In the scholia to the Grammar of Dionysius the Thracian,
ascribed to the ninth century, immediately after the ascription of the Apocalypse of Paul to Paul
of Samosata, there occurs the following statement : ' And there is another called the Apocalypse of
John the Theologian. We do not speak of that in the island of Patmos, God forbid, for it is most
true ; but of a supposititious and spurious one.' This is the oldest reference to this Apocalypse.
Assenian says he found the book in Arabic in three i\iss.
The document was first edited by Birch in 1804, from a Vatican ms., collated with a Vienna
MS. For his edition Tischendorf collated other five mss., two of Paris, three of Vienna, of from
the fourteenth to the sixteenth century.
Of other Apocalypses, Tischendorf in his Prolegomena gives an abstract of the Apocalypse of
Peter, the Apocalypse of Bartholomew, the Apocalypse of Mary, and the Apocalypse of Daniel.
The Apocalypse of Peter professes to be written by Clement. There is an Arabic ms. of it in the
Bodleian Library. It is called the Perfect Book, or the Book of Perfection, and consists of eighty-
nine chapters, comprising a history of the world as revealed to Peter, from the foundation of the
world to the appearing of Antichrist.
The Apocalypse of Bartholomew, from a ms. in the Paris Library, was edited and translated by
Dulaurier in 1835. The translation appears in Tischendorf 's Prolegomena.
The Apocalypse of Mary, containing her descent to the lower world, appears in several Greek
mss. It is of a late date, the work of some monk of the middle ages.
The Apocalypse of Daniel, otherwise called the Revelation of the Prophet Daniel about the
consummation of the world, is also of a late date. About the half of the Greek text is given in
the Prolegomena. We have not thought it necessary to translate it.
v., VI., VII. The Assumption of Mary. — It is somewhat strange that the Greek text of this
book, which has been translated into several languages both of the East and the West, is edited
by Tischendorf for the first time. He assigns it to a date not later than the fourth century. A
book under this title is condemned in the decree of Gelasius. The author of the Second Latin
Form (see p. 595, note), writing under the name of Melito, ascribes the authorship of a treatise
on the same subject to Leucius. This, however, cannot be the book so ascribed to Leucius, as
Pseudo-Melito affirms that his book, which is in substance the same as the Greek text, was writ-
ten to condemn Leucius' heresies.
There are translations or recensions of our text in Syriac, Sahidic, and Arabic. The Syriac was
edited and translated by Wright in 1865, in his Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the
New Testament. Another recension of it was published in Xht Journal of Sacred Literatui-e for
January and April, 1864. An Arabic version of it, resembling more the Syriac than the Greek or
Latin, was edited and translated by Enger in 1854. The Sahidic recension, published and trans-
lated by Zoega and Dulaurier, is considerably different from our present texts. The numerous
Latin recensions also differ considerably from each other, as will be seen from a comparison of
the First Latin Form with the Second, They are all, however, from the same source, and that
probably the Greek text which we have translated. The Greek texts, again, exhibit considerable
variations, especially in the latter portions.
In the end of the seventh century, John Archbishop of Thessalonica wrote a discourse on the
falling asleep of Mary, mainly derived from the book of Pseudo-John ; and in some mss. this
treatise of John of Thessalonica is ascribed to John the Apostle. Epiphanius, however, makes
distinctive mention of both treatises.
36o INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
For his edition of the Greek text, Tischendorf made use of five mss., the oldest of the eleventh
century.
The First Latin Form is edited from three Italian mss., the oldest of the thirteenth century.
The Second Latin Form, which has been previously pubUshed elsewhere, is from a Venetian
MS. of the fourteenth century.
We have now concluded our notices, compiled chiefly from Tischendorf s Prolegomena, of the
Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament.
While these documents are of considerable interest and value, as giving evidence of a wide-
spread feeling in early times of the importance of the events which form the basis of our belief,
and as affording us curious glimpses of the state of the Christian conscience, and of modes of
Christian thought, in the first centuries of our era, the predominant impression which they leave
on our minds is a profound sense of the immeasurable superiority, the unapproachable simplicity
and majesty, of the Canonical Writings.
St. Andrews, 26M March, 1870.
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES.
THE BIRTH OF MARY THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, AND VERY GLORIOUS
MOTHER OF JESUS CHRIST.'
1. In the records of the twelve tribes of Israel
was Joachim, a man rich exceedingly ; and he
brought his offerings double,^ saying : There
shall be of my superabundance to all the people,
and there shall be the offering for my forgive-
ness 3 to the Lord for a propitiation for me.+
For the great day of the Lord was at hand, and
the sons of Israel were bringing their offerings.
And there stood over against him Rubim, say-
ing : It is not meet for thee first to bring thine
offerings, because thou hast not made seed in
Israel. 5 And Joachim was exceedingly grieved,
and went away to the registers of the twelve tribes
of the people, saying : I shall see the registers of
the twelve tribes of Israel, as to whether I alone
have not made seed in Israel. And he searched,
and found that all the righteous had raised up
seed in Israel. And he called to mind the pa-
triach Abraham, that in the last day ^ God gave
him a son Isaac. And Joachim was exceedingly
grieved, and did not come into the presence of
his wife ; but he retired to the desert,^ and there
pitched his tent, and fasted forty days and forty
nights,^ saying in himself: I will not go down
either for food or for drink until the Lord my
God shall look upon me, and prayer shall be
my food and drink.
2. And his wife Anna 9 mourned in two mourn-
ings, and lamented in two lamentations, saying :
' [This title is taken by Tischendorf from a manuscript of the
eleventh century (Paris). At least seventeen other forms exist. The
book is variously named by ancient writers. In the decree of Gelasius
(a.d. 495) he condemns it as Evajigelium nomine Jacobi minoris
apoc yyph u >n .
The text of Tischendorf, here translated, is somewhat less diffuse
than that of Fabricius, and is based on manuscript evidence. The
variations are verbal and formal rather than material. — R.]
2 Susanna i. 4.
3 The readings vary, and the sense is doubtful. Thilo thinks
that the sense is: What I offer over and above what the law requires
is for the benefit of the whole people ; but the offering I make for my
own forgiveness (according to the law's requirements) shall be to the
Lord, that He may be rendered merciful to me.
■* The Church of Rome appoints March 20 as the Feast of St. Joa-
chim. His liberality is commemorated in prayers, and the lessons to
be read are Wisd. xxxi and Matt. i.
5 I Sam. i. 6, 7; Hos. ix. 14.
* Another reading is: In his last days.
7 Another reading is: Into the hill-country.
8 Moses: Ex. xxiv. 18, xxxiv. 28; Ueut. ix. 9. Elijah: i Kings
xix. 8. Christ: Matt. iv. 2.
9 The 26th of J uly is the Feast of St. Anna in the Church of Rome.
I shall bewail my widowhood ; I shalj bewail my
childlessness. And the great day of the Lord
was at hand ; and Judith '° her maid-servant
said: How long dost thou humiliate thy soul?
Behold, the great day of the Lord is at hand,
and it is unlawful for thee to mourn. But take
this head-band, which the woman that made it
gave to me ; for it is not proper that I should
wear it, because I am a maid-servant, and it has
a royal appearance." And Anna said : Depart
from me ; for I have not done such things, and
the Lord has brought me very low. I fear that
some wicked person has given it to thee, and
thou hast come to make me a sharer in thy sin.
And Judith said : Why should I curse thee,
seeing that'^ the Lord hath shut thy womb, so as
not to give thee fruit in Israel ? And Anna was
grieved exceedingly, and put off her garments
of mourning, and cleaned her head, and put on
her wedding garments, and about the ninth hour
went down to the garden to walk. And she saw
a laurel, and sat under it, and prayed to the
Lord, saying : O God of our fathers, bless me
and hear my prayer, as Thou didst bless the
womb of Sarah, and didst give her a son Isaac.'^
3. And gazing towards the heaven, she saw a
sparrow's nest in the laurel,'-* and made a lamen-
tation in herself, saying : Alas ! who begot me ?
and what womb produced me ? because I have
become a curse in the presence of the sons of
Israel, and I have been reproached, and they have
driven me in derision out of the temple of the
Lord. Alas ! to what have I been likened ? I
am not like the fowls of the heaven, because even
the fowls of the heaven are productive before
Thee, O Lord. Alas ! to what have I been lik-
ened ? I am not like the beasts of the earth, be-
cause even the beasts of the earth are productive
before Thee, O Lord. Alas ! to what have I been
likened? I am not like these waters, because
'° Other forms of the name are Juth, Juthin.
" Some Mss. have: For 1 am thy maidservant, and thou hast a
regal appearance.
'- Several MSS. insert: Thou hast not listened to my voice; for.
'^ Comp. I Sam. i. 9-18.
14 Tobit ii. 10.
361
362
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES.
even these waters are productive before Thee, O
Lord. Alas ! to what have I been likened ? I
am not like this earth, because even the earth
bringeth forth its fruits in season, and blesseth
Thee, O Lord.'
4. And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by,
saying : Anna, Anna, the Lord hath heard thy
prayer, and thou shalt conceive, and shalt bring
forth ; and thy seed shall be spoken of in all the
world. And Anna said : As the Lord my God
liveth, if I beget either male or female, I will
bring it as a gift to the Lord my God ; and it
shall minister to Him in holy things all the days
of its life.^ And, behold, two angels came, say-
ing to her : Behold, Joachim thy husband is
coming with his flocks. 3 For an angel of the
Lord went down to him, saying : Joachim, Joa-
chim, the Lord God hath heard thy prayer Go
down hence ; for, behold, thy wife Anna shall
conceive. And Joachim went down and called
his shepherds, saying : Bring me hither ten she-
lambs without spot or blemish, and they shall
be for the Lord my God ; and bring me twelve
tender calves, and they shall be for the priests
and the elders ; and a hundred goats for all the
people. And, behold, Joachim came with his
flocks ; and Anna stood by the gate, and saw
Joachim coming, and she ran and hung upon
his neck, saying : Now I know that the Lord
God hath blessed me exceedingly ; for, behold,
the widow no longer a widow, and I the child-
less shall conceive. And Joachim rested the
first day in his house.
5. And on the following day he brought his
offerings, saying in himself: If the Lord God
has been rendered gracious to me, the plate * on
the priest's forehead will make it manifest to me.
And Joachim brought his offerings, and observed
attentively the priest's plate when he went up to
the altar of the Lord, and he saw no sin in him-
self. And Joachim said : Now I know that the
Lord has been gracious unto me, and has remit-
ted all my sins. And he went down from the
temple of the Lord justified, and departed to his
own house. And her months were fulfilled, and
in the ninth 5 month Anna brought forth. And
she said to the midwife : What have I brought
forth ? and she said : A girl. And said Anna :
My soul has been magnified this day. And she
laid her down. And the days having been ful-
filled, Anna was purified, and gave the breast to
the child,^ and called her name Mary.
I Many of the Mss. here add: Alas! to what have I been lik-
ened? I am not like the waves of the sea, because even the waves of
the sea, in calm and storm, and the fishes in them, bless Thee, O
Lord.
^ I Sam. i. II.
3 One of the mss. : With his shepherds, and sheep, and goats,
and oxen.
4 Ex. xxviii. 36-38. For traditions about thepeialon, see Euseb.,
H. E., ii. 23, iii. 31, V. 24; Epiph., Hcer., 78.
^ Various readings are: Sixth, seventh, eighth.
'' One of the mss inserts: On the eighth day.
6. And the child grew strong day by day ;
and when she was six ^ months old, her mother
set her on the ground to try whether she could
stand, and she walked seven steps and came
into her bosom ; and she snatched her up, say-
ing : As the Lord my God liveth, thou shalt not
walk on this earth until I bring thee into the
temple of the Lord. And she made a sanctuary
in her bed-chamber, and allowed nothing com-
mon or unclean to pass through her. And she
called the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews,
and they led her astray.*^ And when she was a
year old, Joachim made a great feast, and in-
vited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders,
and all the people of Israel. And Joachim
brought the child to the priests ; and they
blessed her, saying : O God of our fathers, bless
this child, and give her an everlasting name to
be named in all generations. And all the peo-
ple said : So be it, so be it, amen. And he
brought her to the chief priests ; and they
blessed her, saying : O God most high, look
upon this child, and bless her with the utmost
blessing, which shall be for ever. And her
mother snatched her up, and took her into the
sanctuary of her bed-chamber, and gave her
the breast. And Anna made a song to the Lord
God, saying : I will sing a song to the Lord my
God, for He hath looked upon me, and hath
taken away the reproach of mine enemies ; and
the Lord hath given me the fruit of His right-
eousness, singular in its kind, and richly en-
dowed before Him. Who will tell the sons of
Rubim that Anna gives suck? Hear, hear, ye
twelve tribes of Israel, that Anna gives suck.
And she laid her to rest in the bed-chamber of
her sanctuary, and went out and ministered unto
them. And when the supper was ended, they
went down rejoicing, and glorifying the God of
Israel.^
7. And her months were added to the child.
And the child was two years old, and Joachim
said : Let us take her up to the temple of the
Lord, that we may pay the vow that we have
vowed, lest perchance the Lord send to us,'°
and our offering be not received. And Anna
said : Let us wait for the third year, in order
that the child may not seek for father or mother.
And Joachim said : So let us wait. And the
child was three years old, and Joachim said :
Invite the daughters of the Hebrews that are
undefiled, and let them take each a lamp, and
let them stand with the lamps burning, that the
' One of the MSS. has nine.
8 This is the readmg of most mss. ; but it is difficult to see any
sense in it. One MS. reads: They attended on her. Fabricius pro-
posed: They bathed her.
9 Two of the MSS. add: And they gave her the name of Mary,
because her name shall not fade for ever. This derivation of the
name — from the root mar, fade — is one of a dozen or so.
'° This is taken to mean : Send someone to us to warn us that we
have been too long in paying our vow. One MS. reads, lest the Lord
depart from us; another, lest the Lord move away from us.
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES.
363
child may not turn back, and her heart be cap-
tivated from the temple of the Lord. And they
did so until they went up into the temple of the
Lord. And the priest received her, and kissed
her, and blessed her, saying : The Lord has
magnified thy name in all generations. In thee,
on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest
His redemption to the sons of Israel. And he
set her down upon the third step of the altar,
and the Lord God sent grace upon her ; and she
danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel
loved her.
8. And her parents went down marvelling,
and praising the Lord God, because the child
had not turned back. And Mary was in the
temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that
dwelt there, and she received food from the
hand of an angel. And when she was twelve '
years old there was held a council of the priests,
saying : Behold, Mary has reached the age of
twelve years in the temple of the Lord. What
then shall we do with her, lest perchance she
defile the sanctuary of the Lord? And they
said to the high priest : Thou standest by the
altar of the Lord ; go in, and pray concerning
her ; and whatever the Lord shall manifest unto
thee, that also will we do. And the high priest
went in, taking the robe ^ with the twelve bells
into the holy of holies ; and he prayed concern-
ing her. And behold an angel of the Lord stood
by him, saying unto him : Zacharias, Zacharias,
go out and assemble the widowers of the people,
and let them bring each his rod ; and to whom-
soever the Lord shall show a sign, his wife shall
she be. And the heralds went out through all
the circuit of Judsea, and the trumpet of the
Lord sounded, and all ran.
9. And Joseph, throwing away his axe, went
out to meet them ; and when they had assem-
bled, they went away to the high priest, taking
with them their rods. And he, taking the rods
of all of them, entered into the temple, and
prayed ; and having ended his prayer, he took
the rods and came out, and gave them to them :
but there was no sign in them, and Joseph took
his rod last ; and, behold, a dove came out of
the rod, and flew upon Joseph's head. And the
priest said to Joseph, Thou hast been chosen
by lot to take into thy keeping the virgin of the
Lord. But Joseph refused, saying : I have chil-
dren, and I am an old man, and she is a young
girl. I am afraid lest I become a laughing-stock
to the sons of Israel. And the priest said to
Joseph : Fear the Lord thy God, and remember
what the Lord did to Dathan, and Abiram, and
Korah ; ^ how the earth opened, and they were
swallowed up on account of their contradiction.
' Or, fourteen. Postel's Latin version has ten.
2 F.X. xxviii. 28; Sirachxlv. 9; Justin, /"ry/A., xlii.
3 Num. xvi. 31-33.
And now fear, O Joseph, lest the same things
happen in thy house. And Joseph was afraid,
and took her into his keeping. And Joseph said
to Mary : Behold, I have received thee from the
temple of the Lord ; and now I leave thee in
my house, and go away to build my buildings,
and I shall come to thee. The Lord will pro-
tect thee.
10. And there was a council of the priests,
saying : Let us make a veil for the temple of the
Lord. And the priest said : Call to me the un-
defiled virgins of the family of David. And the
officers went away, and sought, and found seven
virgins. And the priest remembered the child
Mary, that she was of the family of David, and
undefiled^. before God, And the officers went
away and brought her. And they brought them
into the temple of the Lord. And the priest
said : Choose for me by lot who shall spin the
gold, and the white,'* and the fine linen, and the
silk, and the blue.s and the scarlet, and the true
purple.'' And the true purple and the scarlet
fell to the lot of Mary, and she took them, and
went away to her house. And at that time Zach-
arias was dumb, and Samuel was in his place
until the time that Zacharias spake. And Mary
took the scarlet, and span it.
11. And she took the pitcher, and went out
to fill it with water. And, behold, a voice
saying : Hail, thou who hast received grace ;
the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou among
women ! ? And she looked round, on the right
hand and on the left, to see whence this voice
came. And she went away, trembling, to her
house, and put down the pitcher ; and taking
the purple, she sat down on her seat, and drew
it out. And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood
before her, saying : Fear not, Mary ; for thou
hast found grace before the Lord of all, and
thou shalt conceive, according to His word.
And she hearing, reasoned with herself, saying :
Shall I conceive by the Lord, the living God?
and shall I bring forth as every woman brings
forth ? And the angel of the Lord said : Not
so, Mary ; for the power of the Lord shall over-
shadow thee : wherefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of the Most High, And thou shalt call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. And Mary said : Behold, the servant
of the Lord before His face : let it be unto me
according to thy word.
12. And she made the purple and the scarlet,
and took them to the priest. And the priest
blessed her, and said : Mary, the Lord God hath
■* Lit., undefiled. It is difficult to say what colour is meant, or
if it is a colour at all The word is once used to mean the sea,
but with no reference to colour. It is also the name of a stone of
a greenish hue.
5 Lit., hyacinth.
^ Ex. XXV, 4,
1 Luke i. 28.
364
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES.
magnified Ihy name, and thou shalt be blessed
in all the generations of the earth. And Mary,
with great joy, went away to Elizabeth her kins-
woman," and knocked at the door. And when
Elizabeth heard her, she threw away the scarlet,^
and ran to the door, and opened it ; and seeing
Mary, she blessed her, and said : Whence is this
to me, that the mother of my Lord should come
to me ? for, behold, that which is in me leaped
and blessed thee. 3 But Mary had forgotten the
mysteries of which the archangel Gabriel had
spoken, and gazed up into heaven, and said :
Who am I, O Lord, that all the generations of
the earth should bless me?'* "And she remained
three months with Elizabeth ; and day by day
she grew bigger. And Mary being a^aid, went
away to her own house, and hid herself from the
sons of Israel. And she was sixteen 5 years old
when these mysteries happened.
13. And she was in her sixth month ; and,
behold, Joseph came back from his building,
and, entering into his house, he discovered that
she was big with child. And he smote ^ his
face, 7 and threw himself on the ground upon the
sackcloth, and wept bitterly, saying : With what
face shall I look upon the Lord my God ? and
what prayer shall I make about this maiden?
because I received her a virgin out of the temple
of the Lord, and I have not watched over her.
Who is it that has hunted me'"* down? Who has
done this evil thing in my house, and defiled the
virgin? Has not the history of Adam been
repeated in me ? For just as Adam was in the
hour of his singing praise,^ and the serpent
came, and found Eve alone, and completely
deceived her, so it has happened to me also.
And Joseph stood up from the sackcloth, and
called Mary, and said to her : O thou who hast
been cared for by God, why hast thou done this,
and forgotten the Lord thy God? Why hast
thou brought low thy soul, thou that wast brought
up in the holy of holies, and that didst receive
food from the hand of an angel ? And she wept
bitterly, saying : I am innocent, and have known
no man. And Joseph said to her : Whence
then is that which is in thy womb? And she
said : As the Lord my God liveth, I do not
know whence it is to me.
14. And Joseph was greatly afraid, and re-
tired from her, and considered what he should
do in regard to her.'° And Joseph said : If I
' Luke i. 39, 40.
2 Other readings are: the wool — what she had in her hand.
3 Luke i. 43, 44.
* Luke i 48.
5 Six Mss. have sixteen; one, fourteen; Vfio,Ji/teen; and one,
sevejiteen.
6 The Latin translation has htcng down.
' Ezek. xxi. 12; Jer. xxxi. 19.
* Two MSS.: her.
9 Another reading is: As Adam was in Paradise, and in the hour
of the singing of praise (doxology) to God was with the angels, the
serpent, etc
'° Matt. i. 19.
conceal her sin, I find myself fighting against
the law of the Lord ; and if I expose her to
the sons of Israel, I am afraid lest that which is
in her be from an angel," and I shall be found
giving up innocent blood to the doom of death.
What then shall I do with her? I will put her
away from me secretly. And night came upon
him ; and, behold, an angel of the Lord appears
to him in a dream, saying : Be not afraid for
this maiden, for that which is in her is of the
Holy Spirit ; and she will bring forth a Son, and
thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He will save
His people from their sins.'^ And Joseph arose
from sleep, and glorified the God of Israel, who
had given him this grace ; and he kept her.
15. And Annas the scribe came to him, and
said : Why hast thou not appeared in our assem-
bly ? And Joseph said to him : Because I was
weary from my journey, and rested the first day.
And he turned, and saw that Mary was with
child. And he ran away to the priest, '^ and said
to him : Joseph, whom thou didst vouch for, has
committed a grievous crime. And the priest
said : How so ? And he said : He has defiled
the virgin whom he received out of the temple
of the Lord, and has married her by stealth, and
has not revealed it to the sons of Israel. And
the priest answering, said : Has Joseph done
this ? Then said Annas the scribe : Send ofifi-
cers, and thou wilt find the virgin with child.
And the officers went away, and found it as he
had said ; and they brought her along with Jo-
seph to the tribunal. And the priest said : Mary,
why hast thou done this? and why hast thou
brought thy soul low, and forgotten the Lord thy
God? Thou that wast reared in the holy of
holies, and that didst receive food from the hand
of an angel, and didst hear the hymns, and didst
dance before Him, why hast thou done this?
And she wept bitterly, saying : As the Lord my
God liveth, I am pure before Him, and know
not a man. And the priest said to Joseph :
Why hast thou done this ? And Joseph said :
As the Lord liveth, I am pure concerning her.
Then said the priest : Bear not false witness, but
speak the truth. Thou hast married her by
stealth, and fiast not revealed it to the sons of
Israel, and hast not bowed thy head under the
strong hand, that thy seed might be blessed.
And Joseph was silent.
16. And the priest said: Give up the virgin
whom thou didst receive out of the temple of
the Lord. And Joseph burst into tears. And
the priest said : I will give you to drink of the
water of the ordeal of the Lord,''' and He shall
make manifest your sins in your eyes. And the
" Lit., angelic ; one MS. has holy; the Latin translation, follow-
ing a slightly different reading, that it would not be/air to her.
•- Matt. 1. 20.
'3 Three MSS. have high priest.
'^ Num. V. II, fT.
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES.
365
priest took the water, and gave Joseph to drink,
and sent him away to the hill-country ; and he
returned unhurt. And he gave to Mary also to
drink, and sent her away to the hill-country ; and
she returned unhurt. And all the people won-
dered that sin did not appear in them. And the
priest said : If the Lord God has not made
manifest your sins, neither do I judge you. And
he sent them away. And Joseph took Mary,
and went away to his own house, rejoicing and
glorifying the God of Israel.
1 7. And there was an order from the Emperor
Augustus, that all in Bethlehem of Judaea should
be enrolled.' And Joseph said : I shall enrol
my sons, but what shall I do with this maiden ?
How shall I enrol her? As my wife? I am
ashamed. As my daughter then? But all the
sons of Israel know that she is not my daughter.
The day of the Lord shall itself bring it to pass ^
as the Lord will. And he saddled the ass, and
set her upon it ; and his son led it, and Joseph
followed. 3 And when they had come within
three miles, Joseph turned and saw her sorrow-
ful ; and he said to himself : Likely that which
is in her distresses her. And again Joseph
turned and saw her laughing. And he said to
her : Mary, how is it that I see in thy face at
one time laughter, at another sorrow? And
Mary said to Joseph : Because I see two peoples
with my eyes ; the one weeping and lamenting,
and the other rejoicing and exulting. And they
came into the middle of the road, and Mary
said to him : Take me down from off the ass,
for that which is in me presses to come forth.
And he took her down from off the ass, and said
to her : Whither shall I lead thee, and cover thy
disgrace ? for the place is desert.
18. And he found a cave* there, and led her
into it ; and leaving his two sons beside her,
he went out to seek a widwife in the district of
Bethlehem.
And I Joseph was walking, and was not walk-
ing ; and I looked up into the sky, and saw the
sky astonished ; and I looked up to the pole of
the heaven's, and saw it standing, and the birds
of the air keeping still. And I looked down
upon the earth, and saw a trough lying, and
work-people reclining : and their hands were in
the trough. And those that were eating did not
eat, and those that were rising did not carry it
up, and those that were conveying anything to
' Luke ii. i.
2 Or: On this day of the Lord I will do, etc.
3 Another reading is: And his son Samuel led it, and James and
Simon followed.
* Bethlehem . . . used to be overshadowed by a grove of Tham-
muz, i.e., Adonis; and in the cave w'-.ere Christ formerly wailed as
an infant, they used to mourn for the beloved of Venus (Jerome to
PauliHus) . In his letter to Sabinianus the cave is repeatedly men-
tioned: " That cave in which the .Son of God was born; " " that ven-
erable cave," etc., " within the door of what was once the Lord's
manger, now the altar." "Then you run to the place of the shep-
herds." There appears also to have been above the altar the figure
of an angel, or angels. See also Justin, Tryph., 78.
their mouths did not convey it ; but the faces of
all were looking upwards. And I saw the sheep
walking, and the sheep stood still ; and the
shepherd raised his hand to strike them, and his
hand remained up. And I looked upon the cur-
rent of the river, and I saw the mouths of the
kids resting on the water and not drinking, and
all things in a moment were driven from their
course.
19. And I saw a woman coming down from
the hill-country, and she said to me : O man,
whither art thou going? And I said: I am
seeking an Hebrew midwife. And she answered
and said unto me : Art thou of Israel ? And I
said to her : Yes. And she said : And who is it
that is bringing forth in the cave ? And I said :
A woman betrothed to me. And she said to
me : Is she not thy wife ? And I said to her :
It is Mary that was reared in the temple of the
Lord, and I obtained her by lot as my wife.
And yet she is not my wife, but has conceived
of the Holy Spirit.
And the widwife said to him : Is this true ?
And Joseph said to her : Come and see. And
the midwife went away with him. And they
stood in the place of the cave, and behold a
luminous cloud overshadowed the cave. And
the midwife said : My soul has been magnified
this day, because mine eyes have seen strange
things — because salvation has been brought
forth to Israel. And immediately the cloud dis-
appeared out of the cave, and a great light shone
in the cave, so that the eyes could not bear it.
And in a little that light gradually decreased,
until the infant appeared, and went and took
the breast from His mother Mary. And the
midwife cried out, and said : This is a great day
to me, because I have seen this strange sight.
And the midwife went forth out of the cave, and
Salome met her. And she said to her : Salome,
Salome, I have a strange sight to relate to thee :
a virgin has brought forth — a thing which her
nature admits not of. Then said Salome : As
the Lord my God liveth, unless I thrust in my
finger, and search the parts, I will not believe
that a virgin has brought forth.
20. And the midwife went in, and said to
Mary: Show thyself; for no small controversy
has arisen about thee. And Salome put in her
finger, and cried out, and said : Woe is me for
mine iniquity and mine unbelief, because I have
tempted the living God ; and, behold, my hand
is dropping off as if burned with fire. And she
bent her knees before the Lord, saying : O God
of my fathers, remember that I am the seed of
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob ; do not make
a show of me to the sons of Israel, but restore
me to the poor ; for Thou knowest, O Lord,
that in Thy name I have performed my ser\'ices,
and that I have received my reward at Thy
366
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES.
hand. And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood
by her, saying to her : Salome, Salome, the Lord
hath heard thee. Put thy hand to the infant,
and carry it, and thou wilt have safety and joy.
And Salome went and carried it, saying : I will
worship Him, because a great King has been
born to Israel. And, behold, Salome was im-
mediately cured, and she went forth out of the
cave justified. And behold a voice saying :
Salome, Salome, tell not the strange things thou
hast seen, until the child has come into Jeru-
salem.
21. And, behold, Joseph was ready to go into
Judaea. And there was a great commotion in
Bethlehem of Judaea, for Magi came, saying :
Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for
we have seen his star in the east, and have come
to worship him. And when Herod heard, he
was much disturbed, and sent officers to the
Magi. And he sent for the priests, and examined
them, saying : How is it written about the Christ?
where is He to be born? And they said: In
Bethlehem of Judaea, for so it is written.' And
he sent them away. And he examined the Magi,
saying to them : What sign have you seen in
reference to the king that has been born? And
the Magi said : We have seen a star of great
size shining among these stars, and obscuring
their light, so that the stars did not appear ; and
we thus knew that a king has been born to
Israel, and we have come to worship him. And
Herod said : Go and seek him ; and if you find
him, let me know, in order that I also may go
and worship him. And the Magi went out. And,
behold, the star which they had seen in the east
went before them until they came to the cave,
and it stood over the top of the cave. And the
Magi saw the infant with His mother Mary ; and
they brought forth from their bag gold, and frank-
incense, and myrrh. And having been warned
by the angel not to go into Judaea, they went into
their own country by another road."*
2 2. And when Herod knew that he had been
mocked by the Magi, in a rage he sent murder-
ers, saying to them : Slay the children ^ from two
years old and under. And Mary, having heard
that the children were being killed, was afraid,
and took the infant and swaddled Him, and put
Him into an ox-stall. And Elizabeth, having
heard that they were searching for John, took
him and went up into the hill-country, and kept
looking where to conceal him. And there was
no place of concealment. And Elizabeth, groan-
ing with a loud voice, says : O mountain of God,
receive mother and child. And immediately the
mountain was cleft, and received her. And a
' Two Mss. here add: And thou Bethlehem, etc., from Mic. v. 2.
2 Matt. ii. I-I2. One of the mss. here adds Matt. ii. 13-15, with
two or three slight variations.
3 Four MSS. have all the jnale children, as in Matt. ii. 16.
light shone about them, for an angel of the Lord
was with them, watching over them.
23. And Herod searched for John, and sent
officers to Zacharias, saying : Where hast thou
hid thy son ? And he, answering, said to them :
I am the servant of God in holy things, and I sit
constantly in the temple of the Lord : I do not
know where my son is. And the officers went
away, and reported all these things to Herod.
And Herod was enraged, and said : His son is
destined to be king over Israel. And he sent to
him again, saying : Tell the truth ; where is thy
son ? for thou knowest that thy life is in my hand.
And Zacharias said : I am God's martyr, if thou
sheddest my blood ; for the Lord will receive my
spirit, because thou sheddest innocent blood at
the vestibule of the temple of the Lord. And
Zacharias was murdered about daybreak. And
the sons of Israel did not know that he had been
murdered."*
24. But at the hour of the salutation the
priests went away, and Zacharias did not come
forth to meet them with a blessing, according to .
his custom. 5 And the priests stood waiting for
Zacharias to salute him" at the prayer,^ and to
glorify the Most High. And he still delaying,
they were all afraid. But one of them ventured
to go in, and he saw clotted blood beside the
altar ; and he heard a voice saying : Zacharias
has been murdered, and his blood shall not be
wiped up until his avenger come. And hearing
this saying, he was afraid, and went out and told
it to the priests. And they ventured in, and saw
what had happened ; and the fretwork of the
temple made a wailing noise, and they rent their
clothes 7 from the top even to the bottom. And
they found not his body, but they found his
blood turned into stone. And they were afraid,
and went out and reported to the people that
Zacharias had been murdered. And all the
tribes of the people heard, and mourned, and
lamented for him three days and three nights.
And after the three days, the priests consulted
as to whom they should put in his place ; and
the lot fell upon Simeon. For it was he who
had been warned by the Holy Spirit that he
should not see death until he should see the
Christ in the flesh.^
And I James that wrote this history in Jerusa-
lem, a commotion having arisen when Herod
died, withdrew myself to the wilderness until
the commotion in Jerusalem ceased, glorifying
4 Another reading is: And Herod, enraged at this, ordered him to
be slain in the midst of the altar before the dawn, that the slaying
of him might not be prevented by the people. [This incident was
probably suggested by the reference to " Zacharias the son of Bara-
chias " in Matt, xxiii. 35, Luke xi. 51 ; but comp 2 Chron. xxiv. 20-22.
-R.]
5 Lit., the blessing of Zacharias did not come forth, etc.
* Or, with prayer.
' Another reading is: And was rent from the top, etc.
' Luke ii. 26 One of the MSS. here adds Matt. ii. 19-23, with
two or three verbal changes.
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES.
367
the Lord God, who had given me the gift and the
wisdom to write this history/ And grace shall
' [Assuming that this is among the most ancient of the Apocry-
phal Gospels, it is note%vorthy that the writer abstains from elaborating
his statements on points fully narrated in the Canonical Gospels. The
supplementary character of the earliest of these writings is obvious.
be with them that fear our Lord Jesus Christ, to
whom be glory to ages of ages. Amen.^
But what a contrast between the impressive silence of the New-Testa-
ment narratives, and the garrulity, not to say indelicacy, of these
detailed descriptions of the Nativity! — R.]
2 The Mss. vary much in the doxology.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
Here beginneth the book, of the Birth of the
Blessed Mary and the Infancy of the Saviour.
Written in Hebrew by the Blessed Evangelist
Matthew, and translated into Latin by the Bless-
ed Presbyter Jerome.
To their well-beloved brother Jerome the Pres-
byter, Bishops Cromatius and Heliodorus in the
Lord, greeting.
The birth of the Virgin Mary, and the nativity
and infancy of our Lord Jesus Christ, we find in
apocryphal books. But considering that in them
many things contrary to our faith are written, we
have believed that they ought all to be rejected,
lest perchance we should transfer the joy of
Christ to Antichrist.' While, therefore, we were
considering these things, there came holy men,
Parmenius and Varinus, who said that your Holi-
ness had found a Hebrew volume, written by the
hand of the most blessed Evangelist Matthew, in
which also the birth of the virgin mother herself,
and the infancy of our Saviour, were written.
And accordingly we entreat your affection by
our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, to render it from
the Hebrew into Latin,^ not so much for the at-
tainment of those things which are the insignia
of Christ, as for the exclusion of the craft of
heretics, who, in order to teach bad doctrine,
have mingled their own lies with the excellent
nativity of Christ, that by the sweetness of life
they might hide the bitterness of death. It will
therefore become your purest piety, either to
listen to us as your brethren entreating, or to let
us have as bishops exacting, the debt of affec-
tion which you may deem due.
REPLY TO THEIR LETTER BY JEROME.
To my lords the holy and most blessed Bishops
Cromatius and Heliodorus, Jerome, a humble
servant of Christ, in the Lord greeting.
He who digs in ground where he knows that
there is gold,^ does not instantly snatch at what-
ever the uptorn trench may pour forth ; but, be-
fore the stroke of the quivering spade raises aloft
the glittering mass, he meanwhile lingers over
' [This introduction is, of itself, an evidence of late origin. — R.]
^ Lit., to Latin ears.
3 Lit., conscious of gold.
368
the sods to turn them over and lift them up, and
especially he who has not added to his gains.
An arduous task is enjoined upon me, since what
your Blessedness has commanded me, the holy
Apostle and Evangelist Matthew himself did not
write for the purpose of publishing. For if he
had not done it somewhat secretly, he would
have added it also to his Gospel which he pub-
lished. But he composed this book in Hebrew ;
and so little did he pubHsh it, that at this day the
book written in Hebrew by his own hand is in
the possession of very religious men, to whom
in successive periods of time it has been handed
down by those that were before them. And this
book they never at any time gave to any one to
translate. And so it came to pass, that when it
was published by a disciple of Manichaeus named
Leucius, who also wrote the falsely styled Acts
of the Apostles, this book afforded matter, not of
edification, but of perdition ; and the opinion
of the Synod in regard to it was according to
its deserts, that the ears of the Church should
not be open to it. Let the snapping of those
that bark against us now cease ; for we do not
add this little book to the canonical writings, but
we translate what was written by an Apostle and
Evangelist, that we may disclose the falsehood
of heresy. In this work, then, we obey the com-
mands of pious bishops as well as oppose impi-
ous heretics. It is the love of Christ, therefore,
which we fulfil, believing that they will assist us
by their prayers, who through our obedience at-
tain to a knowledge of the holy infancy of our
Saviour.
There is extant another letter to the same
bishops, attributed to Jerome : —
You ask me to let you know what I think of
a book held by some to be about the nativity of
St. Mary. And so I wish you to know that there
is much in it that is false. For one Seleucus,
who wrote the Sufferings of the Apostles, com-
posed this book. But, just as he wrote what was
true about their powers, and the miracles they
worked, but said a great deal that was false about
their doctrine ; so here too he has invented many
untruths out of his own head. I shall take care
to render it word for word, exactly as it is in the
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
169
Hebrew, since it is asserted that it was composed
by the holy Evangelist Matthew, and written in
Hebrew, and set at the head of his Gospel.
Whether this be true or not, I leave to the au-
thor of the preface and the trustworthiness of
the writer : as for myself, I pronounce them
doubtful ; I do not affirm that they are clearly
false. But this I say freely — and I think none
of the faithful will deny it — that, whether these
stories be true or inventions, the sacred nativity
of St. Mary was preceded by great miracles, and
succeeded by the greatest ; and so by those who
believe that God can do these things, they can
be believed and read without damaging their
faith or imperilling their souls. In short, so far
as I can, following the sense rather than the
words of the writer, and sometimes walking in
the same path, though not in the same footsteps,
sometimes digressing a little, but still keeping
the same road, I shall in this way keep by the
style of the narrative, and shall say nothing that
is not either written there, or might, following
the same train of thought, have been written.
Chap, i.' — In those days there was a man in
Jerusalem, Joachim by name, of the tribe of Ju-
dah. He was the shepherd of his own sheep,
fearing the Lord in integrity and singleness of
heart. He had no other care than that of his
herds, from the produce of which he supplied
with food all that feared God, offering double
gifts in the fear of God to all who laboured in
doctrine, and who ministered unto Him. There-
fore his lambs, and his sheep, and his wool, and
all things whatsoever he possessed, he used to
divide into three portions : one he gave to the
orphans, the widows, the strangers, and tlie poor ;
the second to those that worshipped God ; and
the third he kept for himself and all his house.^
And as he did so, the Lord multiplied to him
his herds, so that there was no man like him in
the people of Israel. This now he began to do
when he was fifteen years old. And at the age
of twenty he. took to wife Anna, the daughter of
Achar, of his own tribe, that is, of the tribe of
Judah, of the family of David. And though they
had lived together for twenty years, he had by
her neither sons nor daughters.^
Chap. 2. — And it happened that, in the time
of the feast, among those who were offering in-
' Two of the Mss. have this prolojjue: I James, the son of Joseph,
living in the fe.ir of God, have written all that with my own eyes I saw
coming to pass in the time of the nativity of the holy virgin Mary,
or of the Lord the Saviour; giving thanks to God, who has given me
wisdom in the accounts of His Advent, showing His abounding grace
to the twelve tribes of Israel.
- Tobit i. 7.
3 One of the Mss. has: Only they vowed that, if God should give
them offspring, they would devote it to the service of the temple; and
because of this, they were wont to go to the temple of the Lord at
each of the yearly festivals.
cense to the Lord, Joachim stood getting ready
his gifts in the sight of the Lord. And the
priest, Ruben by name, coming to him, said :
It is not lawful for thee to stand among those
who are doing sacrifice to God, because God
has not blessed thee so as to give thee seed in
Israel. Being therefore put to shame in the
sight of the people, he retired from the temple
of the Lord weeping, and did not return to
his house, but went to his flocks, taking with
him his shepherds into the mountains to a far
country, so that for five months his wife Anna
could hear no tidings of him. And she prayed
with tears, saying : O Lord, most mighty God of
Israel, why hast Thou, seeing that already Thou
hast not given me children, taken from me my
husband also ? Behold, now five months that I
have not seen my husband ; and I know not
where he is tarrying ; ^ nor, if I knew him to be
dead, could I bury him. And while she wept
excessively, she entered into the court of His
house ; and she fell on her face in prayer, and
poured out her supplications before the Lord.
After this, rising from her prayer, and lifting her
eyes to God, she saw a sparrow's nest in a laurel
tree, 5 and uttered her voice to the Lord with
groaning, and said : Lord God Almighty, who
hast given offspring to every creature, to beasts
wild and tame, to serpents, and birds, and fishes,
and they all rejoice over their young ones. Thou
hast shut out me alone from the gift of Thy be-
nignity. For Thou, O God, knowest my heart,
that from the beginning of my married life I have
vowed that, if Thou, O God, shouldst give me
son or daughter, I would offer them to Thee in
Thy holy temple. And while she was thus
speaking, suddenly an angel of the Lord ap-
peared before her, saying : Be not afraid, Anna,
for there is seed for thee in the decree of God ;
and all generations even to the end shall wonder
at that which shall be born of thee. And when
he had thus spoken, he vanished out of her sight.
But she, in fear and dread because she had seen
such a sight, and heard such words, at length
went into her bed-chamber, and threw herself
on the bed as if dead. And for a whole day and
night she remained in great trembling and in
prayer. And after these things she called to her
her servant, and said to her : Dost thou see me
deceived in my widowhood and in great perplex-
ity, and hast thou been unwilling to come in to
me? Then she, with a slight murmur, thus
answered and said : If God hath shut up thy
womb, and hath taken away thy husband from
thee,' what can I do for thee ? And when Anna
heard this, she lifted up her voice, and wept
aloud.
4 Another reading is : Where he has died — reading mortuus for
moratiis.
5 Conip. Tobit ii. lo.
J/
o
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
Chap. 3. — At the same time there appeared j who were with him saw him, and not knowing why
a young man on the mountains to Joachim while i he was lying down, thought that he was dead ;
he was feeding his flocks, and said to him : Why ^ and they came to him, and with difficulty raised
dost thou not return to thy wife? And Joachim him from the ground. And when he recounted
said : I have had her for twenty years, and it | to them the vision of the angel, they were struck
has not been the will of God to give me children with great fear and wonder, and advised him to
by her. I have been driven with shame and accomplish the vision of the angel without de-
reproach from the temple of the Lord : why ! lay, and to go back with all haste to his wife,
should I go back to her, when I have been once j And when Joachim was turning over in his mind
cast off and utterly despised ? Here then will , whether he should go back or not, it happened
I remain with my sheep ; and so long as in this that he was overpowered by a deep sleep ; and,
life God is willing to grant me light, I shall will- i behold, the angel who had already appeared to
ingly, by the hands of my servants, bestow their him when awake, appeared to him in his sleep,
portions upon the poor, and the orphans, and saying : I am the angel appointed by God as thy
those that fear God. And when he had thus guardian : go down with confidence, and return
spoken, the young man said to him : I am an to Anna, because the deeds of mercy which
angel of the Lord, and I have to-day appeared , thou and thy wife Anna have done have been
to thy wife when she was weeping and praying, , told in the presence of the Most High ; and to
and have consoled her ; and know that she has you will God give such fruit as no prophet or
conceived a daughter from thy seed, and thou saint has ever had from the beginning, or ever
in thy ignorance of this hast left her. She will will have. And when Joachim awoke out of his
be in the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit sleep, he called all his herdsmen to him, and
shall abide in her ; and her blessedness shall be
greater than that of all the holy women, so that
no one can say that any before her has been like
her, or that any after her in this world will be so.
Therefore go down from the mountains, and re-
turn to thy wife, whom thou wilt find with child.
told them his dream. And they worshipped the
Lord, and said to him : See that thou no further
despise the words of the angel. But rise and let
us go hence, and return at a quiet pace, feeding
our flocks.
And when, after thirty days occupied in going
For God hath raised up seed in her, and for this j back, they were now near at hand, behold, the
thou wilt give God thanks ; and her seed shall angel of the Lord appeared to Anna, who was
be blessed, and she herself shall be blessed, and | standing and praying, and said : ^ Go to the gate
shall be made the mother of eternal blessing. \ which is called Golden,? and meet thy husband
Then Joachim adored the angel, and said to j in the way, for to-day he will come to thee. She
him : If I have found favour in thy sight, sit for ; therefore went towards him in haste with her
a little in my tent, and bless thy servant.' And ; maidens, and, praying to the Lord, she stood a
the angel said to him : Do not say servant, but
fellow-ser\'ant : for we are the servants of one
long time in the gate waiting for him. And when
she was wearied with long waiting, she lifted up
Master.2 gut my food is invisible, and my ! her eyes and saw Joachim afar off coming with
drink cannot be seen by a mortal. Therefore | his flocks ; and she ran to him and hung on his
thou oughtest not to ask me to enter thy tent;. I neck, giving thanks to God, and saying: I was
but if thou wast about to give me anything,^ offer a widow, and behold now I am not so : I was
it as a burnt-oftering to the Lord. Then Joachim 1 barren, and behold I have now conceived. And
took a lamb without spot, and said to the angel : 1 so they worshipped the Lord, and went into their
I should not have dared to offer a burnt-offering ' own house. And when this was heard of, there
to the Lord, unless thy command had given me i was great joy among all their neighbours and
the priest's right of offering.-* And the angel ! acquaintances, so that the whole land of Lsrael
said to him : I should not have invited thee to
offer unless I had known the will of the Lord.
And when Joachim was offering the sacrifice to
God, the angel and the odour of the sacrifice
went together straight up to heaven with the
smoke. 5
Then Joachim, throwing himself on his face,
lay in prayer from the sixth hour of the day even
until evening. And his lads and hired servants
* Gen. xviii. 3.
2 Rev. xix. 10.
3 Judg. xiii. 16.
* Faustus the Manichasan said that Joachim was of the tribe of
Levi (August, xxiii. 4, Cotttra Faustiim). As belonging to the
tribe of Judah, he had not the right of sacrifice.
5 Comp Judg. xiii. 20.
congratulated them.
Ch.^p. 4. — After these things, her nine months
being fulfilled, Anna brought forth a daughter,
and called her Mary. And having weaned her
in her third year, Joachim, and Anna his wife,
went together to the temple of the Lord to offer
sacrifices to God, and placed the infant, Mary
by name, in the community of virgins, in which
the virgins remained day and night praising God.
And when she was put down before the doors of
6 Comp. Acts ix. II.
7 This is the Beautiful gate of Acts iii. 2, to which, according to
Josephus, there was an ascent by many steps from the valley of
Kedron.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
Zl"^
the temple, she went up the fifteen steps ' so
swiftly, that she did not look back at all ; nor
did she, as children are wont to do, seek for her
parents. Whereupon her parents, each of them
anxiously seeking for the child, were both alike
astonished, until they found her in the temple,
and the priests of the temple themselves won-
dered.
Chap. 5. — Then Anna, filled with the Holy
Spirit, said before them all : The Lord Almighty,
the God of Hosts, being mindful of His word,
hath visited His people with a good and holy
visitation, to bring down the hearts of the Gen-
tiles who were rising against us, and turn them
to Himself. He hath opened His ears to our
prayers : He hath kept away from us the exulting
of all our enemies. The barren hath become
a mother, and hath brought forth exultation
and gladness to Israel. Behold the gifts which
I have brought to offer to my Lord, and mine
enemies have not been able to hinder me. For
God hath turned their hearts to me, and Him-
self hath given me everlasting joy.
Chap. 6. — And Mary was held in admiration
by all the people of Israel ; and when she was
three years old, she walked with a step so ma-
ture, she spoke so perfecdy, and spent her time
so assiduously in the praises of God, that all
were astonished at her, and wondered ; and she
was not reckoned a young infant, but as it were
a grown-up person of thirty years old. She was
so constant in prayer, and her appearance was
so beautiful and glorious, that scarcely any one
could look into her face. And she occupied
herself constantly with her wool-work, so that she
in her tender years could do all that old women
were not able to do. And this was the order
that she had set for herself:^ From the morning
to the third hour she remained in praver ; from
the third to the ninth she was occupied with her
weaving ; and from the ninth she again applied
herself to prayer. She did not retire from praying
until there appeared to her the angel of the Lord,
from whose hand she used to receive food ; and
thus she became more and more perfect in the
work of God. Then, when the older virgins
rested from the praises of God, she did not rest
at all ; so that in the praises and vigils of God
none were found before her, no one more learned
in the wisdom of the law of God, more lowly in
humility, more elegant in singing, more perfect
in all virtue. She was indeed stedfast, immove-
* Corresponding with the fifteen Songs of Degrees, Ps. cxx.-
cxxxiv. See Smith's /J/Vj". — art. Songs of Degrees. Another read-
ing is: And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen
Psalms of Degrees, fifteen steps of ascent: the temple was on a moun-
tain, and there had been there built the altar of burnt-offering, which
could not h: reached but by steps.
^ For the hours of prayer, see Apost. Const., ch. xl.; Jerome's
letters to Laeta, Demetrias, etc.
able, unchangeable, and daily advancing to per-
fection. No one saw her angry, nor heard her
speaking evil. All her speech was so full of grace,
that her God was acknowledged to be in her
tongue. She was always engaged in prayer and
in searching the law, and she was anxious lest by
any word of hers she should sin with regard to
her companions. Then she was afraid lest in
her laughter, or the sound of her beautiful voice,
she should commit any fault, or lest, being
elated, she should display any wrong-doing or
haughtiness to one of her equals.^ She blessed
God without intermission ; and lest perchance,
even in her salutation, she might cease from
praising God ; if any one saluted her, she used
to answer by way of salutation : Thanks be to
God. And from her the custom first began
of men saying. Thanks be to God, when they
saluted each other. She refreshed herself only
with the food which she daily received from the
hand of the angel ; but the food which she ob-
tained from the priests she divided among the
poor. The angels of God were often seen speak-
ing with her, and they most diligently obeyed
her. If any one who was unwell touched her,
the same hour he went home cured.
Chap. 7. — Then Abiathar the priest offered
gifts without end to the high priests, in order
that he might obtain her as wife to his son. But
Mary forbade them, saying : It cannot be that I
should know a man, or that a man should know
me. For all the priests and all her relations
kept saying to her : God is worshipped in chil-
dren and adored in posterity, as has always hap-
pened among the sons of Israel. But Mary an-
swered and said unto them : God is worshipped
in chastity, as is proved first of all.'* For before
Abel there was none righteous among men, and
he by his offerings pleased God, and was with-
out mercy slain by him who displeased Him.
Two crowns, therefore, he received — of oblation
and of virginity, because in his flesh there was no
pollution. Elias also, when he was in the flesh,
was taken up in the flesh, because he kept his
flesh unspotted. Now I, from my infancy in the
temple of God, have learned that virginity can
be sutficiently dear to God. And so, because I
can offer what is dear to God, I have resolved
in my heart that I should not know a man at all.
Chap. 8. — Now it came to pass, when she
was fourteen s years old, and on this account
there was occasion for the Pharisees' saying that
it was now a custom that no woman of that age
3 One of the mss has : She was anxious about her companions,
lest any of them should sin even in one word, lest any of them should
raise her voice in laughing, lest any of them should be in the wrong,
or proud to her father or her mother.
'■ Or, by the first of all.
S Or, twelve.
72
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
should abide in the temple of God, they fell
upon the plan of sending a herald through all
the tribes of Israel, that on the third day all
should come together into the temple of the
Lord. And when all the people had come
together, Abiathar the high priest rose, and
mounted on a higher step, that he might be
seen and heard by all the people ; and when
great silence had been obtained, he said : Hear
me, O sons of Israel, and receive my words into
your ears. Ever since this temple was built
by Solomon, there have been in it virgins, the
daughters of kings and the daughters of proph-
ets, and of high priests and priests ; and they
were great, and worthy of admiration. But
when they came to the proper age they were
given in marriage, and followed the course of
their mothers before them, and were pleasing to
God. But a new order of life has been found
out by Mary alone, who promises that she will
remain a virgin to God. Wherefore it seems to
me, that through our inquiry and the answer of
God we should try to ascertain to whose keep-
ing she ought to be entrusted. Then, these
words found favour with all the synagogue. And
the lot was cast by the priests upon the twelve
tribes, and the lot fell upon the tribe of Judah.
And the priest said : To-morrow let every one
who has no wife come, and bring his rod in
his hand. Whence it happened that Joseph '
brought his rod along with the young men.
And the rods having been handed over to the
high priest, he offered a sacrifice to the Lord
God, and inquired of the Lord. And the Lord
said to him : Put all their rods into the holy of
holies of God, and let them remain there, and
order them to come to thee on the morrow to
get back their rods ; and the man from the
point of whose rod a dove shall come forth, and
fly towards heaven, and in whose hand the rod,
when given back, shall exhibit this sign, to him
let Mary be delivered to be kept.
On the following day, then, all having assem-
bled early, and an incense-offering having been
made, the high priest went into the holy of ho-
lies, and brought forth the rods. And when he
had distributed the rods,^ and the dove came
forth out of none of them, the high priest put
on the twelve bells ^ and the sacerdotal robe ;
and entering into the holy of holies, he there
made a burnt-offering, and poured forth a prayer.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to him,
saying : There is here the shortest rod, of which
thou hast made no account : thou didst bring it
in with the rest, but didst not take it out with
them. When thou hast taken it out, and hast
' One of the Mss. adds: Seeing that he had not a wife, and not
wishing to slight the order of the high priest.
^ One of the mss. inserts: To the number of three thousand.
3 See Protev. James 8.
given it him whose it is, in it will appear the
sign of which I spoke to thee. Now that was
Joseph's rod ; and because he was an old man,
he had been cast off, as it were, that he might
not receive her, but neither did he himself wish
to ask back his rod.^ And when he was humbly
standing last of all, the high priest cried out to
him with a loud voice, saying : Come, Joseph,
and receive thy rod ; for we are waiting for thee.
And Joseph came up trembling, because the
high priest had called him with a very loud
voice. But as soon as he stretched forth his
hand, and laid hold of his rod, immediately
from the top of it came forth a dove whiter
than snow, beautiful exceedingly, which, after
long flying about the roofs of the temple, at
length flew towards the heavens. Then all the
people congratulated the old man, saying : Thou
hast been made blessed in thine old age, O
father Joseph, seeing that God hath shown thee
to be fit to receive Maryl And the priests hav-
ing said to him. Take her, because of all the
tribe of Judah thou alone hast been chosen by
God ; Joseph began bashfully to address them,
saying : I am an old man, and have children ;
why do you hand over to me this infant, who is
younger than my grandsons? Then Abiathar
the high priest said to him : Remember, Joseph,
how Dathan and Abiron and Core perished, be-
cause they despised the will of God. So will it
happen to thee, if thou despise this which is
commanded thee by God. Joseph answered
him : I indeed do not despise the will of God ;
but I shall be her guardian until I can ascertain
concerning the will of God, as to which of my
sons can have her as his wife. Let some virgins
of her companions, with whom she may mean-
while spend her time, be given for a consolation
to her. Abiathar the high priest answered and
said : Five virgins indeed shall be given her for
consolation, until the appointed day come in
which thou mayst receive her ; for to no other
can she be joined in marriage.
Then Joseph received Mary, with the other
five virgins who were to be with her in Joseph's
house. These virgins were Rebecca, Sephora,
Susanna, Abigea, and Cael ; to whom the high
priest gave the silk, and the blue,5 and the fine
linen, and the scarlet, and the purple, and the
fine flax. For they cast lots among themselves
what each virgin should do, and the purple for the
veil of the temple of the Lord fell to the lot of
Mary. And when she had got it, those virgins
said to her : Since thou art the last, and humble,
and younger than all, thou hast deserved to re-
ceive and obtain the purple. And thus saying.
4 Another and more probable reading is: And this was Joseph's
rod; and he was of an abject appearance, seeing that he was old, and
he would not ask back his rod, lest perchance he might be forced to
receive her.
5 Or, hyacinth.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
2>7?,
as it were in words of annoyance, they began to
call her queen of virgins. While, however, they
were so doing, the angel of the Lord appeared
in the midst of them, saying : These words shall
not have been uttered by way of annoyance, but
prophesied as a prophecy most true. They
trembled, therefore, at the sight of the angel,
and at his words, and asked her to pardon them,
and pray for them.
Chap. 9. — And on the second day, while
Mary was at the fountain to fill her pitcher, the
angel of the Lord appeared to her, saying :
Blessed art thou, Mary ; for in thy womb thou
hast prepared an habitation for the Lord. For,
lo, the light from heaven shall come and dwell
in thee, and by means of thee will shine over the
whole world.
Again, on the third day, while she was working
at the purple with her fingers, there entered a
young man of ineffable beauty. And when Mary
saw him, she exceedingly feared and trembled.
And he said to her : Hail, Mary, full of grace ;
the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among
women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."
And when she heard these words, she trembled,
and was exceedingly afraid. Then the angel of
the Lord added : Fear not, Mary ; for thou hast
found favour with God : Behold, thou shalt con-
ceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a King,
who fills not only the earth, but the heaven, and
who reigns from generation to generation.
Chap. 10. — While these things were doing,
Joseph was occupied with his work, house-build-
ing, in the districts by the sea-sliore ; for he was
a carpenter. And after nine months he came
back to his house, and found Mary pregnant.
Wherefore, being in the utmost distress, he
trembled and cried out, saying : O Lord God,
receive my spirit ; for it is better for me to die
than to live any longer. And the virgins who
were with Mary said to him : Joseph, what art
thou saying ? ' We know that no man has touched
her ; we can testify that she is still a virgin, and
untouched. We have watched over her ; always
has she continued with us in prayer ; daily do
the angels of God speak with her ; daily does
she receive food from the hand of the Lord.
We know not how it is possible that there can
be any sin in her. But if thou wishest us to tell
thee what we suspect, nobody but the angel of
the Lord^ has made her pregnant. Then said
Joseph : Why do you mislead me, to believe
that an angel of the Lord has made her pregnant ?
But it is possible that some one has pretended
to be an angel of the Lord, and has beguiled
her. And thus speaking, he wept, and said :
' Luke i. 28.
* Another reading is: The Holy Spirit.
With what face shall I look at the temple of the
Lord, or with what face shall I see the priests of
God? What am I to do? And thus saying, he
thought that he would flee, and send her away.
Chap, i i. — And when he was thinking of ris-
ing up and hiding himself, and dwelling in secret,
behold, on that very night, the angel of the Lord
appeared to him in sleep, saying : Joseph, thou
son of David, fear not ; receive Mary as thy
wife : for that which is in her womb is of the
Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son,
and His name shall be called Jesus, for He will
save His people from their sins. And Joseph,
rising from his sleep, gave thanks to God, and
spoke to Mary and the virgins who were with
her, and told them his vision. And he was com-
forted about Mary, saying : I have sinned, in
that I suspected thee at all.
Chap. 12. — After these things there arose a
great report that Mary was with child. And
Joseph was seized by the officers of the temple,
and brought along with Mary to the high priest.
And he with tlie priests began to reproach him,
and to say : Why hast thou beguiled so great and
so glorious a virgin, who was fed like a dove in
the temple by the angels of God, who never
wished either to see or to have a man, who had
the most excellent knowledge of the law of God ?
If thou hadst not done violence to her, she
would still have remained in her virginity. Atid
Joseph vowed, and swore that he had never
touched her at all. And Abiathar the high priest
answered him : As the Lord liveth, I will give
thee to drink of the water of drinking of the
Lord, and immediately thy sin will appear.
Then was assembled a multitude of people
which could not be numbered, and Mary was
brought to the temple. And the priests, and her
relatives, and her parents wept, and said to
Mary : Confess to the priests thy sin, thou that
wast like a dove in the temple of God, and
didst receive food from the hands of an angel.
And again Joseph was summoned to the altar,
and the water of drinking of the Lord was
given him to drink. And when any one that
had lied drank this water, and walked seven
times round the altar, God used to show some
sign in his face. When, therefore, Joseph had
drunk in safety, and had walked round the altar
seven times, no sign of sin appeared in him.
Then all the priests, and the officers, and the
people justified him, saying : Blessed art thou,
seeing that no charge has been found good
against thee. And they summoned Mary, and
said : And what excuse canst thou have ? or what
greater sign can appear in t^ee than the con-
ception of thy womb, which betrays thee ? This
only we require of thee, that since Joseph is pure
374
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
regarding thee, thou confess who it is that has be- i
guiled thee. For it is better that thy confession
should betray thee, than that the wrath of God
should set a mark on thy face, and expose thee
in the midst of the people. Then Mary said,
stedfastly and without trembling : O Lord God,
King over all, who knowest all secrets, if there
be any pollution in me, or any sin, or any evil de-
sires, or unchastity, expose me in the sight of all
the people, and make me an example of punish-
ment to all. Thus saying, she went up to the
altar of the Lord boldly, and drank the water of
drinking, and walked round the altar seven times,
and no spot was found in her.
And when all the people were in the utmost
astonishment, seeing that she was with child, and
that no sign had appeared in her face, they began
to be disturbed among themselves by conflicting
statements : some said that she was holy and un-
spotted, others that she was wicked and defiled.
Then Mary, seeing that she was still suspected
by the people, and that on that account she did
not seem to them to be wholly cleared, said in
the hearing of all, with a loud voice. As the Lord
Adonai liveth, the Lord of Hosts before whom I
stand, I have not known man ; but I am known
by Him to whom from my earliest years I have
devoted myself. And this vow I made to my
God from my infancy, that I should remain un-
spotted in Him who created me, and I trust that
I shall so live to Him alone, and serve Him
alone ; and in Him, as long as I shall live, will I
remain unpolluted. Then they all began to kiss
her feet and to embrace her knees, asking her to
pardon them for their wicked suspicions. And
she was led down to her house with exultation
and joy by the people, and the priests, and
all the virgins. And they cried out, and said :
Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever, be-
cause He hath manifested thy holiness to all His
people Israel.
Chap. 13. — And it came to pass some little
time after, that an enrolment was made accord-
ing to the edict of Csesar Augustus, that all the
world was to be enrolled, each man in his native
place. This enrolment was made by Cyrinus,
the governor of Syria.' It was necessary, there-
fore, that Joseph should enrol with the blessed
Mary in Bethlehem, because to it they belonged,
being of the tribe of Judah, and of the house
and family of David. When, therefore, Joseph
and the blessed Mary were going along the road
which leads to Bethlehem, Mary said to Joseph :
I see two peoples before me, the one weeping,
and the other rejoicing. And Joseph answered :
Sit still on thy beast, and do not speak super-
fluous words. Then there appeared before them
^ Luke ii. i-6.
a beautiful boy, clothed in white raiment, who
said to Joseph : Why didst thou say that the
words which Mary spoke about the two peoples
were superfluous? For she saw the people of
the Jews weeping, because they have departed
from their God ; and the people of the Gentiles
rejoicing, because they have now been added
and made near to the Lord, according to that
which He promised to our fathers Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob : for the time .is at hand when
in the seed of Abraham all nations shall be
blessed.^
And when he had thus said, the angel ordered
the beast to stand, for the time when she should
bring forth was at hand ; and he commanded
the blessed Mary to come down off the animal,
and go into a recess under a cavern, in which
there never was light, but always darkness, be-
cause the light of day could not reach it. And
when the blessed Mary had gone into it, it began
to' shine with as much brightness as if it were
the sixth hour of the day. The light from God
so shone in the cave, that neither by day nor
night was light wanting as long as the blessed
Mary was there. And there she brought forth a
son, and the angels surrounded Him when He
was being born. And as soon as He was born.
He stood upon His feet, and the angels adored
Him, saying : Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace to men of good pleasure.^ Now,
when the birth of the Lord was at hand, Joseph
had gone away to seek midwives. And when
he had found them, he returned to the cave,
and found with Mary the infant which she had
brought forth. And Joseph said to the blessed
Mary : I have brought thee two midwives —
Zelomi^ and Salome; and they are standing
outside before the entrance to the cave, not
daring to come in hither, because of the ex-
ceeding brightness. And when the blessed
Mary heard this, she smiled ; and Joseph said
to her : Do not smile ; but prudently allow
them to visit thee, in case thou shouldst re-
quire them for thy cure. Then she ordered
them to enter. And when Zelomi had come
in, Salome having stayed without, Zelomi said
to Mary : Allow me to touch thee. And when
she had permitted her to make an examination,
the midwife cried out with a loud voice, and
said : Lord, Lord Almighty, mercy on us ! It
has never been heard or thought of, that any
one should have her breasts full of milk, and
that the birth of a son should show his mother
to be a virgin. But there has been no spilling
of blood in his birth, no pain in bringing him
forth. A virgin has conceived, a virgin has
2 Gen. xii. 3.
3 See Alford's Greek Testament on Luke ii. 14. [So Rev. Ver-
sion, following the weight of manuscriiJt authority. — R.j
* Or Zelemi.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
375
brought forth, and a virgm she remains. And
hearing these words, Salome said : Allow me to
handle thee, and prove whether Zelomi have
spoken the truth. And the blessed Mary al-
lowed her to handle her. And when she had
withdrawn her hand from handling her, it dried
up, and through excess of pain she began to
weep bitterly, and to be in great distress, crying
out, and saying : O Lord God, Thou knowest
that I have always feared Thee, and that without
recompense I have cared for all the poor ; I
have taken nothing from the widow and the
orphan, and the needy have I not sent empty
away. And, behold, I am made wretched be-
cause of mine unbelief, since without a cause 1
wished to try Thy virgin.
And while she was thus speaking, there stood
by her a young man in shining garments, say-
ing : Go to the child, and adore Him, and touch
Him with thy hand, and He will heal thee, be-
cause He is the Saviour of the world, and of all
that hope in Him. And she went to the child
with haste, and adored Him, and touched the
fringe of the cloths in which He was wrapped,
and instantly her hand was cured. And going
forth, she began to cry aloud, and to tell the
wonderful things which she had seen, and which
she had suffered, and how she had been cured ;
so that many through her statements believed.
And some shepherds also affirmed that they
had seen angels singing a hymn at midnight,
praising and blessing the God of heaven, and
saying : There has been born the Saviour of all,
who is Christ the Lord, in whom salvation shall
be brought back to Israel.'
Moreover, a great star, larger than any that had
been seen since the beginning of the world, shone
over the cave from the evening till the morning.
And the prophets who were in Jerusalem said
that this star pointed out the birth of Christ, who
should restore the promise not only to Lrael, but
to all nations.
Chap. 14. — And on the third day after the
birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the most blessed
Mary went forth out of the cave, and entering a
stable, placed the child in the stall, and the ox
and the ass adored Him. Then was fulfilled that
which was said by Isaiah the prophet, saying : The
ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
crib.^ The very animals, therefore, the ox and
the ass, having Him in their midst, incessantly
adored Him. Then was fulfilled that which was
said by Abacuc the prophet, saying : 3 Between
two animals thou art made manifest. In the same
place Joseph remained with Mary three days.
' Luke ii. 8-12.
^ Isa. i. 3
3 Hab. iii. 2, according to the LXX. reading, D'^H D'Jtl' two
living creatures, for iri'^n D'JU', years make alive.
Chap. 15. — And on the sixth day they en-
tered Bethlehem, where they spent the seventh
day. And on the eighth day they circumcised
the child, and called His name Jesus ; for so He
was called by the angel before He was conceived
in the womb.'' Now, after the days of the puri-
fiation of Mary were fulfilled according to the
law of Moses, then Joseph took the infant to the
temple of the Lord. And when the infant had
received parhithomus, s — parhithomus, that is,
circumcision — they offered for Him a pair of
turtle-doves, or two young pigeons.^
Now there was in the temple a man of God,
perfect and just, whose name was Symeon, a
hundred and twelve years old. He had received
the answer from the Lord, that he should not
taste of death till he had seen Christ, the Son
of God, living in the flesh. And having seen
the child, he cried out with a loud voice, saying :
God hath visited His people, and the Lord hath
fulfilled His promise. And he made haste, and
adored Him. And after this he took Him up
into his cloak and kissed His feet, and said :
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in
peace, according to Thy word : for mine eyes
have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast pre-
pared before the face of all peoples, to be a light
to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy peo-
ple Israel. 7
There was also in the temple of the Lord,
Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of
the tribe of Asher, who had lived with her hus-
band seven years from her virginity ; and she
had now been a widow eighty-four years. And
she never left the temple of the Lord, but spent
her time in fasting and prayer. She also like-
'• ise adored the child, saying : In Him is the re-
L mption of the world.^
Chap. 16. — And when the second year was
past,9 Magi came from the east to Jerusalem,
bringing great gifts. And they made strict in-
quiry of the Jews, saying : Where ' is the king
who has been born to you? for we have seen his
star in the east, and have come to worship him.
And word of this came to King Herod, and so
alarmed him that he called together the scribes
and the Pharisees, and the teachers of the peo-
ple, asking of them where the prophets had fore-
told that Christ should be born. And they said :
In Bethlehem of Judah. For it is written : And
thou Bethelehem, in the land of Judah, art by no
means the least among the princes of Judah ■ for
out of thee shall come forth a Leader who shall
■• Luke ii 21-24.
5 This shows the extent of the writer's, or transcriber's knowledge
of Greek.
'' Lev. xii 8.
7 Ijuke ii. 22-35.
^ Luke ii. 36-38.
9 One MS. has: When two days were past. Another: On the
thirteenth day.
37^
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
rule my people Israel.' Then King Herod sum-
moned the magi to him, and strictly inqifired of
them when the star appeared to them. Then,
sending them to Bethlehem, he said : Go and
make strict inquiry about the child ; and when
ye have found him, bring me word again, that I
may come and worship him also. And while the
magi were going on their way, there appeared to
them the star, which was, as it were, a guide
to them, going before them until they came to
where the child was. And when the magi saw
the star, they rejoiced with great joy ; and going
into the house, they saw the child Jesus sitting
in His mother's lap. Then they opened their
treasures, and presented great gifts to the blessed
Mary and Joseph. And to the child Himself
they offered each of them a piece of gold.' And
likewise one gave gold, another frankincense,
and the third myrrh. 3 And when they were go-
ing to return to King Herod, they were warned
by an angel in their sleep not to go back to
Herod ; and they returned to their own country
by another road.*
Chap. 17. — And when Herod 5 saw that he
had been made sport of by the magi, his heart
swelled with rage, and he sent through all the
roads, vyishing to seize them and put them to
death. But when he could not find them at all,
he sent anew to Bethlehem and all its borders,
and slew all the male children whom he found
of two years old and under, according to the
time that he had ascertained from the magi.^
Now the day before this was done Joseph was
warned in his sleep by the angel of the Lord,
who said to him : Take Mary and the child, and
go into Egypt by the way of the desert. And
Joseph went according to the saying of the
angel. 7
Chap. 18. — And having come to a certain cave,
and wishing to rest in it, the blessed^ Mary dis-
mounted from her beast, and sat down with the
child Jesus in her bosom. And there were with
Joseph three boys, and with Mary a girl, going
on the journey along with them. And, lo, sud-
denly there came forth from the cave many
dragons ; and when the children saw them, they
cried out in great terror. Then Jesus went down
from the bosom of His mother, and stood on His
' Mic. V. 2.
2 The siclus aureus, or gold shekel, was worth £i, i5s. 6d.
3 One MS. has: Caspar gave Myrrh, Melchior frankincense, Bal-
thusar gold.
■t Malt. ii. I-T2.
5 One MS. has: And when Herod, coming back from Rome the
year after, saw.
6 Matt. ii. i6.
" Matt. ii. 14.
^ One of the MSS. has: Then Joseph put the blessed virgin and
the boy upon a beast, and himself mounted another, and took the
road through the hill country and the desert, that he might get safe to
Egypt ; for they did not want to go by the shore, for fear of being
waylaid.
feet before the dragons ; and they adored Jesus,
and thereafter retired. Then was fulfilled that
which was said by David the prophet, saying :
Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons ; ye
dragons, and all ye deeps. 9 And the young
child Jesus, walking before them, commanded
them to hurt no man. But Mary and Joseph
were very much afraid lest the child should be
hurt by the dragons. And Jesus said to them :
Do not be afraid, and do not consider me to
be a little child ; for I am and •ahva)'s have been
perfect ; and all the beasts of the forest must
needs be tame before me.
Chap. 19. — Lions and panthers adored Him
likewise, and accompanied them in the desert.
Wherever Joseph and the blessed Mary went,
they went before them showing them the way,
and bowing their heads ; and showing their sub-
mission by wagging their tails, they adored Him
with great reverence. Now at first, when Mary
saw the lions and the panthers, and various
kinds of wild beasts, coming about them, she
was very much afraid. But the infant Jesus
looked into her face with a joyful countenance,
and said : Be not afraid, mother ; for they come
not to do thee harm, but they make haste to
serve both thee and me. With these words He
drove all fear from her heart. And the lions
kept walking with them, and with the oxen, and
the asses, and the beasts of burden which carried
their baggage, and did not hurt a single one of
them, though they kept beside them : but they
were tame among the sheep and the rams which
they had brought with them from Jud?ea, and
which they had with them. They walked among
wolves, and feared nothing ; and no one of them
was hurt by another. Then was fulfilled that
which was spoken by the prophet : Wolves shall
feed with lambs ; the lion and the ox shall eat
straw together. '° There were together two oxen
drawing a waggon with provision for the journey,
and the lions directed them in their path.
Chap. 20. — And it came to pass on the third
day of their journey, while they were walking,
that the blessed Mary was fatigued by the exces-
sive heat of the sun in the desert ; and seeing a
palm tree, she said to Joseph : Let me rest a little
under the shade of this tree. Joseph therefore
made haste, and led her to the palm, and made
her come down from her beast. And as the
blessed Mary was sitting there, she looked up to
the foliage of the palm, and saw it full of fruit,
and said to Joseph : I wish it were possible to
get some of the fruit of this palm. And Joseph
said to her : I wonder that thou sayest this, when
9 Ps. cxlviii. 7.
'° Isa. Ixv. 25.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
zn
thou seest how high the pahn tree is ; and that
thou thinkest of eating of its fruit. I am think-
ing more of the want of water, because the skins
are now empty, and we have none wherewith to
refresh ourselves and our cattle. Then the child
Jesus, with a joyful countenance, reposing in the
bosom of His mother, said to the palm : O tree,
bend thy branches, and refresh my mother with
thy fruit. And immediately at these words the
palm bent its top down to the very feet of the
blessed Mary ; and they gathered from it fruit,
with which they were all refreshed. And after
they had gathered all its fruit, it remained bent
down, waiting the order to rise from Him who
had commanded it to stoop. Then Jesus said
to it : Raise thyself, O palm tree, and be strong,
and be the companion of my trees, which are in
the paradise of my Father ; and open from thy
roots a vein of water which has been hid in the
earth, and let the waters flow, so that we may be
satisfied from thee. And it rose up immediately,
and at its root there began to come forth a spring
of water exceedingly clear and cool and spar-
kling. And when they saw the spring of water,
they rejoiced with great joy, and were satisfied,
themselves and all their cattle and their beasts.
Wherefore they gave thanks to God.
Chap. 21. — And on the day after, when they
were setting out thence, and ii; the hour in which
they . began their journey, Jesus turned to the
palm, and said : This privilege I give thee, O
palm tree, that one of thy branches be carried
away by my angels, and planted in the paradise
of my Father. And this blessing I will confer
upon thee, that it shall be said of all who con-
quer in any contest. You have attained the palm
of victory. And while He was thus speaking,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, and
stood upon the palm tree ; and taking off one of
its branches, flew to heaven with the branch in
his hand. And when they saw this, they fell on
their faces, and became as it were dead. And
Jesus said to them : Why are your hearts pos-
sessed with fear? Do you not know that this
palm, which I have caused to be transferred to
paradise, shall be prepared for all the saints in
the place of delights, as it has been prepared for
us in this place of the wilderness? And they
were filled with joy ; and being strengthened,
they all rose up.
Chap. 22. — After this, while they were going
on their journey, Joseph said to Jesus : Lord, it
is a boiling heat ; if it please Thee, let us go by
the sea-shore, that we may be able to rest in the
cities on the coast. Jesus said to him : Fear not,
Joseph ; I will shorten the way for you, so that
what you would have taken thirty days to go
over, you shall accomplish in this one day. And
while they were thus speaking, behold, they
looked forward, and began to see the mountains
and cities of Egypt.
And rejoicing and exulting, they came into
the regions of Hermopolis, and entered into a
certain city of Egypt which is called Sotinen ; '
and because they knew no one there from whom
they could ask hospitality, they went into a
temple which was called the Capitol of Egypt.
And in this temple there had been set up three
hundred and fifty-five idols,^ to each of which
on its own day divine honours and sacred rites
were paid. For the Egyptians belonging to the
same city entered the Capitol, in which the
priests told them how many sacrifices were
offered each day, according to the honour in
which the god was held.
Chap. 23. — And it came to pass, when the
most blessed Mary went into the temple with
the little child, that all the idols prostrated them-
selves on the ground, so that all of them were
lying on their faces shattered and broken to
pieces ;^ and thus they plainly showed that they
were nothing. Then was fulfilled that which was
said by the prophet Isaiah : Behold, the Lord
will come upon a swift cloud, and will enter
Egypt, and all the handiwork of the Egyptians
shall be moved at His presence.'*
Chap. 24. — Then Affrodosius, that governor
of the city, when news of this was brought to
him, went to the temple with all his army. And
the priests of the temple, when they saw Affro-
dosius with all his army coming into the temple,
thoug' t that he was making haste only to see
vengCL^ ice taken on those on whose account
the gods had fallen down. But when he came
into the temple, and saw all the gods lying pros-
trate on their faces, he went up to the blessed
Mary, who was carrying the Lord in her bosom,
and adored Him, and said to all his army and
all his friends : Unless this were the God of our
gods, our gods would not have fallen on their
faces before Him ; nor would they be lying pros-
trate in His presence : wherefore they silently
confess that He is their Lord. Unless we, there-
fore, take care to do what we have seen our gods
doing, we may run the risk of His anger, and all
come to destruction, even as it happened to
Pharaoh king of the Egyptians, who, not believ-
ing in powers so mighty, was drowned in the sea,
with all his army.s Then all the people of that
same city believed in the Lord God through
Jesus Christ.
' Or, Sotrina.
2 No nation was so given to idolatry, and worshipped such a
countless number of monsters, as the Egyptians. — Jerome on
Isaiah.
i Cf. I Sam. V. 3.
•* Isa. xix. I.
S Ex. XV. 4.
Z7^
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
Chap. 25. — After no long time the angel said
to Joseph : Return to the land of Judah, for
they are dead who sought the child's life.'
Chap. 26. — And it came to pass, after Jesus
had returned out of Egypt, when He was in
Galilee, and entering on the fourth year of His
age, that on a Sabbath-day He was playing with
some children at the bed of the Jordan. And
as He sat there, Jesus made to Himself seven
pools of clay, and to each of them He made
passages, through which at His command He
brought water from the torrent into the pool,
and took it back again. Then one of those
children, a son of the devil, moved with envy,
shut the passages which supplied the pools with
water, and overthrew what Jesus had built up.
Then said Jesus to him : Woe unto thee, thou
son of death, thou son of Satan ! Dost thou
destroy the works which I have wrought? And
immediately he who had done this died. Then
with great uproar the parents of the dead boy
cried out against Mary and Joseph, saying to
them : Your son has cursed our son, and he is
dead. And when Joseph and Mary heard this,
they came forthwith to Jesus, on account of the
outcry of the parents of the boy, and the gather-
ing together of the Jews. But Joseph said pri-
vately to Mary : I dare not speak to Him ; but
do thou admonish Him, and say : Why hast
Thou raised against us the hatred of the people ;
and why must the troublesome hatred of men
be borne by us ? And His mother having come
to Him, asked Him, saying : My Lord, what
was it that he did to bring about his death?
And He said : He desen^ed death, because he
scattered the works that I had made. Then
His mother asked Him, saying : Do not so, my
Lord, because all men rise up against us. But
He, not wishing to grieve His mother, with His
right foot kicked the hinder parts of the dead
boy, and said to him : Rise, thou son of iniquity ;
for thou art not worthy to enter into the rest of
my Father, because thou didst destroy the works
which I had made. Then he who had been
dead rose up, and went away. And Jesus, by
the word of His power, brought water into the
pools by the aqueduct.
Chap. 27. — And it came to pass, after these
things, that in the sight of all Jesus took clay
from the pools which He had made, and of it
made twelve sparrows. And it was the Sabbath
when Jesus did this, and there were very many
children with Him. When, therefore, one of
the Jews had seen Him doing this, he said to
Joseph : Joseph, dost thou not see the child
' Matt. ii. 26. One of the MSS. here has: And Joseph and Mary
went to hvein the house of a certain widow, and spent a year there;
and for the events of the year it gives a number of the miracles re-
corded in the early chapters of the Latin Gospel of Thomas.
Jesus working on the Sabbath at what it is not
lawful for him to do? for he has made twelve
sparrows of clay. And when Joseph heard this,
he reproved him, saying : Wherefore doest thou
on the Sabbath such things as are not lawful for
us to do ? And when Jesus heard Joseph, He
struck His hands together, and said to His
sparrows : Fly ! And at the voice of His com-
mand they began to fly. And in the sight and
hearing of all that stood by, He said to the
birds : Go and fly through the earth, and through
all the world, and live. And when those that
were there saw such miracles, they were filled
with great astonishment. And some praised
and admired Him, but others reviled Him. And
certain of them went away to the chief priests
and the heads of the Pharisees, and reported to
them that Jesus the son of Joseph had done
great signs and miracles in the sight of all the
people of Israel. And this was reported in the
twelve tribes of Israel,
Chap. 28. — And again the son of Annas, a
priest of the temple, who had come with Joseph,
holding his rod in his hand in the sight of all,
with great fury broke down the dams which
Jesus had made with His own hands, and let out
the water which He had collected in them from
the torrent. Moreover, he shut the aqueduct by
which the water came in, and then broke it
down. And when Jesus saw this. He said to
that boy who had destroyed His dams : O most
wicked seed of iniquity ! O son of death ! O
workshop of Satan ! verily the fruit of thy seed
shall be without strength, and thy roots without
moisture, and thy branches withered, bearing no
fruit. And immediately, in the sight of all, the
boy withered away, and died.
Chap. 29. — Then Joseph trembled, and took
hold of Jesus, and went with Him to his own
house, and His mother with Him. And, behold,
suddenly from the opposite direction a boy, also
a worker of iniquity, ran up and came against the
shoulder of Jesus, wishing to make sport of Him,
or to hurt Him, if he could. And Jesus said
to him : Thou shalt not go back safe and sound
from the way that thou goest. And immediately
he fell down, and died. And the parents of the
dead boy, who had seen what happened, cried
out, saying : Where does this child come from ?
It is manifest that every word that he says is
true ; and it is often accomplished before he
speaks. And the parents of the dead boy came
to Joseph, and said to him : Take away that
Jesus from this place, for he cannot live with us
in this town ; or at least teach him to bless, and
not to curse. And Joseph came up to Jesus,
and admonished Him, saying : Why doest thou
such things? For already many are in grief
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
379
and against thee, and hate us on thy account, |
and we endure the reproaches of men because
of thee. And Jesus answered and said unto
Joseph : No one is a wise son but he whom his
father hath taught, according to the knowledge
of this time ; and a father's curse can hurt none
but evil-doers. Then they came together against
Jesus, and accused him to Joseph. When Jo-
seph saw this, he was in great terror, fearing the
violence and uproar of the people of Israel.
And the same hour Jesus seized the dead boy by
the ear, and lifted him up from the earth in the
sight of all : and they saw Jesus speaking to him
like a father to his son. And his spirit came
back to him, and he revived. And all of them
wondered.
Chap. 30. — Now a certain Jewish school-
master named Zachyas ' heard Jesus thus speak-
ing ; and seeing that He could not be overcome,
from knowing the power that was in Him,^ he
became angry, and began rudely and foolishly,
and without fear, to speak against Joseph. And
he said : Dost thou not wish to entrust me with
thy son, that he may be instructed in human
learning and in reverence ? But I see that Mary
and th}self have more regard for your son than
for what the elders of the people of Israel say
against him. You should have given more
honour to us, the elders of the whole church of
Israel, both that he might be on terms of mu-
tual affection with the children, and that among
us he might be instructed in Jewish learning.
Joseph, on the other hand, said to him : And
is there any one who can keep this child, and
teach him ? But if thou canst keep him
and teach him, we by no means hinder him
from being taught by thee those things which are
learned by all. And Jesus, having heard what
Zachyas had said, answered and said unto him :
The precepts of the law which thou hast just
spoken of, and all the things that thou hast
named, must be kept by those who are in-
structed in human learning ; but I am a stranger
to your law-courts, because I have no father af-
ter the flesh. Thou who readest the law, and
art learned in it, abidest in the law ; but I was
before the law. But since thou thinkest that no
one is equal to thee in learning, thou shalt be
taught by me, that no other can teach any-
thing but those things which thou hast named.
But he alone can who is worthy.^ For when I
shall be exalted on earth, I will cause to cease
all mention of your genealogy. For thou knovv-
■ Otlier forms of the name are: Zachias, Zachameus, Zacheus,
Zachzeiis.
^ Or, seeing that there was in Him an insuperable knowledge of
virtue.
3 Tischendorf thinks that the text is corrupt. But the meaning
seems to be: V'ou are not a whit better than your neighbours: for all
of you teach what you have named, and you can teach nothing else.
But he alone [i/'se, i.e., Christ) can teach more who is worthy.
est not when thou wast born : I alone know-
when you were born, and how long your life on
earth will be. Then all who heard these words
were struck with astonishment, and cried out :
Oh ! oh ! oh ! this marvellously great and won-
derful mystery. Never have we heard the like !
Never has it been heard from any one else, nor
has it been said or at any time heard by the
prophets, or the Pharisees, or the scribes. We
know whence he is sprung, and he is scarcely
five years old ; and whence does he speak these
worcls ? The Pharisees answered : We have
never heard such words spoken by any other
child so young. And Jesus answered and said
unto them : At this do ye wonder, that such
things are said by a child? Why, then, do ye
not believe me in those things which I have
said to you? And you all wonder because I
said to you that I know when you were born.
I will tell you greater things, that you may won-
der more. I have seen Abraham, whom you
call your father, and have spoken with him ; and
he has seen me.'* And when they heard this
they held their tongues, nor did any of them
dare to speak. And Jesus said to them : I have
been among you with children, and you have
not known me ; I have spoken to you as to wise
men, and you have not understood my words ;
because you are younger than I am,s and of little
faith.
Chap. 31. — A second time the master Zachyas,
doctor of the law, said to Joseph and Mary :
Give me the boy, and I shall hand him over to
master Levi, who shall teach him his letters and
instruct him Then Joseph and Mary, soothing
Jesus, took him to the schools, that He might
be taught His letters by old Levi. And as soon
as He went in He held His tongue. And the
master Levi said one letter to Jesus, and, begin-
ning from the first letter Aleph, said to Him :
Answer. But Jesus was silent, and answered
nothing. Wherefore the preceptor Levi was an-
gry, and seized his storax-tree rod, and struck
Him on the head. And Jesus said to the teacher
Levi : Why dost thou strike me ? Thou shalt
know in truth, that He who is struck can teach
him who strikes Him more than He can be
taught by him. For I can teach you those very
things that you are saying. But all these are
blind who speak and hear, like sounding brass
or tinkling cymbal, in which there is no percep-
tion of those things which are meant by their
sound.^ And Jesus in addition said to Zachyas :
Every letter from Aleph even to Thet ^ is known
by its arrangement. Say thou first, therefore,
* Comp. John viii. 56-58.
5 Or, literally, inferior to me.
^ I Cor. xiii. i, xiv. 7.
7 Tau, and not Teth, is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
i8o
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
what Thet is, and I will tell thee what Aleph is.
And again Jesus said to them : Those who do
not know Aleph, how can they say Thet, the
hypocrites ? Tell me what the first one, Aleph, t
is ; and I shall then believe you when you have
said Beth. And Jesus began to ask the names
of the letters one by one, and said : Let the j
master of the law tell us what the first letter is,
or why it has many triangles, gradate, subacute, !
mediate, obduced, produced, erect, prostrate,
curvistrate.' And when Levi heard this, he was
thunderstruck at such an arrangement of the
names of the letters. Then he began in the
hearing of all to cry out, and say : Ought such
a one to live on the earth? Yea, he ought to be
hung on the great cross. For he can put out
fire, and make sport of other modes of punish-
ment. I think that he lived before the flood,
and was born before the deluge. For what womb
bore him? or what mother brought him forth?
or what breasts gave him suck ? I flee before
him ; I am not able to withstand the words from
his mouth, but my heart is astounded to hear
such words. I do not think that any man, can
understand what he says, except God were with
him. Now I, unfortunate wretch, have given
myself up to be a laughing-stock to him. For
when I thought I had a scholar, 1, not knowing
him, have found my master. What shall I say?
I cannot withstand the words of this child : I
shall now flee from this town, because I cannot
understand them. An old man like me has
been beaten by a boy, because I can find neither
beginning nor end of what he says. For it is
no easy matter to find a beginning of himself.-
I tell you of a certainty, I am not lying, that to
my eyes the proceedings of this boy, the com-
mencement of his conversation, and the upshot
of his intention, seem to have nothing in com-
mon with mortal man. Here then I do not
know whether he be a wizard or a god ; or at
least an angel of God speaks in him. Whence
he is, or where he comes from, or who he will
turn out to be, I know not. Then Jesus, smiling
at him with a joyful countenance, said in a com-
manding voice to all the sons of Israel standing
by and hearing : Let the unfruitful bring forth
fruit, and the blind see, and the lame walk right,
and the poor enjoy the good things of this life.
' The original — triang^tlos gradatos, snbac-idos, vtedintos,
ohductos, prodiictos, erectos, stratos, curin'stratos — is hopelessly
corrupt. Compare the passages in the following Apocrj'pha. [The
Gospel of Thomas, first Greek form, chaps. 6, 7, and parallel passages.
— R.] It obviously, however, refers to thePentalpha, Pentacle, or Solo-
mon's Seal, celebrated in the remains of the magical books that have
come down to us under the names of Hermes and the Pythagoreans.
The Pentalpha was formed by joining by straight lines the alternate
angles of a regular pentagon, and thus contained numerous triangles.
The Pythagoreans called it the Hygiea or symbol of health, and it
was frequently engraved on amulets and coins. It is still, if the
books are to be trusted, a symbol of power in the higher grades of
freemasonry.
2 i.e.. It is not wonderful that we do not understand what he says,
for we do not know what he is.
and the dead live, that each may return to his
original state, and abide in Him who is the root
of life and of perpetual sweetness. And when
the child Jesus had said this, forthwith all who
had fallen under malignant diseases were re-
stored. And they did not dare to say anything
more to Him, or to hear anything from Him.
Ch.'VP. 32. — After these things, Joseph and
Mary departed thence with Jesus into the city
of Nazareth ; and He remained there with His
parents. And on the first of the week, when
Jesus was playing with the children on the roof
of a certain house, it happened that one of
the children pushed another down from the roof
to the ground, and he was killed. And the par-
ents of the dead boy, who had not seen this,
cried out against Joseph and Mary, saying : Your
son has thrown our son down to the ground, and
he is dead. But Jesus was silent, and answered
them nothing. And, Joseph and Mary came in
haste to Jesus ; and His mother asked Him,
saying : My lord, tell me if thou didst throw
him down. And immediately Jesus went down
from the roof to the -ground, and called the boy
by his name, Zeno. And he answered Him : My
lord. And Jesus said to him : Was it I that
threw thee down from the roof to the ground ?
And he said : No, my lord. And the parents of
the boy who had been dead wondered, and
honoured Jesus for the miracle that had been
wrought. And Joseph and Mary departed
thence with Jesus to Jericho.
Ch.4P. 33. — Now Jesus was six years old, and
His mother sent Him with a pitcher to the foun-
tain to draw water with the children. And it
came to pass, after He had drawn the water, that
one of the children came against Him, and struck
the pitcher, and broke it. But Jesus stretched
out the cloak which He had on, and took up
in His cloak as much water as there had been in
the pitcher, and carried it to His mother. And
when she saw it she wondered, and reflected within
herself, and laid up all these things in her heart.^
Chap. 34. — Again, on a certain day. He went
forth into the field, and took a little wheat from
His mother's barn, and sowed it Himself. And
it sprang up, and grew, and multiplied exceed-
ingly. And at last it came to pass that He
Himself reaped it, and gathered as the produce
of it three kors,^ and gave it to His numerous
acquaintances. 5
Ch.ap. 35. — There is a road going out of Jeri-
cho and leading to the river Jordan, to the place
3 Luke ii. 19.
4 The kor or chomer was, according to Jahn, equal to 32 pecks i
pint
5 MuUiplicibus suis.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
;8i
where the children of Israel crossed : and there
the ark of the covenant is said to have rested.
And Jesus was eight years old, and He went out
of Jericho, and went towards the Jordan. And
there was beside the road, near the bank of the
Jordan, a cave where a lioness was nursing her
cubs ; and no one was safe to walk that way.
Jesus then, coming from Jericho, and knowing
that in that cave the lioness had brought forth
her young, went into it in the sight of all. And
when the lions saw Jesus, they ran to meet Him,
and adored Him. And Jesus was sitting in the
cavern, and the lion's cubs ran hither and thither
round His feet, fawning upon Him, and sporting.
And the older lions, with their heads bowed
down, stood at a distance, and adored Him, and
fawned upon Him with their tails. Then the
people who were standing afar off, not seeing
Jesus, said : Unless he or his parents had com-
mitted grievous sins, he would not of his own
accord have offered himself up to the lions.
And when the people were thus reflecting within
themselves, and were lying under great sorrow,
behold, on a sudden, in the sight of the people,
Jesus came out of the cave, and the lions went
before Him, and the lion's cubs played with each
other before His feet. And the parents of Jesus
stood afar off, with their heads bowed down, and
watched ; likewise also the people stood at a
distance, on account of the lions ; for they did
not dare to come close to them. Then Jesus
began to say to the people : How much better
are the beasts than you, seeing that they recog-
nise their Lord, and glorify Him ; while you
men, who ha\'e been made after the image and
likeness of God, do not know Him ! Beasts
know me, and are tame j men see me, and do
not acknowledge me.
Chap. ;^6. — After these things Jesus crossed
the Jordan, in the sight of them all, with the
lions ; and the water of the Jordan was divided
on the right hand and on the left.' Then He
said to the lions, in the hearing of all : Go in
peace, and hurt no one ; but neither let man in-
jure you, until you return to the place whence
you have come forth. And they, bidding Him
farewell, not only with their gestures but with
their voices, went to their own place. But
Jesus returned to His mother.
Chap. 37. — Now Joseph ^ was a carpenter,
and used to make nothing else of wood but
ox-yokes, and ploughs, and implements of hus-
bandry, and wooden beds. And it came to pass
that a certain young man ordered him to make
for him a couch six. cubits long. And Joseph
' Josh. iii. 16: 2 Kings ii. 8.
' One of the ^TSS. tells the story, not of Joseph, but of a certain
builder, a worker in wood.
commanded his servant ^ to cut the wood with
an iron saw, according to the measure which he
had sent. But he did not keep to the prescribed
measure, but made one piece of wood shorter
than the other. And Joseph was in perplexity,
and began to consider what he was to do about
this. And when Jesus saw him in this state of
cogitation, seeing that it was a matter of impos-
sibility to him. He addresses him with words of
comfort, saying : Come, let us take hold of the
ends of the pieces of wood, and let us put them
together, end to end, and let us fit them exactly
to each other, and draw to us, for we shall be
able to make them equal. Then Joseph did
what he was bid, for he knew that He could do
whatever He wished. And Joseph took hold of
the ends of the pieces of wood, and brought them
together against the wall next himself, and Jesus
took hold of the other ends of the pieces of wood,
and drew the shorter piece to Him, and made it
of the same length as the longer one. And He
said to Joseph : Go and work, and do what thou
hast promised to do. And Joseph did what he
had promised.-*
Chap. 38. — And it came to pass a second
time, that Joseph and Mary were asked by the
people that Jesus should be taught His letters
in school. They did not refuse to do so ; and
according to the commandment of the elders,
they took Him to a master to be instructed in
human learning. Then the master began to
teach Him in an imperious tone, saying : Say
Alpha.5 And Jesus said to him : Do thou tell
me first what ?'itha is, and I will tell thee what
Alpha is. An upon this the master got angry
and struck Jesus ; and no sooner had he struck
Him, than he fell down dead.
And Jesus went home again to His mother.
xA.nd Joseph, being afraid, called Mary to him,
and said to her : Know of a surety that my soul
is sorrowful even unto death on account of this
child. For it is very likely that at some time
or other some one will strike him in malice, and
he will die. But Mary answered and said : O
man of God ! do not believe that this is possi-
ble. You may believe to a certainty that He
who has sent him to be born among men will
Himself guard him from all mischief, and will in
His own name preserve him from evil.
Chap. 39. — Again the Jews asked Mary and
Joseph a third time to coax Him to go to an-
other master to learn. And Joseph and Mary,
fearing the people, and the overbearing of the
3 Lit., boy.
* One of the MSS. here inserts: And when Jesus was with other
children He repeatedly went up and sat down upon a balcony, and
many of them began to do likewise, and they fell down and broke
their legs and arms. And the Lord Jesus healed them all.
5 Note that the letters are Greek here.
382
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
princes, and the threats of the priests, led Him
again to school, knowing that He could learn
nothing from man, because He had perfect
knowledge from God only. And when Jesus had
entered the school, led by the Holy Spirit, He
took the book out of the hand of the master
who was teaching the law, and in the sight and
hearing of all the people began to read, not
indeed what was written in their book ; but He
spoke in the Spirit of the living God, as if a
stream of water were gushing forth from a living
fountain, and the fountain remained always full.
And with such power He taught the people the
great thmgs of the hving God, that the master
himself fell to the ground and adored Him.
And the heart of the people who sat and heard
Him saying such things was turned into aston-
ishment. And when Joseph heard of this, he
came running to Jesus, fearing that the master
himself was dead. And when the master saw
him, he said to him : Thou hast given me not
a scholar, but a master ; and who can withstand
his words? Then was fulfilled that which was
spoken by the Psalmist : The river of God is
full of water : Thou hast prepared them corn,
for so is the provision for it.'
Chap. 40. — After these things Joseph de-
parted thence with Mary and Jesus to go into
Capernaum by the sea-shore, on account of the
malice of his adversaries. And when Jesus was
living in Capernaum, there was in the city a
man named Joseph, exceedingly rich. But he
had wasted away under his infirmity, and died,
and was lying dead in his couch. And when
Jesus heard them in the city mourning, and
weeping, and lamenting over the dead man. He
said to Joseph : Why dost thou not afford the
benefit of thy favour to this man, seeing that he
is called by thy name ? And Joseph answered
him : How have I any power or ability to afford
him a benefit? And Jesus said to him: Take
the handkerchief which is upon thy head, and
go and put it on the face of the dead man, and
say to him : Christ heal thee ; and immediately
the dead man will be healed, and will rise from
his couch. And when Joseph heard this, he
went away at the command of Jesus, and ran,
and entered the house of the dead man, and put
the handkerchief which he was wearing on his
head upon the face of him who was lying in the
couch, and said : Jesus heal thee. And forth-
with the dead man rose from his bed, and asked
who Jesus was.^
1 Ps. Ixv. 9.
2 In place of this chapter, one of the MSS. has a number of mira-
cles copied from the canonical Gospels — the walking on the sea, the
feeding of the five thousand, the healing of a blind man, the raising
of Lazarus, and the raising of a certain young man.
Chap. 41. — And they went away from Ca-
pernaum into the city which is called Bethlehem ;
and Joseph lived with Mary in his own house,
and Jesus with them. And on a certain day
Joseph called to him his first-born son James,^
and sent him into the vegetable garden to gather
vegetables for the purpose of making broth.
And Jesus followed His brother James into the
garden ; but Joseph and Mary did not know this.
And while James was collecting the vegetables,
a viper suddenly came out of a hole and struck
his hand,-* and he began to cry out from exces-
sive pain. And, becoming exhausted, he said,
with a bitter cry : Alas ! alas ! an accursed viper
has struck my hand. And Jesus, who was stand-
ing opposite to him, at the bitter cry ran up to
James, and took hold of his hand ; and all that
He did was to blow on the hand of James, and
cool it : and immediately James was healed, and
the serpent died. And Joseph and Mary did
not know what had been done ; but at the cry
of James, and the command of Jesus, they ran
to the garden, and found the serpent already
dead, and James quite cured.
Chap. 42. — And Joseph having come to a
feast with his sons, James, Joseph, and Judah,
and Simeon and his two daughters, Jesus met
them, with Mary His mother, along with her
sister Mary of Cleophas, whom the Lord God
had given to her father Cleophas and her mother
.Anna, because they had offered Mary the mother
of Jesus to the Lord. And she was called by
the same name, Mary, for the consolation of her
parents. 5 And when they had come together,
Jesus sanctified and blessed them, and He was
the first to begin to eat and drink ; for none
of them dared to eat or drink, or to sit at
table, or to break bread, until He had sancti-
fied them, and first done so. And if He hap-
3 According to the tradition preserved by Hegesippus and Ter-
tuUian, James and Judas were husbandmen. See Apost. Const.,
ch. Ixvii.
■< Comp. Acts xxviii.
5 One of the MSS. has: And when Joseph, worn out with old age,
died and was buried with his parents, the blessed Mary lived with
her nephews, or with the children of her sisters; for Anna and Eme-
rina were sisters. Of Emerina was born Elizabeth, the mother of John
the Baptist. And as Anna, the mother of the blessed Mary, was
very beautiful, when Joachim was dead she was married to Cleophas,
by whom she had a second daughter. She called her Mary, and gave
her to Alphaius to wife ; and of her was born James the son of Alpha:us,
and Philip his brother. And her .second husband having died, Anna
was married co a third husband named .Salome, by whom she h.id a
third daughter. She called her Mary likewise, and gave her to Zeb-
edee to wife; and of her were born James the son of Zebedee, and
John the Evangelist.
Another passage to the same effect is prefixed to the Gospel. It
reads Emeria for Emerina, and Joseph for Philip. It ends with a
quotation from Jerome's sermon upon Easter: — We read in the Gos-
pels that there were four Marys — first, the mother of the Lord the
Saviour; second, His maternal aunt, who was called Mary of Cleo-
phas; third, Mary the mother of James and Joseph; fourth, Mary
Magdalene — though some maintain that the mother of James and
Joseph was His aunt.
The same MS. thus concludes: The holy Apostle and Evangelist
John with his own hand wrote this little book in Hebrew, and the
learned doctor Jerome rendered it from Hebrew into Latin.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
183
pened to be absent, they used to wait until He before their eyes, observed Him, and feared
should do this. And when He did not wish to
come for refreshment, neither Joseph nor Mary,
nor the sons of Joseph, His brothers, came. And,
indeed, these brothers, keeping His life as a lamp
Him. And when Jesus slept, whether by day
or by night, the brightness of God shone upon
Him. To whom be all praise and glory for ever
and ever. Amen, amen.
THE GOSPEL OF THE NATIVITY OF MARY.
Chap. i. — The blessed and glorious ever-vir-
gin Mary, sprung from the royal stock and family
of David, born in the city of Nazareth, was
brought up at Jerusalem in the temple of the
Lord. Her father was named Joachim, and
her mother Anna. Her father's house was
from Galilee and the city of Nazareth, but her
mother's family from Bethlehem. Their life was
guileless and right before the Lord, and irre-
proachable and pious before men. For they
divided all their substance into three parts.
One part they spent upon the temple and the
temple servants ; another they distributed to
strangers and the poor ; the third they reserved
for themselves and the necessities of their family.
Thus, dear to God, kind to men, for about twenty
years they lived in their own house, a chaste mar-
ried life, without having any children. Never-
theless they vowed that, should the Lord happen
to give them offspring, they would deliver it to
the service of the Lord ; on which account also
they used to visit the temple of the Lord at each
of the feasts during the year.
Chap. 2. — And it came to pass that the fes-
tival of the dedication ' was at hand ; wherefore
also Joachim went up to Jerusalem with some
men of his own tribe. Now at that time Issa-
char^ was high priest there. And when he saw
Joachim with his offering among his other fellow-
citizens, he despised him, and spurned his gifts,
asking why he, who had no offspring, presumed
to stand among those who had ; saying that his
gifts could not by any means be acceptable to
God, since He had deemed him unworthy of off-
spring : for the Scripture said, Cursed is every
one who has not begot a male or a female in
Israel. 3 He said, therefore, that he ought first
to be freed from this curse by the begetting of
children ; and then, and then only, that he
should come into the presence of the Lord with
his offerings. And Joachim, covered with shame
from this reproach that was thrown in his teeth,
' I Mace. iv. 52-59; 2 Mace. x. i-8; John x. 22; Josephus, A>i-
tiq. xii. 7.
2 The speUing in the text is that in the Hebrew, the Samaritan
Codex, the Targums, and the Textus Receptus. There is no Issa-
char in the hst of high priests.
3 This s^tatement does not occur in Scripture in so many words;
but sterility was looked upon as a punishment from God.
3S4
retired to the shepherds, who were in their pas-
tures with their flocks ; nor would he return
home, lest perchance he might be branded with
the same reproach by those of his own tribe,
who were there at the time, and had heard this •
from the priest.
Chap. 3. — Now, when he had been there for
some time, on a certain day when he was alone,
an angel of the Lord stood by him in a great
light. And when he was disturbed at his appear-
ance, the angel who had appeared to him re-
strained his fear, saying : Fear not, Joachim, nor
be disturbed by my appearance ; for I am the
angel of the Lord, sent by Him to thee to tell
thee that thy prayers have been heard, and that
thy charitable deeds have gone up into His pres-
ence."* For He hath seen thy shame, and hath
heard the reproach of unfruitfulness which has
been unjustly brought against thee. For God is
the avenger of sin, not of nature : and, there-
fore, when He shuts up the womb of any one, He
does so that He may miraculously open it again ;
so that that which is born may be acknowledged
to be not of lust, but of the gift of God. For
was it not the case that the first mother of your
nation — Sarah — was barren up to her eightieth
year? 5 And, nevertheless, in extreme old age
she brought forth Isaac, to whom the promise
was renewed of the blessing of all nations.
Rachel also, so favoured of the Lord, and so be-
loved by holy Jacob, was long barren ; and yet
she brought forth Joseph, who was not only the
lord of Egypt, but the deliverer of many nations
who were ready to perish of hunger. Who
among the judges was either stronger than Sam-
son, or more holy than Samuel? And yet the
mothers of both were barren. If, therefore, the
reasonableness of my words does not persuade
thee, believe in fact that conceptions very late in
life, and births in the case of women that have
been barren, are usually attended with something
wonderful. Accordingly thy wife Anna will bring
forth a daughter to thee, and thou shalt call her
name Mary : she shall be, as you have vowed,
consecrated to the Lord from her infancy, and
4 Comp. Acts X. 4.
5 Gen. xvii. 17. Sarah was ninety years old.
THE GOSPEL OF THE NATIVITY OF MARY.
385
she shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from
her mother's womb. She shall neither eat nor
drink any unclean thing, nor shall she spend her
life among the crowds of the people without,
but in the temple of the Lord, that it may not be
possible either to say, or so much as to suspect,
any evil concerning her. Therefore, when she
has grown up, just as she herself shall be miracu-
lously born of a barren woman, so in an incom-
parable manner she, a virgin, shall bring forth
the Son of the Most High, who shall be called
Jesus, and who, according to the etymology of
His name, shall be the Saviour of all nations.
And this shall be the sign to thee of those things
which I announce : When thou shalt come to the
Golden gate in Jerusalem, thou shalt there meet
Anna thy wife, who, lately anxious from the delay
of thy return, will then rejoice at the sight of
thee. Having thus spoken, the angel departed
from him.
Chap. 4. — Thereafter he appeared to Anna
his wife, saying : Fear not, Anna, nor think that
it is a phantom which thou seest. For I am
that angel who has presented your prayers and
alms before God ; and now have I been sent to
you to announce to you that thou shalt bring
forth a daughter, who shall be called Mary, and
who shall be blessed above all women. She, full
of the favour of the Lord evqn from her birth,
shall remain three years in her father's house
until she be weaned. Thereafter, being delivered
to the service of the Lord, she shall not depart
from the temple until she reach the years of dis-
cretion. There, in fine, serving God day and
night in fastings and prayers, she shall abstain
from every unclean thing ; she shall never know
man, but alone, without example, immaculate,
uncorrupted, without intercourse with man, she,
a virgin, shall bring forth a son ; she, His hand-
maiden, shall bring forth the Lord — both in
grace, and in name, and in work, the Saviour of
the world. Wherefore arise, and go up to Jerusa-
lem ; and when thou shalt come to the gate
which, becau-se it is plated with gold, is called
Golden, there, for a sign, thou shalt meet thy
husband, for whose safety thou hast been anxious.
And when these things shall have so happened,
know that what I announce shall without doubt
be fulfilled.
Chap. 5. — Therefore, as the angel had com-
manded, both of them setting out from the place
where they were, went up to Jerusalem ; and
when they had come to the place pointed out
by the angel's prophecy, there they met each
other. Then, rejoicing at seeing each other,
and secure in the certainty of the promised off-
spring, they gave the thanks due to the Lord,
who exalteth the humble. And so, having wor-
shipped the Lord, they returned home, and
awaited in certainty and in gladness the divine
promise. Anna therefore conceived, and brought
forth a daughter ; and according to the com-
mand of the angel, her parents called her name
Mary.
Chap. 6. — And when the circle of three years
had rolled round, and the time of her weaning
was fulfilled, they brought the virgin to the tem-
ple of the Lord with offerings. Now there were
round the tempfe, according to the fifteen Psalms
of Degrees,' fifteen steps going up ; for, on
account of the temple having been built on
a mountain, the altar of burnt-offering, which
stood outside, could not be reached except by
steps. On one of these, then, her parents placed
the little girl, the blessed virgin Mary. And
when they were putting off the clothes which
they had worn on the journey, and were putting
on, as was usual, others that were neater and
cleaner, the virgin of the Lord went up all the
steps, one after the other, without the help of
any one leading her or Hfting her, in such a man-
ner that, in this respect at least, you would think
that she had already attained full age. For al-
ready the Lord in the infancy of His virgin
wrought a great thing, and by the indication of
this miracle foreshowed how great she was to be.
Therefore, a sacrifice having been offered ac-
cording to the custom of the law, and their vow
being perfected, they left the virgin .within the
enclosures of the temple, there to be educated
with the otb\r virgins, and themselves returned
home.
Chap. 7. — But the virgin of the Lord ad-
vanced in age and in virtues ; and though, in the
words of the Psalmist, her father and mother
had forsaken her, the Lord took her up.^ For
daily was she visited by angels, daily did she
enjoy a divine vision, which preserved her from
all evil, and made her to abound in all good.
And so she reached her fourteenth year ; and
not only were the wicked unable to charge her
with anything worthy of reproach, but all the
good, who knew her life and conversation, judged
her to be worthy of admiration. Then the high
priest publicly announced that the virgins who
were publicly settled in the temple, and had
reached this time of life, should return home
and get married, according to the custom of the
nation and the ripeness of their years. The
others readily obeyed this command ; but Mary
alone, the virgin of the Lord, answered that she
conld not do this, saying both that her parents
had devoted her to the service of the Lord, and
' Ps. cxx.-cxxxiv. The fifteen steps led from the court of the
women to thai of the men.
* Ps. xxvii. 10.
386
THE GOSPEL OF THE NATIVITY OF MARY.
that, moreover, she herself had made to the Lord
a vow of virginity, which she would never vio-
late by any intercourse with man. And the high
priest, being placed in great perplexity of mind,
seeing that neither did he think that the vow
should be broken contrary to the Scripture,
which says. Vow and pay,' nor did he dare to
introduce a custom unknown to the nation, gave
order that at the festival, which was at hand, all
the chief persons from Jerusalem and the neigh-
bourhood should be present, in order that from
their advice he might know what was to be done
in so doubtful a case. And when this took
place, they resolved unanimously that the Lord
should be consulted upon this matter. And
when they all bowed themselves in prayer, the
high priest went to consult God in the usual
way. Nor had they long to wait : in the hear-
ing of all a voice issued from the oracle and from
the mercy-seat, that, according to the prophecy
of Isaiah, a man should be sought out to whom
the virgin ought to be entrusted and espoused.
For it is clear that Isaiah says : A rod shall come
forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall
ascend from his root ; and the Spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength,
the spirit of wisdom and piety ; and he shall be
filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.^
According to this prophecy, therefore, he pre-
dicted that all of the house and family of David
that were unmarried and fit for marriage should
bring there rods to the altar ; and that he whose
rod after it was brought should produce a flower,
and upon the end of whose rod the Spirit of the
Lord should settle in the form of a dove, was
the man to whom the virgin ought to be en-
trusted and espoused.
Chap. 8. — Now there was among the rest
Joseph, of the house and family of David, a man
of great age : and when all brought there rods,
according to the order, he alone withheld his.
Wherefore, when nothing in conformity with the
divine voice appeared, the high priest thought
it necessary to consult God a second time ; and
He answered, that of those who had been desig-
nated, he alone to whom the virgin ought to be
espoused had not brought his rod. Joseph,
therefore, was found out. For when he had
brought his rod, and the dove came from heaven
and settled upon the top of it, it clearly appeared
to all that he was the man to whom the virgin
should be espoused. Therefore, the usual cere-
monies of betrothal having been gone through,
he went back to the city of Bethlehem to put
his house in order, and to procure things neces-
sary for the marriage. But Mary, the virgin of
' Ps. Ixxvi. II.
* Isa. xi. I, 2.
the Lord, with seven other virgins of her own
age, and who had been weaned at the same
time, whom she had received from the priest,
returned to the house of her parents in Galilee.
Chap. 9. — And in those days, that is, at the
time of her first coming into Galilee, the angel
Gabriel was sent to her by God, to announce to
her the conception of the Lord, and to explain
to her the manner and order of the conception.
Accordingly, going in, he filled the chamber
where she was with a great light ; and most
courteously saluting her, he said : Hail, Mary !
O virgin highly favoured by the Lord, virgin full
of grace, the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou
above all women, blessed above all men that
have been hitherto born.^ And the virgin, who
was already well acquainted with angelic faces,
and was not unused to the light from heaven, was
neither terrified by the vision of the angel, nor
astonished at the greatness of the light, but only
perplexed by his words ; and she began to con-
sider of what nature a salutation so unusual could
be, or what it could portend, or what end it
could have. And the angel, divinely inspired,
taking up this thought, says : Fear not, Mary, as
if anything contrary to thy chastity were hid
under this salutation. For in choosing chastity,
thou hast found favour with the Lord ; and there-
fore thou, a virgin, shalt conceive without sin,
and shalt bring forth a son. He shall be great,
because He shall rule from sea to sea, and from
the river even to the ends of the earth ; ■* and
He shall be called the Son of the Most High,
because He who is born on earth in humiliation,
reigns in heaven in exaltation ; and the Lord
God will give Him the throne of His father Da-
vid, and He shall reign in the house of Jacob
for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no
end ; 5 forasmuch as He is King of kings and
Lord of lords,^ and His throne is from everlast-
ing to everlasting. The virgin did not doubt
these words of the angel; but wishing to know
the manner of it, she answered : How can that
come to pass? For while, according to my
vow, I never know man, how can I bring forth
without the addition of man's seed? To this
the angel says : Think not, Mary, that thou shalt
conceive in the manner of mankind : for with-
out any intercourse with man, thou, a virgin, wilt
conceive ; thou, a virgin, wilt bring forth ; thou,
a virgin, wilt nurse : for the Holy Spirit shall
come upon thee, and the power of the Most
High shall overshadow thee,^ without any of the
heats of lust ; and therefore that which shall be
born of thee shall alone be holy, because it
3 Luke I. 26-38.
* Ps. Ixxii. 8.
5 Luke i. 32, 33.
^ Rev. xix. 16.
' Luke i. 35.
THE GOSPEL OF THE NATIVITY OF MARY.
387
alone, being conceived and born without sin,
shall be called the Son of God. Then Mary-
stretched forth her hands, and raised her eyes
to heaven, and said : Behold the hand-maiden
of the Lord, for I am not worthy of the name
of lady ; let it be to me according to thy word.
It will be long, and perhaps to some even
tedious, if we insert in this little work every
thing which we read of as having preceded or
followed the Lord's nativity : wherefore, omitting
those things which have been more fully written
in the Gospel, let us come to those which are
held to be less worthy of being narrated.
Chap. 10. — Joseph therefore came from Ju-
dsea into Galilee, intending to marry the virgin
who had been betrothed to him ; for already
three months had elapsed, and it was the begin-
ning of the fourth since she had been betrothed
to him. In the meantime, it was evident from
her shape that she was pregnant, nor could she
conceal this from Joseph. For in consequence
of his being betrothed to her, coming to her
more freely and speaking to her more familiarly,
he found out that she was with child. He be-
gan then to be in great doubt and perplexity,
because he did not know what was best for him
to do. For, being a just man, he was not willing
to expose her ; nor, being a pious man, to in-
jure her fair fame by a suspicion of fornication.
He came to the conclusion, therefore, privately
to dissolve their contract, and to send her away
secretly. And while he thought on these things,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him
in his sleep, saying : Joseph, thou son of David,
fear not ; that is, do not have any suspicion of
fornication in the virgin, or think any evil of her ;
and fear not to take her as thy wife : for that
which is begotten in her, and which now vexes
thy soul, is the work not of man, but of the
Holy Spirit. For she alone of all virgins shall
bring forth the Son of God, and thou shalt call
His name Jesus, that is, Saviour ; for He shall
save His people from their sins. Therefore Jo-
seph, according to the command of the angel,
took the virgin as his wife ; nevertheless he knew
her not, but took care of her, and kept her in
chastity.' And now the ninth month from her
conception was at hand, when Joseph, taking
with him his wife along with what things he
needed, went to Bethlehem, the city from which
he came. And it came to pass, while they were
there, that her days were fulfilled that she should
bring forth ; and she brought forth her first-born
son, as the holy evangelists have shown, our
Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the
Son 2 and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns God
from everlasting to everlasting.
' Matt. i. 18-24.
2 Thus in the original.
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER.
In the name of God, of one essence and three
persons.
The History of the death of our father, the
holy old man, Joseph the carpenter.
May his blessings and prayers preserve us all,
O brethren ! Amen.
His whole life was one hundred and eleven
years, and his departure from this world hap-
pened on the twenty-sixth of the month Abib,
which answers to the month Ab. May his pray-
er preserve us ! Amen. And, indeed, it was
our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who related this
history to His holy disciples on the Mount of
Olives, and all Joseph's labour, and the end
of* his days. And the holy apostles have pre-
served this conversation, and have left it written
down in the library at Jerusalem. May their
prayers preserve us ! Amen.'
I. It happened one day, when the Saviour,
our Master, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, was
sitting along with His disciples, and they were
all assembled on the Mount of Olives, that He
said to them : O my brethren and friends, sons
of the Father who has chosen you from all men,
you know that I have often told you that 1
must be crucified, and must die for the sal-
vation of Adam and his posterity, and that I
shall rise from the dead. Now I shall commit
to you the doctrine of the holy gospel formerly
announced to you, that you may declare it
throughout the whole world. And I shall en-
dow you with power from on high, and fill you
with the Holy Spirit.^ And you shall declare to
all nations repentance and remission of sins. ^ For
a single cup of water,* if a man shall find it in
the world to come, is greater and better than
all the wealth of this whole world. And as much
ground as one foot can occupy in the house of
my Father, is greater and more excellent than all
' The Coptic has: The 26th day of Epep. This is the departure
from the body of our father Joseph the carpenter, the father of Christ
after the flesh, who was iii years old. Our Saviour narrated all his
life to His apostles on Mount Olivet; and His apostles wrote it, and
put it in the library which is in Jerusalem. Also that the day on
which the holy old man laid down his body was the 26th of the month
Epep. In the peace of God. amen.
His day is the 19th of March in the Roman calendar.
2 Luke xxiv. 49.
3 Luke x.xiv. 47.
* Comp. Matt. x. 42.
the riches of the earth. Yea, a single hour in
the joyful dwelling of the pious is more blessed
and more precious than a thousand years among
sinners : 5 inasmuch as their weeping and lamen-
tation shall not come to an end, and their tears
shall not cease, nor shall they find for themselves
consolation and repose at any time for ever.
And now, O my honoured members, go declare
to all nations, tell them, and say to them : Veri-
ly the Saviour diligently inquires into the inherit-
ance which is due, and is the administrator of
justice. And the angels will cast down their en-
emies, and will fight for them in the day of con-
flict. And He will examine every single foolish
and idle word which men speak, and they shall
give an account of it.^ For as no one shall es-
cape death, so also the works of every man
shall be laid open on the day of judgment,
whether they have been good or evil.7 Tell
them also this word which I have said to you
to-day : Let not the strong man glory in his
strength, nor the rich man in his riches ; but let
him who wishes to glory, glory in the Lord.^
2. There was a man whose name was Joseph,
sprung from a family of Bethlehem, a town of
Judah, and the city of King David. This same
man, being well furnished with wisdom and
learning, was made a priest in the temple of the
Lord. He was, besides, skilful in his trade,
which was that of a carpenter ; and after the
manner of all men, he married a wife. More-
over, he begot for himself sons and daugliters,
four sons, namely, and two daughters. Now
these are their names — Judas, Justus, James,
and Simon. The names of the two daughters
were Assia and Lydia. At length the wife of
righteous Joseph, a woman intent on the divine
glory in all her works, departed this life. But
Joseph, that righteous man, my father after the
flesh, and the spouse of my mother Mary, went
away with his sons to his trade, practising the
art of a carpenter.
3. Now when righteous Joseph became a
widower, my mother Mary, blessed, holy, and
pure, was already twelve years old. For her
s Comp. Ps. Ixxxiv. 10.
6 Matt. xii. 36.
' 2 Cor. V. 10.
^ Jer. ix. 23, 24; I Cor. i. 31 ; 2 Cor. x. 17.
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER.
389
parents offered her in the temple when she was
three years of age, and she remained in the
temple of the Lord nine years. Then when the
priests saw that the virgin, holy and God-fearing,
was growing up, they spoke to each other, say-
ing : Let us search out a man, righteous and
pious, to whom Mary may be entrusted until
the time of her marriage ; lest, if she remain in
the temple, it happen to her as is wont to hap-
pen to women, and lest on that account we sin,
and God be angry with us.
4. Therefore they immediately sent out, and
assembled twelve old men of the tribe of Judah.
And they wrote down the names of the twelve
tribes of Israel. And the lot fell upon the pious
old man, righteous Joseph. Then the priests
answered, and said to my blessed mother : Go
with Joseph, and be with him till the time of
your marriage. Righteous Joseph therefore re-
ceived my mother, and led her away to his own
house. And Mary found James the Less in his
father's house, broken-hearted and sad on ac-
count of the loss of his mother, and she brought
him up. Hence Mary was called the mother of
James.' Thereafter Joseph left her at home, and
went away to the shop where he wrought at his
trade of a carpenter. And after the holy virgin
had spent two years in his house her age was
exactly fourteen years, including the time at
which he received her.
5. And I chose hei of my own will, with the
concurrence of my Father, and the counsel of
the Holy Spirit. And I was made flesh of her,
by a mystery which transcends the grasp of cre-
ated reason. And three months after her con-
ception the righteous man Joseph returned from
the place where he worked at his trade ; and
when he found my virgin mother pregnant, he
was greatly perplexed, and thought of sending
her away secretly.^ But from fear, and sorrow,
and the anguish of his heart, he could endure
neither to eat nor drink that day.
6. But at mid-day there appeared to him in a
dream the prince of the angels, the holy Gabriel,
furnished with a command from my Father ; and
he said to him : Joseph, son of David, fear not
to take Mary as thy wife : for she has conceived
of the Holy Spirit ; and she will bring forth a
son, whose name shall be called Jesus. He it is
who shall rule all nations with a rod of iron.-^
Having thus spoken, the angel departed from
him. And Joseph rose from his sleep, and did
as the angel of the Lord had said to him ; and
Mary abode with him.-*
7. Some time after that, there came forth an
order from Augustus Caesar the king, that all the
' Luke xxiv. 10.
2 Matt. i. 19.
3 Ps. ii. 3; Rev. xii. 5, xix.
* Matt. 1. 20-24.
habitable world should be enrolled, each man in
his own city. The old man therefore, righteous
Joseph, rose up and took the virgin Mary and
came to Bethlehem, because the time of her
bringing forth was at hand. Joseph then in-
scribed his name in the list ; for Joseph the son
of David, whose spouse Mary was, was of the
tribe of Judah. x'Xnd indeed Mary, my mother,
brought me forth in Bethlehem, in a cave near
the tomb of Rachel the wife of the patriarch
Jacob, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
8. But Satan went and told this to Herod the
Great, the father of Archelaus. And it was this
same Herod 5 who ordered my friend and relative
John to be beheaded. Accordingly he searched
for me diligently, thinking that my kingdom was
to be of this world.^ But Joseph, that pious old
man, was warned of this by a dream. Therefore
he rose and took Mary my mother, and I lay in
her bosom. Salome ^ also was their fellow-travel-
ler. Having therefore set out from home, he
retired into Egypt, and remained there the space
of one whole year, until the hatred of Herod
passed away.
9. Now Herod died by the worst form of
death, atoning for the shedding of the blood of
the children whom he wickedly cut off, though
there was no sin in them. And that impious ty-
rant Herod being dead, they returned into the
land of Israel, and lived in a city of Galilee
which is called Nazareth. And Joseph, going
back to his trade of a carpenter, earned his living
by the work of his hands ; for, as the law of
Moses had r -)mmanded, he never sought to live
for nothing b , another's labour.^
10. At -length, by increasing years, the old
man arrived at a very advanced age. He did
not, however, labour under any bodily weakness,
nor had his sight failed, nor had any tooth per-
ished from his mouth. In mind also, for the
whole time of his life, he never wandered ; but
like a boy he always in his business displayed
youthful vigour, and his limbs remained unim-
paired, and free from all pain. His life, then,
in all, amounted to one hundred and eleven
years, his old age being prolonged to the utmost
limit.
11. Now Justus and Simeon, the elder sons
of Joseph, were married, and had families of
their own. Both the daughters were likewise
married, and lived in their own houses. So there
remained in Joseph's house, Judas and James
the Le.ss, and my virgin mother. I moreover
dwelt along with them, not otherwise than if I
S It was Herod Antipas who ordered John to be beheaded.
* John xviii. 36.
7 The Salome here mentioned was, according to two of the MSS.
of Pseudo-Matthew, the third husband of Anna, Mary's mother, and
the father of Mary the wife of Zebedee. But compare Matt, xxvii. 56
with Mark xv. 40.
•* Gen. iii. 19.
190
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER.
had been one of his sons. But I passed all my
life without fault. Mary I called my mother, and
Joseph father, and I obeyed them in all that they
said ; nor did I ever contend against them, but
complied with their commands, as other men
whom earth produces are wont to do ; nor did I
at any time arouse their anger, or give any word
or answer in opposition to them. On the con-
trary, I cherished them with great love, like the
pupil of my eye.
12. It came to pass, after these things, that
the death of that old man, the pious Joseph, and
his departure from this world, were approaching,
as happens to other men who owe their origin to
this earth. And as his body was verging on dis-
solution, an angel of the Lord informed him that
his death was now close at hand. Therefore
fear and great perplexity came upon him. So
he rose up and went to Jerusalem ; and going
into the temple of the Lord, he poured out
his prayers there before the sanctuary, and
said :
13. O God ! author of all consolation, God
of all compassion, and Lord of the whole human
race ; God of my soul, body, and spirit ; with
supplications I reverence thee, O Lord and my
God. If now my days are ended, and the time
draws near when I must leave this world, send
me, I beseech Thee, the great Michael, the
prince of Thy holy angels : let him remain with
me, that my wretched soul may depart from this
afflicted body without trouble, without terror and
impatience. For great fear and intense sadness
take hold of all bodies on the day of their death,
whether it be man or woman, beast wild or tame,
or whatever creeps on the ground or flies in the
air. At the last all creatures under heaven in
whom is the breath of life are struck with hor-
ror, and their souls depart from their bodies with
strong fear and great depression. Now there-
fore, O Lord and my God, let Thy holy angel
be present with his help to my soul and body,
until they shall be dissevered from each other.
And let not the face of the angel, appointed my
guardian from the day of my birth,' be turned
away from me ; but may he be the companion
of my journey even until he bring me to Thee :
let his countenance be pleasant and gladsome
to me, and let him accompany me in peace.
And let not demons of frightful aspect come
near me in the way in which I am to go, until I
come to Thee in bliss. And let not the door-
keepers hinder my soul from entering paradise.
And do not uncover my sins, and expose me to
condemnation before Thy terrible tribunal. Let
not the lions rush in upon me ; nor let the waves
of the sea of fire overwhelm my soul — for this
' On the subject of guardian angels, see Shepherd of Hernias,
iii. 4; Justin, Apol., ii. 5, Tryph., 5; Alhenagoras, Z-f^a/. , 10, 20;
Clem. Alex., Strom., vi. 17.
must every soul pass through ^ — before I have
seen the glory of Thy Godhead. O God, most
righteous Judge, who in justice and equity wilt
judge mankind, and wilt render unto each one
according to his works, O Lord and my God, I
beseech Thee, be present to me in Thy compas-
sion, and enlighten my path that I may come to
Thee ; for Thou art a fountain overflowing with
all good things, and with glory for evermore.
Amen.
14. It came to pass thereafter, when he re-
turned to his own house in the city of Nazareth,
that he was seized by disease, and had to' keep
his bed. And it was at this time that he died,
according to the destiny of all mankind. For
this disease was very heavy upon him, and he
had never been ill, as he now was, from the day
of his birth. And thus assuredly it pleased
Christ 3 to order the destiny of righteous Joseph.
He lived forty years unmarried ; thereafter his
wife remained under his care forty-nine years,
and then died. And a year after her death, my
mother, the blessed Mary, was entrusted to him
by the priests, that he should keep her until the
time of her marriage. " She spent two years in
his house ; and in the third year of her stay with
Joseph, in the fifteenth year of her age, she
brought me forth on earth by a mystery which
no creature can penetrate or understand, except
myself, and my Father and the Holy Spirit, con-
stituting one essence with myself.-*
15. The whole age of my father, therefore,
that righteous old man, was one hundred and
eleven years, my Father in heaven having so
decreed. And the day on which his soul left
his body was the twenty-sixth of the month Abib.
For now the fine gold began to lose its splen-
dour, and the silver to be worn down by use —
I mean his understanding and his wisdom. He
also loathed food and drink, and lost all his skill
in his trade of carpentry, nor did he any more
pay attention to it. It came to pass, then, in
the early dawn of the twenty-sixth day of Abib,
that Joseph, that righteous old man, lying in his
bed, was giving up his unquiet soul. Wherefore
he opened his mouth with many sighs, and struck
his hands one against the other, and with a loud
2 This clause looks like an interpolation. But the doctrine of pur-
gatory was held from an early date. Clem. Alex., Pa:dag., iii. 9;
Strom., vii. 6; Origeii against Celsiis, v. 14, 15.
3 Note the change from the first person.
4 Here the Coptic has: This is the end of the life of my beloved
father Joseph. When forty years old he married a wife, with whom
he lived nine (? forty-nine) years. After her death he remained a
widower one (or two) year: and my mother lived two years in his
house before she was married to him, since he had been ordered by
the priests to take charge of her until the time of her marriage. And
my mother Mary brought me forth in the third year that she was in
Joseph's house, in the fifteenth year of her age. My mother bore me
in a cave (this seems a mistranslation tor mystery), which it is un-
lawful either to name or seek, and there is not in the whole creation a
man who knows it, except me and my Father and the Holy Spirit.
It is to be noted that the last clause is omitted in the Coptic. The
phrase one essence was first used in regard to the doctrine of the
Trinity by Augustine.
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER.
391
voice cried out, and spoke after the following
manner : —
16. Woe to the day on which I was born into
the world ! Woe to the womb which bare me !
Woe to the bowels which admitted me ! Woe
to the breasts which suckled me ! Woe to the
feet upon which I sat and rested ! Woe to
the hands which carried me and reared me until I
grew up ! ' For I was conceived in iniquity, and
in sins did my mother desire me.^ Woe to my
tongue and my lips, which have brought forth
and spoken vanity, detraction, falsehood, igno-
rance, derision, idle tales, craft, and hypocrisy !
Woe to mine eyes, which have looked upon
scandalous things ! Woe to mine ears, which
have delighted in the words of slanderers ! Woe
to my hands, which have seized what did not of
right belong to them ! Woe to my belly and
my bowels, which have lusted after food unlawful
to be eaten ! Woe to my throat, which like a
fire has consumed all that it found ! Woe to
my feet, which have too often walked in ways
displeasing to God ! Woe to my body ; and
woe to my miserable soul, which has already
turned aside from God its Maker ! What shall
I do when I arrive at that place where I must
stand before the most righteous Judge, and
when He shall call me to account for the
works which I have heaped up in my youth?
Woe to every man dying in his sins ! Assuredly
that same dreadful hour, which came upon my
father Jacob, ^ when his soul was flying forth
from his body, is now, behold, near at hand for
me. Oh ! how wretched I am this day, and
worthy of lamentation ! But God alone is the
disposer of my soul and body ; He also will
deal with them after His own good pleasure.
17. These are the words spoken by Joseph,
that righteous old man. And I, going in beside
him, found his soul exceedingly troubled, for he
was placed in great perplexity. And I said to
him : Hail ! my father Joseph, thou righteous
man ; how is it with thee ? And he answered
me : All hail ! my well-beloved son. Indeed, the
agony and fear of death have already environed
me ; but as soon as I heard Thy voice, my soul
was at rest. O Jesus of Nazareth ! Jesus, my
Saviour ! Jesus, the deliverer of my soul ! Jesus,
my protector ! Jesus ! O sweetest name in my
mouth, and in the mouth of all those that love
it ! O eye which seest, and ear which hearest,
hear me ! I am Thy servant ; this day I most
humbly reverence Thee, and before Thy face I
pour out my tears. Thou art altogether my
God ; Thou art my Lord, as the angel has told
me times without number, and especially on that
day when my soul was driven about with perverse
' Comp. Job iii.
2 Comp. Ps. li, 5.
3 Matt. i. 1 6.
thoughts about the pure and blessed Mary, who
was carrying Thee in her womb, and whom I was
thinking of secretly sending away. And while I
was thus meditating, behold, there appeared to me
in my rest angels of the Lord, saying to me in a
wonderful mystery : O Joseph, thou son of David,
fear not to take Mary as thy wife ; and do not
grieve thy soul, nor speak unbecoming words of
her conception, because she is with child of the
Holy Spirit, and shall bring forth a son, whose
name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins. Do not for this cause
wish me evil, O Lord ! for I was ignorant of the
mystery of Thy birth. I call to mind also, my
Lord, that day when the boy died of the bite of
the serpent. And his relations wished to deliver
Thee to Herod, saying that Thou hadst killed
him ; but Thou didst raise him from the dead,
and restore him to them. Then I went up to
Thee, and took hold of Thy hand, saying : My
son, take care of thyself. But Thou didst say to
me in reply : Art thou not my father after the
flesh? I shall teach thee who I am.'* Now there-
fore, O Lord and my God, do not be angry with
me, or condemn me on account of that hour. I
am Thy servant, and the son of Thine hand-
maiden ; 5 but Thou art my Lord, my God and
Saviour, most surely the Son of God.
18. When my father Joseph had thus spoken,
he was unable to weep more. And I saw that
death now had dominion over him. And my
mother, virgin undefiled, rose and came to me,
saying : O my beloved son, this pious old man
Joseph is now dying. And I answered : Oh, my
dearest moth v, assuredly upon all creatures pro-
duced in this world the same necessity of death
lies ; for death holds sway over the whole human
race. Even thou, O my virgin mother, must
look for the same end of life as other mortals.
And yet thy death, as also the death of this pious
man, is not death, but life enduring to eternity.
Nay more, even I must die, as concerns the body
which I have received from thee. But rise, O
my venerable mother, and go in to Joseph, that
blessed old man, in order that thou mayst see
what will happen as his soul ascends from his
body.
19. My undefiled mother Mary, therefore, went
and entered the place where Joseph was. And
I was sitting at his feet looking at him, for the
signs of death already appeared in his counte-
nance. And that blessed old man raised his
head, and kept his eyes fixed on my face ; but
he had no power of speaking to me, on account
of the agonies of death, which held him in their
■♦ The Sahldic has: Joseph entreats Jesus to pardon him likewise,
because when, once upon a time, He had recalled to hfe a boy bitten
by a cerastes, he (Joseph) had pulled His right ear, advising Him to
refrain from works thai brought hatred upon Him. See Second Gos-
pel of Thomas, chap. 5.
5 Ps. cxvi. 16.
392
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER.
grasp. But he kept fetching many sighs. And
I held his hands for a whole hour ; and he turned
his face to me, and made signs for me not to
leave him. Thereafter I put my hand upon his
breast, and perceived his soul now near his
throat, preparing to depart from its receptacle.
20. And when my virgin mother saw me
touching his body, she also touched his feet. And
finding them already dead and destitute of heat,
she said to me : O my beloved son, assuredly
his feet are already beginning to stiffen, and they
are as cold as snow. Accordingly she sum-
moned his sons and daughters, and said to them :
Come, as many as there are of you, and go to
your father ; for assuredly he is now at the very
point of death. And Assia, his daughter, an-
swered and said : Woe's me, O my brothers, this
is certainly the same disease that my beloved
mother died of. And she lamented and shed
tears ; and all Joseph's other children mourned
along with her. I also, and my mother Mary,
wept along with them.'
2 1 . And turning my eyes towards the region
of the south, I saw Death already approaching,
and all Gehenna with him, closely attended by
his army and his satelhtes ; and their clothes,
their faces, and their mouths poured forth flames.
And when my father Joseph saw them coming
straight to him, his eyes dissolved in tears, and
at the same time he groaned after a strange
manner. Accordingly, when I saw the vehemence
of his sighs, I drove back Death and all the host
of servants which accompanied him. And I
called upon my good Father, saying : —
22. O Father of all mercy, eye which seest,
and ear which hearest, hearken to my prayers
and supplications in behalf of the old man
Joseph ; and send Michael, the prince of Thine
angels, and Gabriel, the herald of light, and all
the light of Thine angels, and let their whole
array walk with the soul of my father Joseph,
until they shall have conducted it to Thee. This
is the hour in which my father has need of com-
passion. And I say unto you, that all the saints,
yea, as many men as are born in the world,
whether they be just or whether they be perverse,
must of necessity taste of death.
23. Therefore Michael and Gabriel came to
the soul of my father Joseph, and took it, and
wrapped it in a shining wrapper. Thus he com-
mitted his spirit into the hands of my good
Father, and He bestowed upon him peace. But as
yet none of his children knew that he had fallen
asleep. And the angels preserved his soul from
the demons of darkness which were in the way,
and praised God even until they conducted it
into the dwelling-place of the pious.
' The argument of the Sahidic is: He sends for Joseph's sons and
daughters, of whom the oldest was Lysia the purple-seller. They
all weep over their dying father.
24. Now his body was lying prostrate and
bloodless ; wherefore I reached forth my hand,
and put right his eyes and shut his mouth, and
said to the virgin Mary : O my mother, where is
the skill which he showed in all the time that he
lived in this world ? Lo ! it has perished, as if it
had never existed. And when his children heard
me speaking with my mother, the pure virgin,
they knew that he had already breathed his last,
and they shed tears, and lamented. But I said
to them : Assuredly the death of your father is
not death, but life everlasting : for he has been
freed from the troubles of this life, and has
passed to perpetual and everlasting rest. When
they heard these words, they rent their clothes,
and wept.
25. And, indeed, the inhabitants of Nazareth
and of Galilee, having heard of their lamentation,
flocked to them, and wept from the third hour
even to the ninth. And at the ninth hour they
all went together to Joseph's bed. And they
lifted his body, after they had anointed it with
costly unguents. But I entreated my Father in
the prayer of the celestials — that same prayer
which with my own hand I made before I was
carried in the womb of the virgin Mary, my
mother. And as soon as I had finished it, and
pronounced the amen, a great multitude of angels
came up ; and I ordered two of them to stretch
out their shining garments, and to wrap in them
the body of Joseph, the blessed old man.
26. And I spoke to Joseph, and said : The
smell or corruption of death shall not have do-
minion over thee, nor shall a worm ever come
forth from thy body. Not a single limb of it
shall be broken, nor shall any hair on thy head
be changed. Nothing of thy body shall perish,
0 my father Joseph, but it will remain entire and
uncorrupted even until the banquet of the thou-
sand years.^ And whosoever shall make an of-
fering on the day of thy remembrance, him will
1 bless and recompense in the congregation of
the virgins ; and whosoever shall give food to
the wretched, the poor, the widows, and orphans
from the work of his hands, on the day on which
thy memory shall be celebrated, and in thy name,
shall not be in want of good things all the days
of his life. And" whosoever shall have given a
cup of water, or of wine, to drink to the widow
or orphan in thy name, I will give him to thee,
that thou mayst go in with him to the banquet
of the thousand years. And every man who shall
present an offering on the day of thy commemo-
ration will I bless and recompense in the church
of the virgins : for one I will render unto him
thirty, sixty, and a hundred. And whosover shall
2 Barnabas, 15; Hennas, i. 3; Irenseus, Contra Heer., v. 33;
Justin, Trvph., 81; Tenulhan, Adv. Marc, iii. 24. Caius and
Dionysius imputed grossness and sensuality 10 Cerinlhus, because he
spoke of the wedding feast of the thousand years.
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER.
;93
write the history of thy Hfe, of thy labour, and
thy departure from this world, and this narrative
that has issued from my mouth, him shall I ccmii-
mit to thy keeping as long as he shall have to do
with this life. And when his soul departs from
the body, and when he must leave this world, I
will burn the book of his sins, nor will I torment
him with any punishment in the day of judg-
ment ; but he shall cross the sea of flames, and
shall go through it without trouble or pain.' And
upon every poor man who can give none of those
things which I have mentioned this is incum-
bent : viz., if a son is born to him, he shall call
his name Joseph. So there shall not take place
in that house either poverty or any sudden death
for ever.
27. Thereafter the chief men of the city came
together to the place where the body of the
blessed old man Joseph had been laid, bringing
with them burial-clothes ; and they wished to
wrap it up in them after the manner in which
the Jews are wont to arrange their dead bodies.
And they perceived that he kept his shroud fast ;
for it adhered to the body in such a way, that
when they wished to take it off, it was found to
be like iron — impossible to be moved or loos-
ened. Nor could they find any ends in that
piece of linen, which struck them with the great-
est astonishment. At length they carried him
out to a place where there was a cave, and
opened the gate, that they might bury his body
beside the bodies of his fathers. Then there
came into my mind the day on which he walked
with me into Egypt, and that extreme trouble
which he endured on my account. Accordingly,
I bewailed his death for a long time ; and lying
upon his body, I said : —
28. O Death ! who makest all knowledge to
vanish away, and raisest so many tears and lam-
entations, surely it is God my Father Himself
who hath granted thee this power. For men die
for the transgression of Adam and his wife Eve,
and Death spares not so much as one. Never-
theless, nothing happens to any one, or is brought
upon him, without the command of my Father.
There have certainly been men who have pro-
longed their life even to nine hundred years ; but
they died. Yea, though some of them have lived
longer, they have, notwithstanding, succumbed
to the same fate ; nor has any one of them ever
said : I have not tasted death. For the Lord
never sends the same punishment more than
once, since it hath pleased my Father to bring
it upon men. And at the very moment when
it, going forth, beholds the command descending
to it from heaven, it says : I will go forth against
' All the fathers placed the purgatorial fires, as the Greek Church
does now, at the day of judgment. Augustine was the first who
brought forward the supposition that the purification look place in
Hades before the day of judgment. Haag, Histoire des Dogines, ii.
323-
that man, and will greatly move him. Then,
without delay, it makes an onset on the soul, and
obtains the mastery of it, doing with it whatever
it will. For, because Adam did not the will of
my Father, but transgressed His commandment,
the wrath of my Father was kindled against him,
and He doomed him to death ; and thus it was
that death came into the world. But if Adam
had observed my Father's precepts, death would
never have fallen to his lot. Think you that I
can ask my good Father to send me a chariot
of fire,^ which may take up the body of my
father Joseph, and convey it to the place of rest,
in order that it may dwell with the spirits? But
on account of the transgression of Adam, that
trouble and violence of death has descended
upon all the human race. And it is for this
cause that I must die according to the flesh, for
my work which I have created, that they may
obtain grace.
29. Having thus spoken, I embraced the body
of my father Joseph, and wept over it ; and
they opened the door of the tomb, and placed
his body in it, near the body of his father Jacob.
And at the time when he fell asleep he had ful-
filled a hundred and eleven years. Never did a
tooth in his mouth hurt him, nor was his eyesight
rendered less sharp, nor his body bent, nor his
strength impaired ; but he worked at his trade
of a carpenter to the very last day of his life ;
and that was the six-and- twentieth of the month
Abib.
30. And we apostles, when we heard these
things from v t Saviour, rose up joyfully, and
prostrated ouiselves in honour of Him, and
said : O our Saviour, show us Thy grace. Now
indeed we have heard the word of life : never-
theless we wonder, O our Saviour, at the fate of
Enoch and Elias, inasmuch as they had not to
undergo death. For truly they dwell in the
habitation of the righteous even to the present
day, nor have their bodies seen corruption.
Yet that old man Joseph the carpenter was,
nevertheless. Thy father after the flesh. And
Thou hast ordered us to go into all the world
and preach the holy Gospel ; and Thou hast
said : Relate to them the death of my father
Joseph, and celebrate to him with annual solem-
nity a festival and sacred day. And whosoever
shall take anything away from this narrative, or
add anything to it, commits sin.^ We wonder
especially that Joseph, even from that day on
which Thou wast born in Bethlehem, called Thee
his son after the flesh. Wherefore, then, didst
Thou not make him immortal as well as them,
and Thou sayest that he was righteous and
chosen ?
31. And our Saviour answered and said: In-
2 2 Rings ii. 11.
3 Rev. xxii. 18, 19.
394
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER.
deed, the prophecy of my Father upon Adam,
for his disobedience, has now been fulfilled.
And all things are arranged according to the will
and pleasure of my Father. For if a man rejects
the commandment of God, and follows the
works of the devil by committing sin, his life is
prolonged ; for he is preserved in order that he
may perhaps repent, and reflect that he must be
delivered into the hands of death. But if any
one has been zealous of good works, his life also
is prolonged, that, as the fame of his old age in-
creases, upright men may imitate him. But
when you see a man whose mind is prone to an-
ger, assuredly his days are shortened ; for it is
these that are taken away in the flower of their
age. Every prophecy, therefore, which my
Father has pronounced concerning the sons of
men, must be fulfilled in every particular. But
with reference to Enoch and Elias, and how they
remain alive to this day, keeping the same bodies
with which they were born ; and as to what con-
cerns my father Joseph, who has not been al-
lowed as well as they to remain in the body :
indeed, though a man live in the world many
myriads of years, nevertheless at some time or
other he is compelled to exchange life for death.
And I say to you, O my brethren, that they also,
Enoch and Elias,' must towards the end of time
reiurn into the world and die — in the day,
namely, of commotion, of terror, of perplexity,
and affliction. For Antichrist will slay four
bodies, and will pour out their blood like water,
because of the reproach to which they shall ex-
pose him, and the ignominy with which they, in
their lifetime, shall brand him when they reveal
his impiety.
32. And we said : O our Lord, our God and
Saviour, who are those four whom Thou hast
said Antichrist will cut off from the reproach they
bring upon him? The Lord answered: They
are Enoch, Elias, Schila, and Tabitha.^ When
we heard this from our Saviour, we rejoiced and
exulted ; and we offered all glory and thanks-
giving to the Lord God, and our Saviour Jesus
Christ. He it is to whom is due glory, honour,
dignity, dominion, power, and praise, as well as
to the good Father with Him, and to the Holy
Spirit that giveth life, henceforth and in all time
for evermore. Amen.
' Comp. Rev. xi. 3-12.
^ Acts ix. 36. Schila is probably meant for the widow of Nain's
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
FIRST GREEK FORM.
THOMAS THE ISRAELITE PHILOSOPHER'S ACCOUNT OF THE INFANCY OF
THE LORD.
1. I Thomas, an Israelite, write you this ac-
count, that all the brethren from among the
heathen may know the miracles of our Lord
Jesus Christ in His infancy, which He did after
His birth in our country. The beginning of it
is as follows : —
2. This child Jesus, when five years old, was
playing in the ford of a mountain stream ; and
He collected the flowing waters into pools, and
made them clear immediately, and by a word
alone He made them obey Him. And having
made some soft cla)', He fashioned out of it
twelve sparrows. And it was the Sabbath when
He did these things. And there were also many
other children playing with Him. And a certain
Jew, seeing what Jesus was doing, playing on
the Sabbath, went off immediately, and said to
his father Joseph : Behold, thy son is at the
stream, and has taken clay, and made of it twelve
birds, and has profaned the Sabbath. And
Joseph, coming to the place and seeing, cried
out to Him, saying : Wherefore doest thou on
the Sabbath what it is not lawful to do? And
Jesus clapped His hands, and cried out to the
sparrows, and said to them : Off you go ! And
the sparrows flew, and went off crying. And
the Jews seeing this were amazed, and went
away and reported to their chief men what they
had seen Jesus doing.'
3. And the son of Annas the scribe was stand-
ing there with Joseph ; and he took a willow
branch, and let out the waters which Jesus had
collected. And Jesus, seeing what was done,
was angry, and said to him : O wicked, impious,
and foolish I what harm did the pools and the
waters do to thee? Behold, even now thou
shalt be dried up like a tree, and thou shalt not
bring forth either leaves, or root,^ or fruit. And
straightway that boy was quite dried up. And
Jesus departed, and went to Joseph's house.
' Pseudo-Matt. 26, etc.
^ Another reading is, branches.
But the parents of the boy that had been dried
up took him up, bewailing his youth, and brought
him to Joseph, and reproached him because, said
they, thou hast such a child doing such things.^
4. After that He was again passing through
the village ; and a boy ran u]) against Him, and
struck His shoulder. And Jesus was angry, and
said to him : Thou shalt not go back the way
thou camest. And immediately he fell down
dead. And some who saw what had taken place,
said : Whence was this child begotten, that every
word of his is certainly accomplished ? And
the parents of the dead boy went away to Joseph,
and blamed him, saying : Since thou hast such
a child, it is impossible for thee to live with us in
the village ; or 'se teach him to bless, and not
to curse : ■♦ for he is killing our children.
5. And Joseph called the child apart, and ad-
monished Him, saying : W^hy doest thou such
things, and these people suffer, and hate us, and
persecute us ? And Jesus said : I know that
these words of thine are not thine own ; s never-
theless for thy sake I will be silent ; but they
shall bear their punishment. And straightway
those that accused Him were struck blind.
And those who saw it were much afraid and in
great perplexity, and said about Him-: Every
word which he spoke, whether good or bad, was
an act, and became a wonder. And when they
saw that Jesus had done such a thing, Joseph
rose and took hold of His ear, and pulled it
hard. And the child was very angry, and said
to him : It is enough for thee to seek, and not to
find ; and most certainly thou hast not done
wisely. Knowest thou not that I am thine?
Do not trouble me.^
3 One MS has: And Jesus, at the entreaty of all of them, healed
him.
4 Or, either teach him to bless, and not to curse, or depart with
him from this place; for, etc.
5 Or, are not mine, but thine.
6 Pseudo-Matt. 29. ['I'he numerous references to the latter part of
Pseudo-Mattha;i, see pp. 378-383, shows the close relationship. But
it is generally agreed that this narrative is the older, and one of the
sources of Pseudo-Matthaei. — R.]
395
396
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
6. And a certain teacher, Zacchceus by name,
was standing in a certain place, and heard Jesus
thus speaking to his father ; and he wondered
exceedingly, that, being a child, he should speak
in such a way. And a few days thereafter he
came to Joseph, and said to him : Thou hast a
sensible child, and he has some mind. Give
him to me, then, that he may learn letters ; and
I shall teach him along with the letters all knowl-
edge, both how to address all the elders, and
to honour them as forefathers and fathers, and
how to love those of his own age. And He said
to him all the letters from the Alpha even to the
Omega, clearly and with great exactness. And
He looked upon the teacher Zacchseus, and said
to him : Thou who art ignorant of the nature
of the Alpha, how canst thou teach others the
Beta? Thou hypocrite ! first, if thou knowest,
teach the A, and then we shall believe thee
about the B. Then He began to question the
teacher about the first letter, and he was not able
to answer Him. And in the hearing of many,
the child says to Zacchseus : Hear, O teacher,
the order of the first letter, and notice here how
it has lines, and a middle stroke crossing those
which thou seest common ; (lines) brought to-
gether ; the highest part supporting them, and
again bringing them under one head ; with three
\)omi<, of i lite rsec lion ; of the same kind ; princi-
pal and subordinate ; of equal length. Thou
hast the lines of the A.'
7. And when the teacher Zacchseus heard the
child speaking such and so great allegories of
the first letter, he was at a great loss about such
a narrative, and about His teaching. And He
said to those that were present : Alas ! I, wretch
that I am, am at a loss, bringing shame upon my-
self by having dragged this child hither. Take
him away, then, I beseech thee, brother Joseph.
I cannot endure the sternness of his look ; I
cannot make out his meaning at all. That child
does not belong to this earth ; he can tame even
fire. Assuredly he was born before the creation
of the world. What sort of a belly bore him,
what sort of a womb nourished him, I do not
know. Alas ! my friend, he has carried me
away ; I cannot get at his meaning : thrice
wretched that I am, I have deceived myself.
I made a struggle to have a scholar, and I was
found to have a teacher. My mind is filled with
shame, my friends, because I, an old man, have
been conquered by a child. There is nothing
for me but despondency and death on account
' Pseud-Matt. 30,31. Various explanations have been given of
this difficult passage by annotaiors, who refer it to the A of the He-
brew, or of the Greek, or of the Armenian alphabet. It seems, how-
ever, to answer very closely to the old Phenician A, which was
written ■^ or ^f".
The Paris MS. has: And he sat down to teach Jesus the letters,
and began the first letter Aleph; and Jesus says the second, Beth,
Gimel, and told him all the letters to the end. And shutting the book.
He taught the master the prophets.
of this boy, for I am not able at this hour to look
him in the face ; and when everybody says that
I have been beaten by a little child, what can I
say? And how can I give an account of the
lines of the first letter that he spoke about? I
know not, O my friends ; for I can make neither
beginning nor end of him. Therefore, I beseech
thee, brother Joseph, take him home. What
great thing he is, either god or angel, or what
I am to say, I know not.^
8. And when the Jews were encouraging Zac-
chseus, the child laughed aloud, and said : Now
let thy learning bring forth fruit, and let the blind
in heart see. I am here from above, that I may
curse them, and call them to the things that are
above, as He that sent me on your account has
commanded me. And when the child ceased
speaking, immediately all were made whole who
had fallen under His curse. And no one after
that dared to make Him angry, lest He should
curse him, and he should be maimed.
9. And some days after, Jesus was playing in
an upper room of a certain house, and one of
the children that were playing with Him fell
down from the hou'se, and was killed. And,
when the other children saw this, they ran away,
and Jesus alone stood still. And the parents of
the dead child coming, reproached ^ . . , and
they threatened Him. And Jesus leaped down
from the roof, and stood beside the body of the
child, and cried with a loud voice, and said :
Zeno — for that was his name — stand up, and
tell me ; did I throw thee down ? And he stood
up immediately, and said : Certainly not, my
lord ; thou didst not throw me down, but hast
raised me up. And those that saw this were
struck with astonishment. And the child's par-
ents glorified God on account of the miracle
that had happened, and adored Jesus.-*
10. A few days after, a young man "was split-
ting wood in the corner,^ and the axe came down
and cut the sole of his foot in two, and he died
from loss of blood. And there was a great
commotion, and people ran together, and the
child Jesus ran there too. And He pressed
through the crowd, and laid hold of the young
man's wounded foot, and he was cured immedi-
ately. And He said to the young man : Rise
up now, split the wood, and remember me.
And the crowd seeing what had happened,
adored the child, saying ; Truly the Spirit of
God dwells in this child.
2 Instead of this chapter, the Paris MS. has: And he was ashamed
and perplexed, because he knew not whence he knew the letters.
And he arose, and went home, in great astonishment at this strange
thing.
It then goes on with a fragment of the history of the dyer's shop,
as given in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy, ch. 37.
3 One of the Mss. of the Latin Gospel inserts here — Jesus, saying;
Indeed, you made him fall down. And Jesus said: I never made
him fall.
•i Pseudo-Matt. 32.
5 A better reading would be iv rg yeiTorio, in the neighbourhood,
for if Tij ywi-ia, in the corner.
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
397
11. And when He was six years old, His
mother gave Him a pitcher, and sent Him to
draw water, and bring it into the house. But
He struck against some one in the crowd, and
the pitcher was broken. And Jesus unfolded
the cloak which He had on, and filled it with
water, and carried it to His mother. And His
mother, seeing the miracle that had happened,
kissed Him, and kept within herself the mys-
teries which she had seen Him doing."
12. And again in seed-time the child went
out with His father to sow corn in their land.
And while His father was sowing, the child
Jesus also sowed one grain of corn. And
when He had reaped it, and threshed it, He
made a hundred kors ; ^ and calling all the poor
of the village to the threshing-floor. He gave
them the corn, and Joseph took away what was
left of the corn. And He was eight years old
when He did this miracle.^
13. And His father was a carpenter, and at
that time made ploughs and yokes. And a cer-
tain rich man ordered him to make him a couch.
And one of what is called the cross pieces being
too short, they did not know what to do. The
child Jesus said to His father Joseph : Put down
the two pieces of wood, and make them even in
the middle. And Joseph did as the child said
to him. And Jesus stood at the other end,
and took hold of the shorter piece of wood, and
stretched it, and made it equal to the other.
And His father Joseph saw it, and wondered, and
embraced the child, and blessed Him, saying :
Blessed am I, because God has given me this
child.4
14. And Joseph, seeing that the child was vig-
orous in mind and body, again resolved that He
should not remain ignorant of the letters, and
took Him away, and handed Him over to an-
other teacher. And the teacher said to Joseph :
I shall first teach him the Greek letters, and
then the Hebrew. For the teacher was aware
of the trial that had been made of the child, and
was afraid of Him. Nevertheless he wrote out
the alphabet, and gave Him all his attention for
a long time, and He made him no answer. And
Jesus said to him : If thou art really a teacher,
and art well acquainted with the letters, tell me
the power of the Alpha, and I will tell thee the
power of the Beta. And the teacher was enraged
at this, and struck Him on the head. And the
child, being in pain, cursed him ; and immedi-
ately he swooned away, and fell to the ground
on his face. And the child returned to Joseph's
house ; and Joseph was grieved, and gave orders
to His mother, saying : Do not let him go out-
' Pseudo-Matt. 33.
* The kor or chomer was, according to Jahn, 32 pecks i pint.
3 Pseudo-Matt. 34.
* Pseudo-Matt. 37.
side of the door, because those that make him
angry die. 5
. 15. And after some time, another master
again, a genuine friend of Joseph, said to him :
Bring the child to my school ; perhaps I shall
be able to flatter him into learning his let-
ters. And Joseph said : If thou hast the cour-
age, brother, take him with thee. And he took
Him with him in fear and great agony ; but the
child went along pleasantly. And going boldly
into the school. He found a book lying on the
reading-desk ; and taking it. He read not the
letters that were in it, but opening His mouth,
He spoke by the Holy Spirit, and taught the
law to those that were standing round. And a
great crowd having come together, stood by and
heard Him, and wondered at the ripeness of His
teaching, and the readiness of His words, and
that He, child as He was, spoke in such a way.
And Joseph hearing of it, was afraid, and ran to
the school, in doubt lest this master too should
be without experience.^ And the master said to
Joseph : Know, brother, that I have taken the
child as a scholar, and he is full of much grace
and wisdom ; but I beseech thee, brother, take
him home. And when the child heard this, He
laughed at him directly, and said : Since thou
hast spoken aright, and witnessed aright, for thy
sake he also that was struck down shall be cured.
And immediately the other master was cured.
And Joseph took the child, and went away
home.''
16. And Jose h sent his son James to tie up
wood and bring \i home, and the child Jesus also
followed him. And when James was gathering
the fagots, a viper bit James' hand. And when
he was racked 7m'/h pain, and at the point of
death, Jesus came near and blew upon the bite ;
and the pain ceased direcdy, and the beast
burst, and instantly James remained safe and
sound.^
1 7. And after this the infant of one of Joseph's
neighbours fell sick and died, and its mother
wept sore. And Jesus heard that there was great
lamentation and commotion, and ran in haste,
and found the child dead, and touched his
breast, and said : I say to thee, child, be not
dead, but live, and be with thy mother. And
directly it looked up and laughed. And He
said to the woman : Take it, and give it milk,
and remember me. And seeing this, the crowd
that was standing by wondered, and said : Truly
this child was either God or an angel of God,
for every word of his is a certain fact. And
Jesus went out thence, playing with the other
children.^
S Pseudo-Matt. 38.
^ Tischendorf suggests avoirripo?, maimed, for orreipo?.
7 Pseudo-Matt. 39.
8 Pseudo-Matt. 41.
9 Pseudo-Matt. 40.
398
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
1 8. And some time after there occurred a
great commotion while a house was building,
and Jesus stood up and went away to the place.
And seeing a man lying dead, He took hira by
the hand, and said : Man, I say to thee, arise,
and go on with thy work. And directly he rose
up, and adored Him. And seeing this, the
crowd wondered, and said : This child is from
heaven, for he has saved many souls from death,
and he continues to save during all his life.
19. And when He was twelve years old His
parents went as usual to Jerusalem to the -feast
of the passover with their fellow-travellers. And
after the passover they were coming home again.
And while they were coming home, the child
Jesus went back to Jerusalem. And His parents
thought that He was in the company. And
having gone one day's journey, they sought for
Him among their relations ; and not finding Him,
they were in great grief, and turned back to the
city seeking for Him. And after the third day
they found Him in the temple, sitting in the
midst of the teachers, both hearing the law and
asking them questions. And they were all at-
tending to Him, and wondering that He, being
a child, was shutting the mouths of the elders
and teachers of the people, explaining the main
points of the law and the parables of the
prophets. And His mother Mary coming up,
said to Him : Why hast thou done this to us,
child ? Behold, we have been seeking for thee
in great trouble. And Jesus said to them : Why
do you seek me ? Do you not know that I must
be about my Father's business ? ' And the scribes
and the Pharisees said : Art thou the mother of
this child? And she said: I am. And they
said to her : Blessed art thou among women, for
God hath blessed the fruit of thy womb ; for
such glory, and such virtue and wisdom, we have
neither seen nor heard ever. And Jesus rose up,
and followed His mother, and was subject to His
parents. And His mother observed all these
things that had happened. And Jesus advanced
in wisdom, and stature, and grace.^ To whom
be glory for ever and, ever. Amen.
' [This may be rendered, as in R. V., Luke ii. 49, " in my Father's
house." The words are the same as in that passage. — R.]
2 Luke ii. 41-52.
SECOND GREEK FORM.
THE WRITING OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS CONCERNING THE CHILD-
HOOD OF THE LORD.
1. I Thomas the Israelite have deemed it
necessary to make known to all the brethren of
the heathen the great things which our Lord
Jesus Christ did in His childhood, when He
dwelt in the body in the city of Nazareth, going
in the fifth year of His age.
2. On one of the days, there being a rain-
storm. He went out of the house where His
mother was, and played on the ground where
the waters were flowing. And He made pools,
and brought in the waters, and the pools were
filled with water. Then He says : It is my will
that you become clear and excellent waters.
And they became so directly. And a certain
boy, the son of Annas the scribe, came past, and
with a willow branch which he was carrying threw
down the pools, and the water flowed out. And
Jesus turning, said to him : O impious and
wicked, how have the pools wronged thee, that
thou hast emptied them ? Thou shalt not go on
thy way, and thou shalt be dried up like the
branch which thou art carrying. And as he went
along, in a short time he fell down and died.
And when the children that were playing with
him saw this, they wondered, and went away
and told the father of the dead boy. And he
ran and found his child dead, and he went away
and reproached Joseph.
3. And Jesus made of that clay twelve spar-
rows, and it was the Sabbath. And a child ran
and told Joseph, saying : Behold, thy child is
playing about the stream, and of the clay he has
made sparrows, which is not lawful. And when
he heard this, he went, and said to the child :
Why dost thou "do this, profaning the Sabbath?
But Jesus gave him no answer, but looked upon
the sparrows, and said : Go away, fly, and live,
and remember me. And at this word they flew,
and went up into the air. And when Joseph
saw it, he wondered.
4. And some days after, when Jesus was going
through the midst of the city, a boy threw a
stone at Him, and struck Him on the shoulder.
And Jesus said to him : Thou shalt not go on
thy way. And directly falling down, he also
died. And they that happened to be there were
struck with astonishment, saying : Whence is
this child, that every word he says is certainly
accomplished? And they also went and re-
proached Joseph, saying : It is impossible for
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
399
thee to live with us in this city : but if thou
wishest to do so, teach thy child to bless, and
not to curse : for he is killing our children, and
everything that he says is certainly accomplished.
5. And Joseph was sitting in his seat, and the
child stood before him ; and he took hold of
Him by the ear, and pinched it hard. And
Jesus looked at him steadily, and said : It is
enough for thee.
6. And on the day after he took Him by the
hand, and led Him to a certain teacher, Zac-
chfeus by name, and says to him : O master,
take this child, and teach him his letters. And
he says : Hand him over to me, brother, and I
shall teach him the Scripture ; and I shall per-
suade him to bless all, and not to curse. And
Jesus hearing, laughed, and said to them : You
say what you know ; but I know more than you,
for I am before the ages. And I know when
your fathers' fathers were born ; and I know how
many are the years of your life. And hearing
this, they were struck with astonishment. And
again Jesus said to them : You wonder because
I said to you that I knew how many are the
years of your life. Assuredly I know when the
world was created. Behold, you do not believe
me now. When you see my cross, then will ye
believe that I speak the* truth. And they were
struck with astonishment when they heard these
things.
7. And Zacchaeus, having written the alphabet
in Hebrew, says to Him : Alpha. And the child
says : Alpha. And again the teacher : Alpha ;
and the child likewise. Then again the teacher
says the Alpha for the third time. Then Jesus,
looking in the master's face, says : How canst
thou, not knowing the Alpha, teach another the
Beta? And the child, beginning from the Alpha,
said by Himself the twenty-two letters. Then
also He says again : Hear, O teacher, the order
of the first letter, and know how many entrances
and lines it has, and strokes common, crossing
and coming together.' And when Zacchaeus
heard such an account of the one letter, he was
so struck with- astonishment, that he could make
no answer. And he turned and said to Joseph :
This child assuredly, brother, does not belong
to the earth. Take him, then, away from me.
8. And after these things, on one of the days
Jesus was playing with other children on the
roof of a house. And one boy was pushed by
another, and hurled down upon the ground, and
he died. And seeing this, the boys that were
playing with him ran away ; and Jesus only was
left standing upon the roof from which the boy
had been hurled down. And when the news
was brought to the parents of the dead boy,
they ran weeping ; and finding their boy lying
' [Compare the account in the version of the first Greek form,
ctoap. 6, and the footnote. — R.]
dead upon the ground, and Jesus standing above,
they supposed that their boy had been thrown
down by Him ; and fixing their eyes upon Him,
they reviled Him. And seeing this, Jesus di-
rectly came down from the roof, and stood at
the head of the dead body, and says to him :
Zeno, did I throw thee down? -Stand up, and
tell us. For this was the name of the boy. And
at the word the boy stood up and adored Jesus,
and said : My lord, thou didst not throw me
down, but thou hast brought me to life when I
was dead.
9. And a few days after, one of the neighbours,
when splitting wood, cut away the lower part
of his foot with the axe, and was on the point of
death from loss of blood. And a great number
of people ran together, and Jesus came with them
to the place. And He took hold of the young
man's wounded foot, and cured him directly, and
says to him : Rise up, split thy wood. And he
rose up and adored Him, giving thanks, and
splitting the wood. Likewise also all that were
there wondered, and gave thanks to Him.
10. And when He was six years old, Mary
His mother sent Him to bring water from the
fountain. And as He went along, the pitcher
was broken. And going to the fountain He
unfolded His overcoat, and drew water from the
fountain, and filled it, and took the water to His
mother. And seeing this, she was struck with as-
tonishment, and embraced Him, and kissed Him.
1 1 . And when Jesus had come to the eighth
year of His age Joseph was ordered by a cer-
tain rich man t make him a couch. For he
was a carpenter. And he went out into the
field to get wood ; and Jesus went with him.
And having cut two pieces of wood, and
smoothed them with the axe, he put the one
beside the other ; and in measuring he found
it too short. And when he saw this he was
grieved, and sought to find another piece. And
seeing this, Jesus says to him : Put these two
pieces together, so as to make both ends even.
And Joseph, in doubt as to what the child should
mean, did as he was told. And He says to him
again : Take a firm hold of the short piece.
And Joseph, in astonishment, took hold of it.
Then Jesus also, taking hold of the other end,
drew it towards Himself, and make it equal to
the other piece of wood. And He says to
Joseph : Grieve no more, but do thy work with-
out hindrance. And seeing this, he wondered
greatly, and says to himself: Blessed am I, be-
cause God has given me such a boy. And when
they came back to the city, Joseph gave an
account of the matter to Mary. And when she
heard and saw the strange miracles of her son,
she rejoiced and glorified Him, with the Father
and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and for ever-
more. Amen.
400
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
LATIN FORM.
HERE BEGINNETH THE TREATISE OF THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS ACCORDING
TO THOMAS.
CHAP. I. — HOW MARY AND JOSEPH FLED WITH
HIM INTO EGYPT.
When a commotion took place in conse-
quence of the search made by Herod for our
Lord Jesus Christ to kill Him, then an angel
said to Joseph : Take Mary and her boy, and
flee into Egypt from the face of those who seek
to kill Him. And Jesus was two years old when
He went into Egypt.
And as He was walking through a field of
corn, He stretched forth His hand, and took of
the ears, and put them over the fire, and rubbed
them, and began to eat.
And when they had come into Egypt, they
received hospitality in the house of a certain
widow, and they remained in the same place
one year.
And Jesus was in His third year. And see-
ing boys playing, He began to play with them.
And He took a dried fish, and put it into a
basin, and ordered it to move about. And it
began to move about. And He said again to
the fish : Throw out thy salt which thou hast,
and walk into the water. And it so came to
pass. And the neighbours, seeing what had
been done, told it to the widow woman in
whose house Mary His mother lived. And as
soon as she heard it, she thrust them out of her
house with great haste.
CHAP. II. HOW A SCHOOLMASTER THRUST HIM
OUT OF THE CITY.
And as Jesus was walking with Mary His
mother through the middle of the city market-
place, He looked and saw a schoolmaster teach-
ing his scholars. And behold twelve sparrows
that were quarrelling fell over the wall into the
bosom of that schoolmaster, who was teaching
the boys. And seeing this, Jesus was very much
amused, and stood still. And when that teacher
saw Him making merry, he said to his scholars
with great fury : Go and bring him to me. And
when they had carried Him to the master, he
seized Him by the ear, and said : What didst
thou see, to amuse thee so much? And He
said to him : Master, see my hand full of wheat.
■ 1 showed it to them, and scattered the wheat
among them, and they carry it out of the middle
of the street where they are in danger ; and on
this account they fought among themselves to
divide the wheat. And Jesus did not pass from
the place until it was accomplished. And this
being done, the master began, to thrust Him out
of the city, along with His mother,
CHAP. III. — HOW JESUS WENT OUT OF EGYPT.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord met Mary, and
said to her : Take up the boy, and return into
the land of the Jews, for they who sought His
life are dead. And Mary rose up with Jesus ;
and they proceeded into the city of Nazareth,
which is among the possessions of her father.
And when Joseph went out of Egypt after the
death of Herod, he kept Him in the desert until
there should be quietness in Jerusalem on the
part of those who were seeking the boy's life.
And he gave thanks .to God because He had
given him understanding, and because he had
found favour in the presence of the Lord God.
Amen.
CHAP. IV. WHAT THE LORD JESUS DID IN THE
CITY OF NAZARETH.
It is glorious that Thomas the Israelite and
apostle of the Lord gives an account also of the
works of Jesus after He came out of Egypt into
Nazareth. Understand all of you, my dearest
brethren, what the Lord Jesus did when He was
in the city of Nazareth ; the first chapter of which
is as follows : —
And when Jesus was five years old, there fell
a great rain upon the earth, and the boy Jesus
walked up and down through it. And there was
a terrible rain, and He collected it into a fish-
pond, and ordered it by His word to become
clear. And immediately it became so. Again
He took of the clay which was of that fish-pond,
and made of it to the number of twelve spar-
rows. And it was the Sabbath when Jesus did
this among the boys of the Jews. And the boys
of the Jews went away, and said to Joseph His
father : Behold, thy son was playing along with
us, and he took clay and made sparrows, which
it was not lawful to do on the Sabbath ; and
he has broken it. And Joseph went away to
the boy Jesus, and said to* Him : Why hast
thou done this, which it was not lawful to do
on the Sabbath? And Jesus opened His hands,
and ordered the sparrows, saying : Go up into
the air, and fly ; nobody shall kill you. And
they flew, and began to cry out, and praise God
Almighty. And the Jews seeing what had hap-
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
401
pened, wondered, and went away and told the
miracles which Jesus had done. But a Phari-
see who was with Jesus took an olive branch, and
began to let the water out of the fountain which
Jesus had made. And when Jesus saw this, He
said to him in a rage : Thou impious and ignorant
Sodomite, what harm have my works the foun-
tains of water done thee? Behold, thou shalt
become like a dry tree, having neither roots, nor
leaves, nor fruit. And immediately he dried up,
and fell to the ground, and died. And his parents
took him away dead, and reproached Joseph, say-
ing : See what thy son has done ; teach him to
pray, and not to blaspheme.
CHAP. V. HOW THE CITIZENS WERE ENRAGED
AGAINST JOSEPH ON ACCOUNT OF THE DOINGS
OF JESUS.
And a few days after, as Jesus was walking
through the town with Joseph, one of the children
ran up and struck Jesus on the arm. And Jesus
said to him : So shalt thou not finish thy journey.
And immediately he fell to the ground, and died.
And those who saw these wonderful things cried
out, saying : Whence is that boy ? And they said
to Joseph : It is not right for such a boy to be
among us. And Joseph went and brought Him.
And they said to him : Go away from this place ;
but if thou must live with us, teach him to pray,
and not to blaspheme : but our children have
been killed. Joseph called Jesus, and reproved
Him, saying : Why dost thou blaspheme ? For
these people who live here hate us And Jesus
said : I know that these words are not mine, but
thine ; but I will hold my tongue for thy sake :
and let them see to it in their wisdom. And
immediately those who were speaking against
Jesus became bhnd. And they walked up and
down, and said : All the words which proceed
from his mouth are accomplished. And Joseph
seeing what Jesus had done, in a fury seized Him
by the ear ; and Jesus said to Joseph in anger :
It is enough for thee to see me, not to touch me.
For thou knowest not who I am ; but if thou
didst know, thou wouldst not make me angry.
And although just now I am with thee, I was
made before thee.
CHAP. VI. HOW JESUS WAS TREATED BY THE
SCHOOLMASTER.
Therefore a certain man named Zacheus ' lis-
tened to all that Jesus was saying to Joseph,
and in great astonishment said to himself: Such
a boy speaking in this way I have never seen.
And he went up to Joseph, and said : That is an
intelligent boy of thine ; hand him over to me
to learn his letters ; and when he has thoroughly
' fin this book the name Zacheus is given in different form,
following the Latin. — R.]
learned his letters, I shall teach him honourably,
so that he may be no fool. But Joseph answered
and said to him : No one can teach him but God
alone. You do not believe that that little boy
will be of little consequence? And when Jesus
heard Joseph speaking in this way. He said to
Zacheus : Indeed, master, whatever proceeds
from my mouth is true. And before all I was
Lord, but you are foreigners. To me has been
given the glory of the ages, to you has been
given nothing ; because I am before the ages.
And I know how many years of life thou wilt
have, and that thou wilt be carried into exile : and
my Father hath appointed this, that thou mayest
understand that whatever proceeds from my
mouth is true. And the Jews who were standing
by, and hearing the words which Jesus spoke,
were astonished, and said : We have seen such
wonderful things, and heard such words from
that boy, as we have never heard, nor are likely
to hear from any other human being, — either
from the high priests, or the masters, or the
Pharisees. Jesus answered and said to them :
Why do you wonder ? Do you consider it in-
credible that I have spoken the truth? I know
when both you and your fathers were born, and
to tell you more, when the world was made ; I
know also who sent me to you.^ And when the
Jews heard the words which the child had spo-
ken, they wondered, because that they were not
able to answer. And, communing with Himself,
the child exult'""! and said: I have told you a
proverb ; and ^ know that you are weak and
ignorant.
And that schoolmaster said to Joseph : Bring
him to me, and I shall teach him letters. And
Joseph took hold of the boy Jesus, and led Him
to the house of a certain schoolmaster, where
other boys vvere being taught. Now the master
in soothing words began to teach Him His let-
ters, and wrote for Him the first line, which is
from A to T,^ and began to stroke Him and
teach Him. And that teacher struck the child
on the head ; and when He had received the
blow, the child said to him : I should teach thee,
and not thou me ; I know the letters which thou
wishest to teach me, and I know that you are to
me like vessels from which there come forth only
sounds, and no wisdom. And, beginning the line.
He said the letters from A to T in full, and very
fast. And He looked at the master, and said to
him : Thou indeed canst not tell us what A and
B are ; how dost thou wish to teach others ? O
hypocrite, if thou knowest and will tell me about
the A, then will I tell thee about the B. And
when that teacher began to tell * about the first
letter, he was unable to give any answer. And
- A slight alteration is here made upon the punctuation of the
original.
3 This refers to the Hebrew alphabet.
4 Better, perhaps : And when He began to tell that teacher.
402
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
Jesus said to Zacheus : Listen to me, master ;
understand the first letter. See how it has two
lines ; advancing in the middle, standing still,
giving, scattering, varying, threatening ; triple
intermingled with double ; at the same time
homogeneous, having all common.'
And Zacheus, seeing that He so divided the
first letter, was stupefied about the first letter,
and about such a human being and such learn-
ing ; and he cried out, and said : Woe's me, for I
am quite stupefied; I have brought disgrace
upon myself through that child. And he said to
Joseph : I earnestly entreat thee, brother, take
him away from me, because I cannot look upon
his face, nor hear his mighty words. Because
that child can tame fire and bridle the sea : for
he was born before the ages. What womb
brought him forth, or what mother^ nursed him,
I know not. Oh, my friends, I am driven out
of my senses ; I have become a wretched laugh-
ing-stock. And I said that I had got a scholar ;
but he has been found to be my master. And
my disgrace I cannot get over, because I am an
old man ; and what to say to him I cannot find.
All I have to do is to fall into some grievous
illness, and depart from this world; or to leave
this town, because all have seen my disgrace.
An infant has deceived me. What answer can
I give to others, or what words can I say, because
he has got the better of me in the first letter?
I am struck dumb, O my friends and acquaint-
ances ; neither begmning nor end can I iind of
an answer to him. And now I beseech thee,
brother Joseph, take him away from me, and
lead him home, because he is a master, or the
Lord, or an angel. What to say I do not know.
And Jesus turned to the Jews who were vvith
Zacheus, and said to them : Let all not seeing
see, and not understanding understand ; let the
deaf hear, and let those who are dead through
me rise agiin ; and those who are exalted, let me
call to still higher things, as He who sent
me to you hath commanded me. And when
Jesus ceased speaking, all who had been affected
with any infirmity through His words were made
whole. And they did not dare to speak to Him.
CHAP. VII. HOW JESUS R.\ISED A BOY TO LIFE.
One day, when Jesus was climbing on a cer-
tain house, along with the children. He began to
play with them. And one of the boys fell down
-through a back-door, and died immediately.
And when the children saw this, they all ran
away ; but Jesus remained in the house.^ And
' This passage is hopelessly corrupt. The writer of this Gospel
knew very little Greek, and probably the text from which he was
translating was also here in a bad state. [Compare the accounts in
the versions from the Greek forms. — R.]
- The Greek original has (xjJTpa, which he seems to have con-
founded with 'J.T)TT)p.
3 Or, on the house.
when the parents of the boy who had died had
come, they spoke against Jesus : Surely it was
thou who made him fall down ; and they reviled
Him. And Jesus, coming down from the house,
stood over the dead child, and with a loud voice
called out the name of the child : Sinoo, Sinoo,
rise and say whether it was I that made thee fall
down. And suddenly he rose up, and said : No,
my lord. And his parents, seeing such a great
miracle done by Jesus, glorified God, and adored
Jesus.
CHAP. VIII. — HOW JESUS HEALED A BOY's FOOT.
And a few days thereafter, a boy in that town
was splitting wood, and struck his foot. And a
great crowd went to him, and Jesus too went with
them. And He touched the foot which had been
hurt, and immediately it was made whole. And
Jesus said to him : Rise, and split the wood, and
remember me. And when the crowd saw the
miracles that were done by Him, they adored
Jesus, and said : Indeed we most surely believe
that Thou art God.
CHAP. IX. HOW JESUS CARRIED WATER IN A
CLO.\K.
And when Jesus was six years old. His mother
sent Him to draw water. And when Jesus had
come to the fountain, or to the well, there were
great crowds there, and they broke His pitcher.
And He took the cloak which He had on, and
filled it with water, and carried it to His mother
Mary. And His mother, seeing the miracles
which Jesus had done, kissed Him, and said : O
Lord, hear me, and save my son.
CHAP. X. — HOW JESUS SOWED WHEAT.
In the time of sowing, Joseph went out to
sow wheat, and Jesus followed him. And when
Joseph began to sow, Jesus stretched out His
hand, and took as much wheat as He could hold
in His fist, and scattered it. Joseph therefore
came at reaping-time to reap his harvest. Jesus
came also, and collected the ears which He had
scattered, and they made a hundred pecks ♦ of
the best grain ; and he called the poor, and the
widows, and the orphans, and distributed to them
the wheat which He had made. Joseph also
took a little of the same wheat, for the blessing
of Jesus to his house.
CHAP. XL HOW JESUS MADE A SHORT PIECE OF
WOOD OF THE SAME LENGTH AS A LONGER ONE.
And Jesus reached the age of eight years.
Joseph was a master builder,5 and used to make
ploughs and ox-yokes. And one day a rich man
* The modins or moeiiiim was almost exactly two gallons.
5 But probably architector here is equal to tcictcoi-, a carpenter.
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
403
said to Joseph : jSIaster, make me a couch, both
useful and beautiful. And Joseph was in dis-
tress, because the wood which he had brought '
for the work was too short. And Jesus said to
him : Do not be annoyed. Take hold of this
piece of wood by one end, and I by the other ;
and let us draw it out. And they did so ; and
immediately he found it useful for that which he
wished. And He said to Joseph : Behold, do
the work which thou wishest. And Joseph, see-
ing what He had done, embraced Him, and
said : Blessed am I, because God hath given me
such a son.
CHAP. XII. HOW JESUS WAS HANDED OVER TO
LEARN HIS LETTERS.
And Joseph, seeing that He had such favour,
and that He was increasing in stature, thought
it right to take Him to learn His letters. And
he handed Him over to another teacher to be
taught. And that teacher said to Joseph : What
letters dost thou wish me to teach that boy?
Joseph answered and said : First teach him the
Gentile letters, and then the Hebrew. For the
teacher knew that He was very intelligent, and
willingly took Him in hand. And writing for
Him the first line, which is A and B, he taught
Him for some hours.^ But Jesus was silent, and
made him no answer. Jesus .said to the master :
If thou art indeed a master, and if thou indeed
knowest the letters, tell me the power ^ of the A,
and I shall tell thee the power of the B. Then
His master was filled with fury, and struck
Him on the head. And Jesus was angry, and
cursed him ; and he suddenly fell down, and
died.
And Jesus returned home. And Joseph gave
orders to Mary His mother, not to let Him go
out of the court of his house.
CHAP. xni.
•HOW HE WAS HANDED OVER TO
ANOTHER MASTER.
Many days after came another teacher, a friend
of Joseph, and said to him : Hand him over to
me, and I with much sweetness will teach him
his letters. And Joseph said to him : If thou
art able, take him and teach him. May it be
attended with joy. When the teacher had taken
Him, he went along in fear and in great firmness,
and held Him with exultation. And when He
had come to the teacher's house. He found a
book lying there, and took it and opened it, and
did not read what was written in the book ; but
opened His mouth, and spoke from the Holy
Spirit, and taught the law. And, indeed, all who
were standing there listened to Him attentively ;
and the master sat down beside Him, and lis-
tened to Him with pleasure, and entreated Him
to teach them more. And a great crowd being
gathered together, they heard all the holy teach-
ing which He taught, and the choice words which
came forth from the mouth of Him who, child
as He was, spake such things.
And Joseph, hearing of this, was afraid, and
running "♦ . . . the master, where Jesus was, said
to Joseph : Know, brother, that I have received
thy child to teach him or train him ; but he is
filled with much gravity and wisdom. Lo, now,
take him home with joy, my brother ; because the
gravity which he has, has been given him by the
Lord. And Jesus, hearing the master thus speak-
ing, became cheerful, and said : Lo, now, master,
thou hast truly said. For thy sake, he who is
dead shall rise again. And Joseph took Him
home.
CHAP. XIV. HOW JESUS DELIVERED JAMES FROM
THE BIIE OF A SERPENT.
And Joseph sent James to gather straw, and
Jesus followed him. And while James was gath-
ering the straw, a viper bit him ; and he fell to
the ground, as if dead from the poison. And
Jesus seeing this, blew upon his wound ; and im-
mediately James was made whole, and the viper
died.
CHAP. XV.
OW JESUS RAISED A BOY TO LIFE.
* Perhaps scctitm, cut, is the true reading, and not actum.
^ This is his translation of eir'i. TroAArji/ uipuv.
3 Here again he makes a mistranslation — &vvaij.i.<:, fortitudo.
A few days after, a child, His neighbour, died,
and his mother mourned for him sore. Jesus,
hearing this, went and stood over the boy, and
knocked upon his breast, and said : I say to
thee, child, do not die, but live. And immedi-
ately the child rose up. And Jesus said to the
boy's mother : Take thy son, and give him the
breast, and remember me. And the crowd, see-
ing this miracle, said : In truth, this child is
from heaven ; for already has he freed many
souls from death, and he has made whole all
that hope in him.
The scribes and Pharisees said to Mary : Art
thou the mother of this child? And Mary said :
Indeed I am. And they said to her : Blessed
art thou among women, 5 since God hath blessed
the fruit of thy womb, seeing that He hath
given thee such a glorious child, and such a gift
of wisdom, as we have never seen nor heard of.
Jesus rose up and followed His mother. And
Mary kept in her heart all the great miracles that
Jesus had done among the people, in healing
many that were diseased. And Jesus grew in
stature and wisdom ; and all who saw Him glo-
< Some words have been omitted here in the MS., but the sense is
obvious enough.
S Luke i. 28.
404
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS.
rifled God the Father Almighty, who is blessed
for ever and ever. Amen.
And all these things I Thomas the Israelite
have written what I have seen, and have re-
counted them to the Gentiles and to our breth-
ren, and many other things done by Jesus, who
was born in the land of Judah. Behold, the
house of Israel has seen all, from the first even
to the last ; how great signs and wonders Jesus
did among them, which were exceedingly good,
and invisible to their father,' as holy Scripture
relates, and the prophets have borne witness to
His works in all the peoples of Israel. And He
it is who is to judge the world according to the
will of immortality, since He is the Son of God
throughout all the world. To Him is due all
glory and honour for ever, who lives and reigns
God through all ages of ages. Amen.
' This, I think, means: and which their .father Israel, i.e. their
fathers generally, had not seep.
THE ARABIC GOSPEL OF THE INFANCY OF
THE SAVIOUR.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, one God.
With the help and favour of the Most High
we begin to write a book of the miracles of our
Lord and Master and Saviour Jesus Christ,
which is called the Gospel of the Infancy : in
the peace of the Lord. Amen.
1. We find ' what follows in the book of Jo-
seph the high priest, who lived in the time of
Christ. Some say that he is Caiaphas.- He
has said that Jesus spoke, and, indeed, when He
was lying in His cradle said to Mary His moth-
er : I am Jesus, the Son of God, the Logos,
whom thou hast brought forth, as the Angel Ga-
briel announced to thee ; and my Father has sent
me for the salvation of the world.
2. In the three hundred and ninth year of the
era of Alexander, Augustus put forth an edict,
that every man should be enrolled in his native
place. Joseph therefore arose, and taking Mary
his spouse, went away to ^ Jerusalem, and came
to Bethlehem, to be enrolled along with his fam-
ily in his native city. And having come to a
cave, Mary told Joseph that the time of the
birth was at hand, and that she could not go
into the city ; but, said she, let us go into this
cave. This took place at sunset. And Joseph
went out in haste to go for a woman to be near
her. When, therefore, he was busy about that,
he saw an Hebrew old woman belonging to Jeru-
salem, and said : Come hither, my good woman,
and go into this cave, in which there is a woman
near her time.
3. Wherefore, after sunset, the old woman,
and Joseph with her, came to the cave, and they
both v/ent in. And, behold, it was filled with
lights more beautiful than the gleaming of lamps
and candles,-* and more splendid than the light
' Or, have found.
2 He is called Joseph Caiaphas in Josephus, Antiq., xviii. 2. 2.
3 The Latin translation in Tischendorf has Hierosolyma, which,
as the form in the rest of the translation is feminine, means " from
Jerusalem." But as the Arabic can mean only " to Jerusalem," the
ace. plural of the neut. form may be here intended.
* Or, with the lights of lamps and candles, more beautiful than
lightning, and more splendid than sunlight.
of the sun. The child, enwrapped in swaddling
clothes, was sucking the breast of the Lady Mary
His mother, being placed in a stall. And when
both were wondering at this light, the old woman
asks the Lady Mary : Art thou the mother of
this child ? And when the Lady Mary gave her
assent, she says : Thou art not at all like the
daughters of Eve. The Lady Mary said : K% my
son has no equal among children, so his mother
has no equal among women. The old woman
replied : My mistress, I came to get payment ;
I have been for a long time affected with palsy.
Our mistress the Lady Mary said to her : Place
thy hands upon the child. And the old woman
did so, and was immediately cured. Then she
went forth, saying : Henceforth I will be the at-
tendant and "rvant of this child all the days of
my life.
4. Then came shepherds ; and when they had
lighted a fire, and were rejoicing greatly, there
appeared to them the hosts of heaven praising
and celebrating God Most High. And while- the
shepherds were doing the same, the cave was at
that time made like a temple of the upper world,
since both heavenly and earthly voices glbrified
and magnified God on account of the birth of
the Lord Christ. And when that oldl Hebrew
woman saw the manifestation of those miracles,
she thanked God, saying : I give Thee thanks,
O God, the God of Israel, because mine eyes
have seen the birth of the Saviour of the world.
5. And the time of circumcision, that is, the
eighth day, being at hand, the child was to be
circumcised according to the law. Wherefore
they circumcised Him in the cave. And the
old Hebrew woman took the piece of skin ; but
some say that she took the navel-string, and
laid it past in a jar of old oil of nard. And she
had a son,, a dealer in unguents, and she gave it
to him, saying : See that thou do not sell this
jar of unguent of nard, even although three
hundred denarii 5 should be offered thee for it.
And this is that jar which Mary the sinner bought
and poured upon the head and feet of our Lord
S John xii. 5. The denarhis was worth about ^\i.
405
4o6
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
Jesus Christ, which thereafter she wiped with the
hair of her head." Ten days after, they took
Him to Jerusalem ; and on the fortieth day ^
after His birth they carried Him into the tem-
ple, and set Him before the Lord, and offered
sacrifices for Him, according to the command-
meet of the law of Moses, which is : Every male
that openeth the womb shall be called the holy
of God. 3
6. Then old Simeon saw Him shining like a
pillar of light, when the Lady Mary, His virgin
mother, rejoicing over Him, was carrying Him
in her arms. And angels, praising Him, stood
round Him in a circle, like life guards standing
by a king. Simeon therefore went up in haste
to the Lady Mary, and, with hands stretched out
before her, said to the Lord Christ : Now, O my
Lord, let Thy servant depart in peace, according
to Thy word ; for mine eyes have seen Thy
compassion, which Thou hast prepared for the
salvation of all peoples, a light to all nations, and
glory to Thy people Israel. Hanna also, a proph-
etess, was present, and came up, giving thanks
to God, and calling the Lady Mary blessed.-*
7. And it came to pass, when the Lord Jesus
was born at Bethlehem of Judaea, in the time of
King Herod, behold, magi came from the east
to Jerusalem, as Zeraduscht 5 had predicted ; and
there were with them gifts, gold, and frankincense,
and myrrh. And they adored Him, and present-
ed to Him their gifts. Then the Lady Mary took
one of the swaddling-bands, and, on account of
the smallness of her means, gave it to them ; and
they received it from her with the greatest marks
of honour. And in the same hour there ap-
peared to them an angel in the form of that star
which had before guided them on their journey ;
and they went away, following the guidance of
its light, until they arrived in their own country.^
8. And their kings and chief men came to-
gether to them, asking what they had seen or
done, how they had gone and come back, what
they had brought with them. And they showed
them that svvathing-cloth which the Lady Mary
had given them. Wherefore they celebrated a
feast, and, according to their custom, lighted
a fire and worshipped it, and threw that swath-
ing-cloth into it; and the fire laid hold of it,
and enveloped it. And when the fire had gone
out, they took out the swathing-cloth exactly as
it had been before, just as if the fire had not
touched it. Wherefore they began to kiss it,
and to put it on their heads and their eyes, say-
ing : This verily is the truth without doubt. As-
suredly it is a great thing that the fire was not
' Luke vii. 37, 38.
^ Lev. xii. 4.
3 Ex. xiii. 2; Luke ii. 23.
< Luke ii. 25-38.
s For this prediction of Zoroaster, see Smith's Diet, of the Bible,
art. Magi.
'' Matt. ii. 1-12.
able to burn or destroy it. Then they took it,
and with the greatest honour laid it up among
their treasures.
9. And when Herod saw that the magi had
left him, and not come back to him, he sum-
moned the priests and the wise men, and said to
them : Show me where Christ is to be born.
And when they answered, Li Bethlehem of
Judaea, he began to think of putting the Lord
Jesus Christ to death. Then appeared an angel
of the Lord to Joseph in his sleep, and said :
Rise, take the boy and His mother, and go away
into Egypt. 7 He rose, therefore, towards cock-
crow, and set out.
10. While he is reflecting how he is to set
about his journey, morning came upon him after
he had gone a very little way. And now he was
approaching a great city, in which there was an
idol, to which the other idols and gods of the
Egyptians offered gifts and vows. And there
stood before this idol a priest ministering to him,
who, as often as Satan spoke from that idol, re-
ported it to the inhabitants of Egypt and its ter-
ritories. This priest had a son, three years old,
beset by several demons ; and he made many
speeches and utterances ; and when the demons
seized him, he tore his clothes, and remained
naked, and threw stones at the people. And
there was a hospital in that city dedicated to that
idol. And when Joseph and the Lady Mary had
come to the city, and had turned aside into that
hospital, the citizens were very much afraid ; and
all the chief men and the priests of the idols
came together to that idol, and said to it : What
agitation and commotion is this that has arisen
in our land ? The idol answered them : A God
has come here in secret, who is God indeed ;
nor is any god besides Him worthy of divine wor-
ship, because He is truly the Son of God. And
when this land became aware of His presence, it
trembled at His arrival, and was moved and
shaken ; and we are exceedingly afraid from the
greatness of His power. And in the same hour
that idol fell down, and at its fall all, inhabitants
of Egypt and others, ran together.
1 1 . And the son of the priest, his usual dis-
ease having come upon him, entered the hospital,
and there came upon Joseph and the Lady Mary,
from whom all others had fled. The Lady Mary
had washed the cloths of the Lord Christ, and
had spread them over some wood. That demo-
niac boy, therefore, came and took one of the
cloths, and put it on his head. Then the demons,
fleeing in the shape of ravens and serpents, began
to go forth out of his mouth. The boy, being im-
mediately healed at the command of the Lord
Christ, began to praise God, and then to give
thanks to the Lord who had healed him. And
7 Malt. ii. 13, 14.
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
407
when his father saw him restored to health, My
son, said he, what has happened to thee? and
by what means hast thou been healed ? The son
answered : When the demons had thrown me on
the ground, I went into the hospital, and there I
found an august woman with a boy, whose newly-
washed cloths she had thrown upon some wood :
one of these I took up and put upon my head,
and the demons left me and fled. At this the
father rejoiced greatly, and said : My son, it is
possible that this boy is the Son of the living
God who created the heavens and the earth : for
when he came over to us, the idol was broken,
and all the gods fell, and perished by the power
of his magnificence.
1 2. Here was fulfilled the prophecy which says,
Out of Egypt have I called my son.' Joseph
indeed, and Mary, when they heard that that idol
had fallen down and perished, trembled, and were
afraid. Then they said : When we were in the
land of Israel, Herod thought to put Jesus to
death, and on that account slew all the chil-
dren of Bethlehem and its confines ; and there
is no doubt that the Egyptians, as soon as they
have heard that this idol has been broken, will
burn us with fire.^
13. Going out thence, they came to a place
where there were robbers who had plundered
several men of their baggage and clothes, and
had bound them. Then the robbers heard a
great noise, like the noise of a magnificent king
going out of his city with his army, and his
chariots and his drums ; and at this the robbers
were terrified, and left all their plunder. And
their captives rose up, loosed each other's bonds,
recovered their baggage, and went away. And
when they saw Joseph and Mary coming up to
the place, they said to them : Where is that
king, at the hearing of the magnificent sound
of whose approach the robbers have left us, so
that we have escaped safe ? Joseph answered
them : He will come behind us.
14. Thereafter they came into another city,
where there was a demoniac woman whom Sa-
tan, accursed and rebellious, had beset, when
on one occasion she had gone out by night for
water. She could neither bear clothes, nor live
in a house ; and as often as they tied her up
with chains and thongs, she broke them, and
fled naked into waste places ; and, standing in
cross-roads and cemeteries, she kept throwing
stones at people, and brought very heavy ca-
lamities upon her friends. And when the Lady
Mary saw her, she pitied her ; and upon this
Satan immediately left her, and fled away in the
form of a young man, saying : Woe to me from
' Hos. xi. i; Matt. ii. 15.
2 Burning to death was the punishment of those convicted of
sacrilege and the practice of magic. It was inflicted also on slaves
for grave offences against their masters.
thee, Mary, and from thy son. So that woman
was cured of her torment, and being restored to
her senses, she blushed on account of her naked-
ness ; and shunning the sight of men, went home
to her friends. And after she put on her clothes,
she gave an account of the matter to her father
and her friends ; and as they were the chief men
of the city, they received the Lady Mary and
Joseph with the greatest honour and hospitality.
15. On the day after, being supplied by them
with provision for their journey, they went away,
and on the evening of that day arrived at an-
other town, in which they were celebrating a
marriage ; but, by the arts of accursed Satan
and the work of enchanters, the bride had be-
come dumb, and could not speak a word. And
after the Lady Mary entered the town, carrying
her son the Lord Christ, that dumb bride saw
her, and stretched out her hands towards the
Lord Christ, and drew Him to her, and took
Him into her arms, and held Him close and
kissed Him, and leaned over Him, moving His
body back and forwards. Immediately the knot
of her tongue was loosened, and her ears were
opened ; and she gave thanks and praise to
God, because He had restored her to health.
And that night the inhabitants of that town ex-
ulted with joy, and thought that God and His
angels had come down to them.
16. There they remained three days, being
held in gre^A, honour, and living splendidly.
Thereafter, being supplied by them with pro-
vision for their journey, they went away and
came to another city, in which, because it was
very populous, they thought of passing the night.
And there was in that city an excellent woman :
and once, when she had gone to the river to
bathe, lo, accursed Satan, in the form of a ser-
pent, had leapt upon her, and twisted himself
round her belly ; and as often as night came on,
he tyrannically tormented her. This woman,
seeing the mistress the Lady Mary, and the
child, the Lord Christ, in her bosom, was struck
with a longing for Him, and said to the mistress
the Lady Mary : O mistress, give me this child,
that I may carry him, and kiss him. She there-
fore gave Him to the woman ; and when He
was brought to her, Satan let her go, and fled
and left her, nor did the woman ever see him
after that day. Wherefore all who were__present
praised God Most High, and that woman be-
stowed on them liberal gifts.
17. On the day after, the same woman took
scented water to wash the Lord Jesus ; and after
she had washed Him, she took the water with
which she had done it, and poured part of it
upon a girl who was living there, whose body
was white with leprosy, and washed her with
it. And as soon as this was done, the girl was
cleansed from her leprosy. And the towns-
4o8
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
people said : There is no doubt that Joseph and
Mary and that boy are gods, not men. And
when they were getting ready to go away from
them, the girl who had laboured under the lep-
rosy came up to them, and asked them to let
her go with them.
1 8. When they had given her permission, she
went with them. And afterwards they came to
a city, in which was the castle of a most illus-
trious prince, who kept a house for the enter-
tainment of strangers. They turned into this
place ; and the girl went away to the prince's
wife ; and she found her weeping and sorrowful,
and she asked why she was weeping. Do not
be surprised, said she, at my tears ; for I am
overwhelmed by a great affliction, which as yet
I have not endured to tell to any one. Perhaps,
said the girl, if you reveal it and disclose it to
me, I may have a remedy for it. Hide this se-
cret, then, replied the princess, and tell it to no
one. I was married to this prince, who is a king
and ruler over many cities, and I lived long with
him, but by me he had no son. And when at
length I produced him a son, he was leprous ;
and as soon as he saw him, he turned away with
loathing, and said to me : Either kill him, or
give him to the nurse to be brought up in some
place from which we shall never hear of him
more. After this I can have nothing to do with
thee, and I will never see thee more. On this
account I know not what to do, and I am over-
whelmed with grief. Alas ! my son. Alas ! my
husband. Did I not say so ? said the girl. I
have found a cure for thy disease, and I shall
tell it thee. For I too was a leper ; but I was
cleansed by God, who is Jesus, the son of the
Lady Mary. And the woman asking her where
this God was whom she had spoken of, Here,
with thee, said the girl ; He is living in the same
house. But how is this possible? said she.
Where is he ? There, said the girl, are Joseph
and Mary ; and the child who is with them is
called Jesus; and He it is who cured me of my
disease and my torment. But by what means,
said she, wast thou cured of thy leprosy ? ' Wilt
thou not tell me that? Why not? said the girl.
I got from His mother the water in which He
had been washed, and poured it over myself;
and so I was cleansed from my leprosy. Then
the princess rose up, and invited them to avail
themselves of her hospitality. And she prepared
a splendid banquet for Joseph in a great assem-
bly of the men of the place. And on the follow-
ing day she took scented water with which to
wash the Lord Jesus, and thereafter poured the
same water over her son, whom she had taken
with her ; and immediately her son was cleansed
from his leprosy. Therefore, singing thanks and
praises to God, she said : Blessed is the mother
who bore thee, O Jesus ; dost thou so cleanse
those who share the same nature with thee with
the water in which thy body has been washed ?
Besides, she bestowed great gifts upon the mis-
tress the Lady Mary, and sent her away with
great honour.
19. Coming thereafter to another city, they
wished to spend the night in it. They turned
aside, therefore, to ihe house of a man newly
married, but who, under the influence of witch-
craft, was not able to enjoy his wife ; and when
they had spent that night with him, his bond
was loosed. And at daybreak, when they were
girding themselves for their journey, the bride-
groom would not let them go, and prepared for
them a great banquet.
20. They set out, therefore, on the foflowing
day ; and as they came near another city, they
saw three women weeping as they came out of a
cemetery. And when the Lady Mary beheld
them, she said to the girl who accompanied
her : Ask them what, is the matter with them,
or what calamity has befallen them. And to the
girl's questions they made no reply, but asked in
their turn : Whence are you, and whither are
you going? for the day is already past, and night
is coming on apace. We are travellers, said the
girl, and are seeking a house of entertainment
in which we may pass the night. They said :
Go with us, and spend the night with us. They
followed them, therefore, and were brought into
a new house with splendid decorations and fur-
niture. Now it was winter ; and the girl, going
into the chamber of these women, found them
again weeping and lamenting. There stood be-
side them a mule, covered with housings of cloth
of gold, and sesame was put before him ; and
the women were kissing him, and giving him
food. And the girl said : What is all the ado,
my ladies, about this mule ? They answered her
with tears, and said : This mule, which thou
seest, was our brother, born of the same mother
with ourselves. And when our father died, and
left us great wealth, and this only brother, we
did our best to get him married, and were pre-
paring his nuptials for him, after the manner of
men. But some women, moved by mutual jeal-
ousy, bewitched him unknown to us ; and one
night, a little before daybreak, when the door
of our house was shut, we saw that this our
brother had been turned into a mule, as thou
now beholdest him. And we are sorrowful, as
thou seest, having no father to comfort us :
there is no wise man, or magician, or enchanter
in the world that we have omitted to send for ;
but nothing has done us any good. And as
often as our hearts are overwhelmed with grief,
we rise and go away with our mother here, and
weep at our father's grave, and come back
again.
2 1 . And when the girl heard these things, Be of
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
409
good courage, said she, and weep not : for the
cure of your calamity is near ; yea, it is beside
you, and in the middle of your own house. For I
also was a leper ; but when I saw that woman, and
along with her that young child, whose name is
Jesus, I sprinkled my body with the water with
which His mother had washed Him, and I was
cured. And I know that He can cure your
affliction also. But rise, go to Mary my mis-
tress ; bring her into your house, and tell her
your secret ; and entreat and supplicate her to
have pity upon you. After the woman had heard
the girl's words, they went in haste to the Lady
Mary, and brought her into their chamber, and
sat down before her weeping, and saying : O our
mistress. Lady Mary, have pity on thy hand-
maidens ; for no one older than ourselves, and
no head of the family, is left — neither father
nor brother — to live with us ; but this mule
which thou seest was our brother, and women
have made him such as thou seest by witchcraft.
We beseech thee, therefore, to have pity upon us.
Then, grieving at their lot, the Lady Mary took
up the Lord Jesus, and put Him on the mule's
back ; and she wept as well as the women, and
said to Jesus Christ : Alas ! my son, heal this
mule by Thy mighty power, and make him a
man endowed with reason as he was before.
And when these words were uttered by the Lady
Mary, his form was changed, and the mule be-
came a young man, free from every defect.
Then he and his mother and his sisters adored
the Lady Mary, and lifted the boy above their
heads, and began to kiss Him, saying : Blessed
is she that bore Thee, O Jesus, O Saviour of the
world ; blessed are the eyes which enjoy the
fehcity of seeing Thee.
22. Moreover, both the sisters said to their
mother : Our brother indeed, by the aid of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and by the salutary interven-
tion of this girl, who pointed out to us Mary and
her son, has been raised to human form. Now,
indeed, since our brother is unmarried, it would
do very well for us to give him as his wife this
girl, their servant. And having asked the Lady
Mary, and obtained her consent, they made a
splendid wedding for the girl ; and their sorrow
being changed into joy, and the beating of their
breasts into dancing, they began to be glad, to
rejoice, to exult, and sing — adorned, on account
of their great joy, in most splendid and gorgeous
attire. Then they began to recite songs and
praises, and to say : O Jesus, son of David, who
turnest sorrow into gladness, and lamentations
into joy ! And Joseph and Mary remained there
ten days. Thereafter they set out, treated with
great honours by these people, who bade them
farewell, and from bidding them farewell re-
turned weeping, especially the girl.
23. And turning away from this place, they
came to a desert ; and hearing that it was in-
fested by robbers, Joseph and the Lady Mary
resolved to cross this region by night. But as
they go along, behold, they see two robbers lying
in the way, and along with them a great number
of robbers, who were their associates, sleeping.
Now those two robbers, into whose hands they
had fallen, were Titus and Dumachus. Titus
therefore said to Dumachus : I beseech thee to
let these persons go freely, and so that our com-
rades may not see them. And as Dumachus
refused, Titus said to him again : Take to thy-
self forty drachmas from me, and hold this as a
pledge. At the same time he .held out to him the
belt which he had had about his waist, to keep
him from opening his mouth or speaking. And
the Lady Mary, seeing that the robber had done
them a kindness, said to him : The Lord God
will sustain thee by His right hand, and will
grant thee remission of thy sins. And the Lord
Jesus answered, and said to His mother : Thirty
years hence, O my mother, the Jews will crucify
me at Jerusalem, and these two robbers will be
raised upon the cross along with me, Titus on
my right hand and Dumachus on my left ; and
after that day Titus shall go before me into Par-
adise. And she said : God keep this from thee,
my son. And they went thence towards a city
of idols, which, as they came near it, was
changed into sand-hills.
24. Hence'\ ley turned aside to that sycamore
which is now called Matarea,' and the Lord Jesus
brought forth in Matarea a fountain in which the
Lady Mary washed His shirt. And from the
sweat of the Lord Jesus which she sprinkled
there, balsam was produced in that region.
25. Thence they came down to Memphis,
and saw Pharaoh, and remained three years in
Egypt ; and the Lord Jesus did in Egypt very
many miracles which are recorded neither in
the Gospel of the Infancy nor in the perfect
Gospel.
26. And at the end of the three years He
came back out of Egypt, and returned. And
when they had arrived at Judsea, Joseph was
afraid to enter it ; but hearing that Herod was
dead, and that Archelaus his son had succeeded
him, he was afraid indeed, but he went into
Judaea. And an angel of the Lord appeared to
him, and said : O Joseph, go into the city of
Nazareth, and there abide.
Wonderful indeed, that the Lord of the world
should be thus borne and carried about through
the world !
' Matarea, or Matariyeh, tlie site of Heliopolis or On, is a little
way to the N.E. of Cairo. Ismail Pasha is said to have presented,
on his visit to tlie Paris Exhibition of 1867, the tree and the ground
surrounding it to the Empress of the French. For some interesting
particulars about the tree, see a paragraph, by B. H. C. (i.e., Mr. B.
Harris Cowper, who has translated the Apocryphal Gospels), in the
Leisure Hour- for 2d November, iZtj.
4IO
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
27. Thereafter, going into the city of Bethle-
hem, they saw there many and grievous diseases
infesting the eyes of the children, who were
dying in consequence. And a woman was there
with a sick son, whom, now very near death, she
brought to the Lady Mary, who saw him as she
was washing Jesus Christ. Then said the woman
to her : O my Lady Mary, look upon this son
of mine, who is labouring under a grievous
disease. And the Lady Mary listened to her,
and said : Take a little of that water in which I
have washed my son, and sprinkle him wrth it.
She therefore took a little of the water, as the
Lady Mary had told her, and sprinkled it over
her son. And when this was done his illness
abated ; and after sleeping a little, he rose up
from sleep safe and sound. His mother rejoi-
cing at this, again took him to the Lady Mary.
And she said to her : Give thanks to God, be-
cause He hath healed this thy son.
28. There was in the same place another
woman, a neighbour of her whose son had lately
been restored to health. And as her son was
labouring under the same disease, and his eyes
were now almost blinded, she wept night and
day. And the mother of the child that had
been cured said to her : Why dost thou not take
thy son to the Lady Mary, as I did with mine
when he was nearly dead ? And he got well
with that water with which the body of her son
Jesus had been washed. And when the woman
heard this from her, she too went and got some
of the same water, and washed her son with it,
and his body and his eyes were instantly made
well. Her also, when she had brought her son
to her, and disclosed to her all that had hap-
pened, the Lady Mary ordered to give thanks
to God for her son's restoration to health, and
to tell nobody of this matter.
29. There were in the same city two women,
wives of one man, each having a son ill with
fever. The one was called Mary, and her son's
name was Cleopas. She rose and took up her
son, and went to the Lady Mary, the mother of
Jesus, and offering her a beautiful mantle, said :
O my Lady Mary, accept this mantle, and for it
give me one small bandage. Mary did so, and
the mother of Cleopas went away, and made a
shirt of it, and put it on her son. So he was
cured of his disease ; but the son of her rival
died. Hence there sprung up hatred between
them ; and as they did the house-work week
about, and as it was the turn of Mary the mother
of Cleopas, she heated the oven to bake bread ;
and going away to bring the lump that she had
kneaded, she left her son Cleopas beside the
oven. Her rival seeing hini alone — and the
oven was very hot with the fire blazing under it
— seized him and threw him into the oven, and
took herself off. Mary coming back, and seeing
her son Cleopas lying in the oven laughing, and
the oven quite cold, as if no fire had ever come
near it, knew that her rival had thrown him into
the fire. She drew him out, therefore, and took
him to the Lady Mary, and told her of what had
happened to him. And she said : Keep silence,
and tell nobody of the afftiir ; for I am afraid
for you if you divulge it. After this her rival
went to the well to draw water ; and seeing
Cleopas playing beside the well, and nobody
near, she seized him and threw him into the
well, and went home herself. And some men
who had gone to the well for water saw the boy
sitting on the surface of the water ; and so they
went down and drew him out. And they were
seized with a great admiration of that boy, and
praised God. Then came his mother, and took
him up, and went weeping to the Lady Mary,
and said : O my lady, see what my rival has
done to my son, and how she has thrown him
into the well ; she w'\\\ be sure to destroy him
some day or other. The Lady Mary said to
her : God will avenge thee upon her. There-
after, when her rival went to the well to draw
water, her feet got entangled in the rope, and
she fell into the well. Some men came to draw
her out, but they found her skull fractured and
her bones broken. Thus she died a miserable
death, and in her came to pass that saying :
They have digged a well deep, but have fallen
into the pit which they had prepared.'
30. Another woman there had twin sons who
had fallen into disease, and one of them died,
and the other was at his last breath. And his
mother, weeping, Hfted him up, and took him
to the Lady Mary, and said : O my lady, aid
me and succour me. For I had two sons, and
I have just buried the one, and the other is at
the point of death. See how I am going to
entreat and pray to God. And she began to
say : O Lord, Thou art compassionate, and mer-
ciful, and full of affection. Thou gavest me two
sons, of whom Thou hast taken away the one :
this one at least leave to me. Wherefore the
Lady Mary, seeing the fervour of her weeping,
had compassion on her, and said : Put thy son
in my son's bed, and cover him with his clothes.
And when she had put him in the bed in which
Christ was lying, he had already closed his eyes
in death ; but as soon as the smell of the clothes
of the Lord Jesus Christ reached the boy, he
opened his eyes, and, calling upon his mother
with a loud voice, he asked for bread, and took
it and sucked it. Then his mother said : O
Lady Mary, now I know that the power of God
dwelleth in thee, so that thy son heals those that
partake of the same nature with himself, as soon
as they have touched his clothes. This boy that
1
' Ps. vii. 15, Ivii. 6.
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
411
was healed is he who in the Gospel is called
Bartholomew.
31. Moreover, there was there a leprous wo-
man, and she went to the Lady Mary, the
mother of Jesus, and said : My lady, help me.
And the Lady Mary answered : What help dost
thou seek? Is it gold or silver? or is it that thy
body be made clean from the leprosy? And that
woman asked : ^Vho can grant me this ? And
the Lady Mary said to her : Wait a little, until
I shall have washed my son Jesus, and put him
to bed. The woman waited, as Mary had told
her ; and when she had put Jesus to bed, she
held out to the woman the water in which she
had washed His body, and said : Take a little
of this water, and pour it over thy body. And
as soon as she had done so, she was cleansed,
and gave praise and thanks to God.
32. Therefore, after staying with her three
days, she went away ; and coming to a city, saw
there one of the chief men, who had married
the daughter of another of the chief men. But
when he saw the woman, he beheld between her
eyes the mark of leprosy in the shape of a star ;
and so the marriage was dissolved, and became
null and void. And when that woman saw them
in this condition, weeping and overwhelmed
with sorrow, she asked the cause of their grief.
But they said : Inquire not into our condition,
for to no one living can we tejl our grief, and
to none but ourselves can we disclose it. She
urged them, however, and entreated them to
entrust it to her, saying that she would perhaps
be able to tell them of a remedy. And when
they showed her the girl, and the sign of leprosy
which appeared between her eyes, as soon as
she saw it, the woman said : I also, whom you
see here, laboured under the same disease, when,
upon some business which happened to come in
my way, I went to Bethlehem. There going
into a cave, I saw a woman named Mary, whose
son was he who was named Jesus ; and when
she saw that I was a leper, she took pity on me,
and handed me the water with which she had
washed her son's body. With it I sprinkled my
body, and came out clean. Then the woman
said to her : Wilt thou not, O lady, rise and go
with us, and show us the Lady Mary? And siie
assented ; and they rose and went to the Lady
Mary, carrying with them splendid gifts. And
when they had gone in, and presented to her
the gifts, they showed her the leprous girl whom
they had brought. The Lady Mary therefore
said : May the compassion of the Lord Jesus
Christ descend upon you ; and handing to them
also a little of the water in which she had washed
the body of Jesus Christ, she ordered the wretched
woman to be bathed in it. And when this had
been done, she was immediately cured ; and they,
and all standing by, praised God. Joyfully
therefore they returned to their own city, prais-
ing the Lord for what He had done. And when
the chief heard that his wife had been cured, he
took her home, and made a second marriage,
and gave thanks to God for the recovery of his
wife's health.
;^^. There was there also a young woman af-
flicted by Satan ; for that accursed wretch re-
peatedly appeared to her in the form of a huge
dragon, and prepared to swallow her. He also
sucked out all her blood, so that she was left like a
corpse. As often as he came near her, she, with
her hands clasped over her head, cried out, and
said : Woe, woe's me, for nobody is near to free
me from that accursed dragon. And her father
and mother, and all who were about her or saw
her, bewailed her lot ; and men stood round her
in a crowd, and all wept and lamented, especial-
ly when she wept, and said : Oh, my brethren
and friends, is there no one to free me from that
murderer? And the daughter of the chief who
had been healed of her leprosy, hearing the girl's
voice, went up to the roof of her castle, and saw
her with her hands clasped over her head weep-
ing, and all the crowds standing round her weep-
ing as well. She therefore asked the demoniac's
husband whether his wife's mother were alive.
And when he answered that both her parents were
living, she said : Send for her mother to come
to me. And y'len she saw that he had sent for
her, and she hvM come, she said : Is that dis-
tracted girl thy daughter? Yes, O lady, said
that sorrowful and weeping woman, She is my
daughter. The chiefs daughter answered : Keep
my secret, for I confess to thee that I was for-
merly a leper; but now the Lady Mary, the
mother of Jesus Christ, has healed me. But if
thou wishest thy daughter to be healed, take her
to Bethlehem, and seek Mary the mother of Je-
sus, and believe that th)' daughter will be healed ;
I indeed believe that thou wilt come back with
joy, with thy daughter healed. As soon as the
woman heard the words of the chief's daughter,
she led away her daughter in haste ; and going
to the place indicated, she went to the Lady
Mary, and revealed to her the state of her daugh-
ter. And the Lady Mary hearing her words,
gave her a httle of the water in which she had
washed the body of her son Jesus, and ordered
her to pour it on the body of her daughter.
She gave her also from the clothes of the Lord
Jesus a swathing-cloth, saying : Take this cloth,
and show it to thine enemy as often as thou
shalt see him. And she saluted them, and sent
them away.
34. When, therefore, they had gone away from
her, and returned to their own district, and the
time was at hand at which Satan was wont to at-
tack her, at this very time that accursed one ap-
peared to her in the shape of a huge dragon, and
412
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
the girl was afraid at the sight of hinn. And her
mother said to her : Fear not, my daughter ; al-
low him to come near thee, and then show him
the cloth which the Lady Mary hath given us, and
let us see what will happen. Satan, therefore,
having come near in the likeness of a terri-
ble dragon, the body of the girl shuddered for
fear of him ; but as soon as she took out tlie
cloth, and placed it on her head, and covered
her eyes with it, flames and live coals' began to
dart forth from it, and to be cast upon the drag-
on. O the great miracle which was done aS soon
as the dragon saw the cloth of the Lord Jesus,
from which the fire darted, and was cast upon
his head and eyes ! He cried out with a loud
voice : What have I to do with thee, O Jesus,
son of Mary? Whither shall I fly from thee?
And with great fear he turned his back and de-
parted from the girl, and never afterwards ap-
peared to her. And the girl now had rest from
him, and gave praise and thanks to God, and
along with her all w^ho were present at that
miracle.
35. Another woman was living in the same
place, whose son was tormented by Satan. He,
Judas by name, as often as Satan seized him,
used to bite all who came near him ; and if he
found no one near him, he used to bite his own
hands and other limbs. The mother of this
wretched creature, then, hearing the fame of the
Lady Mary and her son Jesus, rose up and
brought her son Judas with her to the Lady
Mary. In the meantime, James and Joses had
taken the child the Lord Jesus with them to
play with the other children ; and they had gone
out of the house and sat down, and the Lord
Jesus with them. And the demoniac Judas came
up, and sat down at Jesus' right hand : then, be-
ing attacked by Satan in the same manner as
usual, he wished to bite the Lord Jesus, but was
not able ; nevertheless he struck Jesus on the
right side, whereupon He began to weep. And
immediately Satan went forth out of that boy,
fleeing like a mad dog. And this boy who
struck Jesus, and out of whom Satan went forth
in the shape of a dog, was Judas Iscariot, who
betrayed Him to the Jews ; and that same side
on which Judas struck Him, the Jews transfixed
with a lance. •
36. Now, when the Lord Jesus had completed
seven years from His birth, on a certain day He
was occupied with boys of His own age. For
they were playing among clay, from which they
were making images of asses, oxen, birds, and
other animals ; and each one boasting of his skill,
was praising his own work. Then the Lord
Jesus said to the boys : The images that I have
made I will order to walk. The boys asked Him
' John xix. 34.
whether then he were the son of the Creator ;
and the Lord Jesus bade them walk. And they
immediately began to leap ; and then, when He
had given them leave, they again stood still. And
He had made figures of birds and sparrows,
which flew when He told them to fly, and stood
still wlien He told them to stand, and ate and
drank when He handed them food and drink.
After the boys had gone away and told this to
their parents, their fathers said to them : My
sons, take care not to keep company with him
again, for he is a wizard : flee from him, there-
fore, and avoid him, and do not play with him
again after this.
37. On a certain day the Lord Jesus, running
about and playing with the boys, passed the shop
of a dyer, whose name was Salem ; and he had in
his shop many pieces of cloth which he was to
dye. The Lord Jesus then, going into his shop,
took up all the pieces of cloth, and threw them
into a tub full of indigo. And when Salem came
and saw his cloths destroyed, he began to cry
out with a loud voice, and to reproach Jesus,
saying : W'hy hast thou done this to me, O son
of Mary? Thou hast disgraced me before all
my townsmen : for, seeing that every one wisl>ed
the colour that suited himself, thou indeed hast
come and destroyed them all. The Lord Jesus
answered : I shall change for thee the colour of
any piece of cloth which thou shalt wish to be
changed. And immediately He began to take
the pieces of cloth out of the tub, each of them
of that colour which the dyer wished, until He
had taken them all out. When the Jews saw
this miracle and prodigy, they praised God.
^8. And Joesph used to go about through the
whole city, and take the Lord Jesus with him,
when people sent for him in the way of his trade
to make for them doors, and milk-pails, and
beds, and chests ; and the Lord Jesus was with
him wherever he went. As often, therefore, as
Joseph had to make anything a cubit or a span
longer or shorter, wider or narrower, the Lord
Jesus stretched His liand towards it ; and as soon
as He did so, it became such as Joseph wished.
Nor was it necessary for him to make anything
with his own hand, for Joseph was not very skil-
ful in carpentry.
39. Now, on a certain day, the king of Jeru-
salem sent for him, and said : I wish thee, Joseph,
to make for me a throne to fit that place in
which I usually sit. Joseph obeyed, and began
the work immediately, and remained in the
palace two years, until he finished the work
of that throne. And when he had it carried to
its place, he perceived that each side wanted
two spans of the prescribed measure. And the
king, seeing this, was angry with Joseph ; and
Joseph, being in great fear of the king, spent
the night without supper, nor did he taste any-
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
413
thing at all. Then, being asked by the Lord
Jesus why he was afraid, Joseph said : Because
I have spoiled all the work that I have been two
years at. And the Lord Jesus said to him : Fear
not, and do not lose heart ; but do thou take
hold of one side of the throne ; I shall take the
other ; and we shall put that to rights. And
Joseph, having done as tlie Lord Jesus had said
and each having drawn by his own side, the
throne was put to rights, and brought to the
exact measure of the place. And those that
stood by and saw this miracle were struck with
astonishment, and praised God. And the woods
used in that throne were of those which are cele-
brated in the time of Solomon the son of David ;
that is, woods of many and various kinds.
40. On another day the Lord Jesus went out
into the road, and saw the boys that had come
together to play, and followed them ; but the
boys hid themselves from Him. The Lord
Jesus, therefore, having come to the door of a
certain house, and seen some women standing
there, asked them where the boys had gone;
and when they answered that there was no one
there, He said again : Who are these whom you
see in the furnace ? ' They replied that they
were kids of three years old. And the Lord
Jesus cried out, and said : Come out hither, O
kids, to your Shepherd. Then the boys, in the
form of kids, came out, and began to dance
round Him ; and the women, seeing this, were
very much astonished, and were seized with
trembling, and speedily supplicated and adored
the Lord Jesus, saying : O our Lord Jesus, son
of Mary, Thou art of a truth that good Shepherd
of Israel ; have mercy on Thy handmaidens who
stand before Thee, and who have never doubted :
for Thou hast come, O our Lord, to heal, and
not to destroy. And when the Lord Jesus an-
swered that the sons of Israel were like the
Ethiopians among the nations, the women said :
Thou, O Lord, knovvest all things, nor is any-
thing hid from Thee ; now, indeed, we beseech
Thee, and ask Thee of Thy affection to restore
these boys Thy servants to their former condi-
tion. The Lord Jesus therefore said : Come,
boys, let us go and play. And immediately,
while these women were standing by, the kids
were changed into boys.
41. Now in the month Adar, Jesus, after the
manner of a king, assembled the boys together.
They spread their clothes on the ground, and
He sat down upon them. Then they put on
His head a crown made of flowers, and, like
chamber-servants, stood in His presence, on the
right and on the left, as if He were a king. And
whoever passed by that way was forcibly dragged
' Perhaps the correct reading is yorwzV^, archway, and liot for-
nace.
by the boys, saying : Come hither, and adore
the king ; then go thy way.
42. In the meantime, while these things were
going on, some men came up carrying a boy.
For this boy had gone into the mountain with
those of his own age to seek wood, and there he
found a partridge's nest ; and when he stretched
out his hand to take the eggs from it, a ven-
omous serpent bit him from the middle of the
nest, so that he called out for help. His com-
rades accordingly went to him with haste, and
found him lying on the ground like one dead.
Then his relations came and took him up to
carry him back to the city. And after they had
come to that place where the Lord Jesus was
sitting like a king, and the rest of the boys
standing round Him like His servants, the boys
went hastily forward to meet him who had been
bitten by the serpent, and said to his relations :
Come and salute the king. But when they were
unwilling to go, on account of the sorrow in
which they were, the boys dragged them by force
against their will. And when they had come up
to the Lord Jesus, He asked them why they
were carrying the boy. And when they answered
that a serpent had bitten him, the Lord Jesus
said to the boys : Let us go and kill that serpent.
And the parents of the boy asked leave to go
away, because their son was in the agony of
death ; but the boys answered them, saying :
Did you not he\, \ the king saying : Let us go kill
the serpent? and will you not obey him? And
so, against their will, the couch was carried back.
And when they came to the nest, the Lord Jesus
said to the boys : Is this the serpent's place ?
They said that it was ; and the serpent, at the
call of the Lord, came forth without delay, and
submitted itself to Him. And He said to it:
Go away, and suck out all the poison which thou
hast infused into this boy. And so the serpent
crawled to the boy, and sucked out all its poison.
Then the Lord Jesus cursed it, and immediately
on this being done it burst asunder ; and the Lord
Jesus stroked the boy with his hand, and he was
healed. And he began to weep ; but Jesus said :
Do not weep, for by and by thou shalt be my
disciple. And this is Simon the Cananite,^ of
whom mention is made in the Gospel.^
43. On another day, Joseph sent his son James
to gather wood, and the Lord Jesus went^with
him as his companion. And when they had
come to the place where the wood was, and
James had begun to gather it, behold, a venom-
ous viper bit his hand, so that he began to cry
out and weep. The Lord Jesus then, seeing
him in this condition, went up to him, and blew
upon the place where the viper had bitten him ;
2 [So the Latin; but the Greek word in the Gospels is equivalent
to " zealot." See Rev. Vers, in the lists of the Apostles. — R.J
3 Matt. X. 4, etc.
414
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
and this being done, he was healed immedi-
ately.
44. One day, when the Lord Jesus was again
with the boys playing on the roof of a house,
one of the boys fell down from above, and im-
mediately expired. And the rest of the boys
fled in all directions, and the Lord Jesus was left
alone on the roof. And the relations of the boy
came up and said to the Lord Jesus : It was
thou who didst throw our son headlong from the
roof. And when He denied it, they cried out,
saying : Our son is dead, and here is he who has
killed him. And the Lord Jesus said to them :
Do not bring an evil report against me ; but if
you do not believe me, come and let us ask the
boy himself, that he may bring the truth to light.
Then the Lord Jesus went down, and standing
over the dead body, said, with a loud voice :
Zeno, Zeno, who threw thee down from the
roof? Then the dead boy answered and said :
My lord, it was not thou who didst throw me
down, but such a one cast me down from it.
And when the Lord commanded those who were
standing by to attend to His words, all who were
present praised God for this miracle.
45. Once upon a time the Lady Mary had
ordered the Lord Jesus to go and bring her
water from the well. And when He had gone
to get the water, the pitcher already full was
knocked against something, and broken. And
the Lord Jesus stretched out His handkerchief,
and collected the water, and carried it to His
mother ; and she was astonished at it. And she
hid and preserved in her heart all that she saw.
46. Again, on another day, the Lord Jesus
was with the boys at a stream of water, and they
had again made little fish-ponds. And the Lord
Jesus had made twelve sparrows, and had ar-
ranged them round His fish-pond, three on each
side. And it was the Sabbath-day. Wherefore
a Jew, the son of Hanan, coming up, and seeing
them thus engaged, said in anger and great in-
dignation : Do you make figures of clay on the
Sabbath-day? And he ran quickly, and de-
stroyed their fish-ponds. But when the Lord
Jesus clapped His hands over the sparrows which
He had made, they flew away chirping.
Then the son of Hanan came up to the fish-
pond of Jesus also, and kicked it with his shoes,
and the water of it vanished away. And the
Lord Jesus said to him : As that water has van-
ished away, so thy life shall likewise vanish away.
And immediately that boy dried up.
47. At another time, when the Lord Jesus was
returning home with Joseph in the evening. He
met a boy, who ran up against Him with so much
force that He fell. And the Lord Jesus said to
him : As thou hast thrown me down, so thou
shalt fall, and not rise again. And the same hour
the boy fell down, and expired.
48. There was, moreover, at Jerusalem, a cer-
tain man named Zacchseus, who taught boys.
He said to Joseph : Why, O Joseph, dost thou
not bring Jesus to me to learn his letters? Jo-
seph agreed to do so, and reported the matter
to the Lady Mary. They therefore took Him
to the master ; and he, as soon as he saw Him,
wrote out the alphabet for Him, and told Him
to say Aleph. And when He had said Aleph,
the master ordered Him to pronounce Beth.
And the Lord Jesus said to him : Tell me first
the meaning of the letter Aleph, and then I shall
pronounce Beth, And when the master threat-
ened to flog Him, the Lord Jesus explained to
him the meanings of the letters Aleph and Beth ;
also which figures of the letter were straight,
which crooked, which drawn round into a spiral,
which marked with points, which without them,
why one letter went before another ; and many
other things He began to recount and to eluci-
date which the master himself had never either
heard or read in any book. The Lord Jesus,
moreover, said to the master : Listen, and I shall
say them to thee. And He began clearly and
distinctly to repeat 'Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth,
on to Tau. And the master was astonished,
and said : I think that this boy was born before
Noah. And turning to Joseph, he said : Thou
hast brought to me to be taught a boy more
learned than all the masters. To the Lady Mary
also he said : This son of thine has no need of
instruction.
49. Thereafter they took Him to another and
a more learned master, who, when he saw Him,
said : Say Aleph. And when He had said Aleph,
the master ordered him to pronounce Beth,
And the Lord Jesus answered him, and said :
First tell me the meaning of the letter Aleph,
and then I shall pronounce Beth. And when
the master hereupon raised his hand and flogged
Him, immediately his hand dried up, and he
died. Then said Joseph, to the Lady Mary :
From this time we shall not let him go out of
the house, since every one who opposes him is
struck dead.
50. And when He was twelve years old, they
took Him to Jerusalem to the feast. And when
the feast was finished, they indeed returned ; but
the Lord Jesus remained in the temple among
the teachers and elders and learned men of the
sons of Israel, to whom He put various questions
upon the sciences, and gave answers in His turn,'
For He said to them : Whose son is the Messias?
They answered Him : The son of David. Where-
fore then, said He, does he in the Spirit caU him
his lord, when he says. The Lord said to my lord.
I Luke ii. 42-47. f A comparison of the two narratives is very
suggestive. The Evangelist Luke does not present any such monster
of precocity, nor does he adventure into discussions " upon the sci-
ences."— R.]
THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR.
415
Sit at my right hand, that I may put thine ene-
mies under thy footsteps ? ' Again the chief of
the teachers said to Him : Hast thou read the
books? Both the books, said the Lord Jesus,
and the things contained in the books. And
He explained the books, and the law, and the
precepts, and the statutes, and the mysteries,
which are contained in the books of the proph-
ets — things which the understanding of no
creature attains to. That teacher therefore said :
I hitherto have neither attained to nor heard of
such knowledge : Who, pray, do you think that
boy will be ?
51. And a philosopher who was there pres-
ent, a skilful astronomer, asked the Lord Jesus
whether He had studied astronomy. And the
Lord Jesus answered him, and explained the
number of the spheres, and of the heavenly bod-
ies, their natures and operations ; their opposi-
tion ; their aspect, triangular, square, and sextile ;
their course, direct and retrograde ; the twenty-
fourths,^ and sixtieths of twenty-fourths ; and
other things beyond the reach of reason.
52. There was also among those philosophers
one very skilled in treating of natural science,
and he asked the Lord Jesus whether He had
studied medicine. And He, in reply, explained
to him physics and metaphysics, hyperphysics
and hypophysics, the powers likewise and hu-
mours of the body, and the effects of the same ;
also the number of members and bones, of veins,
arteries, and nerves ; also the effect of heat and
dryness, of cold and moisture, and what these
give rise to ; what was the operation of the soul
upon the body, and its perceptions and powers ;
what was the operation of the faculty of speech,
of anger, of desire ; lastly, their conjunction and
disjunction, and other things beyond the reach
of any created intellect. Then that philosopher
rose up, and adored the Lord Jesus, and said : O
' Ps. ex. i; Matt. xxii. 42-45. [The Latin reads: vestigiis
pedum tuorum, " the footsteps of thy feet." The original term,
" footstool," has evidently been misunderstood by some transcriber.
-^■1.
^ T he scripulnm was the twenty-fourth part of the as. It is
.likely here put for the motion of a planet during one hour. Pliny,
N. H., ii. 10, uses the word to signify an undefined number of de-
grees, or parts of a degree.
Lord, from this time I will be thy disciple and
slave.
53. While they were speaking to each other
of these and other things, the Lady Mary came,
after having gone about seeking Him for three
days along with Joseph. She therefore, seeing
Him sitting among the teachers asking them
questions, and answering in His turn, said to
Him : My son, why hast thou treated us thus ?
Behold, thy father and I have sought thee with
great trouble. But He said : Why do you seek
me ? Do you not know that I ought to occupy
myself in my Father's house ? But they did not
understand the words that He spoke to them.
Then those teachers asked Mary whether He
were her son ; and when she signified that He
was, they said : Blessed art thou, O Mary, who
hast brought forth such a son. And returning
with them to Nazareth, He obeyed them in all
things. And His mother kept all these words
of His in her heart. And the Lord Jesus ad-
vanced in stature, and in wisdom, and in favour
with God and man. 3
54. And from this day He began to hide His
miracles and mysteries and secrets, and to give
attention to the law, until He completed His
thirtieth year, when His Father publicly declared
Him at the Jordan by this voice sent down from
heaven : This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased y the Holy Spirit being present in
the form of a\ rhite dove.'*
55. This is He whom we adore with supplica-
tions, who hath given us being and life, and
who hath brought us from our mothers' wombs ;
who for our sakes assumed a human body, and
redeemed us, that He might embrace us in eter-
nal compassion, and show to us His mercy ac-
cording to His liberality, and beneficence, and
generosity, and benevolence. To Him is glory,
and beneficence, and power, and dominion from
this time forth for evermore. Amen.
Here endeth the whole Gospel of the Infancy,
with the aid of God Most High, according to
what we have found in the original.
3 Luke ii. 46-52.
^ Matt. iii. 13-17; Luke iii. 21-23.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
PART I. —THE ACTS OF PiLATE.
FIRST GREEK FORM.
MEMORIALS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, DONE IN THE TIME OF
PONTIUS PILATE.
Prologue. — I Ananias, of the propraetor's
body-guard, being learned in the law, knowing
our Lord Jesus Christ from the Holy Scriptures,
coming to Him by faith, and counted worthy of
the holy baptism, searching also the memorials
written at that time of what was done in the case
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which the Jews had
laid up in the time of Pontius Pilate, found these
memorials written in Hebrew, and by the favour
of God have translated them into Greek for the
information of all who rail upon the name of
our Master Jesus Christ, in the seventeenth year
of the reign of our Lord Flavins Theodosius,
and the sixth of Flavius Valentinianus, in the
ninth indiction.'
All ye, therefore, who read and transfer into
other books, remember me,, and pray for me,
that God may be merciful to me, and pardon my
sins which I have sinned against Him.
Peace.be to those who read, and to those who
hear and to their households. Ajuen.
In the fifteenth year^ of the government of
Tiberius Csesar, emperor of the Romans, and
Herod being king of Galilee, in the nineteenth
year of his rule, on the eighth day before the
Kalends of April, which is the twenty-fifth of
' [The works which precede soueht to supplement the evangeli-
cal narrative in regard to the early life of our Lord, and Mary His
mother; those which follow are also supplementary, but refer to the
closing events. — R.]
2 The 15th year of Tiberius, reckoning from the death of Augus-
tus, was A D. 29, A u.c. 782, \.hejirsi year of the 2o2d Olympiad, in
the consulship of C. Fugus Geminus and L. Rubellius Geminus, and
the 34th year of Herod Antipas. Other readings are: In the eighteenth
year — In the nineteenth year. [Compare the Acts of Pilate in both
forms. The variations here correspond with the various theories of
the length of our Lord's ministry. The te.xt seems to confuse the
statement of Luke (iii. i) respecting the beginning of the public
ministry with the time of our Lord's death. — R. j
416
March, in the consulship of Rufus and Rubellio,
in the fourth year of the two hundred and second
Olympiad, Joseph Caiaphas being high priest of
the Jews.
The account that Nicodemus wrote in Hebrew,
after the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Saviour God, and left to those that
came after him, is as follows : —
Chap. i. — Having called a council, the high
priests and scribes Annas and Caiaphas and
Semes and Dathaes, and Gamaliel, Judas, Levi
and Nephthalim, Alexander and Jairus,^ and the
rest of the Jews, came to Pilate accusing Jesus
about many things, saying : We know this man
to be the son of Joseph the carpenter, born of
Mary ; and he says that he is the Son of God,
and a king ; moreover, he profanes the Sabbath,
and wishes to do away with the law of our fathers.
Pilate says : And what are the things which he
does, to show that he wishes to do away with it?*
The Jews say : We have a law not to cure any
one on the Sabbath; but this man 5 has on
the Sabbath cured the lame and the crooked,
the withered and the blind and the paralytic, the
dumb and the demoniac, by evil practices. Pilate
says to them : What evil practices ? They say
to him : He is a magician, and by Beelzebul prince
of the demons he casts out the demons, and
all are subject to him. Pilate says to them : This
is not casting out the demons by an unclean
spirit, but by the god yEsculapius.
3 There is in the MSS. great variation as to these names.
* Lit., and wishes to do away with it.
5 Compare with this, Lactantius, iv. 17. The Jews brought
charges a.gainst Jesus, that He did away with the law of God given by
Moses; that is, that He did not rest on the Sabbath, etc.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
417
The Jews say to Pilate : We entreat your high-
ness that he stand at thy tribunal, and be heard.'
And Pilate having called them, says : Tell me
how I, being a procurator, can try a king? They
say to him : We do not say that he is a king, but
he himself says that he is. And Pilate having
called the runner, says to him : Let Jesus be
brought in with respect. And the runner going
out, and recognising Him, adored Him, and took
his cloak into his hand, and spread it on the
ground, and says to him : My lord, walk on this,
and come in, for the procurator calls thee. And
the Jews seeing what the runner had done,
cried out against Pilate, saying : Why hast
thou ordered him to come in by a runner,
and not by a crier? for assuredly the runner,
when he saw him, adored him, and spread
his doublet on the ground, and made him walk
like a king.
And Pilate having called the runner, says to
him : Why hast thou done this, and spread out
thy cloak upon the earth, and made Jesus walk
upon it? The runner says to him: My lord
procurator, when thou didst send me to Jerusa-
lem to Alexander,^ I saw him sitting upon an ass,
and the sons of the Hebrews held branches in
their hands, and shouted ; and other spread
their clothes under him, saying, Save now, thou
who art in the highest : blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord.3
The Jews cry out, and say to the runner :
The sons of the Hebrews shouted in Hebrew ;
whence then hast thou the Greek? The runner
says to them : I asked one of the Jews, and said.
What is it they are shouting in Hebrew? And
he interpreted it for me. Pilate says to them :
And what did they shout in Hebrew? The Jews
say to him : Hosanna membrome baruchamma
ADONAi.'' Pilate says to them : And this hosanna,
etc., how is it interpreted? The Jews say to
him : Save now in the highest ; blessed is he
that Cometh in the name of the Lord. Pilate
says to them : If you bear witness to the words
spoken by the children, in what has the runner
done wrong ? • And they were silent. And the
procurator says to the runner : Go out, and bring
him in what way thou wilt. And the runner
going out, did in the same manner as before, and
says to Jesus : My lord, come in ; the procurator
calleth thee.
And Jesus going in, and the standard-bearers
holding their standards, the tops of the standards
were bent down, and adored Jesus. And the
Jews seeing the bearing of the standards, how
■ Another reading is: We entreat your highness to go into the
praetorium, and question him. For Jesus was standing outside with
the crowd.
2 Probably the Alexander mentioned in Acts iv. 6.
3 Malt. x.xi. 8, 9.
* Ps. cxviii. 25: Hcsyah na bintromitit baruch habba {b'shem)
Adonai,
they were bent down and adored Jesus, cried 5
out vehemently against the standard-bearers.
And Pilate says to the Jews : Do you not wonder
how the tops of the standards were bent down,
and adored Jesus ? The Jews say to Pilate : AVe
saw how the standard-bearers bent them down,
and adored him. And the procurator having
called the standard-bearers, says to them : ^^'hy
have you done this ? They say to Pilate : We
are Greeks and temple-slaves, and how could we
adore him ? and assuredly, as we were holding
them up, the tops bent down of their own ac-
cord, and adored him.
Pilate says to the rulers of the synagogue and
the elders of the people : Do you choose for
yourselves men strong and powerful, and let
them hold up the standards, and let us see
whether they will bend down with them. And
the elders of the Jews picked out twelve men
powerful and strong, and made them hold up the
standards six by six ; and they were placed in
front of the procurator's tribunal. And Pilate
says to the runner : Take him outside of the
praetorium, and bring him in again in whatever
way may please thee. And Jesus and the run-
ner went out of the prgetorium. And Pilate,
summoning those who had formerly held up the
standards, says to them : I have sworn by the
health of Cccsar, that if the standards do not
bend down w.'^-^n Jesus comes in, I will cut off
your heads. \.Vnd the procurator ordered Jesus
to come in the second time. And the runner-
did in the same manner as before, and made
many entreaties to Jesus to walk on his cloak.
And He walked on it, and went in. And as He
went in, the standards were again bent down, and.
adored Jesus.
Chap. 2. — And Pilate seeing this, was afraid,
and sought to go away from the tribunal ; but
when he was still thinking of going away, his
wife sent to him, saying : Have nothing to do
with this just man, for many things have I suf-
fered on his account this night.'' And Pilate^
summoning the Jews, says to them : You know
that my wife is a worshipper of God, and prefers
to adhere to the Jewish religion along with you.
They say to him : Yes ; we know. Pilate says
to them : Behold, my wife ^ has sent to me, say-
ing. Have nothing to do with this just man, for
many things have I suffered on account of him
this night. And the Jews answering, say unto
Pilate : Did we not tell thee that he was a sor-
cerer?^ behold, he has sent a dream to thy
wife.
5 Another reading is: Annas and Caiaphas and Joseph, the three
false witnesses, began to cry out, etc.
^ Matt, xxvii. ig.
7 One MS. adds: Procla, — the traditional name of Pilate's wife.
8 Three MSR. add: And by Bcelzebul, prince of the demons, he
casts out the demons, and they are all subject to him.
4i8
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
And Pilate, having summoned Jesus, says to
Him : What do these witness against thee ?
Sayest thou nothing? And Jesus said: Unless
they had the power, they would say nothing ;
for every one has the power of his own mouth
to speak both good and evil. They shall see to
it.'
And the elders of the Jews answered, and said
to Jesus : What shall we see ? first, that thou
wast born of fornication ; secondly, that thy
birth in Bethlehem was the cause of the murder
of the infants ; thirdly, that thy father Joseph
and thy mother Mary fled into Egypt because
they had no confidence in the people.
Some of the bystanders, pious men of the
Jews, say : We deny that he was born of fornica-
tion ; for we know that Joseph espoused Mary,
and he was not born of fornication. Pilate says
to the Jews who said that he was of fornication :
This story of yours is not true, because they were
betrothed, as also these fellow-countrymen of
yours say. Annas and Caiaphas say to Pilate :
All the multitude of us cry out that he was born
of fornication, and are not believed ; these are
proselytes, and his disciples. And Pilate, calhng
Annas and Caiaphas, says, to them: What are
proselytes? They say to him : They are by birth
children of the Greeks, and have now become
Jews. And those that said that He was not born
of fornication, viz, — Lazarus, Asterius, Antonius,
James, Amnes, Zeras, Samuel, Isaac, Phinees,
Crispus, Agrippas, and Judas ^ — say: We ar.e
not proselytes, but are children of the Jews, and
speak of the truth ; for we were present at the
betrothal of Joseph and Mary.
And Pilate, calling these twelve men who said
that He was not born of fornication, says to
them : I adjure you by the health of Csesar, to
tell me whether it be true that you say, that he
was not born of fornication. They say to Pilate :
We have a law against taking oaths, because it
is a sin ; but they will swear by the health of
Caesar,^ that it is not as we have said, and we
are liable to death. Pilate says to Annas and
Caiaphas : Have you nothing to answer to this ?
Annas and Caiaphas say to Pilate : These twelve
are believed when they say that he was not born
of fornication ; all the multitude of us cry out
that he was born of fornication, and that he is a
sorcerer, and he says that he is the Son of God
and a king, and we are not believed.
And Pilate orders all the multitude to go out,
except the twelve men who said that He was not
born of fornication, and he ordered Jesus to be
separated from them. And Pilate says to them :
For what reason do they wish to put him to
death ? They say to him : They are angry be-
' i.e., let them see to it.
2 There is considerable variation in the MSS. as to these names.
3 Or, let them swear.
cause he cures on the Sabbath. Pilate says :
For a good work do they wish to put him to
death ? They say to him : Yes.
Ch.^p. 3. — And Pilate, filled with rage, went
outside of the prsetorium, and said to them : I
take the sun to witness "* that I find no fault in
this man. The Jews answered and said to the
procurator : Unless this man were an evil-doer,
we should not have delivered him to thee. And
Pilate said. Do you take him, and judge him
according to your law. The Jews said to Pilate :
It is not lawful for us to put any one to death.
Pilate said : Has God said that you are not to
put to death, but that I am ?
And Pilate went again into the prsetorium, and
spoke to Jesus privately, and said to Him : Art
thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered
Pilate : Dost thou say this of thyself, or have
others said it to thee of me ? Pilate answered
Jesus : Am I also a Jew ? s Thy nation and the
chief priests have given thee up to me. What
hast thou done ? Jesus answered : My kingdom
is not of this world ; for if my kingdom were of
this world, my servants would fight in order that
I should not be given up to the Jews : but now
my kingdom is not from thence. Pilate said to
Him: Art thou then a king? Jesus answered
him : Thou sayest that I am a king. Because
for this have I been born, and have I come, in
order that every one who is of the truth might
hear my voice. Pilate says to him : What is
truth ? Jesus says to him : Truth is from heaven.
Pilate says: Is truth not upon earth? Jesus
says to Pilate : Thou seest how those who speak
the truth are judged by those that have the
power upon earth.
Chap. 4. — And leaving Jesus within the prae-
torium, Pilate went out to the Jews, and said to
them : I find no fault in him. The Jews say to
him : He said, I can destroy this temple, and
in three days build it. Pilate says : What tem-
ple ? The Jews say : The one that Solomon ^
built in forty-six years, and this man speaks of
pulling it down and building it in three days.
Pilate says to them : I am innocent of the blood
of this just man. See you to it. The Jews say :
His blood be upon us, and upon our children.
And Pilate having summoned the elders and
priests and Levites, said to them privately : Do
not act thus, because no charge that you bring
against him is worthy of death ; for your charge
is about curing and Sabbath profanation. The
elders and the priests and the Levites say : If
* See Apost. Const., ii. 56. At last he who is going to pronounce
sentence of death upon the culprit raises his hands aloft, and takes the
sun to witness that he is innocent of his blood.
5 The full force of the expression is: You do not mean to say that
I too am a Jew?
6 Comp. John ii. 20.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS,
419
any one speak evil against Csesar, is he worthy
of death or not? Pilate says : He is worthy of
death. The Jews say to Pilate :" If any one
speak evil against Csesar, he is worthy of death ;
but this man has spoken evil against God.
And the procurator ordered the Jews to go
outside of the prsetorium ; and summoning Je-
sus, he says to Him : What shall I do to thee ?
Jesus says to Pilate : As it has been given to
thee. Pilate says: How given? Jesus says:
Moses and the prophets have proclaimed before-
hand of my death and resurrection. And the
Jews noticing this, and hearing it, say to Pilate :
What more wilt thou hear of this blasphemy?
Pilate says to the Jews : If these words be blas-
phemous, do you take him for the blasphemy,
and lead him away to your synagogue, and judge
him according to your law. The Jews say to
Pilate : Our law bears that a man who wrongs
his fellow-men is worthy to receive forty save
one ; but he that blasphemeth God is to be
stoned with stones.'
Pilate says to them : Do you take him, and
punish him in whatever way you please. The
Jews say to Pilate : We wish that he be crucified.
Pilate says : He is not deserving of crucifixion.
And the procurator, looking round upon the
crowds of the Jews standing by, sees many of
the Jews weeping, and says : All the multitude
do not wish him to die. The elders of the Jews
say : For this reason all the multitude of us have
come, that he should die. Pilate says to the
Jews : Why should he die ? The Jews say : Be-
cause he called himself Son of God, and King.
Chap. 5. — And one Nicodemus, a Jew, stood
before the procurator, and said : I beseech your
honour, let me say a few words. Pilate says :
Say on. Nicodemus says : I said to the elders
and the priests and Levites, and to all the multi-
tude of the Jews in the synagogue. What do you
seek to do with this man? This man does
many miracles and strange things, which no one
has done or will do. Let him go, and do not
wish any evil against him. If the miracles which
he does are of God, they will stand ; but if of
man, they will come to nothing.^ For assuredly
Moses, being sent by God into Egypt, did many
miracles, which the Lord commanded him to
do before Pharaoh king of Egypt. .\nd there
were there Jannes and Jambres, servants of Pha-
raoh, and they also did not a few of the mira-
cles which Moses did ; and the Egyptians took
them to be gods — this Jannes and this Jambres.^
But, since the miracles which they did were not
of God, both they and those who believed in
1 Deut. XXV. 3; Lev. xxiv. i6.
2 Acts V. 38.
3 2 Tim. iii. 8, 9.
them were destroyed. And now release this
man, for he is not deserving of death.
The Jews say to Nicodemus : Thou hast be-
come his disciple, and therefore thou defendest
him. Nicodemus says to them : Perhaps, too,
the procurator has become his disciple, because
he defends him. Has the emperor not ap-
pointed him to this place of dignity? And the
Jews were vehemently enraged, and gnashed
their teeth against Nicodemus. Pilate says to
them : Why do you gnash your teeth against
him when you hear the truth? The Jews say to
Nicodemus : Mayst thou receive his truth and
his portion. Nicodemus says : Amen, amen ;
may I receive it, as you have said.
Chap. 6. — One of the Jews, stepping up,
asked leave of the procurator to say a word.
The procurator says : If thou wishest to say any
thing, say on. And the Jew said : Thirty-eight
years I lay in my bed in great agony. And when
Jesus came, many demoniacs, and many lying
ill of various diseases, were cured by him. And
some young men, taking pity on me, carried me,
bed and all, and took me to him. And when
Jesus saw me, he had compassion on me, and
said to me : Take up thy couch and walk. And
I took up my couch, and walked. The Jews say
to Pilate : Ask him on what day it was that he
was cured, ^ie that had been cured says : On
a Sabbath.-* The Jews say : Is not this the very
thing that we said, that on a Sabbath he cures
and casts out demons?
And another Jew stepped up and said : I was
born blind ; I heard sounds, but saw not a face.
And as Jesus passed by, I cried out with a loud
voice, Pity me, O son of David. And he pitied
me, and put his hands upon my eyes, and I in-
stantly received my sight.s And another Jew
stepped up and said : I was crooked, and he
straightened me with a word. And another said :
I was a leper, and he cured me with a word.^
Chap. 7. — And a woman ^ cried out from a
distance, and said : I had an issue of blood, and
I touched the hem of his garment, and the issue
of blood which I had had for twelve years was
stopped.^ The Jews say : We have a law, that a
woman's evidence is not to be received,'
Chap. 8. — And others, a multitude both of
men and women, cried out, saying : This man
is a prophet, and the demons are subject to him.
Pilate says to them who said that the demons
■t John V. 5-g.
i Mark x. 46, etc.
<> Matt. viii. 1-4, etc.
7 Some Mss. add the name Bernice, or Veronica.
' Matt. ix. 20-26.
9 Jos. Ani., iv. 8, § 15.
420
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
were subject to Him : Why, then, were not your
teachers also subject to him ? They say to Pi-
late : We do not know. And others said : He
raised Lazarus from the tomb after he had been
dead four days.' And the procurator trembled,
and said to all the multitude of the Jews : Why
do you wish to pour out innocent blood ?
Chap. 9. — And having summoned Nicode-
mus and the twelve men that said He was not
born of fornication, he says to them : What
shall I do, because there is an insurrection
among the people ? They say to him : We know
not ; let them see to it. Again Pilate, having
summoned all the multitude of the Jews, says :
You know that it is customary, at the feast of
unleavened bread, to release one prisoner to you.
I have one condemned prisoner in the prison,
a murderer named Barabbas, and this man stand-
ing in your presence, Jesus, in whom I find no
fault. Which of them do you wish me to re-
lease to you ? And they cry out : Barabbas. Pi-
late says : What, then, shall we do to Jesus who
is called Christ ? The Jews say : Let him be
crucified. And others said : Thou art no friend
of Caesar's if thou release this man, because he
called himself Son of God and king. You wish,
then, this man to be king, and not Csesar?^
And Pilate, in a rage, says to the Jews : Al-
ways has your nation been rebellious, and you
always speak against your benefactors. The
Jews say : What benefactors? He says to them :
Your God led you out of the land of Egypt from
bitter slavery, and brought you safe through the
sea as through dry land, and in the desert fed
you with manna, and gave you quails, and
quenched your thirst with water from a rock, and
gave you a law ; and in all these things you pro-
voked your God to anger, and sought a molten
calf. And you exasperated your God, and He
sought to slay you. And Moses prayed for you,
and you were not put to death. And now you
charge me with hating the emperor.3
And rising up from the tribunal, he sought to
go out. And the Jews cry out, and say : We
know that Csesar is king, and not Jesus. For
assuredly the magi brought gifts to him as to a
king. And when Herod heard from the magi
that a king had been born, he sought to slay
him ; and his father Joseph, knowing this, took
him and his mother, and they fled into Egypt.
And Herod hearing of it, destroyed the children
of the Hebrews that had been born in Bethlehem. ■♦
And when Pilate heard these words, he was
afraid ; and ordering the crowd to keep silence,
* John xi. i-t6.
2 Matt, xxvii. 15-26, etc.
3 Lit., king. Other readings are: with uushing another king;
with seeking Jesus for king.
* One MS. adds : from two years old and under.
because they were crying out, he said to them :
So this is he whom Herod sought? The Jews
say : Yes, it is he. And, taking water, Pilate
washed his hands in the face of the sun, saying :
I am innocent of the blood of this just man ;
see you to it. Again the Jews cry out : His
blood be upon us, and upon our children.
Then Pilate ordered the curtain of the tribunal
where he was sitting to be drawn, 5 and says to
Jesus : Thy nation has charged thee with being
a king. On this account I sentence thee, first
to be scourged, according to the enactment of
venerable kings, and then to be fastened on the
cross in the garden where thou wast seized. And
let Uysmas and Gestas, the two malefactors, be
crucified with thee.
Chap. io. — And Jesus went forth out of the
praetorium, and the two malefactors with Him.
And when they came to the place, they stripped
Him of his clothes, and girded Him with a towel,
and put a crown of thorns on Him round His
head. And they crucified Him; and at the
same time also they hung up the two malefactors
along with Him. And Jesus said : Father, for-
give them, for they know not what they do.
And the soldiers parted His clothes among
them ; and the people stood looking at Him.
And the chief priests, and the rulers with them,
mocked Him, saying : He saved others ; let him
save himself. If he be the Son of God, let him
come down from the cross. And the soldiers
made sport of Him, coming near and offering
Him vinegar mixed with gall, and said : Thou
art the king of the Jews ; save thyself.^
And Pilate, after the sentence, ordered the
charge made against Him to be inscribed as a
superscription in Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew,
according to what the Jews had said : He is
king of the Jews.
And one of the malefactors hanging up spoke
to Him, saying : If thou be the Christ, save
thyself and us. And Dysmas answering, reproved
him, saying : Dost thou not fear God, because
thou art in the same condemnation? And we
indeed justly, for we receive the fit punishment
of our deeds ; but this man has done no
evil. And he said to Jesus : Remember me,
Lord, in Thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him :
Amen, amen ; I say to thee. To-day shalt thou
be 7 with me in Paradise.
Chap. ii. — And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was darkness over the earth until the
ninth hour, the sun being darkened ; and the
5 This was customary before pronouncing sentence. See Apost.
Const., ii. 56.
*> Some of the MSS. add: And the soldier Longinus, taking a
spear, pierced His side, and there came forth blood and water.
' Lit., art.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
421
curtain of the temple was split in the middle, j
And crying out with a loud voice, Jesus said : :
Father, baddach ephkid ruel, which is, inter- j
prated : Into Thy hands I commit my spirit.'
And having said this. He gave up the ghost.
And the centurion, seeing what had happened,
glorified God, and said : This was a just man.
And all the crowds that were present at this
spectacle, when they saw what had happened,
beat their breasts and went away.
And the centurion reported what liad hap-
pened to the procurator. And when the pro-
curator and his wife heard it, they were
exceedingly grieved, and neither ate nor drank
that day. And Pilate sent for the Jews, and said
to them: Have you seen what has happened?
And they say : There has been an eclipse of the
sun in the usual way.^
And His acquaintances were standing at a dis-
tance, and the women who came with Him from
Galilee, seeing these things. And a man named
Joseph, a councillor from the city of Arimathsa,
who also waited for the kingdom of God, went
to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And
he took it down, and wrapped it in clean linen,
and placed it in a tomb hewn out of the rock,
in which no one had ever lain.
Chap. 12. — And the Jews, hearing that Joseph
had begged the body of Jesus, sought him and
the twelve who said that Jesus was not born of
fornication, and Nicodemus, and many others
who had stepped up before Pilate and declared
His good works. And of all these that were hid,
Nicodemus alone was seen by them, because he
was a ruler of the Jews. And Nicodemus says
to them ; How have you come into the syna-
gogue ? The Jews say to him : How hast thou
come into the synagogue ? for thou art a confed-
erate of his, and his portion is with thee in the
world to come. Nicodemus says : Amen, amen.
And likewise Joseph also stepped out and said
to them : Why are you angry against me because
I begged the body of Jesus ? Behold, I have put
him in my hew tomb, wrapping him in clean
linen ; and I have rolled a stone to the door of
.the tomb. And you have acted not well against
the just man, because you have not repented of
crucifying him, but also have pierced him with
a spear. And the Jews seized Joseph, and or-
dered him to be secured until the first day of the
week, and said to him : Know that the time
does not allow us to do anything against thee,
because the Sabbath is dawning ; and know that
thou shalt not be deemed worthy of burial, but
' Luke xxii!. 46. Ps. xxxi. 5 is, b'yadcha aphkid rucki.
' One MS. adds: Pilate said to them: You scoundrels! is this the
way you tell the truth about everything? I know that that never hap-
pens but at new moon. Now you ate your passover yesterday, the
fourteenth of the month, and you say that it was an eclipse of the sun.
we shall give thy flesh to the birds of the air.
Joseph says to them : These are the words of
the arrogant Goliath, who reproached the living
God and holy David.^ For God has said by the
prophet. Vengeance is mine, and I will repay,
saith the Lord.-* And now he that is uncircum-
cised in flesh, but circumcised in heart, has taken
water, and washed his hands in the face of the
sun, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this
just man ; see ye to it. And you answered and
said to Pilate, His blood be upon us, and upon
our children. And now I am afraid lest the
wrath of God come upon you, and upon your
children, as you have said. And the Jews, hear-
ing these words, were embittered in their souls,
and seized Joseph, and locked him into a room
where there was no window ; and guards were
stationed at the door, and they sealed the door
where Joseph was locked in.
And on the Sabbath, the rulers of the syna-
gogue,5 and the priests and the Levites, made
a decree that all should be found in the syna-
gogue on the first day of the week. And rising
up early, all the multitude in the synagogue con-
sulted by what death they should slay him. And
when the Sanhedrin was sitting, they ordered
him to be brought with much indignity. And
having opened the door, they found him not.
And all the people were surprised, and struck
with dismay. V-cause they found the seals un-
broken, and because Caiaphas had the key.
And they, no longer dared to lay hands upon
those who had spoken before Pilate in Jesus'
behalf.
Chap. 13. — And while they were still sitting
in the synagogue, and wondering about Joseph,
there come some of the guard whom the Jews
had begged of Pilate to guard the tomb of Jesus,
that His disciples might not come and steal Him.
And they reported to the rulers of the syna-
gogue, and the priests and the Levites, what had
happened : how there had been a great earth-
quake ; and we saw an angel coming down from
heaven, and he rolled away the stone from the
mouth of the tomb, and sat upon it; and he
shone like snow, and like lightning. And we
were very much afraid, and lay like dead men ;
and we heard the voice of the angel saying to
the women who remained beside the tomb, Be
not afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who
was crucified. He is not here : He is risen, as
He said. Come, see the place where the Lord
lay : and go quickly, and tell His disciples that
He is risen from the dead, and is in Galilee.^
3 I Sam. xvii. 44.
* Deut. xxxii. 35; Rom. xii. 19; Heb. x. 30.
S [This is an evident blunder, one of many pointing to a late ori-
gin. - R.]
*" Matt, xxviii. 5-7.
422
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
The Jews say : To what women did he speak ?
The men of the guard say : We do not know
who they were. The Jews say : At what time
was this ? The men of the guard say : At mid-
night. The Jews say : And wherefore did you
not lay hold of them ? The men of the guard
say : We were like dead men from fear, not ex-
pecting to see the light of day, and how could
we lay hold of them ? The Jews say : As the
Lord liveth, we do not believe you. The men
of the guard say to the Jews : You have seen so
great miracles in the case of this man, and have
not believed ; and how can you believe us ?
And assuredly you have done well to swear that
the Lord liveth, for indeed He does live. Again
the men of the guard say : We have heard that
you have locked up the man that begged the
body of Jesus, and put a seal on the door ; and
that you have opened it, and not found him. Do
you then give us the man whom you were guard-
ing, and we shall give you Jesus. The Jews say :
Joseph has gone away to his own city. The men
of the guard say to the Jews : And Jesus has risen,
as we heard from the angel, and is in Galilee.
And when the Jews heard these words, they
were very much afraid, and said : We must take
care lest this story be heard, and all incline to
Jesus. And the Jews called a council, and paid
down a considerable sum of money, and gave it
to the soldiers, saying : Say, while we slept, his
disciples came by night and stole him ; and if
this come to the ears of the procurator, we shall
persuade him, and keep you out of trouble.
And they took it, and said as they had been in-
structed.'
Chap. 14. — And Phinees a priest, and Adas
a teacher, and Haggai a Levite, came down from
Galilee to Jerusalem, and said to the rulers of
the synagogue, and the priests and the Levites :
We saw Jesus and his disciples sitting on the
mountain called Mamilch ; ^ and he said to his
disciples, Go into all the world, and preach to
every creature : he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall
be condemned. And these signs shall attend
those who have believed : in my name they shall
cast out demons, speak new tongues, take up ser-
pents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it
shall by no means hurt them ; they shall lay
hands on the sick, and they shall be well. And
while Jesus was speaking to his disciples, we saw
him taken up to heaven.^
' Three of the Latin versions say: And they took the money, but
could not hide the truth. For they wanted to say. His disciples stole
him while we slept, and could not utter it; but said, Truly the Lord
Jesus Christ has risen from the dead; and we saw an angel of God
coming down from heaven, and he rolled back the stone, and sat on
it. And this saying has been spread abroad among the Jews even to
this day.
2 Other readings are: Malek, Mophek, Mambre, Mabrech.
Comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 13.
3 Mark xvi. 15-18.
The elders and the priests and Levites say :
Give glory to the God of Israel, and confess to
Him whether you have heard and seen those
things of which you have given us an account.
And those who had given the account said : As
the Lord liveth, the God of our fathers Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, we heard these things, and saw
him taken up into heaven. The elders and the
priests and the Levites say to them : Have you
come to give us this announcement, or to offer
prayer to God ? And they say : To offer prayer
to God. The elders and the chief priests and
the Levites say to them : If you have come to
offer prayer to God, why then have you told
these idle tales in the presence of all the people?*
Says Phinees the priest, and Adas the teacher,
and Haggai the Levite, to the rulers of the syna-
gogues, and the priests and the Levites : If what
we have said and seen be sinful, behold, we are
before you ; do to us as seems good in your eyes.
And they took the law, and made them swear
upon it, not to give any more an account of these
matters to any one. And they gave them to
eat and drink, and sent them out of the city,
having given them also money, and three men
with them ; and they sent them away to Galilee.
And these men having gone into Gahlee, the
chief priests, and the rulers of the synagogue,
and the elders, came together into the synagogue,
and locked the door, and lamented with a great
lamentation, saying : Is this a miracle that has
happened in Israel ? And Annas and Caiaphas
said : Why are you so much moved ? Why do
you weep ? Do you not know that his disciples
have given a sum of gold to the guards of the
tomb, and have instructed them to say that an
angel came down and rolled away the stone from
the door of the tomb ? And the priests and the
elders said : Be it that his disciples have stolen
his body ; how is it that the life has come into
his body, and that he is going about in Galilee ?
And they being unable to give an answer to these
things, said, after great hesitation : It is not lawful
for us to believe the uncircumcised.
Chap. 15. — And Nicodemus stood up, and
stood before the Sanhedrin, saying : You say
well ; 5 you are not ignorant, you people of the*
Lord, of these men that come down from Gali-
lee, that they fear God, and are men of substance,
haters of covetousness, men of peace ; and they
have declared with an oath. We saw Jesus upon
the mountain Mamilch with his disciples, and he
taught what we heard from him, and we saw him
taken up into heaven. And no one asked them in
what form he went up. For assuredly, as the book
of the Holy Scriptures taught us, Helias also was
taken up into heaven, and Elissceus cried out
4 Lit., why then this trifling which ye have trifled, etc.
5 Perhaps better as a question.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
423
with a loud voice, and Helias threw his sheep-
skin upon Ehssceus, and Elissoeus threw his
sheepskin upon the Jordan, and crossed, and came
into Jericho. And the children of the prophets
met him, and said, O Elissseus, where is thy
master Helias ? And he said, He has been taken
up into heaven. And they said to Elissaeus,
Has not a spirit seized him, and thrown him upon
one of the mountains? But let us take our ser-
vants ' with us, and seek him. And they per-
suaded Elissasus, and he went away with them.
And they sought him three days, and did not
find him ; and they knew he had been taken up.^
And now listen to me, and let us send into every
district of Israel, and see lest perchance Christ
has been taken up by a spirit, and thrown upon
one of the mountains? And this proposal
pleased all. And they sent into every district of
Israel, and sought Jesus, and did not iind Him ;
but they found Joseph in Arimathsea, and no one
dared to lay hands on him.
And they reported to the elders, and the
priests, and the Levites : We have gone round
to every district of Israel, and have not found
Jesus ; but Joseph we have found in Arimathaea.
And hearing about Joseph, they were glad, and
gave glory to the God of Israel. And the rulers
of the synagogue, and the priests and the Levites,
having held a council as to the manner in which
they should meet with Joseph, took a piece of
paper, and wrote to Joseph as follows : —
Peace to thee ! We know that we have sinned
against God, and against thee ; and we have
prayed to the God of Israel, that thou shouldst
deign to come to thy fathers, and to thy children,
because we have all been grieved. For having
opened the door, we did not find thee. And
we know that we have counselled evil counsel
against thee ; but the Lord has defended thee,
and the Lord Himself has scattered to the winds
our counsel against thee, O honourable father
Joseph.
And they chose from all Israel seven men,
friends of Joseph, whom also Joseph himself was
acquainted with ; and the rulers of the synagogue,
and the priests and the Levites, say to them :
Take notice: if, after receiving our letter, he
read it, know that he will come with you to us ;
but if he do not read it, know that he is ill-
disposed towards us. And having saluted him
in peace, return to us. And having blessed the
men, they dismissed them. And the men came
to Joseph, and did reverence to him, and said to
him : Peace to thee ! And he said : Peace to
you, and to all the people of Israel ! And they
gave him the roll of the letter. And Joseph
having received it, read the letter and rolled it
' Lit., boys.
2 2 Kings ii. 12-1S.
up, and blessed God, and said : Blessed be the
Lord God, who has delivered Israel, that they
should not shed innocent blood ; and blessed be
the Lord, who sent out His angel, and covered
me under his wings. And he set a table for
them ; and they ate and drank, and slept there.
And they rose up early, and prayed. And
Joseph saddled his ass, and set out with the men ;
and they came to the holy city Jerusalem. And
all the people met Joseph, and cried out : Peace
to thee in thy coming in ! And he said to all
the people : Peace to you ! and he kissed them.
And the people prayed with Joseph, and they
were astonished at the sight of him. And Nico-
demus received him into his house, and made a
great feast, and called Annas and Caiaphas, and
the elders, and the priests, and the Levites to
his house. And they rejoiced, eating and drink-
ing with Joseph ; and after singing hymns, each
proceeded to his own house. But Joseph re-
mained in the house of Nicodemus.
And on the following day, which was the prep-
aration, the rulers of the synagogue and the
priests and the Levites went early to the house
of Nicodemus ; and Nicodemus met them, and
said : Peace to you ! And they said : Peace to
thee, and to Joseph, and to all thy house, and to
all the house of Joseph ! And he brought them
into his house. And all the Sanhedrin sat down,
and Joseph sat down between Annas and Caia-
phas : and nc one dared to say a word to him.
And Joseph said : Why have you called me ? And
they signalled to Nicodemus to speak to Joseph.
And Nicodemus, opening his mouth, said to
Joseph : Father, thou knowest that the honourable
teachers, and the priests and the Levites, see
to learn a word from thee. And Joseph said :
Ask. And Annas and Caiaphas having taken the
law, made Joseph swear, saying : Give glory to
the God of Israel, and give Him confession ; for
Achar being made to swear by the prophet
Jesus,3 did not forsware himself, but declared
unto him all, and did not hide a word from him.
Do thou also accordingly not hide from us to the
extent of a word. And Joseph said : I shall not
hide from you one word. And they said to him :
With grief were we grieved because thou didst
beg the body of Jesus, and wrap it in clean linen,
and lay it in a tomb. And on account of this
vve secured thee in a room where there was no
windows : and we put locks and seals upon the
doors, and guards kept watching where thou wast
locked in. And on the first day of the week we
opened, and found thee not, and were grieved
exceedingly ; and astonishment fell upon all the
people of the Lord until yesterday. And now
relate to us what has happened to thee.
And Joseph said : On the preparation, about
3 i.e., Joshua. Josh. vii. 19, 20.
424
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
the tenth hour, you locked me up, and I re-
mained all the Sabbath. And at midnight, as I
was standing and praying, the room where you
locked me in was hung up by the four corners,
and I saw a light like lightning into my eyes.'
And I was afraid, and fell to the ground. And
some one took me by the hand, and removed
me from the place where I had fallen ; and
moisture of water was poured from my head even
to my feet, and a smell of perfumes came about
my nostrils. And he wiped my face, and kissed
me, and said to me. Fear not, Joseph ; open
thine eyes, and see who it is that speaks to thee.
And looking up, I saw Jesus. And I trembled,
and thought it was a phantom ; and I said the
commandments, and he said them with me.^
Even so you are not ignorant that a phantom, if
it meet anybody, and hear the commandments,
takes to flight. And seeing that he said them
with me, I said to him, Rabbi Helias. And he
said to me, I am not Helias. And I said to
him, ^Vho art thou, my lord? And he said to
me, I am Jesus, whose body thou didst beg from
Pilate ; and thou didst clothe me with clean
linen, and didst put a napkin on my face, and
didst lay me in thy new tomb, and didst roll a
great stone to the door of the tomb. And I said
to him that was speaking to me, Show me the
place where I laid thee. And he carried me
away, and showed me the place where I laid
him ; and the linen cloth was lying in it, and the
napkin for his face. And I knew that it was
Jesus. And he took me by the hand, and placed
me, though the doors were locked, in the middle
of my house, and led me away to my bed, and
said to me. Peace to thee ! And he kissed me,
and said to me, For forty days go not forth out
of thy house ; for, behold, I go to my brethren
into Gahlee.
Chap. i6. — And the rulers of the synagogue,
and the priests and the Levites, when they heard
these words from Joseph, became as dead, and
fell to the ground, and fasted until the ninth
hour. And Nicodemus, along with Joseph, ex-
horted Annas and Caiaphas, the priests and the
Levites, saying : Rise up and stand upon your
feet, and taste bread, and strengthen your souls,
because to-morrow is the Sabbath of the Lord.
And they rose up, and prayed to God, and ate
and drank, and departed every man to his own
house.
And on the Sabbath our teachers and the
priests and Levites sat questioning each other,
and saying : What is this wrath that has come
upon us? for we know his father and mother.
Levi, a teacher, says : I know that his parents
fear God, and do not withdraw themselves from
the prayers, and give the tithes thrice a year.^
And when Jesus was born, his parents brought
him to this place, and gave sacrifices and burnt-
offerings to God. And when the great teacher
Symeon took him into his arms, he said. Now
Thou sendest away Thy servant. Lord, according
to Thy word, in peace ; for mine eyes have seen
Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before
the face of all the peoples : a light for the revela-
I tion of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people
I Israel. And Symeon blessed them, and said to
I Mary his mother, I give thee good news about
this child. And Mary said. It is well, my lord.
I And Symeon said to her. It is well ; behold, he
I lies for the fall and rising again of many in Israel,
and for a sign spoken against ; and of thee thy-
self a sword shall go through the soul, in order
that the reasoning of many hearts may be re-
vealed.4
They say to the teacher Levi : How knowest
thou these things? Levi says to them: Do you
not know that from him I learned the law? The
Sanhedrin say to him : We wish to see thy
father. And they sent for his father. And they
asked him ; and he said to them : Why have you
not believed my son? The blessed and just
Symeon himself taught him the law. The San-
hedrin says to Rabbi Levi : Is .the word that
you have said true ? And he said : It is true.
And the rulers of the synagogue, and the priests
and the Levites, said to themselves : Come, let
us send into Galilee to the three men that came
and told about his teaching and his taking up,
and let them tell us how they saw him taken up.
And this saying pleased all. And they sent avvay
the three men who had already gone away into
Galilee with them ; and they say to them : Say
to Rabbi Adas, and Rabbi Phinees, and Rabbi
Haggai : Peace to you, and all who are with you !
A great inquiry having taken place in the Sanhe-
drin, we have been sent to you to call you to
this holy place, Jerusalem.
And the men set out into Galilee, and found
them sitting and considering the law ; and they
saluted them in peace. And the men who were
in Galilee said to those who had come to them :
Peace upon ail Israel ! And they said : Peace
to you ! And they again said to them : Why have
you come ? And those who had been sent said :
The Sanhedrin call you to the holy city Jerusa-
lem. And when the men heard that they were
sought by the Sanhedrin, they prayed to God,
and reclined with the men, and ate and drank,
and rose up, and set out in peace to Jerusalem.
And on the following day the Sanhedrin sat
in the synagogue, and asked them* saying : Did
' Comp. Acts X. II.
2 Or, and he spoke to me.
3 This would seem to confirm the opinion that there were three
tithes paid in the year. Comp. Smith's Diet., sub voce.
•4 Luke ii, 25-35.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
425
you really see Jesus sitting on the mountain
Mamilch teaching his eleven disciples, and did
you see him taken up? And the men answered
them, and said : As we saw him taken up, so also
we said.
Annas says : Take them away from one an-
other, and let us see whether their account agrees.
And they took them away from one another.
And first they call Adas, and say to him : How
didst thou see Jesus taken up ? Adas says :
While he was yet sitting on the mountain
Mamilch, and teaching his disciples, we saw a
cloud overshadowing both him and his disciples.
And the cloud took him up into heaven, and his
disciples lay upon their face upon the earth.
And they call Phinees the priest, and ask him
also, saying : How didst thou see Jesus taken
up? And he spoke in like manner. And they
again asked Haggai, and he spoke in like man-
ner. And the Sanhedrin said: The law of
Moses holds : At the mouth of two or three
every word shall be established.' Buthem, a
teacher, says : It is written in the law. And Enoch
walked with God, and is not, because God took
him.^ Jairus, a teacher, said : And the death of
holy Moses we have heard of, and have not seen
it ] for it is written in the law of the Lord, And
Moses died from the mouth of the Lord, and no
man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.3
And Rabbi Levi said : Why did Rabbi Symeon
say, when he saw Jesus, " Behold, he lies for the
fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a
sign spoken against ? " "* And Rabbi Isaac said :
It is written in the law. Behold, I send my mes-
senger before thy face, who shall go before thee
to keep thee in every good way, because my
name has been called upon him. 5
Then Annas and Caiaphas said : Rightly have
you said what is written in the law of Moses,
that no one saw the death of Enoch, and no one
has named the death of Moses ; but Jesus was
tried before Pilate, and we saw him receiving
blows and spittings on his face, and the soldiers
put about him a crown of thornSj^and he was
scourged, and received sentence from Pilate, and
was crucified upon the Cranium, and two rob-
bers with hira ; and they gave him to drink vin-
egar with gall, and Longinus the soldier pierced
his side with a spear ; and Joseph our honour-
able father begged his body, and, as he says, he
is risen ; and as the three teachers say. We saw
him taken up into heaven ; and Rabbi Levi has
f ' Deut. xvii. 6.
^ Gen. V. 24; Heb. xi. 5.
3 Dent, xxxiv. 5, 5.
* Luke ii. t,i.
^ Ex. xxiii. 20, 21 ; Mai. iii. i ; Matt. xi. 10.
given evidence of what was said by Rabbi
Symeon, and that he said, Behold, he lies for the
fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a
sign spoken against. And all the teachers said
to all the people of the Lord : If this was from
the Lord, and is wonderful in your eyes,*" know-
ing you shall know, O house of Jacob, that it is
written. Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a
tree. 7 And another Scripture teaches : The gods
which have not made the heaven and the earth
shall be destroyed.^ And the priests and the Le-
vites said to each other : If his memorial be until
the year that is called Jobel,^ know that it shall
it endure for ever, and he hath raised for himself
a new people. Then the rulers of the synagogue,
and the priests and the Levites, announced to all
Israel, saying : Cursed is that man who shall
worship the work of man's hand, and cursed is
the man who shall worship the creatures more
than the Creator. And all the people said,
Amen, amen.'°
And all the people praised " the Lord, and
said : Blessed is the Lord, who hath given rest
to His people Israel, according to all that He
hath spoken ; there hath not fallen one word of
every good word of His that He spoke to Moses
His servant. May the Lord our God be with
us, as He was with our fathers : let Him not
destroy us. And let Him not destroy us, that
we may inch'-^ our hearts to Him, that we may
walk in all His ways, that we may keep His
commandments and His judgments which He
commanded to our fathers.'^ And the Lord shall
be for a king over all the earth in that day ;
and there shall be one Lord, and His name one.'^
The Lord is our king : He shall save us.'-* There
is none like Thee, O Lord. '5 Great art Thou,
O Lord, and great is Thy name. By Thy power
heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed : save
us, O Lord, and we shall be saved ; '^ because
we are Thy lot and heritage. And the Lord
will not leave His people, for His great name's
sake ; for the Lord has begun to make us into
His people. '7
And all, having sung praises, went away each
man to his own house, glorifying God ; for His
is the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
6 Ps. cxviii. 23. '
7 Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii. 13.
' Jer. X. II.
9 i.e., the year of jubilee. The original, eu>s toO <tmi±ixov, is not
Greek. It is not easy to see what the passage means. It may refer
to Isa. Ixi. 1-3.
'° Deut. xxvii. 15; Rom. i. 25.
'' Or, sang hymns to.
'2 I Kings viii. 56-58.
'3 Zech. xiv. 9.
'4 Isa. xxxiii. 22.
•5 Ps. Ixxxvi. 8.
'6 Comp. Jer. xvii. 14.
■7 Comp. I Sam. xii. 22.
426
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
SECOND GREEK FORM.
A NARRATIVE about the suffering of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and His holy resurrection.
Written by a Jew, ^Lneas by name, and trans-
lated out of the Hebrew tongue into the Romaic
language by Nicodemus, a Roman toparch.
After the dissolution of the kingdom of the
Hebrews, four hundred years having run their
course, and the Hebrews also coming at last un-
der the kingdom of the Romans, and the king
of the Romans appointing them a king ; when
Tiberius Caesar at last swayed the Roman scep-
tre, in the eighteenth year of his reign," he ap- |
pointed as king of Judaea, Herod, the son of the
Herod who had formerly slaughtered the infants j
in Bethlehem, and he made Pilate procurator in
Jerusalem ; when Annas and Caiaphas held the '
high-priesthood of Jerusalem, Nicodemus, a Ro- I
man toparch, having summoned a Jew, yEneas
by name, asked him to write an account of the
things done in Jerusalem about Christ in the .
times of Annas and Caiaphas. The Jew accord- !
ingly did this, and delivered it to Nicodemus ;
and he, again, translated it from the Hebrew
writing into the Romaic language. And the
account is as follows : —
Chap. i. — Our Lord Jesus Christ having
wrought in Judaea many and great and extraor-
dinary miracles, and on account of tiiis being
hated by the Hebrews, while Pilate was procu-
rator in Jerusalem, and Annas and Caiaphas
high priests, there came of the Jews to the chief
priests, Judas, Levi, Nephthalim, Alexander, Sy-
rus, and many others, speaking against Christ.
And these chief priests sent them away to say
these things to Pilate also. And they went away,
and said to him : A man walks about in this
city whose father is called Joseph, and his
mother Mary ; and he calls himself king and
Son of God ; and being a Jew, he overturns the
Scriptures, and does away with the Sabbath.
Pilate then asked, in order to learn from them
in what manner he did away with the Sabbath.
And they answered, saying : He cures the sick
on the Sabbath. Pilate says : If he makes the
sick whole, he does no evil. They say to him :
If he effected the cures properly, small would be
the evil ; but by using magic he does these
things, and by having the demons on his side.
Pilate says : To cure a person that is ill is not
a diabolic work, but a grace from God.
The Hebrews said : We beseech your high-
ness to summon him, in order that thou mayst
* [Compare the first Greek form, prologue and footnote. — R.J
make accurate inquiry into what we say. Pilate
therefore, throwing off his cloak, gave it to one
of his officers,^ saying : Go away, and show this
to Jesus, and say to him, Pilate the procurator
calls thee to come before him. The officer ac-
cordingly went away, and finding Jesus, sum-
moned Him, having unfolded on the ground
also Pilate's mantle, and urged Him to walk
upon it. And the Hebrews, seeing this, and
being greatly enraged, came to Pilate, murmur-
ing against him, how he had deemed Jesus
worthy of so great honour.
And he, having inquired of the officer who
had been sent how he had done so, the officer
answered : When thou didst send me to the Jew
Alexander, I came upon Jesus entering the gate
of the city, sitting upon an ass. And I saw that
the Hebrews spread their garments in the way,
and the ass walked upon the garments ; and
others cut branches, and they went forth to meet
him, and cried out, Hosanna in the highest !
Thus, therefore, it was necessary for me also to do.
The Jews, hearing these words, said to him :
How didst thou, being a Roman, know what was
said by the Hebrews ? The officer answered :
I asked one of the Hebrews, and he told me
these things. Pilate said : What means Ho-
sanna ? The Jews said : Save us, O Lord. Pi-
late answered : Since you confess that your chil-
dren said so, how now do you bring charges,
and say against Jesus what you do say? The
Jews were silent, and had nothing to answer.^
Now, as Jesus was coming to Pilate, the sol-
diers of Pilate adored Him. And others also
were standing before Pilate holding standards.
And as Jesus was coming, the standards also
bowed down, and adored Him. As Pilate,
therefore, was wondering at what had happened,
the Jews said to him : My lord, it was not the
standards that adored Jesus, but the soldiers
who were holding them carelessly.
Pilate says to the ruler of the synagogue :
Choose twelve powerful men, and give them the
2 One MS. inserts: by name Rachaab, the messenger.
3 Instead of these four sections, MS. C has a minute account of
the suicide of Judas, of which the following specmien may be given:
— And he went home to make a halter to hang himself, and he found
his wife roasting a cock on the coals. And he says to her: Rise,
wife, and get a rope ready for me ; for I mean to hang myself, as I
deserve. And his wife said to him: Why do you speak like that?
."^nd Judas says: Know in truth that I unjustly betrayed my master,
etc., and that he is going to rise on the third day; and woe to us!
And his wife says: Do not speak or think in that way. It is just as
likely as that this cock roasting on the coals will crow, that Jesus
will rise, as you say. No sooner said than the cock flapped his
wings, and crew thrice. This decided Judas, and he immediately
made the halter, and hanged himself. [The Mss. of the " Second
Greek Form " are designated by Tischendorf {Erang. Apocry., pp.
Ixxii., Ixxiii.) as follows: A, a Venice Ms... comparatively recent; B,
a Paris ms. of the fifteenth century; C, a Venice MS. of the same
century. — R.J
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
427
standards, so that they may hold them firmly.
And this having taken place, Pilate ordered the
officer to take Jesus outside, and bring Him in
again. And as He was coming in, the standards
again bowed down, and adored Him. Pilate
therefore wondered greatly. But the Jews said :
He is a magician, and through that he does these
things.
Chap. 2. — Pilate says to Jesus : Hearest thou
what these testify against thee, and answerest
thou not?' And Jesus answered and said:
Every man has power to speak either good or
bad, as he wishes ; these also, therefore, having
power, say tyhat they wish.^
The Jews said to Him : What have we to
say about thee ? First, that thou wast begotten
from sin ; second, that on account of thee, when
thou wast born, the infants ^ were murdered ;
third, that thy father and thy mother fled into
Egypt, because they had no confidence in the
people.
To these the Jews who were there present.
God-fearing men, answered and said : We say
that his birth is not from sin ; for we know that
Joseph received into keeping his mother Mary,
according to the practice of betrothal. Pilate
said : Consequently you He who say that his birth
is from sin. They say again to Pilate : All the
people testify that he is a magician. The God-
fearing Jews answered and said : We also were
at the betrothal of his mother, and we are Jews,
and know all his daily life ; but that he is a
magician, that we do not know. And the Jews
that thus said were these : Lazarus, Astharius,
Antonius, James, Zaras, Samuel, Isaac, Phinees,
Crispus, Dagrippus, Amese, and Judas.
Pilate therefore says to them : By the life of
Caesar, I wish you to swear whether the birth
of this man is without sin. They answered : Our
law lays down that we are to swear not at all,
because an oath is great sin. Notwithstanding,
by the life of Caesar we swear that his birth is
without sin ; and if we lie, order us all to be
beheaded. -And when they had thus spoken,
the Jews that were bringing the charge an-
swered Pilate, and said : And dost thou believe
these twelve single Jews more than all the mul-
titude and us, who know for certain that he is
a magician and blasphemer, and that he names
himself Son of God ?
Then Pilate ordered them all to go forth out
of the praetorium except the said twelve alone.
And when this had been done, Pilate says to
them privately : As to this man, it appears that
from envy and madness the Jews wish to murder
him : for of one thing — that he does away with
' Matt, xxvii. 13, 14.
2 Coiiip. John xix 11.
3 MS. A, 14,000 infants; B, 44,000 infant.s.
the Sabbath — they accuse him ; but he then
does a good work, because he cures the sick.
For this, sentence of death is not upon the man.
The twelve also say to him : Assuredly, my lord,
it is so.
Chap. 3. — Pilate therefore went outside in
rage and anger, and says to Annas and Caiaphas,
and to the crowd who brought Jesus : I take
the sun to witness that I find no fault in this
man. The crowd answered : If he were not a
sorcerer, and a magician, and a blasphemer, we
should not have brought him to your highness.
Pilate said : Try him yourselves ; and since you
have a law, do as your law says. The Jews
said : Our law permits to put no man to death.*
Pilate says : If you are unwilling to put him to
death, how much more am I !
Then Pilate returned to the palace, and says
to Jesus : Tell me, art thou the king of the Jews?
Jesus answered : Dost thou say this, or have the
other Jews said this to thee, that thou mightst
question me ? Pilate said : Thou dost not think
that I am a Hebrew ? I am not a Hebrew. Thy
people and the chief priests have delivered thee
into my hands ; and tell me if thou art king of
the Jews ? Jesus answered : My kingdom is not
of this world ; for if my kingdom were in this
world, my sol'^^rs would not be unconcerned at
my being seiz,ed : wherefore my kingdom is not
in this world. Pilate says : But art thou a king?
Jesus said : Thou hast said : for this was I born,
to bear witness to the truth ; and if any one be
a man of the truth, he believes my word, and
does it. Pilate says : What is the truth? 5 Jesus
answered : The truth is from the heavens. Pilate
says : On earth, then, is there no truth? Christ
says : I am the truth ; and how is the truth
judged on earth by those that have earthly
power !
Chap. 4. — Pilate therefore, leaving Christ
alone, went outside, and says to the Jews : I find
no fault in this man. The Jews answered : Let
us tell your highness what he said. He said, I
am able to destroy the temple of God, and in
three days to build it. Pilate says : And what
temple did he say that he was to destroy? The
Hebrews say : The temple of Solomon, which
Solomon built in forty-six years.^
Pilate says privately to the chief priests and"
the scribes and the Pharisees : I entreat you, do
nothing evil against this man ; for if you do evil
against him, you will do unjustly : for it is not
just that such a man should die, who has done
great good to many men. They said to Pilate :
< John xix. 6, 7.
5 John xviii. 33-38.
^ Conip. John ii. 20.
428
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
If, my lord, he who has dishonoured Caesar is
worthy of death, how much more this man who
dishonours God !
Then Pilate dismissed them, and they all went
outside. Thereupon he says to Jesus : Wiiat
dost thou wish that I shall do to thee? Jesus
says to Pilate : Do to me as is determined. Pilate
says : How is it determined ? Jesus answered :
Moses and the prophets wrote about me being
crucified, and rising again. The Hebrews, hear-
ing tJiis, said to Pilate : Why do you se,ek to hear
a greater insult out of him against God ? Pilate
says : These words are not an insult against God,
since they are written in the books of the prophets.
The Hebrews said : Our Scripture says, If a man
offend against a man, that is to say, if he insult
him, he is worthy to receive forty strokes with a
rod ; but if any one insult God, to be stoned.'
Then came a messenger from Procle, the wife of
Pilate, to him ; and the message said : Take care
that thou do not agree that any evil should
happen to Jesus the good man ; because during
this night I have seen fearful dreams on account
of him.2 And Pilate spoke to the Hebrews,
saying : If you hold as insult against God the
words which you declare Jesus to have spoken,
take and judge him yourselves according to your
law.3 The Jews said to Pilate : We wish that you
should crucify him. Pilate says : This is not good.
And Pilate, turning towards the people, saw
many weeping, and said : To me it seems that it
is not the wish of all the people that this man
should die. The priests and the scribes say :
We on this account have brought all the people,
that thou mightst have full conviction that all
wish his death. Pilate says : For what evil hath
he done? The Hebrews said : He says that he
is a king, and the Son of God.
Chap. 5. — A God-fearing Jew, therefore, Nico-
demus by name, stood up in the midst, and said
to Pilate : I entreat your highness to permit me
to say a few words. Say on, said Pilate. Nico-
demus says : I, being present in the synagogue,
said to the priests, and the Levites, and the
scribes, and the people, What have you to say
against this man? This man does many miracles,
such as man has never yet done nor will do. Let
him go, therefore ; and if indeed what he does
be from God, it will stand ; but if from man, it
will be destroyed.'* Just as happened also when
God sent Moses into Egypt, and Pharoah king
of Egypt told him to do a miracle, and he did it.
Then Pharoah had also two magicians, Jannes
and Jambres ; and they also did miracles by
the use of magic art, but not such as Moses did. 5
' Dent. XXV. 3; Lev. xxiv. i6.
^ Matt, xxvii. 19.
3 John xviii. 31.
* Comp. Acts V. 38.
S Ex. vii. 10-14.
And the Egyptians held these magicians to be
gods ; but because they were not from God, what
they did was destroyed. This Jesus, then, raised
up Lazarus, and he is alive. On this account I
entreat thee, my lord, by no means to allow this
man to be put to death.
The Hebrews were enraged against Nicode-
mus, and said : Mayst thou receive the truth of
Jesus, and have a portion with him. Nico-
demus says : Amen, amen ; be it to me as you
say.
Chap. 6. — And when Nicodemus had thus
spoken, another Hebrew rose up, and said to
Pilate : I beg of thee, my lord Pilate, hear me
also. Pilate answered : Say what thou wishest.
The Hebrew says : I lay sick in bed thirty-eight
years ; and when he saw me he was grieved, and
said to me, Rise, take up thy couch, and go into
thine house. And while he was saying the word
to me, I rose and walked about. The Hebrews
say : Ask him on what day of the week this
happened. He says : On Sabbath.^ The Jews
said : And consequently we say truly, that he
does not keep the Sabbath.
Another, again, standing in the midst, said :
I was born blind ; and as Jesus was going along
the road, I cried to him, saying. Have mercy
upon me. Lord, thou son of David. And he
took clay, and anointed mine eyes ; and straight-
way I received my sight.'' Another said : I was
crooked; and seeing him, I cried. Have mercy
upon me, O Lord. And he took me by the
hand, and I was immediately raised.* Another
said : I was a leper, and he healed me merely
by a word.9
Chap. 7. — There was found there also a wo-
man named Veronica, and she said : Twelve
years I was in an issue of blood, and I only
touched the edge of his garment, and directly I
was cured. '° The Jews say : Our law does not
admit the testimony of a woman."
Chap. 8. — Other men cried : This man is a
prophet, and the demons are afraid of him. Pi-
late says : And how were the demons not at all
thus afraid of your parents also ? They say :
We do not know. Others, again, said : Lazarus,
after having been four days in the tomb, he
raised by a single word.'^ Pilate therefore, hear-
ing of the raising of Lazarus, was afraid, and
said to the people : Why do you wish to shed
the blood of a just man?
6 John V. 5-9.
7 John ix. 6, 7.
8 Comp. Acts iii. 7.
9 Luke xvii. 11-19.
'° Matt. ix. 20-22.
" See note 9, p. 419.
'2 John xi. 43.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
429
Chap. 9. — Then he summoned Nicodemus
and the twelve God-fearing Jews, and said to
them : What do you say that I should do ? be-
cause the people are in commotion They say :
We do not know : do as thou wilt ; but what the
people do, they do unjustly, in order to kill him.
Pilate again went outside, and said to the peo-
ple : You know that in the feasts of unleavened
bread it is customary that I free on your account
one of the criminals kept in custody. . I have,
then, one malefactor in the prison, a robber
named Barabbas. I have also Jesus, who has
never done any evil. Which of the two, then,
do you wish that I release to you ? The people
answered : Release to us Barabbas. Pilate says :
What then shall I do with Jesus ? They say :
Let him be crucified.' Again, others of them
cried out : If thou release Jesus, thou art no
friend of CiKsar,^ because he calls himself Son
of God, and king. And if thou free him, he
becomes a king, and will take Caesar's kingdom.
Pilate/ therefore was enraged, and said: Al-
ways has your nation been devilish ^ and unbe-
lieving ; and ever have you been adversaries to
your benefactors. The Hebrews say : And who
were our benefactors ? Pilate says : God, who
freed you out of the hand of Pharaoh, and
brought you through the Red Sea as upon dry
land, and fed you with quails, and gave you water
to drink out of the dry rock, and who gave you
a law, which, denying God, you broke ; and if
Moses had not stood and entreated God, you [
would have perished by a bitter death. All
these, then, you have forgotten. Thus also, even
now, you say that I do not at all love Csesar, but
hate him, and wish to plot against his kingdom.
And having thus spoken, Pilate rose up from
the throne with anger, wishing to flee from them.
The Jews therefore cried out, saying : We wish
Caesar to be king over us, not Jesus, because
Jesus received gifts ^ from the Magi. And Herod
also heard this — that there was going to be a
king — and wished to put him to death, and for
this purpose sent and put to death all the infants
that were in' Bethlehem. And on this account
also his father Joseph and his mother fled from
fear of him into Egypt. 5
So then Pilate, hearing this, silenced all the
people, and said : This, then, is the Jesus whom
Herod then sought that he might put him to
death? They say to him : Yes. Pilate therefore,
having ascertained that he was of the jurisdiction
of Herod, as being derived of the race of the
Jews, sent Jesus to hmn. And Herod, seeing
' Matt, xxvii. 15-18, 21-23.
^ John xix 12.
3 Or, slanderous.
•4 The word here, x'lP'cuia, is used in the New Testament only of
gifts and graces bestowed by God, and specially of the miraculous
gifts imparted to the early Christians by the Holy Ghost. The word
in Matt. ii. 11 is h'oao..
5 Matt. ii. 14-16. [The writer seems to identify Herod the Great
and Herod Aniipas. — R.j
Him, rejoiced greatly, because' he had been long
desiring to see Him, hearing of the miracles
which He did. He put on Him, therefore,
white garments. Then he began to question
Him. But Jesus did not give him an answer.
And Herod, wishing to see also some miracle or
other done by Jesus, and not seeing it, and also
because He did not answer him a single word,
sent Him back again to Pilate.^ Pilate, seeing
this, ordered his officers to bring water. Wash-
ing, then, his hands with the water, he said to
the people : I am innocent of the blood of this
good man. See you to it, that he is unjustly put
to death, since neither I have found a fault in
him, nor Herod ; for because of this he has sent
him back again to me. The Jews said : His
blood be upon us, and upon our children. ^
Then Pilate sat down upon his throne to pass
sentence. He gave order, therefore, and Jesus
came before him. And they brought a crown
of thorns, and put it on His head, and a reed
into His right hand.^ Then he passed sentence,
and said to Him : Thy nation says, and testifies
against thee, that thou wishest to be a king.
Therefore I decree that they shall beat thee first
with a rod forty strokes, as the laws of the kings
decree, and that they shall mock thee ; and
finally, that they shall crucify thee.
Chap. io. -The sentence to this effect, then,
having been passed by Pilate, the Jews began
to strike Jesus, some with rods, others with their
hands, others with their feet ; some also spat in
His face. Lnmediately, therefore, they got
ready the cross, and gave it to Him, and flew to
take the road. And thus going along, bearing
also the cross. He came as far as the gate of the
city of Jerusalem. But as He, from the many
blows and the weight of the cross, was unable to
walk, the Jews, out of the eager desire they had
to crucify Him as quickly as possible, took the
cross from Him, and gave it to a man that met
them, Simon by name, who had also two sons,
Alexander and Rufus. And he was from the
city of Cyrene.9 They gave the cross, then, to
him, not because they pitied Jesus, and wished
to lighten Him of the weight, but because they
eagerly desired, as has been said, to put Him to
death more speedily.
Of His disciples, therefore, John followed
Him there. Then he came fleeing to the
mother of God.'° and said to her : Where hast"
*> Luke xxiii. 6-11. [The only p.issage directly interpolated into
Luke's narrative is " as being derived of the race of the Jews." A
curious blunder of the compiler! — R.]
^ Matt, xxvii. 25.
8 John xix. 2, 3; Matt, xxvii. 29.
9 Mark xv. 21.
'5 06OTOKO? — a word used several times by Athanasius (died 373) ,
e g., in Orat. iii. Contra Arinnns, c. 14 and 29. The refusal of
Ncstorius to give this epithet to .Mary was the commencement, in 428,
of the long struggle between the rival sees of Constantinople and
Alexandria. See Haag, Histoire dcs Dogmes Chretiriis, i. 190.
The paragraphs about the ©eoTo/co? in this chapter are interpolations.
430
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
thou been, that thou hast not come to see what
has happened? She answered : What is it that
has happened? John says: Know that the
Jews have laid hold of my Master, and are taking
Him away to crucify Him. Hearing this, His
mother cried out with a loud voice, saying : My
son, my son, what evil then hast thou done, that '
they are taking thee away to crucify thee? And
she rose up as if blinded,^ arid goes along the
road weeping. And women followed her —
Martha, and Mary Magdalene, and Salome, and
other virgins. And John also was with her.
When, therefore, they came to the multitude of
the crowd, the mother of God says to John :
Where is my son? John says : Seest thou Him
bearing the crown of thorns, and having His
hands bound? And the mother of God, hearing
this, and seeing Him, fainted, and fell backwards
to the ground, and lay a considerable time. And
the women, as many as followed her, stood
round her, and wept. And as soon as she
revived and rose up, she cried out with a loud
voice : My Lord, my son, where has the beauty
of thy form sunk? how shall I endure to see
thee suffering such things? And thus saying,
she tore her face with her nails, and beat her
breast. Where are they gone, said she, the
good deeds which thou didst in Judcea? What
evil hast thou done to the Jews? The Jews,
then, seeing her thus lamenting and crying, came
and drove her from tlie road ; but she would
not flee, but remained, saying : Kill me first, ye
lawless Jews.
Then they got safe to the place called Crani-
um, which was paved with stone ; ^ and there
the Jews set up the cross. Then they stripped
Jesus, and the soldiers took His garments, and
divided them among themselves ; and they put
on Him a tattered robe of scarlet, and raised
Him, and drew Him up on the cross at the sixth
hour of the day. After this they brought also
two robbers, the one on His right, the other on
His left.
Then the mother of God, standing and look-
ing, cried out with a loud voice, saying : My
son ! my son ! And Jesus, turning to her, and
seeing John near her, and weeping with the rest
of the women, said : Behold thy son ! Then
He says also to John : Behold thy mother ! ^
And she wept much, saying : For this I weep,
my son, because thou sufferest unjustly, because
the lawless Jews have delivered thee to a bitter
death. Without thee, my son, what will be-
come of me? How shall I live without thee?
What sort of life shall I spend ? Where are thy
disciples, who boasted that they would die with
' Lit., and.
2 Lit., darkened.
3 A mistaken reference to John xix. 13.
* John xix, 26, 27.
thee ? Where those healed by thee ? How has
no one been found to help thee? And looking
to the cross, she said : Bend down, O cross, that
I may embrace and kiss my son, whom I suckled
at these breasts after a strange manner, as not
having known man. Bend down, O cross ; I
wish to throw my arms round my son. Bend
down, O cross, that I may bid farewell to my son
like a mother. The Jews, hearing these words,
came forward, and drove to a distance both her
and the women and John.
Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice, say-
ing : Father, let not this sin stand against them ;
for they know not what they do.5 Then He
says : I thirst. And immediately there ran one
of the soldiers, and took a sponge, and filled it
with gall and vinegar mixed, and put it on a
reed, and gave Jesus to drink. And having
tasted it. He would not drink it.^ And the Jews
standing and looking on laughed at Him, and
said : If thou truly sayst that thou art the Son
of God, come down from the cross, and imme-
diately, that we may believe in thee. Others
said mocking : Others he saved, others he cured,
and he healed the sick, the paralytic, the lepers,
the demoniacs, the blind, the lame, the dead ;
and himself he cannot cure. 7
In the same manner also, the robber crucified
on His left hand said to Him : If thou art the
Son of God, come down and save both thyself
and us. His name was Gistas. And he that
was crucified on the right, Dysmas by name, re-
proved that robber, saying : O wretched and
miserable man, dost thou not fear God? We
suffer the due punishment of what we have done ;
but this man has done no evil at all. And turn-
ing to Jesus, he says to Him : Lord, when Thou
shalt reign, do not forget me. And He said to
him : To-day, I tell thee truth, I shall have thee
in paradise with me.^
Chap. it. — Then Jesus, crying out with a
loud voice. Father, into Thy hands I shall com-
mit my spirit, breathed His last.^ And immedi-
ately one could see the rocks rent : for there
was an earthquake over all the earth ; and from
the earthquake being violent and great, the rocks
also were rent. And the tombs of the dead
were opened, and the curtain of the temple was
rent, and there was darkness from the sixth hour
till the ninth. And from all these things that
had happened the Jews were afraid, and said :
Certainly this was a just man. And Longinus,
the centurion who stood by, said : Truly this
was a son of God. Others coming and seeing
5 Liike xxiii. 34; cf. Acts vii. 60.
> 6 John xix. 28; Matt, xxvii. 48.
' Comp. Matt, xxvii. 40-42.
8 Luke xxiii. 39-43. MS. C here inserts the early history of the
robber Dysmas. [See note 3, p. 426. — R.]
9 Luke xxiii. 46.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
431
Him, beat their breasts from fear, and again
turned back.'
And the centurion having perceived all these
so great miracles, went away and reported them
to Pilate. And when he heard, he wondered
and was astonished, and from his fear and grief
would neither eat nor drink that day. And he
sent notice, and all the Sanhedrin came to him
as soon as the darkness was past ; and he said
to the people : You know how. the sun has been
darkened ; you know how the curtain has been
rent. Certainly I did well in being by no means
willing to put to death the good man. And the
malefactors said to Pilate : This darkness is an
eclipse of the sun, such as has happened also at
other times. Then they say to him : We hold
the feast of unleavened bread to-morrow ; and
we entreat thee, since the crucified are still
breathing, that their bones be broken, and that
they be brought down. Pilate said : It shall be
so. He therefore sent soldiers, and they found
the two robbers yet breathing, and they broke
their legs ; but finding Jesus dead, they did not
touch Him at all, except that a soldier speared
Him in the right side, and immediately there
came forth blood and water.^
And as the day of the preparation ^ was draw-
ing towards evening, Joseph, a man well-born
and rich, a God-fearing Jew, finding Nicodemus,
whose sentiments his foregoing speech had
shown, says to him : I know that thou didst love
Jesus when living, and didst gladly hear his
words, and I saw thee fighting with the Jews on
his account. If, then, it seem good to thee, let
us go to Pilate, and beg the body of Jesus for
burial, because it is a great sin for him to lie
unburied. I am afraid, said Nicodemus, lest
Pilate should be enraged, and some evil should
befall me. But if thou wilt go alone, and beg
the dead, and take him, then will I also go with
thee, and help thee to do everything necessary
for the burial. Nicodemus having thus spoken,
Joseph directed his eyes to heaven, and prayed
that he might not fail in his request ; and he
went away to Pilate, and having saluted him, sat
down. Then he says to him : I entreat thee,
my lord, not to be angry with me, if I shall ask
anything contrary to what seems good to your
highness. And he said : And what is it that
thou askest? Joseph says : Jesus, the good man
whom through hatred the Jews have taken away
to crucify, him I entreat that thou give me for
burial. Pilate says : And what has happened,
that we should deliver to be honoured again the
dead body of him against whom evidence of
sorcery was brought by his nation, and who was
in suspicion of taking the kingdom of Csesar,
' Comp. Luke xxiii. 44-49.
^ John xix. 31-34.
3 [Or simply, "the Preparation;"
elsewhere, in the Kev. Vers. — K.J
comp. Matt, xxvii. 62, and
and so was given up by us to death? And Jo-
seph, weeping and in great grief, fell at the feet
of Pilate, saying : My lord, let no hatred fall
upon a dead man ; for all the evil that a man
has done should perish with him in his death.
And I know your highness, how eager thou wast
that Jesus should not be crucified, and how
much thou saidst to the Jews on his behalf, now
in entreaty and again in anger, and at last how
thou didst wash thy hands, and declare that thou
wouldst by no means take part with those who
wished him to be put to death ; for all which
reasons I entreat thee not to refuse my request.
Pilate, therefore, seeing Joseph thus lying, and
supplicating, and weeping, raised him up, and
said : Go, I grant thee this dead man ; take him,
and do whatever thou wilt.
And then Joseph, having thanked Pilate, and
kissed his hands and his garments, went forth,
rejoicing indeed in heart as having obtained his
desire, but carrying tears in his eyes. Thus also,
though grieved, he was glad. Accordingly he
goes away to Nicodemus, and discloses to him
all that had happened. Then, having bought
myrrh and aloes a hundred pounds, and a new
tomb,'* they, along with the mother of God and
Mary Magdalene and Salome, along with John,
and the rest of the women, cUdwhat was custom-
ary for the bo'^y with white linen, and placed
it in the toml .-
And the mother of God said, weeping : How
am I not to lam.ent thee, my son? How should
I not tear my face with my nails? This is that,
my son, which Symeon the elder foretold to me
when I brought thee, an infant of forty days old,
into the temple. This is the sword which now
goes through my soul.^ Who shall put a stop to
my tears, my sweetest son? No one at all ex-
cept thyself alone, if, as thou saidst, thou shalt
rise again in three days.
Mary Magdalene said, weeping : Hear, O peo-
ples, tribes, and tongues, and learn to what death
the lawless Jews have delivered him who did
them ten thousand good deeds. Hear, and be
astonished. Who will let these things be heard
by all the world ? I shall go alone to Rome, to
the Caesar. I shall show him what evil Pilate
hath done in obeying the lawless Jews. Like-
wise also, Joseph lamented, saying : Ah, me !
sweetest Jesus, most excellent of men, if indeed
it be proper to call thee man, who hast wrought
such miracles as no man has ever done. How'
shall I enshroud thee? How shall I entomb
thee ? There should now have been here those
whom thou fedst with a few loaves ; for thus
should I not have seemed to fail in what is due.
Then Joseph, along with Nicodemus, went
^ Comp. Matt, xxvii. 60.
5 John xix. 38-42.
*> Luke li. 35.
432
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
home ; and likewise also the mother of God,
with the women, John ' also being present with
them.
Chap. 12. — When the Jews were made ac-
quainted with these things done by Joseph and
Nicodemus, they were greatly stirred up against
them. And the chief priests Annas and Caia-
phas sent for Joseph, and said : Why hast thou
done this service to Jesus? Joseph says: I
know that Jesus was a man just,. and true, and
good in all respects ; and I know also that you,
through hatred, managed to murder him : and
thereibre I buried him. Then the high priests
were enraged, and laid hold of Joseph, and threw
him into prison, and said to him : If we had not
to-morrow the feast of unleavened bread, to-
morrow also should we have put thee, like him,
to death ; but being kept in the meantmie, early
in the morning of the Lord's day^ thou shalt
be given up to death. Thus they spoke, and
affixed their seal to the prison, having secured it
by fastenings of all sorts.
Thus, therefore, when the Preparation was
ended, early on the Sabbath the Jews went away
to Pilate, and said to him : My lord, that de-
ceiver said, that after three days he should rise
again. Lest, therefore, his disciples should steal
him by night, and lead the people astray by such
deceit, order his tomb to be guarded. Pilate
therefore, upon this, gave them five hundred
soldiers, who also sat round the sepulchre so as
to guard it, after having put seals upon the stone
of the tomb.3
The Lord's day, then, having dawned, the chief
priests, along with the Jews, called a council,
and sent to take Joseph out of the prison, in
order to put him to death. But having opened
it, they found him not. And they were aston-
ished at this — how, with the doors shut, and the
bolts safe, and the seals unbroken, Joseph had
disappeared.
Chap. 13. — And upon this there came up
one of the soldiers guarding the tomb, and he said
in the synagogue : Learn that Jesus has risen.
The Jews say : How? And he said : First there
was an earthquake ; then an angel of the Lord,
clothed with lightning, came from heaven, and
rolled the stone from the tomb, and sat upon it.
And from fear of him, all of us soldiers became
as dead, and were able neither to flee nor speak.
And we heard the angels saying to the women
who came there to see the tomb : Be not you
afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus. He is
not here, but is risen, as He told you before.
' It is to be observed that John's Gospel is much more frequently
quoted in this book than any of the others.
2 Observe the anachronism.
3 Malt, xxvii. 62 66.
Bend down and see the tomb where His body
lay ; but go and tell His disciples that He is
risen from the dead, and let them go into Gal-
ilee, for there shall they find Him. For this
reason I tell you this first.-*
The Jews say to the soldiers : What sort of
women were they who came to the tomb? and
why did you not lay hold of them ? The soldiers
say : From the fear and the mere sight of the
angel, we were aljle neither to. speak nor move.
The Jews said : As the God of Israel liveth, we
do not believe a word you say. The .soldiers
say : Jesus did so great wonders, and you be-
lieved not, and are you going to believe us?
You say truly that God liveth ; and certainly he
whom you crucified truly liveth. But we have
heard that you had Joseph shut up in the prison,
and that you afterwards opened the doors, and
did not find him. Do you then present Joseph,
and so we also shall present Jesus. The Jews
say : Joseph, that fled from the prison, you will
find in Arimathsea, his own country. And the
soldiers say : Go you too into Galilee, and you
will find Jesus, as the angel said to the women.
At these words the "Jews were afraid, and said
to the soldiers : See that you tell this story to
nobody, or all will believe in Jesus. And for this
reason they gave them also much money. And
the soldiers said : We are afraid lest by any
chance Pilate hear that we have taken money,
and he will kill us. And the Jews said : Take
it ; and we pledge ourselves that we shall speak
to Pilate in your defence. Only say that you
were asleep, and in your slumber the disciples
of Jesus came and stole him from the tomb.
The soldiers therefore took the money, and said
as they were bid. And up to this day this same
lying tale is told among the Jews, 5
Chap. 14. — And a few days after there came
from Galilee to Jerusalem three men. One of
them was a priest, by name Phinees ; the second
a Levite, by name Aggai ; and the third a soldier,
by name Adas. These came to the chief priests,
and said to them and to the people : Jesus,
whom you crucified, we have seen in Galilee with
his eleven disciples upon the Mount of Olives,
teaching them, and saying, Go into all the
world, and proclaim the good news ; and who-
soever will believe and be baptized shall be
saved ; but whosoever will not believe shall be
condemned. And having thus spoken, he went
up into heaven.^ And both we and many others
of the five hundred ^ besides were looking on.
And when the chief priests and the Jews heard
these things, they said to these three : Give glory
■• Matt, xxviii. i-8.
5 Malt, xxviii. 11-15.
6 Mark xvi. 16.
7 I Cor. XV. 6.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
433
to the God of Israel, and repent of these lies
that you have told. They answered : As the
God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
liveth, we do not lie, but tell you the truth.
Then the high priest spoke, and they brought
the old covenant of the Hebrews out of the tem-
ple, and he made them swear, and giving them
also money, he sent them into another place, in
order that they might not proclaim in Jerusalem
the resurrection of Christ.
And when these stories had been heard by all
the people- the crowd came together into the
temple, and there was a great commotion. For
many said : Jesus has risen from the dead, as
we hear, and why did you crucify him? And
Annas and Caiaphas said : Do not believe, ye
Jews, what the soldiers say ; and do not believe
that they saw an angel coming down from heaven.
For we have given money to the soldiers, in
order that they should not tell such tales to any
one ; and thus also have the disciples of Jesus
given them money, in order that they should say
that Jesus has risen from the dead.
Chap. 15. — Nicodemus says: O children of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the prophet Helias
went up into the height of heaven with a fiery
chariot, and it is nothing incredible if Jesus too
has risen ; for the prophet Helias was a proto-
type of Jesus, in order that you, hearing that
Jesus has risen, might not disbelieve. I there- i
fore say and advise, that it is befitting that we '\
send soldiers into Galilee, to that place where i
these men testify that they saw him with his dis- ;
ciples, in order that they may go round about ;
and find him, and that thus we may ask pardon \
of him for the evil which we have done to him. I
This proposal pleased them ; and they chose
soldiers, and sent them away into Galilee. And
Jesus indeed they did not find ; but they found
Joseph in Arimathsea.
When, therefore, the soldiers had returned,
the chief priests, having ascertained that Joseph
was found, brought the people together, and
said : What shall we do to get Joseph to come
to us? After deliberating, therefore, they wrote
to him a letter to the following effect : — O father
Joseph, peace be to thee and all thy house, and
thy friends ! We know that we have offended
against God, and against thee His servant. On
account of this, we entreat thee to come here to
us thy children. For we have wondered much
how thou didst escape from the prison, and we
say in truth that we had an evil design against
thee. But God, seeing that our designs against
thee were unjust, has delivered thee out of our
hands. But come to us, for thou art the honour
of our people.
This letter the Jews sent to Arimathcea, with
seven soldiers, friends of Joseph. And they went
away and found him ; and having respectfully
saluted him, as they had been ordered, they gave
him the letter. And after receiving it and read-
ing it, he glorified God, and embraced the sol-
diers ; and having set a table, ate and drank with
them during all the day and the night.
And on the following day he set out with them
to Jerusalem ; and the people came forth to meet
him, and embraced him. And Nicodemus re-
ceived him into his own house. And the day
after, Annas and Caiaphas, the chief priests, hav-
ing summoned him to the temple, said to him :
Give glory to the God of Israel, and tell us the
truth. For we know that thou didst bury Jesus ;
and on this account we laid hold of thee, and
locked thee up in the prison. Thereafter, when
we sought to bring thee out to be put to death,
we did not find thee, and we were greatly as-
tonished and afraid. Moreover, we prayed to
God that we might find thee, and ask thee. Tell
us therefore the truth.
Joseph said to them : In the evening of the
Preparation, when you secured me in prison, I
fell a-praying throughout the whole night, and
throughout the whole day of the Sabbath. And
at midnight I see the prison-house that four an-
gels lifted it up,' holding it by the four corners.
And Jesus came in Hke hghtning, and I fell to
the ground from fear. Taking hold of me,
therefore, \ry\\\& hand, he raised me, saying.
Fear not, Joseph. Thereafter, embracing me,
he kissed me, and said. Turn thyself, and see
who I am. Turning myself, therefore, and look-
ing, I said. My lord, I know not who thou art.
He says, I am Jesus, whom thou didst bury the
day before yesterday. I say to him. Show me
the tomb, and then I shall believe. He took
me, therefore, by the hand, and led me away to
the tomb, which had been opened. And seeing
the linen and the napkin, and recognising him,
I said. Blessed is he that cometh in the name
of the Lord;^ and I adored him. Then taking
me by the hand, and accompanied by the an-
gels, he brought me to my house in Arimathsa,
and said to me. Sit here for forty days ; for I go
to my disciples, in order that I may enable them
fully to proclaim my resurrection.
Chap. 16. — When Joseph had thus spoken,
the chief priests cried out to the people : We
know that Jesus had a father and mother ; how
can we believe that he is the Christ? One of
the Levites answered and said : I know the
family of Jesus, noble-minded men,^ great ser-
vants of God, and receiving tithes from the peo-
ple of the Jews. And I know also Symeon the
1 ktTiKw<Ta.v, which should be k(j-r\Kia<jo.v, is a modern Greek word,
the aorist of cttjkoi'w.
2 Ps. cxviii. 26; Matt. xxi. 9.
3 Or, literally, men of good family.
434
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
elder, that he received him when he was an in-
fant, and said to him : Now thou sendest away
Thy servant, O Lord.
The Jews said : Let us now find the three
men that saw him on the Mount of Olives, that
we may question them, and learn the truth more
accurately. They found them, and brought
them before all, and made them swear to tell
the truth. And they said : As the God of Israel
liveth, we saw Jesus alive on the Mount of
Olives, and going up into heaven.
Then Annas and Caiaphas -took the three
apart, one by one, and questioned them singly
in private. They agreed with one another,
therefore, and gave, even the three, one account.
The chief priests answered, saying : Our Scrip-
ture says that every word shall be established by
two or three witnesses.' Joseph, then, has con-
fessed that he, along with Nicodemus, attended
to his body, and buried him, and how it is the
truth that he has risen.^
' Deut. xix. 15; Matt, xviii. 16.
2 This last clause would be belter as a question: And how is it
the truth that he has risen?
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
Part II.— The Descent of Christ into Hell.
GREEK FORM.
Chap, i (17). — Joseph says: And why do
you wonder that Jesus has risen? But it is
Avonderful that He has not risen alone, but that
He has also raised many others of the dead,
who have appeared in Jerusalem to many.'
And if you do not know the others, Symeon
at least, who received Jesus, and his two sons
whom He has raised up — them at least you
know. For we buried them not long ago ; but
now their tombs are seen open and empty, and
they are alive, and dwelling in Arimathfea. They
therefore sent men, and they found their tombs
open and empty. Joseph says : Let us go to
Arimathsea and find them.
Then rose up the chief priests Annas and
Caiaphas, and Joseph, and Nicodemus, and
Gamaliel, and others with them, and went
away to Arimathsa, and found those whom
Joseph spoke of. They made prayer, there-
fore, and saluted each other. Then they came
with them to Jerusalem, and brought them into
the synagogue, and secured the doors, and placed
in the midst the old covenant of the Jews ; and
the chief priests said to them : We wish you to
swear by the God of Israel and Adonai, and so
that you tell the truth, how you have risen, and
who has raised you from the dead.
The men who had risen having heard this,
made upon their faces the sign of the cross, and
said to the chief priests : Give us paper and
ink and pen. These therefore they brought.
And sitting down, they wrote thus : —
Chap. 2 (18). — O Lord Jesus Christ, the
resurrection and the life of the world, grant us
grace that we may give an account of Thy res-
urrection, and Thy miracles which Thou didst
in Hades. We then were in Hades, with all
' Matt, xxvii. 53.
who had fallen asleep since the beginning of the
world. And at the hour of midnight there rose
a light as if of the sun, and shone into these
dark irgions ; and we were all lighted up, and
saw each other. And straightway our father
Abraham was united with the patriarchs and the
prophets, and at the same time they were filled
with joy, and said to each other : This light is from
a great sour^ ^ of light. The prophet Hesaias,
who was thtie present, said : This light is from
the Father, and from the Son, and from the Holy
Spirit ; about whom I prophesied when yet alive,
saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of
Nephthalim, the people that sat in darkness,
have seen a great light. -
Then there came into the midst another, an
ascetic from the desert ; and the patriarchs said
to him : Who art thou ? And he said : I am
John, the last of the prophets, who made the
paths of the Son of God straight,^ and pro-
claimed to the people repentance for the remis-
sion of sins.'* And the Son of God came to
me ; and I, seeing Him a long way off, said to
the people : Behold the Lamb of God, who
taketh away the sin of the world. 5 And with
my hand I baptized Him in the river Jordan,
and I saw like a dove also the Holy Spirit
coming upon Him ;^ and I heard also the voice
of God, even the Father, ? thus saying : This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.**
And on this account He sent me also to you, t/o
proclaim how the only begotten Son of God is
coming here, that whosoever shall believe in
Him shall be saved, and whosoever shall not be-
2 Isa. ix. I, 2.
3 Matt. iii. 3.
■* Mark i. 4.
5 John i. 29.
6 Or: and I saw, as it were, a dove and the Holy Spirit, etc.
7 Oi, of the God and Father.
8 Luke iii. 22.
435
436
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
lieve in Him shall be condemned.' On this ac-
count I say to you all, in order that when you
see Him you all may adore Him, that now only
is for you the time of repentance for having
adored idols in the vain upper world, and for
the sins you have committed, and that this is
iiTipossible at any other time.
Chap. 3 (19). — While John, therefore, was
thus teaching those in Hades, the first created
and forefather Adam heard, and said to his son
Seth : My son, I wish thee to te'll the forefathers
of the race of men and the prophets where I sent
thee, when it fell to my lot to die. And Seth
said : Prophets and patriarchs, hear. When my
father Adam, the first created, was about to fall
once upon a time into death, he sent me to make
entreaty to God very close by the gate of paradise,
that He would guide me by an angel to the tree
of compassion, and that I might take oil and
anoint my father, and that he might rise up from
his sickness : which thing, therefore, I also did.
And after the prayer an angel of the Lord came,
and said to me : What, Seth, dost thou ask ?
Dost thou ask oil which raiseth up the sick, or
the tree from which this oil flows, on account
of the sickness of thy father? This is not to be
found now. Go, therefore, and tell thy father,
that after the accomplishing of five thousand five
hundred years ^ from the creation of the world,
then shall come into the earth the only begotten
Son of God, being made man ; and He shall
anoint him with this oil, and shall raise him up ;
and shall wash clean, with water and with the
Holy Spirit, both him and those out of him, and
then shall lie be healed of every disease ; but
now this is impossible. ^
When the patriarchs and the prophets heard
these words, they rejoiced greatly.
Chap. 4 (20). — And when all were in such
joy, came Satan the heir of darkness, and said to
Hades : O all-devouring and insatiable, hear my
words. There is of the race of the Jews one
named Jesus, calling himself the Son of God ;
and being a man, by our working with them the
Jews have crucified him : and now when he is
dead, be ready that we may secure him here.
For I know that he is a man, and I heard him
also saying, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even
unto death.^ He has also done me many evils
when living with mortals in the upper world. For
wherever he found my servants, he persecuted
them ; and whatever men I made crooked, blind,
lame, lepers, or any such thing, by a single word
I [Mark xvi. i6.]: John iii. i8.
* 5300 B.C. was the date commonly assigned to the creation.
See Clem., Sirom., i.; Theoph. Ant., ad A uioi., hi.; comp. Just.,
Apol., xxxix.
3 For this legend, see the Revelation of Moses.
■* Mark xv. 34.
he healed them ; and many whom I had got
ready to be buried, even these through a single
word he brought to life again.
Hades says : And is this man so powerful as
to do such things by a single word ? or if he be
so, canst thou withstand him ? It seems to me
that, if he be so, no one will be able to withstand
him. And if thou sayest that thou didst hear
him dreading death, he said this mocking thee,
and laughing, wishing to seize thee with the
strong hand ; and woe, woe to thee, to all eter-
nity !
Satan says : O all-devouring and insatiable
Hades, art thou so afraid at hearing of our com-
mon enemy? I was not afraid of him, but
worked in the Jews, and they crucified him, and
gave him also to drink gall with vinegar.5 Make
ready, then, in order that you may lay fast hold
of him when he comes.
Hades answered : Heir of darkness, son of
destruction, devil, thou hast just now told me
that many whom thou hadst made ready to be
buried, he brought to life again by a single word.
And if he has delivered others from the tomb,
how and with what po^er shall he be laid hold
of by us ? For I not long ago swallowed down
one dead, Lazarus by name ; and not long after,
one of the living by a single word dragged him
up by force out of my bowels : and I think that
it was he of whom thou speakest. If, therefore,
we receive him here, I am afraid lest perchance
we be in danger even about the rest. For, lo,
all those that I have swallowed from eternity I
perceive to be in commotion, and I am pained
in my belly. And the snatching away of Lazarus
beforehand seems to me to be no good sign : for
not like a dead body, but like an eagle, he flew
out of me ; for so suddenly did the earth throw
him out. Wherefore also I adjure even thee,
for thy benefit and for mine, not to bring him
here ; for I think that he is coming here to raise
all the dead. And this I tell thee : by the dark-
ness in which we live, if thou bring him here,
not one of the dead will be left behind in it to
me.
Chap. 5 (21). — While Satan and Hades were
thus speaking to each other, there was a great
voice like thunder, saying : Lift up your gates,
O ye rulers ; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
gates ; and the King of glory shall come in.^
When Hades heard, he said to Satan : Go forth,
if thou art able, and withstand him. Satan there-
fore went forth to the outside. Then Hades says
to his demons : Secure well and strongly the
gates of brass and the bars of iron, and attend
to my bolts, and stand in order,^ and see to
5 Matt, xxvii. 34.
* Ps. xxiv. 7.
7 Lit., erect.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
437
everything ; for if he come in here, woe will
seize us.
The forefathers having heard this, began all to
revile him, saying : O all-devouring and insatia-
ble ! open, that the King of glory may come in.
David the prophet says : Dost thou not know,
O blind, that I when living in the world prophe-
sied this saying : Lift up your gates, O ye rulers ?
Hesaias said : I, foreseeing this by the Holy
Spirit, wrote : The dead shall rise up, and those
in their tombs shall be raised, and those in the
earth shall rejoice.' And where, O death, is thy
sting ? where, O Hades, is thy victory ? ^
There came, then, again a voice saying : Lift
up the gates. Hades, hearing the voice the sec-
ond time, answered as if forsooth he did not
know, and says : Who is this King of glory ?
The angels of the Lord say : The Lord strong
and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. ^ And
immediately with these words the brazen gates
were shattered, and the iron bars broken, and
all the dead who had been bound came out of
the prisons, and we with them. And the King
of glory came in in the form of a man, and all
the dark places of Hades were lighted up.
Chap. 6 (22). — Immediately Hades cried
out : We have been conquered : woe to us ! But
who art thou, that hast such power and might?
and what art thou, who comest here without sin,
who art seen to be small and yet of great power,
lowly and exalted, the slave and the master, the
soldier and the king, who hast power over
the dead and the living? Thou wast nailed
on the cross, and placed in the tomb ; and now
thou art free, and hast destroyed all our power.
Art thou then the Jesus about whom the chief
satrap Satan told us, that through cross and
death thou art to inherit the whole world?
Then the King of glory seized the chief satrap
Satan by the head, and delivered him to His an-
gels, and said : With iron chains bind his hands,
and his feet, and his neck, and his mouth. Then
He delivered him to Hades, and said : Take him,
and keep him secure till my second appearing.
Chap. 7 (23). — And Hades receiving Satan,
said to him : Beelzebul, heir of fire and punish-
ment, enemy of the saints, through what neces-
sity didst thou bring about that the King of glory
should be crucified, so that he should come here
and deprive us of our power ? Turn and see
that not one of the dead has been left in me,
but all that thou hast gained through the tree of
knowledge, all hast thou lost through the tree
of the cross : and all thy joy has been turned into
grief; and wishing to put to death the King of
' Isa. xxvi. 19,- according to the LXX.
^ Hos. xiii. 14.
3 Ps. xxiv. 8.
glory, thou hast put thyself to death. For, since
1 have received thee to keep thee safe, by expe-
rience shalt thou learn how many evils I shall do
unto thee. O arch-devil, the beginning of death,
root of sin, end of all evil, what evil didst thou
find in Jesus, that thou shouldst compass his de-
struction? how hast thou dared to do such evil?
how hast thou busied thyself to bring down such
a man into this darkness, through whom thou
hast been deprived of all who have died from
eternity ?
Chap. 8 (24). — While Hades was thus dis-
coursing to Satan, the King of glory stretched
out His right hand, and took hold of our fore-
father Adam, and raised him. Then turning also
to the rest. He said : Come all with me, as many
as have died through the tree which he touched ;
for, behold, I again raise you all up through the
tree of the cross. Thereupon He brought them
all out, and our forefather Adam seemed to be
filled with joy, and said : I thank Thy majesty,
O Lord, that Thou hast brought me up out of
the lowest Hades.-* Likewise also all the proph-
ets and the saints said : We thank Thee, O
Christ, Saviour of the world, that Thou hast
brought our life up out of destruction. s
And after they had thus spoken, the Saviour
blessed Adam with the sign of the cross on his
forehead, an'"', lid this also to the patriarchs, and
prophets, and martyrs, and forefathers ; and He
took them, and sprang up out of Hades. And
while He was going, the holy fathers accom-
panying Him sang praises, saying : Blessed is He
that Cometh in the name of the Lord : ^ Alleluia ;
to Him be the glory of all the saints.
Chap. 9 (25). — And setting out to paradise.
He took hold of our forefather Adam by the
hand, and delivered him, and all the just, to the
archangel Michael. And as they were going into
the door of paradise, there met them two old
men, to whom the holy fathers said : Who are
you, who have not seen death, and have not
come down into Hades, but who dwell in para-
dise in your bodies and your souls? One of
them answered, and said : I am Enoch, who was
well-pleasing to God, and who was translated
hither by Him ; and this is Helias the Thesbite ;
and we are also to Ifve until the end of the
world ; and then we are to be sent by God to
withstand Antichrist, and to be slain by hip,
and after three days to rise again, and to be
snatched up in clouds to meet the Lord.?
Chap. 10 (26). — While they were thus
speaking, there came another lowly man, carry-
* Ps. Ixxxvi. ij.
S Comp. Ps. ciii. 4.
* Ps. cxviii. 26.
7 I Thess. iv. 17; Rev. xi. 3-12.
438
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
ing also upon his shoulders a cross, to whom the
holy fathers said : Who art thou, who hast the
look of a robber ; and what is the cross which
thou bearest upon thy shoulders ? He answered :
I, as you say, was a robber and a thief in the
world, and for these things the Jews laid hold of
me, and delivered me to the death of tlie cross,
along with our Lord Jesus Christ. While, then,
He was hanging upon the cross, I, seeing the
miracles that were done, beUeved in Him, and
entreated Him, and said. Lord, when Thou shalt
be King, do not forget me. And immediately
He said to me. Amen, amen : to-day, I say unto
thee, shalt thou be with me in paradise. There-
fore I came to paradise carrying my cross ; and
finding the archangel Michael, I said to him.
Our Lord Jesus, who has been crucified, has sent
me here ; bring me, therefore, to the gate of
Eden. And the flaming sword, seeing the sign
of the cross, opened to me, and I went in.
Then the archangel says to me. Wait a little, for
there cometh also the forefather of the race of
men, Adam, with the just, that they too may come
in. And now, seeing you, I came to meet you.
The saints hearing these things, all cried out
with a loud voice : Great is our Lord, and great
is His strength.'
Chap, i i (27). — All these things we saw and
heard ; we, the two brothers, who also have been
sent by Michael the archangel, and have been or-
dered to proclaim the resurrection of the Lord,
but first to go away to the Jordan and to be bap-
tized. Thither also we have gone, and have been
baptized with the rest of the dead who have risen.
Thereafter also we came to Jerusalem, and cele-
brated the passover of the resurrection. But
now we are going away, being unable to stay here.
And the love of God, even the Father, and the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the com-
munion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.^
Having written these things, and secured the
rolls, they gave the half to the chief priests, and
the half to Joseph and Nicodemus. And they
immediately disappeared : to the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
' Ps. cxlvii. 5.
^ 2 Cor. xiii. 15.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
Part I. — acts of Pilate.
LATIN FORM.
I v^NEAS was at first a protector of the He-
brews, and follower of the law ; then the grace
of the Saviour and His great gift took possession
of me. I recognised Christ Jesus in holy Scrip-
ture ; I came to Him, and embraced His faith,
so that I might become worthy of His holy bap-
tism. First of all I searched for the memoirs
written in those times about our Lord Jesus
Christ, which the Jews published in the age of
Pontius Pilate, and we found them in Hebrew
writings, drawn up in the age of the Lord Jesus
Christ ; and I translated them into the language
of the Gentiles, in the reign of the eminent
Theodosius, who was fulfilling his seventeenth
consulship, and of Valentinian, consul for the
fifth time in the ninth indiction. Whosoever
of you read this book, and transfer it to other
copies, remember me, and pray for me, ^neas,
least of the servants of God, that He be merci-
ful to me, and pardon my sins which I have
committed against Him. Peace be to all who
shall read these, and to all their house, for ever !
Amen.
Now it came to pass, in the nineteenth year
of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, emperor of the
Romans, and of Herod, son of Herod king of
Galilee, in the nineteenth year of his rule, on the
eighth day before the kalends of April, which
is the twenty-fifth day of the month of March, in
the consulship of Rufinus and Rubellio, in the
fourth year of the 202d Olympiad, under the
rule of Joseph and Caiaphas, priests of the Jews :
the things done by the chief priests and the rest
of the Jews, which Nicodemus recorded after
the cross and passion of the Lord, Nicodemus
himself committed to Hebrew letters.
Chap. i. — Annas and Caiaphas, Summas and
Datam, Gamaliel, Judas, Levi, Neptalim, Alex-
ander and Jairus, and the rest of the Jews, came
to Pilate, accusing the Lord Jesus Christ of many
things, and saying : We know him to be the son
of Joseph the carpenter, born of Mary ; and he
says that he is the Son of God, and a king. Not
only so, but he also breaks the Sabbath, and
wishes to do away with the law of our fathers.
Pilate says : What is it that he does, and wishes
to destroy the law ? The Jews say : We have a
law, not to heal any one on the Sabbath ; but
he, by evil ^if^i^..-^, heals on the Sabbath the lame
and the hunchbacked, the blind, the palsied, the
lepers, and the demoniacs. Pilate says to them :
By what evil arts ? They say to him : He is a sor-
cerer ; and by Beelzebub, prince of the demons,
he casts out demons, and they are all subject to
him. Pilate says to them : It is not in an un-
clean spirit to cast out demons, but in the god
of Scolapius.
The Jews say : We pray thy majesty to set
him before thy tribunal to be heard. Pilate,
calling the Jews to him, says to them : How can
I, seeing that I am a governor," hear a king?
They say to him : We do not say that he is a
king, but he himself says he is. And Pilate,
calling a runner, says to him : Let Jesus be
brought in with kindness. And the runner, go-
ing out and recognising Him, adored Him, and
spread on the ground the cloak which he carried
in his hand, saying : My lord, walk upon this,
and come in, because the governor calls thee.
But the Jews, seeing what the runner did, cried
out against Pilate, saying : Why didst not then
make him come in by the voice of a crier, but
by a runner? for the runner, too, seeing him, has
adored him, and has spread out before him on
the ground the cloak which he held in his hand,
and has said to him : My lord, the governor calls
thee.
' The word in the original is the general X.k.wtv prcaes,
Vulgate uses for procurator.
439
which the
440
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
And Pilate, calling the runner, says to him :
Wherefore hast thou done this, and honoured
Jesus, who is called Christ? The runner says to
him : When thou didst send me into Jerusalem
to Alexander, I saw him sitting upon an ass, and
the children of the Hebrews breaking branches
from the trees, strewing them in the way ; and
others held branches in their hands ; and others
spread their garments in the way, shouting and
saying, Save, therefore, Thou who art in the
highest ; blessed is He that cometh in the name
of the Lord !
The Jews cried out, saying against the runner :
The children of the Hebrews indeed cried out
in Hebrew, How canst thou, a Gentile, know
this? The runner says to them: I asked one
of the Jews, and said, What is it that they cry
out in Hebrew? and he explained to me. Pilate
says to them : And how did they cry out in He-
brew ? The Jews said : Osanna in the highest !
Pilate says to them : What is the meaning of
Osanna in the highest ? They say to him : Save
us, Thou who art in the highest. Pilate says to
them : If you yourselves bear witness to the
terms and words in which the children cried out,
in what has the runner sinned ? And they were
silent. The governor says to the runner : Go
out, and lead him in, in whatever way thou wilt.
And the runner, going forth, did after the same
form as before, and says to J esus : My lord, go
in, because the governor calls thee.
As Jesus, then, was going in, and the standard-
bearers bearing the standards, the heads of the
standards were bowed of themselves, and adored
Jesus. And the Jews, seeing the standards, how
they bowed themselves and adored Jesus, cried
out the more against the standard-bearers. And
Pilate says to the Jews : Do you not wonder at
the way in which the standards have bowed
themselves and adored Jesus? The Jews say
to Pilate : We saw how the men carrying the
standards bowed themselves and adored Jesus.
And the governor, calling the standard-bearers,
says to them : Why have you so done ? They
say to Pilate : We are Gentile men, and slaves
of the temples : how had we ' to adore him ?
for when we were holding the figures,^ they
themselves bowed and adored him.
Pilate says to the chiefs of the synagogue and
the elders of the people : Choose ye men power-
ful and strong, and let them hold the standards,
and let us see w^hether they will bow of them-
selves. And the elders of the Jews, taking twelve
men very strong and powerful, made them hold
the standards, six and six ; and they stood before
the governor's tribunal. Pilate says to the run-
ner : Take out Jes^s outside of the prsetorium.
' i.e., was it possible for us.
2 Vultus. He seems to have read it^oaia-na, and not Trporo^io
as in the Greek.
and bring him in again, in whatever way thou
wilt. And Jesus and the runner went outside of
the prjetorium. And Pilate, calling those who
had formerly held the standards, said to them :
By the health of Ceesar, if the standards do not
bow themselves when Jesu3 comes in, I will cut
off your heads. And the governor ordered Jesus
to come in a second time. And the runner did
after the same form as before, and besought
Jesus much that He would go up and walk upon
his cloak. And He walked upon it, and went
in. And as Jesus was going in, immediately
the standards bowed themselves, and adored
Jesus.
Chap. 2. — And Pilate seeing, fear seized him,
and immediately he wished to rise from the tri-
bunal. And while he was thinking of this, viz.,
to rise and go away, his wife sent to him, saying :
Have nothing to do with that just man,^ for I
have suffered much on account of him this night.
And Pilate, calling the Jews, said to them : Ye
know that my wife is a worshipper of God, and
in Judaism thinks rather with you. The Jews say
to him : So it is, and we know. Pilate says to
them : Lo, my wife has sent to me, saying : Have
nothing to do with that just man,^ for I have
suffered much on account of him this night.
And the Jews answering, said to Pilate : Did we
not say to thee that he is a magician ? Lo, he
has sent a vision of dreams to thy wife.
Pilate called Jesus, and said to him : What is
it that these witness against thee, and sayest thou
nothing to them ? And Jesus answered : If they
had not the power, they would not speak. Every
one has power over his own mouth to say good
and evil ; let them see ^ to it.
And the elders of the Jews answering, say to
Jesus : What shall we see ? First, that thou wast
born of fornication ; second, that at thy birth
in Bethlehem there took place a massacre of
infants ; third, that thy father Joseph and thy
mother Mary fled into Egypt, because they had
no confidence in the people.
Some of the bystanders, kind men of the
Jews, say : We say that he was not born of for-
nication ; but we know that Mary was espoused
to Joseph, and that he was not born of fornica-
tion. Pilate says to the Jews who said that he
was of fornication : This speech of yours is not
true, seeing that the betrothal took place, as
these of your nation say. Annas and Caiaphas
say to Pilate : We with all the multitude say
that he was born of fornication, and that he is a
magician ; but these are proselytes, and his dis-
ciples. And Pilate, calling Annas and Caiaphas,
says to them : What are proselytes ? They say
to him : They have been born sons of the Gen-
3 Lit., nothing to thee and that just man.
* Lit., they will see.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
441
tiles, and then have become Jews. Then an-
swered those who testified that Jesus was not
born of fornication, Lazarus and Asterius, An-
tonius and James, Annes and Azaras, Samuel
and Isaac, Finees and Crispus, Agrippa and
Judas : We were not born proselytes, but are
sons of the Jews, and we speak the truth ; for
we were present at the betrothal of Mary.
And Pilate, calling to him those twelve men
who proved that Jesus had not been born of
fornication, said to them : I adjure you by the
health of C?esar, tell me if it be true that Jesus
was not born of fornication. They say to Pilate :
We have a law not to swear, because it is a sin ;
but let them swear by the health of Caesar that
it is not as we say, and we are worthy of death.
Then said Pilate to Annas and Caiaphas : An-
swer you nothing to those things which these
testify? Annas and Caiaphas say to Pilate:
Those twelve are believed that he is not born of
fornication ; we — all the people — cry out that
he was born of fornication, and is a magician,
and says that he himself is the Son of God and
a king, and we are not believed.
And Pilate ordered all the multitude to go
outside, except the twelve men who said that
He was not born of fornication, and ordered to
separate Jesus from them. And Pilate says to
them : For what reason do the Jews wish to put
Jesus to death? And they' say to him: They
are angry because he heals on the Sabbath.
Pilate said : For a good work do they wish to
put him to death ? They say to him : Yes, my
lord.
Chap. 3. — Pilate, filled with fury, went forth
outside of the prsetorium, and says to them : I
take the sun to witness that I find in this man
not even one fault. The Jews answered and said
to the governor : If he were not an evil-doer,
we should never have delivered him to thee.
Pilate says to them : Take him, and judge him
according to your law. The Jews answered : It
is not permitted to us to put any one to death.
Pilate says to them : Has God said to you not
to put any one to death ? has He therefore said
to me that I am to kill?
Pilate, having again gone into the praetorium,
called Jesus to him privately, and said to Him :
Art thou the king of the Jews ? Jesus answered
Pilate : Speakest thou this of thyself, or have
others said it to thee of me? Pilate an-
swered: Am I a Jew? Thy nation and the!
chief priests have delivered thee to me. What
hast thou done ? Jesus answering, said : My |
kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom '
were of this world, my servants would assuredly '
strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews ; \
but now my kingdom is not from hence. Pilate |
said to Him : Art thou then a king? Jesus said |
to him : Thou sayest that I am a king. For I
for this was born, and for this have I come, that
I should bear witness to the truth ; and every
one who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate
says to him : What is truth? Jesus says : Truth
is from heaven. Pilate says : Is not there truth
upon earth? Jesus says to Pilate: Notice how
the truth-speaking are judged by those who have
power upon earth.
Chap. 4. — Pilate therefore, leaving Jesus
within the prgetorium, went oul, to the Jews,
and says to them : I find not even one fault in
him. The Jews say to him : He said, I can
destroy that temple, and in three days raise it
again. Pilate said to them: What temple?
The Jews say to him : The temple which
Solomon built in forty and six years ; and he
says that he can destroy and build it in three
days. Pilate says to them : I am innocent of
the blood of this man ; see ye to it. The
Jews say to him : His blood be upon us, and
upon our children.
And Pilate, calling the elders and priests and
Levites, says to them privately : Do not do so ;
for in nothing, though you accuse him, do I find
him deserving of death, not even about the heal-
I ing and the breaking of the Sabbath. The priests
and Levites and elders say : Tell us, if any one
blaspheme C <sar, is he deserving of death or
not? Pilate says to them : He deserves to die.
The Jews answered him : How much more is he
who has blasphemed God deserving to die !
And the governor ordered the Jews to go out-
side of the praetorium ; and calling Jesus, said
to Him : What am I to do to thee ? Jesus says
to Pilate : As it has been given thee. Pilate
says : How has it been given ? Jesus says :
Moses and the prophets made proclamation of
my death and resurrection. And the Jews, hear-
ing this, say to Pilate : Why do you desire any
more to hear blasphemy? And Pilate said: If
this speech is blasphemous, do you take him,
and lead him to your synagogue, and judge him
according to your law. The Jews say to Pilate :
Our law holds, If a man have sinned against a
man, he is worthy to receive forty less one ; but
he who has blasphemed against God, to be
stoned.
Pilate says to them : Then judge him accord-
ing to your law. The Jews say to Pilate : We
wish that he be crucified. Pilate says to them i
He does not deserve to be crucified.
And the governor, looking upon the people
of the Jews standing round, saw very many of
the Jews weeping, and said : All the multitude
does not wish him to die. The elders say to
Pilate : And for this reason have we come —
the whole multitude — that he should die. Pilate
said to the Jews : What has he done that he
442
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
should die ? They say : Because he said that
he was the Son of God, and a king.
Chap. 5. — But one Nicodemus, a Jew, stood
before the governor, and said : I entreat, mer-
cifully allow me to say a few words. Pilate says
to him : Say on. Nicodemus says : I said to
the elders and the priests and the Levites, and
to all the multitude of the Jews, in the syna-
gogue. What have you to do with this man?
This man does many wonders and signs, which
no one of meji has done or c&n do. Let him
go, and do not devise any evil against him : if
the signs which he does are of God, they will
stand ; but if of men, they will come to nothing.
For Moses also, being sent by God into Egypt,
did many signs, which God told him to do be-
fore Pharaoh king of Egypt. And the sorcerers
Jamnes and Mambres were there healing, and
they did, they also, the signs which Moses did,
but not all ; and the Egyptians deemed them as
gods, Jamnes and Mambres. And since the
signs which they did were not of God, they
perished, both they and those who believed in
them. And now let this man go, for he is not
deserving of death.
The Jews say to Nicodemus : Thou hast be-
come his disciple, and takest his part.' Nico-
demus says to them : Has the governor also
become his disciple, and does he take his part?
Has not Ceesar set him over that dignity ? And
the Jews were raging and gnashing with their
teeth against Nicodemus. Pilate says to them :
Why do you gnash with your teeth against him,
when you are hearing the truth ? The Jews say
to Nicodemus : Mayst thou receive his truth, and
a portion with him ! Nicodemus says : Amen,
amen, amen ; may I receive //, as you have said !
Chap. 6. — And of the Jews a certain other
one, starting up, asks the governor that he might
say a word. The governor says : What thou
wishest to say, say. And he said : For thirty-
eight years I lay in infirmity in my bed in very
grievous pain. And at the coming of Jesus,
many demoniacs, and persons held down by
divers infirmities, were healed by him. And
some young men had pity on me ; and carrying
me in my bed, laid me before him. And Jesus,
seeing, had pity on me, and said the word to
me. Take up thy bed, and walk. And immedi-
ately I was made whole ; I took up my bed, and
walked. The Jews say to Pilate : Ask him what
was the day on which he was healed. He said :
The Sabbath. The Jews say : Have we not so
informed thee, that on the Sabbath he heals,
and drives out demons?
And a certain other Jew starting up, said : I
I Lit., makest a word for him.
was bom blind ; I heard a voice, and saw no
man. And as Jesus was passing by, I cried out
with a loud voice. Have pity upon me, thou son
of David. And he had pity upon me, and laid
his hands upon my eyes, and I saw immediately.
And another Jew starting up, said : I was hunch-
backed, and he straightened me with a word.
And another said : I was leprous, and he healed
me with a word.
Chap. 7. — And also a certain woman, Veron-
ica by name, from afar off cried out to the gov-
ernor : I was flowing with blood for twelve years ;
and I touched the fringe of his garment, and im-
mediately the flowing of my blood stopped.
The Jews say : We have a law, that a woman
does not come to bear witness.
Chap. 8. — And certain others, a multitude of
men and women, cried out, saying : That man is
a prophet, and the demons are subject to him.
Pilate says to those who said the demons are
subject to him : And your masters, why are they
not subject to him ? They say to Pilate : We do
not know. And others said to Pilate : He raised
up dead Lazarus from the tomb after four days.
The governor, hearing this, said trembling to all
the multitude of the Jews : Why do you wish to
shed innocent blood ?
Chap. 9. — And Pilate, calling Nicodemus and
the twelve men who said that He was not born of
fornication, says to them : What am I to do, see-
ing that there is a sedition among the people?
They say to him : We do not know ; let them see
to it. Again Pilate, calling all the multitude of
the Jews, said : You know that you have a custom
during the day of unleavened bread, that I
should release to you one that is bound. I have
a notable one bound in the prison, a murderer
who is called Barabbas, and Jesus who is called
Christ, in whom I find no cause of death.
Whom do you wish that I should release unto
you ? And they all cried out, saying : Release
unto us Barabbas. Pilate says to them : What,
then, am I to do with Jesus who is called Christ?
They all say : Let him be crucified. Again the
Jews said : Thou art no friend of Csesar's if thou
release this man, for he called himself the Son of
God, and a king ; unless, perhaps, thou wishest
this man to be king, and not Caesar.
Then, filled with fury, Pilate said to them : Al-
ways has your nation been seditious, and always
have you been opposed to those who were for
you. The Jews answered: Who are for us?
Pilate says to them : Your God, — who rescued
you from the hard slavery of the Egyptians, and
led you forth out of Egypt through the sea as if
through dry land, and fed you in the desert with
manna and quail, and brought water to you out
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
443
of the rock, and gave you to drink, and gave
you a law ; and in all these things you provoked
your God, and sought for yourselves a god, a
molten calf. And you exasperated your God,
and He wished to slay you ; and Moses made
supplication for you, that ye should not die. And
now you say that I hate the king.
And rising up from the tribunal, he wished to
go outside. And the Jews cried out, and said
to him : We know that Caesar is king, and not
Jesus. For the Magi also presented gifts to him
as to a king ; and Herod, hearing from the Magi
that a king was born, wished to slay him. But
when this was known, his father Joseph took him
and his mother, and fled into Egypt ; and Herod
hearing, destroyed the infants of the Jews which
were born in Bethlehem.
Pilate, hearing those words, was afraid. And
silence being made among the people, who were
crying out, Pilate said : This, then, is he whom
Herod sought? They say to him: It is he.
And taking water, Pilate washed his hands in
presence of the people, saying : I am innocent
of the blood of this just man ; see ye to it.
Again the Jews cried out, saying : His blood be
upon us, and upon our children.
Then Pilate ordered the veil to be loosened,'
and said to Jesus : Thine own nation have
brought charges against thee as a king ; and
therefore I have sentenced • thee first to be
scourged on account of the statutes of the em-
perors, and then to be crucified on a cross.
Chap. io. — And when Jesus was scourged, he
delivered Him to the Jews to be crucified, and
two robbers with Him ; one by name Dismas, and
the other by name Gestas. And when they came
to the place, they stripped Him of His garments,
and girt Him about with a linen cloth, and put a
crown of thorns upon His head. Likewise also
they hanged the two robbers with Him, Dismas
on the right and Gestas on the left. And Jesus
said : Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do. And the soldiers parted His gar-
ments among them. And the people stood wait-
ing ; and their chief priests and judges mocked
Him, saying among themselves : He saved others,
now let him save himself; if he is the Son of
God, let him come down from the cross. And
the soldiers mocked Him, falling prostrate ^ before
Him, and offering vinegar with gall, and saying :
If thou art the King of the Jews, set thyself free.
And Pilate, after sentence, ordered a title to
be written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin letters,
accordmg to what the Jews said : This is the
King of the Jews.
And one of the robbers who were hanged,
' See note 5, p. 420.
2 Procidentcs; but this, according to the Greek, should be pro-
cedentes, coming before Him.
by name Gestas, said to Him : If thou art the
Christ, free thyself and us. And Dismas an-
swering, rebuked him, saying: Dost not even
thou fear God, who art in this condemnation?
for we justly and deservedly have received those
things which we endure ; but He has done no
evil. And he kept saying to Jesus : Remember
me. Lord, in Thy kingdom. And Jesus said to
him : Verily I say unto thee, that to-day shalt
thou be with me in paradise.
Chap. ii. — And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was darkness over the whole earth ;
and the sun was obscured, and the veil of the
temple was rent in the midst. And crying out
with a loud voice. He said : Father, into Thy
hands I commend my spirit. And thus saying,
He gave up the ghost. And the centurion, see-
ing what was done, glorified God, saying : This
was a just man. And all the people who were
present at that spectacle, seeing what was done,
beating their breasts, returned.
And the centurion reported to the governor
what was done. And the governor and his wife
hearing, were very sorrowful, and neither ate nor
drank that day. And Pilate, calling together the
Jews, said to them : Have you seen what has
been done ? And they said to the governor :
There has been an eclipse of the sun, as is usual.
And his acv -ramtances also stood afar off, and
the women who had followed Him from Galilee,
seeing these things. And Io, a certain man, by
name Joseph, holding office, a man good and
just, who did not consent to their counsels nor
their deeds, from Arimathjea,^ a city of the Jews,
waiting, he also, for the kingdom of God, went to
Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. And tak-
ing Him down from the cross, he wrapped Him
in clean linen, and laid Him in his own new
tomb, in which no one had been laid.
Chap. 12. — And the Jews, hearing that Joseph
had begged the body of Jesus, sought for him ;
and those twelve men who had said that He was
not born of fornication, and Nicodemus, and
many others, who had stood before Pilate and
declared His good works. And all of them be-
ing hid, Nicodemus alone appeared to them,
because he was a chief man of the Jews ; and
he says to them : How have ye come into the
synagogue ? The Jews say to him : And thou,
how hast thou come into the synagogue, seeing^
that thou consentest with him? May his portion
be with thee in the world to come ! Nicodemus
said : Amen, amen, amen. Likewise also Joseph,
coming forth, said to them : Why are you en-
raged against me because I begged the body of
Jesus? Lo, I have laid him in my own new
3 [The Latm has Arimatkia ; and in the next clause there are
variations in the MSS. — R.]
444
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
tomb, wrapping him in clean linen ; and I have
rolled a stone to the door of the cave. And ye
have not acted well against a just man, since you
have not borne in mind how you crucified him,
and pierced him with a lance. The Jews there-
fore, laying hold of Joseph, ordered him to be
imprisoned because of the Sabbath-day ; and
they say to him : Know that the hour compels us
not to do anything against thee, because the Sab-
bath is dawning. But understand that thou art
worthy not even of burial, but we will give thy
flesh to the birds of the air an^ the beasts of the
earth. Joseph says to them : That is the speech
of proud Goliath, who reviled the living God
against holy David. And God hath said. Ven-
geance is mine ; I will"-repay, saith the Lord.
And Pilate, intercepted ■ in his heart, took water,
and washed his hands before the sun, saying, I
am innocent of the blood of this just man ; see
ye to it. And you answered and said to Pilate,
His blood be upon us, and upon our children.
And now I fear that some time or other the
wrath of God will come upon you and your chil-
den, as you have said. And the Jews, hearing
this, were embittered in heart ; and taking Joseph,
shut him up in a house where there was no win-
dow, and set guards at the gates, and sealed the
gate where Joseph had been shut up.
And on the Sabbath morning they took coun-
sel with the priests and the Levites, that they
should all be assembled after the Sabbath-day.
And awaking at dawn, all the multitude in the
synagogue took counsel by what death they
should slay him. And when the assembly was
sitting, they ordered him to be brought with
much indignity ; and opening the gate, they
found him not. All the people therefore were
in terror, and wondered with exceeding astonish-
ment, because they found the seals sealed, and
because Caiaphas had the keys. And no longer
did they dare to lay hand upon those who spoke
before Pilate in Jesus' defence.
Chap. 13. — And while they were sitting in
the synagogue, and recriminating about Joseph,
there came certain of the guards whom they had
asked from Pilate to guard the sepulchre of
Jesus, lest His disciples coming should steal Him.
And they reported, saying to the rulers of the
synagogue, and the priests and the Levites, what
had happened : how there had happened a great
earthquake, and we saw how an angel of the
Lord came down from heaven, and rolled away
the stone from the door of the tomb, and sat
upon it ; and his countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment like snow. And for fear, we
* Another reading is compunctiis, pricked. The reading in the
text, obstructus, is a curious mistranslation of the word in the
Greek, 7repiTeTnr)ju.eVo9, cut away all ri)und, i.e., circumcised ; or, by
an obvious transition, hemmed in — the meaning adopted in the
version before us.
became as dead. And we heard the voice of
the angel speaking to the women who had come
to the sepulchre, and saying. Be not ye afraid ;
for I know that ye seek Jesus who was crucified :
He is not here ; He has risen, as He said : come
and see the place where the Lord was laid. And
go immediately and tell His disciples that He
has risen from the dead, and will go before you
into Galilee, as He said to you.
The Jews say : To what women was he speak-
ing ? The soldiers say : We do not know who the
women were. The Jews say : At what hour was
it? The guards say: At midnight. The Jews
say : And why did you not detain them ? The
guards say : We became as dead from fear
of the angel, not hoping now to see the light
of day ; and how could we detain them ? The
Jews says : As the Lord God liveth, we do not
believe you. And the guards said to the Jews :
You have seen so great signs in that man, and
have not believed ; and how can you believe
us, that the Lord lives ? For well have ye sworn
that the Lord Jesus Christ lives. Again the
guards say to the Jews : We have heard that you
have shut up Joseph, "who begged the body of
Jesus, in the prison, and have sealed it with
your rings ; and on opening, that you have not
found him. Give us Joseph, then, and we shall
give you Jesus Christ. The Jews said : Jose'ih
has gone to Arimathea, his own city. The guards
say to the Jews : And Jesus, as we have heard
from the angel, is in Galilee.
And the Jews, hearing these sayings, feared
exceedingly, saying : Lest at some time or other
this saying be heard, and all believe in Jesus.
And the Jews, taking counsel among themselves,
brought forth a sufficient number of silver pieces,
and gave to the soldiers, saying : Say that, while
we slept, his disciples came and stole him. And
if this be heard by the governor, we shall per-
suade^ him, and make you secure. And the
soldiers, taking (he money, said as they were ad-
vised by the Jews ; and their saying was spread
abroad among all.
Ch.ap. 14. — And Finees a certain priest, and
Addas a teacher, and Egias a Levite, coming
down from Galilee to Jerusalem, reported to the
rulers of the synagogue, and the priests and the
Levites, how they had seen Jesus sitting, and his
disciples with him, on the Mount of Olivet, which
is called Mambre or Malech. And he said to his
disciples : Go into all the world, and declare to
every creature the Gospel of the kingdom of
God. He who believeth and is baptized shall
be saved ; but he who believeth not shall be con-
demned. And these signs shall follow them
who believe : In my name shall they cast out
demons ; they shall speak in new tongues ; they
2 Coiifirmabimus.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
445
shall take up serpents ; and if they have drunk
any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ; they
shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall be
well. And as Jesus was thus speaking to his
disciples, we saw him taken up into heaven.'
The priests and the Levites and the elders say
to them : Give glory to the God of Israel, and
give confession to Him, whether you have both
heard and seen those things which you have re-
lated. Those who had made the report say : As
the Lord God of our fathers liveth, the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob, we have heard and seen. The Jews say
to them : Have you come for this — to tell us?
or have you come to give prayer to God ? They
said : We have come to give prayer to God.
The elders and chief priests and Levites say to
them : And if you have come to give prayer
to God, why have you murmured before all the
people about that foolish tale ? Finees the priest,
and Addas the teacher, and Egias the Levite,
say to the rulers of the synagogue, and the priests
and the Levites : If those words which we have
spoken, which we have seen and heard, be sin,
behold, we are in your presence ; do unto us ac-
cording to that which is good in your eyes. And
they, taking the law, adjured them to report the
words to no one thereafter. And they gave them
to eat and drink, and put them outside of the city,
giving them silver and pieces,. and three men with
them, who should conduct them as far as Galilee.
Then the Jews took counsel among themselves
when those men had gone up into Galilee ; and
the rulers of the synagogue shut themselves in,
and were cut up ^ with great fury, saying : What
sign is this which hath come to pass in Israel?
And Annas and Caiaphas say : Why are your
souls sorrowful? Are we to believe the soldiers,
that an angel of the Lord came down from heav-
en, and rolled away the stone from the door of
the tomb ? No ; but that his disciples have given
much gold to those who were guarding the sep-
ulchre, and have taken Jesus away, and have
taught tliem thus to say : Say ye that an angel
of the Lord, came down from heaven, and rolled
away the stone ftom the door of the tomb. Do
you not know that it is unlawful for Jews to be-
lieve foreigners in a single word, knowing that
these same who received sufficient gold from us
have said as we taught them ?
Chap. 15. — And Nicodcmus rising up, stood
in the midst of the counsel, and said : You have
said rightly. And are not the men who have
come down from Galilee God-fearing, men of
peace, hating a lie? And they recounted with
an oath, how " we saw Jesus sitting on Mount
■ [Comp. Mark xvi. 15-19; from the disputed ending of that Gos-
pel. — R.]
^ Concidebantur, a mistranslation from considering e/con-Toi'TO
as passive, they were cut, instead of middle, they beat their breasts.
Mambre with his disciples, and he taught them
in our hearing," and that they saw him taken up
into heaven. And no one asked them this : How
he was taken up into heaven. And, as the writ-
ing of the holy book teaches us, holy Elias too
was taken up into heaven, and Elisaeus cried out
with a loud voice, and Elias threw his sheepskin
over Elisseus ; and again Elisreus threw that
sheepskin over the Jordan, and went over and
came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets
met him, and said to Elisaeus, Where is thy mas-
ter Elias ? And he said. He has been taken up
into heaven. And they said to Elisaeus, Has a
spirit snatched him away, and thrown him upon
one of the mountains? But rather let us take
our boys ^ with us and seek him. And they per-
suaded Elisseus, and he went with them. And
they sought him for three days and three nights,
and found him not, because he was taken up.
And now, men, hear me, and let us send into all
Israel, and see lest Jesus can have been taken
up somewhere or other, and thrown upon one
of the mountains. And that saying pleased all.
And they sent to all the mountains of Israel to
seek Jesus, and they found Him not ; but they
found Joseph of Arimathsea, and no one dared
to lay hold of him.
And they reported to the elders and priests
and Levites : We have gone round all the moun-
tains of Israe]/nd not found Jesus ; but we have
found Joseph in Arimathsea. And hearing of
Joseph, they rejoiced, and gave glory to the God
of Israel. And the rulers of the synagogue, and
the priests and the Levites, taking counsel in
what manner they should send to Joseph, took
paper, and wrote to Joseph : —
Peace to thee and all that is tliine ! We know
that we have sinned against God, and against
thee ; and thou hast prayed to the God of Israel,
and He lias delivered thee out of our hands.
And now deign to come to thy fathers and
thy children, because we have been vehemently
grieved. We have all sought for thee — we who
opened the door, and found thee not. We know
that we counselled evil counsel against thee ;
but the Lord hath supplanted our counsel against
thee. Thou art worthy to be honoured, father
Joseph, by all the people.
And they chose out of all Israel seven men
friendly to Joseph, whom also Joseph knew to
be friendly ; and the rulers of the synagogue
and the priests and the Levites say to them^:
See, if he take the letter and read it, for certain
he will come with you to us ; but if he do not
read it, you may know that he is ill-disposed
toward us, and, saluting him in peace, return to
us. And blessing them, they sent them away.
And they came to Arimatha^a to Joseph, and
3 i.e., servants.
446
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
adored him on their face upon the ground, and
said : Peace to thee and all thine ! And Joseph
said : Peace to you, and to all the people of
Israel ! And they gave him the roll of the
letter. And Joseph took and read it, and rolled
up the letter, and blessed God, and said :
Blessed be the Lord God, who hath delivered
Israel from shedding innocent blood ; and
blessed be God, who sent His angel, and cov-
ered me under his wings. And he kissed them,
and set a table for them ; and they ate and
drank, and slept there.
And they rose in the morning ; and Joseph
saddled his ass, and travelled with them, and
they came into the holy city Jerusalem. And
there met them all the people, crying out, and
saying : Peace be in thy coming in, father
Joseph ! To whom he answered and said : The
peace of the Lord be upon all the people ! And
they all kissed him. And they prayed with
Joseph, and were terrified at the sight of him.
And Nicodemus took him into his house, and
made a great feast, and called Annas and Caia-
phas, and the elders and chief priests and Le-
vites, to his house. And making merry, and
eating and drinking with Joseph, they blessed
God, and went every one to his own house.
And Joseph remained in the house of Nico-
demus.
And on the next day, which is the prepara-
tion, the priests and the rulers of the synagogue
and the Levites rose early, and came to the
house of Nicodemus. And Nicodemus met
them, and said to them : Peace to you ! And
they said to him : Peace to thee and Joseph,
and to thy house and Joseph's house ! And
Nicodemus brought them into his house. And
the council sat ; and Joseph sat between Annas
and Caiaphas, and no one dared to say a word.
And Joseph said to them : Why have you called
me? And they made signs with their eyes to
Nicodemus, that he should speak with Joseph.
And Nicodemus, opening his mouth, said :
Father Joseph, thou knowest that the reverend
teachers, priests, and Levites seek to hear a
word from thee. And Joseph said : Ask. And
Annas and Caiaphas, taking up the law, adjured
Joseph, saying : Give glory to the God of Israel,
and give confession to Him, that thou wilt not
hide any word ' from us. And they said to !
him : With grief were we grieved that thou
didst beg the body of Jesus, and wrap it in
clean linen, and lay it in a tomb. Therefore we
shut thee up in a house where there was no
window, and put a lock and a seal on the gate ;
and on the first day of the week we opened the
gates, and found thee not. We were therefore
exceedingly grieved, and astonishment came
' The Greek p^^a means thing as well as -word.
over all the people of God. And therefore hast
I thou been sent for ; and now tell us what has
: happened.
Then said Joseph : On the day of the Prepa-
ration, about the tenth hour, you shut me in,
I and I remained there the whole Sabbath in full.
And when midnight came, as I was standing
and praying, the house where you shut me in
was hung up by the four corners, and there was
a flashing of light in mine eyes. And I fell to
the ground trembhng. Then some one lifted
me up from the place where I had fallen, and
poured over me an abundance of water from the
head even to the feet, and put round my nostrils
the odour of a wonderful ointment, and rubbed
my face with the water itself, as if washing me,
and kissed me, and said to me, Joseph, fear
not ; but open thine eyes, and see who it is that
speaks to thee. And looking, I saw Jesus ; and
being terrified, I thought it was a phantom.
And with prayer and the commandments I
spoke to him, and he spoke with me. And I
said to him : Art thou Rabbi Elias ? And he
said to me : I am not Elias. And I said : Who
art thou, my lord ? And he said to me : I am
Jesus, whose body thou didst beg from Pilate,
and wrap in clean linen ; and thou didst lay a
napkin on my face, and didst lay me in thy new
tomb, and roll a stone to the door of the tomb.
Then I said to him that was speaking to me :
Show me. Lord, where I laid thee. And he led
me, and showed me the place where I laid him,
and the linen which I had put on him, and the
napkin which I had wrapped upon his face ;
and I knew that it was Jesus. And he took
hold of me with his hand, and put me in the
midst of my house though the gates were shut,
and put me in my bed, and said to me : Peace
to thee ! And he kissed me, and said to me :
For forty days go not out of thy house ; for, lo,
I go to my brethren into Galilee.
Chap. i6. — And the rulers of the synagogue,
and the priests and the Levites, hearing these
words from Joseph, became as it were dead, and
fell to the ground, and fasted until the ninth
hour. And Joseph and Nicodemus entreated
them, saying : Arise and stand upon your feet,
and taste bread, and comfort your souls, seeing
that to-morrow is the Sabbath of the Lord.
And they arose, and entreated the Lord, and
ate and drank, and went every man to his own
house.
And on the Sabbath the teachers and doctors
sat questioning each other, and saying : What is
this wrath that has come upon us ? because we
know his father and mother. Levi the teacher
said : I know that his parents fear God, and
never depart from prayer, and give tithes thrice
a-year. And when Jesus was born, his parents
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
447
brought him up to this place, and gave to God
sacrifices and burnt-offerings. And assuredly
the great teacher Simeon took him into his
arms, saying : Now Thou sendest away Thy
servant, O Lord, according to Thy word, in
peace ; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,
which Thou hast prepared before the face of all
peoples, a light for the revealing of the nations,
and the glory of Thy people Israel. And he
blessed Mary his mother, and said, I make an
announcement to thee concerning this child.
And Mary said. Well, my lord.' And Simeon
said. Well. And he said again, Lo, he has been
set for the fall and rising again of many in
Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken
against ; and a sword shall pierce thine own
soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be
revealed.
And the Jews said to Levi : And how knowest
thou these things ? Levi says : Do you not
know that from him I learned the law? They
of the council say : We wish to see thy father.
And they searched out his father, and got infor-
mation ; for he said : Why did you not believe
my son? The blessed and just Simeon taught
him the law. The council says to Rabbi Levi :
The saying which thou hast spoken is true. The
chief priests and rulers of the synagogue, and
Levites, said to each other : Come, let us send
into Galilee to the three men who came hither
and gave an account of his teaching and his be-
ing taken up, and let them tell us how they saw
him taken up into heaven. And that saying
pleased all. Then they sent three men into
Galilee ; and Go, said they, say to Rabbi Addas
and Rabbi Finees and Rabbi Egias, Peace to
you and yours ! Many investigations have been
made in the council concerning Jesus ; therefore
have we been instructed to call you to the holy
place, to Jerusalem.
The men went to Galilee, and found them
sitting, and meditating on the law. And they
saluted them in peace. And they said : Why
have you come ? The messengers said : The
council summon you to the holy city Jerusalem.
And the men, hearing that they were sought for
by the council, prayed to God, and reclined with
the men, and ate and drank with them. And
rising in the morning, they went to Jerusalem
in peace.
And on the morrow the council sat ; and they
questioned them, saying : Did you plainly see
Jesus sitting on Mount Mambre teaching his
disciples, and taken up into heaven?
First Addas the teacher says : I really saw
him sitting on Mount Mambre teaching his dis-
ciples ; and a shining cloud overshadowed him
and his disciples, and he went up into heaven ;
' Perhaps this would be better as a question: Is it good?
and his disciples prayed upon their faces on the
ground. And calling Finees the priest, they
questioned him also, saying : How didst thou
see Jesus taken up ? And he said the same as
the other. And again they called the third,
Rabbi Egias, and questioned him, and he said
the same as the first and second. And those
who were in the council said : The law of Moses
holds that by the mouth of two or three every
word should stand. Abudem, a teacher, one of
the doctors, says : It is written in the law, Enoch
walked with God, and was translated ; for God
took him. Jairus, a teacher, said : And we have
heard of the death of holy Moses, and have not
seen /// for it is written in the law of the Lord,
And Moses died according to the word ^ of the
Lord, and no man knoweth of his burying even
to the present day. Rabbi Levi said : What is
it that Rabbi Simeon said : Lo, he lies for the
fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for
a sign which shall be spoken against? Rabbi
Isaac said : It is written in the law, Lo, I send
mine angel, who shall go before thy face to keep
thee in every good way, because I have brought
his 3 new name.
Then Annas and Caiaphas said : Rightly have
ye said that these things are written in the law
of Moses, that no one saw the death of Enoch,
and no one has named the burying of holy
Moses. And t us gave account tO'* Pilate, and
we saw him scourged, and receiving spitting on
his face ; and the soldiers put a crown of thorns
on him, and he received sentence from Pilate ;
and then he was crucified, and they gave him
gall and vinegar to drink, and two robbers were
crucified with him, and the soldier Longinus
pierced his side with a lance ; and our honour-
able father Joseph begged his body, and he has
risen again, and, as they say, the three teachers
have seen him taken up into heaven. And
Rabbi Levi has borne witness to what was said
by Simeon the elder — that he has been set for
the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and
for a sign which shall be spoken against.
Then Didas, a teacher, said to all the assem-
bly : If all the things which these have borne
witness to have come to pass in Jesus, they are
from God, and let it not be wonderful in our
eyes. 5 The chiefs of the synagogue, and the
priests and the Levites, said to each other how
our law holds, saying : His name shall be blessed
for ever : His place endureth before the sun, and^
His seat before the moon : and all the tribes of
earth shall be blessed in Him, and all nations
shall serve Him ; and kings shall come from far,
adoring and magnifying Him.*^
2 Lit., mouth.
3 Or, its. The text of the clause is corrupt.
4 i.e., was tried before.
5 Comp. Ps. cxviii. 23.
^ Ps. Ixxii. II, 17.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
PART II. — CHRIST'S DESCENT INTO HELL.
LATIN. FIRST VERSION.
Chap, i (17). — And Joseph rose up and said to
Annas and Caiaphas : Truly andwell do you won-
der, since you have heard that Jesus has been seen
alive from the dead, ascending up into heaven.
But it is more to be wondered at that he is not
the only one who has risen from the dead ; but
he has raised up alive out of their tombs many
others of the dead, and they have been seen by
many in Jerusalem. And hear me now, that we
all know the blessed Simeon, the great priest,
who took up with his hands Jesus, when an
infant, in the temple. And Simeon himself had
two sons, full brothers ; and we all were at their
falling asleep, and at their burial. Go, therefore,
and see their tombs : for they are open, because
they have risen ; and, behold, they are in the
city of Arimathaea, living together in prayers.
And, indeed, they are heard crying out, but
speaking with nobody, and they are silent as the
dead. But come, let us go to them ; let us
conduct them to us with all honour and respect.
And if we adjure them, perhaps they will speak
to us of the mystery of their resurrection.
At hearing this they all rejoiced. And Annas
and Caiaphas, Nicodemus, and Joseph, and
Gamaliel, went, and did not find them in their
sepulchres ; but, walking into the city of Arima-
thea, they found them there, on their bended
knees, and spending their time in prayer. And
kissing them, they conducted them to Jerusalem,
into the synagogue, with all veneration and fear
of God. And shutting the doors, and lifting up
the law of the Lord, they put it in their hands,
adjuring them by the God Adonai, and the God
of Israel, who by the law and the prophets spoke
to our fathers, saying : Do you believe that it
was Jesus who raised you from the dead? Tell
us how you have risen from the dead.
Karinus and Leucius, hearing this adjuration,
trembled in their body, and groaned, being dis-
448
turbed in heart. And together they looked
towards heaven, and with their fingers made the
sign of the cross on their tongues, and imme-
diately they spoke together, saying : Give each
of us sheets of paper, and let us write what we
have seen and heard. And they gave it to them.
And they sat down, and each of them wrote,
saying : —
Chap. 2 (18). — O Lord Jesus Christ, the
resurrection and the life of the dead, permit us
to speak mysteries through the death of Thy
cross, because we have been adjured by Thee.
For Thou didst order Thy servants to relate to
no one the secrets of Thy divine majesty which
Thou didst in Hades. And when we were, along
with all our fathers, lying in the deep, in the
blackness of darkness, suddenly there appeared
a golden heat' of the sun, and a purple royal
light shining upon us. And immediately the
father of all the human race, with all the patri-
archs and prophets, exulted, saying : That light
is the source of eternal light, which hath prom-
ised to transmit to us co-eternal light. And
Esaias cried out, and said : This is the light of
the Father, the Son of God, as I predicted when
I was alive upon earth : The land of Zabulon
and the land of Nephthalim across Jordan, Gali-
lee of the nations, the people who sat in dark-
ness, have seen a great light ; and light was
shining among those who are in the region of
the shadow of death. And now it has come
and shone upon us sitting in death.
And when we were all exulting in the light
which shone over us, there came up to us our
father Simeon ; and he said, exulting : Glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God ; because
I took Him up when born, an infant, in my hands
' Calor; another ms. has color, hue.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
449
in the temple ; and instigated by the Holy Spirit,
I said to Him, confessing : Now mine eyes have
seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared in
the sight of all peoples, a light for the revealing
of the nations, and the glory of Thy people
Israel. When they heard this, all the multitude
of the saints exulted more.
And after this there comes up, as it were, a
dweller m the desert ; and he is asked by all :
Who art thou ? To whom he says in answer : I
am John, the voice and prophet of the Most
High, going before the face of His coming to
prepare His ways, to give the knowledge of sal-
vation to His people for the remission of their
sins. And seeing Him coming to me, instigated
by the Holy Spirit, I said : Behold the Lamb of
God ! behold Him who taketh away the sins of
the world ! And I baptized Him in the river
of Jordan, and I saw the Holy Spirit descending
upon Him in the form of a dove ; and I heard
a voice from the heavens saying. This is my be-
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And
now I have gone before His face, and have
descended to announce to you that the rising
Son of God is close at hand to visit us, coming
from on high to us sitting in darkness and the
shadow of death.
Chap. 3 (19). — And when the first created,
father Adam, had heard this, that Jesus was bap-
tized in Jordan, he cried out to his son Seth :
Tell thy sons, the patriarchs and the prophets,
all that thou heardest from Michael the arch-
angel when I sent thee to the gates of paradise
to implore God that he might send thee His
angel to give thee oil from the tree of mercy,
with which to anoint my body when I was sick.
Then Seth, coming near to the holy patriarchs
and prophets, said : When I, Seth, was praying
to the Lord at the gates of paradise, behold
Michael, the angel of the Lord, appeared to me,
saying, I have been sent to thee by the Lord. I
am set over the human race.' And to thee, Seth,
I say, do not, labour with tears in prayers and
supplications on account of the oil of the tree of
mercy to anoint thy father Adam for the pain of
his body, because in no wise shalt thou receive
of it, except in the last days and times, except
when five thousand and five hundred years have
been fulfilled : then will come upon the earth the
most beloved Son of God, to raise up again the
body of Adam, and the bodies of the dead ; and
He, when He comes, will be baptized in Jordan.
And when he shall have come out of the water
of Jordan, then with the oil of His mercy shall
He anoint all that believe on Him ; and that oil
of mercy shall be for the generation of those
who shall be born out of water and the Holy
I Lit., body.
Spirit into life eternal. Then, descending upon
earth, Christ Jesus, the most beloved Son of (iod,
will lead our father Adam -into paradise to the
tree of mercy.
And when they heard all these things from
Seth, all the patriarchs and prophets exulted
with great exultation.
Chap. 4 (20). — And when all the saints were
exulting, lo, Satan, the prince and leader of
death, said to Hades : Make thyself ready to
receive Jesus, who boasts himself to be the Son
of God, and is a man fearing death, and saying,
My soul is sorrowful, even unto death. And he
has withstood me much, doing me evil ; and
many whom I made blind, lame, deaf, leprous,
and demoniac, he has healed with a word ; and
those whom I have brought to thee dead, he has
dragged away from thee.
Hades, answering, said to Prince Satan : Who
is he that is so powerful, when he is a man in
fear of death ? For all the powerful of the earth
are kept in subjection by my power, whom thou
hast brought into subjection by thy power. If,
then, thou art powerful, what is that man Jesus
like, who, though fearing death, withstands thy
power? If he is so powerful in humanity, verily
I say unto thee, he is all-powerful in divinity,
and his power ^ n no one resist. And when he
says that he lears death, he wishes to lay hold
on thee, and woe will be to thee to the ages
of eternity. And Satan, prince of Tartarus,
answered and said : Why hast thou doubted,
and feared to receive this Jesus, thy adversary
and mine? For I have tempted him, and I
have roused up my ancient people the Jews with,
hatred and anger against him ; I have sharp-
ened a lance to strike him ; I have mixed gall
and vinegar to give him to drink ; and I have
prepared wood to crucify him, and nails to pierce
him, and his death is near at hand, that I may
bring him to thee, subject to thee and me.
Tartarus answered and said : Thou hast told
me that it is he himself who has dragged away
the dead from me. Now there are many who.
are here kept by me, who, while they lived orr.
earth, took the dead from me, not by their own
powers, but by godly prayers, and their almighty
God dragged them away from me. Who is that
Jesus, who by his word has withdrawn the dead
from me without prayers? Perhaps he is the
same who, by the word of his command, brought
alive Lazarus, after he had been four days in
stench and corruption, whom I kept dead. Sa-
tan, prince of death, answered and said : That
Jesus is the same. And when Hades heard this,
he said to him : I adjure thee by thy powers
and mine, do not bring him to me. For I at
that time, when I heard the command of his
word, trembled with terror and dismay, and all
450
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
my ofificers at the same time were confounded
along with me. Nor could we keep that Laza-
rus ; but, shaking iiimself like an eagle, he
sprang out, and went forth from us with all
activity and speed, and the same ground which
held the dead body of Lazarus immediately gave
him forth alive. So now, I know that that man
who could do these things is God, strong in
authority, powerful in humanity, and He is the
Saviour of the human race. But if thou bring
Him to me, all who are here shut up in the cru-
elty of the prison, and bound by their sins in
chains that cannot be loosened, He will let loose,
and will bring to the life of His divinity for ever.
Chap. 5 (21). — And as Prince Satan and
Hades were thus speaking to each other in turn,
suddenly there was a voice as of thunders, and
a shouting of spirits : Lift up your gates, ye
princes ; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
gates ; and the King of glory shall come in.'
Hades hearing this, said to Prince Satan : Re-
tire from me, and go outside of my realms : if
thou art a powerful warrior, fight against the
King of glory. But what hast thou to do with
Him ? And Hades thrust Satan outside of his
realms. And Hades said to his impious ofificers :
Shut the cruel gates of brass, and put up the
bars of iron, and resist bravely, that we, holding
captivity, may not take Him captive.^
And all the multitude of the saints, hearing
this, said to Hades, with the voice of reproach :
Open thy gates, that the King of glory may
come in. And David cried out, saying : Did I
not, when I was alive upon earth, prophesy to
you : Let them confess to the Lord His tender
mercies and His wonderful works to the children
of men : for He has shattered the brazen gates,
and burst the iron bars ; He has taken them up
out of the way of their iniquity ?3 And after
this, in like manner, Esaias said : Did not I,
when I was alive upon earth, prophesy to you :
The dead shall rise up, and those who are in
their tombs shall rise again, and those who are
upon earth shall exult ; because the dew, which
is from the Lord, is their health ? ■♦ And again I
said, Where, O Death, is thy sting? where, O
Hades, is thy victory ?5
And when all the saints heard this from Esaias,
they said to Hades : Open thy gates. Since thou
art now conquered, thou wilt be weak and pow-
erless. And there was a great voice, as of thun-
ders, saying : Lift up your gates, ye princes ; and
be ye lifted up, ye infernal gates ; and the King
of glory shall come in. Hades, seeing that they
' Ps. xxiv. 7.
2 Ps. Ixviii. 18. Captivemus in the text is probably a misprint
for captivetHur, may not be taken captive.
■3 Ps. cvii. 15-17, according to the LXX. and the Vulgate.
* Isa. xxvi. 19, according to the LXX.
S Hos. xiii. 14; I Cor. xv. 55.
had twice shouted out this, says, as if not know-
ing : Who is the king of glory? David says, in
answer to Hades : I recognise those words of
the shout, since I prophesied the same by His
Spirit. And now, what I have said above I say
to thee. The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord
mighty in battle ; He is the King of glory .^
And the Lord Himself hath looked down from
heaven upon earth, to hear the groans of the
prisoners, and to release the sons of the slain.7
And now, most filthy and most foul Hades, open
thy gates, that the King of glory may come in.
While David was thus speaking, there came to
Hades, in the form of a man, the Lord of ma-
jesty, and lighted up the eternal darkness, and
burst asunder the indissoluble chains ; and the
aid of unconquered power visited us, sitting in
the profound darkness of transgressions, and in
the shadow of death of sins.^
Ch.a.p. 6 (22). — When this was seen by Ha-
des and Death, and their impious officers, along
with their cruel servants, they trembled at per-
ceiving in their own dominions the clearness of
so great a light, when they saw Christ suddenly
in their abodes ; and they cried out, saying :
We have been overcome by thee. Who art thou,
that to the Lord directest our confusion ? ^ Who
art thou, that, undestroyed by corruption, the
uncorrupted proof of thy majesty, with fury con-
demnest our power? Who art thou, so great
and little, lowly and exalted, soldier and com-
mander, wonderful warrior in the form of a slave,
and the king of glory dead and alive, whom slain
the cross has carried ? Thou, who didst lie dead
in the sepulchre, hast come down to us ahve ;
and in thy death every creature trembled, and
the stars in a body were moved ; and now thou
hast been made free among the dead, and dis-
turbest our legions. Who art thou, that settest
free those who art held captive, bound by origi-
nal sin, and recallest them to their former lib-
erty? Who art thou, who sheddest a divine, and
splendid, and illuminating light upon those who
have been blinded by the darkness of their sins ?
In like manner, also, all the legions of the de-
mons, terror-stricken with like fear from their
fearful overthrow, cried out, saying : Whence art
thou, O Jesus, a man so powerful and splendid
in majesty, so excellent, without spot, and free
from guilt ? For that world of earth which has
been subject to us always until now, which used
to pay tribute for our uses, has never sent us such
a dead man, has never destined such gifts for the
powers below. Who therefore art thou, that hast
6 Ps. xxiv. 7, 8.
7 Ps. cii. 19, 20.
8 Comp. Isa. ix. 2; Luke i. 79.
9 Some Mss. have: Who art thou, O man, that to God directest
thy prayer to our confusion? The correct reading may be: Who art
thou, that bringest confusion upon our master?
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
451
so intrepidly entered our bounds, and who hast
not only no fear of our punishments, but, more-
over, attemptest to take all away from our chains ?
Perhaps thou art that Jesus of whom our prince
Satan said, that by thy death of the cross thou
wast destined to receive the dominion of the
whole world.
Then the King of glory, trampling on death
by His majesty, and seizing Prince Satan, deliv-
ered him to the power of Hades, and drew Adam
to His brightness.
Chap. 7 (23). — Then Hades, receiving Prince
Satan, said to him, with vehement revilings : O
prince of perdition, and leader of extermination,
Beelzebub, derision of angels, to be spit upon
by the just, why didst thou wish to do this?
Didst thou wish to crucify the King of glory, in
whose death thou didst promise us so great spoils ?
Like a fool, thou didst not know what thou wast
doing. For, behold, that Jesus by the splendour
of His divinity is putting to flight all the dark-
ness of death, and He has broken into the
strong lowest depths of our dungeons, and has
brought out the captives, and released those who
were bound. And all who used to groan under
our torments insult us, and by their prayers our
dominions are taken by storm, and our realms
conquered, and no race of men has now any
respect for us. Moreover, also, we are grievously
threatened by the dead, who have never been
haughty to us, and who have not at any time been
joyful as captives. O Prince Satan, father of all
impious wretches and renegades, why didst thou
wish to do this? Of those who from the begin-
ning, even until now, have despaired of salvation
and life, no bellowing after the usual fashion
is now heard here ; and no groaning of' theirs
resounds, nor in any of their faces is a trace of
tears found. O Prince Satan, possessor of the
keys of the lower regions, all thy riches which thou
hadst acquired by the tree of transgression and
the loss of paradise, thou hast now lost by the
tree of the .cross, and all thy joy has perished.
When thou didst hang up that Christ Jesus the
King of glory, thou wast acting against thyself
and against me. Henceforth thou shalt know
what eternal torments and infinite punishments
thou art to endure in my everlasting keeping.
O Prince Satan, author of death, and source of
all pride, thou oughtest first to have inquired
into the bad cause of that Jesus. Him in whom
thou perceivedst no fault, why, without reason,
didst thou dare unjustly to crucify? and why
hast thou brought to our regions one innocent
and just, and lost the guilty, the impious, and
the unjust of the whole world?
And when Hades had thus spoken to Prince
Satan, then the King of glory said to Hades :
Satan the prince will be in thy power for
ever, in place of Adam and his sons, my just
ones.
Chap. 8 (24). — And the Lord stretched out
His hand, and said : Come to me, all my saints,
who have my image and likeness. Do you, who
have been condemned through the tree and
the devil and death, now see the devil and
death condemned through the tree. Immedi-
ately all the saints were brought together under
the hand of the Lord. And the Lord, holding
Adam by the right hand, said to him : Peace be
to thee, with all thy children, my righteous ones !
And Adam fell down at the knees of the Lord,
and with tearful entreaty praying, said with a
loud voice : I will extol Thee, O Lord ; for
Thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my
foes to rejoice over me. O Lord God, I cried
unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me. O Lord,
Thou hast brought out my soul from the powers
below ; Thou hast saved me from them that go
down into the pit. Sing praises to the Lord, all
His saints, and confess to the memory of His
holiness ; since there is anger in His indignation,
and life in His goodwill.' In hke manner also
all the saints of God, falling on their knees at
the feet of the Lord, said with one voice : Thou
hast come, O Redeemer of the world : as Thou
hast foretold ' / the law and Thy prophets, so
hast Thou fulfilled by Thy deeds. Thou hast
redeemed the living by Thy cross ; and by the
death of the cross Thou hast come down to us,
to rescue us from the powers below, and from
death, by Thy majesty. O Lord, as Thou hast
set the title of Thy glory in heaven, and hast
erected as the title of redemption Thy cross
upon earth, so, O Lord, set in Hades the sign of
the victory of Thy cross, that death may no
more have dominion.
And the Lord, stretching forth His hand,
made the sign of the cross upon Adam and
upon all His saints ; and holding Adam by the
right hand, went up from the powers below :
and all the saints followed Him. Then holy
David cried out aloud, saying : Sing unto the
Lord a new song, for He hath done wonder-
ful things ; His right hand and His holy arm have
brought salvation to Himself. The Lord hath
made known His salvation ; His righteousness
hath He revealed in the sight of the heathen.^
And all the multitude of the saints answered,
saying : This is glory to all His saints. Amen,
alleluia.
And after this the prophet Habacuc cried out,
saying : Thou wentest forth for the salvation of
Thy people, to deliver Thine elect.^ And all the
saints answered, saying : Blessed is He who
1 Ps. XXX. 1-6 (Vulg.).
2 Ps. xcviii. I, 2,
3 Hab. iii. 13.
452
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
Cometh in the name of the Lord ; God is the
Lord, and He hath shone upon us." Amen,
alleluia. In like manner after this the prophet
Michaeas also cried out, saying : Who is a God
like unto thee, O Lord, taking away iniquities
and passing by sins? And now Thou dost with-
hold Thine anger for a testimony against us,
because Thou delightest in mercy. And Thou
turnest again, and hast compassion upon us, and
pardonest all our iniquities ; and all our sins
hast Thou sunk in the multitude of death,^ as
Thou hast sworn unto our fathers in the days
of old.2 And all the saints answered, saying :
This is our God to eternity, and for ever and
ever ; and He will direct us for evermore.''
Amen, alleluia. So also all the prophets, quot-
ing the sacred writings concerning His praises, 5
and all the saints crying, Amen, alleluia, followed
the Lord.
Chap. 9 (25). — And the Lord, holding the
hand of Adam, delivered him to Michael the
archangel : and all the saints followed Michael
the archangel, and he led them all into the glori-
ous grace of paradise. And there met them
two men, ancient of days. The saints asked
them : Who are you, that have not yet been dead
along with us in the regions below, and have
been placed in paradise in the body? One
of them answered, and said : I am Enoch, who
by the word of the Lord have been translated
hither ; and he who is with me is Elias the Thes-
bite, who was taken up by a fiery chariot. Here
also even until now we have not tasted death,
but have been reserved to the coming of Anti-
christ, by divine signs and wonders to do batde
with him, and, being killed by him in Jerusalem,
after three days and half a day to be taken up
alive again in the clouds.^
Chap. 10 (26). — And while the saints Enoch
and Elias were thus speaking, behold, there came
up another man, most wretched, carrying on his
shoulders the sign of the cross. And seeing
him, all the saints said to him : Who art thou ?
because thy appearance is that of a robber.
And what is the sign which thou earnest on thy
shoulders ? In answer to them, he said : Truly
have you said that I was a robber, doing all sorts
of evil upon the earth. And the Jews crucified
me along with Jesus ; and I saw the miracles in
created things which were done through the
cross of Jesus crucified, and I believed Him to
be the Creator of all created things, and the
' Ps. cxviii. 26, 27. •
^ So the text, miiltitudine fnortis ; but the Mss. must have had
altitudine maris, in the depth of the sea, with the LXX. and the
Hebrew.
3 Mic. vii. 18-20.
< Ps. xlviii. 14.
S Or, bringing sacred words from their praises.
* Rev. xi 3-12; I Thess. iv. 17.
King omnipotent ; and I entreated Him, say-
ing, Be mindful of me. Lord, when Thou shalt
have come into Thy kingdom. Immediately
He accepted my entreaty, and said to me,
Amen ; I say to thee. To-day shalt thou be with
me in paradise.? And He gave me this sign
of the cross, saying. Walk into paradise carrying
this ; and if the guardian angel of paradise will
not let thee go in, show him the sign of the cross,
and thou shalt say to him, Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, who has now been crucified, has sent
me. Having done so, I said all this to the
guardian angel of paradise. And when he heard
this, he immediately opened, and led me in,
and placed me at the right of paradise, saying,
Lo, hold a little, and there will come in the father
of the whole human race, Adam, with all his
children, holy and just, after the triumph and
glory of the ascension of Christ the crucified
Lord. Hearing all these words of the robber,
all the holy patriarchs and prophets with one
voice said : Blessed art Thou, O Lord Almighty,
Father of everlasting benefits, and Father of
mercies, who hast given such grace to Thy sin-
ners, and hast brought them back into the grace
of paradise, and into Thy rich pastures ; for this
is spiritual life most sure. Amen, amen.
Chap, ii (27). — These are the divine and
sacred mysteries which we saw and heard, I
Karinus, and Leucius. More we are not allowed
to tell of the other mysteries of God, as Michael
the archangel adjured us, and said : You shall
go into Jerusalem with your brethren, and con-
tinue in prayers, and you shall cry out, and glo-
rify the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who has raised you up again from the dead with
Himself. And with none of men shall you
speak ; and you shall sit as if dumb, until the
hour shall come when the Lord Himself shall
permit you to relate the mysteries of His divin-
ity. And Michael the archangel ordered us to
walk across Jordan into a place rich and fertile,
where there are many who rose again along with
us for an evidence of the resurrection of Christ
the Lord ; because only three days were allowed
to us who have risen from the dead to celebrate
in Jerusalem the passover of the Lord, with our
living relations, for an evidence of the resurrec-
tion of Christ the Lord : and we have been bap-
tized in the holy river of Jordan, receiving each
of us white robes. And after three days, when
we had celebrated the passover of the Lord, all
who rose again along with us were snatched up
into the clouds, and taken across the Jordan,
and were no longer seen by any one. But we
were told to remain in the city of Arimathaea in
prayers.
7 Luke xxiii. 42, 43.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
453
These are the things which the Lord com-
manded us to relate to you. Give Hun praise
and confession, and be penitent, that He may
have mercy upon you. Peace be to you from
the same Lord Jesus Christ, and the Saviour of
all of us ! Amen.
And after they had finished all, writing on sep-
arate sheets of paper, they arose. And Karinus
gave what he wrote into the hands of Annas and
Caiaphas and Gamaliel ; in like manner also Leu-
cius gave what he wrote into the hands of Nico-
demus and Joseph. And being suddenly trans-
figured, they became exceedingly white, and were
seen no more. And their writings were found
exactly the same, not one letter more or less.
All the synagogue of the Jews, hearing all
these wonderful sayings of Karinus and Leucius,
said to each other : Truly all these things have
been done by the Lord, and blessed be the Lord
for ever and ever. Amen. And they all went
out with great anxiety, beating their breasts with
fear and trembling : and they went away, each to
his own house.
All these things which were said by the Jews
in their synagogue Joseph and Nicodemus im-
mediately reported to the proconsul. And Pilate
himself wrote all which had been done and said
concerning Jesus by the Jews, and he placed all
the words in the public records of his prsetorium.
Chap. 12 (28). — After this, Pilate going into
the temple of the Jews, assembled all the chief
priests, and learned men, and scribes, and teach-
ers of the law, and went in with them into the
sanctuary of the temple, and ordered that all
the gates should be shut, and said to them : We
have heard that you have a certain great collec-
tion of books in this temple : therefore I ask you
that it be presented before us. And when four
officers brought in that collection of books,
adorned with gold and precious gems, Pilate
said to all : I adjure you by the God of your
fathers, who ordered you to build this temple in
the place of his sanctuary, not to conceal the
truth from me. You all know what is written in
that collection of books ; but now say whether
you have found in the wridngs that Jesus, whom
you have crucified, to be the Son of God that
was to come for the salvation of the human race,
and in how many revolutions of the seasons he
ought to come. Declare to me whether you
crucified him in ignorance of this, or knowing it.
Being thus adjured, Annas and Caiaphas or-
dered all the others who were with them to go
out of the sanctuary ; and themselves shut all
the gates of the temple and the sanctuary, and
said to Pilate : We have been adjured by thee,
O good judge, by the building of this temple, to
give thee the truth, and a clear account of this
matter. After we had crucified Jesus, not know-
ing Him to be the Son of God, thinking that He
did miracles by means of some charm, we made a
great synagogue in this temple. And conferring
with each other of the signs of the miracles which
Jesus had done, we found many witnesses of our
nation who said that they had seen Jesus alive after
suffering death, and that He had penetrated into
the height of heaven. And we have seen two
witnesses, whom Jesus raised up again from the
dead, who told us many wonderful things that
Jesus did among the dead, which we have in our
hands, written out. And our custom is, every
year before our synagogue, to open that holy col-
lection of books, and seek out the testimony of
God. And we have found in the first book of the
LXX., where the archangel Michael spoke to the
third son of Adam, the first man, of five thousand
and five hundred years, in which the Christ, the
most beloved Son of God, was to come from the
heavens ; and upon this we have considered that
perhaps He vvas the God of Israel who said to
Moses,' Make to thee the ark of the covenant, two
cubits and a half in length, one cubit and a half in
breadth, one cubit and a half in height. 1\\ these
five and a half cubits we have understood and
recognised, from the structure of the ark of the
old covenant, that in five and a half thousands
of years, Jesus Christ was to come in the ark of
the body ; and we have found Him to be the
God of Israv'">,' che Son of God. Because after
His passion, we, the chief priests, wondering at
the signs which happened on account of Him,
opened this collection of books, searching out
all the generations, even to the generation of
Joseph, and reckoning that Mary the mother
of Christ was of the seed of David ; and we have
found that from the time that God made the
heaven and the earth and the first man, to the
deluge, are two thousand two hundred and twelve^
years ; and from the deluge to the building of the
tower, five hundred and thirty-one ^ years ; and
from the building of the tower to Abraham, six
hundred and six * years ; and from Abraham
to the arrival of the children of Israel from Egypt,
four hundred and seventy years ; from the com-
ing of the children of Israel out of Egypt to
the building of the temple, five hundred and
eleven years ; and from the building of the tem-
ple to the destruction of the same temple, four
hundred and sixty-four years. Thus far have we
found in the book of Esdras. After searching,
we find that from the burning of the temple to
the advent of Christ, and His birth, there are
six hundred and thirty-six 5 years, which together
were five thousand five hundred years, as we
have found written in the book that Michael the
' Ex. XXV. 10.
2 Should be 2262 — jScro^ in place of 3cri/3.
3 This includes the second Cainan.
< Should be 676.
5 Should be 586 — dlxxxvi. instead of Dcxxxvi.
454
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
archangel foretold to Seth the third son of Ad-
am, that in five and a half thousands of years
Christ the Son of God would come.' Even un-
til now we have told no one, that there might be
no dissension in our synagogues. And now thou
hast adjured us, O good judge, by this holy book
of the testimonies of God, and we make it man-
ifest to thee. And now we adjure thee, by thy
life and safety, to make manifest these words to
no one in Jerusalem.
Chap. 13 (29). — Pilate, hearing these words
of Annas and Caiaphas, laid them all up in the
acts of our Lord and Saviour, in the public rec-
ords of his prsetorium, and wrote a letter to
Claudius, king of the city of Rome,^ saying : —
Pontius Pilate to Claudius his king, greeting.
It has lately happened, as I myself have also
proved, that the Jews, through envy, have pun-
ished themselves and their posterity by a cruel
condemnation. In short, when their fathers had
a promise that their God would send them from
heaven his holy one, who should deservedly be
called their king, and promised that he would
send him by a virgin upon the earth : when, there-
fore, while I was procurator, he had come into
• Lit., has come.
* [Compare the other Latin tbrm of this letter, as translated on
p 459 : also the version of the Greek form of a similar letter, included
in the Ads of Peter and Paul. — R.]
Judaea, and when they saw him enlightening the
blind, cleansing the lepers, curing the paralytics,
making demons flee from men, even raising the
dead, commanding the winds, walking dryshod
upon the waves of the sea, and doing many other
signs of miracles ; and when all the people of
the Jews said that he was the Son of God, the
chief priests felt envy against him, and seized
him, and delivered him to me ; and, telling me
one lie after another, they said that he was a sor-
cerer, and was acting contrary to their law.
And I believed that it was so, and delivered
him to be scourged, according to their will.
And they crucified him, and set guards over him
when buried. And he rose again on the third
day, while my soldiers were keeping guard. But
so flagrant was the iniquity of the Jews, that
they gave money to my soldiers, saying, Say that
his disciples have stolen his body. But after re-
ceiving the money they could not keep secret
what had been done ; for they bore witness both
that he had risen again, that they had seen him,^
and that they had received money from the Jews.
This accordingly I have done, lest any one
should give a different- and a false account of it,
and lest thou shouldst think that the lies of the
Jews are to be believed.
3 Or, that they had seen that he rose from the dead.
LATIN. SECOND VERSION
Chap, i (17). — Then Rabbi Addas, and
Rabbi Finees, and Rabbi Egias, the three men
who had come from Galilee, testifying that they
had seen Jesus taken up into heaven, rose up in
the midst of the multitude of the chiefs of the
Jews, and said before the priests and the Levites,
who had been called together to the council of
the Lord : When we were coming from Galilee,
we met at the Jordan a very great multitude of
men, fathers ' who had been some time dead.
And present among them we saw Karinus and
Leucius. And they came up to us, and we
kissed each other, because they were dear
friends of ours ; and we asked them. Tell us,
friends and brothers, what is this breath of hfe
and flesh? and who are those with whom you
are going? and how do you, who have been
some time dead, remain in the body?
And they said in answer : We have risen again
along with Christ from the lower world, and He
has raised us up again from the dead. And
' Abbatorum.
from this you may know that the gates of death
and darkness have been destroyed, and the souls
of the saints have been brought out thence, and
have ascended into heaven along with Christ the
Lord. And indeed to us it has been com-
manded by the Lord Himself, that for an ap-
pointed time we should walk over the banks of
Jordan and the mountains ; not, however, ap-
pearing to every one, nor speaking to every one,
except to those to whom He has permitted us.
And just now we could neither have spoken nor
appeared to yon, unless it had been allowed to
us by the Holy Spirit.
And when they heard this, all the multitude
who were present in the council were struck with
fear and trembling, and wondered whether these
things had really happened which these Galilaeans
testified. Then Caiaphas and Annas said to the
council : What these have testified, first and last,
must shortly be altogether made clear : If it
shall be found to be true that Karinus and
Leucius remain alive in the body, and if we shall
be able to behold them with our own eyes, then
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
455
what they testify is altogether true ; and if we
find them, they will inform us of everything ;
but if not, you may know that it is all lies.
Then the council having suddenly risen, it
pleased them to choose men fit for the duty,
fearing God, and who knew when they died, and
where they were buried, to inquire diligently,
and to see whether it was as they had heard.
The men therefore proceeded to the same place,
fifteen in number, who through all were present
at their falling asleep, and had stood at their feet
when they were buried, and had beheld their
tombs. And they came and found their tombs
open, and very many others besides, and found
a sign neither of their bones nor of their dust.
And they returned in all haste, and reported
what they had seen.
Then all their synagogue was in great grief
and perplexity, and they said to each other :
What shall we do ? Annas and Caiaphas said :
Let us turn to where we have heard that they
are, and let us send to them men of rank, asking
and entreating them : perhaps they will deign
to come to us. Then they sent to them Nico-
demus and Joseph, and the three men, the
Galilsean rabbis who had seen them, asking that
they should deign to come to them. And they
went, and walked round all the region of Jordan
and of the mountains, and they were coming
back without finding them.
And, behold, suddenly there appeared coming
down from Mount Amalech a very great number,
as it were, twelve thousand men, who had risen
with the Lord. And though they recognised
very many there, they were not able to say any-
thing to them for fear and the angelic vision ;
and they stood at a distance gazing and hearing
them, how they walked along singing praises,
and saying : The Lord has risen again from the
dead, as He had said ; let us all exult and be
glad, since He reigns for ever. Then those who
had been sent were astonished, and fell to the
ground for fear, and received the answer from
them, that they should see Karinus and Leucius
in their own- houses.
And they rose up and went to their houses,
and found them spending their time in prayer.
And going in to them, they fell on their faces to
the ground, saluting them ; and being raised up,
they said : O friends of God, all the multitude
of the Jews have directed us to you, hearing
that you have risen from the dead, asking and
beseeching you to come to them, that we all
may know the great things of God which have
happened around us in our times. And they
immediately, at a sign from God, rose up, and
came with them, and entered their synagogue.
Then the multitude of the Jews, with the priests,
put the books of the law in their hands, and
adjured them by the God Heloi, and the God
Adonai, and by the law and the prophets, saying :
Tell us how you have risen from the dead, and
what are those wonderful things which have hap-
pened in our times, such as we have never heard
to have happened at any other time ; because
already for fear all our bones have been be-
numbed, and have dried up, and the earth
moves itself under our feet : for we have joined
all our hearts to shed righteous and holy blood.
Then Karinus and Leucius signed to them
with their hands to give them a sheet of paper
and ink. And this they did, because the Holy
Spirit did not allow them to speak to them.
And they gave each of them paper, and put
them apart, the one from the other in separate
cells. And they, making with their fingers the
sign of the cross of Christ, began to write on the
separate sheets ; and after they had finished, as
if out of one mouth from the separate cells, they
cried out. Amen. And rising up, Karinus gave
his paper to Annas, and Leucius to Caiaphas ;
and saluting each other, they went out, and re-
turned to their sepulchres.
Then Annas and Caiaphas, opening the sheet
of paper, began each to read it in secret. But
all the people took it ill, and so all cried out :
Read these writings to us openly ; and after they
have been read through we shall keep them, lest
perchance this truth of God be turned through
wilful blindn,*^ , by unclean and deceitful men,
into falsehood. At this Annas and Caiaphas fell
a-trembling, and delivered the sheet of paper to
Rabbi Addas, and Rabbi Finees, and Rabbi
Egias, who had come from Galilee, and an-
nounced that Jesus had been taken up into
heaven. All the multitude of the Jews trusted
to them to read this writing. And they read the
paper containing these words : —
Chap. 2 (18). — I Karinus. O Lord Jesus
Christ, Son of the living God, permit me to
speak of Thy wonders which Thou hast done in
the lower world. When, therefore, we were kept
in darkness and the shadow of death in the
lower world, suddenly there shone upon us a
great light, and Hades and the gates of death
trembled. And then was heard the voice of the
Son of the Father most high, as if the voice of
a great thunder ; and loudly proclaiming. He
thus charged them : Lift up your gates, ye
princes ; lift up the everlasting gates ; the King
of glory, Christ the Lord, will come up to en^r
in.
Then Satan, the leader of death, came up,
fleeing in terror, saying to his officers and the
powers below : My officers, and all the powers
below, run together, shut your gates, put up the
iron bars, and fight bravely, and resist, lest they
lay hold of us, and keep us captive in chains.
Then all his impious officers were perplexed, and
456
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
began to shut the gates of death with all dili-
gence, and by little and little to fasten the locks
and the iron bars, and to hold all their weapons '
grasped in their hands, and to utter howlings in
a direful and most hideous voice.
Chap. 3 (19). — Then Satan said to Hades :
Make thyself ready to receive him whom I shall
bring down to thee. Thereupon Hades thus re-
plied to Satan : That voice .was from nothing
else than the cry of the Son of the Father most
high, because the earth and all the places of the
world below so trembled under it : wherefore 1
think that myself and all my dungeons are now
lying open. But I adjure thee, Satan, head of
all evils,^ by thy power and my own, bring him
not to me, lest, while we wish to take him, we
be taken captive by him. For if, at his voice
only, all my power has been thus destroyed,
what do you think he will do when he shall
come in person?
To him Satan, the leader of death, thus re-
plied : What art thou crying out about? Do not
be afraid, my old most wicked friend, because
I have stirred up the people of the Jews against
him ; I have told them to strike him with blows
on the face, and I have brought upon him be-
trayal by one of his disciples ; and he is a man
in great fear of death, because from fear he said,
My soul is sorrowful, even unto death ; and I
have brought him to this, that he has just been
lifted up and hanged on the cross.
Then Hades said to him : If he be the same
who, by the mere word of his command, made
Lazarus fly away like an eagle from my bosom,
when he had already been dead four days, he is
not a man in humanity, but God in majesty. I
entreat thee not to bring him to me. And Satan
says to him : Make thyself ready nevertheless ;
be not afraid ; because he is already hanging on
the cross, I can do nothing else. Then Hades
thus replied to Satan : If, then, thou canst do
nothing else, behold, thy destruction is at hand. I,
in short, shall remain cast down and dishonoured ;
thou, however, wilt be tortured under my power.
Chap. 4 (20). — And the saints of God heard
the wrangling of Satan and Hades. They, how-
ever, though as yet not at all recognising each
other, were, notwithstanding, in the possession
of their faculties. But our holy father Adam
thus replied to Satan at once : O captain of
death, why dost thou fear and tremble ? Behold,
the Lord is coming, who will now destroy all thy
inventions ; and thou shalt be taken by Him,
and bound throughout eternity.
Then all the saints, hearing the voice of our
father Adam, how boldly he replied to Satan in
' Ornamenta ; anothet MS. has armamenta,
2 Or, of all the wicked.
all points, were strengthened in joy ; and all run-
ning together to father Adam, were crowded in
one place. Then our father Adam, gazing on all
that multitude, wondered greatly whether all of
them had been begotten from him into the world.
And embracing those who were standing every-
where around him, and shedding most bitter
tears, he addressed his son Seth, saying : Relate,
my son Seth, to the holy patriarchs and prophets
what the guardian of paradise said to thee, when
I sent thee to bring. to me of that oil of compas-
sion, in order to anoint my body when I was ill.
Then he answered : I, when thou sentest me
before the gates of paradise, prayed and enr
treated the Lord with tears, and called upon the
guardian of paradise to give me of it therefrom.
Then Michael the archangel came out, and said
to me, Seth, why then dost thou weep ? Know,
being informed beforehand, that thy father Adam
will not receive of this oil of compassion now,
but after many generations of time. For the
most beloved Son of God will come down from
heaven into the world, and will be baptized by
John in the river Jordan ; and then shall thy
father Adam receive of this oil ^ of compassion,
and all that believe in him. And of those who
have believed in him, their kingdom will endure
for ever.
Chap. 5 (21). — Then all the saints, hearing
this again, exulted in joy. And one of those
standing round, Isaias by name, cried out aloud,
and thundered : Father Adani, and all standing
round, hear my declaration. When I was on
earth, and by the teaching of the Holy Spirit,
in prophecy I sang of this light : The people
who sat in darkness have seen a great light ; to
them dwelling in the region of the shadow of
death light has arisen. At these words father
Adam, and all of them, turned and asked him :
Who art thou ? because what thou sayest is true.
And he subjoined, and said : My name is Isaias.
Then appeared another near him, as if a her-
mit. And they asked him, saying : Who art
thou, who bearest such an appearance in thy
body ? -* And he firmly answered : I am John
the Baptist, voice and prophet of the Most High.
I went before the face of the same Lord, that I
might make the waste and rough places into plain
ways. I with my finger pointed out and made
manifest the Lamb of the Lord, and Son of God,
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I baptized
Him in the river Jordan. I heard the voice of
the Father from heaven thundering over Him,
and proclaiming. This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased. I received from Him
the answer that He would descend to the lower
world.
p
3 The text has deo, God, obviously a misprint for oleo, oil.
■* Or, who wearest such (things) on thy body.
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
457
Then father Adam, hearing this, cried with a
loud voice, exclaiming : AlleUiia ! which is, inter-
preted, The Lord is certainly coming.
Chap. 6 (22). — After that, another standing
there, pre-eminent as it were, with a certain
mark of an emperor, David by name, thus cried
out, and said : When I was upon earth, I made
revelations to the people of the mercy of God
and His visitation, prophesying future joys, say-
ing through all ages, Let them make confession
to the Lord of His tender mercy and His won-
derful works to the sons of men, because He has
shattered the gates of brass, and broken the bars
of iron. Then the holy patriarchs and prophets
began mutually to recognise each other, and each
to quote his prophecies.
Then holy Jeremias, examining his prophecies,
said to the patriarchs and prophets : When I
was upon earth, I prophesied of the Son of God,
that He was seen upon earth, and dwelt with
men.
Then all the saints, exulting in the light of the
Lord, and in the sight of father Adam, and in
the answering of all the patriarchs and prophets,
cried out, saying : Alleluia ! blessed is He who
cometh in the name of the Lord ; so that at their
crying out Satan trembled, and sought a way of
escape. And he could not, because Hades and
his satellites kept him bound in the lower regions,
and guarded at all points. And they said to
him : Why dost thou tremble ? We by no means
allow thee to go forth hence. But receive this,
as thou art worthy, from Him whom thou didst
daily assail ; but if not, know that thou, bound
by Him, shall be in my keeping.
Chap. 7 (23). — And again there came the
voice of the Son of the Father most high, as it
were the voice of a great thunder, saying : Lift up
your gates, ye princes ; and be ye lifted up, ye
everlasting gates, and the King of glory will
come in. Then Satan and Hades cried out,
saying : Who is the king of glory ? And it was
answered to- them in the voice of the Lord :
The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty
in battle.
After this voice there came a man, whose ap-
pearance was that of a robber, carrying a cross
on his shoulder, crying from the outside of the
door, and saying : Open to me, that I may come
in. And Satan, opening to him a little, brought
him inside into his dwelling," and again shut the
door after him. And all the saints saw him most
clearly, and said to him forthwith: Thy appear-
ance is that of a robber. Tell us what it is that
thou earnest on thy back. And he answered,
and said with humility : Truly I was a robber
Hospitio.
altogether ; and the Jews hung me up on a cross,'
along with my Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Father most high. I, in fine, have come herald-
ing ^ Him ; He indeed is coming immediately
behind me.
Then holy David, inflamed with anger against
Satan, cried out aloud : Open thy gates, most
vile wretch, that the King of glory may come in.
\w like manner also all the saints of God rose
up against Satan, and would have seized him,
and divided him among them. And again a cry
was heard within : Lift up your gates, ye princes ;
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates ; and
the King of glory shall come in. Hades and
Satan, at that clear voice, again asked, saying :
Who is this king of glory ? And it was said to
them by that wonderful voice : The Lord of
powers, He is the King of glory.
Chap. 8 (24). — And, behold, suddenly
Hades trembled, and the gates of death and
the bolts were shattered, and the iron bars were
broken and fell to the ground, and everything
was laid open. And Satan remained in the
midst, and stood confounded and downcast,
bound with fetters on his feet. And, behold,
the Lord Jesus Christ, coming in the brightness
of light from on high, compassionate, great, and
lowly, carrying a chain in His hand, bound Satan
by the neck ; _, d again tying his hands behind
him, dashed him on his back into Tartarus, and
placed His holy foot on his throat, saying :
Through all ages thou hast done many evils ;
thou hast not in any wise rested. To-day I
deliver thee to everlasting fire. And Hades be-
ing suddenly summoned. He commanded him,
and said : Take this most wicked and impious
one, and have him in thy keeping even to that
day in which I shall command thee. And he,
as soon as he received him, was plunged under
the feet of the Lord along with him into the
depth of the abyss.
Chap. 9 (25). — Then the Lord Jesus, the
Saviour of all, affectionate and most mild, salut-
ing Adam kindly, said to him : Peace be to
thee, Adam, with thy children, through im-
measurable ages of ages ! Amen. Then father
Adam, falling forward at the feet of the Lord,
and being raised erect, kissed His hands, and
shed many tears, saying, testifying to all : Be-
hold the hands which fashioned me I And he
said to the Lord : Thou hast come, O King of
glory, delivering men, and bringing them into
Thy everlasting kingdom. Then also our mother
Eve in like manner fell forward at the feet of
our Lord, and was raised erect, and kissed His
hands, and poured forth tears in abundance, and
2 Prceconcitus , corrected to praconatus or ans.
458
THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
said, testifying to all : Behold the hands which
made me !
Then all the saints, adoring Him, cried out,
saying : Blessed is He who cometh in the name
of the Lord ! The Lord God hath shone upon
us — amen — through all ages. Alleluia for ever
and ever ! Praise, honour, power, glory ! because
Thou hast come from on high to visit us. Sing-
ing Alleluia continually, and rejoicing together
concerning His glory, they ran- together under
the hands of the Lord. Then the Saviour, in-
quiring thoroughly about all, seized Hades,'
immediately threw some down into Tartarus, and
led some with Him to the upper world.
Chap, io (26). — Then all the saints of God
asked the Lord to leave as a sign of victory the
sign of His holy cross in the lower world, that
its most impious ofhcers might not retain as an
offender any one whom the Lord had absolved.
And so it was done. And the Lord set His
cross in the midst of Hades, which is the sign
of victory, and which will remain even to eter-
nity.
Then we all went forth thence along with the
Lord, leaving Satan and Hades in Tartarus. And
to us and many others it was commanded that
we should rise in the body, giving in the world
a testimony of the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and of those things which had
been done in the lower world.
These are the things, dearest brethren, which
' Momordidit inferyiuin, which is obviously corrupt. The
translator may have read fieSrjxe ah-t\v, bit Hades, for 5e6et;(e ahy]v,
brought Hades to light.
we have seen, and which, adjured by you, we
testify. He bearing witness who died for us, and
rose again ; because, as it was written, so has it
been done in all points.
Chap, ii (27). — And when the paper was
finished and read through, all that heard it fell
on their faces, weeping bitterly, and cruelly beat-
ing their breasts, crying out, and saying through
all : Woe to us ! Why has this happened to us
wretched ? Pilate flees ; Annas and Caiaphas
flee ; the priests and Levites flee ; moreover also
the people of the Jews, weeping and saying,
Woe to us wretched ! we have shed sacred
blood upon the earth.
For three days, therefore, and three nights,
they did not taste bread and water at all ; nor
did any of them return to the synagogue. But
on the third day again the council was assembled,
and the other paper of Leucius was read through ;
and it was found neither more nor less, to a
single letter, than that which the writing of
Karinus contained. Then the synagogue was
perplexed ; and they all lamented forty days and
forty nights, looking for destruction from God,
and the vengeance of God. But He, pitier
affectionate and most high, did not immediately
destroy them, bountifully giving them a place of
repentance. But they were not found worthy to
be turned to the Lord.
These are the testimonies of Karinus and
Leucius, dearest brethren, concerning Christ the
Son of God, and His holy deeds in the lower
world ; to whom let us all give praise and glory
through immeasurable age of ages. Amen.
THE LETTER OF PONTIUS PILATE,
WHICH HE WROTE TO THE ROMAN EMPEROR, CONCERNING OUR LORD
JESUS CHRIST.
Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar the em-
peror, greeting.'
Upon Jesus Christ, whose case I had clearly
set forth to thee in my last, at length by the will
of the people a bitter punishment has been in-
flicted, myself being in a sort unwilling and
rather afraid. A man, by Hercules, so pious and
strict, no age has ever had nor will have. But
wonderful were the efforts of the people them-
selves, and the unanimity of all the scribes and
chief men and elders, to crucify this ambassador
of truth, notwithstanding that their own prophets,
and after our manner tlie sibyls, warned them
' [Compare the translation of the letter of Pilate to Claudius, found
in the Acis of Peter and Paul ; also a similar letter incorporated in
The Gospel of Nicodemus, second part, Latin, first version, chap.
13 (29).P-454- — R-]
against it : and supernatural signs appeared while
he was hanging, and, in the opinion of phi-
losophers, threatened destruction to the whole
world. His disciples are flourishing, in their
work and the regulation of their hves not bely-
ing their master ; yea, in his name most benefi-
cent. Had I not been afraid of the rising of a
sedition among the people, who were just on the
point of breaking out, perhaps this man would
still have been alive to us ; although, urged more
by fidelity to thy dignity than induced by my
own wishes, I did not according to my strength
resist that innocent blood free from the whole
charge brought against it, but unjustly, through
the malignity of men, should be sold and suffer,
yet, as the ?' ptures signify, to their own de-
struction. Farewell. 28th March.
459
THE REPORT OF PILATE THE PROCURATOR
CONCERNING OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
SENT TO THE AUGUST' C^SAR IN ROME.
FIRST GREEK FORM.
In those days, our Lord Jesus Christ having
been crucified under Pontius Pilate, procurator
of Palestine and Phoenicia, these records were
made in Jerusalem as to what was done by the
Jews against the Lord. Pilate therefore, along
with his private report, sent them to the Caesar
in Rome, writing thus : —
To the most mighty, venerable, m.ost divine,
and most terrible, the august ' Caesar, Pilate the
governor of the East sends greeting. I have, O
most mighty, a narrative to give thee, on account
of which I am seized with fear and trembling.
For in this government of mine, of wdiich one
of the cities is called Jerusalem, all the peo-
ple of the Jews have delivered to me a man
named Jesus, bringing many charges against
him, which they were not able to convict him of
by the consistency of their evidence. And one
of the heresies they had against him was, that
Jesus said that their Sabbath should not be a
day of leisure, and should not be observed. For
he performed many cures on that day : he made
the blmd receive their sight, the lame walk ; he
raised up the dead, he cleansed the lepers ; he
healed paralytics that were not at all able to
make any movement of their body, or to keep
their nerves steady, but who had only speech
and the modulation of their voice, and he gave
them the power of walking and running, remov-
ing their illness by a single word. Another thing
again, more powerful still, which is strange even
with our gods : he raised up one that had been
dead four days, summoning him by a single
word, when the dead man had his blood cor-
rupted, and when his body was destroyed by the
worms produced in it, and when it had the stink
of a dog And seeing him lying in the tomb,
he ordered him to run. Nor had he anything
of a dead body about him at all ; but as a bride-
groom from the bridal chamber, so he came
' Or, Augustus.
forth from the tomb filled with very great fra-
grance. And strangers that were manifestly
demoniac, and that had their dwelling in deserts,
and ate their own flesh, living like beasts and
creeping things, even these he made to be
dwellers in cities, and by his word restored them
to soundness of mind, and rendered them wise
and able and reputable, eating with all the ene-
mies of the unclean spirits that dwelt in them
for their destruction, which he cast down into
the depths of the sea. And again there was
another having a withered hand ; and not the
hand only, but rather the half of the body of
the man, was petrified, so that he had not the
form of a man, or the power of moving his
body. And him by a word he healed, and
made sound. And a woman that had an issue
of blood for many years, and whose joints ^ and
veins were drained by the flowing of the blood,
so that she did not present the appearance of a
human being, but was like a corpse, and was
speechless every day, so that all the physicians
of the district could not cure her. For there
was not any hope of life left to her. And when
Jesus passed by, she mysteriously received
strength through his overshadowing her ; and
she took hold of his fringe behind, and immedi-
ately in the same hour power filled up what in
her was empty, so that, no longer suffering any
pain, she began to run swiftly to her own city
Kepharnaum, so as to accomplish the journey
in six days.
And these are the things which I lately had in
my mind to report, which Jesus accomplished on
the Sabbath. And other signs greater than these
he did, so that I have perceived that the wonder-
ful works done by him are greater than can be
done by the gods whom we worship.
And him Herod and Archelaus and Philip,
Annas and Caiaphas, with all the people, deliv-
2 Codex A has a better reading — arteries. [The MS. here re-
ferred to is in Paris, of the fourteenth century (a.d. 1315). — R.]
460
THE REPORT OF PILATE THE PROCURATOR.
461
ered to me, making a great uproar against me
that I should try him. I therefore ordered him
to be crucified, having first scourged him, and
having found against him no cause of evil accu-
sations or deeds.
And at the time he was crucified there was
darkness over all the world, the sun being dark-
ened at mid-day, and the stars appearing, but
in them there appeared no lustre ; and the moon,
as if turned into blood, failed in her light.
And the world was swallowed up by the lower
regions, so that the very sanctuary of the tem-
ple, as they call it, could not be seen by the
Jews in their fall ; and they saw below them a
chasm of the earth, with the roar of the thun-
ders that fell upon it.' And in that terror dead
men were seen that had risen, as the Jews them-
selves testified ; and they said that it was Abra-
ham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve pa-
triarchs, and Moses and Job, that had died, as
they say, three thousand five hundred years be-
fore. And there were very many whom I also
saw appearing in the body ; and they were mak-
ing a lamentation about the Jews, on account of
the wickedness that had come to pass through
them, and the destruction of the Jews and of
their law.
And the fear of the earthquake remained from
the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth
hour. And on the evening of the first day of
the week there was a sound out of the heaven,
so that the heaven became enlightened seven-
fold more than all the days. And at the third
* The text here is very corrupt.
hour of the night also the sun was seen brighter
than it had ever shone before, lighting up all the
heaven. And as lightnings come suddenly in
winter, so majestic men appeared^ in glorious
robes, an innumerable multitude, whose voice
was heard as that of a very great thunder, cry-
ing out : Jesus that was crucified is risen : come
up out of Hades, ye that have been enslaved in
the underground regions of Hades. And the
chasm of the earth was as if it had no bottom ;
but it was as if the very foundations of the earth
appeared along with those that cried out in the
heavens, and walked about in the body in the
midst of the dead that had risen. And he that
raised up all the dead, and bound Hades, said :
Say to my disciples, He goes before you into
Galilee ; there shall you see him.
And all that night the light did not cease shin-
ing. And many of the Jews died, swallowed up
in the chasm of the earth, so that on the follow-
ing day most of those who had been against
Jesus could not be found. Others saw the ap-
pearing of those that had risen, whom no one of
us had ever seen.^ And only one ■* synagogue
of the Jews was left in this Jerusalem, since all
disappeared in that fall.
With that terror, being in perplexity, and
seized with a most frightful trembling, I have
written what '^ ^aw at that time, and have re-
ported to thy majesty. Having set in order also
what was done by the Jews against Jesus, I have
sent it, my lord, to thy divinity.
2 Or, so men appeared on high.
3 This sentence also is very corrupt.
4 Another and more probable reading is, not one.
MS. of the fourteenth century. — R.J
[So B, a Paris
THE REPORT OF PONTIUS PILATE, PROCURATOR
OF JUD^A,
SENT TO ROME TO TIBERIUS C^SAR.
SECOND GREEK FORM.
To the most mighty, venerable, awful, most
divine, the august, — Pilatus Pontius, the gov-
ernor of the East : I have to report to thy
reverence, through this writing of mine, being
seized with great trembling and fear, O most
mighty emperor, the conjuncture of the present
times, as the end of these things has shown.
For while I, my lord, according to the com-
mandment of thy clemency, was discharging the
duties of my government, which is one of the
cities of the East, Jerusalem by name, in which
is built the temple of the Jewish nation, all the
multitude of the Jews came together, and deliv-
ered to me a certain man named Jesus, bringing
against him many and groundless charges ; and
they were not able to convict him in anything.
And one heresy of theirs against him was, that
he said that the Sabbath was not their right rest.
And that man wrought many cures, in addition
to good works. He made the blind see ; he
cleansed lepers ; he raised the dead ; he healed
paralytics who could not move at all, except that
they only had their voice, and the joining of
their bones ; and he gave them the power of walk-
ing about and running, commanding them by a
single word. And another mightier work he did,
which was strange even with our gods : he raised
up a dead man, Lazarus, who had been dead
four days, by a single word ordering the dead
man to be raised, although his body was already
corrupted by the worms that grow in wounds ;
and that ill-smeUing body lying in the tomb
he ordered to run ; and as a bridegroom from
the bridal chamber, so he came forth out of
the tomb, filled with exceeding fragrance. And
some that were cruelly vexed by demons, and
had their dwellings in deserts, and ate the flesh
of their own limbs, and lived along with reptiles
and wild beasts, he made to be dwellers in cities
in their own houses, and by a word he rendered
them sound-minded ; and he made those that
462
were troubled by unclean spirits to be intelligent
and reputable ; and sertding away the demons in
them into a herd of swine, he suffocated them in
the sea. Another man, again, who had a with-
ered hand, and lived in sorrow, and had not even
the half of his body sound, he rendered sound
by a single word. And a woman that had a flow
of blood for many years, so that, in consequence
of the flowing of her blood, all the joinings of
her bones appeared, and were transparent like
glass ; and assuredly all the physicians had left her
without hope, and had not cleansed her, for there
was not in her a single hope of health : once,
then, as Jesus was passing by, she took hold of
the fringe of his clothes behind, and that same
hour the power of her body was completely re-
stored, and she became whole, as if nothing were
the matter with her, and she began to run swiftly
to her own city Paneas.'
And these things indeed were so. And the
Jews gave information that Jesus did these things
on the Sabbath. And I also ascertained that the
miracles done by him were greater than any which
the gods whom we worship could do.
Him then Herod and Archelaus and Philip,
and Annas and Caiaphas, with all the people,
delivered to me to try him. And as many were
exciting an insurrection against me, I ordered
him to be crucified.
And when he had been crucified, there was
darkness over the whole earth, the sun having
been completely hidden, and the heaven appear-
ing dark though it was day, so that the stars
appeared, but had at the same time their bright-
ness darkened, as I suppose your reverence is
not ignorant of, because in all the world they
Hghted lamps from the sixth hour until evening.
And the moon, being like blood, did not shine
the whole night, and yet she happened to be at
■ This is a conjecture of Thilo's. The Mss. have Spania.
THE REPORT OF PILATE.
463
the full. And the stars also, and Orion, made a
lament about the Jews, on account of the wicked-
ness that had been done by them.'
And on the first of the week, about the third
hour of the night, the sun was seen such as it
had never at any time shone, and all the heaven
was lighted up. And as lightnings come on in
winter, so majestic men of indescribable splen-
dour of dress and of glory appeared in the air,
and an innumerable multitude of angels crying
out, and saying : Glory in the highest to God,
and on earth peace, among men goodwill : come
up out of Hades, ye who have been kept in slav-
ery in the underground regions of Hades. And
at their voice all the mountains and hills were
shaken, and the rocks were burst asunder ; and
great chasms were made in the earth, so that
also what was in the abyss appeared.
And there were seen in that terror dead men
* Instead of this last sentence, one of the MSS. has: And the
whole world was shaken by unspeakable miracles, and all the crea-
tion was like to be swallowed up by the lower regions; so that also
the sanctuary of their temple was rent from top to bottom. And
again there was thunder, and a mighty noise from heaven, so that all
our land shook and trembled. Another: And there began to be earth-
quakes in the hour in which the nails were fixed in Jesus' hands and
feet, until evening.
raised up,^ as the Jews that saw them said : We
have seen Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and
the twelve patriarchs, that died two thousand
five hundred years ago ; and we have seen Noah
manifestly in the body. And all the multitude
walked about, and sang praises to God with a
loud voice, saying : The Lord our God that has
risen from the dead has brought to life all the
dead, and has plundered Hades, and put him
to death.
All that night therefore, my lord, O king, the
light ceased not. And many of the Jews died,
and were engulphed and swallowed up in the
chasms in that night, so that not even their
bodies appeared. Those, I say, of the Jews
suffered that had spoken against Jesus. And
one synagogue was left in Jerusajem, since all
those synagogues that had been against Jesus
were engulphed.
From that fear, then, being in perplexity, and
seized with much trembling, at that same hour
I ordered what had been done by them all to
be written ; and I have reported it to thy might-
iness.
^ One MS. adds: To the number of five hundred.
^
THE GIVING UP OF PONTIUS PILATE.
And the writings having come to the city of
the Romans, and having been read to the Csesar,
with not a few standing by, all were astounded,
because through the wickedness of Pilate the
darkness and the earthquake had come over the
whole world. And the Csesar, filled with rage,
sent soldiers, and ordered them to bring Pilate
a prisoner.
And when he was brought to the city of the
Romans, the Caesar, hearing that Pilate had
arrived, sat in the temple of the gods, in the
presence of all the senate, and with all the army,
and all the multitude of his power ; and he or-
dered Pilate to stand forward.' And the Caesar
says to him : Why hast thou, O most impious,
dared to do such things, having seen so great
miracles in that man? By daring to do an evil
deed, thou hast destroyed the whole world.
And Pilate said : O almighty^ king, I am inno-
cent of these things ; but the multitude of the
Jews are violent and guilty. And the Caesar
said: And who are they? Pilate says: Herod,
Archelaus, Philip, Annas and Caiaphas, and all
the multitude of the Jews. The Caesar, says :
For what reason didst thou follow out their
counsel? And Pilate says: Their nation is re-
bellious and insubmissive, not submitting them-
selves to thy power. And the Caesar said : When
they delivered him to thee, thou oughtest to
have made him secure, and to have sent him
to me, and not to have obeyed them in crucifying
such a man, righteous as he was, and one that
did such good miracles, as thou hast said in thy
report. For from such miracles Jesus was mani-
festly the Christ, the King of the Jews.
And as the Caesar was thus speaking, when he
named the name of Christ, all the multitude of
the gods fell down in a body, and became as
dust, where the Caesar was sitting with the senate.
And the people standing beside the Caesar all
began to tremble, on account of the speaking of
the word, and the fall of their gods ; and being
seized with terror, they all went away, each to
his own house, wondering at what had happened.
And the Caesar ordered Pilate to be kept in
security, in order that he might know the truth
about' Jesus.
' Or, in the entrance.
* avTOKpdrujp.
And on the following day, the Csesar, sitting
in the Capitol with all the senate, tried again to
question Pilate. And the Caesar says : Tell the
truth, -O most impious, because through thy im-
pio.us action which thou hast perpetrated against
Jesus, even here the doing of thy wicked deeds
has been shown by the gods having been cast
down. Say, then, who is he that has been cruci-
fied ; because even his name has destroyed all
the gods? Pilate said : And indeed the records
of him are true ; for assuredly I myself was per-
suaded from his works that he was greater than
all the gods whom we worship. And the Caesar
said : For what reason,* then, didst thou bring
against him such audacity and such doings, if
thou wert not ignorant of him, and altogether
devising mischief against my kingdom? Pilate
said : On account of the wickedness and rebel-
lion of the lawless and ungodly Jews, I did
this.
And the Csesar, being filled with rage, held a
council with all his senate and his power, and
ordered a decree to be written against the Jews
as follows : — To Licianus, the governor of the
chief places of the East, greeting. The reckless
deed which has been done at the present time
by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the cities
of the Jews round about, and their wicked action,
has come to my knowledge, that they have forced
Pilate to crucify a certain god named Jesus, and
on account of this great fault of theirs the world
has been darkened and dragged to destruction.
Do thou then speedily, with a multitude of sol-
diers, go to them there, and make them prisoners,
in accordance with this decree. Be obedient,
and take action against them, and scatter them,
and make them slaves among all the nations ; and
having driven them out of the whole of Judaea,
make them the smallest of nations, so that it
may not any longer be seen at all, because they
are full of wickedness.^
And this decree having come into the region
of the East, Licianus, obeying from fear of the
decree, seized all the nation of the Jews ; and
those that were left in Judaea he scattered among
the nations, and sold for slaves : ^ so that it was
known to the Caesar that these things had been
3 The text is very corrupt.
* Lit., he made to be slaves in the dispersion of the Gentiles.
464
THE GIVING UP OF PONTIUS PILATE.
465
done by Licianus against the Jews in the region
of the East ; and it pleased him.
And again the Caesar set himself to question
Pilate ; and he orders a captain named Albius
to cut off Pilate's head, saying : Just as he laid
hands upon the just man named Christ, in hke
manner also shall he fall, and not find safety.
And Pilate, going away to the place, prayed
in silence, saying : Lord, do not destroy me
along with the wicked Hebrews, because I would
not have laid Jiands upon Thee, except for the
nation of the lawless Jews, because they were
exciting rebellion against me. But Thou know-
est that I did it in ignorance. Do not then de-
stroy me for this my sin ; but remember not evil
against me, O Lord, and against Thy servant
Procla, who is standing with me in this the hour
of my death, whom Thou didst appoint to proph-
esy that Thou shouldest be nailed to the cross.
Do not condemn her also in my sin ; but pardon
us, and make us to be numbered in the portion
of Thy righteous.
And, behold, when Pilate had finished his
prayer, there came a voice out of the heaven,
saying : All the generations and families of the
nations shall count thee blessed, because under
thee have been fulfilled all those things said about
me by the prophets ; and thou thyself shalt be
seen as my witness at my second appearing, when
I shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel, and those
that have not owned my name. And the pre-
fect struck off the head of Pilate ; and, behold,
an angel of the Lord received it. And his wife
Procla, seeing the angel coming and receiving
his head, being filled with joy herself also, im-
mediately gave up the ghost, and was buried
along with her husband.'
' One of the mss. adds: By the will and good pleasure of our
Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory of the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen.
^
THE DEATH OF
PILATE, WHO
JESUS.
CONDEMNED
And when Tiberius Caesar, the emperor of tlie
Romans, was labouring under a grievous disease,
and understanding that there was at Jerusalem
a certain physician, Jesus by name, who by a
single word cured all infirmities, he, not knowing
that the Jews and Pilate had put Him to death,
ordered a certain friend of his named Volu-
sianus : Go as quickly as possible across the seas ;
and thou shalt tell Pilate, my servant and friend,
to send me this physician, that he may restore
me to my former health. And this Volusianus,
having heard the emperor's command, immedi-
ately departed, and came to Pilate, as he had
been commanded. And he related to the same
Pilate what had been entrusted to him by Tibe-
rius C^sar, saying : Tiberius Ccesar, the emperor
of the Romans, thy master, having heard that
in this city there is a physician who by his word
alone heals infirmities, begs thee earnestly to send
him to him for the curing of his infirmity. Pilate,
hearing this, was very much afraid, knowing that
through envy he had caused Him to be put to
death. Pilate answered the same messenger
thus, saying : This man was a malefactor, and
a man who drew to himself all the people ; so a
council of the wise men of the city was held,
and I caused him to be crucified. And this mes-
senger returning to his inn, met a certain woman
named Veronica, who had been a friend of Jesus ;
and he said : O woman, a certain physician who
was in this city, who cured the sick by a word
alone, why have the Jews put him to death?
And she began to weep, saying : Ah me ! my
lord, my God and my Lord, whom Pilate for
envy delivered, condemned, and ordered to be
crucified. Then he, being exceedingly grieved,
said : I am vehemently grieved that I am una-
ble to accomplish that for which my lord had
sent me. And Veronica said to him : When
my Lord was going about preaching, and I, much
against my will, was deprived of His presence,
I wished His picture to be painted for me, in
order that, while I was deprived of His presence,
the figure of His picture might at least afford
me consolation. And when I was carrying the
canvas to the painter to be painted, my Lord
met me, and asked whither I was going. And
466
when I had disclosed to Him the cause of my
journey. He asked of me the cloth, and gave it
back to me impressed with the image of His
venerable face. Therefore, if thy lord will de-
voutly gaze upon His face,' he shall obtain forth-
with the benefit of health. And he said to her :
Is a picture of such a sort procurable by gold
or silver ? She said to' him : No ; but by the
pious influence of devotion. I shall therefore
set out with thee, and shall carry the picture to
be seen by Caesar, and shall come back again.
Volusianus therefore" came with Veronica to
Rome, and said to Tiberius the emperor : Jesus,
whom thou hast been longing for, Pilate and the
Jews have delivered to an unjust death, and
have through envy affixed to the gibbet of the
cross. There has therefore come with me a
certain matron, bringing a picture of Jesus him-
self; and if thou wilt devoutly look upon it,
thou shalt immediately obtain the benefit of thy
health. Caesar therefore ordered the way to be
strewn with silk cloths, and the picture to be
presented to him ; and as soon as he had looked
upon it, he regained his former health.
Pontius Pilate, therefore, by the command of
Caesar, is taken and brought through to Rome.
Caesar, hearing that Pilate had arrived at Rome,
was filled with exceeding fury against him, and
caused him to be brought to him. But Pilate
brought down with him the seamless tunic of
Jesus ; and he wore it on him in presence of the
emperor. And as soon as the emperor saw him,
he laid aside all his anger, and forthwith rose up
to meet him. Nor was he able to speak harshly
to him in anything ; and he who seemed so ter-
rible and fierce in his absence, now in his pres-
ence is somehow found to be mild. And when
he had sent him away, immediately he blazed out
against him terribly, crying out that he was a
wretch, inasmuch as he had not at all shown him
the fury of his heart. And immediately he made
him be called back, swearing and declaring that
he was the son of death, and that it was infa-
mous that he should live upon the earth. And
as soon as he saw him, he forthwith saluted him,
' Or, upon the sight of this.
THE DEATH OF PILATE WHO CONDEMNED JESUS. 467
and threw away all the ferocity of his mind.
All wondered ; and he himself wondered that he
should thus blaze out against Pilate when he was
absent, and that while he was present he could
say nothing to him roughly. Then, by a divine
impulse, or perhaps by the advice of some Chris-
tian,' he caused him to be stripped of that tunic,
and immediately resumed against him his former
ferocity of mind. And when at this the emperor
wondered very much, it was told him that that
tunic had belonged to the Lord Jesus. Then
the emperor ordered him to be kept in prison,
until he should deliberate in a council of the
wise men what ought to be done with him. And
a few days after, sentence was therefore passed
upon Pilate, that he should be condemned to the
most disgraceful death. Pilate, hearing this,
killed himself with his own knife, and by such a
death ended his life.
When Caesar knew of the death of Pilate, he
said : Truly he has died by a most disgraceful
death, whom his own hand has not spared. He
is therefore bound to a great mass, and sunk
' This is the first appearance of the word Christian in these writ-
into the river Tiber. But malignant and filthy
spirits in his malignant and filthy body, all rejoi-
cing together, kept moving themselves in the
waters, and in a terrible manner brought light-
nings and tempests, thunders and hail-storms, in
the air, so that all men were kept in horrible
fear. Wherefore the Romans, drawing him out
of the river Tiber, in derision carried him down
to Vienna, and sunk him in the river Rhone.
For Vienna is called, as it were, Via Gehenncs,
the way of Gehenna, because it was then a place
of cursing. But there evil spirits were present,
working the same things in the same place.
Those men therefore, not enduring such a visita-
tion of demons, removed from themselves that
vessel of malediction, and sent him to be buried
in the territory of Losania.^ And they, seeing
that they were troubled by the aforesaid visita-
tions, removed him from themselves, and sunk
him in a certain pit surrounded by mountains,
where to this day, according to the account of
some, certain diabolical machinations are said to
bubble up,
^ Losonium was the Roman name of Lausanne. For a discussion
of this legend concerning Mont Pilate, near Lucerne, see Smith's
Dictionary of the Bible, under Pilate.
THE NARRATIVE OF JOSEPH.
NARRATIVE OF JOSEPH OF ARIMATH.«A, THAT BEGGED THE LORD'S BODY;
IN WHICH ALSO HE BRINGS IN THE CASES OF THE TWO ROBBERS.
Chap. i. — I ain Joseph of Arimath^ea, who
begged from Pilate the body of the Lord Jesus
for burial, and who for this cause was kept close
in prison by the murderous and God-fighting '
Jews, who also, keeping to the law, have by
Moses himself become partakers in tribulation ;
and having provoked their Lawgiver to anger,
and not knowing that He was God, crucified Him,
and made Him manifest to those that knew God.
In those days in which they condemned the Son
of God to be crucified, seven days before Christ
suffered, two condemned robbers were sent from
Jericho to the procurator Pilate ; and their case
was as follows : —
The first, his name Gestas, put travellers to
death, murdering them with the sword, and oth-
ers he exposed naked. And he hung up women
by the heels, head down, and cut off their breasts,
and drank the blood of infants' limbs, never having
known God, not obeying the laws, being violent
from the beginning, and doing such deeds.
And the case of the other was as follows : He
was called Demas, and was by birth, a Galilaean,
and kept an inn. He made attacks upon the
rich, but was good to the poor — a thief like
Tobit, for he buried the bodies of the poor.^ And
he set his hand to robbing the multitude of the
Jews, and stole the law 3 itself in Jerusalem, and
stripped naked the daughter of Caiaphas, who
was priestess of the sanctuary, and took away
from its place the mysterious deposit itself placed
there by Solomon. Such were his doings.
And Jesus also was taken on the third day be-
fore the passover, in the evening. And to Caia-
phas and the multitude of the Jews it was not a
passover, but it was a great mourning to them,
on account of the plundering of the sanctuary by
the robber. And they summoned Judas Iscariot,
' MS. C has God-killing. [C is the designation given by Tischen-
dorf to tlie MS. from which Birch made his edition of the te.\t. It is
in Paris; date a.d. 1315. The Mss. which Tischendorf himself col-
lated are designated A (in the Ambrosian library at Milan, of about
the twelfth century), B (Paris, fifteenth century), D (Harleian
codex, of the same century). Only a small part of the last MS. was
used by Tischendorf; see h\s prolegomejia, p. Ixxxi. — R.l
2 Tobit i. 17, 18. _
3 Perhaps the true reading is vaov, and not voiiov; plundered
the temple.
468
and spoke to him, for he was so7i of the brother *
of Caiaphas the priest. He was not a disciple
before the face of Jesus ; but all the multitude
of the Jews craftily supported him, that he might
follow Jesus, not that he might be obedient to
the miracles done by Him, nor that he might
confess Him, but that he might betray Him to
them, wishing to catch up some lying word of
Him, giving him gifts for such brave, honest con-
duct to the amount of a half shekel of gold each
day. And he did this for two years with Jesus,
as says one of His disciples called John.
And on the third day, before Jesus was laid
hold of, Judas says to the Jews : Come, let us
hold a council ; for perhaps it was not the robber
that stole the law, but Jesus himself, and I accuse
him. And when these words had been spoken,
Nicodemus, who kept the keys of the sanctuary,
came in to us, and said to all : Do not do such
a deed. For Nicodemus was true, more than
all the multitude of the Jews. And the daughter
of Caiaphas, Sarah by name, cried out, and said :
He himself said before all against this holy place,
I am able to destroy this temple, and in three
days to raise it. The Jews say to her : Thou
hast credit with all of us. For they regarded
her as a prophetess. And assuredly, after the
council had been held, Jesus was laid hold of.
Chap. 2. — And on the following day, the
fourth day of the week, they brought Him at the
ninth hour into the hall of Caiaphas. And
Annas and Caiaphas say to Him : Tell us, why
hast thou stolen our law, and renounced 5 the
ordinances of Moses and the prophets? And
Jesus answered nothing. And again a second
time, the multitude also being present, they say
to Him : The sanctuary which Solomon built
in forty and six years, why dost thou wish to de-
stroy in one moment? And to these things Jesus
answered nothing. For the sanctuary of the
synagogue had been plundered by the robber.
* MS. B has: And they say that he was of the family of the sister,
s Tischendorf suggests aexpui/zas, hidden, for dn-eKtipufas.
THE NARRATIVE OF JOSEPH.
469
And the evening of the fourth day being
ended, all the multitude sought to burn the
daughter of Caiaphas, on account of the loss
of the law; for they did not know how they
were to keep the passover. And she said to
them : Wait, my children, and let us destroy
this Jesus, and the law will be found, and the
holy feast will be fully accomplished. And
secretly Annas and Caiaphas gave considerable
money to Judas Iscariot, saying : Say as thou
saidst to us before, I know that the law has
been stolen by Jesus, that the accusation may
be turned against him, and not against this
maiden, who is free from blame. And Judas
having received this command, said to them :
Let not all the multitude know that I have been
instructed by you to do this against Jesus ; but
release Jesus, and I persuade the multitude that
it is so. And craftily they released Jesus.
And Judas, going into the sanctuary at the
dawn of the fifth day, says to all the people :
^Vhat will you give me, and I will give up to you
the overthrower ' of the law, and the plunderer
of the prophets? The Jews say to him: If thou
wilt give him up to us, we will give thee thirty
pieces of gold. And the people did not know
that Judas was speaking about Jesus, for many
of them confessed that he was the Son of God.
And Judas received the thirty pieces of gold.
And going out at the fourth .hour, and at the
fifth, he finds Jesus walking in the street. And
as evening was coming on, Judas says to the
Jews : Give me the aid of soldiers with swords
and staves, and I will give him up to you. They
therefore gave him officers for the purpose of
And as they were going along,
them : Lay hold of the man
kiss, for he has stolen the law
and the prophets. Going up to Jesus, therefore,
he kissed Him, saying : Hail, Rabbi ! it being
the evening of the fifth day. And having laid
hold of Him, they gave Him up to Caiaphas and
the chief priests, Judas saying : This is he who
stole the law and the prophets. And the Jews
gave Jesus an- unjust trial, saying : Why hast thou
done these things? And he answered nothing.
And Nicodemus and I Joseph, seeing the seat
of the plagues,^ stood off from them, not wishing
to perish along with the counsel of the ungodly.
Chap. 3. — Having therefore done many and
dreadful things against Jesus that night, they
gave Him up to Pilate the procurator at the
dawn of the preparation, that he might crucify
Him ; and for this purpose they all came to-
gether. After a trial, therefore, Pilate the pro-
curator ordered Him to be nailed to the cross,
along with the two robbers. And they were
seizmg
Judas
whom I
Him.
says to
shall
' Or, taker away.
2 Following the reading of the LXX. in Ps. i. i.
nailed up along with Jesus, Gestas on the left,
and Demas on the right.
And he that was on the left began to cry out,
saying to Jesus : See how many evil deeds I
have done in the earth ; and if I had known
that thou wast the king, I should have cut off
thee also. And why dost thou call thyself Son
of God, and canst not help thyself in necessity ?
how canst thou afford it to another one praying
for help ? If thou art the Christ, come down
from the cross, that I may believe in thee. But
now I see thee perishing along with me, not like
a man, but like a wild beast. And many other
things he began to say against Jesus, blas-
pheming and gnashing his teeth upon Him.
For the robber was taken alive in the snare of
the devil. 3
But the robber on the right hand, whose name
was Demas, seeing the Godlike grace of Jesus,
thus cried out : I know Thee, Jesus Christ, that
Thou art the Son of God. I see Thee, Christ,
adored by myriads of myriads of angels. Par-
don me my sins which I have done. Do not
in my trial make the stars come against me, or
the moon, when Thou shalt judge ail the world ;
because in the night I have accomplished my
wicked purposes. Do not urge the sun, which
is now darkened 01^ Account of Thee, to tell the
evils of my heart, for no gift can I give Thee
for the remission of my sins. Already death is
coming upon me because of my sins ; but Thine
is the propitiation. Deliver me, O Lord of all,
from Thy fearful judgment. Do not give the
enemy power to swallow me up, and to become
heir of my soul, as of that of him who is hang-
ing on the left ; for I see how the devil joyfully
takes his soul, and his body disappears. Do not
even order me to go away into the portion of
the Jews ; for I see Moses and the patriarchs in
great weeping, and the devil rejoicing over them.
Before, then, O Lord, my spirit departs, order
my sins to be washed away, and remember m'e
the sinner in Thy kingdom, when upon the great
most lofty throne 4 thou shalt judge the twelve
tribes of Israels For Thou hast prepared great
punishment for Thy world on account of Thy-
self.
And the robber having thus spoken, Jesus says
to him : Amen, amen ; I say to thee, Demas,
that to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise.^
And the sons of the kingdom, the children of
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses,
shall be cast out into outer darkness ; there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ^ And thou
alone shalt dwell in paradise until my second ap-
pearing, when I am to judge those who do not
3 2 Tim. ii. 26.
* Or, upon the great throne of the Most High.
5 Matt. xix. 28.
6 Luke .\.viii. 43.
7 Matt. viii. 11, 12.
470
THE NARRATIVE OF JOSEPH.
confess my name. And He said to the robber :
Go away, and tell the cherubim and the powers,
that turn the flaming sword, that guard paradise
from the time that Adam, the first created, was
in paradise, and sinned, and kept not my com-
mandments, and I cast him out thence. And
none of the first shall see paradise until I am to
come the second time to judge living and dead.
And He wrote thus : Jesus Christ the Son of God,
who have come down from the heights of the
heavens, who have come forth out of the bosom
of the invisible Father without being separated
from Him,' and who have come down into the
world to be made flesh, and to be nailed to a
cross, in order that I might save Adam, whom
I fashioned, — to my archangelic powers, the
gatekeepers of paradise, to the officers of my
Father : I will and order that he who has been
crucified along with me should go in, should re-
ceive remission of sins through me ; and that he,
having put on an incorruptible body, should go
in to paradise, and dwell where no one has ever
been able to dweU.
And, behold, after He had said this, Jesus
gave up the ghost, on the day of the preparation,
at the ninth hour. And there was darkness over
all the earth ; and from a great earthquake that
happened, the sanctuary fell down, and the wing
of the temple.
Chap. 4. — And I Joseph begged the body of
Jesus, and put it in a new tomb, where no one had
been put. And of the robber on the right the
body was not found ; but of him on the left, as
the form of a dragon, so was his body.
And after I had begged the body of Jesus to
bury, the Jews, carried away by hatred and rage,
shut me up in prison, where evil-doers were kept
under restraint. And this happened to me on
the evening of the Sabbath, whereby our nation
transgressed the law. And, behold, that same
nation of ours endured fearful tribulations on the
Sabbath.
And now, on the evening of the first of the
week, at the fifth hour of the night, Jesus comes
to me in the prison, along with the robber who
had been crucified with Him on the right, whom
He sent into paradise. And there was a great
light in the building. And the house was hung
up by the four corners, and the place was opened,
and I came out. Then I first recognised Jesus,
and again the robber, bringing a letter to Jesus.
And as we were going into Galilee, there shone
a great light, which the creation did not produce.
And there was also with the robber a great fra-
grance out of paradise.
And Jesus, having sat down in a certain place,
thus read : We, the cherubim and the six-winged,
' Lit., inseparably.
who have been ordered by Thy Godhead to
watch the garden of paradise, make the following
statement through the robber who was crucified
along with Thee, by Thy arrangement : When
we saw the print of the nails of the robber cruci-
fied along with Thee, and the shining light of the
letter of Thy Godhead,- the fire indeed was ex-
tinguished, not being able to bear the splendour
of the print ; ^ and we crouched down, being in
great fear. For we heard that the Maker of
heaven and earth, . and of the whole creation,
had come down from on high to dwell in the
lower parts of the earth, on account of Adam,
the first created. And when we beheld the un-
defiled cross shining like lightning from the rob-
ber, gleaming with sevenfold the light of the
sun, trembling fell upon us. We felt a violent
shaking of the world below ; * and with a loud
voice, the ministers of Hades said, along with
us : Holy, holy, holy is He who in the beginning
was in the highest. And the powers sent up a
"cry : O Lord, Thou hast been made manifest in
heaven and in earth, bringing joy to the world ;
and, a greater gift than this, Thou hast freed
Thine own image from death by the invisible
purpose of the ages.
Chap. 5. — After I had beheld these things,
as I was going into Galilee with Jesus and the
robber, Jesus was transfigured, and was not as
formerly, before He was crucified, but was alto-
gether light ; and angels always ministered to
Him, and Jesus spoke with them. And I re-
mained with Him three days. And no one of
His disciples was with Him, except the robber
alone.
And in the middle of the feast of unleavened
bread, His disciple John comes, and we no
longer beheld the robber as to what took place.
And John asked Jesus : Who is this, that Thou
hast not made me to be seen by him? But Jesus
answered him nothing. And falling down before
Him, he said : Lord, I know that Thou hast
loved me from the beginning, and why dost
Thou not reveal to me that man? Jesus says to
him : Why dost thou seek what is hidden ? Art
thou still without understanding? Dost thou
not perceive the fragrance of paradise filling the
place? Dost thou not know who it is? The
robber on the cross has become heir of paradise.
Amen, amen ; I say to thee, that it shall belong
to him alone until that the great day shall come.
And John said : Make me worthy to behold him.
And while John was yet speaking, the robber
suddenly appeared ; and John, struck with as-
tonishment, feU to the earth. And the robber
= Or, the shining light of the letter, the fire of the Godhead, we
indeed were extinguished.
3 i e., of the nails,
■t The text is here corrupt; but this seems to be the meaning.
THE NARRATIVE OF JOSEPH.
4/1
was not in his first form, as before John came ;
but he was hke a king in great power, having on
him the cross. And the voice of a great multi-
tude was sent forth : Thou hast come to the
place prepared for thee in paradise. We have
been commanded by Him that has sent thee,
to serve thee until the great day. And after this
voice, both the robber and I Joseph vanished,
and I was found in my own house j and I no
longer saw Jesus.
And I, having seen these things, have written
them down, in order that all may believe in the
crucified Jesus Christ our Lord, and may no
longer obey the law of Moses, but may believe
in the signs and wonders that have happened
through Him, and in order that we who have be-
lieved may inherit eternal hfe, and be found in
the kingdom of the heavens. For to Him are
due glory, strength, praise, and majesty for ever
and ever. Amen.
THE AVENGING OF THE SAVIOUR.
This version of the legend of Veronica is written in very barbarous Latin, probably of the sev-
enth or eighth century. An Anglo-Saxon version, which Tischendorf concludes to be derived from
the Latin, was edited and translated for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, by C. W. Goodwin, in
185 1. The Anglo-Saxon text is from a MS. in the Cambridge Library, one of a number presented
to the Cathedral of Exeter by Bishop Leofric in the beginning of the eleventh century.
The reader will observe that there are in this document two distinct legends, somewhat clum-
sily joined together — that of Nathan's embassy, and that of Veronica.
HERE BEGINNETH THE AVENGING OF THE SAVIOUR.
In the days of the Emperor Tiberius Caesar,
when Herod was tetrarch, Christ was delivered
under Pontius Pilate by the Jews, and revealed
by Tiberius.
In those days Titus ' was a prince under Ti-
berius in the region of Equitania, in a city of
Libia which is called Burgidalla. And Titus had
a sore in his right nostril, on account of a can-
cer, and he had his face torn even to the eye.
There went forth a certain man from Judsea, by
name Nathan the son of Nahum ; for he was an
Ishmaelite who went from land to land, and from
sea to sea, and in all the ends of the earth.
Now Nathan was sent from Jud<Tea to the Empe-
ror Tiberius, to carry their treaty to the city of
Rome. And Tiberius was ill, and full of ulcers
and fevers, and had nine kinds of leprosy. And
Nathan wished to go to the city of Rome.
But the north wind blew and hindered his sail-
ing, and carried him down to the harbour of a
city of Libia. Now Titus, seeing the ship com-
ing, knew that it was from Judsea ; and they all
wondered, and said that they had never seen any
vessel so coming from that quarter. And Titus
ordered the captain to come to him, and asked
him who he was. And he said : I am Nathan
the son of Nahum, of the race of the Ishmael-
ites, and I am a subject of Pontius Pilate in
Judaea. And I have been sent to go to Tiberius
the Roman emperor, to carry a treaty from Ju-
daea. And a strong wind came down upon the
' The Saxon version has Tirus.
472
sea, and has brought me to a country that I do
not know.
And Titus says : If thou couldst at any time
find anything either of cosmetics or herbs which
could cure the wound that I have in my face, as
thou seest, so that I should become whole, and
regain my former health, I should bestow upon
thee many good things. And Nathan said to
him : I do not know, nor have I ever known,
of such things as thou speakest to me about.
But for all that, if thou hadst been some time
ago in Jerusalem, there thou wouldst have found
a choice prophet, whose name was Emanuel, for
He will save His people from their sins. And
He, as His first miracle in Cana of Galilee, made
wine from water ; and by His word He cleansed
lepers. He enlightened the eyes of one born
blind. He healed paralytics. He made demons
flee, He raised up three dead ; a woman caught
in adultery, and condemned by the Jews to be
stoned, He set free ; and another woman, named
Veronica, who suffered twelve years from an
issue of blood, and came up to Him behind, and
touched the fringe of His garment, He healed ;
and with five loaves and two fishes He satisfied
five thousand men, to say nothing of little ones
and women, and there remained of the frag-
ments twelve baskets. All these things, and
many others, were accomplished before His pas-
sion. After His resurrection we saw Him in the
flesh as He had been before. And Titus said
to Him : How did he rise again from the dead,
seeing that he was dead? And Nathan answered
THE AVENGING OF THE SAVIOUR.
473
and said : He was manifestly dead, and hung up
on the cross, and again taken down from the
cross, and for three days He lay in the tomb ;
thereafter He rose again from the dead, and
went down to Hades, and freed the patriarchs
and the prophets, and the whole human race ;
thereafter He appeared to His disciples, and ate
with them ; thereafter they saw Him going up
into heaven. And so it is the truth, all this that
I tell you. For I saw it with my own eyes, and
all the house of Israel. And Titus said in his
own words : Woe to thee, O Emperor Tiberius,
full of ulcers, and enveloped in leprosy, because
such a scandal has been committed in thy king-
dom ; because thou hast made such laws ' in
Judaea, in the land of the birth of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and they have seized the King, and put
to death the Ruler of the peoples ; and they
have not made Him come to us to cure thee of
thy leprosy, and cleanse me from mine infirmity :
on which account, if they had been before my
face, with my own hands I should have slain the
carcases of those Jews, and hung them up on
the cruel tree, because they have destroyed my
Lord, and mine eyes have not been worthy to
see His face. And when he had thus spoken,
immediately the wound fell from the face of
Titus, and his flesh and his face were restored to
health. And all the sick who were in the same
place were made whole in th.at hour. And Titus
cried out, and all the rest with him, in a loud
voice, saying : My King and my God, because
I have never seen Thee, and Thou hast made
me whole, bid me go with the ship over the
waters to the land of Thy birth, to take ven-
geance on Thine enemies ; and help me, O Lord,
that I may be able to destroy them, and avenge
Thy death : do Thou, Lord, deliver them into
my hand. And having thus spoken, he ordered
that he should be baptized. And he called
Nathan to him, and said to him : How hast
thou seen those baptized who believe in Christ?
Come to me, and baptize me in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.^ For I also firmly believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ with all ray heart, and with all my
soul ; because nowhere in the whole world is
there another who has created me, and made
me whole from my wounds.
And having thus spoken, he sent messengers
1.0 Vespasian to come with all haste with his
bravest men, so prepared as if for war.
Then Vespasian brought with him five thou-
sand armed men, and they went to meet Titus.
And when they had come to the city of Libia,
• Reges, kings, instead of leges, as suggested by Mr. Cowper, is
a much better reading.
- Sax.: Then Nathan came, and baptized him in the name of the
Father, and the .Son, and the Holy fJhost, and took away from him
his name of Tirus, and called him in his baptism Titus, which is in
our language Pius.
he said to Titus : Why is it that thou hast made
me come hither? And he said: Know that
Jesus has come into this world, and has been
born in Judaea, in a place which is called Beth-
lehem, and has been given up by the Jews, and
scourged, and crucified on Mount Calvary,^ and
has risen again from the dead on the third day.
And His disciples have seen Him in the same
flesh in which he was born, and He has shown
Himself to His disciples, and they have believed
in Him. And we indeed wish to become His
disciples. Now, let us go and destroy His ene-
mies from the earth, that they may now know
that there is none like the Lord our God on the
face of the earth.
With this design, then, they went forth from
the city of Libia which is called Burgidalla,*
and went on board a ship, and proceeded to
Jerusalem, and surrounded the kingdom of the
Jews, and began to send them to destruction.
And when the kings of the Jews heard of their
doings, and the wasting of their land, fear came
upon them, and they were in great perplexity.
Then Archelaus^ was perplexed in his words,
and said to his son : My son, take my kingdom
and judge it ; and take counsel with the other
kings'who are in the land of Judah, that you
may be able to escape from our enemies. And
having thus said, -.e unsheathed his sword and
leant upon it ; and turned his sword, which was
very sharp, and thrust it into his breast, and
died. And his son allied himself with the other
kings who were under him, and they took coun-
sel among themselves, and went into Jerusalem
with their chief men who were in their counsel,
and stood in the same place seven years. And
Titus and Vespasian took counsel to surround
their city. And they did so. And the seven
years being fulfilled, there was a very sore fam-
ine, and for want of bread they began to eat
earth. Then all the soldiers who were of the
four kings took counsel among themselves, and
said : Now we are sure to die : what will God
do to us ? or of what good is our life to us, be-
cause the Romans have come to take our place
and nation? It is better for us to kiU each
other, than that the Romans should say that
they have slain us, and gained the victory over
us. And they drew their swords and smote
themselves, and died, to the number of twelve
thousand men of them. Then there was a great
stench in that city from the corpses of those
dead men. And their kings feared with a very
great fear even unto death ; and they could not
bear the stench of them, nor bury them, nor
throw them forth out of the city. And they
3 Note the popular but erroneous appellation of Mount.
* Sax. omits ivhich is called Burgidalla.
5 Sax.: And Herod the king was so terrified, that he said to
Archelaus his son.
474
THE AVENGING OF THE SAVIOUR.
said to each other : What shall we do ? We
indeed gave up Christ to death, and now we are
given up to death ourselves. Let us bow our
heads, and give up the keys of the city to the
Romans, because God has already given us up
to death. And immediately they went up upon
the walls of the city, and all cried out with a
loud voice, saying : Titus and Vespasian, take
the keys of the city, which have been given to
you by Messiah, who is called Christ.
Then they gave themselves up into the hands
of Titus and Vespasian, and. said : Judge us,
seeing that we ought to die, because we judged
Christ ; and he was given up without cause.
Titus and Vespasian seized them, and some they
stoned, and some they hanged on a tree, feet up
and head down, and struck them through with
lances ; and others they gave up to be sold, and
others they divided among themselves, and made
four parts of them, just as they had done of the
garments of the Lord. And they said : They
sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver, and we
shall sell thirty of them for one denarius. And
so they did. And having done so, they seized
all the lands of Judaea and Jerusalem.
Then they made a search about the face or
portrait ' of Jesus, how they might find it.^ 'And
they found a woman named Veronica who had
it. Then they seized Pilate, and sent him to
prison, to be guarded by four quaternions of
soldiers at the door of the prison. Then they
forthwith sent their messengers to Tiberius,
the emperor of the city of Rome, that he
should send Velosianus to them. And he said
to him : Take all that is necessary for thee
in the sea, and go down into Judcca, and seek
out one of the disciples of him who is called
Christ and Lord, that he may come to me,
and in the name of his God cure me of the
leprosy and the infirmities by which I am daily
exceedingly burdened, and of my wounds, be-
cause I am ill at ease. And send upon the kings
of the Jews, who are subject to my authority,
thy forces and terrible engines, because they
have put to death Jesus Christ our Lord, and
condemn them to death. And if thou shalt
there find a man as may be able to free me from
this infirmity of mine, I will believe in Christ
the Son of God, and will baptize myself in his
name. And Velosianus said : My lord emperor,
if I find such a man as may be able to help and
free us, what reward shall I promise him? Ti-
berius said to him : The half of my kingdom,
without fail, to be in his hand.
Then Velosianus immediately went forth, and
went on board the ship, and hoisted the sail in
' Lit., countenance. [
2 Sax. : And they inquired diligently whether perchance there
were there any one who had miraculous relics of the Saviour, of His
clothing, or other precious things; and they sought so diligently, that
they found a woman, etc. I
the vessel, and went on sailing through the sea.
And he sailed a year and seven days, after
which he arrived at Jerusalem. And immedi-
ately he ordered some of the Jews to come
to his power, and began carefully to ask what
had been the acts of Christ. Then Joseph, of
the city of Arimathaea, and Nicodemus, came
at the same time. And Nicodemus said : I saw
Him, and I know indeed that He is the Saviour
of the world. And Joseph said to him : And I
took Him down from the cross, and laid Him in
a new tomb, which had been cut out of the rock.
And the Jews kept me shut up on the day of the
preparation, at evening ; and while I was stand-
ing in prayer on the Sabbath-day, the house was
hung up by the four corners, and I saw the Lord
Jesus Christ like a gleam of light, and for fear I
fell to the ground. And He said to me, Look
upon me, for I am Jesus, whose body thou bur-
iedst in thy tomb. And I said to Him, Show
me the sepulchre where I laid Thee. And Jesus,
holding my hand in His right hand, led me to
the place where I buried Him.^
And there came also the woman named Ve-
ronica, and said to him : -And I touched in the
crowd the fringe of His garment, because for
twelve years I had suffered from an issue of
blood ; and He immediately healed me. Then
Velosianus said to Pilate : Thou, Pilate, impious
and cruel, why hast thou slain the Son of God?
And Pilate answered : His own nation, and the
chief priests Annas and Caiaphas, gave him to
me. Velosianus said : Impious and cruel, thou
art worthy of death and cruel punishment. And
he sent him back to prison. And Velosianus
at last sought for the face or the countenance of
the Lord. And all who were in that same place
said : It is the woman called Veronica who has
the portrait of the Lord in her house. And im-
mediately he ordered her to be brought before
his power. And he said to her : Hast thou the
portrait of the Lord in thy house? But she
said. No. Then Velosianus ordered her to be put
to the torture, until she should give up the por-
trait of the Lord. And she was forced to say :
I have it in clean linen, my lord, and I daily
adore it. Velosianus said : Show it to me.
Then she showed the portrait of the Lord.
When Velosianus saw it, he prostrated himself
on the ground ; and with a ready heart and true^
faith he took hold of it, and wrapped it in cloth'
of gold, and placed it in a casket, and sealed it
with his ring. And he swore with an oath, and
said : As the Lord God liveth, and by the health
3 In the Saxon, Joseph's speech is: I know that they took Him
down from the cross, and laid Him in the tomb which I had cut out of
the rock. And I was one of those who guarded His tomb: and 1 bent
my head and thought I should see Him, but I beheld nothing of Him,
but saw two angels, one at. the head and the other at the foot, and they
asked me whom I was seeking. I answered and said to them, I seek
Jesus who was crucified. Again they said to me. Go into Galilee;
there shall you see Him, as He said to you before.
THE AVENGING OF THE SAVIOUR.
475
of Csesar, no man shall any more see it upon the
face of the earth, until I see the face of my lord
Tiberius. And when he had thus spoken, the
princes, who were the chief men of Judaea, seized
Pilate to take him to a seaport. And he took
the portrait of the Lord, with all His disciples,
and all in his pay, and they went on board the
ship the same day. Then the woman Veronica,
for the love of Christ, left all that she possessed,
and followed Velosianus. And Velosianus said
to her : What dost thou wish, woman, or what
dost thou seek ? And she answered : I am seek-
ing the portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
enlightened me, not for my own merits, but
through His own holy affection.' Give back to
me the portrait of my Lord Jesus Christ ; for
because of this I die with a righteous longing.
But if thou do not give it back to me, I will not
leave it until I see where thou wilt put it, be-
cause I, most miserable woman that I am, will
serve Him all the days of my life ; because I
believe that He, my Redeemer, hveth for ever-
lasting.
Then Velosianus ordered the woman Veronica
to be taken down with him into the ship. And
the sails being hoisted, they began to go in the
vessel in the name of the Lord, and they sailed
through the sea. But Titus, along with Vespa-
sian, went up into Judaea, avenging all nations
upon their iand.^ At the end of a year Velo-
sianus came to the city of Rome, brought his
vessel into the river which is called Tiberis, or
Tiber, and entered the city which is called Rome.
And he sent his messenger to his lord Tiberius
the emperor in the Lateran about his prosperous
arrival.
Then Tiberius the emperor, when he heard
the message of Velosianus, rejoiced greatly,
and ordered him to come before his face. And
when he had come, he called him, saying : Ve-
losianus, how hast thou come, and what hast
thou seen in the region of Judaea of Christ the
Lord and his disciples? Tell me, I beseech
thee, that he is going to cure me of mine infirm-
ity, that I may be at once cleansed from that
leprosy which I have over my body, and I give
up my whole kingdom into thy power and his.
And Velosianus said : My lord emperor, I
found thy servants Titus and Vespasian in Judaea
fearing the Lord, and they were cleansed from
all their ulcers and sufferings. And I found that
all the kings and rulers of Judaea have been
hanged by Titus ; Annas and Caiaphas have
' A few lines of the text are here very corrupt, and are omitted
by Tischendorf. The meaning of them is: And woe's me, because,
contrary to the law, thou hast treated me most unjustly. Ah! woe's
me, because ihou hast taken my Lord from me; just as the Jews did
contrary to the law in crucifying in this world the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom the eyes of your Caesar have not seen. But woe's me ! have
I done contrary to the law? Have I deserved to suffer this punish-
ment?
^ Or, taking vengeance upon all the nations of their land.
been stoned, Archelaus has killed himself with
his own lance ; and I have sent Pilate to Damas-
cus in bonds, and kept him in prison under safe
keeping. But I have also found out about Jesus,
whom the Jews most wickedly attacked with
swords, and staves, and weapons ; and they cru-
cified him who ought to have freed and enlight-
ened us, and to have come to us, and they hanged
him on a tree. And Joseph came from Arima-
thaea, and Nicodemus with him, bringing a mix-
ture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds,
to anoint the body of Jesus ; and they took him
down from the cross, and laid him in a new tomb.
And on the third day he most assuredly rose
again from the dead, and showed himself to his
disciples in the same flesh in which he had been
born. At length, after forty days, they saw him
going up into heaven. Many, indeed, and other
miracles did Jesus before his passion and after.
First, of water he made wine ; he raised the
dead, he cleansed lepers, he enlightened the
blind, he cured paralytics, he put demons to
flight ; he made the deaf hear, the dumb speak ;
Lazarus, when four days dead, he raised from
the tomb ; the woman Veronica, who suffered
from an issue of blood twelve years, and touched
the fringe of his garment, he made whole. Then
it pleased the 7 -rd in the heavens, that the Son
of God, who, sent into this world as the first-
created, had died upon earth, should send his
angel ; and he commanded Titus and Vespasian,
whom I knew in that place where thy throne is.
And it pleased God Almighty that they went into
Judaea and Jerusalem, and seized thy subjects,
and put them under that sentence, as it were, in
the same manner as they did when thy subjects
seized Jesus and bound him. And Vespasian
afterwards said : What shall we do about those
who shall remain ? Titus answered : They hanged
our Lord on a green tree, and struck him with a
lance ; now let us hang them on a dry tree, and
pierce their bodies through and through with the
lance. And they did so. And Vespasian said :
What about those who are left? Titus an-
swered : They seized the tunic of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and of it made four parts ; now let us seize
them, and divide them into four parts, — to thee
one, to me one, to thy men another, and to my
servants the fourth part. And they did so. .And
Vespasian said : But what shall we do about
those who are left? Titus answered him: The
Jews sold our Lord for thirty pieces of silver :
now let us sell thirty of them for one piece of
silver. And they did so. And they seized
Pilate, and gave him up to me, and I put him in
prison, to be guarded by four quaternions of sol-
diers in Damascus. Then they made a search
with great diligence to seek the portrait of the
Lord ; and they found a woman named Veronica
who had the portrait of the Lord. Then the
476
THE AVENGING OF THE SAVIOUR.
Emperor Tiberius said to Velosianus ; How hast
thou it ? And he answered : I have it in clean
cloth of gold, rolled up in a shawl. And the
Emperor Tiberius said : Bring it to me, and
spread it before my face, that I, falling to the
ground and bending my knees, may adore it on
the ground. Then Velosianus spread out his
shawl with the cloth of gold on which the por-
trait of the Lord had been imprinted ; and the
Emperor Tiberius saw it. And he immediately
adored the image of the Lord with a pure heart,
and his flesh was cleansed as the flesh of a little
child. And all the blind, the lepers, the lame,
the dumb, the deaf, and those possessed by va-
rious diseases, who were there present, were
healed, and cured, and cleansed. And the Em-
peror Tiberius bowed his head and bent his
knees, considering that saying : Blessed is the
womb which bore Thee, and the breasts which
Thou hast sucked ; and he groaned to the Lord,
saying with tears : God of heaven and earth, do
not permit me to sin, but confirm my soul and
my body, and place me in Thy kingdom, be-
cause in Thy name do I trust always : free me
from all evils, as Thou didst free the three chil-
dren from the furnace of blazing fire.
Then said the Emperor Tiberius to Velosianus :
Velosianus, hast thou seen any of those men who
saw Christ? Velosianus answered : I have. He
said : Didst thou ask how they baptize those who
believed in Christ? Velosianus said : Here, my
Lord, we have one of the disciples of Christ
himself. Then he ordered Nathan to be sum-
moned to come to him. Nathan therefore came
and baptized him in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Immediately the Emperor Tiberius, made whole
from all his diseases, ascended upon his throne,
and said : Blessed art Thou, O Lord God Al-
mighty, and worthy to be praised, who hast freed
me from the snare of death, and cleansed me
from all mine iniquities ; because I have greatly
sinned before Thee, O Lord my God, and I am
not worthy to see Thy face. And then the Em-
peror Tiberius was instructed in all the articles
of the faith, fully, and with strong faith.
May that same God Almiglity, who is King
of kings and Lord of lords. Himself shield us in
His faith, and defend us, and deliver us from all
danger and evil, and deign to bring us to life ever-
lasting, when this life, which is temporary, shall
fail ; who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND
PAUL.
It came to pass, after Paul went out of the
island Gaudomeleta/ that he came to Italy; and
it w^s heard of by the Jews who were in Rome,
the elder of the cities, that Paul demanded to
come to Csesar. Having fallen, therefore, into
great grief and much despondency, they said
among themselves : It does not please him that
he alone has afflicted all our brethren and par-
ents in Judaea and Samaria, and in all Palestine ;
and he has not been pleased with these, but, be-
hold, he comes here also, having through impo-
sition asked Cssar to destroy us.
Having therefore made an assembly against
Paul, and having considered many proposals,^ it
seemed good to them to go to Nero the em-
peror, to ask him not to allow Paul to come to
Rome. Having therefore got in readiness not
a few presents, and having carried them with
them, with supplication they came before him,
saying : We beseech thee, O good emperor, send
orders into all the governments of your worship,
to the effect that Paul is not to come near these
parts ; because this Paul, having afflicted all the
nation of our fathers, has been seeking to come
hither to destroy us also. And the affliction, O
most worshipful emperor, which we have from
Peter is enough for us.
And the Emperor Nero, having heard these
things, answered them : It is ^ according to your
wish. And we write to all our governments that
he shall not on any account come to anchor in
the parts of Italy. And they also informed Simon
the magian, having sent for him, that, as has been
said, he should not come into the parts of Italy.
And while they were thus doing, some of those
that had repented out of the nations, and that
had been baptized at the preaching of Peter,
sent elders to Paul with a letter to the following
effect : Paul, dear servant of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and brother of Peter, the first of the apos-
tles, we have heard from the rabbis of the Jews
' Lambecius proposes to read Gaudos and Melita. In the Latin
version of the famous Greek scholar Lascaris, 1490, it is a Melita et
Gaudisio insults. [Comp. Acts xxvii. 16, xxviii. i. The two
names are apparently combined here. — R.]
- TpixKTaio-ai'Tes : from the Byzantine verb TpaKTai^eiv = tractare.
The various readings in the MSS. are: Being very disorderly; having
been much disturbed.
3 Various reading: Let it be . . . and wc will write, etc.
that are in this Rome, the greatest of the cities,
that they have asked Caesar to send into all his
governments, in order that, wherever thou mayst
be found, thou mayst be put to death. But we
have believed, and do believe, that as God does
not separate the two great lights which He has
made, so He is not to part you from each other,
that is, neither Peter from Paul, nor Paul from
Peter ; but we positively beUeve in our Lord
Jesus Christ, into whom we have been baptized,
that we have become worthy also of your teaching.
And Paul, having received the two men sent
with the letter on the twentieth of the month of
May, became ea^^er to go, and gave thanks to
the Lord and ^ ^ster Jesus Christ. And having
sailed from Gaudomeleta, he did not now come
through Africa to the parts of Italy, but ran to
Sicily, until he came to the city of Syracuse with
the two men who had been sent from Rome to
him. And having sailed thence, he came to
Rhegium of Calabria, and from Rhegium he
crossed to Mesina, and there ordained a bishop,
Bacchylus by name. And when he came out
of Mesina he sailed to Didymus, and remained
there one night. And having sailed thence, he
came to Pontiole ■♦ on the second day.
And Dioscorus the shipmaster, who brought
him to Syracuse, sympathizing with Paul because
he had delivered his son trom death, having left
his own ship in Syracuse, accompanied him to
Pontiole. And some of Peter's disciples having
been found there, and having received Paul, ex-
horted him to stay with them. And he stayed
a week, in hiding, because of the command of
Csesar. And all the toparchs were watching to
seize and kill him. But Dioscorus the shipmas-
ter, being himself also bald, wearing his ship-
master's dress, and speaking boldly, on the first
day went out into the city of Pontiole. Thinking
therefore that he was Paul, they seized him, and
beheaded him, and sent his head to Csesar.
Csesar therefore, having summoned the first
men of the Jews, announced to them, saying :
Rejoice with great joy, for Paul your enemy is
dead. And he showed them the head. Hav-
* Puteoli.
477
478
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL.
ing therefore made great rejoicing on that day,
which was the fourteenth of the month of June,
each of the Jews fully believed it.
And Paul, being in Pontiole, and having heard
that Dioscorus had been beheaded, being grieved
with great grief, gazing into the height of the
heaven, said : O Lord Almighty in heaven, who
hast appeared to me in every place whither I
have gone on account of Thine only-begotten
Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, punish this city,
and bring out all who have believed in God and
followed His word. He said to them therefore :
Follow me : And going forth from Pontiole
with those who had believed in the word of God,
they came to a place called Baias ; ' and look-
ing up with their eyes, they all see that city
called Pontiole sunk into the sea- shore about
one fathom ; and there it is until this day, for a
remembrance, under the sea.
And having gone forth from Baias, they went
to Gaitas, and there he taught the word of God.
And he stayed there three days in the house of
Erasmus, whom Peter sent from Rome to teach
the Gospel of God. And having come forth from
Gaitas, he came to the castle called Taracinas, and
stayed there seven days in the house of Csesarius
the deacon, whom Peter had ordained by the
laying on of hands. And sailing thence, he came
by the river to a place called Tribus Tabernes.
And those who had been saved out of the city
of Pontiole, that had been swallowed up, re-
ported to Caesar in Rome that Pontiole had
been swallowed up, with all its multitude. And
the emperor, being in great grief on account of
the city, having summoned the chief of the Jews,
said to them : Behold, on account of what I
heard from you, I have caused Paul to be be-
headed, and on account of this the city has
been swallowed up. And the chief of the Jews
said to Cffisar : Most worshipful emperor, did
we not say to thee that he troubled all the coun-
try of the East, and perverted our fathers? It
is better therefore, most worshipful emperor, that
one city be destroyed, and not the seat of thine
empire ; for this had Rome to suffer. And the
emperor, having heard their words, was appeased.
And Paul stayed in Tribus Tabernes four days.
And departing thence, he came to Appii Forum,
which is called Vicusarape ; and having slept
there that night, he saw one sitting on a golden
chair, and a multitude of blacks standing beside
him, saying : I have to-day made a son murder
his father. Another said : And I have made a
house fall, and kill parents with children. And
they reported to him many evil deeds — some of
one kind, some of another. And another com-
ing, reported to him : I have managed that the
bishop Juvenalius, whom Peter ordained, should
' The geographical names are given in the peculiar forms of the
text. Occasionally the usual forms, such as Baiae, occur.
sleep with the abbess Juliana. And having heard
all these things when sleeping in that Appii
Forum, near Vicusarape, straightway and immedi-
ately he sent to Rome one of those who had
followed him from Pontiole to the bishop Juve-
nalius, telling him this same thing which had just
been done. And on the following day, Juvena-
lius, running, threw himself at the feet of Peter,
weeping and lamenting, and saying what had just
befallen ; and he recounted to him the matter,
and said : I believe that this is the light which
thou wast awaiting. And Peter said to him :
How is it possible that it is he when he is dead ?
And Juvenalius the bishop took to Peter him
that had been sent by Paul, and he reported to
him that he was alive, and on his way, and that
he was at Appii Forum. And Peter thanked
and glorified the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Then having summoned his disciples that be-
lieved, he sent them to Paul as far as Tribus
Tabernes. And the distance from Rome to Tri-
bus Tabernes is thirty-eight miles.^ And Paul
seeing them, having given thanks to our Lord
Jesus Christ, took courage ; and departing thence,
they slept in the city called Aricia.
And a report went about in the city of Rome
that Paul the brother of Peter was coming. And
those that beUeved in God rejoiced with great
joy. And there was great consternation among
the Jews ; and having gone to Simon the ma-
gian, they entreated him, saying : Report to the
emperor that Paul is not dead, but that he is
alive, and has come. And Simon said to the
Jews : What head is it, then, which came to
Csesar from Pontiole ? Was it not bald also ?
And Paul having come to Rome, great fear
fell upon the Jews. They came together there-
fore to him, and exhorted him, saying : Vindi-
cate the faith in which thou wast born ; for it is
not right that thou, being a Hebrew, and of the
Hebrews, shouldst call thyself teacher of Gen-
tiles, and vindicator of the uncircumcised ; and,
being thyself circumcised, that thou shouldst
bring to nought the faith of the circumcision.^
And when thou seest Peter, contend against his
teaching, because he has destroyed all the bul-
warks of our law ; for he has prevented the keep-
ing of Sabbaths and new moons, and the holidays
appointed by the law. And Paul, answering,
said to them : That I am a true Jew, by this you
can prove ; because also you have been able to
keep the Sabbath, and to observe the true cir-
cumcision ; for assuredly on the day of the Sab-
bath God rested from all His works. We have
fathers, and patriarchs, and the law. What, then,
2 The distance was thirty-three miles. In the A ntonine Itinera-
ry, " To Aricia is sixteen miles, to Tres Tabernae seventeen miles, to
Appii Forum ten miles."
■3 Or, do away with belief in circumcision.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL.
479
does Peter preach in the kingdom of the Gen-
tiles ? But if he shall wish to bring in any new
teaching, without any tumult, and envy, and trou-
ble, send him word, that we may see, and in your
presence I shall convict him. But if his teaching
be true, supported by the book and testimony of
the Hebrews, it becomes all of us to submit to
him.
Paul saying these and such like things, the Jews
went and said to Peter : Paul of the Hebrews
has come, and entreats thee to come to him,
since those who have brought him say that he
cannot meet whomsoever he may wish until he
appear before Caesar. And Peter having heard,
rejoiced with great joy ; and rising up, imme-
diately went to him. And seeing each other,
they wept for joy ; and long embracing each
other, they bedewed each other with tears.
And when Paul had related to Peter the sub-
stance ' of all his doings, and how, through the
disasters of the ship, he had come, Peter also
told him what he had suffered from Simon the
magian, and all his plots. And having told these
things, he went away towards evening.
And in the morning of the following day, at
dawn, behold, Peter coming, finds a multitude
of the Jews before Paul's door. And there was
a great uproar between the Christian Jews and
the Gentiles. For, on the one hand, the Jews
said : We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
the friends of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
and all the prophets, with whom God spake, to
whom He showed His own mysteries and His
great wonders. But you of the Gentiles are no
great thing in your lineage ; if otherwise, you have
become polluted and abominable by idols and
graven images.
\\h\\e the Jews were saying such things, and
such-like, those of the Gentiles answered, say-
ing : We, when we heard the truth, straightway
followed it, having abandoned our errors. But
you, both knowing the mighty deeds of your
fathers, and seeing the signs of the prophets,
and having received the law, and gone through
the sea with dry feet, and seen your enemies
sunk in its depths, and the pillar of fire by night
and of cloud by day shining upon you, and
manna having been given to you out of heaven,
and water flowing to you out of a rock, — after
all these things you fashioned to yourselves the
idol of a calf, and worshipped the graven image.
But we, having seen none of the signs, believe
to be a Saviour the God whom you have for-
saken in unbelief.
While they were contending in these and
such-like words, the Apostle Paul said that they
ought not to make such attacks upon each other,
but that they should rather give heed to this.
' Lit., web or tissue.
that God had fulfilled His promises which He
swore to Abraham our father, that in his seed he
should inherit all the nations.^ For there is no
respect of persons with God.^ As many as have
sinned in law shall be judged according to law,
and as many as have sinned without law shall
perish without law.+ But we, brethren, ought to
thank God that, according to His mercy, He has
chosen us to be a holy people to Himself: so
that in this we ought to boast, whether Jews or
Greeks ; for you are all one in the belief of His
name.
And Paul having thus spoken, both the Jews
and they of the Gentiles were appeased. But
the rulers of the Jews assailed Peter. And Peter,
when they accused him of having renounced
their synagogues, said : Hear, brethren, the holy
Spirit about the patriarch David, promising, Of
the fruit of thy womb shall He set upon thy
throne. 5 Him therefore to whom the Father
said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
Thee, the chief priests through envy crucified ;
but that He might accomplish the salvation of
the world, it was allowed that He should suffer
all these things.^ Just as, therefore, from the
side of Adam Eve was created, so also from the
side of Christ was created the Church, which has
no spot nor blep-'. .1. In Him,'' therefore, God
has opened an entrance to all the sons of Abra-
ham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in order that they
may be in the faith of profession towards
Him,*^ and have life and salvation in His name.
Turn, therefore, and enter into the joy of your
father Abraham, because God hatll fulfilled what
He promised to him. Whence also the prophet
says. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent :
Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of
Melchizedec.9 For a priest He became upon
the cross, when He offered the whole burnt-
offering of His own body and blood as a sacri-
fice for all the world.
And Peter saying this and such-like, the most
part of the people believed. And it happened
also that Nero's wife Libia, and the yoke-fellow
of Agrippa the prefect, Agrippina by name, thus
believed, so that also they went away from beside
their own husbands. And on account of the
teaching of Paul, many, despising military life,
clung to God ; so that even from the emperor's
bed-chamber some came to him, and having be-
come Christians, were no longer willing to return
to the army or the palace.
When, consequently, the people were making
^ Gen. xii. 3, xvii. 5.
3 Rom. ii. 11; Eph. vi. 9; Col. jii. 25; Jas. ii. i.
4 Rom. ii. 12.
5 Ps. cxxxii. II.
6 Or, He allowed Himself to suffer all these things.
7 Or, by Him.
8 i.e. , That all may profess their faith in Him. For similar ex-
pressions, see 2 Cor. ix. 13, Heb. x. 23.
9 Ps. ex. 4; Heb. vii. 21.
48o
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL.
a seditious murmuring, Simon, moved with zeal,
rouses himself, and began to say many evil things
about Peter, saying that he was a wizard and a
cheat. And they believed him, wondering at
his miracles ; for he made a brazen serpent
move itself, and stone statues to laugh and move
themselves, and himself to run and suddenly to
be raised into the air. But as a set-off to these,
Peter healed the sick by a word, by praying
made the blind to see, put demons to flight by
a command ; sometimes he even raised the dead.
And he said to the people that they should not
only flee from Simon's deceit, but also that they
should expose him, that they might not seem to
be slaves to the devil.
And thus it happened that all pious men ab-
horred Simon the magian, and proclaimed him
impious. But those who adhered to Simon
strongly affirmed Peter to be a magian, bearing
false witness as many of them as were with Simon
the magian ; so that the matter came even to
the ears of Nero the Csesar, and he gave order
to bring Simon the magian before him. And he,
coming in, stood before him, and began sudden-
ly to assume different forms, so that on a sudden
he became a child, and after a little an old man,
and at other times a young man ; for he changed
himself both in face and stature into different
forms, and was in a frenzy, having the devil as
his servant. And Nero beholding this, supposed
him to be truly the son of God ; but the Apos-
tle Peter showed him to be both a liar and a
wizard, base and impious and apostate, and in
all things opposed to the truth of God, and that
nothing yet remained except that his wickedness,
being made apparent by the command of God,
might be made manifest to them all.
Then Simon, having gone in to Nero, said :
Hear, O good emperor : I am the son of God
come down from heaven. Until now I have
endured Peter only calling himself an apostle ;
but now he has doubled the evil : for Paul also
himself teaches the same things, and having his
mind turned against me, is said to preach along
with him ; in reference to whom, if thou shalt
not contrive their destruction, it is very plain
that thy kingdom cannot stand.
Then Nero, filled with concern, ordered to
bring them speedily before him. And on the
following day Simon the magian, and Peter and
Paul the apostles of Christ, having come in to
Nero, Simon said : These are the disciples of the
Nazarene, and it is not at all well that they
should be of the people of the Jews, Nero said :
What is a Nazarene ? Simon said : There is a
city of Judah which has always been opposed to
us, called Nazareth, and to it the teacher of these
men belonged. Nero said : God commands us
to love every man ; why, then, dost thou perse-
cute them ? Simon said : This is a race of men
who have turned aside all Judsea from believing
in me. Nero said to Peter : Why are you thus
unbelieving, according to your race ? ■ Then
Peter said to Simon : Thou hast been able to
impose upon all, but upon me never ; and those
who have been deceived, God has through me
recalled from their error. And since thou hast
learned by experience that thou canst not get
the better of me, I wonder with what face thou
boastest thyself before the emperor, and sup-
posest that through thy magic art thou shalt
overcome the disciples of Christ. Nero said :
Who is Christ ? Peter said : He is what this Si-
mon the magian affirms himself to be ; but this is
a most wicked man, and his works are of the devil.
"But if thou wishest to know, O good emperor,
the things that have been done in Judaea about
Christ, take the writings of Pontius Pilate sent
to Claudius, and thus thou wilt know all. And
Nero ordered them to be brought, and to be read
in their presence ; and they were to the following
effect : - —
Pontius Pilate to Claudius, greeting. There
has lately happened an event which I myself
was concerned in. For the Jews through envy
have inflicted on themselves, and those coming
after them, dreadful judgments. Their fathers
had promises that their God would send them
his holy one from heaven, who according to
reason- should be called their king, and he had
promised to send him to the earth by means of a
virgin. He, then, when I was procurator, came
into Judaea. And they saw^ him enlightening
the blind, cleansing lepers, healing paralytics,
expelling demons from men, raising the dead,
subduing the winds, walking upon tiie waves of
the sea, and doing many other wonders, and all
the people of the Jews calling him Son of God.
Then the chief priests, moved with envy against
him, seized him, and delivered him to me ; and
telling one lie after another, they said that he was
a wizard, and did contrary to their law. And I,
having believed that these things were so, gave
him up, after scourging him, to their will ; ■♦ and
they crucified him, and after he was buried set
guards over him. But he, while my soldiers
were guarding him, rose on the third day. And
to such a degree was the wickedness of the Jews
inflamed against him, that they gave money to
the soldiers, saying, Say his disciples have stolen
his body. But they, having taken the money,
were not able to keep silence as to what had
happened ; for they have testified that they have
seen him (after he was) risen, and that they
' i.e., How do you happen, as a race, to be so unbelieving? The
Latin translation has: against your race — Kara, tov yeVovs for Kara.
TO Y^Vo?.
2 For another translation of this letter, see Latin Gospel of Nico-
demus, chap. xiii. (xxix.) [This occurs on p. 454; there is another
form on p. 459. — R.]
3 Or, I saw.
* Or, to their council.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL.
481
have received money from the Jews. These
things, therefore, have I reported, that no one
should falsely speak otherwise, and that thou
shouldest not suppose that the falsehoods of the
Jews are to be believed.
And the letter having been read, Nero said :
Tell me, Peter, were all these things thus done
by him? Peter said : They were, with your per-
mission, O good emperor. For this Simon is
full of lies and deceit, even if it should seem
that he is what he is not — a god. And in
Christ there is all excellent victory through God
and through man,' which tliat incomprehensible
glory atssumed which through man deigned to
come to the assistance of men. But in this Si-
mon there are two essences, of man and of devil,
who through man endeavours to ensnare men.
Simon said : I wonder, O good emperor, that
you reckon this man of any consequence — a
man uneducated, a fisherman of the poorest,
and endowed with power neither in word nor
by rank. But, that I may not long endure him
as an enemy, I shall forthwith order my angels
to come and avenge me upon him. Peter said :
I am not afraid of thy angels ; but they shall be
much more afraid of me in the power and trust
of my Lord Jesus Christ, whom thou falsely de-
clarest thyself to be.
Nero said : Art thou not afraid, Peter, of Si-
mon, who confirms his godhead by deeds? Pe-
ter said : Godhead is in Him who searcheth the
hidden things of the heart.- Now then, tell me
what I am thinking about, or what I am doing.
I disclose to thy servants who are here what my
thought is, before he tells lies about it, in order
that he may not dare to lie as to what I am
thinking about. Nero said : Come hither, and
tell me what thou art thinking about. Peter
said : Order a barley loaf to be brought, and to
be given to me secretly. And when he ordered
it to be brought, and secretly given to Peter,
Peter said : Now tell us, Simon, what has been
thought about, or what said, or what done.
Nero said : Do you mean me to believe that
Simon does not know these things, who both
raised a dead man, and presented himself on
the third day after he had been beheaded, and
who has done whatever he said he would do?
Peter said : But he did not do it before me.
Nero said : But he did all these before me.
For assuredly he ordered angels to come to him,
and they came. Peter said : If he has done
what is very great, why does he not do what
is very small? Let him tell what I had in my
mind, and what I have done. • Nero said : Be-
tween you, I do not know myself. Simon said :
Let Peter say what I am thinking of, or what I
am doing. Peter said : What Simon has in his
' i.(!., human nature.
^ Jcr. xvii. 10; Rev. ii. 23.
mind I shall show that I know, by my doing
what he is thinking about. Simon said : Know
this, O emperor, that no one knows the thoughts
of men, but God alone. Is not, therefore, Peter
lying? Peter said: Do thou, then, who sayest
that thou art the Son of God, tell what I have
in my mind ; disclose, if thou canst, what I have
just done in secret. For Peter, having blessed
the barley loaf which he had received, and hav-
ing broken it with his right hand and his left,
had heaped it up in his sleeves. Then Simon,
enraged that he was not able to tell the secret
of the apostle, cried out, saying ; Let great dogs
come forth, and eat him up before C?esar. And
suddenly there appeared great dogs, and rushed
at Peter. But Peter, stretching forth his hands ^
to pray, showed to the dogs the loaf which he
had blessed ; which the dogs seeing, no longer
appeared. Then Peter said to Nero : Behold,
I have shown thee that I knew what Simon was
thinking of, not by words, but by deeds ; for
he, having promised that he would bring angels
against me, has brought dogs, in order that he
might show that he had not god-like but dog-
like angels.
Then Nero said to Simon : What is it, Simon ?
I think we have gc the worst of it. Simon said :
This man, both ui Judaea and in all Palestine
and Cjesarea, has done the same to me ; ■* and
from very often striving with me, he has learned
that this is adverse to them. This, then, he
has learned how to escape from me ; for the
thoughts of men no one knows but God alone.
And Peter said to Simon : Certainly thou feign-
est thyself to be a god ; why, then, dost thou
not reveal the thoughts of every man ?
Then Nero, turning to Paul, said : Why dost
thou say nothing, Paul? Paul answered and
said : Know this, O emperor, that if thou per-
mittest this magician to do such things, it will
bring an access of the greatest mischief to thy
country, and will bring down thine empire from
its position. Nero said to Simon : What sayest
thou? Simon said : If I do not manifestly hold
myself out to be a god, no one will bestow upon
me due reverence. Nero said : And now, why
dost thou delay, and not show thyself to be a
god, in order that these men may be punished?
Simon said: Give orders to build for me a lofty
tower of wood, and I, going up upon it, will call
my angels, and order them to take me, in the
sight of all, to my father in heaven ; and these
men, not being able to do this, are put to shame
as 5 uneducated men. And Nero said to Peter :
Hast thou heard, Peter, what has been said by
Simon ? From this will appear how much power
either he or thv god has. Peter said : O most
3 Lam. iii. 41: Mark xi. 25; i Tim. ii. 8.
4 See the Clementines, Homihes II., Ill , VI., XVI., XX.
5 Or, are proved to be.
482
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL.
mighty emperor, if thou wert willing, thou mightst
perceive that he is full of demons. Nero said :
Why do you make to me roundabouts of cir-
cumlocutions ? To-morrow will prove you.
Simon said : Dost thou believe, O good em-
peror, that I who was dead, and rose again, am
a magician? For it had been brought about
by his own cleverness that the unbelieving Simon
had said to Nero : Order me to be beheaded
in a dark place, and there to be left slain ; and
if I do not rise on the third day, know that
I am a magician ; but if I rise again, know that
I am the Son of God.
And Nero having ordered this, in the dark,
by his magic art he managed that a ram should
be beheaded. And for so long did the ram
appear to be Simon until he was beheaded.
And when he had been beheaded in the dark,
he that had beheaded him, taking the head,
found it to be that of a ram ; but he would not say
anything to the emperor, lest he should scourge
him, having ordered this to be done in secret.
Thereafter, accordingly, Simon said that he had
risen on the third day, because he took away
the head of the ram and the limbs — but the
blood had been there congealed — and on the
third day he showed himself to Nero, and said :
Cause to be wiped away my blood that has been
poured out ; for, behold, having been beheaded,
as I promised, I have risen again on the third
day.
And when Nero said. To-morrow will prove
you, turning to Paul, he says : Thou Paul, why
dost thou say nothing? Either who taught thee,
or whom thou hast for a master, or how thou
hast taught in the cities, or what things have
happened through thy teaching? For I think
that thou hast not any wisdom, and art not able to
accomplish any work of power. Paul answered :
Dost thou suppose that I ought to speak against
a desperate man, a magician, who has given his
soul up to death, whose destruction and per-
dition will come speedily? For he ought to
speak who pretends to be what he is not, and
deceives men by magic art. If thou consentest
to hear his words, and to shield him, thou shalt
destroy thy soul and thy kingdom, for he is a
most base man. And as the Egyptians Jannes
and Jambres led Pharaoh and his army astray
until they were swallowed up in the sea, so also
he, through the instruction of his father the
devil, persuades men to do many evils to them-
selves, and thus deceives many of the innocent,
to the peril of thy kingdom. But as for the word
of the devil, which I see has been poured out
through this man, with groanings of my heart I
am dealing with the Holy Spirit, that it may be
clearly shown what it is ; for as far as he seems
to raise himself towards heaven, so far will he
be sunk down into the depth of Hades, where
there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But;
about the teaching of my Master, of which thou
didst ask me, none attain it except the pure,
who allow faith to come into their heart.' For
as many things as belong to peace and love,
these have I taught. Round about from Jeru-
salem, and as far as lUyricum,^ I have fulfilled
the word of peace. For I have taught that
in honour they should prefer one another ; ^ i
have taught those that are eminent and rich
not to be lifted up, and hope in uncertainty of
riches, but to place their hope in God ; * I have
taught those in a middle station to be content
with food and covering ; s i have taught the poor
to rejoice in their own poverty ; I have taught
fathers to teach their children instruction in the
fear of the Lord, children to obey their parents
in wholesome admonition ; ^ I have taught wives
to love their own husbands, and to fear them as
masters, and husbands to observe fidelity to their
wives ; I have taught masters to treat their slaves
with clemency, and slaves to serve their own
masters faithfully ; ^ I have taught the churches
of the believers to reverence one almighty, in-
visible, and incomprehensible God. And this
teaching has been given me, not from men, nor
through men, but through Jesus Christ,^ who
spoke to me out of heaven, who also has sent
me to preach, saying to me, Go forth, for I will
be with thee ; and all things, as many as thou
shalt say or do, I shall make just.
Nero said: What sayest thou, Peter? He
answered and said : All that Paul has said is
true.'' For when he was a persecutor of the
faith of Christ, a voice called him out of heaven,
and taught him the truth ; for he was not an
adversary of our faith from hatred, but from
ignorance. P'or there were before us false
Christs, like Simon, false apostles, and false
prophets, who, contrary to the sacred writings,
set themselves to make void the truth ; and
against these it was necessary to have in readi-
ness this man, who from his youth up set him-
self to no other thing than to search out the
mysteries of the divine law, by which '° he might
become a vindicator of truth and a persecutor
of falsehood. Since, then, his persecution was
not on account of hatred, but on account of the
vindication of the law, the very truth out of
heaven held intercourse with him, saying, I am
the truth which you persecutest ; cease perse-
■ Or, the pure in heart admitting the faith.
2 Rom. XV. ig.
3 Rom. xii. 10.
4 I Tim. vi. 17.
5 Or, those who have a moderate quantity of food and covering
to be content (i Tim. vi. 8).
* Or, in the admonition of the Saviour (Eph. vi. 4).
' Col. iii- 18-22
8 Gal. i. I.
9 Four of the MSS. and the Latin version here add: For assured! v
I have for a long time past received letters from our bishops through-
out all the world about the things done and said by him.
'° i.e., mysteries.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL.
483
cuting me. When, therefore, he knew that this
was so, leaving off that which he was vindicat-
ing, he began to vindicate this way of Christ
which he was persecuting.
Simon said : O good emperor, take notice
that these two have conspired against me ; for
I am the truth, and they purpose evil against
me. Peter said : There is no truth in thee ; but
all thou sayest is false.
Nero said : Paul, what sayest thou ? Paul
said : Those things which thou hast heard from
Peter, believe to have been spoken by me also ;
for we purpose the same thing, for we have the
same Lord Jesus the Christ. Simon said : Dost
thou expect me, O good emperor, to hold an
argument with these men, who have come to an
agreeinent against me ? And having turned to
the apostles of Christ, he said : Listen, Peter
and Paul : if I can do nothing for you here, we
are going to the place where I must judge you.
Paul said : O good emperor, see what threats he
holds out against us. Peter said : Why was it
necessary to keep from laughing outright at a
foolish man, made the sport of demons, so as to
suppose that he cannot be made manifest?
Simon said : I spare you until I shall receive
my power. Paul said : See if you will go out
hence safe. Peter said : If thou do not see,
Simon, the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou
wilt not believe thyself not to be Christ. Simon
said : Most sacred emperor, do not believe
them, for they are circumcised knaves. Paul
said : Before we knew the truth, we had the
circumcision of the flesh ; but when the truth
appeared, in the circumcision of the heart we
both are circumcised, and circumcise. Peter
said : If circumcision be a disgrace, why hast
thou been circumcised, Simon ?
Nero said : Has, then, Simon also been cir-
cumcised ? Peter said : For not otherwise could
he have deceived souls, unless he feigned him-
self to be a Jew, and made a show of teaching
the law of God. Nero said : Simon, thou, as I
see, being carried away with envy, persecutest
these men. For, as it seems, there is great
hatred between thee and their Christ ; and I am
afraid that thou wilt be worsted by them, and
involved in great evils. Simon said : Thou art
led astray, O emperor. Nero said : How am I
led astray ? What I see in- thee, I say. I see
that thou art manifestly an enemy of Peter and
Paul and their master.
Simon said : Christ was not Paul's master.
Paul said : Yes ; through revelation He taught
me also. P.ut tell me what I asked thee — Why
wast thou circumcised? Simon said : Why have
you asked me this ? Paul said : We have a rea-
son for asking you this. Nero said : Why art
thou afraid to answer them? Simon said: Lis-
ten, O emperor. At that time circumcision was
enjoined by God when I received it. For this
reason was I circumcised.
Paul said : Hearest thou, O good emperor,
what has been said by Simon? If, therefore,
circumcision be a good thing, why hast thou,
Simon, given up those who have been circum-
cised, and forced them, after being condemned,
to be put to death ? Nero said : Neither about
you do I perceive anything good. Peter and
Paul said : Whether this thought about us be
good or evil has no reference to the matter ; but
to us it was necessary that what our Master prom-
ised should come to pass. Nero said : If I
should not be willing? Peter said : Not as thou
wiliest, but as He promised to us.
Simon said : O good emperor, these men have
reckoned upon thy clemency, and have bound
thee. Nero said : But neither hast thou yet
made me sure about thyself Simon said : Since
so many excellent deeds and signs have been
shown to thee by me, I wonder how thou
shouldst be in doubt. Nero said : I neither
doubt nor favour any of you ; but answer me
rather what I ask.
Simon said : Henceforward I answer thee
nothing. Nero said : Seeing that thou liest,
therefore thou saye«<- this. But if even I can do
nothing to thee, G . a, who can, will do it. Simon
said : I no longer answer thee. Nero said : Nor
do I consider thee to be anything : for, as I per-
ceive, thou art a liar in everything. But why do
I say so much? The three of you show that
your reasoning is uncertain ; and thus in all
things you have made me doubt, so that I find
that I can give credit to none of you."
Peter said : We preach one God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that has made the
heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that
therein is, who is the true King ; and of His
kingdom there shall be no end.^ Nero said :
What king is lord? Paul said : The Saviour of
all the nations. Simon said : I am he whom you
speak of Peter and Paul said : May it never
be well with thee, Simon, magician, and full of
bitterness.
Simon said : Listen, O Caesar Nero, that thou
mayst know that these men are liars, and that
I have been sent from the heavens : to-morrow
I go up into the heavens, that I may make those
who believe in me blessed, and show my wrath-
upon those who have denied me. Peter and
Paul said : Us long ago God called to His own
glory ; but thou, called by the devil, hastenest
to punishment. Simon said : Caesar Nero, listen
to me. Separate these madmen from thee, in
order that when I go into heaven to my father,
I may be very merciful to thee. Nero said :
And whence shall we prove this, that thou goest
' Or, to nothing.
^ Luke i. 33.
484
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL.
away into heaven? Simon said: Order a lofty
tower to be made of wood, and of great beams,
that I may go up upon it, and that my angels
may find me in the air ; for they cannot come
to me upon earth among the sinners. Nero
said : I will see whether thou wilt fulfil what
thou sayest.
Then Nero ordered a lofty tower to be made
in the Campus Martius, and all the people and
the dignities to be present at the spectacle. And
on the following day, all the. multitude having
come together, Nero ordered Peter and Paul to
be present, to whom also he said : Now the truth
has to be made manifest. Peter and Paul said :
We do not expose him, but our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, whom he has falsely de-
clared himself to be.
And Paul, having turned to Peter, said : It is
my part to bend the knee, and to pray to God ;
and thine to produce the effect, if thou shouldst
see him attempting anything, because thou wast
first taken in hand' by the Lord. And Paul,
bending his knees, prayed. And Peter, looking
stedfastly upon Simon, said : Accomplish what
thou hast begun ; for both thy exposure and our
call is at hand : for I see my Christ calling both
me and Paul. Nero said : And where will you
go to against my will? Peter said: Whitherso-
ever our Lord has called us. Nero said : And
who is your lord ? Peter said : Jesus the Christ,
whom I see calling us to Himself. Nero said :
Do you also then intend to go away to heaven?
Peter said : If it shall seem good to Him that
calls us. Simon said :■ In order that thou mayst
know, O emperor, that these are deceivers, as
soon as ever I ascend into heaven, I will send
my angels to thee, and will make thee come
to nie. Nero said : Do at once what thou
sayest.
Then Simon went up upon the tower in the
face of all, and, crowned with laurels, he
stretched forth his hands, and began to fly.
And when Nero saw him flying, he said to Peter :
This Simon is true ; but thou and Paul are de-
ceivers. To whom Peter said : Immediately
shalt thou know that we are true disciples of
Christ ; but that he is not Christ, but a magi-
cian, and a malefactor. Nero said : Do you
still persist? Behold, you see him going up
into heaven. Then Peter, looking stedfastly
upon Paul, said : Paul, look up and see. And
Paul, having looked up, full of tears, and seeing
Simon flying, said : Peter, why art thou idle ?
finish what thou hast begun ; for already our
Lord Jesus Christ is calling us. And Nero hear-
ing them, smiled a little, and said : These men
see themselves worsted already, and are gone
mad. Peter said : Now thou shalt know that
we are not mad. Paul said to Peter : Do at
once what thou doest.
And Peter, looking stedfastly against Simon,
said : I adjure you, ye angels of Satan, who are
carrying him into the air, to deceive the hearts
of the unbelievers, by the God that created all
things, and by Jesus Christ, whom on the third
day He raised from the dead, no longer from
this hour to keep him up, but to let him go.
And immediately, being let go, he fell into a
place called Sacra Via, that is, Holy Way, and
was divided into four parts, having perished by
an evil fate.
Then Nero ordered Peter and Paul to be put
in irons, and the body of Simon to be carefully
kept three days, thinking that he would rise on
the third day. To whom Peter said : JJe will
no longer rise, since he is truly dead, being con-
demned to everlasting punishment. And Nero
said to him : Who commanded thee to do such
a dreadful deed ? Peter said : His reflections
and blasphemy against my Lord Jesus Christ
have brought him into this gulf of destruction.
Nero said : I will destroy you by an evil taking
off. Peter said : This is not in thy power, even
if it should seem good to thee to destroy us ; but
it is necessary that what our Master promised to
us should be fulfilled.
Then Nero, having summoned Agrippa the
propraetor, said to him : It is necessary that men
introducing mischievous religious observances
should die. Wherefore I order them to take
iron clubsj^ and to be killed in the sea-fight.
Agrippa the propraetor said : Most sacred em-
peror, what thou hast ordered is not fitting for
these men, since Paul seems innocent beside
Peter. Nero said : By what fate, then, shall they
die ? Agrippa answered and said : As seems to
me, it is just that Paul's head should be cut off,
and that Peter should be raised on a cross as the
cause of the murder. Nero said : Thou hast
most excellently judged.
Then both Peter and Paul were led away from
the presence of Nero. And Paul was beheaded
on the Ostesian road.^
And Peter, having come to the cross, said :
Since my Lord Jesus Christ, who came down
from the heaven upon the earth, was raised upon
the cross upright,-* and He has deigned to call
to heaven me, who am of the earth, my cross
ought to be fixed head downmost, so as to direct
my feet towards heaven ; for I am not worthy to
be crucified like my Lord. Then, having re-
versed the cross, they nailed his feet up.
' Or, chosen.
2 The text has Kivapa^;, artichokes, for which I have read Kopvva<;,
clubs. Sea-fights were a favourite spectacle of the Roman emperors
(Suet., Nero, xii.; Claud., xxi. ; Dom , iv.). The combatants were
captives, or persons condemned to death (Dion Cass., Ix. 33).
3 For the episode of Perpetua, contained in three of the Greek
Mss.,but not in the Latin versions, see the end of this book.
* i.e., head uppermost.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL.
485
And the multitude was assembled reviling
Csesar, and wishing to kill him. But Peter
restrained them, saying : ' A few days ago, being
exhorted by tlie brethren, I was going away;
and my Lord Jesus Christ met me, and having
adored Him, I said, Lord, whither art Thou
going? And He said to me, I am going to
Rome to be crucified. And I said to Him,
Lord, wast Thou not crucified once for all?
And the Lord answering, said, I saw thee fleeing
from death, and I wish to be crucified instead
of thee. And I said, Lord, I go ; I fulfil Thy
command. And He said to me. Fear not, for I am
with thee.^ On this account, then, children, do
not hinder my going ; for already my feet are
going on the road to heaven. Do not grieve,
therefore, but rather rejoice with me, for to-day
I receive the fruit of my labours. And thus
speaking, he said : I thank Thee, good Shep-
herd, that the sheep which Thou hast entrusted
to me, sympathize with me ; I ask, then, that
with me they may have a part in Thy king-
dom.^ And having thus spoken, he gave up the
ghost.
And immediately there appeared men glorious
and strange in appearance ; and they said : We
are here, on account of the holy and chief apos-
tles, from Jerusalem. And they, along with Mar-
cellus, an illustrious man, who, having left
Simon, had believed in Peter; took up his body
secretly, and put it under the terebinth near the
' One of the MSS. here inserts: Donot be hard upon him, for he is
the servant of his father Satan; but 1 must fulfil the command of my
Lord.
2 Some of the mss. insert: Until I bring thee into my Father's
house.
3 Several of the mss. here add : I commend unto Thee the sheep
whom Thou didst entrust unto me, that they may not feel that they
are without me, having for a shepherd Thee, through whom I have
been able to feed this flock.
place for the exhibition of sea-fights in the place
called the Vatican. *
And the men who had said that they came
from Jerusalem said to the people : Rejoice, and
be exceeding glad, because you have been
deemed worthy to have great champions. And
know that Nero himself, after these not many
days, will be utterly destroyed, and his kingdom
shall be given to another.
And after these things the people revolted
against him ; and when he knew of it, he fled
into desert places, and through hunger and cold
he gave up the ghost, and his body became food
for the wild beasts.
And some devout men of the regions of the
East wished to carry off the relics of the saints,
and immediately there was a great earthquake in
the city ; 5 and those that dwelt in the city hav-
ing become aware of it, ran and seized the men,
but they fled. But the Romans having taken them,
put them in a place three miles from the city,
and there they were guarded a year and seven
months, until they had built the place in which
they intended to put them. And after these things,
all having assembled with glory and singing of
praise, they put them in the place built for them.
And the consummation of the holy glorious
Apostles Peter an'' Jaul was on the 29th of the
month of June — in Christ Jesus our Lord, to
whom be glory and strength.
* In three of the Greek MSS., but not in the Latin versions, the
story of Peipetua is here continued.
5 Several mss. here add: And the people of the Romans ran, and
took them into the place called the Catacombs on the Appian Way,
at the third milestone; and there the bodies of the sainl.s were guarded
a year and six months, until places were built for them in which they
might be put. And the body of St. Peter was put into the Vatican,
near the place for the sea-fights, and that of St. Paul into the Voste-
sian (or Osteslan) Way, two miles from the city; and in these places,
through their prayers, many good deeds are wrought to the faithful in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
THE STORY OF PERPETUA.
And as Paul was being led away to be be-
headed at a place about three miles from the
city, he was in irons. And there were three sol-
diers guarding him who were of a great family.
And when they had gone out of the gate about
the length of a bow-shot, there met them a God-
fearing woman; and she, seeing Paul dragged
along in irons, had compassion on him, and
wept bitterly. And the name of the woman was
called Perpetua ; and she was one-eyed. And
Paul, seeing her weeping, says to her : Give me
thy handkerchief, and when I turn back I shall
give it to thee. And she, having taken the
handkerchief, gave it to him willingly. And the
soldiers laughed, and said to the woman : Why
dost thou wish, woman, to lose thy handker-
chief? Knowest thou not that he is going
away to be beheaded? And Perpetua said^
to them : I adjure you by the health of Caesar
to bind his eyes with tliis handkerchief when
you cut off his head. Which also was done.
And they beheaded him at the place called'
Aquae Salviae, near the pine tree. And as God
had willed, before the soldiers came back, the
handkerchief, having on it drops of blood, was
restored to the woman. And as she was carry-
ing it, straightway and immediately her eye was
opened.
486
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL.
CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF PERPETUA.
And the three soldiers who had cut off the
head of Saint Paul, when after three hours they
came on the same day with the bulla bringing
it to Nero, having met Perpetua, they said to
her: What is it, woman? Behold, by thy con-
fidence thou hast lost thy handkerchief. But she
said to them : I have both got my handkerchief,
and my eye has recovered its sight. And as the
Lord, the God of Paul, liveth, I also have en-
treated him that I may be deemed Avorthy to
become the slave of his Lord. Then the sol-
diers who had the bulla, recognising the hand-
kerchief, and seeing that her eye had been
opened, cried out with a loud voice, as if from
one mouth, and said : We too are the slaves of
Paul's master. Perpetua therefore having gone
away, reported in the palace of the Emperor
Nero that the soldiers who had beheaded Paul
said : We shall no longer go into the city, for we
believe in Christ whom Paul preached, and we
are Christians. Then Nero, filled with rage,
ordered Perpetua, who had informed him of
the soldiers, to be kept fast in irons ; and as to the
soldiers, he ordered one to be beheaded outside
of the gate about one mile from the city, another
to be cut in two, and the third to be stoned.
And Perpetua was in the prison ; and in this
prison there was kept Potentiana, a noble maiden,
because she had said : I forsake my parents and
all the substance of my father, and I wish to be-
come a Christian. She therefore joined herself
to Perpetua, and ascertained from her everything
about Paul, and was in much anxiety about the
faith in Christ. And the wife of Nero was Po-
tentiana's sister ; and she secretly informed her
about Christ, that those who believe in Him see
everlasting joy, and that everything here is tem-
porary, but there eternal : so that also she fled
out of the palace, and some of the senators'
wives with her. Then Nero, having inflicted
many tortures upon Perpetua, at last tied a great
stone to her neck, and ordered her to be thrown
over a precipice. And her remains lie at the
Momentan ' gate. And Potentiana also under-
went many torments ; and at last, having made
a furnace one day, they burned her.
' This is a slip for Nomentan'.
ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA.
As Paul was going up to Iconium after the
flight from Antioch, his fellow-travellers were
Demas and Ermogenes, full of hypocrisy; and
they were importunate with Paul," as if they
loved him. But Paul, looking only to the good-
ness of Christ, did them no harm, but loved
them exceedingly, so that he made the oracles
of the Lord sweet to them in the (teaching both
of the birth and the resurrection of the Beloved ;
and he gave them an account, word for word, of
the great things of Christ, how He^ had been
revealed to him.
And a certain man, by name Onesiphorus,
hearing that Paul had come to Iconium, went
out to meet him with his children Silas and Zeno,
and his wife Lectra, in order that he might en-
tertain him : for Titus had informed him what
Paul was like in appearance : for he had not
seen him in the flesh, but only in the spirit. And
he went along the road to Lystra, and stood
waiting for him, and kept looking at the passers-
by according to the description of Titus. And
he saw Paul coming, a man small in size, bald-
headed, bandy-legged, well-built,^ with eyebrows
meeting, rather long-nosed, full of grace. For
sometimes he seemed like a man, and sometimes
he had the countenance of an angel. And Paul,
seeing Onesiphorus, smiled ; and Onesiphorus
said : Hail, O servant of the blessed God ! And
he said : Grace be with thee and thy house.
And Demas and Ermogenes were jealous, and
showed greater hypocrisy ; so that Demas said :
Are not we of the blessed God, that thou hast
not thus saluted us ? And Onesiphorus said : I
do not see in you the fruit of righteousness ; but
if such you be, come you also into my house
and rest yourselves.
And Paul having gone into the house of One-
siphorus, there was great joy, and bending of
knees, and breaking of bread, and the word of
God about self-control and the resurrection ;
Paul saying : Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God : * blessed are they that have
kept the flesh chaste, for they shall become a
temple of God : 5 blessed are they that control
themselves, for God shall speak with them :
' Or, persisted in staying with Paul.
2 Or, how they.
3 Or, healthy.
* Matt. V. 8.
^ Comp. I Cor. vi. i8, 19.
blessed are they that have kept aloof from this
world, for they shall be called upright : ^ blessed
are they that have wives as not having them, for
they shall receive God for their portion : 7 blessed
are they that have the fear of God, for they shall
become angels of God : ^ blessed are they that
have kept the baptism, for they shall rest beside
the Father and the Son : blessed are the merci-
ful, for they shall obtain mercy,^ and shall not
see the bitter day of judgment : blessed are the
bodies of the virgins, for they shall be well pleas-
ing to God, and shall not lose the reward of their
chastity ; for the word of the Father shall be-
come to them a work of salvation against the
day of His Son, and they shall have rest for ever
and ever.'°
And while Paul was thus speaking in the midst
of the church i; ..ne house of Onesiphorus, a
certain virgin Thecla, the daughter of Theocleia,
betrothed to a man named Thamyris, sitting at
the window close by, listened night and day to
the discourse of virginity and prayer, and did
not look away from the window, but paid earnest
heed to the faith, rejoicing exceedingly. And
when she still saw many women going in beside
Paul, she also had an eager desire to be deemed
worthy to stand in the presence of Paul, and to
hear the word of Christ ; for never had she seen
his figure, but heard his word only.
And as she did not stand away from the win-
dow, her mother sends to Thamyris ; and he
comes gladly, as if already receiving her in mar-
riage. And Theocleia said : I have a strange
story to tell thee, Thamyris ; for assuredly for
three days and three nights Thecla does not rise
from the window, neither to eat nor to drink ;
but looking earnestly as if upon some pleasant
sight, she is so devoted to a foreigner teaching
deceitful and artful discourses, that I wonder
how a virgin of such modesty is so painfully put
about. Thamyris, this man will overturn the city
of the Iconians, and thy Thecla too besides ; for
6 Comp. Rom. xii. 2.
7 Comp. I Cor. vii. 29.
* Comp. Luke xx. 36.
9 Matt. V. 7.
■0 Some Mss. .idd the following beatitudes: Blessed are they that
tremble at the words of God, for they shall be comforted: blessed are
they that have received the wisdom of Jesus Christ, for they shall be
called the sons of the Most High: blessed are they that through love
of Christ have come out from conformity with the world, for they
shall judge the angels, and shall be blessed at the right hand of the
Father.
487
488
ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA.
all the women and the young men go in beside
him, being taught to fear God and to live in
chastity. Moreover also my daughter, tied to
the window like a spider, lays hold of what is
said by Paul with a strange eagerness and awful
emotion ; for the virgin looks eagerly at what is
said by him, and has been captivated. But do
thou go near and speak to her, for she. has been
betrothed to thee.
And Thamyris going near, and kissing her, but
at the same time also being afraid of her over-
powering emotion, said : Thecla, my betrothed,
why dost thou sit thus? and what sort of feeling
holds thee overpowered? Turn round to thy
Thamyris, and be ashamed. Moreover also her
mother said the same things : Why dost thou sit
thus looking down, my child, and answering
nothing, but like a mad woman? And they
wept fearfully, Thamyris indeed for the loss of a
wife, and Theocleia of a child, and the maid-
servants of a mistress : there was accordingly
much confusion in the house of mourning.'
And while these things were thus going on,
Thecla did not turn round, but kept attending
earnestly to the word of Paul.
And Thamyris starting up, went forth into the
street, and kept watching those going in to him
and coming out. And he saw two men bitterly
contending with each other ; and he said : Men,
tell me who this is among you, leading astray
the souls of young men, and deceiving virgins,
so that they do not marry, but remain as they
are. I promise, therefore, to give you money
enough if you tell me about him ; for I am the
first man ^ of the city. And Demas and Ermo-
genes said to him : Who this is, indeed, we do
not know ; but he deprives young men of wives,
and maidens of husbands, saying, There is for
you a resurrection in no other way, unless you
remain chaste, and pullute not the flesh, but
keep it chaste. And Thamyris said to them :
Come into my house, and rest yourselves. And
they went to a sumptuous dinner, and much
wine, and great wealth, and a splendid table ;
and Thamyris made them drink, from his love
to Thecla, and his wish to get her as his wife.
And Thamyris said during the dinner : Ye men,
what is his teaching, tell me, that I also may
know ; for I am no little distressed about Thecla,
because she thus loves the stranger, and I am
prevented from marrying.
Demas and Ermogenes said : Bring him before
the governor Castelios on the charge of persuad-
ing the multitudes to embrace the new teaching
of the Christians, and he will speedily destroy
him, and thou shalt have Thecla as thy wife.
And we shall teach thee that the resurrection
of which this man speaks has taken place, be-
' Or, a great outpouring of lamentation in the house.
^ Or, a chief man.
cause it has already taken place in the children
which we have ; ^ and we rose again when we
came to the knowledge of the true God.
And Thamyris, hearing these things, being
filled with anger and rage, rising up early, went
to the house of Onesiphorus with archons and
public officers, and a great crowd with batons,
saying : Thou hast corrupted the city of tne
Iconians, and her that was betrothed to me, so
that she will not have me : let us go to the gov-
ernor Castelios. And all the -multitude said :
Away with the magician ; for he has corrupted
all our wives, and the multitudes have been
persuaded to change their opinions.
And Thamyris, standing before the tribunal,
said with a great shout : O proconsul, this man,
who he is we know not, who makes virgins
averse to marriage ; let him say before thee on
whaf account he teaches these things. And
Demas and Ermogenes said to Thamyris : Say
that he is a Christian, and thus tliou wilt do
away with him. But the proconsul stayed his
intention, and called Paul, saying : Who art thou,
and what dost thou teach? for they bring no
small charges against thee. And Paul lifted up
his voice, saying : Since I am this day examined
as to what I teach, listen, O proconsul : A living
God, a God of retributions, a jealous God, a God
in need of nothing, consulting for the salvation
of men, has sent me that I may reclaim them
from corruption and uncleanness, and from all
pleasure, and from death, that they may not sin.
Wherefore God sent His own Son, whom I
preach, and in whom I teach men to rest their
hope, who alone has had compassion upon a
world led astray, that they may be no longer
under judgment, O proconsul, but may have
faith, and the fear of God, and the knowledge
of holiness, and the love of truth. If, therefore,
I teach what has been revealed to me by God,
wherein do I do wrong? And the proconsul
having heard, ordered Paul to be bound, and
sent to prison, until, said he, I, being at leisure,
shall hear him more attentively.
And Thecla by night having taken off her brace-
lets, gave them to the gatekeeper ; and the door
having been opened to her, she went into the
prison ; and having given the jailor a silver mir-
ror, she went in beside Paul, and, sitting at his
feet, she heard the great things of God. And
Paul was afraid of nothing, but ordered his life
in the confidence of God. And her faith also
was increased, and she kissed his bonds.
And when Thecla was sought for by her friends,
and Thamyris, as if she had been lost, was running
up and down the streets, one of the gatekeeper's
fellow-slaves informed him that she had gone out
by night. And having gone out, they examined
3 i.e., we rise again in our children.
* Or, whose.
ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA.
489
the gatekeeper ; and he said to them : She has
gone to the foreigner into the prison. And hav-
ing gone, they found her, as it were, enchained
by affection. And having gone forth thence,
they drew the multitudes together, and informed
the governor of the circumstance. And he or-
dered Paul to be brought to the tribunal ; but
Thecla was wallowing on the ground ' in the
place where he sat and taught her in the prison ;
and he ordered her too to be brought to the tri-
bunal. And she came, exulting with joy. And
the crowd, when Paul had been brought, vehe-
mently cried out : He is a magician ! away with
him ! But the proconsul gladly heard Paul upon
the holy works of Christ. And having called a
council, he summoned Thecla, and said to her :
Why dost thou not obey Thamyris, according to
the law of the Iconians ? But she stood looking
earnestly at Paul. And when she gave no answer,
her mother cried out, saying : Burn the wicked
wretch ; burn in the midst of the theatre her
that will not marry, in order that all the women
that have been taught by this man may be
afraid.
And the governor was greatly moved ; and
having scourged Paul, he cast him out of the
city, and condemned Thecla to be burned. And
immediately the governor went away to the
theatre, and all the crowd went forth to the
spectacle of Thecla. But as a lamb in the wil-
derness looks round for the shepherd, so she kept
searching for Paul. And having looked upon the
crowd, she saw the Lord sitting in the likeness
of Paul, and said : As I am unable to endure
my lot, Paul has come to see me. And she
gazed upon him with great earnestness, and he
went up into heaven. But the maid-servants ^
and virgins brought the faggots, in order that
Thecla might be burned. And when she came
in naked, the governor wept, and wondered at
the power 3 that was in her. And the public ex-
ecutioners arranged the faggots for her to go up
on the pile. And she, having made the sign of
the cross, went up on the faggots ; and they
lighted them. And though a great lire was blaz-
ing, it did not touch her ; for God, having com-
passion upon her, made an underground rumbling,
and a cloud overshadowed them from above, full
of water and hail ; and all that was in the cavity
of it was poured out, so that many were in dan-
ger of death. And the fire was put out, and
Thecla saved.
And Paul was fasting with Onesiphorus and
his wife, and his children, in a new tomb, as
they were going from Iconium to Daphne. And
when many days were past, the fasting children
said to Paul : We are hungry, and we cannot buy
■ i.e., in sign of grief.
^ One MS. has, boy.s.
3 Or, virtue.
loaves ; for Onesiphorus had left the things of
the world, and followed Paul, with all his house.
And Paul, having taken off his cloak, said : Go,
my child, buy more loaves, and bring them.
And when the child was buying, he saw Thecla
their neighbour, and was astonished, and said :
Thecla, whither art thou going? And she said :
I have been saved from the fire, and am follow-
ing Paul. And the boy said : Come, I shall take
thee to him ; for he is distressed about thee,
and is praying six days. And she stood beside
the tomb where Paul was with bended knees,
and praying, and saying : O Saviour Christ, let
not the fire touch Thecla, but stand by her, for
she is Thine. And she, standing behind him,
cried out : O Father, who hast made the heaven
and the earth, the Father of Thy holy Son, I
bless Thee that Thou hast saved me that I may
see Paul. And Paul, rising up, saw her, and
said : O God, that knowest the heart, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, I bless Thee that
Thou, having heard me, hast done quickly what
I wished.
And they had five loaves, and herbs, and water ;
and they rejoiced in the holy works of Christ.
And Thecla said to Paul : I shall cut my hair,
and follow thee whithersoever thou mayst go.
And he said : It is a shameless age, and thou
art beautiful. I xi afraid lest another tempta-
tion come upon thee worse than the first, and
that thou withstand it not, but be cowardly.
And Thecla said : Only give me the seal ■* in
Christ, and temptation sha^l not touch me. And
Paul said : Thecla, wait with patience, and thou
shalt receive the water.
And Paul sent away Onesiphorus and all his
house to Iconium ; and thus, having taken
Thecla, he went into Antioch. And as they were
going in, a certain Syriarch, Alexander by name,
seeing Thecla, became enamoured of her, and
tried to gain over Paul by gifts and presents.
But Paul said : I know not the woman whom
thou speakest of, nor is she mine. But he, be-
ing of great power, himself embraced her in the
street. But she -would not endure it, but looked
about for Paul. And she cried out bitterly, say-
ing : Do not force the stranger ; do not force
the servant of God. I am one of the chief per-
sons of the Iconians ; and because I would not
have Thamyris, I have been cast out of the city.
And taking hold of Alexander, she tore his cloak^j.
and pulled off his crown, and made him a laugh-
ing-stock. And he, at the same time loving her,
and at the same time ashamed of what had hap-
pened, led her before the governor ; and when
she had confessed that she had done these things,
he condemned her to the wild beasts. And the
women were struck with astonishment, and cried
< a Cor. i. 22; Eph. i. 13, iv. 30.
490
ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA.
out beside the tribunal : Evil judgment ! impious
judgment ! And she asked the governor, that,
said she, I may remain pure until I shall fight
with the wild beasts. And a certain I'ryphaina,'
whose daughter was dead, took her into keeping,
and had her for a consolation.
And when the beasts were exhibited, they
bound her to a fierce lioness ; and Tryphcena
accompanied her. But the lioness, with Thecla
sitting upon her, Hcked her feet ; and all the
multitude was astonished. And the charge on
her inscription was : Sacrilegious. And the wo-
men cried out from above : An impious sentence
has been passed in this city ! And after the ex-
hibition, Tryphsena again receives her. For her
daughter Falconilla had died, and said to her in
a dream : Mother, thou shalt have this stranger
Thecla in my place, in order that she may pray
concerning me, and that I may be transferred
to the place of the just.
And when, after the exhibition, Tryphjena re-
ceived her, at the same time indeed she grieved
that she had to fight with the wild beasts on the
day following ; and at the same time, loving her
as much as her daughter Falconilla, she said :
My second child Thecla, come and pray for my
child, that she may live for ever ; for this I saw
in my sleep. And she, nothing hesitating, lifted
up her voice, and said : God most high,- grant
to this woman according to her wish, that her
daughter Falconilla may live for ever. And
when Thecla had thus spoken, Tryphaena la-
mented, considering sb much beauty thrown to
the wild beasts.
And when it was dawn, Alexander came to
take her, for it was he that gave the hunt,^ say-
ing : The governor is sitting, and the crowd is
in uproar against us. Allow me to take away
her that is to fight with the wild beasts. And
Tryphgena cried aloud, so that he even fled, say-
ing : A second mourning for my Falconilla has
come upon my house, and there is no one to
help ; neither child, for she is dead, nor kins-
man, for I am a widow. God of Thecla, help
her!
And immediately the governor sends an order
that Thecla should be brought. And Tryphaena,
taking her by the hand, said : My daughter Fal-
conilla, indeed, I took away to the tomb ; and
thee, Thecla, I am taking to the wild-beast fight.
And Thecla wept bitterly, saying : O Lord, the
God in whom I believe, to whom I have fled for
refuge, who deliveredst me from the fire, do Thou
grant a recompense to Tryphaena, who has had
compassion on Thy servant, and because she
has kept me pure. Then a tumult arose, and a
* Some Mss. add: A widow, very rich.
2 One MS. has: God of our fathers, Son of the Most High. An-
other: O Lord God, who hast made the heaven and the earth, Son
of the Most High, Lord Jesus Christ.
3 i e., the exhibition of wild beasts.
cry of the people, and the women sitting to-
gether, the one saying : Away with the sacrile-
gious person ! the others saying : Let the city be
raised ■♦ against this wickedness. Take off all of
us, O proconsul ! Cruel sight ! evil sentence !
And Thecla, having been taken out of the
hand of Tryphaena, was stripped, and received
a girdle, 5 and was thrown into the arena, and
lions and bears and a fierce lioness were let loose
upon her ; and the lioness having run up to her
feet, lay down ; and the multitude of the women
cried aloud. And a bear ran upon her ; but the
lioness, meeting the bear, tore her to pieces.
And again a lion that had been trained agamst
men, which belonged to Alexander, ran upon
her ; and she, the lioness, encountering the lion,
was killed along with him. And the women
made great lamentation, since also the lioness,
her protector, was dead.
Then they send in many wild beasts, she stand-
ing and stretching forth her hands, and praying.
And when she had finished her prayer, she turned
and saw a ditch full of water, and said : Now it
is time to wash myself. And she threw herself
in, saying : In the name of Jesus Christ I am
baptized on my last day. And the women see-
ing, and the multitude, wept, saying : Do not
throw thyself into the water; so that also the
governor shed tears, because the seals were going
to devour such beauty. She then threw herself
in in the name of Jesus Christ ; but the seals
having seen the glare of the fire of lightning,
floated about dead. And there was round her,
as she was naked, a cloud of fire ; so that neither
could the wild beasts touch her, nor could she
be seen naked.
And the women, when other wild beasts were
being thrown in, wailed. And some threw sweet-
smelling herbs, others nard, others cassia, others
amomum, so that there was abundance of per-
fumes. And all the wild beasts that had been
thrown in, as if they had been withheld by sleep,
did not touch her ; so that Alexander said to the
governor : I have bulls exceedingly terrible ; let
us bind to them her that is to fight with the
beasts. And the governor, looking gloomy,
turned, and said : Do what thou wilt. And they
bound her by the feet between them, and put
red-hot irons under the privy parts of the bulls,
so that they, being rendered more furious, might
kill her. They rushed about, therefoie ; but the
burning flame consumed the ropes, and she was
as if she had not been bound. But Tryphaena
fainted standing beside the arena, so that the
crowd said : Queen Tryphcena is dead. And
the governor put a stop to the games, and the
city was in dismay. And Alexander entreated
the governor, saying : Have mercy both on me
* Or, be taken off, i.e., put to death.
5 Or, drawers.
ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA.
491
and the city, and release this woman. For if
Caesar hear of these things, he will speedily de-
stroy the city also along with us, because his kins-
woman Queen Tryphgena has died beside the
ABACI.'
And the governor summoned Thecla out of
the midst of the wild beasts, and .said to her :
Who art thou ? and what is there about thee, that
not one of the wild beasts touches thee ? And
she said : I indeed am a servant of the living
God ; and as to what there is about me, I have
believed in the Son of God, in whom He is well
pleased ; wherefore not one of the beasts has
touched me. For He alone is the end ^ of sal-
vation, and the basis of immortal life ; for He
is a refuge to the tempest-tossed, a solace to the
afflicted, a shelter to the despairing ; and, once
for all, whoever shall not believe on Him, shall
not live for ever.
And the governor having heard this, ordered
her garments to be brought, and to be put on.
And Thecla said : He that clothed me naked
among the wild beasts, will in the day of judg-
ment clothe thee with salvation. And taking the
garments, she put them on. The governor there-
fore immediately issued an edict, saying : I re-
lease to you the God-fearing Thecla, the servant
of God. And the women shouted aloud, and
with one mouth returned thanks to God, saying :
There is one God, the God- of Thecla ; so that
the foundations of the theatre were shaken by
their voice. And Tryphsena having received the
good news, went to meet the holy Thecla, and
said : Now I believe that the dead are raised ;
now I believe that my child lives. Come within,
and I shall assign to thee all that is mine. She
therefore went in along with her, and rested
eight days, having instructed her in the word of
God, so that most even of the maid-servants be-
lieved. And there was great joy in the house.
And Thecla kept seeking Paul ; and it was
told her that he was in Myra of Lycia. And
taking young men and maidens, she girded her-
self; and having sewed the tunic so as to make
a man's cloak, she came to Myra, and found
Paul speaking the word of God. And Paul was
astonished at seeing her, and the crowd with
her, thinking that some new trial was coming
upon her. And when she saw him, she said :
I have received the baptism, Paul ; for He
that wrought along with thee for the Gospel has
wrought in me also for baptism. And Paul,
taking her, led her to the house of Hermoeus,
and hears everything from her, so that those
that heard greatly wondered, and were com-
forted, and prayed over Tryphaena. And she
rose up, and said : I am going to Iconium.
And Paul said : Go, and teach the word of God.
' A part of the ancient thea'.res on or near the stage.
^ Or, way.
And Tryphaena sent her much clothing and gold,
so that she left to Paul many things for the ser-
vice of the poor.
And she went to Iconium. And she goes into
the house of Onesiphorus, and fell upon the
pavement where Paul used to sit and teach her,
and wept, saying : God of myself and of this
house, where Thou didst make the light to shine
upon me, O Christ Jesus, the Son of the hving
God, my help in the fire, my help among the
wild beasts. Thou art glorified for ever. Amen,
And she found Thamyris dead, but her mother
ahve. And having sent for her mother, she
said : Theocleia, my mother, canst thou believe
that the Lord liveth in the heavens ? For
whether thou desirest wealth, God gives it to
thee through me ; or thy child, I am standing
beside thee. And having thus testified, she de-
parted to Seleucia, and dwelt in a cave seventy-
two years, living upon herbs and water. And
she enlightened many by the word of God.
And certain men of the city, being Greeks by
religion, and physicians by profession, sent to
her insolent young men to destroy ^ her. Foi
they said : She is a virgin, and serves Artemis,
and from this she has virtue in healing. And by
the providence of God she entered into the rock
alive, and went ; nder ground. And she de-
parted to Rom6 lo see Paul, and found that he
had fallen asleep.* And after staying there no
long time, she rested in a glorious sleep ; and
she is buried about two or three stadia from the
tomb of her master Paul.
She was cast, then, into the fire when seven-
teen years old, and among the wild beasts when
eighteen. And she was an ascetic in the cave,
as has been said, seventy-two years, so that all
the years of her life were ninety. And having
accomplished many cures, she rests in the place
of the saints, having fallen asleep on the twenty-
fourth of the month of September in Christ
Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and strength
for ever and ever. Amen.
Instead of the last two sections, the MS. which
Dr. Grabe used has the following : —
And a cloud of light guided her. And hav-
ing come into Seleucia, she went forth outside
of the city one stadium. Ai«d she was afraid
of them also, for they worshipped idols. And
it guided her to the mountain called Calamon
or Rhodeon ; and having there found a cave,
she went into it. And she was there many
years, and underwent many and grievous trials
by the devil, and bore them nobly, being as-
sisted by Christ. And some of the well-born
women, having learned about the virgin Thecla,
3 Or, corrupt.
* i.e., that he was dead.
492
ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA.
went to her, and learned the oracles of God.
And many of them bade adieu to the world, and
lived an ascetic life with her. And a good re-
port was spread everywhere concerning her, and
cures were done by her. All the city, therefore,
and country round, having known this, brought
their sick to the mountain ; and before they
came near the door they were s])eedily released
from whatever disease they were afflicted by ;
and the unclean spirits went out shrieking, and
all received their own in health, glorifying God,
who had given such grace to the virgin Thecla.
The physicians, therefore, of the city of the
Seleucians were thought nothing of, having lost
their trade, and no one any longer had regard
to them ; and being tilled with envy and hatred,
they plotted against the servant of Christ, what
they should do to her. The devil then suggests
to them a wicked device ; and one day, being
assembled, and having taken counsel, they con-
sult with each other, saying : This virgin is a
priestess of the great goddess Artemis ; and if
she ask anything of her, she hears her as being
a virgin, and all the gods love her. Come, then,
let us take men of disorderly lives, and make
them drunk with much wine, and let us give
them much gold, and say to them. If you can
corrupt and defile her, we shall give you even
more money. The physicians therefore said to
themselves, that if they should be able to defile
her, neither the gods nor Artemis would listen to
her in the case of the sick. They therefore did
so. x\nd the wicked men, having gone to the
mountain, and rushed upon the cave like lions,
knocked at the door. And the holy martyr
Thecla opened, emboldened by the God in
whom she believed ; for she knew of their plot
beforehand. And she says to them : What do
you want, my children ? And they said : Is
there one here called Thecla? And she said:
What do you want with her? They say to her :
We want to sleep with her. The blessed Thecla
says to them : I am a humble old woman, but
the servant of my Lord Jesus Christ ; and even
though you want to do something to me out of
place, you cannot. They say to her : It is im-
possible for us not to do to thee what we want.
And having said this, they laid fast hold of her,
and wished to insult her. And she says to them
with mildness : Wait, my children, that you may
see the glory of the Lord. And being laid hold
of by them, she looked up into heaven, and
said : God, terrible and incomparable, and glori-
ous to Thine adversaries, who didst deliver me
out of the fire, who didst not give me up to
Thamyris, who didst not give me up to x'Mex-
ander, who didst deliver me from the wild beasts,
who didst save me in the abyss, who hast every-
where worked with me, and glorified Thy name
in me, now also deliver me from these lawless
men, and let me not insult my virginity, which
through Thy name I have preserved till now,
because I love Thee, and desire Thee, and adore
Thee, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost for ever. Amen. And there came a voice
out of the heaven, saying : Fear not, Thecla,
my true servant, for I am with thee. Look and
see where an opening has been made before
thee, for there shall be for thee an everlasting
house, and there thou shalt obtain shelter. And
the blessed Thecla regarding it, saw the rock
opened as far as to allow a man to enter, and
did according to what had been said to her :
and nobly fleeing from the lawless ones, entered
into the rock ; and the rock was straightway
shut together, so that not even a joining ap-
peared. And they, beholding the extraordinary
wonder, became as it were distracted ; and they
were not able to detain the servant of God, but
only caught hold of her veil, and were able to
tear off a certain part ; and that by the per-
mission of God for the faith of those seeing the
venerable place, and for a blessing in the gen-
erations afterwards to those that believe in our
Lord Jesus Christ out of a pure heart.
Thus, then, suffered the first martyr of God,
and apostle, and virgin, Thecla, who came from
Iconium at eighteen years old ; and with the
journeying, and the going round, and the retire-
ment in the mountain, she lived other seventy-
two years. And when the Lord took her, she
was ninety years old. And thus is her consum-
mation. And her holy commemoration is on
the twenty-fourth of the month of September, to
the glory of the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to ages of ages.
Amen.
THE ACTS OF BARNABAS.
THE JOURNEYINGS AND MARTYRDOM OF ST. BARNABAS THE APOSTLE.
Since from the descent of the presence of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, the unwearied and benevo-
lent and mighty Shepherd and Teacher and
Physician, I beheld and saw the ineffable and
holy and unspotted mystejy of the Christians,
who hold the hope in holiness, and who have
been sealed ; and since I have zealously served
Him, I have deemed it necessary to give an
account of the mysteries which I have heard
and seen.
I John, accompanying the holy apostles Bar-
nabas and Paul, being formerly a servant of Cyril-
lus the high priest of Jupiter, but now having
received the gift of the Holy Spirit through Paul
and Barnabas and Silas, who were worthy of
the calling, and who baptized nie in Iconiura.
After I was baptized, then, I saw a certain man
standing clothed in white raiment ; and he said
to me : Be of good courage, John, for assuredly
thy name shall be changed to Mark, and thy
glory shall be proclaimed in all the world. And
the darkness in thee has passed away from thee,
and there has been given to thee understanding
to know the mysteries of God.
And when I saw the vision, becoming greatly
terrified, I went to the feet of Barnabas, and
related to him the mysteries which I had seen
and heard from that man. And the Apostle
Paul was not by when I disclosed the mysteries.
And Barnabas said to me : Tell no one the mir-
acle which thou hast seen. For by me also this
night the Lord stood, saying. Be of good cour-
age : for as" thou hast given thy life for my name
to death and banishment from thy nation, tlius
also shalt thou be made perfect. Moreover, as
for the servaut who is with you, take him also
with thyself; for he has certain mysteries. Now
then, my child, keep to thyself the things which
thou hast seen and lieard ; for a time will come
for thee to reveal them.'
And I, having been instructed in these things
by him, remained in Iconium ^ many days ; for
there was there a holy man and a pious, who
also entertained us, whose house also Paul had
sanctified. Thence, therefore, we came to Se-
' Or, will come to reveal thee.
2 One MS. has Jeriisnleiii, and adds, and we came to Aniioch,
which suits the geography belter.
leucia, and after staying three days sailed away
to Cyprus ; and I was ministering to them until
we had gone round all Cyprus. And setting sail
from Cyprus, we landed in Perga of Pamphylia.
And there I then stayed about two months, wish-
ing to sail to the regions of the West ; and the
Holy Spirit did not allow me. Turning, there-
fore, I again sought the apostles ; and having
learned that they were in Antioch, I went to
them.
And I found Paul in bed in Antioch from the
toil of the journey, who also seeing me, was ex-
ceedingly grieved on account of my delaying in
Pamphylia. And Barnabas coming, encouraged
him, and tasted bread, and he took a little of it.
And they preach' ' the word of the Lord, and
enlightened many of the Jews and Greeks. And
I only attended to them, and was afraid of Paul
to come near him, both because he held me as
having spent much time in Pamphylia, and be-
cause he was quite enraged against me. And I
gave repentance on my knees upon the earth to
Paul, and he would not endure it. And when
I remained for three Sabbaths in entreaty and
prayer on my knees, I was unable to prevail
upon him about myself; for his great grievance
against me was on account of my keeping sev-
eral parchments in Pamphylia.
And when it came to pass that they finished
teaching in Antioch, on the first of the week
they took counsel together to set out for the
places of the East, and after that to go into Cy-
prus, and oversee all the churches in which they
had spoken the word of God. And Barnabas
entreated Paul to go first to Cyprus, and ov;ersee
his own in his village ; and Lucius ^ entreated
him to take the oversight of his city Cyrene.
And a vision was seen by Paul in sleep, that he
should hasten to Jerusalem, because the brethren
expected him there. But Barnabas urged that
they should go to Cyprus, and pass the winter,
and then that they should go to Jerusalem at
the feast. Great contention, therefore, arose
between them.'* And Barnabas urged me also
to accompany them, on account of my being
their servant from the beginning, and on account
3 Acts xiii. I ; Rom. xvi.
* Acts XV. 39.
493
494
THE ACTS OF BARNABAS.
of my having served them in all Cyprus until
they came to Perga of Pamphylia ; and I there
had remained many days. But Paul cried out
against Barnabas, saying : It is impossible for
him to go with us. And those who were with
us there urged me also to accompany them, be-
cause there was a vow upon me to follow them
to the end. So that Paul said to Barhabas : If
thou wilt take John who also is surnamed Mark
with thee, go another road ; for he shall not
come with us. And Barnabas coming to him-
self, said : The grace of God does not desert '
him who has once served the Gospel and jour-
neyed with us. If, therefore, this be agreeable
to thee, Father Paul, I take him and go. And
he said : Go thou in the grace of Christ, and
we in the power of the Spirit.
Therefore, bending their knees, they prayed
to God. And Paul, groaning aloud, wept, and
in like manner also Barnabas, saying to one
another : It would have been good for us, as at
first, so also at last, to work in common among
men ; but since it has thus seemed good to thee,
Father Paul, pray for me that my labour may be
made perfect to commendation : for thou know-
est how I have served thee also to the grace of
Christ that has been given to thee. For I go to
Cyprus, and hasten to be made perfect ; ^ for I
know that I shall no more see thy face, O Father
Paul. And falling on the ground at his feet, he
wept long. And Paul said to him : The Lord
stood by me also this night, saying. Do not force
Barnabas not to go to Cyprus, for there it has
been prepared for him to enlighten many ; and
do thou also, in the grace that has been given to
thee, go to Jerusalem to worship in the holy
place, and there it shall be shown thee where thy
martyrdom has been prepared. And we saluted
one another, and Barnabas took me to himself.
And having come down to Laodiceia,^ we
sought to cross to Cyprus ; and having found a ship
going to Cyprus, we embarked. And when we
had set sail, the wind was found to be contrary.
And we came to Corasium ; ■♦ and having gone
down to the shore where there was a fountain, we
rested there, showing ourselves to no one, that
no one might know that Barnabas had separated
from Paul. And having set sail from Corasium,
we came to the regions of Isauria, and thence
came to a certain island called Pityusa ; s and a
storm having come on, we remained there three
days ; and a certain pious man entertained us, by
name Euphemus, whom also Barnabas instructed
in many things in the faith, with all his house.
And thence we sailed past the Aconesiae,^ and
' Or, turn away.
^ i.e. , to finish my course.
3 This is the Syrian Laodiceia, opposite Cyprus.
* Perhaps Corycus.
5 Or, Pityussa, close to the Zephyrian promontory.
^ Perhaps Aphrodisias.
came to the city of Anemurium ; and having
gone into it, we found two Greeks. And coming
to us, they asked whence and who we were.
And Barnabas said to them : If you wish to
know whence and who we are, throw away the
clothing which you have, and I shall put on you
clothing which never becomes soiled ; for neither
is there in it anything filthy, but it is altogether
splendid. And being astonished at the saying,
they asked us : What is that garment which you
are going to give us? And Barnabas said to
them : If you shall confess your sins, and submit
yourselves to our Lord Jesus Christ, you shall
receive that garment which is incorruptible for
ever. And being pricked at heart by the Holy
Spirit, they fell at his feet, entreating and
saying : We beseech thee, father, give us that
garment ; for we believe in the living and true
God whom thou proclaimest. And leading
them down to ^ the fountain, he baptized them
into the name of Father, and Son, and Holy
Ghost. And they knew that they were clothed
with power, and a holy robe. And having taken
from me one robe, he put it on the one ; and
his own robe he put o"n the other. And they
brought money to him, and straightway Barnabas
distributed it to the poor. And from them also
the sailors were able to gain many things.^
And they having come down to the shore, he
spoke to them the word of God ; and he having
blessed them, we saluted them, and went on
board the ship. And the one of them who was
named Stephanus wished to accompany us, and
Barnabas did not permit him. And we, having
gone across, sailed down to Cyprus by night ;
and having come to the place called Crommya-
cita,9 we found Timon and Ariston the temple
servants, at whose house also we were enter-
tained.
And Timon was afflicted by much fever. And
having laid our hands upon him, we straightway
removed his fever, having called upon the name
of the Lord Jesus. And Barnabas had received
documents from Matthew, a book of the word '°
of God, and a narrative of miracles and doc-
trines. This Barnabas laid upon the sick in each
place that we came to, and it immediately made
a cure of their sufferings.
And when we had come to Lapithus," and an
idol festival '^ being celebrated in the theatre,
they did not allow us to go into the city, but we
rested a little at the gate. And Timon, after he
rose up from his disease, came with us. And
having gone forth from Lapithus, we travelled
7 Or, into.
^ To make much profit.
9 Crommyon Pr.
'° Lit., the voice.
" Lapethus.
'2 Lit., an idol- frenzy, — a term often applied to the worship of
Bacchus.
THE ACTS OF BARNABAS.
495
through the mountains, and came to the city of
Lampadistus, of which also Timon was a native ;
in addition to whom, having found also that
Heracleius was there, we were entertained by
him. He was of the city of Tamasus,' and had
come to visit his relations ; and Barnabas, look-
ing stedfasdy at him, recognised him, having
met witli him formerly at Citium with Paul ; to
whom also the Holy Spirit was given at baptism,
and he changed his name to Heracleides. And
having ordained him bishop over Cyprus, and
having confirmed the church in Tamasus, we left
him in the house of his brethren that dwelt
there.
And having crossed the mountain called
Chionodes,^ we came to Old Paphos, and there
found Rhodon, a temple servant, who also,
having himself believed, accompanied us. And
we met a certain Jew, by name Barjesus, coming
from Paphos, who also recognised Barnabas, as
having been formerly with Paul. He did not
wish us to go into Paphos ; but having turned
away, we came to Curium. -''
And we found that a certain abominable race
was being performed ■♦ in the road near the city,
where a multitude of women and men naked
were performing the race. And there was great
deception and error in that place. And Barna-
bas turning, rebuked it ; and the western part
fell, so that many were wounded, and many of
them also died ; and the rest fled to the temple
of Apollo, which was close at hand in the city
which was called sacred.5 And when we came
near the temple, a great multitude of Jews who
were there, having been put up to it by Bar-
jesus, stood outside of the city, and did not allow
us to go into the city ; but we spent the evening
under a tree near the city, and rested there.
And on the following day we came to a certain
village where Aristoclianus dwelt. He being a
leper, had been cleansed in Antioch, whom also
Paul and Barnabas sealed to be a bishop, and
sent to his village in Cyprus, because there were
many Greeks there. . And we were entertained
in the cave by him in the mountain, and there
we remained one day. And thence we came to
Amathus, and there was a great multitude of
Greeks in the temple in the mountain, low
women and men pouring libations. There also
Barjesus, getting the start of us, gained over the
nation of the Jews, and did not allow us to
enter into the city ; but a certain widow woman,
eighty years old, being outside of the city, and
she also not worshipping the idols, coming
forward to us, took us into her house one hour.
' Tamassus.
^ i.e., snowy, an epithet of Olympu?, the mountain they crossed.
3 Perhaps Curtium, which was nearer Palaeo Paphos than Curias
Pr. was.
* i.e., as a religious service.
S Another reading is: In the city called Curium.
And when we came out we shook the dust off
our feet over against that temple where the
hbation of the abominable took place.
And having gone out thence, we came through
desert places, and Timon also accompanied us.
And having come to Citium, and there being a
great uproar there also in their hippodrome,
having learned this, we came forth out of the
city, having all shaken the dust off our feet ; for
no one received us, except that we rested one
hour in the gate near the aqueduct.
And having set sail in a ship from Citium, we
came to Salamis, and landed in the so-called
islands, where there was a place full of idols ;
and there there took place high festivals^ and
libations. And having found Heracleides there
again, we instructed him to proclaim the Gospel
of God, and to set up churches, and ministers in
them. And having gone into Salamis, we came
to the synagogue near the place called Biblia ;
and when we had gone into it, Barnabas, having
unrolled the Gospel which he had received from
Matthew his fellow-labourer, began to teach the
Jews.
And Barjesus, having arrived after two days,
after not a few Jews had been instructed, was
enraged, and brought together all the multitude
of the Jews ; and ', 2y having laid hold of Bar-
nabas, wished to hand him over to Hypatius, the
governor of Salamis. And having bound him to
take him away to the governor, and a pious Jeb-
usite,7 a kinsman of Nero, having come to Cy-
prus, the Jews, learning this, took Barnabas by
night, and bound him with a rope by the neck ;
and having dragged him to the hippodrome
from the synagogue, and having gone out of
the city, standing round him, they burned him
with fire, so that even his bones became dust.
And straightway that night, having taken his
dust, they cast it into a cloth ; and having se
cured it with lead, they intended to throw it into
the sea. But I, finding an opportunity in the
night, and being able along with Timon and
Rhodon to carry it, we came to a certain place,
and having found a cave, put it down there,
where the nation of the Jebusites formerly
dwelt. And having found a secret place in it,
we put it away, with the documents which he
had received from Matthew. And it was the
fourth hour of the night of the second of the
week.^
And when we were hid in the place, the Jews
made no little search after us ; and having al-
most found us, they pursued us as far as the
6 Lit., assemblies of the w^ole nation.
7 Another reading is : Eiisebius the Jebusite There is a legend
that the Jebusites colonized Cyprus after they were driven out of
Palestine by King David.
* The Vatican MS. adds: on the 17th of the month Paiin accord-
ing to the Egyptians, and according to the Romans the nth of the
month of June.
496
THE ACTS OF BARNABAS.
village of the Ledrians ; and we, having found
there also a cave near the village, took refuge in
it, and thus escaped them. And we were hid in
the cave three days ; and the Jews having gone
away, we came forth and left the place by night.
And taking with us Ariston and Rhodon, we
came to the village of Limnes.'
And having come to the shore, we found an
Egyptian ship ; and having embarked in it, we
landed at Alexandria. And there I remained,
' This place does not appear on the ancient maps, but there is a
modern C. Limniti.
teaching the brethren that came the word of the
Lord, enlightening them, and preaching what I
had been taught by the apostles of Christ, who
also baptized me into the name of Father,
and Son, and Holy Ghost ; who also changed
my name to Mark in the water of baptism, by
which also I hope to bring many to the glory of
God through His grace ; because to Him is due
honour and everlasting glory. Amen.
The journeyings and martyrdom of the holy
apostle Barnabas have been fulfilled through
God.
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
OF THE JOURNEYINGS OF PHILIP THE APOSTLE.
FROM THE FIFTEENTH ACT UNTIL THE END, AND AMONG THEM THE MARTYRDOM.'
About the time when the Emperor Trajan re-
ceived the government of the Romans, after
Simon the son of Clopas, who was bishop of
Jerusalem, had suffered martyrdom in the eighth
year of his reign, being the second bisliop of the
church there after James who bore the name of
brother of the Lord,^ Phihp the apostle, going
through the cities and regions of Lydia and Asia,
preached to all the Gospel of Christ.
And having come to the city of Ophioryma,
which is called HierapOlis of Asia, he was enter-
tained by a certain behever, Stachys by name.
And there was with him also Bartholomew, one of
the seventy disciples of the Lord, and his sister
Mariamme, and his disciples that followed him.
All the men of the city therefore, having left
their work, ran to the house of Stachys, hearing
about the works which Philip did. And many
men and women having assembled in the house
of Stachys, Philip along with Bartholomew taught
them the things of Jesus.
And Philip's sister Mariamme, sitting in the
entry of the house of Stachys, addressed herself
to those coming, persuading them to listen to
the apostles, saying to them : Our brethren, and
sons of my Father in heaven, ye are the excel-
lent riches, and the substance of the city above,
the delight of the habitation which God has pre-
pared for those that love Him. Trample under
foot the snares of the enemy, the writhing ser-
pent. For his path is crooked, since he is the
son of the wicked one, and the poison of wick-
edness is in him ; and his father is the devil, the
author of death, and his mother corruption ;
rage in his eyes and destruction in his mouth,
and his path is Hades. Wherefore flee from
him that has no substance, the shapeless one
that has no shape in all the creation, whether in
the heaven or in the earth, whether in the flying
creatures or the beasts. For everything is taken
away from his shape ; for among the beasts of
the earth and the fowls of the heaven is the
• [This enlarged title IS from the Venetian MS.; see p. 355. — R.j
* Comp. Euscb., H. E., iii. 32.
knowledge of him, that the serpent trails his
belly and his breast ; and Tartarus is his dwell-
ing-place, and he goes in the darkness, since he
has confidence in nothing.^ Flee therefore from
him, that his poison may not be poured out into
your mouth. But be rather believing, holy, of
good works, having no deceit. Take away from
yourselves the wicked disposition, that is, the
evil desires through which the serpent, the wick-
ed dragon, the prince of evil, has produced the
pasture of destruction and death for the soul,
since all the desire ^ '" the wicked has proceeded
from him. And t.us is the root of iniquity, the
maintenance of evils, the death of souls ; for the
desire of the enemy is armed against the believ-
ers, and comes forth from the darkness, and
walks in the darkness, taking in hand to war
with those who are in the light. For this is the
beginning of concupiscence.^ Wherefore you
who wish to come to us, and the rather that (xod
has come through us to you as a father to his
own children, wishing to have mercy upon you,
and to deliver you from the wicked snare of the
enemy, flee from the evil lusts of the enemy, and
cast them completely out of your mind, hating
openly the father of evils, and loving Jesus, who
is light, and life, and truth, and the Saviour of
all who desire Him. Having run, therefore, to
Him, take hold of Him in love, that He may
bring you up out of the pit of the wicked, and
having cleansed you, set you blameless, living in
truth, in the presence of His Father.
And all these things Philip said to the multi-
tudes that had come together to worship as in
old times the serpents and the viper, of which
also they set up images and worshipped them.
Wherefore also they called Hierapolis Ophio-
ryma.5 And these things having been said by
Philip, Bartholomew and Mariamme and his
disciples, and Stachys being along with him, all
the people gave ear, and a great multitude of
3 Or, in no one.
* Or, covetousness.
5 i.e., Serpent's town.
497
498
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
them fleeing from the enemy were turned to
Jesus, and were added to Philip and those about
him. And the faithful were the more confirmed
in the love of Christ.
And Nicanora, the wife of the proconsul, lying
in bed under various diseases, especially of the
eyes, having heard about the Apostle Philip and
his teaching, believed in the Lord. For she had
even before this heard about Him ; and having
called upon His name, she was released from the
troubles that afflicted her. And rising up, she
went forth out of her house through the side
door, carried by her own slaves in a silver litter,
and went into the house of Stachys, where the
apostles were.
And when she came before the gate of the
house, Mariamrne, the sister of Philip the apos-
tle, seeing her, spoke to her in the Hebrew
tongue before Philip and Bartholomew, and all
the multitude of those who had believed, saying :
Alemakan, ikasame, marmare, nachaman,' mas-
TRANAN, ACHAiMAN ; which is. Daughter of the
father, thou art my mistress, thou hast been
given as a pledge to the serpent ; but Jesus our
Redeemer has conie to deliver thee through us,
to break thy bands, and cut them, and to remove
them from thee from their root, because thou art
my sister, one mother brought us forth twins.
Thou hast forsaken thy father, thou hast forsaken
the path leading thee to the dwelling-place of
thy mother, being in error ; thou hast left the
temple of that deception, and of the temporary
glory, and hast come to us, fleeing from the ene-
my, because he is the dwelling-place of death.
Behold, now thy Redeemer has come to redeem
thee ; Christ the Sun of righteousness has risen
upon thee, to enlighten thee.^
And when Nicanora, standing before the door,
heard these things, she took courage before all,
crying out, and saying : I am a Hebrew, and a
daughter of the Hebrews ; speak with me in the
language of my fathers. For, having heard the
preaching of my fathers, I was straightway cured
of the disease and the troubles that encompassed
me. I therefore adore the goodness of God,
who has caused you to be spoiled even to this
city, on account of His true stone ^ held in
honour, in order that through you we may re-
ceive the knowledge of Him, and may live with
you, having believed in Him.
Nicanora having thus spoken, the Apostle
Philip, along with Bartholomew and Mariamme
and those with them, prayed for her to God,
saying : Thou who bringest the dead to life,
Christ Jesus the Lord, who hast freed us through
baptism from the slavery of death,'' completely de-
' Or, tachavtan.
' Comp. Mai. iv. 2.
3 Isa. xxvlii. 16; 1 Pet.
* Comp. Rom. vi 3, 4.
11. 4, etc.
liver also this woman from the error, the enemy;
make her alive in Thy life, and perfect her in
Thy perfection, in order that she may be found
in the country of her fathers in freedom, having
a portion in Thy goodness, O Lord Jesus.
And all having sent up the amen along v/ith
the Apostle Philip, behold, there came the ty-
rant, the husband of Nicanora, raging like an
unbroken horse ; and having laid hold of his
wife's garments, he cried out, saying : O Nica-
nora, did not I leave thee in bed? how hadst thou
so much strength as to come to these magicians?
And how hast thou been cured of the inflamma-
tion of thine eyes? Now, therefore, unless thou
tell me who thy physician is, and what is his
name, I shall punish thee with various punish-
ments, and shall not have compassion upon thee.
And she answering, says to him : O tyrant, cast
out from thee this tyranny of thine, forsake this
wickedness of thine ; abandon this life lasting
only for a season ; run away from the brutality
of thy worthless disposition ; flee from the wicked
dragon and his lusts ; throw from thee the works
and the dart of the man-slaying serpent ; re-
nounce the abominable .and wicked sacrifices of
the idols, which are the husbandry of the enemy,
the hedge of darkness ; make for thyself a life
chaste and pure, that being in holiness thou
mayst be able to know my Physician, and to get
His name. If therefore thou wishest me to be
beside thee, prepare thyself to live in chastity
and self-restraint, and in fear of the true God,
and I shall live with thee all my life ; only
cleanse thyself from the idols, and from all their
filth.
And when the gloomy tyrant her husband
heard these words of hers, he seized her by the
hair of her head, and dragged her along, kicking
her, and saying : It will be a fine thing for thee
to be cut off by the sword, or to see thee from
beside me committing fornication with these
foreign magicians ; for I see that thou hast fallen
into the madness of these deceivers. Thee first
of them, therefore, I shall cut off by an evil
death ; and then, not sparing them, I shall cut
their sinews, and put them to a most cruel death.
And having turned, he said to those about him :
Bring out for me those impostors of magicians.
And the public executioners having run into the
house of Stachys, and laid hold of the Apostle
Philip, and Bartholomew^nd IMariamme, dragged
them along, leading them to where the procon-
sul was. And the most faithful Stachys fol-
lowed, and all the faithful.
And the proconsul seeing them, gnashed his
teeth, saying : Torture these deceivers that have
deceived many women, and young men and girls,
saying that they are worshippers of God, while
they are an abomination. And he ordered
thongs of raw hide to be brought, and Philip
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
499
and Bartholomew and Mariamme to be beaten ; ! afraid of my wife, on account of her luminous
and after they had been scourged with the i Jesus. Tell me, ye priests, what I am to do.
thongs, he ordered their feet .to be tied, and j And they said to him : O proconsul, assuredly
them to be dragged through the streets of the | we are no longer priests ; for ever since thou
city as ^ar as the gate of their temple. And a | didst shut them up, in consequence of them
great crowd was assembled, so that scarcely any j praying, not only has the temple been shaken
one stayed at home ; and they all wondered at j from the foundations, but it is also assuredly fall-
their patience, as they were being violently and ing down.
inhumanly dragged along. j Then the proconsul ordered to bring Philip
And the proconsul, having tortured the Apostle and those with him forth out of the temple, and
Philip and the saints who were with him, ordered to bring them up to the tribunal, saying to the
them to be brought, and secured in the temple public executioner : Strip Philip and Bartholo-
of the idol of the viper by its priests, until he I mew and Mariamme, and search thoroughly to
should decide by what death he should de-troy i try to find their enchantm.ents. Having there-
each of them. And many of the crowd believed j fore first stripped Philip, then Bartholomew, they
in the grace of Christ, and were added to the ! came also to Mariamme ; and dragging her
Apostle Philip, and those with him, having re- ! along, they said : Let us strip her naked, that all
nounced the idol of the viper, and were con- ! may see her, how she follows men ; for she es-
firmed in the faith, being magnified by the en-
durance of the saints ; and all together with
their voice glorified God, saying the amen.
And when they were shut up in the temple of
the viper — both Philip the Apostle, and Bar-
pecially deceives all the women. And the tyrant
says to the priests: 'Proclaim throughout the
whole city round about that all should come,
men and women, that they may see her inde-
cency, that she travels about with these magicians,
tholomew and Mariamme — the priests of the i and no doubt commits adultery with them. And
viper assembled in the same place, and a great | he ordered Philip to be hanged, and his ankles
crowd, about seven thousand men ; and having \ to be pierced, and to bring also iron hooks, and
run to the proconsul, they cried out, saying :
Avenge us of the foreigners, and magicians, and
corrupters and seducers of men. For ever since
they came to us, our city has been filled with
every evil deed ; and they have also killed the
serpents, the sons of our goddess ; and they
have also shut the temple, and the altar has been
desolated ; and we have not found the wine
which had been brought in order that the viper,
his heels also to be driven through, and to be
hanged head do\^vxards, opposite the temple on
a certain tree ; and stretch out Bartholomew op-
posite Philip, having nailed his hands on the
wall of the gate of the temple.
And both of them smiled, seeing each other,
both Philip and Bartholomew ; for they were as
if they were not tortured : for their i)unishments
were prizes and crowns. And when also they
having drunk of it, might go to sleep. But if | had strip]3ed Mariamme, behold, straightway the
thou wishest to know that they are really magi- j semblance of her body was changed in the pres-
cians, look and see how they wish to bewitch us, i ence of all, and straightway there was about her
saying, Live in chastity and piety, after believing
in God ; and how also they have come into the
city ; and how also the dragons have not struck
them blind, or even killed them ; and how also
they have not drunk their blood ; but even they
a cloud of fire before all ; and they could not
longer look at all on the place in which the holy
Mariamme was, but they all fled from her.
And Philip spoke with Bartholomew in the
Hebrew tongue, saying : Where is our brother
who keep our city from every foreigner have i John? for, behold, I am being released from
been cast down by these men. ' the body ; and who is he that has prayed for
And the proconsul, having heard these things, |us? Because they have also laid hands on our
was the more inflamed with rage, and filled with i sister Mariamme, contrary to what is meet ;
wrath and threatening; and he was exceedingly j and, behold, they have set fire to the house of
enraged, and said to the priests : Why need you
speak, when they have bewitched my c5wn wife ?
And from that time she has spoken to me with
strange words ; and ]:)raying all the night through,
she speaks in a strange tongue with a light shin-
ing round her ; and groaning aloud, she says,
Jesus the true light has come to me. And I,
having gone forth from my chamber, wished to
Stachys, saying. Let us burn it, since he enter-
tained them. Dost thou wish then, Bartholo-
mew, fire to come from heaven, and that we
should burn them up?
And as Philip was thus speaking, behold, also
John entered into the city like one of their
fellow-citizens ; and moving about in the street,
he asked : Who are these men, and why are
look down through the window and see Jesus, j they punished? And they say to him: It can-
the light which she spoke of ; and like lightning ! not be that thou art of our city, and askest
it came upon me, so that I was within a little of j about these men, who have wronged many : for
being blinded ; and from that time forth I am ' they have shut up 6ur gods, and by their magic
500
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
have cut off both the serpents and the dragons ;
and they have also raised many of the dead, who
have struck us with amazement, detaihng many
punishments againsf us ; and they wish also, these
strangers who are hanging, to pray for fire out of
heaven, and to burn up us and our city.
Then says John : Let us go, and do you show
me them. They led John, therefore, as their
fellow-citizen, to where Philip was ; and there
was there a great crowd, and the proconsul, and
the priests. And Philip, seeing John, said to
Bartholomew in Hebrew : Brother, John has
come, who was in Barek, where the living water
is.' And John saw Philip hanging head down-
wards both by the ankles and the heels ; ^ and
he also saw Bartholomew stretched out on the
wall of the temple ; and he said to them : The
mystery of him that was hanged between the
heaven and the earth shall be with you.
And he said also to the men of that city : Ye
men who dwell in Ophioryma Hierapolis, great
is the ignorance which is among you, for you
have erred in the path of error. The dragon
breathing has breathed upon you, and blinded
you in three ways ; that is, he has made you
blind in body, and blind in soul, and blind
in spirit : and you have been struck by the de-
stroyer. Look upon the whole creation, whether
in the earth, or in the heaven, or in the waters,
that the serpent has no resemblance to anything
above ; ^ but he is of the stock of corruption,
and has been brought to nothing by God ; and
on this account he is twisted and crooked, and
there is no life in him ; and anger, and rage,
and darkness, and fire, and smoke are in all his
members. And now, therefore, why do you
punish these men because they have told you
that the serpent is your enemy?
And when they heard these words from John,
they raised their hands against him, saying : We
thought thee to be a fellow-citizen, but now
thou hast shown thyself that thou art their com-
panion. Like them, so also thou shalt be put
to death ; for the priests have intended to
squeeze out your blood, and having mixed it
with wine, to bring it to the viper to drink it.
When, therefore, the priests attempted to lay
hold of John, their hands were paralyzed. And
John said to Philip : Let us not at all render
evil for evil. And Philip said to John : Behold
now, where is my Lord Jesus, who told me not
to avenge myself? But for my part, I shall not
endure it longer ; but I will accomplish upon
them my threat, and will destroy them all."*
' Another and more probable reading is: He who is the son of
Barek, which means hving water.
2 Or, hams.
3 One of the MSS. has: has no resemblance to a man in anything.
* A Bodleian MS. adds: for because I am wrathful, Jesus named
me Son of thunder. [This is the MS. from which Grabe derived his
text of the A cts of Paul and Thecla ; comp. pp. 355 and 491 . — R.]
And John and Bartholomew and Mariamme
restrained him, saying : Our Master was beaten,
was scourged, was extended on the cross, was
made to drink gall and vinegar, and said. Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do.s
And this He taught, saying : Learn of me, for I
am meek and lowly in heart.^ Let us also there-
fore be patient. Philip says : Go away, and do
not mollify me ; for I will not bear that they have
hanged me head down, and pierced my ankles
and my heels with irons. And thou, John, be-
loved of God, how much hast thou reasoned
with them, and thou hast not been listened to !
Wherefore go away from me, and I will curse
them, and they shall be destroyed utterly to a
man. And he began to curse them, invoking,
and crying out in Hebrew : Abalo, aremun, idu-
THAEL, THARSELEON, NACHOTH, AIDUNAPH, TELE-
TOLOi : 7 that is, O Father of Christ, the only and
Almighty God ; O God, whom all ages dread,
powerful and impartial Judge, whose name is in
Thy dynasty Sabaoth,^ blessed art Thou for ever-
lasting : before Thee tremble dominions and
powers of the celestials^, and the fire-brea'^^-'ing
threats of the cherubic living ones ; the King, holy
in majesty, whose name came upon the wild beasts
of the desert, and they were tamed, and praised
Thee with a rational voice ; who lookest upon us,
and readily grantest our requests ; who knewest
us before we were fashioned ; the Overseer of all :
now, I pray, let the great Hades open its mouth ;
let the great abyss swallow up these the ungodly,
who have not been willing to receive the word of
truth in this city. So let it be, Sabaoth. And,
behold, suddenly the abyss was opened, and the
whole of the place in which the proconsul was
sitting was swallowed up, and the whole of the
temple, and the viper which they worshipped,
and great crowds, and the priests of the viper,
about seven thousand men, besides women and
children, except where the apostles were : they
remained unshaken. And the proconsul was
swallowed up into the abyss ; and their voices
came up from beneath, saying, with weeping :
Have mercy upon us, O God of Thy glorious
apostles, because we now see the judgments of
those who have not confessed the crucified One :
behold, the cross illumines us. O Jesus Christ,
manifest Thyself to us, because we are all coming
down alive into Hades, and are being scourged
because we have unjustly crucified Thine apostles.
And a voice was heard of one, saying : I shall be
mercifiil to you in the cross of light.
And there remained both Stachys and all his
house, and the wife of the proconsul, and fifty
other women who had believed with her upon
5 Luke xxiii. 34.
6 Matt. xi. 29.
7 The Bodleian MS. has the Hebrew thus: Saballoa, prttmeni,
dzithael, tharse/i, nunnchathaei ; adonab batelo teioe.
* The Bodleian MS. has Ailoel.
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
501
the Lord, and a multitude besides, both of men
and women, and a hundred virgins who had not
been swallowed up because of their chastity,
having been sealed with the seal of Christ.
Then the Lord, having appeared unto Philip,
said : O Philip, didst thou not hear : Thou shalt
not render evil for evil ? and why hast thou in-
flicted such destruction? O Philip, whosoever
putteth his hand to the plough, and looketh
backwards,' is his furrow well set?»or who gives
up his own lamp to another, and himself sits in
darkness? or who forsakes his own dwelling-
place, and dwells on a dunghill himself? And
who, giving away his own garment in winter,
goes naked ? or what enemy rejoices in the joy
of the man that hates him? and what soldier
goes to war without a full suit of armour ? and
what slave who has fulfilled his master's order
will not be commended? and who in the race-
course, having nobly run, does not receive the
prize? and who that has washed his garments
willingly defiles them? Behold, my bridecham-
ber is ready ; but blessed is he who has been
found in it wearing the shining garment : 2 he it
is who receives the crown upon his head. Be-
hold, the supper is ready ; and blessed is he who
is invited, and is ready to go to Him that has
invited him. The harvest of the field is much,^
and blessed is the good labourer. Behold the
hlies and all the flowers, and it is the good
husbandman who is the first to get a share of
them. And how hast thou become, O Philip,
unmerciful, having cursed thine enemies in
wrath ?
Philip says : Why art Thou angry with me.
Lord, because I have cursed mine enemies? for
why dost Thou not tread them under foot, be-
cause they are yet alive in the abyss? And
knowest Thou, Lord, that because of Thee I
came into this city, and in Thy name I have per-
secuted all the error of the idols, and all the
demons ? The dragons have withered away, and
the serpents. And since these men have not re-
ceived Thy light, therefore have I cursed them,
and they have gone down to Hades alive.
And the Saviour says to Philip : But since thou
hast disobeyed me, and hast requited evil for
evil, and hast not kept my commandment, on
this account thou shalt finish thy course glori-
ously indeed, and shalt be led by the hand by my
holy angels, and shalt come with them even to
the paradise of delight ; and they indeed shall
come beside me into paradise, but thee will I or-
der to be shut outside of paradise for forty days,
in terror under the flaming and turning sword,
and thou shalt groan because thou hast done evil
' to those who have done evil to thee. And after
■ Comp. lAike ix. 62.
^ Comp. Matt. xxli. 11.
3 Comp. Matt. ix. 37.
forty days I shall send my archangel Michael ;
and he, having taken hold of the sword guarding
paradise, shall bring thee into it, and thou shalt
see all the righteous who have walked in their
innocence, and then thou shalt worship the glory
of my Father in the heavens. Nevertheless the
sign of thy departure shall be glorified in my
cross. And Bartholomew having gone away into
Lycaonia, shall there also be himself crucified ;
and Mariamme shall lay her body in the river
Jordan. But L O Philip, wiU not endure thee,
because thou hast swallowed up the men into the
abyss ; but, behold, my Spirit is in them, and I
shall bring them up from the dead ; and thus
they, seeing thee, shall believe in the glory of
Him that sent thee.
And the Saviour having turned, stretched up
His hand, and marked a cross in the air coming
down from above even to the abyss, and it was
full of light, and had its form after the likeness
of a ladder. And all the multitude that had
gone down from the city into the abyss came up
on the ladder of the luminous cross ; but there
remained below the proconsul, and the viper
which they worshipped. And when the multi-
tude had come up, having looked upon Philip
hanging head downwards, they lamented with a
great lamentation '-'" the lawless action which they
had done. And .iiey also saw Bartholomew, and
Mariamme having her former appearance. And,
behold, the Lord went up into the heavens in the
sight of Pliilip, and Bartholomew and Mariamme,
and Stachys, and all the unbelieving people, and
silently they glorified God in fear and trembling.
And ah the multitudes cried out, saying : He
alone is God, whom these men proclaim in truth ;
He alone is God, who sent these men for our
salvation. Let us therefore truly repent for our
great error, because we are by no means worthy
of everlasting life. Now we believe, because we
have seen great wonders, because the Saviour has
brought us up from the abyss. And they all fell
upon their face, and adored Philip, and entreated
him, ready to flee : Do not do another miracle,
and again send us away into the abyss. And
they prayed that they might become worthy of
the appearing of Christ.
And Philip, yet hanging, addressed them, and
said : Hear and learn how great are the powers
of my God, remembering what you have seen
below, and how your city has been overturned,
with the exception of the house which received
me ; and now the sweetness of my God has
brought you up out of the abyss, and I am
obliged to walk round paradise for forty days on
your account, because I was enraged against you
into requiting you. And this commandment
alone I have not kept, in that I did not give you
good in return for evil. But I say unto you^
From this time forth, in the goodness of God, re.
502
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
ject the evil, that you may become worthy of the
thanksgiving ' of the Lord.
And some of the faithful ran up to take down
Philip, and take off him the iron grapnels, and
the hooks out of his ankles. But Philip said :
Do not, my children, do not come near me on
account of this, for thus shall be my end.- Listen
to me, ye who have been enlightened in the Lord,
that I came to this city, not to make any mer-
chandise, or do any other thing; but I have been
destined to go out of my body in this city in the
case in which you see me. Grieve not, then, that
I am hanging thus ; for I bear the stamp ^ of the
first man, who was brought to the earth head
downwards, and again, through the wood of the
cross brought to life out of the death of the
transgression. And now I accomplish that which
hath been enjoined upon me ; for the Lord said
to me. Unless you shall make that of you which
is down to be up, and that which is on the left to
be on the right, you shall not enter into my
kingdom. Be ye not therefore likened to the
unchanged type, for all the world has been
changed, and every soul dwelling in a body is in
forgetfulness of heavenly things ; but let not us
possessing the glory of the heavenly seek that
which is without, which is the body and the
house of slavery. Be not unbelieving, but be-
lieving, and forgive each other's faults. Behold,
I hang six days, and I have blame from the true
Judge, because I altogether requited you evil,
and put a stumbling-block in the way of my rec-
titude. And now I am going up on high ; be
not sorrowful, but rather rejoice, because I am
leaving this dwelling-place, my body, having es-
caped from the corruption of the dragon, who
punishes every soul that is in sins.
And Philip, having looked round upon the
multitudes, said : O ye who have come up out
of the dead from Hades, and the swallowing up
of the abyss, — and the luminous cross led you
up on high, through the goodness of the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, — He being
God became man, having been made flesh out
of the Virgin Mary, immortal, abiding in flesh ;
and having died. He raised the dead, having
had pity on mankind, having taken away the
sting of sin. He was great, and became small
for our sake, until He should enlarge the small,
and bring them into His greatness. And He it
is who has sweetness ; and they spat upon Him,
giving Him gall to drink, in order that He might
make those who were bitter against Him to taste
of His sweetness. Cleave then to Him, and do
not forsake Him, for He is our life to ever-
lasting.
And when Philip had finished this announce-
ment, he says to them, Loose Bartholomew;
' Or, the Eucharist.
^ Or, type.
and having gone up, they loosed him. And
after loosing him, Philip says to him : Bartholo-
mew, my brother in the Lord, thou knowest that
the Lord has sent thee with me to this city, and
thou hast shared with me in all the dangers with
our sister Mariamme ; but I know that the going
forth from thy body has been appointed in Ly-
caonia, and it has been decreed to Mariamme
to go forth from the body in the river Jordan.
Now therefore I command you, that when I
have gone forth from my body,' you shall build
a church in this place ; and let the leopard and
the kid of the goats ^ come into the church, for
a sign to those that believe ; and let Nicanora
\ provide for them until they shall go forth from
i the body ; and when they shall have gone forth,
bury them by the gate of the church. And lay
your peace upon the house of Stachys, as Christ
laid His peace on this city. And let all the vir-
gins who believe stand in that house each day,
watching over the sick, walking two and two ;
but let them have no communication with young
men, that Satan may not tempt them : * for he
is a creeping serpent, and he caused Adam by
means of Eve to slip into death. Let it not be
so again in this time as in the case of Eve.
But do thou, O Bartholomew, look to them
well ; 5 and thou shalt give these injunctions to
Stachys, and appoint him bishop. Do not en-
trust the place of the bishopric to a young man,
that the Gospel of Christ may not be brought to
shame ; and let every one that teacheth have his
works equal to his words. But I am going to
the Lord, and take my body and prepare it for
burial with Syriac sheets of paper ; and do not
put round me flaxen cloth, because the body of
my Lord was wrapped in linen. And having pre-
pared my body for burial in the sheets of paper,
bind it tight with papyrus reeds, and bury it
in the church ; and pray for me^ forty days, in
order that the Lord may forgive me the trans-
gression wherein I transgressed, in requiting
those who did evil to me. See, O Bartholo-
mew, where my blood shall drop upon the earth,
a plant shall spring up from my blood, and shall
become a vine, and shall produce fruit of a
bunch of grapes ; and having taken the cluster,
press it into the cup ; and having partaken of it
on the third day, send up on high the Amen, in
order that the offering may be complete.
And Philip, having said these things, prayed
thus : O Lord Jesus Christ, Father of the ages.
King of the light, who hast made us wise in Thy
wisdom, and hast given us Thine understanding,
and hast bestowed upon us the counsel of Thy
3 Alluding to Isa. xi. 6.
* Comp. I Cor vii. 5.
5 Lit., be a good trier.
6 On the subject of the immemorial practice of prayers for the
dead, see Apostolical Constitutions, vi. 30, viii. 47. Comp. 2 Mace,
xii. 44 and 2 Tim. i. 18.
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
503
goodness, who hast never at any time left us,
Thou art He who taketh away the disease of
those who flee to Thee for refuge ; Thou art the
Son of the living God, who hast given us Thy
presence of wisdom, who hast given us signs
and wonders, and hast turned those who have
gone astray ; who crownest those who overcome
the adversary. Thou excellent Judge.' Come
now, Tesus, and give me the everlasting crown
of victory against every adverse dominion and
power, and do not let their dark air hide me
when I shall cross the waters of fire and all the
abyss. O my Lord Jesus Christ, let not the
enemy have ground to accuse me at Thy tribu-
nal : but put on me Thy glorious robe, Thy seal
of liglit that ever shines, until I shall pass by all
the powers of the world, and the wicked dragon
that lieth in wait for us. Now therefore, my
Lord Jesus Christ, make me to meet Thee in
the air, having forgiven me the recompense
which I recompensed to my enemies ; and
transform the form of my body into angelic
glory, and give me rest in Thy blessedness ; and
let me receive the promise from Thee which
Thou hast promised to Thy saints to everlast-
ing.
And having thus spoken, Philip gave up the
ghost, while all the multitudes were looking upon
him, and weeping, and saying : The life of this
spirit has been accomplished in peace. And
they said the Amen.
And Bartholomew and Mariamme took down
his body, and did as Philip had commanded
• Lit., president of the games.
them, and buried it in that place. And there
was straightway a voice out of the heavens :
Philip the apostle has been crowned with an
incorruptible crown by Jesus Christ, the Judge
of the contest. And all shouted out the Amen.
And after the three days the plant of the vine
sprouted up where the blood of the holy Philip
had dropped. And they did all that had been
commanded them by him, offering an offering
for forty days, praying without ceasing. And
they built the church in that place, having ap-
pointed Stachys bishop in the church. And
Nicanora and all the faithful assembled, and did
not cease, all of them, glorifying God on account
of the wonders that had happened among them.
And all the city believed in the name of Jesus.
And Bartholomew commanded Stachys to bap-
tize those who believed into the name of the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
And after the forty days, the Saviour, having
appeared in the form of Philip, said to Bartholo-
mew and Mariamme : My beloved brethren, do
you wish to rest in the rest of God? Paradise
has been opened to me, and I have entered into
the glory of Jesus. Go away to the place ap-
pointed for you ; for the plant that has been set
apart and planted in this city shall bear excellent
fruit. Having therefore saluted the brethren, and
prayed for each of them, they departed from
the city of Ophioryma, the Hierapolis of Asia ;
and Bartholomew departed into Lycaonia, and
Mariamme proceeded to the Jordan ; and
Stachys and those with him remained, maintain-
ing the church in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom
be glory and strength for ever and ever. Amen.
ACTS OF SAINT PHILIP THE APOSTLE WHEN HE WENT TO UPPER HELLAS.
And it came to pass in those days, when Philip
entered into the city of Athens called Hellas,
there assembled to him three hundred philoso-
phers, saying : Let us go and see what his wis-
dom is ; for they say about the wise men of Asia,
that their wisdom is great. For they thought
that Philip was a philosopher, since he was trav-
elling in the dress of a recluse ; and they did not
know that he was an apostle of Christ. For the
dress which Jesus gave to His disciples was a
mantle only, and a linen cloth.' Thus, then,
Philip was going about. On this account, there-
fore, when the philosophers of Hellas' saw him,
they were afraid. They assembled therefore into
one place, and said to each other : Come, let us
look into our books, lest somehow this stranger
overcome us, and put us to shame.
■ Comp. Matt. x. 10; Mark vi. 9.
And having done so, they came together to
the same place, and say to Philip : We have
doctrines of our fathers in which we are pleased,
seeking after knowledge ; but if thou hast any-
thing new, O stranger, show it to us without envy
boldly : for we have need of nothing else, but
only to hear something new.^
And Philip answering, said to them : O philos-
ophers of Hellas, if you wish to hear some new
thing, and are desirous of something new, you
ought to throw away from you the disposition of
the old man ; as my Lord said. It is impossible
to put new wine into old botdes, since the bottle
is burst, and the wine spilled, and the bottle de-
stroyed.^ But they put new wine into fresh bot-
tles, so that both may be preserved. And these
* Acts xvii. 21.
3 Comp. Matt. ix. 17, etc.
504
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
things the Lord said in parables, teaching us
in His holy wisdom, that many will love the new
wine, not having a bottle fresh and new. And
I love you, O men of Hellas, and I congratulate
you for having said, We love something new.
For instruction really new and fresh my Lord has
brought into the world, in order that He might
sweep away all worldly instruction.
The philosophers say : Who is it that thou
callest thy Lord ? Philip says : My Lord is Jesus
in heaven. And they said to him : Show him
to our comprehension without envy, that we also
may believe in him. And Philip said : He with
whom I am about to make you acquainted as
Lord, is above every name ; there is no other."
And this only I say : As you have said. Do not
refuse us through envy, let it not be that I should
refuse you ; but rather in great exultation and
in great joy I have to reveal to you that name,
for I have no other work in this world than this
proclamation.- For when my Lord came into
this world. He chose us, being twelve in number,
having filled us with the Holy Spirit ; from His
light He made us know who He was, and com-
manded us to preach all salvation through Him,
because there is no other name named out of
heaven than this. 3 On this account I have come
to you, to make you fully assured, not in word
only, but also in the showing forth of wonderful
works in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And when the philosophers heard this, they say
to Philip : This name that has been heard of by
us from thee we have never found in the books
of our fathers ; now, therefore, how can we know
about thy words? And moreover, in addition,
they say to him : Allow us three days, that we
may consult with each other about this name ;
for we lay no little stress upon this — to aposta-
tize from our fathers' religion. Philip therefore
says to them : Consult as you wish ; for there is
no deceit in the matter.
And the three hundred philosophers having
assembled, spoke with each other, saying : You
know that this man has brought a strange phi-
losophy, and the words spoken by him bring us
to distraction. What, then, shall we do about
him, or about the name of him who is called
Jesus, the king of the ages, whom he speaks of ?
And moreover they say to each other : Assuredly
we cannot reason with him, but the high priest
of the Jews can. If therefore it seem good, let
us send to him, in order that he may stand up
to this stranger, and that we may learn accurately
the name that is preached.
They wrote therefore to Jerusalem after this
manner : — The philosophers of Hellas to Ana-
nias, the great high priest of the Jews in Jerusa-
' Eph. i. 21.
^ Or, preaching.
3 Acts iv. 12.
lem. There being between thee and us at all
times great •♦ . . .as thou knowest that we Athe-
nians are searchers after truth. A certain for-
eigner has come to Hellas, Philip by name ; and,
in a word, he has disturbed us exceedingly, both
by words and by extraordinary miracles, and he
introduces a glorious name, Jesus, professing
himself to be his disciple. And he does also
wonders of which we write to you, in that he
has cast out demons that have been long in men,
and makes the deaf hear, the blind see ; and
what is more wonderful — which also we should
have first mentioned — he has raised up men
after they were dead, that have fairly completed
the number of their days.s And the fame of
him has gone abroad into all Hellas and Mace-
donia ; and there are many coming to him from
the cities round about, bringing those who are
ill with various diseases, and he heals them all
through the name of Jesus. On this account,
therefore, come to us without any reluctance,
that thou thyself mayst announce to us what
Jesus, this name which he teaches, means. For
on this account also we have sent this letter to
thee, O high priest.
And when he had read, he was filled with
great wrath, and rent his clothes, and said : Has
that deceiver gone even to Athens, among the
philosophers, to lead them astray? And the
Mansemat — that is, Satan — entered into Ana-
nias unawares, and filled him with anger and
rage ; and he said : If I allow that Philip him-
self, and those with him, to live, the law will be
entirely destroyed, and their teaching will likely
fill the whole earth. And the high priest went
into his own house, and the teachers of the law,
and the Pharisees ; and they consulted with each
other, saying : What shall we do about these
things ? ^ And they say to the high priest An-
anias : Stand up and arm thyself, and five hun-
dred able men out of the people, and go away
to Athens, and by all means kill Philip, and thus
thou shalt overturn his teaching.
And having put on the high priest's robe, he
came to Hellas in great pomp, with the five
hundred men. And Philip was in the house of
a certain chief man of the city, with the brethren
who had believed. And the high priest and
those with him, and the three hundred philoso-
phers, went up to the gateway of the house
where Philip was ; and it was told Philip that
they were outside. And he rose up and went
out. And when the high priest saw him, he
says to him : O Philip, sorcerer and magician,
for I know thee, that in Jerusalem thy master
the deceiver called thee Son of Thunder.^ Was
4 There seems to be .some omission in the MSS. here.
s Lit., of life.
6 Or, these men.
7 It was James and John who were called sons of thunder (Mark
iii. 17).
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
505
not the whole of Judaea sufficient for you, but
you have come here also to deceive men who
are searchers after wisdom ? And Philip said :
Would that, O Ananias, thy covering of unbelief
were taken away from thy heart, that thou
mightst know my words, and from them learn
whether I am a deceiver, or thou !
Ananias having heard this, said to Philip :
I shall give answer to all. And Philip said :
Speak. The high priest says : O men of Hel-
las, this Philip believes in a man called Jesus,
who was born among us, who also taught this
heresy, and destroyed the law and the temple,
and brought to nought the purification through
Moses, and the new moons, because he says,
These have not been commanded by God. And
when we saw that he thus destroyed the law, we
stood up against liini, and crucified him, that
his teaching might not be fulfilled. For many
changes were brought in by him ; and he gave
an evil testimony, for he ate all things in com-
mon, and mixed with blood, after the manner
of the Gentiles.' And having given him up, we
put him to death, and buried him in a tomb ;
and these disciples of his having stolen him, have
proclaimed everywhere that he has risen from
the dead, and have led astray a great multitude
by professing that he is at the^right hand of God
in heaven.^ But now these men, themselves hav-
ing the circumcision as we also have, have not
followed it, since they began to do many deeds
of power in Jerusalem through the name of Je-
sus ; and having been cast out of Jerusalem, they
go about the world, and deceive all men by the
magic of that Jesus, as also now this Philip has
come to you to deceive you by the same means.
But I shall carry him away with myself to Jeru-
salem, because Archelaus the king is also search-
ing for him to kill him.
And when the multitude standing round heard
this, those indeed who had been confirmed in
the faith were not shaken nor made to waver ;
for they knew that Philip would conquer in the
glory of Jesus. Philip therefore stated his case
in the power of Christ with great boldness, ex-
ulting and saying : I, O men of Athens, and those
of you who are philosophers, have come to you,
not to teach you with words, but by the show-
ing forth of miracles ; and in part you have
quickly seen ^ the things that have come to pass
through me, in that name by which the high
priest himself is cast off-* For, behold, I shall
cry to my God, and teach you, and you will
prove the words of both.
The high priest having heard this, ran to
Philip, wishing to scourge him, and that same
' This last sentence is very corrupt in the original. A few changes
give it the meaning above.
^ Rom. viii. 34, etc.
3 Better ra;^' b.v BedtreaOe — you will perhaps see.
* Or, which the high priest casts off for himself.
hour his whole hand was dried up, and his eyes
were blinded ; and in like manner also the five
hundred who were with him were also themselves
blinded. And they reviled and cursed the high
priest, saying : Coming out of Jerusalem we said
to thee. Refrain ; for, being men, we cannot
fight against God. 5 But we entreat thee, O Philip,
apostle of the God Jesus, give us the light that
is through him, that we also may truly be his
slaves.
And Philip, having seen what had come to
pass, said : O weak nature ! which has thrown
itself upon us, but straightway has been brought
down low into itself; O bitter sea ! which rouses
its waves against us, and thinks to cast us out,
but which by itself lulls its waves to rest. Now
therefore, O our good steward Jesus, the holy
light, Thou hast not overlooked us who are all
together crying up to Thee in all good works,
but hast come to finish them through us. Now
therefore come. Lord Jesus ; reprove the folly
of these men.
The high priest says to Philip : Dost thou then
think to turn us away from the traditions of our
fathers, and the God of the desert, and Moses ;
and dost thou imagine that thou wilt make us
followers of Jesus the Nazarene? Then Phihp
says to him : Behold, I shall pray to my God to
come and manifest Himself before thee and the
five hundred, and before all here ; for perhaps
thou wilt change thy mind, and believe. But if
even to the end thou remain in unbelief, there
is coming upon thee an extraordinary thing,
which shall be spoken of to generations of gen-
erations — that also thou shalt go down alive,
down into Hades, before the face of all seeing
thee, because thou yet abidest in unbelief, be-
cause also thou seekest to turn away this multi-
tude from the true life. And Philip prayed,
saying : O holy Father of the holy Son Jesus
Christ, who hast granted to me to believe in
Him, send Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ to
reprove the unbelieving high priest, that Thy
name may be glorified in Christ the Beloved.
And while Philip was yet crying out this, sud-
denly the heavens were opened, and Jesus ap-
peared coming down in most excellent glory,
and in lightning ; and His face was shining seven-
fold more than the sun, and His garments were
whiter than snow, so that also all the idols of
Athens fell suddenly to the ground. And tTie
people fled in anguish ; and the demons dwell-
ing among them cried out : Behold, we also flee
because of Him who has appeared to the city,
Jesus the Son of God. Then Philip says to the
high priest : Hearest thou the demons crying
out because of Him who has been seen, and be-
lievest thou not in Him who is present, that He
5 Comp. Acts V. 39 and xxiii. 9 in Textus Receptus.
5o6
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
is Lord of all ? The high priest says : I have
no other God than the one in the desert.
And as Jesus was going up into heaven there
happened a very great earthquake, so that the
place on which they stood was cleft ; and the
crowds ran and fell at the feet of the -apostle,
crying out : Have mercy upon us, O man of
God ! In like manner also the five hundred
men cried out themselves also again : Have
mercy upon us, O Philip, that we may know thee,
and through thee Jesus the light of life : for we
said to this unbelieving high priest, Being sinful
men, we cannot fight against God.
Then Philip says : There is no hatred in us,
but the grace of Christ will make you receive
your sight ; but I will make the high priest
receive his sight before you, that at this you may
the more believe. And a voice out of heaven
was brought to Philip : O Philip, son once of
thunder, but now of meekness, whatever thou
mayst ask of my Father, He shall do for thee.
And all the crowd was terror-struck at the voice,
for the sound of it was greater than that of thun-
der. Then Philip says to the high priest : In
the name of the power of the voice of my Lord,
receive thy sight, Ananias. And immediately he
received his sight, and looked round, and said :
What is there in the magic of Jesus, that this
Philip within a short time has made me blind,
and again within a short time has made me re-
ceive my sight? Dost thou then, said Philip,
believe in Jesus? The high priest says: You
do not think, do you, that you can bewitch me,
and persuade me? And the five hundred who
were with him, having heard that their high
priest, having received his sight, was yet unbe-
lieving, said to the bystanders to pray Philip
that he should make them receive their sight,
that, said tliey, we may cut off this unbelieving
high priest.
And Philip said : Do not avenge yourselves
upon the wicked. And he says to the high
priest : There will be a certain great sign upon
thee. He says to Philip : I know that thou art
a sorcerer and a disciple of Jesus : thou dost
not bewitch me. And the apostle said to Jesus :
S.-VB.^RTHAN, SABATHABT, ERAMANUCH, COme quick-
ly. And immediately the earth was cleft in the
place where Ananias was, and swallowed him
up as far as the knees. And Ananias cried out :
O great is the power of the true witchcraft, be-
cause it has cleft the earth, when Philip threat-
ened it in Hebrew, and adjured it ; and it holds
me even to the knees, and by the heels some
hooks as it were drag me downwards, that I may
believe in Philip ; but he cannot persuade me,
for from Jerusalem I know his magic tricks.
And Philip, enraged, said : O earth, lay fast
hold of him, even to the navel. And imme-
diately it dragged him down. And he said :
The one of my feet underneath is turned into
ice, and the other is frightfully hot ; but by thy \
magic, Philip, I will not be overcome. Except,
therefore, that I am sore tortured underneath, 1
do not believe at all. And the crowds wished
to stone him. And Philip says : Not so ; for
this has in the meantime happened, that he has
been swallowed up as far as the navel, that the
salvation of your souls may be effected, because
he would almost have drawn you by his wicked
words into unbelief. But if even he repented,
I should bring him up out of the earth to the
salvation of his soul ; but assuredly he is not
worthy of salvation. If, then, he remain in un-
belief, you shall see him sunk down into the
abyss, unless the Lord intends to raise those who
are in- Hades, that they may confess that Jesus
is Lord. For in that day every tongue shall
confess that Jesus is Lord,' and that there is one
glory of the Father, and the Son, with tlie Holy
Spirit for evermore.
And Philip, having said this, extended his
right hand, stretching it through the air over the
five hundred men in the name of Jesus. And
their eyes were opened, *and they all praised God
with one mouth, saying : We bless Thee, O Christ
Jesus, the God of Philip, that thou hast driven
the blindness aw^ from us, and hast given us
Thy light, the Gospel. And Philip rejoiced ex-
ceedingly at their words, because they were thus
confirmed in the faith. And after this, Philip,
having turned to the high priest, said : Confess
thou also in a pure heart that Jesus is Lord, that
thou mayst be saved, like those with thee. But
the high priest laughed at Philip, and remained
in unbelief.
Philip then, seeing that he remained in unbe-
lief, having looked at him, says to the earth :
Open thy mouth, and swallow him up as far as
his neck in the presence of those who have be-
lieved in Christ Jesus. And in the same hour
the earth, having opened its mouth, received him
as far as the neck. And the multitude com-
muned with each other on account of the won-
ders that had happened.
A certain chief man of the city came crying
out, and saying : O blessed apostle, a certain
demon has assailed my son, and cried out, say-
ing to me, Since thou hast allowed a foreigner
to come into your city, thou who hast been the
first to do away with ^ our worship and our sacri-
fices, what shall I do for thee, except to kill this
thine only begotten son? And after he said
this, he strangled my son. Now therefore, I
beseech thee, O apostle of Christ, do not allow
my joy to be turned into sorrow, because I also
have believed thy words.
And the apostle, having heard this, said : I
• Phil. ii. n.
2 Or, thou being a chief man who has done away with.
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
507
wonder at the activity of the demons, that it is
active in every place, and dares to assail those
to whose help I have not been able to come,' as
now they have tried you, wishing to cause you to
offend. And he says to the man : Bring me thy
son, and I will give him to thee alive, through
my Christ. And rejoicing, he ran to bring his
son. And when he came near his house, he
cried out, saying : My son, I have come to thee
to carry thee to the apostle, so that he may
present thee to me living. And he ordered his
slaves to carry the bed ; and his son was twenty-
three years old. And when Philip saw him, he
was moved ; and he turned to the high priest,
and said : This has happened as a chance for
thee : if, therefore, I shall raise him up, wilt
thou henceforth believe ? And he says : I know
your magic arts, that thou wilt raise him up ; but
I will not believe thee. And Philip, enraged,
said :. A curse upon thee ! then go down alto-
gether into the abyss before the face of all these.
And at the same hour he went down into Hades
alive, except that the high priest's robe flew off
from him ; and because of this, from that day, no
one knew what became of the priest's robe. And
the apostle turned round and prayed for the boy ;
and having driven the demon away from him, he
raised him up, and set him beside his father alive.
And the multitude having beheld this, cried
out : The God of Philip is the only God, who
has punished the unbelief of the high priest,
and driven away the demon from the young
man, and raised him up from the dead. And
the five hundred having seen the high priest
swallowed up into the abyss, and the other
miracles, besought Philip, and he gave them the
seal in Christ. And Philip abode in Athens two
years ; and having founded a church, appointed
a bishop and a presbyter, and so went away to
Parthia, preaching Christ. To whom be glory
for ever. Amen.
ADDITION TO ACTS OF PHILIP.
(From a Paris MS )-
And he taught them thus : My brethren, sons
of my Father — for you are of my family as to
Christ, substance of my city, the Jerusalem above,
the delight of my dwelling-place — why have
you been taken captive by your enemy the ser-
pent, twisted, crooked, and perverse, to whom God
has given neither hands nor feet? And crooked
is his going, since he is the son of the wicked
one ; for his father is death, and his mother cor-
ruption, and ruin is in his body. Do not go
then into his destruction ; for you are in bond-
age by the unbelief and deception of his son,
' There is some doubt about the reading here.
2 [The Greek text of this addition is given by Tischendorf in the
supplement appended to his volume containing Apoca,ypscs Apocry-
pha, pp. 141-150. The MS. from which it is taken is of the eleventh
century. Tischendoif regards this form as of Gnostic origin. — R.J
who is without order, and has no substance ; 3
formless, and has no form in the whole creation,
either in the heaven or in the earth, or among
the fishes that are in the waters. But if you see
him, flee from him, since he has no resemblance
to men : his dwelling is the abyss, and he walks
in darkness. Flee, then, from him, that his
venom may not be poured out upon you : if his
venom be poured out upon your body, you walk
in his wickedness. But remain rather in the
true worship, being faithful, reverent, and good,
without guile. Flee from Satan the dragon, and
remove^ from you his wicked seed, namely desire,
by which he begets disease in the soul, which is
the venom of the serpent. For desire is of the
serpent from the beginning, and she it is who
arms herself against the faithful ; for she came
forth out of the darkness, and returns to the
darkness. You ought therefore, after coming to
us, or rather through us to God, to throw out the
venom of the devil from your bodies.
And as the apostle was saying this, behold,
Nicanora came forth from her house, and went
with her slaves into the house of Stachys. And
when she came near the door of the house, be-
hold, Mariamme spoke to her in the Syriac lan-
guage : Helikomaei, kosma, etaa, mariacha.
And she explained her words, saying : O daugh-
ter of the Spirit, thou art my lady, who hast
been given in pledge to the serpent ; but I have
come to deliver thee : I shall break thy bonds,
and cut them from their root. Behold, the
Deliverer that frees thee has come : behold, the
Sun of righteousness has risen to enlighten thee.
And when she was thus speaking, the gloomy
tyrant came running and panting. And Nica-
nora, who was before the door, heard this, and
took courage before them all, crying out and
saying : I am a Hebrew, a daughter of the
Hebrews ; speak with me in the language of my
fathers, because I have heard your preaching,
and have been cured of this my disease. I
reverence and glorify the goodness of God, in
that He hath made you to be utterly spoiled
in this earth.
And when she said this, the tyrant came, and
took hold of her garments, and said : O Nica-
nora, did I not leave thee lying on the bed from
thy disease? Whence, then, hast thou found
this power and strength, so as to be able to come
to these magicians? Unless, then, thou tell whb
is the healer, I shall punish thee most severely.
And Nicanora answered, and said : O rearer of
tyrants, cast away from thyself this tyranny, and
forget thy wicked works, and abandon this tem-
porary life, and put away vainglory, because it
passes like a shadow : seek rather what is ever-
lasting, and take away from thyself the beastly
3 uiroo'TaCTii'.
5o8
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
and impious work of base desire, and reject vain
intercourse, which is the husbandry of death, the
dark prison ; and overturn the middle wall of
corruption, and prepare for thyself a life chaste
and spotless, that we may altogether live in sanc-
tity. If, then, thou wishest me to remain with
thee, I will live with thee in continence.
And when the tyrant heard these words, he
seized her by the hair of the head, and dragged
her along, kicking her, and saying : It would be
better for thee to be put to death by my sword,
than to be seen with these foreign magicians and
deceivers. I will punish thee, therefore, and put
to death those who have deceived thee. And
he turned in a rage to the executioners who fol-
lowed him, and said : Bring me these impostors.
And the executioners ran to the house of
Stachys, and laid hold of Philip, and Bartholo-
mew, and Mariamne, with the leopard and the
kid of the goats, and dragged them along, and
brought them.
When the tyrant saw them, he gnashed his
teeth against them, and said : Drag along these
magicians and deceivers that have deceived
many souls of women by saying. We are wor-
shippers of God. And he caused thongs to be
brought, and bound their feet. And he ordered
them to be dragged along from the gate as far as
the temple. And great multitudes came to-
gether to that place. And they wondered ex-
ceedingly at the leopard and the kid ; for they
were speaking like men, and some of the multi-
tude believed the words of the apostles.
And the priests said to the tyrant : These
men are magicians. And when he heard that,
he burned with rage, and was filled with anger ;
and he ordered Philip, and Bartholomew, and
Mariamne to be stripped, saying : Search them.
Perhaps you will find their sorcery. And the
executioners stripped them, and laid hold of
Mariamne, 'and dragged her along, saying : Un-
cover her, that they may learn that it is a woman
who follows them. And he ordered to bring
clubs and strong cords ; and after piercing
Philip's ankles they brought hooks, and put the
cords through his ankles, and hung him head
downwards on a tree that was before the door
of the temple ; and they fixed pegs into the
temple wall, and left him. And after binding
Bartholomew hand and foot, they extended him
naked on the wall ; and when they had stripped
Mariamne, the appearance of her body was
changed, and became a glass chest filled with
light, and they could not come near her.
And Philip spoke with Bartholomew in He-
brew : Where is John to-day, in the day of our
need ? for, behold, we are being delivered from
our bodies. And they have laid hands on Ma-
riamne beyond what is seemly, and they have
scourged the leopard and the kid of the goats,
and have set fire to the house of Stachys, because
he took us in. Let us therefore speak, that fire
may come down from heaven and burn them
up.
And as Philip was thus speaking, behold, John
came into the city, and walked about the street,
and asked those in the city : What is the com-
motion, and who are these men, and why are
they punished ? And they say to him : Art thou
not of this city ? And dost thou not know about
these men, how they disturbed our houses, and
the whole city? Moreover, they have even per-
suaded our wives to go away from us on the pre-
tence of religion, proclaiming a foreign name,
viz. Christ's ; and they have also shut our temples
by the sorcery they have, and they have put to
death the serpents that are in the city by foreign
names that we have never known. And they
have fixed their abode in the house of Stachys
the blind man, whom they made to recover his
sight through the spittlp of a woman who accom-
panies them ; and it is perhaps she who has all
the sorcery : and there accompany them a leop-
ard and a kid, speaking like men. But if ever
you have seen such doings, you will not be put
about by them. And John answered, and said
to them : Show me them. And they brought
him to the temple where Philip was hanging.
And when Philip saw John, he said to Bartholo-
mew : O my brother, behold the son of Barega
— that is, the living water — has come. And
John saw Philip hanging head down, tied by his
ankles ; and saw Bartholomew also bound to the
temple wall.
And he said to the men of the city : O
children of the serpent, how great is your folly !
for the way of deceit has deceived you, the
wicked dragon breathing has breathed upon
you : why do you punish these men for saying
the serpent is your enemy ?
And when they heard these words from John,
they laid their hands upon him, saying : We
called thee our fellow-citizen, but now thy speech
has made thee manifest that thou also art in
communion with them. Thou also, therefore,
shalt be put to the same death as they, for the
priests have decided thus : Let us drain out
their blood as they hang head downward, and
mix it with wine, and offer it to the viper.
And when they were thus speaking, behold,
Mariamne rose up from the place in which she
was, and came back to her former appearance.
And the priests reached forth their hands
towards John, wishing to lay hold of him, and
they could not. Then Philip with Bartholomew
said to John : Where is Jesus, who enjoins upon
us not to take into our own hands vengeance on
those that torture us? for after this I will not
endure them. And Philip spoke in Hebrew,
and said : My Father Uthael, i.e., O Christ,
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
509
Father of majesty, whose name all the ages '
fear, who art powerful, and the power of the uni-
verse, whose name goes forth in lordship,' Eloa :
Blessed art Thou to the ages ; Thou whom do-
minions and powers fear, trembling before Thy
face ; King of honour ! Father of majesty !
whose name has gone forth to the wild beasts
of the desert, and they have become quiet be-
cause of Thee, and through Thee the serpents
have departed from us : Hear us before we ask.
Thou who seest us before we call, who knowest
oar thoughts, the All-surveyor ^ of all, who sends
forth from Himself unnumbered compassions ;
let the abyss open its mouth, and swallow up
these godless persons who will not accept the
word of Thy truth.
And in that very hour the abyss opened its
mouth, and all that place was violently shaken,
from the proconsul to all the multitude along
with the priests ; and they were all sunk down.
And the places where the apostles and all who
were with them were remained unshaken, and
the house of Stachys, and Nicanora the tyrant's
wife, and the twenty-four wives who fled from
their husbands, and the forty virgins who had
not known men. These alone did not go down
into the abyss, because they had become ser-
vants, and had received the word of God, and
His seal ; but all the rest of the city were swal-
lowed down into the abyss.
And the Saviour having appeared at that hour,
said to Philip : Who is it that has put his hand
to the plough, and has turned back from making
the furrow straight? or who gives his light to
others, and himself remains sitting in darkness?
or who dwells in the dirt, and leaves his dwell-
ing-place to strangers? or who lays down his
garment, and goes out in the days of winter
naked ? or what slave that has done his master's
service, shall not be called by him to supper? or
who runs with zeal in the racecourse, and does
not get the prize? Philip, behold my bridal
chamber is ready, and blessed is he who has his
own shining garment ; for he it is who gets the
crown of joy upon his head. Behold, the supper
is ready, and blessed is he who is called by the
bridegroom. Great is the harvest of the field ;
blessed is the able workman.
And when Philip heard these words from the
Saviour, he answered and said to him : Thou
didst give us leave, O Jesus of Nazareth, and
dost Thou not enjoin us to smite those who do
not wish Thee to reign over them ? But this we
know, that Thy name has not been proclaimed
in all the world, and Thou hast sent us to this
city. And I did not intend to come into this
-city, and Thou didst send me, after giving me
' Or, sons.
ll'€7rt(T'C07rO?.
Thy true commandment, that I should drive
away all deceit, and bring to nothing every idol
and demon, and all the power of the unclean
one. And when I came here, the demons fled
from our faces through Thy name, and the drag-
ons and the serpents withered away, but these
men did not take to themselves Thy true light ;
and for this reason 1 resolved to bring them low,
according to their folly.
And the Saviour said : O Philip, since thou
hast forsaken this commandment of mine, not
to render evil for evil,^ for this reason thou shalt
be debarred in the next world for forty years
from being in the place of my promise : l^esides,
this is the end of thy departure from the body
in this place ; and Bartholomew has his lot in
Lycaonia, and shall be crucified there ; and
Mariamne shall lay down her body in the river
J ordan.
And the Saviour turned and stretched out His
hand, and made the sign of the cross in the air ;
and it was full of light, and had its form after
the likeness of a ladder. And all the multitude
of the men of the city who had gone down into
the abyss came up upon the ladder of the cross
of light, and none of them remained in the abyss,
but only the tyrant and the priests, and the viper
which they worshipped. And when the multi-
tudes came up from the abyss, they looked and
saw Philip hanging head down, and Bartholo-
mew upon the wall of the temple, and they also
found Mariamne in her first shape. And the
Saviour went up into heaven in the sight of
Philip and Bartholomew and Mariamne, and the
leopard and the kid of the goats, and Nicanora
and Stachys : and they all with a loud voice
glorified God with fear and trembling, crying
out : There is one God who has sent us His
salvation, whose name these men proclaim : we
repent therefore of the error in which we were
before yesterday, not being worthy of eternal
life ; and we believe, having seen the wonderful
things that have come to pass through us. And
some of them threw themselves on their faces,
and worshipped the apostles ; and others made
ready to flee, saying : There may be another
earthquake like the one that has just happened.
And stretching out his hands, the Apostle
Philip, hanging head down, said : Men of the
city, hear these words which I am going to say
to you, hanging head down. Ye have learned
how great are the powers of God, and the won-
ders which you saw when your city was de-
stroyed by the earthquake which came upon it.
And this was manifest to you, that the house of
Stachys was not destroyed, and that he did not
go down into the abyss, because he believed on
the true God, and received us His servants.
* Matt. V. 39; I Pet. iii. 9.
5IO
THE ACTS OF PHILIP.
And I, having fulfilled all the will of my God,
am His debtor for what I requited to him that
did evil to me.
And some of those who had been baptized ran
to loose PliiHp hanging head down. And he
answered and said to them : My bretiiren, ..."
those who are virgins in the members of their
flesh and commit fornication in their hearts, and
the fornication of their eyes, shall abound like
the deluge. And they grow immoderate from
listening to persuasive pleasures, forgetting the
God of the knowledge of the Gospel ; and j
their hearts • are full of arrogance, eating and j
drinking in their worship, forgetting the holy
commandment, and despising it. That genera- j
tion is turned aside ; but blessed is he that re-
tires into his retreat, for he shall obtain rest in
his departure. Knowest thou not, Bartholomew,
that the word of our Lord is true life and knowl-
edge? for the Lord said to us in His teachi-ng,
Every one who shall look upon a woman, and
lust after her in his heart, has completed adul-
tery.^ And on this account our brother Peter
fled from every place in which a woman was, and
yet there was scandal on account of his own
daughter ; and he prayed to the Lord, and she
had paralysis of her side, that she might not be
deceived. Thou seest, brother, that the sight
of the eyes brings gainsaying, and the beginning
of sin, as it is written,^ She looked, and saw the
tree, that it was pleasing to her eyes, and good
for food, and she was deceived. Let the hear-
ing, then, of the virgins be holy ; and in their
going out let them walk two and two, for many
are the wiles of the enemy. Let their walk and
conversation be well ordered, that they may be
saved ; but if not, let their fruit be common.
My brother Bartholomew, give these promises
' Here a good deal of the text is wanting. The Bodleian MS. fills
up the blank to some extent: — Walking two and two, but let them
not talk with the young men, lest Satan tempt them. For he is a
creeping serpent, and made Adam be destroyed even to death. And
thus shall it be again at this time, for the lime and the season shall be
wicked. Many women and men shall leave the work of marriage,
and the women shall assume the name of virginity, but knowing noth-
ing at all about it, and that it has a great and glorious seal. And
there shall be many men in those days in word only, and not in its
power; for they shall observe virginity in the members of their flesh,
and commit fornication in their hearts, etc. |The MS. is that referred
to on p. 500. Tischendorf gives large extracts from it; the Greek
text of this paragraph may be found on pp. 154, 155, sup.ilement to
Apocalypses Apocryphce. — R.]
- Matt v. 28.
s Gen. iii. 6.
to Stachys, and appoint him ruler and bishop in
the Church, that he may be like thee, teaching
well. Do not entrust the office to a man too
young : appoint not such a one to the chair of
the teachers, lest thou profane the witness of
Christ. For he that teaches should have his
works corresponding to his words, that the word
may be ready on every occasion in its own glory.
But I am being released from my body, hanging
head down. Take, then, my body, and prepare
it for burial in Syrian paper, and do not put
about it linen cloth, since they put it upon the
body of our Lord, and wrap it close in paper
and papyrus, and put it in the vestibule of the
holy church. And pray over me for forty days,
that God may forgive the transgression which I
did, in that I requited evil to him that did evil
to me, and there may not be for me in the world
to come the forty years.
And after thus speaking, Philip prayed, say-
ing : My Lord Jesus Christ, Father of the ages,
King of all light, who makest us wise in Thy
wisdom, who hast given us the exalted knowl-
edge, who hast graciously conferred upon us the
counsel of Thy goodness, who hast never departed
from us ; Thou who takest away disease from
those who take refuge in Thee ; Thou who hast
given us the Word, to turn unto Thee those who
have been led astray ; Thou who hast given us
signs and wonders on behalf of those of lit-
tle faith ; Thou who presentest tlie crown to
those who have conquered ; Thou who art the
judge of the games, who hast given us the crown
of joy, who speakest with us, that we may be
able to withstand those that hurt us ; Thou art
He who sows and reaps, and completes, and in-
creases, and vivifies all Thine own servants : re-
proaches and threats are to us help and power
through those who turn to Thee through us, who
are Thy servants. Come, Lord, and give me
the crown of victory in the presence of men.
Let not their dark air envelope me, nor their
smoke burn the shape of my soul, that I may
cross the waters of the abyss, and not sink in
them. My Lord Jesus Christ, let not the enemy
find anything that he can bring against me in
the presence of Thee, the true Judge, but clothe
me in Thy shining robe, and . . . (The rest is
wanting.)
ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF THE HOLY
APOSTLE ANDREW.
What we have all, both presbyters and deacons
of the churches of Achaia, beheld with our eyes,
we have written to all the churches established
in the name of Christ Jesus, both in the east and
west, north and south. Peace to you, and to
all who believe in one God, perfect Trinity, true
Father unbegotten, true Son only-begotten, true
Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father, and
abiding in the Son, in order that there may be
shown one Holy Spirit subsisting in the Father
and Son in precious Godhead, 'i'his faith we
have learned from the blessed Andrew, the apos-
tle of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose passion also
we, having seen it set forth before our eyes, have
not hesitated to give an account of, according
to the degree of ability we have.
Accordingly the proconsul ^geates,' having
come into the city of Patras, began to compel
those believing in Christ to worship the idols ; to
whom the blessed Andrew, running up, said : It
behoved thee, being a judge of men, to acknowl-
edge thy Judge who is in the heaven, and having
acknowledged Him, to worship Him ; and wor-
shipping Him who is the true God, to turn away
thy thoughts from those which are not true gods.
To whom ^geates said : Art thou Andrew,
who destroyest the temples of the gods, and
persuadest men about the religion which, having
lately made its appearance, the emperors of the
Romans have given orders to suppress ?
The blessed Andrew said : The emperors of
the Romans have never recognised the truth.
And this the Son of God, who came on account
of the salvation of men, manifestly teaches —
that these idols are not only not gods, but also
most shameful demons,^ and hostile to the hu-
man race, teaching men to offend God, so that,
by being offended. He turns away and will not
hearken ; that therefore, by His turning away
and not hearkening, they may be held captive
by the devil ; and that they might work them to
such a degree, that when they go out of the body
' Another reading is JEgeas. [This is the reading of the Bod-
jeian ms., already frequently referied to (see p. 355). In most cases
its text is followed in the Latin version collated by Tischendorf. — R.J
* Deut. xxxii. 17; i Cor. x. 20, 21.
they may be found deserted and naked, carrying
nothing with them but sins.
^geates said : These are superfluous and vain
words : as for your Jesus, for proclaiming these
things to the Jews they nailed him to the tree of
the cross.
The blessed Andrew answering, said : Oh, if
thou wouldst recognise the mystery of the cross,
with what reasonable love the Author ^ of the
life of the human race for our restoration en-
dured this tree of the cross, not unwillingly, but
willingly !
.^iigeates said : Seeing that, betrayed by his
own disciple, and seized by the Jews, he was
brought before the procurator, and according to
their request was nailed up by the procurator's
soldiers, in what way dost thou say that he will-
ingly endured the tree of the cross?
The holy Andrew said : For this reason I say
willingly, since I was with Him when he was be-
trayed by His disciple. For before He was
betrayed, He spoke to us to the effect that He
should be betrayed and crucified for the salva-
tion of men, and foretold that He should rise
again on the third day. To whom my brother
Peter said,"* Far be it from thee. Lord ; let this
by no means be. And so, being angry. He said
to Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan ; for thou
art not disposed to the things of God. And in
order that He might most fully explain that He
willingly underwent the passion, He said to us,5
I have power to lay down my life, and I have
power to take it again. And, last of all, while
He was supping with us. He said,"^ One of you
will betray me. At these words, therefore, all
becoming exceedingly grieved, in order that the-
surmise might be free from doubt. He made it
clear, saying, To whomsoever I shall give the
piece of bread out of my hand, he it is who be-
trays me. When, therefore. He gave it to one
of our fellow-disciples, and gave an account of
things to come as if they were already present,
3 Or, Prince.
* Matt. .xvi. 22.
5 John X. 18.
*• Matt. xxvi. 21.
5"
512 ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE ANDREW.
He showed that He was to be wiUingly betrayed.
For neither did He run away, and leave His be-
trayer at fault ; but, remaining in the place in
which He knew that he was, He awaited him.
^geates said : I wonder that thou, being a
sensible man, shouldst wish to uphold him on
any terms whatever ; for, whether willingly or
unwillingly, all the same, thou admittest that he
was fastened to the cross.
The blessed Andrew said : This is what I said,
if now thou apprehendest, that great is the mys-
tery of the cross, which, if thou wishest, as is
likely, to hear, attend to me."
^geates said : A mystery it cannot be called,
but a punishment.
The blessed Andrew said : This punishment
is the mystery of man's restoration. If thou wilt
listen with any attention, thou wilt prove it.
^geates said : I indeed will hear patiently ;
but thou, unless thou submissively obey me,
shalt receive - the mystery of the cross in thyself.
The blessed Andrew answered : If I had been
afraid of the tree of the cross, I should not have
proclaimed the glory of the cross.
yEgeates said : Thy speech is foolish, because
thou proclaimest that the cross is not a punish-
ment, and through thy foolhardiness thou art
not afraid of the punishment of death.
The holy Andrew said : It is not through fool-
hardiness, but through faith, that I am not afraid
of the punishment of death ; for the death of
sins 3 is hard. And on this account I wish thee
to hear the mystery of the cross, in order that
thou perhaps, acknowledging it, mayst believe,
and believing, mayst come somehow or other to
the renewing of thy soul.
^Egeates said : That which is shown to have
perished is for renewing. Do you mean that
my soul has perished, that thou makest me
come to the renewing of it through the faith, I
know not what, of which thou hast spoken ?
The blessed Andrew answered : This it is
which I desired thee to learn, which also I shall
teach and make manifest, that though the souls
of men are destroyed, they shall be renewed
through the mystery of the cross. For the first
man through the tree of transgression brouglit
in death ; and it was necessary for the human
race, that through the suffering of the tree, death,
which had come into the world, should be driven
out. And since the first man, who brought death
into the world through the transgression of the
tree, had been produced from the spotless earth,
it was necessary that the Son of God should be
begotten a perfect man from the spotless virgin,
that He should restore eternal life, which men
' Another reading is: This is what I spoke of, as you know —
that great is the mystery of the cross; and if so be that you are will-
ing to listen, I will reveal it.
^ Perhaps we should read ivaiei^tt, shalt exhibit, for acaSef si.
3 Two Mss., of sinners.
had lost through Adam, and should cut off"* the
tree of carnal appetite through the tree of the
cross. Hanging upon the cross, He stretched
out His blameless hands for the hands which
had been incontinently stretched out ; for the
most sweet food of the forbidden tree He re-
ceived gall for food ; and taking our mortality
upon Himself, He made a gift of His immor-
tality to us.
.^geates said : With these words thou shalt
be able to lead away those who shall believe in
thee ; but unless thou hast come to grant me
this, that thou offer sacrifices to the almighty
gods, I shall order thee, after having been
scourged, to be fastened to that very cross
which thou commendest.
The blessed Andrew said : To God Almighty,
who alone is true, I bring sacrifice day by day ;
not the smoke of incense, nor the flesh of
bellowing bulls, nor the blood of goats, but sac-
rificing a spotless lamb day by day on the altar
of the cross ; and though all the people of the
faithful partake of His body and drink His
blood, the Lamb that has been sacrificed re-
mains after this entire- and alive. Truly, there-
fore, is He sacrificed, and truly is His body
eaten by the people, and His blood is likewise
drunk ; nevertheless, as I have said, He remains
entire, and spotless, and alive.
yEgeates said : How can this be ?
The blessed Andrew said : If thou wouldest
know, take the form of a disciple, that thou
mayst learn what thou art inquiring after.
yEgeates said : I will exact of thee through
tortures the gift of this knowledge.
The blessed Andrew declared : I wonder that
thou, being an intelligent man, shouldest fall
into 5 the folly of thinking that thou mayst be
able to persuade me, through thy tortures, to
disclose to thee the sacred things of God. Thou
hast heard the mystery of the cross, thou hast
heard the mystery of the sacrifice. If thou be-
lievest in Christ the Son of God, who was cruci-
fied, I shall altogether disclose to thee in what
manner the Lamb that has been slain may live,
after having been sacrificed and eaten, remain-
ing in His kingdom entire and spotless.
^geates said : And by what means does the
lamb remain in his kingdom after he has been
slain and eaten by all the people, as thou hast
said?
The blessed Andrew said : If thou believest
with all thy heart, thou shalt be able to learn :
but if thou believest not, thou shalt not by any
means attain to the idea of such truth.
Then ^Egeates, enraged, ordered him to be
shut up in prison, where, when he was shut up,
a multitude of the people came together to him
* Or, shut out.
5 Lit., be rolled towards.
ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE ANDREW. 513
from almost all the province, so that they wished
to kill i^geates, and by breaking down the doors
of the prison to set free the blessed Andrew the
apostle.
Them the blessed Andrew admonished in
these words, saying : Do not stir up the peace
of our Lord Jesus Christ into seditious and dev-
ilish uproar. For my Lord, when He was be-
trayed, endured it with all patience ; He did not
strive, He did not cry out, nor in the streets did
any one hear Him crying out.' Therefore do
ye also keep silence, quietness, and peace ; and
hinder not my martyrdom, but rather get your-
selves also ready beforehand as athletes to the
Lord, in order that you may overcome threaten-
ings by a soul that has no fear of man, and that
you may get the better of injuries through the
endurance of the body. For this temporary fall
is not to be feared ; but that should be feared
which has no end. The fear of men, then, is
like smoke which, while it is raised and gathered
together, disappears. And those torments ought
to be feared which never have an end. For
these torments, which happen to be somewhat
light, any one can bear ; but if they are heavy,
they soon destroy life. But those torments are
everlasting, where there are daily weepings, and
mournings, and lamentations, and never-ending
torture, to which the proconsul ^2geates is not
afraid to go. Be ye therefore rather prepared
for this, that through temporary afflictions ye
may attain to everlasting rest, and may flourish
for ever, and reign with Christ.^
The holy Apostle Andrew having admonished
the people with these and such like words
through the whole night, when the light of day
dawned, ^geates having sent for him, ordered
the blessed Andrew to be brought to him ; and
having sat down upon the tribunal, he said : I
have thought that thou, by thy reflection during
the night, hast turned away thy thoughts from
folly, and given up thy commendation of Christ,
that thou mightst be able to be with us, and not
throw away the pleasures of life ; for it is folly to
come for any purpose to the suffering of the
cross, and to give oneself up to most shameful
punishments and burnings.
The holy Andrew answered : I shall be able to
have joy with thee, if thou wilt believe in Christ,
and throw away the worship of idols ; for Christ
has sent me to this province, in which I have
acquired for Christ a people not the smallest.
.^geates said : For this reason I compel thee
to make a libation, that these people who have
been deceived by thee may forsake the vanity
of thy teaching, and may themselves offer grate-
ful libations to the gods ; for not even one city
■ Matt. xii. 19.
* Comp. 2 Cor. iv. 17.
has remained in Achaia in which their temples ^
have not been forsaken and deserted. And now,
through thee, let them be again restored to the
worship of the images, in order that the gods
also, who have been enraged against thee, being
pleased by this, may bring .it about that thou
mayst return to their friendship and ours. But
if not, thou awaitest varied tortures, on account
of the vengeance of the gods ; and after these,
fastened to the tree of the cross which thou
commendest, thou shalt die.
The holy Andrew said : Listen, O son of death
and chaff made ready for eternal burnings,'^ to
me, the servant of God and apostle of Jesus
Christ. Until now I have conversed with thee
kindly about the perfection of the faith, in order
that thou, receiving the exposition of the truth,
being made perfect as its vindicator, mightst
despise vain idols, and worship God, who is in
the heavens ; but since thou remainest in the
same shamelessness at last, and thinkest me
to be afraid because of thy threats, bring against
me whatever may seem to thee greater in the
way of tortures. For the more shall I be well
pleasing to my King, the more I shall endure in
tortures for the confession of His name.
Then the proconsul ALgeates, being enraged,
ordered the apostle of Christ to be afflicted by
tortures. Being stretched out, therefore, by
seven times three s soldiers, and beaten with vio-
lence, he was lifted up and brought before the
impious ^Egeates. And he spoke to him thus :
Listen to me, Andrew, and withdraw thy thoughts
from the outpouring of thy blood ; but if thou
wilt not hearken to me, I shall cause thee to perish
on the tree of the cross.
The holy Andrew said : I am a slave of the
cross of Christ, and I ought rather to pray to at-
tain to the trophy of the cross than to be afraid ;
but for thee is laid up eternal torment, which,
however, thou mayst escape after thou hast
tested my endurance, if thou wilt believe in my
Christ. For I am afflicted about thy destruction,
and I am not disturbed about my own suffering.
For my suffering takes up a space of one day, or
two at most ; but thy torment for endless ages
shall never come to a close. Wherefore hence-
forAvard cease from adding to thy miseries, and
hghting up everlasting fire for thyself.
.^geates then being enraged, ordered the
blessed Andrew to be fastened to the cross.^
And he having left them all, goes up to the cross,
and says to it with a clear voice : Rejoice, O
cross, which has been consecrated by the body
3 Or, their sacred rites.
* Comp. Malt. iii. 12.
5 Another reading is, seven quaternions.
6 One of the MSS. [the Bodleian] has here: Giving orders to the
centurions that he should be boiuid hand and foot as if he were
stretched on the rack, and not pierced with nails, that he might not
die soon, but be tormented with long-continuing torture.
514 ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE ANDREW.
of Christ, and adorned by His limbs as if with
pearls. Assuredly before my Lord went up on
thee, thou hadst much earthly fear ; but now in-
vested with heavenly longing, thou art fitted up '
according to my prayer. For I know, from those
who believe, how many graces thou hast in Him,
how many gifts prepared beforehand. ¥ree from
care, then, and with joy, I come to thee, that
thou also exulting mayst receive me, the dis-
ciple of Him that was hanged upon thee ; be-
cause thou hast been always faithful to me, and
I have desired to embrace thee. O good cross,
which hast received comeliness and beauty from
the limbs of the Lord ; O much longed for, and
earnestly desired, and fervently sought after, and
already prepared beforehand for my soul longing
for thee, take me away from men, and restore me
to my Master, in order that through thee He may
accept me who through thee has redeemed me.
And having thus spoken, the blessed Andrew,
standing on tlie ground, and looking earnestly
upon the cross, stripped himself and gave his
clothes to the executioners, having urged the
brethren that the executioners should come and
do what had been commanded them ; for they
were standing at some distance. And they hav-
ing come up, lifted him on the cross ; and having
stretched his body across with ropes, they only
bound his feet, but did not sever his joints,^
having received this order from the proconsul :
for he wished him to be in distress while hang-
ing, and in the night-time, as he was suspended,
to be eaten up alive by dogs.^
And a great multitude of the brethren stood
by^ nearly twenty thousand ; and having beheld
the executioners standing off, and that they had
done to the blessed one nothing of what those
who were hanged up suffer, they thought that they
would again hear something from him ; for as-
suredly, as he was hanging, he moved his head
smiling. And Stratocles inquired of him : Why
art thou smiling, Andrew, servant of God ? Thy
laughter makes us mourn and weep, because we
are deprived of thee. And the blessed Andrew
answered him : Shall I not laugh at all, my son
Stratocles, at the empty stratagem of ^geates,
through which he thinks to take vengeance upon
us? We have nothing to do with him and his
plans. He cannot hear ; for if he could, he
would be aware, having learned it by experience,
that a man of Jesus is unpunished.'*
' Another reading is: I am attached to thee.
^ The original is obscure. The meaning seems to be that he was
tied only, not nailed. The nailing, however, seems to have been an
essential part of the punishment of crucifixion.
3 It was common to let loose wild beasts on the crucified (Sueton.,
Nero, 49).
< Instead of this paragraph, one MS. [the Bodleian] has: And
there ran up a great multitude, about twenty thousand in number,
among whom was the brother of /Egeas, Stratocles by name; and he
cried out with the people, It is an unjust judgment. And the holy
Andrew, hitting upon the thoughts of the believers, exhorted them to
endure the temporary trial, saying that the suffering counted for
nothing when compared with the eternal recompense.
And having thus spoken, he discoursed to
them all in common, for the people ran together
enraged at the unjust judgment of ^geates : Ye
men standing by me, and women, and children,
and elders, bond and free, and as many as will
hear ; I beseech you, forsake all this life, ye who
have for my sake assembled here ; and hasten
to take upon you my life, which leads to heav-
enly things, and once for all despise all tempo-
rary things, confirming the purposes of those
who believe in Christ. And he exhorted them
all, teaching that the sufferings of this transitory
life are not worthy to be compared with the fu-
ture recompense of the eternal life.
And the multitude hearing what was said by
him, did not stand off from the place, and the
blessed Andrew continued the rather to say to
them more than he had spoken. And so much
was said by him, that a space of three days and
nights was taken up, and no one was tired and
went away from him. And when also on the
fourth day they beheld his nobleness, and the
unweariedness of his intellect, and the multitude
of his words, and the serviceableness of his ex-
hortations, and the sted fastness of his soul, and
the sobriety of his spirit, and the fixedness of
his mind, and the perfection of his reason, they
were enraged against ^Egeates ; and all with one
accord hastened to the tribunal, and cried out
against ^geates, who was sitting, saying : What
is thy judgment, O proconsul ? Thou hast judged
wickedly ; thy awards are impious. In what has
the man done wrong ; what evil has he done?
The city has been put *in an uproar ; thou griev-
est us all ; do not betray Caesar's city. Grant
willingly to the Achaians a just man ; grant wil-
lingly to us a God-fearing man ; do not put to
death a godly man. Four days he has been
hanging, and is alive ; having eaten nothing, he
has filled us all. Take down the man from the
cross, and we shall all seek after wisdom ; re-
lease the man, and to all Achaia will mercy be
shown. It is not necessary that he should suf-
fer this, because, though hanging, he does not
cease proclaiming the truth.
And when the proconsul refused to listen to
them, at first indeed signing with his hand to
the crowd to take themselves off, they began
to be emboldened against him, being in number
about twenty thousand. And the proconsuUiav-
ing beheld that they had somehow become mad-
dened, afraid that something frightful would be-
fall him, rose up from the tribunal and went
away with them, having promised to set free the
blessed Andrew. And some went on before to
tell the apostle the cause for which they came
to the place.
While all the crowd, therefore, was exulting
that the blessed Andrew was going to be set
free, the proconsul having come up, and all the
ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE ANDREW. 515
brethren rejoicing along with Maximilla,' the
blessed Andrew, having heard this, said to the
brethren standing by : What is it necessary for
me to say to him, when I am departing to the
Lord, that will I also say. For what reason hast
thou again come to us, ^geates? On what
account dost thou, being a stranger to us,^ come
to us ? What wilt thou again dare to do, what
to contrive ? Tell us. Hast thou come to re-
lease us, as having changed thy mind ? I would
not agree with thee that thou hadst really changed
thy mind. Nor would I believe thee, saying
that thou art my friend. Dost thou, O procon-
sul, release him that has been bound? By no
means. For I have One with whom I shall be
for ever ; I have One witli whom I shall live to
countless ages. To Him I go ; to Him I hasten,
who also having made thee known to me, has
said to me, Let not that fearful man terrify thee ;
do not think that he will lay hold of thee, who
art mine : for he is thine enemy. Therefore,
having known thee through him who has turned
towards me, I am delivered from thee. But if
thou wishest to believe in Christ, there will be
opened up for thee, as I promised thee, a way
of access ; but if thou hast come only to release
me, I shall not be able after this to be brought
down from this cross alive in the body. For I
and my kinsmen depart to our own, allowing
thee to be what thou art, and what thou dost
not know about thyself. For already I see my
King, already I worship Him, already I stand
before Him, where the fellowship ^ of the angels
is, where He reigns the only emperor, where
there is light without night, where the flowers
never fade, where trouble is never known, nor
the name of grief heard, where there are cheer-
fulness and exultation that have no end. O
blessed cross ! without the longing for thee, no
one enters into that place. But I am distressed,
-(^geates, about thine own miseries, because eter-
nal perdition is ready to receive thee. Run
then, for thine own sake, O pitiable one, while
yet thou canst, lest perchance thou shouldst
wish then when thou canst not.
When, therefore, he attempted to come near
the tree of the cross, so as to release the blessed
Andrew, with all the city applauding him, the
holy Andrew said with a loud voice : Do not
suffer Andrew, bound upon Thy tree, to be re-
leased, O Lord ; do not give me who am in Thy
mystery to the shameless devil. O Jesus Christ,
let not Thine adversary release me, who have
been hanged by Thy favour ; O Father, let this
insignificant man no longer humble him who has
known Thy greatness. The executioners, there-
' One MS. calls her the proconsul's wife. [So Pseiido-Abdias; but
the Greek mss., coMatcU by Tischendorf, do not give this reading.
2 I.e., having nothing to do with us.
^ OMOi'Otai.
fore, putting out their hands, were not able at all to
touch him. Others, then, and others endeavoured
to release him, and no one at all was able to come
near him ; for their arms were benumbed.
Then the blessed Andrew, having adjured the
people, said : I entreat you earnestly, brethren,
that I may first make one prayer to my Lord.
So then set about releasing me. All the people
therefore kept quiet because of the adjuration.
Then the blessed Andrew, with a loud cry, said :
Do not permit, O Lord, Thy servant at this
time to be removed from Thee ; for it is time
that my body be committed to the earth, and
Thou shalt order me to come to Thee. I'hou
who givest eternal life, my Teacher whom I have
loved, whom on this cross I confess, whom I
know, whom I possess, receive me, O Lord ;
and as I have confessed Thee and obeyed Thee,
so now in this word hearken to me ; and, be-
fore my body come down from the cross, receive
me to Thyself, that through my departure there
may be access to Thee of many of my kindred,
finding rest for themselves in Thy majesty.
When, therefore, he had said this, he became
in the sight of all glad and exulting ; for an
exceeding splendour like lightning coming forth
out of heaven shone down upon him, and so
encircled him, that in consequence of such
brightness mortal eyes could not look upon
him at all. And the dazzling light remained
about the space of half an hour. And when
he had thus spoken and glorified the Lord still
more, the light withdrew itself, and he gave up
the ghost, and along with the brightness itself he
departed to the Lord in giving Him thanks.
And after the decease of the most blessed
Andrew the apostle, Maximilla being the most
powerful of the notable women,-* and continuing
among those who had come, as soon as she
learned that the apostle had departed to the
Lord, came up and turned her attention to
the cross, along with Stratocles, taking no heed
at all of those standing by, and with reverence
took down the body of the most blessed apostle
from the cross. And when it was evening, be-
stowing upon him the necessary care, she pre-
pared the body for burial with costly spices, and
laid it in her own tomb. For she had been
parted from yEgeates on account of his brutal
disposition and lawless conduct, having chosen
for herself a holy and quiet life ; and having
been united to the love of Christ, she spent her
life blessedly along with the brethren.
yEgeates had been very importunate with her,
and promised that he would make her mistress
of his wealth ; but not having been able to
persuade her, he was greatly enraged, and was
determined to make a public charge against all
■* Lit., females.
5i6 ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE ANDREW.
the people, and to send to Caesar an accusation
against both Maximilla and all the people. And
while he was arranging these things in the pres-
ence of his officers, at the dead of night he rose
up, and unseen by all his people, having been
tormented by the de\il, he fell down from a
great height, and rolling into the midst of the
market-place of the city, breathed his last.
And this was reported to his brother Strato-
cles ; and he sent his servants, having told them
that they should bury him among those who had
died a violent death. But he sought nothing
of his substance, saying : Let not my Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom I have believed, suffer me to touch
anything whatever of the goods of my brother, that
the condemnation of him who dared to cut off
the apostle of the Lord may not disgrace me.
These things were done in the province of
Achaia, in the city of Patras on the day before
the kalends of December,' where his good deeds
are kept in mind even to this day, to the glory
and praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom
be glory for ever and ever. Amen.^
' i.e., 3olh November, .St. Andrew's day.
2 One MS. thus ends : These things were done in the province of
Achaia, in the city of Patras, on the day before the kalends of Decem-
ber ; where also his glorious good deeds are shown even to this day ;
and so great fear came upon all, that no one remained who did not
believe in God our Saviour, who wishes all to be saved, and to come
to the knowledge of the truth. To Him be glory to ages of ages.
Amen. [Ihis is the ending of the Latin version (in Tischendorf );
the Bodleian MS. has a similar conclusion, but the text is differently
arranged. — R. ]
ACTS OF ANDREW AND MATTHIAS'
IN THE CITY OF THE MAN-EATERS.
About that time all the apostles had come
together to the same place, and shared among
themselves the countries, casting lots, in order
that each might go away into the part that had
fallen to him. By lot, then, it fell to Matthias
to set out to the country of the man-eaters. And
the men of that city used neither to eat bread
nor drink wine ; but they ate the flesh of men,
and drank their blood. Every man, therefore,
who came into their city they laid hold of, and
digging they thrust out his eyes, and gave him a
drug to drink, prepared by sorcery and magic ;
and from drinking the drug his heart was altered
and his mind deranged.
Matthias then having come into the gate of
their city, the men of that city laid hold of him,
and thrust out his eyes ; and after putting them
out they made him drink the drug of their magi-
cal deception, and led him away to the prison,
and put beside him grass to eat, and he ate it
not. For when he had partaken of their drug,
his heart was not altered, nor his mind de-
ranged ; but he kept praying to God, weeping,
and saying : Lord Jesus Christ, for whose sake
we have forsaken all things and have followed
Thee, knowing that Thou art the helper of all
who hope in Thee, attend then and behold what
they have done to Matthias Thy servant, how
they have made me nigh to the brutes ; for Thou
art He who knowest all things. If, therefore.
Thou hast ordained that the wicked men in this
city should eat me up, I will not by any means
flee from Thy dispensation. Afford to me then,
O Lord, the light of mine eyes, that at least I
may behold what the wicked men in this city have
in hand for me ; do not forsake me, O ray Lord
Jesus Christ, and do not give me up to this bitter
death.
While Matthias was thus praying in the prison,
a light shone, and there came forth out of the
light a voice saying : Beloved Matthias, receive
thy sight. And immediately he received his
sight. And again there came forth a voice say-
ing : Be of good courage, our Matthias, and be
' The oldest ms. has Matthias ;
Matthew.
the four or five others have
not dismayed ; for I shall not by any means for-
sake thee, for I shall deliver thee from all danger ;
and not only thee, but also all thy brethren who
are with thee : for I am with thee everywhere
and at all times. But remain here twenty-seven
days for the edification ^ of many souls ; and
after that I shall send forth Andrew to thee, and he
shall lead thee forth out of this prison ; and
not thee only, but also all who hear. Having
said this, the Saviour said again to Matthias,
Peace be to thee, our Matthias, and went into
heaven. Then Matthias having beheld Him,
said to the Lord : Let thy grace abide witli me,
O my Lord Jesus.
Then Matthias therefore ^ sat down in the
prison, and sang. And it came to pass that,
when the executioners came into the prison to
bring forth the men to eat them, Matthias also
shut his eyes, that they might not behold that
he saw. And the executioners having come to
him, read the ticket in his hand, and said among
themselves : Yet three days, and we shall bring
out this one also from the prison, and slay him.
Because in the case of every man whom they
laid hold of, they noted that day on which they
laid hold of him, and tied a ticket to his right
hand, that they might know the completion of
the thirty days.
And it came to pass when the twenty-seven
days were fulfilled since Matthias was seized, the
Lord appeared in the country where Andrew was
teaching, and said to him : Rise up, and set out
with thy disciples to the country of the man-eat-
ers, and bring forth Matthias out of that place ;
for yet three days, and the men of the city will
bring him forth and slay him for their food. An^
Andrew answered and said : My Lord, I shall
not be able to accomplish the journey thither
before the limited period of the three days ; but
send Thine angel quickly, that he may bring him
out thence : for thou knowest. Lord, that I also am
flesh, and shall not be able to go there quickly.
And He says to Andrew : Obey Him who made
thee, and Him who is able to say in a word, and
^ Lit., fEConomy.
^ One MS. inserts: having given thanks to God.
5»7
i8
ACTS OF ANDREW AND MATTHIAS.
that city shall be removed thence, and all that
dwell in it. For I command the horns of the
winds/ and they drive it thence. But rise up
early, "and go down to the sea with thy disciples,
and thou shalt find a boat upon the shore, and
thou shalt go aboard with thy disciples. And
having said this, the Saviour again said : Peace
to thee, Andrew, along with those with thee !
And He went into the heavens.
And Andrew having risen up early, proceeded
to the sea along with his disciples ; and having
come down to the shore, he saw a little boat,
and in the boat three men sitting. For the Lord
by His, own power had prepared a boat, and
He it was in human shape a pilot in the boat ;
and He brought two angels whom He made to
appear like men, and they were in the boat sit-
ting.^ Andrew, therefore, having beheld the
boat, and the three who were in it, rejoiced with
exceeding great joy ; and having gone to them,
he said : Where are you going, brethren, with
this little boat? And the Lord answered and
said to him : We are going to the country of the
man-eaters. And Andrew having beheld Jesus,
did not recognise Him ; for Jesus was hiding His
Godhead, and He appeared to Andrew like a
pilot. And Jesus having heard Andrew saying,
I too am going to the country of the man-eaters,
says to him : Every man avoids that city, and
how are you going there ? And Andrew answered
and said : We have some small business to do
there, and we must get through with it ; but if
thou canst, do us this kindness to convey us to
the country of the man-eaters, to which also you
intend to go. Jesus answered and said to them :
Come on board.
And Antlrew said : I wish to make some ex-
planation to thee, young man, before we come
on board thy boat. And Jesus said : Say what
thou wilt. And Andrew said to Him : We have
no passage-money to give thee ; we have not
even bread for our nourishment. And Jesus
answered and said to him : How, then, are you
going away without giving us the passage-money,
and without having bread for your nourishment?
And Andrew said to Jesus, Listen, brother ; do
not think that it is through masterfulness that
we do not give thee our passage-money, but we
are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, the good
God For He chose for Himself us twelve, and
gave us such a commandment, saying. When
you go to preach, do not carry money in the
journey, nor bread, nor bag, nor shoes, nor staff,
nor two coats.3 If, therefore, thou wilt do us
the kindness, brother, tell us at once ; if not, let
us know, and we shall go and seek another boat
' The winds from the four quarters of the heavens.
2 One MS. has: And the Lord prepared a small boat, and put
angels in it for sailors; and Jesus was, as it were, the master of the
boat.
3 Matt. X lo; Mark vi. g.
for ourselves. And Jesus answered and said to
Andrew : If this is the commandment which you
received, and you keep it, come on board my
boat with all joy. For I really wish you, the
disciples of Him who is called Jesus, to come
on board ray boat, rather than those who give
me of their silver and gold ; for I am altogether
worthy that the apostle of the Lord should come
on board my boat. And Andrew answered and
said : Permit me, brother, may the Lord grant
thee glory and honour. And Andrew went on
board the boat with his disciples.
And having gone on board, he sat down by
i the boat's sail. And Jesus answered and said
1 to one of the angels : Rise and go down to the
I hold of the boat, and bring up three loaves,- that
! the men may eat, lest perchance they be hungry,
I from having come to us off a long journey. And
i he rose and went down to the hold of the boat,
I and brought up three loaves, as the Lord com-
j manded him ; and he- gave them the loaves.
! Then Jesus said to Andrew : Rise up, brother,
j with thy friends ; partake of food, that you may
I be strong to bear the tossing of the sea. And
I Andrew answered and s'aid to his disciples : My
j children, we have found great kindness from this
j man. Stand up, then, and partake of the nour-
I ishment of bread, that you may be strong to bear
I the tossing of the sea. And his disciples were
1 not able to answer him a word, for they were in
' distress because of the sea. Then Jesus forced
i Andrew to partake himself also of the nourish-
ment of bread along with his disciples. And
I Andrew answered and said to Jesus, not knowing
i that it was Jesus : Brother, may the Lord give
i thee heavenly bread out of His kingdom. Allow
I me then, brother ; for thou seest the children,
I that they are distressed because of the sea. And
I Jesus answered and said to Andrew : Assuredly
! the brethren are without experience of the sea ;
I but inquire of them whether they want to go to
! land, and thyself to remain, until thou shalt
! finish thy business, and again come back to them.
j Then Andrew said to his disciples : My children,
do you wish to go to the land, and me to re-
I main here until I shall finish my business for
! which I have been sent ? And they answered
and said to Andrew : If we go away from thee,
may we become strangers to the good things
which the Lord hath provided for us. Now,
therefore, we are with thee, wherever thou mayst
go.
Jesus answered and said to Andrew : If thou
art truly a disciple of Him who is called Jesus,
tell thy disciples the miracles which thy Teacher
did, that their soul may rejoice, and that they
may forget the fear of the sea ; for, behold, we
are going to take the boat off from the land.
And immediately Jesus said to one of the angels :
Let go the boat ; and he let go the boat from
ACTS OF ANDREW AND MATTHIAS.
519
the land. And Jesus came and sat down beside
the rudder, and steered the boat. Then Andrew
exhorted and comforted his disciples, saying :
My children, who have given up your life to the
Lord, fear not ; for the Lord will not at all for-
sake you for ever. For at that time when I was
alone with our Lord, we went on board the boat
with Him, and He lay down to sleep in the boat,
trying us ; for He was not ' fast asleep. And a
great wind having arisen, and the sea being
stormy, so that the waves were uplifted, and
came under the sail of the boat, and when we
were in great fear, the Lord stood up and re-
buked the winds, and there was a calm in the
sea ; for all things feared Him, as being made
by Him.^ Now, therefore, my children, fear not.
For the Lord Jesus will not at all forsake us.
And having said this, the holy Andrew prayed in
his heart that his disciples might be led to sleep.
And as Andrew was praying, his disciples fell
asleep.
And Andrew, turning round to the Lord, not
knowing that it was the Lord, said to Him : Tell
me, O man, and show me the skill of thy steer-
ing ; for 1 have never seen any man so steering
in the sea as I now see thee. For sixteen years
have I sailed the sea, and behold this is the
seventeenth, and I have not seen such skill ; for
truly the boat is just as if on land. Show me
then, young man, thy skill. Then Jesus an-
swered and said to Andrew : We also have often
sailed the sea, and been in danger ; but since
thou art a disciple of Him called Jesus, the sea
has recognised thee that thou art righteous, and
has become calm, and has not lifted its waves
against the boat. Then Andrew cried out with
a loud voice, saying : I thank Thee, my Lord
Jesus Christ, that I have met a man who glorifies
Thy name.
And Jesus answered and said : O Andrew, tell
me, thou disciple of Him called Jesus, where-
fore the unbelieving Jews did not believe in Him,
saying that He was not God, but man. Show
me, O disciple of Him called Jesus ; for I have
heard that He showed His Godhead to His dis-
ciples. And Andrew answered and said : Truly,
brother, He showed us that He was God. Do
not think, then, that He is man. For He made
the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all
that is in them. And Jesus answered and said :
How then did the Jews not believe Him ? Per-
haps He did not do miracles before them? An-
drew said : Hast thou not heard of the miracles
which He did before them ? He made the blind
see, the lame walk, the deaf hear ; He cleansed
lepers. He changed water into wine ; and having
taken five loaves and two fishes, He made a
' One MS. omits the negative.
' Comp. Matt. viii. 26.
crowd recline on the grass, and having blessed,
He gave them to eat ; and those that ate were
five thousand men,^ and they were filled : and
they took up what was over to them twelve bas-
kets of fragments."* And after all these things
they did not believe Him.
And Jesus answered and said to Andrew : Per-
haps He did these miracles before the people,
and not before the chief priests, and because
of this they did not believe Him.
And Andrew answered and said : Nay, brother.
He did them also before the chief priests, not
only openly, but also in secret, and they did not
believe Him. Jesus answered and said : What
are the miracles which He did in secret? Dis-
close them to me. And Andrew answered and
said : O man, who hast the spirit of inquisitive-
ness, why dost thou put me to the test? And
Jesus answered and said : I do not put thee to
the test by saying this, O disciple of Him called
Jesus ; but my soul rejoices and exults, and not
only mine, but also every soul that hears the
wonders of Jesus.
And Andrew answered and said : O child, the
Lord shall fill thy soul with all joy and all good,
as thou hast persuaded me now to relate to thee
the miracles which our Lord did in secret.
It came to pass as we, the twelve disciples,
were going with our Lord into a temple of the
Gentiles, that He might make known to us the
ignorance of the devil, that the chief priests,
having beheld us following Jesus, said to us, O
wretches, why do you walk with him who says,
I am the Son of God? Do you mean to say
that God has a son? Which of you has ever
at any time seen God associating with a woman?
Is not this the son of Joseph the carpenter, and
his mother is Mary, and his brothers James and
Simon? 5 And when we heard these words, our
hearts were turned into weakness. And Jesus,
having known that our hearts v/ere giving way,
took us into a desert place, and did great mira-
cles before us, and displayed to us all His God-
head. And we spoke to the chief priests,
saying, Come ye also, and see ; for, behold. He
has persuaded us.
And the chief priests having come, went with
us ; and when we had gone into the temple of
the Gentiles, Jesus showed us the heaven,^ that
we might know whether the things were true or
not. And there went in along with us thirty
men of the people, and four chief priests. And
Jesus, having looked on the right hand and on
the left of the temple, saw two sculptured
sphinxes, one on the right and one on the left.
3 One MS. inserts, besides women and children.
< Mark vi. 37-44.
5 Mark vi. 3.
•> There seems to be something wrong here. One MS. has, the
structure of the temple, and omits the following clause.
520
ACTS OF ANDREW AND MATTHIAS.
And Jesus having turned to us, said, Behold the
sign of the cross ; for these are hke the cherubim
and -the seraphim which are in heaven. Then
Jesus, having looked to the right, where the
sphinx was, said to it, I say unto thee, thou im-
age of that which is in heaven, which the hands
of craftsmen have sculptured, be separated from
thy place, and come down, and answer and con-
vict the chief priests, and show them whether I
am God or man.
And immediately at that very time the sphinx j
removed from its place, and having assumed a
human voice, said, O foolish sons of Israel, not
only has the blinding of their own hearts not !
been enough for them, but they also wish others |
to be blind like themselves, saying that God is ■
man, who in the beginning fashioned man, and i
put His breath into all, who gave motion to those
things which moved not ; He it is who called
Abraham, who loved his son Isaac, who brought
back his beloved Jacob into his land ; He is the
Judge of living and dead ; He it is who pre-
pareth great benefits for those who obey Him,
and prepareth punishment for those who believe
Him not. Heed not that I am an idol that can
be handled ; for I say unto you, that the sacred
places of your synagogue are more excellent.'
For though we are stones, the priests have given
us only the name of a god ; and those priests
who serve the temple purify themselves, being
afraid of the demons : for if they have had in-
tercourse with women, they purify themselves
seven days, because of their fear ; so that they
do not come into the temple because of us, be-
cause of the name which they have given us,
that we are a god. But you, if you have com-
mitted fornication, take up the law of God, and
go into the synagogue of God, and purify, and
read, and do not reverence the glorious words
of God. Because of this, I say unto you, that
the holy things purify your synagogues, so that
they also become churches of His only begot-
ten Son. The sphinx having said this, ceased
speaking.
And we said to the chief priests. Now it is fit-
ting that you should believe, because even the
stones have convicted you. And the Jews an-
swered and said. By magic these stones speak,
and do not you think that it is a god ? For if
you have tested what has been said by the stone,
you have ascertained its deception. For where
did he find Abraham, or how did he see him ?
For Abraham died many years before he was
born, and how does he know him?
And Jesus, having again turned to the image,
said to it. Because these believe not that I have
spoken with Abraham, go away into the land of
* One MS. has: Do not say that I am a carved stone, and that
you alone have a name, and are called high priests.
the Canaanites, and go away to the double ^ cave
in the field of Mamre, where the body of Abra-
ham is, and cry outside of the tomb, saying,
Abraham, Abraham, whose body is in the tomb,
and whose soul is in paradise, thus speaks He
who fashioned man, who made thee from the
beginning his friend. Rise up, thou and thy son
Isaac, and the son of thy son Jacob, and come
to the temples of the Jebusites, that we may con-
vict the chief priests, in order that they may
know that I am acquainted with thee, and thou
with me. And when the sphinx heard these
words, immediately she walked about in the pres-
ence of us all, and set out for the land of the
Canaanites to the field of Mamre, and cried
outside of the tomb, as God had commanded
her. And straightway the twelve patriarchs ^
came forth alive out of the tomb, and answered
and said to her. To which of us hast thou been
sent? And the sphinx answered and said, I have
been sent to the three patriarchs for testimony ;
but do ye go in, and rest until the time of the
resurrection. And having heard, they went into
the tomb and fell asleep. And the three patri-
archs set out along with the sphinx to Jesus, and
convicted the chief priests. And Jesus said to
them. Go away to your places ; and they went
away. And He said also to the image. Go up to
thy place ; and straightway she went up and
stood in her place. And He did also many other
miracles, and they did not believe Him ; which
7niracles, if I shall recount, thou wilt not be able
to bear. And Jesus answered and said to him :
I can bear it ; for I prudently listen to profitable
words.
And when the boat was about to come near
the land, Jesus bent down His head upon one of
His angels, and was quiet. And Andrew ceased
speaking ; and he also, reclining his head upon
one of his disciples, fell asleep. And Jesus said
to His angels : Spread your hands under him,
and carry Andrew and his disciples, and go and
put them outside of the city of the man-eaters ;
and having laid them on the ground, return to
me. And the angels did as Jesus commanded
them, and the angels returned to Jesus : and He
went up into the heavens with His angels.
And when it was morning, Andrew, having
awakened and looked up, found himself sitting
on the ground ; and having looked,* he saw his
disciples sleeping on the ground ; and he wak-
ened them, and said to them : Rise up, my chil-
dren, and know the great dispensation that has
happened to us, and learn that the Lord was
with us in the boat, and we knew Him not ; for
He transformed Himself as if He were a pilot in
2 Gen. xxiii. g, 17, following the version of the LXX. and the
older interpreters.
3 Not one of the twelve patriarchs was buried in Machpelah.
* One MS. inserts: And he saw the gate of that city.
ACTS OF ANDREW AND MATTHIAS.
521
the boat, and humbled Himself, and appeared
to us as a man, putting us to the test. And
Andrew, recovering himself, said : Lord, I recog-
nised Thy excellent words, but Thou didst not
manifest Thyself to me, and because of this I
did not know Thee. And his disciples answered
and said to him : Father Andrew, do not think
that we knew when thou wast speaking with
Him in the boat, for we were weighed down by
a most heavy sleep ; and eagles came down out
of the heavens, and lifted up our souls, and took
them away into the paradise in heaven, and we
saw great wonders. For we beheld our Lord
Jesus sitting on a throne of glory, and all the
angels round about Him. We beheld also Abra-
ham, ami Isaac, and Jacob, and all the saints ;
and David praised Him with a song upon his
harp. And we beheld there you the twelve
apostles standing by in the presence of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and outside of you twelve
angels round about you, and each angel stand-
ing behind each of you, and they were like you
in appearance. And we heard the Lord saying
to the angels. Listen to the apostles in all things
whatsoever they shall ask you. These are the
things which we have seen, father Andrew, until
thou didst awake us ; and angels, who appeared
like eagles, brought our souls into our bodies.
Then Andrew, having heard, rejoiced with
great joy that his disciples had been deemed
worthy to behold these wonderful things. And
Andrew looked up into heaven, and said : Ap-
pear to ine, Lord Jesus Christ ; for I know that
Thou art not far from Thy servants. Pardon
me. Lord, for what I have done ; for I have
beheld Thee as a man in the boat, and I have
conversed with Thee as with a man. Now
therefore. Lord, manifest Thyself to me in this
place.
And when Andrew had said this, Jesus ap-
peared to him in the likeness of a most beautiful
little child. And Jesus answered and said : Hail,
our Andrew ! And Andrew, having beheld Him,
worshipped Him, saying : Pardon me. Lord Jesus
Christ, for I saw Thee like a man on the sea,
and conversed with Thee. What is there, then,
wherein I have sinned, my Lord Jesus, that
Thou didst not manifest Thyself to me on the
sea? And Jesus answered and said to Andrew :
Thou hast not sinned, but I did this to thee
because thou saidst, I shall not be able to go to
the city of the man-eaters in three days ; and
I have showed thee that I am able to do all
things, and to appear to every one as I wish.
Now therefore rise up, go into the city to Matthi-
a.s, and bring him forth out of the prison, and all
the strangers that are with him. For, behold,
I show thee, Andrew, what thou must suffer
before going into this city. They will heap upon
thee tortures and insults, and scatter thy flesh in
the ways and the streets, and thy blood shall
flow to the ground, but they are not able to put
thee to death ; but endure, just as thou sawest
me beaten, insulted, and crucified : for there
are those who are destined to believe in this city.
And having said this, the Saviour went into the
heavens.
And Andrew went into the city along with his
disciples, and no one beheld him. And when
he came to the prison, he saw seven warders
standing at the gate guarding, and he prayed
within himself, and they fell down and expired ;
and he marked the gate with the sign of the cross,
and it opened of its own accord. And having
gone in with his disciples, he found Matthias
sitting and singing; and seeing him, he stood
up, and they saluted each other with a holy
kiss ; and he said to Matthias : Brother, how
hast thou been found here? For yet three days,
and they will bring thee out to be food for them.
Where are the great mysteries which thou hast
been taught, and the wonderful things which we
have believed ? And Matthias said to him :
Didst thou not hear the Lord saying, I shall
send you like sheep into the midst of wolves?'
They straightway brought me into the prison,
and I prayed to the Lord ; and He said to me,
Remain here twenty-seven days, and I shall
send thee .Andrew, and he will bring thee forth
out of the prison. And now, behold, it has
come to pass as the Lord said.
Then Andrew, having looked, saw three men
shut up eating grass naked ; and he beat his
breast, and said : Consider, O Lord, what the
men suffer ; how have they made them like the
irrational brutes ? And he says to Satan : Woe
to thee, the devil, the enemy of God, and to
thine angels, because the strangers here have
done nothing to thee ; and how hast thou brought
upon them this punishment? how long dost thou
war against the human race ? Thou didst bring
I forth Adam out of paradise, and didst cause men
i to be mixed up with transgression ; and the Lord
I was enraged, and brought on the deluge so as
to sweep man away. And again hast thou made
i thy appearance in this city too, in order that
I thou mayst make those who are here eat men,^
1 that the end of them also may be in execration
I and destruction, thinking in thyself that God will
sweep away the work of His hands. Hast -thou
not heard that God said, I will not bring a
deluge upon the earth ?3 but if there is any
punishment prepared; it is for the sake of taking
vengeance upon thee.
Then he stood up, and Andrew and Matthias
prayed ; and after the prayer Andrew laid his
hands upon the faces of the blind men who were
I Matt. X. 16.
* Another MS. has:
5 Gen. ix. II.
make men eal their like.
522
ACTS OF ANDREW AND MATTHIAS.
in the prison, and straightway they all received
their sight. And again he laid his hand upon
their hearts, and their minds were changed into
human reason. Then Andrew answered them :
Rise up, and go into the lower parts of the city,
and you shall find in the way a great fig-free, and
sit under the fig-tree, and eat of its fruit, until I
come to you ; but if I delay coming there, you
will find abundance of food for yourselves : for
the fruit shall not fail from the fig-tree, but ac-
cording as you eat it shall produce more fruit,
and nourish you, as the Lord has said. And
they answered and said to Andrew : Go along
with us, O our master, lest perchance the wicked
men of this city again see us, and shut us up, and
inflict upon us greater and more dreadful tortures
than they have inflicted upon us. And Andrew
answered and said to them : Go ; for in truth I
say to you, that as you go, not a dog shall bark
with his tongue against you. And there were in
all two hundred and seventy men and forty-nine
women ' whom Andrew released from the prison.
And the men went as the blessed Andrevv said to
them ; and he made Matthias go along with his
disciples out of the eastern gate of the city.
And Andrew commanded a cloud, and the cloud
took up Matthias and the disciples of Andrew ;
and the cloud set them down on the mountain
where Peter was teaching,- and they remained
beside him.
And Andrew, having gone forth from the prison,
walked about in the city ; and having seen a
brazen pillar, and a statue standing upon it, he
came and sat down behind that pillar until he
should see what should happen. And it hap-
pened that the executioners went to the prison to
bring out the men for then- food,^ according
to the custom ; and they found the doors of the
prison opened, and the guards that guarded it
lying dead upon the ground. And straightway
they went, and reported to the rulers of the city,
saying : We found the prison opened, and hav-
ing gone inside we found nobody ; •* but we
found the guards lying dead upon the ground.
And the rulers having heard this, said among
themselves : What, then, has happened ? You
do not mean to say that some persons have gone
into the prison of the city, and have killed the
warders, and taken away those that were shut
up ? And they spoke to the executioners, say-
ing : Go to the prison, and bring the men that
are dead, that we may eat them up to-day. And
let us go to-morrow, and tring together all the
old men of the city, that they may cast lots upon
themselves, until the seven lots come, and we
slay seven each day. And they shall be to us
• Two MSS. have: two hundred and (orty-nine men.
^ Another reading is, praying.
^ i.e., to be eaten by them.
* Comp. Acts V. 20-25.
for food until we may choose young men, and
put them in boats as sailors, that they may go
away to the countries round about, and attack
them, and l)ring some men here, that they may
be for food to us.
And the executioners went to the prison, and
brought the seven men that were dead ; and
there was an oven built in the midst of the city,
and there lay in the oven a large trough in which
they killed the men, and their. blood ran down
into the trough, and they drew out of the blood
and drank it. And they brought the men, and
put them into the trough. And when the exe-
cutioners were lifting their hands against them,
Andrew heard a voice, saying : Behold, Andrevv,
v/hat is happening in this city. And Andrew
having beheld, prayed to the Lord, saying : Lord
Jesus Christ, who didst order me to come into
this city, do not suffer those in this city to do
any evil, but let the knives go out of the hands
of the wicked ones. Ahd straightway the knives
of the wicked men fell, and their hands were
turned into stone. And the rulers, having seen
what had happened, wept, saying : Woe unto us,
for here are the magiciaiis who have gone into the
prison, and brought out the men ; for, behold,
they have bewitched these also. What, then,
shall we do? Let us go now, and gather to-
gether the old men of the city, seeing that we
are hungry.
And they went and gathered them together,
and found two hundred and seventeen ; and they
brought them to the rulers, and they made them
cast lots, and the lot came upon seven old men.
And one of those taken by lot answered and said
to the officers : I pray you, I have for myself one
son ; take him, and slay him instead of me, and
let me go. And the officers answered and said
to him : We cannot take thy son, unless we
bring him first to our superiors. And the offi-
cers went and told the rulers. And the rulers
answered and said to the officers : If he give us
his son instead of himself, let him go. And the
officers went and told the old man. And the
old man answered and said to them : I have also
a daughter along with my son ; take them, and
kill them, only let me go. And he gave his chil-
dren to the officers, that they might kill them.
I And the children wept to each other, and prayed
I the officers, saying : We pray you do not kill us,
as we are of so small a size ; but let us complete
our size, and so kill us. For it was a custom in
that city, and they did not bury their dead, but
ate them up. And the officers did not hearken
to the children, nor take pity upon them, but
carried them to the trough weeping and praying.
And it happened, as they were leading them
away to kill them, that Andrev/, having beheld
what happened, shed tears ; and weeping, he
looked up to heaven and said : Lord Jesus
ACTS OF ANDREW AND MATTHIAS.
523
Christ, as Thou didst hear me in the case of the
dead men, and didst not suffer them to be eaten
up, so also now hear me, that the executioners
may not inflict death upon these children, but
that the knives may be loosened out of the
hands of the executioners.' And straightway the
knives were loosened, and fell out of the hands
of the executioners. And when this came to
pass, the executioners, having beheld what had
happened, were exceedingly afraid. And An-
drew, seeing what had happened, glorified the
Lord because He had listened to him in every
work.
And the rulers, having beheld what had hap-
pened, wept with a great weeping, saying : Woe
unto us ! what are we to do ? And, behold, the
devil appeared in the likeness of an old man,
and began to say in the midst of all : Woe unto
you ! because you are now dying, having no
food ; what can sheep and oxen do for you ?
They will not at all be enough for you. But
rise up, and make a search here for one who
has come to the city, a stranger named Andrew,
and kill him ; for if you do not, he will not per-
mit you to carry on this practice longer : for it
was he who let loose the men out of the prison.
Assuredly the man is in this city, and you have
not seen ^ him. Now, therefore, rise and make
search for him, in order that henceforward you
may be able to collect your food.
And z\ndrew saw the devil, how he was talking
to the multitudes ; but the devil did not see the
blessed Andrew. Then Andrew answered the
devil, and said : O Belial most fiendish, who art
the foe of every creature ; ^ but my Lord Jesus
Christ will bring thee down to the abyss. And
the devil, having heard this, said : I hear thy
voice indeed, and I know thy voice, but where
thou art standing I know not. And Andrew an-
swered and said to the devil : Why, then, hast
thou been called Amael ? ■* is it not because thou
art blind, not seeing all the saints? And the
devil, having heard this, said to the citizens : Look
round now for him speaking to me, for he is the
man. And the citizens, having run in different
directions, shut the gates of the city, and searched
for the blessed one, and did not see him. 5 Then
the Lord showed Himself to Andrew, and said
to him ; Andrew, rise up and show thyself to
them, that they may learn my power, and the
powerlessness of the devil working in them.
Then Andrew rose up, and said in presence
' One MS. adds: like wax before fire.
* Or, do not know.
3 One MS. has: Thou art always warring against the race of the
Christians.
* One of the MSS. has Snmacl.
5 One MS. adds: And Andrew answered and said: O Belial! foe
of the whole creation, thou hast always been a robber, warring against
the race of men: thou in the beginning didst cause Adam to be cast
out of paradise; thou didst cause the loaves upon the table to be
turned into stones; and again thou hast appeared in this city, to
cause the people here to cat up men.
of all : Behold, I am Andrew whom you seek.
And the multitudes ran upon him, and laid hold
of him, saying : What thou hast done to us, we
also will do to thee. And they reasoned among
themselves, saying : By what death shall we kill
him? And they said to each other: If we take
off his head, his death is not torture ; and if we
burn him, he will not be for food to us. Then
one of them, the devil having entered into him,
answered and said to the multitudes : As he has
done to us, so let us also do to him. Let us rise
up, then, and fasten a rope to his neck, and drag
him through all the streets and lanes of the city ;
and when he is dead, we shall share his body.
And they did as he said to them ; and having
fastened a rope round his neck, they dragged
him through the streets and lanes of the city,
and the flesh of the blessed Andrew stuck to
the ground, and his blood flowed to the ground
like water. And when it was evening they cast
him into the prison, having bound his hands be-
hind him ; and he was in sore distress.
And in the morning again they brought him
out, and having fastened a rope round his neck,
they dragged him about ; and again his flesh
stuck to the ground, and his blood flowed. And
the blessed one wept and prayed, saying : Do
not forsake me, my Lord Jesus Christ ; for I
know that Thou art not far from Thy servants.
And as he was praying, the devil walked behind,
and said to the multitudes : Strike him on the
mouth, that he may not speak. *"
And when it was evening they took him again
to the prison, having bound his hands behind
him, and left him till the morrow again. And
the devil having taken with himself seven de-
mons 7 whom the blessed one had cast out of
the countries round about, and having gone into
the prison, they stood before him, wishing to kill
him. And the demons answered and said to
Andrew : Now hast thou fallen into our hands ;
where is thy glory and thy exultation, thou that
raisest thyself up against us, and dishonourest us,
and tellest our doings to the people in every
place and country, and hast made our workshops
and our temples to become desolate, in order
that sacrifices may not be brought to them?
Because of this, then, we shall also kill thee, like
thy teacher called Jesus, and John whom Herod
beheaded.^
And they stood before Andrew, wishing to kill
him ; and having beheld the seal upon his fore-
head which the Lord gave him, they were afraid,
and did not come near him, but fled. And the
devil said to them : Why have you fled from him,
my children, and not killed him ? And the de-
6 Comp. Acts xxiii. 2.
7 Comp. Matt. xii. 45.
8 One MS. adds: And the devil an.swered and said to the seven
wicked demons, My children, kill him that dishonours us.
524
ACTS OF ANDREW AND MATTHIAS.
mons answered and said to the devil : We can-
not kill him, but kill him if thou art able ; for
we knew him before he came into the distress
of his humiliation. Then one of the demons
answered and said : We cannot kill him, but
come let us mock him in the distress of his
humiliation. And the demons came and stood
before him, and scoffed at him. And the
blessed one hearing, wept ; and there came to
him a voice saying : Andrew, why weepest thou ?
And it was the voice of the devil changed. And
Andrew answered and said : I am weeping be-
cause God commanded me, saying, Be patient
toward them. And the devil said : If thou canst
do anything, do it. And Andrew answered and
said : Is it for this, then, that you do these
things to me? But forbid it that I should disobey
the commandment of my Lord ; for if the Lord
shall make for me a charge ' in this city, I shall
chastise you as you deserve. And having heard
this, they fled.
And when it was morning they brought him
out again, and having fastened a rope about his
neck, they dragged him ; and again his flesh
stuck to the ground, and his blood flowed to the
ground like water. And the blessed one, as he
was being dragged along, wept, saying : Lord
Jesus Christ, be not displeased with me ; for
Thou knowest, Lord, what the fiend has inflicted
upon me, along with his demons. These tor-
tures are enough, my Lord ; for, behold, I am
dragged about for three days. But do I'hou,
Lord, remember that Thou wast three hours
upon the cross, and didst cry out to the Father,
My Father, why hast Thou forsaken me ? ^ Where
are Thy words, Lord, which Thou spakest to us,
confirming us, when we walked about with Thee,
saying to us, Ye shall not lose one hair? 3 Con-
sider, then, Lord, what has become of my flesh,
and the hairs of my head. Then Jesus said to
Andrew : O our Andrew, the heaven and the
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not
pass away.4 Turn thyself then, Andrew, and be-
hold thy flesh that has fallen, and thy hair, what
has become of them. And Andrew turned, and
saw great trees springing up, bearing fruit ; and
he glorified God.
And when it was evening they took him up
again, and cast him into the prison, having bound
his hands behind him ; and he was exceedingly
exhausted. And the men of the city said among
themselves : Perhaps he dies in the night, and
we do not find him alive on the following day ;
for he was languid, and his flesh was spent.
And the Lord appeared in the prison, and
having stretched out His hand, said to Andrew :
' Or, a bishopric.
2 Matt, xxvii. 46.
^ Comp. Matt. X. 30.
* Matt. V. 18.
Give me thy hand, and rise up whole. And An-
drew, having beheld the Lord Jesus, gave Him
his hand, and rose up whole. And falling down,
he worshipped Him, and said : I thank Thee,
my Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou hast speedily
brought help to me. And Andrew, having looked
into the middle of the prison, saw a pillar stand-
ing, and upon the pillar there stood an alabaster
statue. And Andrew, having gone up to the
statue, unfolded his hands seven times, and said
to the pillar, and the statue upon it : Fear the
sign of the cross, which the heaven and the
earth dread ; and let the statue set upon the pil-
lar bring up much water through its mouth,
until all who are in this city be punished. And
say not, I am stone, and am not worthy to praise
the Lord, for the Lord fashioned us from the
earth ; but you are pure, because that out of
you He gave the tables of the law.5 When the
blessed Andrew had said this, straightway the
stone statue cast out of its mouth water in
abundance, as if out of a canal. And the water
stood high upon the earth ; and it was exceed-
ingly acrid, eating into the flesh of men.
And when it was morning, the men of the city
saw it, and began to flee, saying in themselves :
Woe to us ! because we are now dying. And
the water killed their cattle and their children ;
and they began to flee out of the city. Then
Andrew prayed, saying : Lord Jesus Christ, in
whom I have hoped that this miracle should
come upon this city, forsake me not, but send
Michael Thy arcliangel in a cloud of fire, and
be a wall round the city, that no one may be
able to escape out of the fire. And straightway
a cloud of fire came down and encircled the city
like a wall ; and the water was as high as the
neck of those men, and it was eating them up
exceedingly. And they wept, saying : Woe to
us ! for all these things have come upon us be-
cause of the stranger who is in the prison. Let
us go and release him, lest perchance we die.
And they went out, crying with a loud voice :
God of the stranger, take away from us this
water. And the apostle knew that they were in
great affliction, and said to the alabaster statue :
Stop the water, for they have repented. And I
say to thee, that if the citizens of this city shall
believe, I will build a church, and place thee in
it, because thou hast done me this service. And
the statue ceased flowing, and no longer brought
forth water. And the men of the city, having
come out to the doors of the prison, cried out,
saying : Have pity upon us, God of the stranger,
and do not according to our unbelief, and ac-
cording to what we have done to this man, but
5 One MS. has : Vea, for assuredly you have been honoured; for
God did not write the law for His people on plates of gold or silver,
but on plates of stone. Now therefore, O statue, do this that I re-
quire of thee.
ACTS OF ANDREW AND MATTHIAS.
525
take away from us this water. And Andrew
came forth out of the prison ; and the water ran
this way and that from the feet of the blessed
Andrew. Then all the multitude seeing him, all
cried out : Have pity upon us.
And the old man having come who gave up
his children that they should slay them instead
of him, prayed at the feet of the blessed An-
drew, saying : Have pity upon me. And the holy
Andrew answered and said to the old man : I
wonder how thou sayest, Have pity upon me ;
for thou hadst no pity upon thy children, but
gavest them up to be slain instead of thee.
Therefore I say unto thee, At what hour this
water goes away, into the abyss shalt thou go,
with the fourteen ' executioners who slay the
men every day. And he came to the place of
the trough, where they used to slay the men.
And the blessed one, having looked up to heaven,
prayed before all the multitude ; and the earth
was opened, and swallowed up the water, along
with the old man. He was carried down into
the abyss, with the executioners. And the men,
having seen what had happened, were exceed-
ingly afraid, and began to say : Woe unto us !
because this man is from God ; and now he will
kill us because of the afflictions which we have
caused him. For, behold, what he said to the
executioners and the old man has befallen them.
Now, therefore, he will command the fire, and it
will burn us. And Andrew, having heard, said
to them : Fear not, children ; for I shall not
send these also to Hades ; but those have gone,
that you may believa in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then the holy Andrew ordered to be brought
up all who had died in the water. And they
were not able to bring them ; for there had died
a great multitude both of men, and women, and
children, and cattle.
Then Andrew prayed, and they all came to
life. And after these things he drew a plan of a
church, and he caused the church to be built.
And he baptized them, and gave them the ordi-
nances of our Lord Jesus Christ, saying to them :
Stand by these, in order that you may know the
mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ. And they
' One MS. has, four.
all prayed him : We pray thee, stay with us a
few days, that we may be filled with thy fountain,
because we are newly planted.^ And he did not
comply with their request, but said to them : I
shall go first to my disciples. And the children
followed after, weeping and praying, with the
men ; and they cast ashes ^ upon their heads.
And he did not comply with them, but said : I
shall go to my disciples, and after that I shall
come again to you. And he went his way.
And the Lord Jesus Christ came down, being
like a comely little child, and met Andrew, and
said : Andrew, why hast thou come out and left
them without fruit, and hast not had compassion
upon the children that followed after thee, and
the men entreating thee. Stay with us a few days ?
For the cry of them and the weeping has come
up to heaven. Now therefore return, and go
into the city, and remain there seven days, until
I shall confirm their souls in the faith ; and then
thou shalt go away into the country of the bar-
barians, thou and thy disciples. And after going
into this city, thou shalt proclaim my Gospel, and
bring up the men who are in the abyss. And
thou shalt do what I command thee.
Then Andrew turned and went into the city,
saying : I thank Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ,
who wishest to save every soul, that Thou hast
not allowed me to go forth out of this, city in
mine anger. And when he had come into the
city, they, seeing him, rejoiced with exceeding
great joy. And he stayed there seven days,
teaching and confirming them in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the seven days having been fulfilled,
it came to pass, while the blessed Andrew was
going out, all came together to him, from the
child even to the elder, and sent him on his way,
saying : There is one God, the God of Andrew,
and one Lord Jesus Christ, who alone doeth
wonders ; to whom ^ be glory and strength for
ever. Amen.
2 I.e., neophytes.
3 Or, dust.
^ One MS. adds: With the Father, and the Son, and the all-tioly
and good and life-giving and holy Spirit. Another MS. ends thus:
Then the Apostle Andrew wished to go out again to preach. And
they assembled from small to great of them, and said : There is one
God and Father of all, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, which we
have been taught by our father Andrew, the first called in (or by)
Christ Jesus our Lord; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
ACTS OF PETER AND ANDREW.
FROM A BODLEIAN MS.>
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND ANDREW.
It came to pass when Andrew the apostle of
Christ went forth from the city of the man-eaters,
behold a luminous cloud snatched him up, and
carried him away to the mountain where Peter
and Matthew and Alexander were sitting. And
when he saw them, they saluted him with great
joy. Then Peter says to him : What has hap-
pened to thee, brother Andrew? Hast thou
sown the word of truth in the country of the
man-eaters or not? Andrew says to him: Yes,
father Peter, through thy prayers ; but the men
of that city have done me many mischiefs, for
they dragged me through their street three days,
so that my blood stained the whole street. Peter
says to him : Be a man in the Lord, brother An-
drew, and come hither, and rest from tliy labour.
For if the good husbandman laboriously till the
ground, it will also bear fruit, and straightway all
his toil will be turned into joy ; but if he toil, and
his land bring forth no fruit, he has double toil.
And while he was thus speaking, the Lord
Jesus Christ appeared to them in the form of a
child, and said to them : Hail, Peter, bishop of
the whole of my Church ! hail, Andrew ! My
co-heirs, be courageous, and struggle for man-
kind ; for verily I say unto you, you shall endure
toils in this world for mankind. But be bold ;
I will give you rest in one hour of repose in the
kingdom of my Father. .Arise, then, and go into
the city of the barbarians, and preach in it ; and
I will be with you in the wonders that shall happen
in it by your hands. And the Lord Jesus, after
saluting them, went up into the heavens in glory.
And Peter, and Andrew, and Alexander, and
Rufus, and Matthias, went into the city of the
barbarians. And after they had come near the
city, Andrew answered and said to Peter : Fa-
ther Peter, have we again to undergo toils in this
city, as in the country of the man-eaters ? Pe-
ter says to him : I do not know. But, behold,
there is an old man before us sowing in his field :
' [This is the MS. frequently referred to in the previous pages.
The Greek text of this fragment is given by Tischendorf in the sup-
plement to Apocalypses Apocr., pp. 161-167. — R-]
526
if we go up to him, let us say to him, Give us
bread ; and if he give us bread, we may know
that we are not to suffer in this city ; but if he
say to us. We have no bread, on the other hand,
we shall know that 'suffering again awaits us.
And when they came up to the old man, Peter
says to him : Hail, farmer ! And the farmer
says to them : Hail you too, merchants ! Peter
says to him : Have y'ou bread to give to these
children, for we have been in want? The old
man says to them : Wait a little, and look after
the oxen, and the plough, and the land, that I
may go into the city, and get you loaves. Peter
says to him : If you provide hospitality for us,
we shall look after the cattle and the field. The
old man says : So be it. Peter says to him :
Are the oxen your own ? The old man says :
No ; I have them on hire. • Peter says to him :
Go into the city. And the old man went into
the city. And Peter arose, and girded up his
cloak and his under-garment, and says to An-
drew : It is not right for us to rest and be idle ;
above all, when the old man is working for us,
having left his own work. Then Peter took hold
of the plough, and sowed the wheat. And An-
drew was behind the oxen, and says to Peter :
Father Peter, why dost thou bring toil upon us,
especially when we have work enough already !
Then Andrew took the plough out of Peter's
hand, and sowed the wheat, saying : O seed cast
into the ground in the field of the righteous, come
up, and come to the light. Let the young men
of the city therefore come forth, whom I found in
the pit of destruction until to-day ; for, behold,
the apostles of Christ are coming into the city,
pardoning the sins of those who believe in them,
and healing every disease, and every sickness.
Pray ye for me, that He may have mercy upon
me, and that I may be delivered from this strait.
And many of the multitude believed in Christ,
because of the saying of the woman ; ^ and they
fell at the feet of the apostles, and adored them.
2 Something seems to have fallen out here.
ACTS OF PETER AND ANDREW.
527
And they laid their hands upon them. And
they healed those in the city that were sick, and
gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf,
and drove out the demons. All the multitude
glorified the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit.
And there was a certain rich man in the city,
by name Onesiphorus. He, having seen the
miracles done by the apostles, says to them : L*"
I believe in your God, can I also do a miracle
like you ? Andrew says to him : If thou wilt
forsake all that belongs to thee, and thy wife
and thy children, as we also have done, then
thou also shalt do miracles. When Onesipho-
rus heard this, he was filled with rage, and took
his scarf and threw it over Andrew's neck, and
struck him, and said to him : Thou art a sor-
cerer. How dost thou force me to abandon my
wife, and my children, and my goods? Then
Peter, having turned and seen him striking An-
drew, says to him : Man, stop now striking An-
drew. Onesiphorus says to him : I see that
thou art more sensible than he. Do thou then
tell me to leave my wife, and my children, and
my goods. What dost thou say ? Peter says to
him : One thing I say unto thee : it is easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than
for a rich man to go into the kingdom of heaven.'
When Onesiphorus heard this, he was even more
filled with rage and anger, and. took his scarf off
the neck of Andrew, and threw it upon the neck
of Peter ; and so he dragged him along, saying :
Verily thou art a great sorcerer, more than the
other • for a camel cannot go through the eye
of a needle. But if thou wilt show me this
miracle, I wiU believe in thy God ; and not only
I, but also the whole city. But if not, thou shalt
be grievously punished in the midst of the city.
And when Peter heard this, he was exceedingly
grieved, and stood and stretched forth his hands
towards heaven, and prayed, saying : O Lord
our God, listen to me at this time ; for they will
ensnare us from Thine own words : for no
prophet has spoken to set forth this his explana-
tion, and no patriarch that we might learn the
interpretation of it ; and now we seek for our-
selves the explanation with boldness. Do Thou
then. Lord, not overlook us : for thou art He
who is praised by the cherubim.
And after he had said this, the Saviour ap-
peared in the form of a child of twelve years
old, wearing a linen garment ; and He says to
them : Be courageous, and tremble not, my
chosen disciples ; for I am with you always.
Let the needle and the camel be brought. And
after saying this, He went up into the heavens.
And there was a certain merchant^ in the city
who had believed in the Lord through the Apos-
' Matt. XIX. 24, etc.
2 Trat/raTTtuAr)?.
tie Philip ; and when he heard of this, he ran and
searched for a needle with a big eye, to do a fa-
vour to the apostles. When Peter learned this,
he said : My son, do not search for a big nee-
dle ; for nothing is impossible with God : rather
bring us a small needle. And after the needle
had been brought, and all the multitude of the
city were standing by to see, Peter looked up
and saw a camel coming. And he ordered her
to be brought. Then he fixed the needle in tlie
ground, and cried out with a loud voice, saying :
In the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified
under Pontius Pilate, I order thee, O camel,
to go through the eye of the needle. Then the
eye of the needle was opened like a gate, and
the camel went through it, and all the multitude
saw it. Again Peter says to the camel : Go
again through the needle. And the camel went
a second time. When Onesiphorus saw this, he
said to Peter ; Truly thou art a great sorcerer ;
but I do not believe unless I send and bring a
camel and a needle. And he called one of his
servants, and said to him privately : Go and
bring me here a camel and a needle ; find also
a polluted woman, and force her to come here :
for these men are sorcerers. And Peter having
learned the mystery through the Spirit, says to
Onesiphorus : Send and bring the camel, and
the woman, and the needle. And when they
brought them, Peter took the needle, and fixed
it in the ground. And the woman was sitting
on the camel. Then Peter says : In the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ the crucified, I order
thee, O camel, to go through this needle. And
immediately the eye of the needle was opened,
and became like a gate, and the camel went
through it. Peter again says to the camel : Go
through it again, that all may see the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ, in order that some may
believe on Him. Then the camel again went
through the needle. And Onesiphorus seeing
it, cried out, and said : Truly great is the God
of Peter and Andrew, and I from this time forth
believe in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now then, hear my words, O .Peter. I have
corn lands, vineyards, and fields ; I have also
twenty-seyen^ pounds of gold, and fifty pounds
of silver ; and I have very many slaves. I give
my possessions to the poor, that I also may do
one miracle like you. And Peter was grieved
lest the powers should not work in him, seeing
that he had not received the seal in Christ. And
while he was considering this, behold, a voice
out of the heaven saying to him : Do to him
what he wishes, because I will accomplish for
him what he desires. Peter says to him : My
son, come hither; do as we do. And Onesiph-
orus came up, and stood before the camel and
the needle, and said : In the n . . , (Here the
MS. ends.)
ACTS AND
MARTYRDOM OF ST.
APOSTLE.
MATTHEW THE
About that time Matthew, the holy apostle
and evangelist of Christ, was abiding in the
mountain resting, and praying in his tunic and
apostolic robes without sandals ; and, behold,
Jesus came to Matthew in the likeness of the
infants who sing in paradise, and said to him :
Peace to thee, Matthew ! And Matthew having
gazed upon Him, and not known who He was,
said : Grace to thee, and peace, O child highly
favoured ! And why hast thou come hither to
me, having left those who sing in paradise, and
the delights there? Because here the place is
desert ; and what sort of a table I shall lay for
thee, O child, I know not, because I have no
bread nor oil in a jar. Moreover, even the winds
are at rest, so as not to cast down from the trees
to the ground anything for food ; because, for the
accomplishing of my fast of forty days, I, partak-
ing only of the fruits falling by the movement of
the winds, am glorifying my Jesus. Now, therefore,
what shall I bring thee, beautiful boy? There is
not even water near, that I may wash thy feet.
And the child said : Why sayest thou, O
Matthew? Understand and know that good dis-
course is better than a calf, and words of meek-
ness better than every herb of the field, and a
sweet saying as the perfume of love, and cheer-
fulness of countenance better that feeding, and a
pleasant look is as the appearance of sweetness.
Understand, Matthew, and know that I am para-
dise, that I am the comforter, I am the power of
the powers above, I the strength of those that
restrain themselves, I the crown of the. virgins, I
the self-control of the once married, I the boast
of the widowed, I the defence of the infants, I
the foundation of the Church, I the kingdom of
the bishops, I the glory of the presbyters, I the
praise of the deacons. Be a man, and be strong,
Matthew, in these words.
And Matthew said : The sight of thee hast
altogether delighted me, O child ; moreover also,
thy words are full of life. For assuredly thy face
shines more than the lightning, and thy words
are altogether most sweet. And that indeed I
saw thee in paradise when thou didst sing with
the other infants who were killed in Bethlehem,
528
I know right well ; but how thou hast suddenly
come hither, this altogether astonishes me. But
I shall ask thee one thing, O child : that impious
Herod, where is he ? The child says to him :
Since thou hast asked, hear his dwelling-place.
He dwells, indeed, in Hades ; and there has been
prepared for him fire unquenchable, Gehenna
without end, bubbling mire, worm that sleeps
not,' because he cut off three ^ thousand infants,
wishing to slay the child Jesus, the ancient of ,
the ages ; but of all these ages I am father. Now
therefore, O Matthew, take this rod of mine, and
go doSvn from the mountain, and go into Myrna,
the city of the man-eaters, and plant it by the
gate of the church which thou ^ and Andrew
founded ; and as soon as thou hast planted it, it
shall be a tree, great and lofty and with many
branches, and its branches shall extend to thirty
cubits, and of each single branch the fruit shall
be different both to the sight and the eating,*
and from the top of the tree shall flow down
much honey ; and from its root there shall come
forth a great fountain, giving drink to this coun-
try round about, and in it creatures that swim
and creep ; and in it the man-eaters shall wash
themselves, and eat of the fruit of the trees of the
vine and of the honey ; and their bodies shall be
changed, and their forms shall be altered so as
to be like those of other men ; and they shall
be ashamed of the nakedness of their body, and
they shall put on clothing of the rams of the
sheep, and they shall no longer eat unclean
things ; and there shall be to them fire in supef-
abundance, preparing the sacrifices for offerings,
and they shall bake their bread with fire ; and
they shall see each other in the likeness of the
rest of men, and they shall acknowledge me, and
glorify my Father who is in the heavens. Now
therefore make haste, Matthew, and go down
hence, because the departure from thy body
through fire is at hand, and the crown of thy en-
durance.
1 Or, that dies not.
2 The other [Vienna] MB. has, eleven.
3 In some of the Mss. of the previous book the name of Matthew
appears in place of that of Matthias — Matthaios for Mattheias.
* Comp. Rev. xxii. 2.
ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF. ST. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE. 529
And the child having said this, and given him
the rod, was taken up into the heavens. And
Matthew went down from the mountain, hasten-
ing to the city. And as he was about to enter
into the city, there met him Fulvana the wife
of the king, and Iiis son Fulvanus and his wife
Erva, who were possessed by an unclean spirit,
and cried out shouting : Who has brought thee
here again, Matthew ? or who has given thee the
rod for our destruction ? for we see also the child
Jesus, the Son of God, who is with thee. Do
not go then, O Matthew, to plant the rod for the
food, and for the transformation of the man-
eaters : for I have found what I shall do to thee.
For since thou didst drive me out of this city,
and prevent me from fulfilling my wishes among
the man-eaters, behold, I will raise up against
thee the king of this city, and he will burn thee
alive. And Matthew, having laid his hands on
each one of the demoniacs, put the demons to
flight, and made the people whole ; and they
followed him.
And thus the affair being made manifest, Plato
the bishop, having heard of the presence of the
holy Apostle Matthew, met him with all the
clergy ; and having fallen to the ground, they
kissed his feet. And Matthew raised them, and
went with them into the church, and the child
Jesus was also with him. And Matthew, having
come to the gate of the church, stood upon a
certain lofty and immoveable stone ; and when
the whole city ran together, especially the breth-
ren who had believed, began to say : Men and
women who appear in our sight, heretofore be-
lieving in the universe,' but now knowing Him
who has upheld and made the universe ; until
now worshipping the Satyr, and mocked by ten
thousand false gods, but now through Jesus
Christ acknowledging the one and only God,
Lord, Judge ; who have laid aside the immeas-
urable greatness of evil, and put on love, which is
of like nature with affectionateness, towards men ;
once strangers to Christ, but now confessing
Him Lord and God ; formerly without form, but
now transformed through Christ ; — behold, the
staff which you see in my hand, which Jesus, in
whom you have believed and will believe, gave
me ; perceive now what comes to pass through
me, and acknowledge the riches of the greatness
which He will this day make for you. For, be-
hold, I shall plant this rod in this place, and it
shall be a sign to your generations, and it shall
become a tree, great and lofty and flourishing,
and its fruit beautiful to the view and good to
the sight ; and the fragrance of perfumes shall
come forth from it, and there shall be a vine
twining round it, full of clusters ; and from the
top of it honey coming down, and every flying
■ The other [Vienna] MS. has: heretofore worshipping every evil
thing.
creature shall find covert in its branches ; and a
fountain of water shall come forth from the root
of it, having swimming and creeping things, giv-
ing drink to all the country round about.
And having said this, and called upon the
name of the Lord Jesus, he fixed his rod in the
ground, and straightway it sprung up to one
cubit ; and the sight was strange and wonderful.
For the rod having straightway shot up, increased
in size, and grew into a great tree, as Matthew
had said. And the apostle said : Go into the
fountain and wash your bodies in it, and then
thus partake both of the fruits of the tree, and
of the vine and the honey, and drink of the
fountain, and you shall be transformed in your
likeness to that of men ; and after that, having
gone into the church, you will clearly recognise
that you have believed in the living and true
God. And having done all these things, they
saw themselves changed into the likeness of
Matthew; then, having thus gone into the
church, they worshipped and glorified God.
And when they had been changed, they knew
that they were naked; and they ran in haste
each to his own house to cover their nakedness,
because they were ashamed.
And Matthew and Plato remained in the
church spending the night, and glorifying God.
And there remained also the king's wife, and his
son and his wife, and they prayed the apostle
to give them the seal in Christ. And Matthew
gave orders to Plato ; and he, having gone forth,
baptized them in the water of the fountain of the
tree, in the name of the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Ghost. And so thereafter, having
gone into the church, they communicated in the
holy mysteries of Christ ; ^ and they exulted
and passed the night, they also, along with the
apostle, many others having also come with
them ; and all in the church sang the whole
night, glorifying God.
And when the dawn had fully come, the
blessed Matthew, having gone along with the
bishop Plato, stood in the place in which the rod
had been planted, and he sees the rod grown
into a great tree, and near it a vine twined round
it, and honey coming down from above even
to its root ; and that tree was at once beautiful
and flourishing, like the plants in paradise, and
a river proceeded from its root watering ^ all.Jhe
land of the city of Myrna.* And all ran to-
gether, and ate of the fruit of the tree and the
vine, just as any one wished.
And when what had come to pass was reported
in the palace, the king Fulvanus, having learned
what had been done by Matthew about his wife,
2 The other [Paris] MS. has: having communicated in the Eu-
charist.
3 Or, giving drink to.
* The other [Pans] Ms. has Smyrna. Nicephorus calls it Myr-
mene.
530 ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF ST. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE.
and his son, and his daughter-in-law, rejoiced
for a time at their purification ; but seeing that
they were inseparable from Matthew, he was
seized with rage and anger, and endeavoured to
put him to death by fire. And on- that night '
in which the king intended to lay hands on
Matthew, Matthew saw Jesus saying to him : I
am with thee always to save thee, Matthew ; be
strong, and be a man.
And the blessed Matthew, having awoke, and
sealed himself over all the body, rose up at
dawn, and proceeded into the church ; and hav-
ing bent his knees, prayed earnestly. Then the
bishop having come, and the clergy, they stood
in common in prayer, glorifying God. And
after they had ended the prayer, the bishop
Plato said : Peace to thee, Matthew, apostle of
Christ ! And the blessed Matthew said to him :
Peace to you ! And when they had sat down,
the apostle said to the bishop Plato, and to all
the clergy : I wish you, children, to know, Jesus
having declared it to me, that the king of this
city is going to send soldiers against me, the
devil having entered into him, and manifestly
armed him against us. But let us give ourselves
up to Jesus, and He will deliver us from every
trial, and all who have believed in Him.
And the king, plotting against the blessed
Matthew how he should lay hands on him, and
seeing also that the believers were very many, was
very much at fault, and was in great difficulty.
Therefore the wicked and unclean devil who
had come forth from the king's wife, and his
son, and his daughter-in-law, put to flight by
Matthew, having transformed himself into the
likeness of a soldier, stood before the king, and
said to him : O king, why art thou thus put to
the worse by this stranger and sorcerer ? Knowest
thou not that he was a publican, but now he has
been called an apostle ^ by Jesus, who was cruci-
fied by the Jews? For, behold, thy wife, and
thy son, and thy daughter-in-law, instructed by
him, have believed in him, and along with him
sing in the church. And now, behold, Matthew
is going forth, and Plato with him, and they are
going to the gate called Heavy ; but make haste,
and thou wilt find them, and thou shalt do to
him all that may be pleasing in thine eyes.
The king having heard this, and being the
more exasperated by the pretended soldier, sent
against the blessed Matthew four soldiers, hav-
ing threatened them, and said : Unless you bring
Matthew to me, I shall burn you alive with fire ;
and the punishment which he is to undergo, you
shall endure. And the soldiers, having been
thus threatened by the king, go in arms to where
the Apostle Matthew and the bishop Plato are.
And when they came near them, they heard
• Comp. Acts xviii. 9, xxiii. 11.
^ Or, as an apostle.
their speaking indeed, but saw no one. And
having come, they said to the king : We pray
thee, O king, we went and found no one, but
only heard the voices of persons talking. And
the king, being enraged, and having blazed up
like fire, gave orders to send other ten soldiers —
man-eaters — saying to them : Go stealthily to
the place, and tear them in pieces alive, and eat
up Matthew, and Plato, who is with him. And
when they were about to come near the blessed
Matthew, the Lord Jesus Christ, having come in
the likeness of a most beautiful boy, holding a
torch of fire, ran to meet them, burning out
their eyes. And they, having cried out and
thrown their arms from them, fled, and came to
the king, being speechless.
And the demon who had before appeared to
the king in the form of a soldier, being again
transformed into the form of a soldier, stood
before the king, and said to him : Thou seest,
O king, this stranger has bewitched them all.
Learn, then, how thou shalt take him. The king
says to him : Tell me first wherein his strength
is, that I may know, and then I will draw up
against him with a great force. And the demon,
compelled by an angel, says to the king : Since
thou wishest to hear accurately about him, O
king, I will tell thee all the truth. Really, unless
he shall be willing to be taken by thee of his
own accord, thou labourest in vain, and thou
wilt not be able to hurt him ; but if thou wishest
to lay hands on him, thou wilt be struck by him
with blindness, and thou wilt be paralyzed. And
if thou send a multitude of soldiers against him,
they also will be struck with blindness, and will
be paralyzed, x^nd we shall go, even seven un-
clean demons, and immediately make away with
thee and thy whole camp, and destroy all the
city with lightning, except those naming that
awful and holy name of Christ ; for wherever
a footstep of theirs has come, thence, pursued,
we flee. And even if thou shalt apply fire to
him, to hull the fire will be dew; and if thou
shalt shut him up in a furnace, to him the fur-
nace will be a church ; and if thou shalt put him
in chains in prison, and seal up the doors, the
doors will open to him of their own accord, and
all who believe in that name wiU go in, even
they, and say. This prison is a church of the
living God, and a holy habitation of those that
live alone.3 Behold, O king, I have told thee
all the truth. The king therefore says to the
pretended soldier : Since I do not know Mat-
thew, come with me, and point him out to me
from a distance, and take from me gold, as much
as thou mayst wish, or go thyself, and with thy
sword kill him, and Plato his associate.'' The
demon says to him : I cannot kill him. I dare
3 i.e., monks.
* Lit., of the same form with him.
ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF ST. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE. 531
not even look into his face, seeing that he has
destroyed all our generation through the name
of Christ, proclaimed through him.
The king says to him : And who art thou ?
And he says : I am the demon who dwelt in thy
wife, and in thy son, and in thy daughter-in-law ;
and my name is Asmodseus ; and this Matthew
drove me out of them. And now, behold, thy
wife, and thy son, and thy daughter-in-law sing
along with him in the church. And I know, O
king, that thou also after this wilt believe in him.
The king says to him : Whoever thou art, spirit
of many shapes, I adjure thee by the God whom
he whom thou callest Matthew proclaims, depart
hence without doing hurt to any one. And
straightway the demon, no longer like a soldier,
but like smoke, became invisible ; and as he
fled he cried out : O secret name, armed against
us, I pray thee, Matthew, servant of the holy
God, pardon me, and 1 will no longer remain in
this city. Keep thou thine own ; but I go away
into the fire everlasting.
Then the kmg, affected with great fear at the
answer of the demon, remained quiet that day.
And the night having come, and he not being
able to sleep because he was hungry,' leaped up
at dawn, and went into the church, with only
two soldiers without arms, to take Matthew by
craft, that he might kill him. And having sum-
moned two friends of Matthew, he said to them :
Show to Matthew, says he, that I wish to be his
disciple. And Matthew hearing, and knowing
the craft of the tyrant, and having been warned
also by the vision of the Lord to him, went forth
out of the church, led by the hand by Plato, and
stood in the gate of the church.
And they say to the king : Behold Matthew
in the gate ! And he says : Who he is, or where
he IS, 1 see not. And they said to him : Behold,
he is in sight of thee. And he says : All the
while I see nobody. For he had been bhnded
by the power of God. And he began to cry
out : Woe to me, miserable ! what evil has come
upon me, for my eyes have been blinded, and
all my limbs- paralyzed ? O Asmodaeus Beelze-
bul Satan ! all that thou hast said to me has
come upon me. But 1 pray tliee, Matthew,
servant of God, forgive me as the herald of the
good God ; for assuredly the Jesus proclaimed
by thee three days ago through the night ap-
peared to me altogether resplendent as with
lightning, like a beautiful young man, and said
to me. Since thou art entertaining evil counsels
in the wickedness of thine heart in regard to my
servant Matthew, know I have disclosed to him
that through thee will be the release of his body.
And straightway I saw him going up into heaven.
If therefore he is thy God, and a true God, and
• The other [Vienna] MS. has; For he neither ate nor drank, in
hii concern about these things.
if he wishes thy body to be buried in our city for
a testimony of the salvation of the generations
after this, and for the banishing ^ of the demons,
I shall know the truth for myself by this, by thee
laying on hands upon me, and I shall receive my
sight. And the apostle having laid his hands
upon his eyes, and saying Ephphatha, Jesus,^ he
made him receive his sight instantly.
And straightway the king, laying hold of the
apostle, and leading him by the right hand,
brought him by craft into the palace ; and Plato
was on Matthew's left hand, going along with him,
and keeping hold of him.-" Then Matthew says :
O crafty tyrant, how long dost thou not fulfil the
works of thy father the devil ? And he was en-
raged at what had been said ; for he perceived
that he would inflict upon him a more bitter death.
For he resolved to put him to death by fire.
And he commanded several executioners to
come, and to lead him away to the place by the
sea-shore, where the execution of malefactors
was wont to take place, saying to the execution-
ers : I hear, says he, that the God whom he
proclaims delivers from fire those who believe in
him. Having laid him, therefore, on the ground
on his back, and stretched him out, pierce his
hands and feet with iron nails, and cover him
over with paper, having smeared it with dolphins'
oil, and cover^iim up with brimstone and asphalt
and pitch, and pul tow and brushwood above.
Thus apply the fire to him ; and if any of the
same tribe with him rise up against you, he shall
get the same punishment.
And the apostle exhorted the brethren to re-
main undismayed, and that they should rejoice,
and accompany him with great meekness, sing-
ing and praising God, because they were deemed
worthy to have the relics of the apostle. Having
therefore come to the place, the executioners, like
most evil wild beasts, pinned down to the ground
Matthew's hands and feet with long nails ; and
having done everything as they had been bid,
applied the fire. .And they indeed laboured s
closely, kindling it all round ; but all the fire
was changed into dew, so that the brethren, re-
joicing, cried out : The only God is the Chris-
tians', .who assists Matthew, in whom also we
have believed : the only God is the Christians',
who preserves His own apostle in the fire. And
by the voice the city was shaken. And som© of
the executioners, having gone forth, said to the
king : We indeed, O king, by every contrivance
of vengeance, have kindled the fire ; but the
sorcerer by a certain name puts it out, calling
upon Christ, and invoking his cross; and the
2 The word thus translated is used by the LXX. in the sense of
an asylum, or place of refuge
3 Comp. Mark vii. 34. The addition of yesiis here shows that
the writer did not know the ineaning of the Aramaic word.
4 Or, holding huii back.
5 I should be disposed 'to read eVatoi', set fire to, for eKafjLPov,
laboured.
532 ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF ST. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE,
Christians surrounding him play with the fire,
and walking in //with naked feet, laugh at us,'
and we have fled ashamed.
Then he ordered a multitude to- carry coals
of fire from the furnace of the bath in the palace,
and the twelve gods of gold and silver ; and
place them, says he, in a circle round the sorcerer,
lest he may even somehow bewitch the fire from
the furnace of the palace. And there being
many executioners and soldiers, some carried
the coals ; and others, bearing the gods, brought
them. And the king accompanied them, watch-
ing lest any of the Christians should steal one
of his gods, or bewitch the fire. And when they
came near the place where the apostle was nailed
down, his face was looking towards heaven, and
all his body was covered over with the paper,
and much brushwood over his body to the height
of ten cubits. And having ordered the soldiers
to set the gods in a circle round Matthew, five
cubits off, securely fastened that they might not
fall, again he ordered the coal to be thrown on,
and to kindle the fire at all points.
And Matthew, having looked up to heaven,
cried out, Adonai eloi sabaoth imarmari mar-
MUNTH ; that is, O God the Father, O Lord Jesus
Christ, deliver me, and burn down their gods
which they worship ; and let the fire also pursue
the king even to his palace, but not to his de-
struction : for perhaps he will repent and be
converted. And when he saw the fire to be
monstrous in height, the king, thinking that
Matthew was burnt up, laughed aloud, and said :
Has thy magic been of any avail to thee, Mat-
thew? Can thy Jesus now give thee any help?
And as he said this a dreadful wonder ap-
peared ; for all the fire along with the wood
went away from Matthew, and was poured round
about their gods, so that nothing of the gold or the
silver was any more seen ; and the king fled, and
said : Woe's me, that my gods are destroyed by
the rebuke of Matthew, of which the weight was
a thousand talents of gold and a thousand tal-
ents of silver. Better are the gods of stone and
of earthenware, in that they are neither melted
nor stolen.^
And when the fire had thus utterly destroyed
their gods, and burnt up many soldiers, there
came to pass again another stranger wonder. For
the fire, in the likeness of a great and dreadful
dragon, chased the tyrant as far as the palace,
and ran hither and thither round the king, not
letting him go into the palace. And the king,
chased by the fire, and not allowed to go into
his palace, turned back to where Matthew was,
and cried out, saying : I beseech thee, whoever
thou art, O man, whether magician or sorcerer
' The other [Vienna] MS. has: at our gods.
2 The otVier [Vienna] MS. adds: How my forefathers toiled, and
with great trouble made the gods; and now, behold, they have been
destroyed by one magician.
or god, or angel of God, whom so great a pyre
has not touched, remove from me this dreadful
and fiery dragon ; forget the evil I have done,
as also when thou madest me receive my sight.
And Matthew, having rebuked the fire, and the
flames having been extinguished, and the dragon
having become invisible, stretching his eyes to
heaven, and praying in Hebrew, and commend-
ing his spirit to the Lord, said : Peace to you !
And having glorified the Lord, he went to his
rest about the sixth hour.
Then the king, having ordered more soldiers
to come, and the bed to be brought from the
palace, which had a great show of gold, he or-
dered the apostle to be laid on it, and carried
to the palace. And the body of the apostle was
lying as if in sleep, and his robe and his tunic un-
stained by the fire ; and sometimes they saw him
on the bed, and sometimes following, and some-
times going before the bed, and with his right
hand put upon Plato's head, and singmg along
with the multitude, so that both the king and
the soldiers, with the crowd, were struck with
astonishment. And many diseased persons and
demoniacs, having only touched the bed, were
made sound ; and as many as were savage in
appearance, in that same hour were changed
into the likeness of other men.
And as the bed was going into the palace, we ^
all saw Matthew rising up, as it were, from the
bed, and going into heaven, led by the hand by
a beautiful boy ; and twelve men in shining gar-
ments came to meet him, having never-fading
and golden crowns on their head ; and we saw
how that child crowned Matthew, so as to be
like them, and in a flash of lightning they went
away to heaven.
And the king stood at the gate of the palace, '
and ordered that no one should come in but the
soldiers carrying the bed. And having shut the
doors,'* he ordered an iron cofiin to be made, put
the body of Matthew into it, and sealed it up
with lead ; through the eastern gate of the palace
at midnight put it into a boat, no one knowing
of it, and threw it into the deep part of the sea.
And through the whole night the brethren re-
mained before the gate of the palace, spending
the night, and singing ; and when the dawn
rose there was a voice : O bishop Plato, carry
the Gospel and the Psalter of David ; go along
with the multitude of the brethren to the east
of the palace, and sing the Alleluia, and read
the Gospel, and bring as an offering the holy
bread ; and having pressed three clusters from
3 The change of person is noticeable.
•< In the other MS. the king prays: And now, since there is still in
me a little unbelief, I beseech thee that thou wilt bring the body of
Matthew from the sea. For, behold, I will order the body to be
thrown into the depths of the sea; and if thou deliver it as thou didst
deliver it in the funeral pile, I will forsake all my gods at once, and
believe in thee alone. [The Vienna MS , here cited, interpolates still
more. — R.]
ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF ST. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE. 533
the vine into a cup, communicate with me, as
the Lord Jesus showed us how to offer up when
He rose from the dead on the third day.
And the bishop having run into the church,
and taken the Gospel and the Psaker of David,
and having assembled the presbyters and the
multitude of the brethren, came to the east of
the palace at the hour of sunrise ; and having
ordered the one who was singing to go upon a
certain lofty stone, he began to praise in singing
of a song to God : Precious in the sight of God
is the death of His saints.' And again : I laid
me down and slept ; I arose : because the Lord
will sustain me.^ And they listened to the sing-
ing of a song of David : Shall he that is dead
not rise again? Now I shall raise him up for
myself, saith the Lord. And all shouted out the
Alleluia. And the bishop read the Gospel, and
all cried out : Glory to Thee, Thou who hast
been glorified in heav'en and on earth. And so
then they offered the gift of the holy offering for
Matthew ; and having partaken for thanksgiv-
ing ^ of the undefiled and life-giving mysteries
of Christ, they all glorified God.
And it was about the sixth hour, and Plato
sees the sea opposite about seven furlongs off;
and, behold, Matthew was standing on the sea,
and two men, one on each side, in shining gar-
ments, and the beautiful boy in front of them.
And all the brethren saw these things, and they
heard them saying Amen, Alleluia, And one
could see the sea fixed like a stone of crystal,
and the beautiful boy in front of them, when
out of the depth of the sea a cross came up,
and at the end of the cross the coffin going up
in which was the body of Matthew ; and in the
hour of the piercing on the cross,^ the boy
placed the coffin on the ground, behind the
palace towards the east, where the bishop had
offered the offering for Matthew.
And the king having seen these things from
the upper part of the house, and being terror-
struck, went forth from the palace, and ran and
worshipped towards the east at the coffin, and
fell down before the bishop, and the presbyters,
and the deacons, in repentance and confession,
saying : 5 Truly I believe in the true God, Christ
' Ps cxvi. 13.
2 Ps. iii. 5 according to the LXX.
3 Or, of the Eucharist.
* The meaning is not clear. The other MS. has: After one hour he
sees in that place an image of a cross coming up from the depth of the
sea. [1 he Vienna .\is. varies more than this extract indicates. — R. ]
5 The other [Vienna] MS. is much fuller here: And the cry of the
multitude came to the king. And he asked: What is the uproar and
shouting among the people? And he learned that Matthew's coffin had
come of itself. Then, filled with great joy, the king straightway goes to
the coffin, crying out, and saying with a loud voice: The God of Mat-
thew is the only Cod, and there is none other but Him. And he fell
on his face near the coffin, saying: Pardon me, I^ord Jesus Christ,
for what I have done against this holy man, for I was in ignorance.
And the bishop, seeing the repentance and tears of the king, gave
him a hand, and raised him from the ground, and said to him: Rise
up, and be of good courage ; for the Lord God hath accepted thy re-
pentance and conversion through the good offices of His servant and
apostle Thomas. And the king rose up from the ground, and fell at
the bishop's feet, etc. — as in the text.
Jesus. I entreat, give me the seal in Christ,
and I will give you my palace, in testimony of
Matthew, and you shall put the coffin upon my
golden bed, in the great dining-room ; only, hav-
ing baptized me in it, communicate to me the
Eucharist of Christ. And the bishop having
prayed, and ordered him to take off his clothes,
and having examined him for a long time, and
he having confessed and wept over what he had
done, having sealed him, and anointed him
with oil, put him down into the sea, in the name
of Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost. And when
he came up from the water he ordered him to
put on himself splendid garments, and so then
having given praise and thanks, communicating
the holy bread and mixed cup, the bishop first
gave them to the king, saying : Let this body of
Christ, and this cup, His blood shed for us, be
to thee for the remission of sins unto life. And
a voice was heard from on high : Amen, amen,
amen. And when he had thus communicated
in fear and joy, the apostle appeared and said :
King Fulvanus, thy name shall no longer be
Fulvanus ; but thou shalt be called INIatthew,
And thou, the son of the king, .shalt no longer
be called Fulvanus, but Matthew also ; and thou
Ziphagia, the wife of the king, shalt be called
Sophia ; ^ and Erva, the wife of your son, shall
be called Synesis.? And these names of yours
shall be written in the heavens, and there shall
not fail of your loins from generation to genera-
tion. And in that same hour Matthew appoint-
ed the king a presbyter, and he was thirty-seven
years old ; and the king's son he appointed dea-
con, being seventeen years old ; and the king's
wife he appointed a presbyteress ; and his son's
wife he appointed a deaconess,^ and she also was
seventeen years old. And then he thus blessed
them, saying : The blessing and the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ shall be with you to time ever-
lasting.
Then the king, having awakened out of sleep,
and rejoiced with all his house at the vision of
the holy Apostle Matthew, praised God.
And the king, having gone into his palace,
broke all the idols to pieces, and gave a decree
to those in his kingdom, writing thus : King
Matthew, to all those under my kingdom, greet-
ing. Christ having appeared upon earth, and
having saved the human race, the so-called gods
have been found to be deceivers, and soul-de-
stroyers, and plotters against the human race.
Whence, divine grace having shone abroad, and
come even to us, and we having come to the
knowledge of the deception of the idols, that it
is vain and false, it has seemed good to our
divinity that there should not be many gods, but
6 Wisdom.
7 Understanding.
8 The other [Vienna] MS. has:
daughter-in-law deaconesses.
And likewise his wife and his
534 ACTS AND MARTYRDOM OF ST. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE.
one, and one only, the God in the heavens. And
you, having received this our decree, keep to
the purport of it, and break to pieces and destroy
every idol ; and if any one shall be detected
from this time forth serving idols, or concealing
them, let such an one be subjected to punish-
ment by the sword. Farewell all, because we
also are well.
And when this order was given out, all, re-
joicing and exulting, broke their idols to pieces,
crying out and saying : There is one only God, He
who is in the heavens, who does good to men.
And after all these things had come to pass,
Matthew the apostle of Christ appeared to the
bishop Plato, and said to him : Plato, servant of
God, and our brother, be it known unto thee,
that after three years shall be thy rest in the
Lord, and exultation to ages of ages. And the
king himself, whom after my own name I have
called Matthew, shall receive the throne of thy
bishopric, and after him his son. And he, hav-
ing said Peace to thee and all the saints, went to
heaven.
And after three years the bishop Plato rested
in the Lord. And King Matthew succeeded
him, having given up his kingdom willingly to
another, whence there was given him grace
against unclean demons, and he cured every
affliction. And he advanced his son to be a
presbyter, and made him second to himself.
And Saint Matthew finished his course in the
country of the man-eaters, in the city of Myrna,
on the sixteenth of the month. of November, our
Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom be glory
and strength, now and ever, and to ages of ages.
Amen.'
' The other [Paris] MS. ends differently: And there came a voice.
Peace to you, and joy, for there shall not be war nor stroke of sword
in this city, because of Matthew, mine elect, whom I have loved for
ever. Blessed are they who observe his memory, for they shall be
glorified to ages of ages.
And the day of his commemoration shall be the fourteenth of the
month of Gorpiaeus.- Glory, honour, and worship to God, and to
the .Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages. [The
Paris MS. is usually followed by Tischendorf. But in the three con-
cluding paragraphs, as given in the text above, he follows the
Vienna MS. — R.]
2 Gorpiseus was the eleventh month of the Macedonian year, and
fell partly in August and partly in September.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
At that time we the apostles were all in Jeru-
salem— Simon called Peter, and Andrew his
brother ; James the son of Zebedee, and John
his brother ; Philip and Bartholomew ; Thomas,
and Matthew the tax-gatherer ; James of Alphaeus
and Simon the Cananoean ; and Judas of James ; '
— and we portioned out the regions of the world,
in order that each one of us might go into the
region that fell to him, and to the nation to which
the Lord sent him. By lot, then, India fell to
Judas Thomas,- also called Didymus. And he
did not wish to go, saying that he was not able
to go on account of the weakness of the flesh ;
and how can I, being an Hebrew man, go among
the Indians to proclaim the truth? And while
he was thus reasoning and speaking, the Saviour
appeared to him through the. night, and said to
him : Fear not, Thomas ; go ^way to India, and
proclaim the word ; for my grace shall be with
thee. But he did not obey, saying : Wherever
Thou wishest to send me, send me elsewhere ;
for to the Indians I am not going.
And as he was thus speaking and growing
angry, there happened to be there a certain
merchant come from India, by name Abbanes,
sent from the king Gundaphoros, and having
received an order from him to buy a carpenter
and bring him to him. And the Lord, having
seen him walking about in the market at noon,
said to him : Dost thou wish to buy a carpenter ?
And he said to Him : Yes. And the Lord said
to him : I have a slave a carpenter, and I wish
to sell him. And having said this. He showed
him Thomas at a distance, and agreed with him
for three pounds of uncoined silver ; and He
wrote a bill of sale, saying : I Jesus, the son of
Joseph the carpenter, declare that I have sold
my slave, Judas by name, to thee Abbanes, a mer-
chant of Gundaphoros, the king of the Indians.
And the purchase ^ being completed, the Saviour
taking Judas, who also is Thomas, led him to
Abbanes the merchant ; and Abbanes seeing
him, said to him : Is this thy master? And the
apostle answered and said : Yes, He is my Lord.
■ This list is a transcript of Matt. x. 2-4, except in the last name
2 This double name is in accordance with a tradition preserved by
Eusebius {H. E., i. 13), that the true name of Thomas was Judas.
3 Or, bill of sale.
And he says : I have bought thee from him. And
the apostle held his peace.
And at dawn of the following day, the apostle
having prayed and entreated the Lord, said : I
go wherever Thou wishest, O Lord Jesus ; Thy
will be done. And he went to Abbanes the
merchant, carrying nothing at all with him, but
only his price. For the Lord had given it to
him, saying : Let thy worth also be with thee
along with my grace, wherever thou mayst go.
And the apostle came up Avith Abbanes, who
was carrying his effects into the boat. He
began therefore also to carry them along with
him. And when they had gone on board and
sat down, Abbanes questioned the apostle, say-
ing : What kind of work dost thou know? And
he said : In wood, ploughs, and yokes, and
balances,'' and boats, and boats' oars, and masts,
and blocks ; in stone, slabs, s and temples, and
royal palaces. And Abbanes the merchant said
to him : Of such a workman, to be sure, we have
need. They began, therefore, to sail away. And
they had a fair wind, and they sailed fast until
they came to Andrapolis, a royal city.
And having gone out of the boat, they went
into the city. And, behold, the voices of flute-
players, and of water - organs, and trumpets,
sounding round them ; and the apostle inquired,
saying : What festival is this in this city ? And
those who were there said to him : The gods
have brought thee also, that thou mayst be
feasted in this city. For the king has an only-
begotten daughter, and he is now giving her to
a husband in marriage : this festival, then, which
thou seest to-day, is the rejoicing and public
assembly for the marriage. .And the king has
sent forth heralds to proclaim everywhere that
all are to come to the marriage, rich and poor,
bond and free, strangers and citizens. And if
any one shall refuse and not come to the mar-
riage, he will be answerable to the king.*" And
Abbanes having heard, said to the apostle : Let
us also go, then, that we may not offend the king,
and especially as we are strangers. And he said :
Let us go. And having turned into the inn, and
* Or, scales.
5 i.e., monuments.
^ Comp. Matt. xxii. 3-14.
535
5^6
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
rested a little, they went to the marriage. And
the apostle seeing them all reclining, reclined he
also in the midst. And they all looked at him as
a stranger, and coming from a foreign land. And
Abbanes the merchant, as being a lord, reclined
in another place.
And when they had dined and drunk, the
apostle tasted nothing. Those, then, about him
said to him : Why hast thou come hither, nei-
ther eating nor drinking ? And he answered and
said to them : For something greater than food
or even drink have I come hither, even that I
might accomplish the will of the King. For the
heralds proclaim the wishes of the King, and
whoever will not hear the heralds will be liable to
the judgment of the King. When, therefore,
they had dined and drunk, and crowns and per-
fumes had been brought, each took perfume,
and one anointed his face, another his cheek,'
and one one part of his body, and another an-
other. And the apostle anointed the crown of
his head, and put a little of the ointment in his
nostrils, and dropped it also into his ears, and
applied it also to his teeth, and carefully anointed
the parts round about his heart ; and having
taken the crown that was brought to him
wreathed of myrtle and other flowers, he put it
on his head, and took a branch of reed in his
hand, and held it.
And the flute-girl, holding the flutes in her
hand, went round them all ; and when she came
to the place where the apostle was, she stood
over him, playing the flute over his head a
long time. And that flute-girl was Hebrew by
race.
And as the apostle looked away to the ground,
a certain one of the wine-pourers ^ stretched
forth his hand and struck him. And the apos-
tle, having raised his eyes, and regarded him
who had struck him, said : My God will forgive
thee this wrong in the world to come, but in this
world He will show His wonders, and I shall
soon see that hand that struck me dragged along
by a dog. And having thus spoken, he began
to sing and to repeat this song : —
Maiden, daughter of the hght, in whom there
exists and abides the majestic splendour of
kings ; and delightsome is the sight of her, re-
splendent with brilliant beauty. Her garments
are like spring flowers, and the odour of a sweet
smell is given forth from them ; and on the
crown of her head the king is seated, feeding
with his own ambrosia those who are seated be-
side him ; and truth rests upon her head, and
she shows forth joy with her feet ; and becom-
ingly does she open her mouth ; thirty-and-two
are they who sing her praises, and their tongue
' Or, chin.
2 Or, cup-bearers.
is like a curtain of the door which is drawn for
them who go in ; and her neck is made in the
likeness of the stairs which the first Creator
created ; and her two hands signify and repre-
sent the choral dance of the blessed ages, pro-
claiming it ; and her fingers represent the gates
of the city. Her chamber lighted up breathes
forth scent from balsam and every perfume, and
gives forth a sweet odour of myrrh and savoury
herbs ; and within are strewn myrtles and sweet-
smelling flowers of. all kinds ; and the bridal
chambers are adorned with calamus.^ And her
groomsmen, of whom the number is seven, whom
she has chosen for herself, surround her like a
wall ; and her bridesmaids are seven, who dance
before her ; and twelve are they in number who '
minister before her and are at her bidding, hav-
ing their gaze and their sight upon the bride-
groom, that through the sight of him they may
be enlightened. And they shall be with him to
everlasting in that everlasting joy, and they shall
sit down in that wedding to which the great ones
are gathered together, and they shall abide in
the festivities of which the eternals are deemed
worthy ; and they shall- be arrayed in royal rai-
ment, and shall put on shining robes ; and in
joy and exultation both of them shall be, and
they shall glorify the Father of the universe,
whose m.ajestic light they have received, and
they have been enlightened by the sight of Him
their Lord, whose 4mbrosial food they have re-
ceived, of which there is no failing at all ; and
they have drunk also of the wine which brings to
them no thirst, neither desire of the flesh ; and
they have with the living spirit glorified and
praised the father of truth and the mother of
wisdom.
And when he had sung and finished this song,
all who were there present looked upon him and
kept silence, and they also saw his form changed ;
and what had been said by him they did not
understand, since he was a Hebrew, and what
had been said by him had been said in Hebrew.
But the flute-girl alone heard all, for she was
Hebrew by race, and standing off" from him she
played the flute to the others ; but at him
she mostly turned her eyes and looked, for she
altogether loved him as a man of the same nation
with herself, and he was also beautiful in appear-
ance above all who were there. And when the
flute-girl had come to the end of all her flute-
playing, she sat down opposite him, and looked
and gazed upon him. But he looked at no one
at all, neither did he regard any one, but only
kept his eyes on the ground, waiting until he
should depart thence. And that wine-pourer
that struck him came down to the fountain to
draw water ; and there happened to be a lion
3 Ex. XXX. 23; Cant. iv. 14; Ezek. xxvii. 19.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
537
there, and it came forth and killed him, and
left him lying in the place, after tearing up his
limbs ; and dogs immediately seized his limbs,
among which also one black dog, laying hold of
his right hand in his mouth, brought it to the
place of the banquet.
And all seeing were terror-struck, inquiring
which of them had been taken off. And when
it was clear that it was the hand of the wine-
pourer who had struck the apostle, the flute-girl
broke her flutes in pieces, and threw them away,
and went and sat down at the feet of the apostle,
saying : This man is either God or God's apostle ;
for I heard him saying in Hebrew to the wine-
pourer, I shall soon see the hand that struck me
dragged about by dogs, which also you have
now seen ; for as he said, so also it has come to
pass. And some believed her, and some not.
And the king, having heard, came up and said
to him : Rise up, and go with me, and pray for
my daughter ; for she is my only child, and to-
day I give her away. And the apostle would not
go with him ; for his Lord had not at all been
revealed to him there. And the king took him
away against his will to the bridal-chamber, that
he might pray for them.
And the apostle stood, and began to pray and
speak thus : My Lord and my God, who accom-
panies His servants on their way, guiding and di-
recting those who trust in Him, the refuge and the
repose of the afflicted, the hope of the mourners,
and the deliverer of the captives, the physician
of the souls that are lying under disease, and
Saviour of every creature, who gives life to the
world, and invigorates our souls ! Thou knowest
what will come to pass, who also for our sakes
makest these things perfect : Thou, Lord, who
revealest hidden mysteries, and declarest un-
speakable words; Thou, Lord, the planter of the
good tree, also through the tree makest words to
spring up ; Thou, Lord, who art in all, and
camest through all, and existest in all Thy works,
and makest Thyself manifest through the work-
ing of them all ; Jesus Christ, the Son of com-
passion, and perfect Saviour ; Christ, Son of the
living God, the undaunted Power which has
overthrown the enemy ; and the voice heard by
the rulers,' which shook all their powers ; the
ambassador who was sent to them from on high,
and who wentest down even to Hades ; who also,
having opened the doors, didst bring out thence
those that had been shut i.i for many ages by
the controller of the world, and didst show them
the way up that leads up on high : I beseech
Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, I offer Thee supplica-
tion for these young persons, that Thou mayst
make what happens and befalls them to be for
their good. And having laid his hands on them,
* Comp. Ps. xxiv. 7, according to the LXX.
and said. The Lord will be with you, he left them
in the place, and went away.^
And the king requested the groomsmen to go
out of the bridal-chamber ; and all having gone
forth, and the doors having been shut, the bride-
groom raised the curtain of the bridal-chamber,
that he might bring the bride to himself. And
he saw the Lord Jesus talking with the bride, and
having the appearance of Judas Thomas, who
shortly before had blessed them, and gone out
from them ; and he says to him : Didst thou not
go out before them all ? And how art thou found
here ? And the Lord said to him : I am not
Judas, who also is Thomas ; I am his brother.
And the Lord sat down on the bed, and ordered
them also to sit down on the seats ; ^ and He
began to say to them : —
Keep in mind, my children, what my brother
said to you, and to whom he commended you ;
and this know, that if you refrain from this filthy
intercourse, you become temples holy a/u/ pure,
being released from afflictions and troubles,
known and unknown, and you will not be
involved in the cares of life, and of children,
whose end is destruction ; but if you get many
children, for their sakes you become grasping
and avaricious, plundering orphans, coveting the
property of widows, and by doing this you sub-
ject yourselves to most grievous punishments.
For many children become unprofitable, being
harassed by demons, some openly and others
secretly : for they become either lunatics, or
half-withered, or lame, or deaf, or dumb, or par-
alytics, or idiots ; and even if they be in good
health, they will be again good-for-nothing, doing
unprofitable and abominable works : for tliey
will be detected either in adultery, or in murder,
or in theft, or in fornication, and by all these
you will be afflicted. But if you will be per-
suaded, and preserve your souls pure to God,
there will be born to you living children, whom
these hurtful things do not touch ; and you will
be without care, spending an untroubled life, free
from grief and care, looking forward to receive
that marriage incorruptible and true ; and you
will be in it companions of the bridegroom,
going in along with Him into that bridal-cham-
ber full of immortality and light.*
And when the young people heard this, they
believed the Lord, and gave themselves over
into His keeping, and refrained from filthy lust,
and remained thus spending the night in the
place. And the Lord went out from before
them, having spoken thus to them : The grace
of the Lord shall be with you. And the dawn
having come on, the king arrived, and having
2 Three of the five msS. either omit the prayer altogether, or give
it very briefly.
3 Or, couches.
* The text of this exhortation also varies much in the four MSS.
which give it.
538
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
supplied the table, brought it in before the bride-
groom and the bride ; and he found them sit-
ting opposite each other, and he found the face
of the bride uncovered, and the bridegroom was
quite cheerful. And the mother having come
to the bride, said : Wherefore dost thou sit thus,
child, and art not ashamed, but thus as if thou
hadst for a long time lived with thine own hus-
band ? And her father said : Is it because of
thy great love to thy husband that thou art un-
covered ?
And the bride answered and said : Truly,
father, I am in great love, and I pray to my
Lord to continue to me the love which I have
experienced this night, and I shall beg for my-
self this husband whom I have experienced to-
day. For this reason, then, I am no longer cov-
ered, since the mirror ' of shanie has been taken
away from me, and I am no longer ashamed nor
abashed, since the work of shame and bashful-
ness has been removed far from me ; and be-
cause I am not under any violent emotion, since
violent emotion does not abide in me ; and
because I am in cheerfulness and joy, since the
day of joy has not been disturbed ; and because
I hold of no account this husband, and these
nuptials that have passed away from before mine
eyes, since I have been joined in a different
marriage ; and because I have had no inter-
course with a temporary husband, whose end is
with lewdness and bitterness of soul, since I have
been united to a true Husband.
And when the bride is saying yet more, the
bridegroom answers and says : I thank Thee,
Lord, who hast been proclaimed by the stranger
and found by us ; ^ who hast put corruption far
from me, and hast sown life in me ; who hast
delivered me from this disease, hard to heal,
and hard to cure, and abiding for ever, and es-
tablished in me sound health ; who hast shown
Thyself to me, and hast revealed to me all that
concerns me, in which I am ; who hast re-
deemed me from falling, and hast led me to
something better, and who hast released me from
things temporary, and hast deemed me worthy
of things immortal and ever existing ; who hast
I Or, look.
* Or, in us.
brought Thyself down even to me and to my
littleness, in order that, having placed me beside
Thy greatness. Thou mightest unite me to Thy-
self; who hast not withheld Thine own compas-
sion from me lost, but hast shown me how to
search myself, and to know what^ I was and
what 3 and how I am now, in order that I may
again become as I was ; whom I indeed did not
know, but Thou Thyself whom I knew not hast
sought me out and taken me to Thyself; whom
I have experienced, and am not now able to for-
get, whose love is fervent in me ; and speak in-
deed as I ought I cannot. But what I have
time to say about Him is short, and altogether
little, and not in proportion to His glory ; but
He does not find fault with me for not being
ashamed to say to Him even what I do not
knov/ ; because it is through the love of Him that
I say even this.
And the king, having heard these things from
the bridegroom and the' bride, rent his garments,
and said to those standing near him : Go out
quickly, and go round the whole city, and seize
and bring me that man, the sorcerer, who has
come for evil into this "city : for I led him with
my own hands into my house, and I told him to
pray for my most unfortunate daughter ; and
whoever shall find him and bring him to me,
whatever service he shall ask of me, I give him.
They went away, therefore, and went round seek-
ing him, and found him not ; for he had sailed.
They went, therefore, also into the inn where he
had stayed, and found there the flute-girl weep-
ing and in distress, because he had not taken
her with him. And they having recounted what
had happened in the case of the young people,
she was altogether glad when she heard it, and
dismissed her grief, and said : Now have I found,
even I, repose here. And she arose and went
to them, and was with them a long time, until
they had instructed the king also. And many
also of the brethren were gathered together
there, until they heard word of the apostle, that
he had gone down to the cities of India, and
was teaching there. And they went away, and
joined him.
3 Or, who.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS,
WHEN HE CAME INTO INDIA, AND BUILT THE PALACE IN THE HEAVENS.
And when the apostle came into the cities of
India, with Abbanes the merchant, Abbanes went
away to salute Gundaphoros the king, and re-
ported to him about the carpenter whom he had
brought with him ; and the king was glad, and
ordered him to come in to himself. And when
he had come in, the king said ■ to him : What
trade knowest thou ? The apostle says to him :
The carpenter's and housebuilder's. The king
says to him : What work in wood knowest thou,
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
539
then, and what in stone ? The apostle says : In
wood, ploughs, yokes, balances, pulleys, and
boats, and oars, and masts ; and in stone, monu-
ments, temples, royal palaces. And the king
said : Wilt thou build me a palace ? And he
answered : Yes, I shall build it, and finish it ; for
because of this I came, to build houses, and to
do carpenter's work.
And the king having taken him, went forth
out of the gates of the city, and began to talk
with him on the way about the building of the
palace, and about the foundations, how they
should be laid, until they came to that place in
which he wished the building to be. And he
said : Here I wish the building to be. And the
apostle says : Yes ; for assuredly this place is
convenient for the building. For the place was
well wooded, and there was much water there.
The king therefore says : Begin to build. And
he said : I cannot begin to build at this time.
And the king says : When wilt thou be able ?
And he says : I shall begin in Dius and end
in Xanthicus.' And the king wondering, said :
Every building is built in summer ; but canst
thou build and make a palace in winter itself?
And the apostle said : Thus it must be, and
otherwise it is impossible. And the king said :
If, therefore, this be thy opinion, mark out for
me how the work is to be, since I shall come
here after some time. And the apostle, having
taken a reed, measured the place, and marked
it out ; and he set the doors towards the rising
of the sun, to look to the light, and the windows
towards its setting, to the winds ; and he made
the bakehouse to be towards the south, and the
water-tank, for abundance, towards the north.
And the king seeing this, said to the apostle :
Thou art a craftsman indeed, and it is fitting
that thou shouldst serve kings. And having left
many things for him, he went away.
And from time to time he also sent the money
that was necessary, for the living both of him
and the other workmen. And he taking it, dis-
penses it all, going about the cities and the places
round, distributing and doing kindnesses to the
poor and the afflicted, and gave them rest,^ say-
ing : The king knows how to obtain royal rec-
ompense, and it is necessary for the poor to have
repose for the present.
And after this, the king sent a messenger to
the apostle, having written to him as follows :
Show me what thou hast done, or what I am to
send thee, or what thou needest. The apostle
sends to him, saying : The palace is built, and
' Dius was the first, and Xanthicus the sixth, of the twelve
lunar months of the Macedonian calendar, which after the time of
Alexander was adopted by the Greek cities of Asia generally. Dius
fell partly in October and partly in November; Xanthicus answered
generally to April. — Smith's Diet, of Antiq., s. 7>. Mensis.
Another reading is: I shall begin in Hyperberetseus — the twelfth
month.
^ Or, remission.
only the roof remains to be done. And the
king, having heard, sent him again gold and
silver uncoined, and wrote to him : Let the pal-
ace, if it be done, be roofed. And the apostle
said to the Lord : I thank Thee, Lord, as to all
things, that Thou didst die for a short tune,
that I might live in Thee for ever; and hast sold
me, so that Thou mayst deliver many through
me. And he did not cease to teach and refresh
the afflicted, saying : These things the Lord hath
dispensed to us, and He gives to each his food ;
for He is the support of the orphans, and the
provider of the widows, and to all that are af-
flicted He is rest and repose.
And when the king came into the city, he
inquired of his friends about the palace which
Judas, who also is Thomas, had built ; and they
said to him : He has neither built a palace, nor
done anything else of what he promised to do ;
but he goes round the cities and the districts,
and if he has anything he gives all to the poor,
and teaches one new God,^ and heals the dis-
eased, and drives out demons, and does many
other extraordinary things ; and we think that he
is a magician. But his acts of compassion, and
the cures done by him as a free gift, and still
more, his single-mind edness, and gentleness, and
fidelity, show that he is a just man, or an apostle
of the new God whom he preaches ; for he con-
tinually fasts and prays, and eats only bread with
salt, and his drink is water, and he carries one
coat, whether in warm weather or in cold, and
he takes nothing from any one, but gives to
others even v/hat he has. The king having
heard this, stroked his face with his hands,
shaking his head for a long time.
And he sent for the merchant that had brought
him, and for the apostle, and said to him : Hast
thou built me the palace? And he said : Yes, I
have built it. And the king said : When, then,
are we to go and see it? And he answered and
said : Now thou canst not see it ; but when thou
hast departed this life, thou shalt see it. And
the king, quite enraged, ordered both the mer-
chant, and Judas who also is Thomas, to be put
in chains, and to be cast into prison, until he
should examine, and learn to whom he had given
the king's property. And thus I shall destroy
him along with the merchant. And the apostle
went to prison rejoicing, and said to the mer-
chant : Fear nothing at all, but only believe in the
God proclaimed by me, and thou shalt be freed
from this world, and thou shalt obtain life in the
world to come.
And the king considered by what death he
should kill them ; and when it seemed good to
him to flay them, and burn them with fire, on
that very night Gad the king's brother fell ill,
3 One of the Mss. has: that there is one God, namely Jesus.
540
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
and through the gfief and imposition which the
king suffered he was grievously depressed ; and
having sent for the king, he said to him : My
brother the king, I commend to thee my house
and my children ; for I, on account of the insult
that has befallen thee, have been grieved, and
am dying ; and if thou do not come down with
vengeance upon the head of that magician, thou
wilt give my soul no rest in Hades. And the
king said to his brother : During the whole night
I have considered this, how I shall put him to
death ; and this has seemed good to me — to
flay him and burn him up with fire, both him and
with him the merchant that brought him.
And as they were talking together, the soul
of Gad his brother departed. And the king
mourned for Gad exceedingly, for he altogether
loved him. And he ordered him to be prepared
for burial in a royal and costly robe. And as
this was being done, angels received the soul of
Gad the king's brother, and took it up into
heaven, showing him the places and dwellings
there," asking him : In what sort of a place dost
thou wish to dwell? And when they came near
the edifice of Thomas the apostle, which he had
built for the king. Gad, seeing it, said to the
angels, 1 entreat you, my lords, permit me to
dwell in one of the underground chambers of
this palace. And they said to him : Thou canst
not dwell in this building.' And he said :
Wherefore ? They say to him : This palace is
the one which that Christian built for thy brother.
And he said : I entreat you, my lords, permit
me to go to my brother, that I may buy this
palace from him ; for my brother does not know
what it is like, and he will sell it to me.
Then the angels let the soul of Gad go. And
as they were putting on him the burial" robe, his
soul came into him. And he said to those stand-
ing round him : Call my brother to me, that I
may beg of him one request. Straightway,
therefore, they sent the good news to their king,
saying : Thy brother has come alive again. And
the king started up, and along with a great mul-
titude went to his brother, and went in and stood
beside his bed as if thunderstruck, not being able
to speak to him. And his brother said : I know
and am persuaded, brother, that if any one asked
of thee the half of thy kingdom, thou wouldst
give it for my sake ; wherefore I entreat thee to
grant me one favour, which I beg of thee to do
me. And the king answered and said : And
what is it that thou askest me to do for thee?
And he said : Assure me by an oath that thou
wilt grant it me. And the king swore to him :
Of what belongs to me, whatever thou shalt ask,
' One MS. has: But if thou buy it, thou shalt live in it. And he
said to them: Can I buy it? And they said to him: See that thou
obtain one like this which thou seest, or better if thou wilt, that
when thou comest hither again, thou mayst not be driven into the
darkness.
I will give thee. And he says to him : Sell me
that palace which thou hast in the heavens. And
the king said : Whence does a palace in the
heavens belong to me ? And he said : That
which the Christian who is now in the prison,
whom the merchant bought from a certain Jesus,
and brought to thee, built for thee. And as he
was at a loss, he says to him again : I speak of
that Hebrew slave whom thou didst wish to pun-
ish, as having suffered some imposition from him,
on account of whom I also was grieved and died,
and now have come alive again.
Then the king, having come to know, under-
stood about the eternal benefits that were con-
ferred upon him and destined for him, and said :
That palace I cannot sell thee, but I pray thee to
go into it, and dwell there, and become worthy
to be of its inhabitants ; but if thou really wishest
to buy such a palace, behold, the man is alive,
and will build thee a better than ihat.^ ' And
having sent immediately, he brought out of the
prison the apostle, and the merchant who had
been shut up along with him, saying : I entreat
thee, as a man entreating the servant of God,
that thou wilt pray for me, and entreat him
whose servant thou art, to pardon me, and over-
look what I have done to thee, or even what I
meant to do, and that I may be worthy to be an
inhabitant of that house for which indeed I have
laboured nothing, but which thou labouring alone
hast built for me, the grace of thy God working
with thee ; and that I may become a servant, I
also, and slave of this God whom thou proclaimest.
And his brother, falling down before the aposde,
said : I entreat thee, and supplicate before thy
God, that I may become worthy of this ministry
and service, and may be allotted to become
worthy of those things which were shown me by
his angels.
And the apostle, seized with joy, said : I make
full confession ^ to Thee, Lord Jesus, that Thou
hast revealed Thy truth in these men : for Thou
alone art a God of truth, and not another ; and
Thou art He who knowest all things that are un-
known to many : Thou art He, Lord, who in all
things showest compassion and mercy to men ;
for men, through the error that is in them, have
overlooked Thee, but Thou hast not overlooked
them. And now, when I am entreating and
supplicating Thee, accept the king and his
brother, and unite them into Thy fold, having
2 One of the MSS. here ends the history in these words: — And
he sent, and brought out Thomas, and said to him: Pardon us if we
have in ignorance been in any way harsh to thee ; and make us to be
partakers of him whom thou preachest. And the apostle says: I too
rejoice with you, that you are made partakers of His kingdom. And
he took and enlightened them, having given them the washing of
grace in the name of Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, to whom is
due all glory and kingdom without end. And when they had gone
up straightway out of the water, the Saviour appeared to them, so that
the apostle wondered, and a great light shone brighter than the rays
of the sun. And having confirmed their faith, he went out, going on
his way in the Lord.
3 i.e., give thanks, as in Matt. xi. 25, Luke x. 21, etc.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
541
cleansed them by Thy purification, and anointed
them with Thy oil, fi-om the error which encom-
passeth them ; and protect them also fi-om the
wolves, bringing them into Thy meadows ; and
give them to drink of Thy ambrosial fountain,
that is never muddy and never faileth : for they
entreat Thee, and supplicate, and wish to be-
come Thy ministers and servants ; and on ac-
count of this they are well pleased even to be
persecuted by Thine enemies, and for Thy sake
to be hated by them, and insulted, and to die ;
as Thou also for our sakes didst suffer all these
things, that Thou mightst gain us to Thyself, as
being Lord, and truly a good shepherd. And
do Thou grant them that they may have confi-
dence in Thee alone, and aid from Thee, and
hope of their salvation, which they obtain from
Thee alone, and that they may be confirmed in
Thy mysteries ; and they shall receive the per-
fect benefits of Thy graces and gifts, and flourish
in Thy service, and bear fruit to perfection in
Thy Father.
King Gundaphoros, therefore, and Gad, hav-
ing been altogether set apart by the apostle,
followed him, not at all going back, they also
providing for those that begged of them, giving
to all, and relieving all. And they entreated
him that they might also then receive the seal
of baptism ; and they said to him : As our souls
are at ease, and as we arc earnest about God,
give us the seal ; for we have heard thee saying
that the God whom thou proclaimest recognises
through his seal his own sheep. And the apostle
said to them : And I am glad, and entreat you
to receive this seal, and to communicate with
me in this thanksgiving ' and blessing of God,
and to be made perfect in it ; =■• for this Jesus
Christ whom I proclaim is Lord and God of all,
and He is the Father of truth, in whom I have
taught you to believe. And he ordered to bring
them oil, in order that through the oil they might
receive the seal. They brought the oil, there-
fore, and lighted many lamps, for it was night. ^
And the apostle arose, and sealed them ; and
the Lord was revealed to them, through a voice
saying, Peace to you, brethren ! And they heard
His voice only, but His form they saw not ; for
they had not yet received the ratification* of the
seal. And the apostle, having taken oil, and
' Or, Eucharist.
2 i.e., by it.
3 One MS. for this whole section has: The two brothers having
been set apart by the apostle, said to him. Give lis the .seal in Christ.
And he ordered them to bring him oil. And ends the history thus:
And he arose, and sealed them in tlie name of Father, and Son, and
Holy Spirit, and baptized them. And the Lord was revealed to
them, through a voice saying to them. Peace unto you! And the
apostle sealed also all that were with them. And they all believed in
our Lord JesuE Christ; and the whole of India became believing.
The last sentence in the text seems to be an interpolation. The
oil was not for the lamps, but for the ceremony of baptism. The
practice of baptizing with oil instead of water — one of the " notable
and e.xecrable" heresies of the Manichasans — is said to have been
founded on this passage.
* Lit., the sealing up.
poured it over their head, and salved and anointed
them, began to say : Come, holy name of Christ,
which is above every name ; come, power of
the Most High, and perfect compassion ; come,
grace most high ; come, compassionate mother ;
come, thou that hast charge ^ of the male child ;
come, thou Avho revealest secret mysteries ;
come, mother of the seven houses, that there may
be rest for thee in the eighth house ; come, thou
presbyter of the five members — intelligence,
thought, purpose, reflection, reasoning — com-
municate with these young persons ; come. Holy
Spirit, and purify their reins and heart, and seal
them in the name of Father, and Son, and
Holy Spirit. And when they had been sealed,
there appeared to them a young man holding a
burning torch, so that their lamps were even
darkened by the approach ^ of its light. And
he went out, and disappeared from their sight.
And the apostle said to the Lord : Thy light.
Lord, is too great for us, and we cannot bear it ;
for it is too much for our sight. And when light
came, and it was dawn, having broken bread, he
made them partakers of the thanksgiving ^ of
Christ. And they rejoiced and exulted ; and
many others also iDelieved, and were added, and
came to the refuge of the Saviour.
And the apostle ceased not proclaiming, and
saying to them : Men and women, boys and
girls, young men and maidens, vigorous and
aged, both bond and free, withhold yourselves
from fornication, and covetousness, and the ser-
vice of the belly ; for under these three heads
all wickedness comes. For fornication maims
the mind, and darkens the eyes of the soul, and
becomes a hindrance of the due regulation of
the body, changing the whole man into feeble-
ness, and throwing the whole body into disease.
And insatiableness puts the soul into fear and
shame, existing by what pertains to the body,^
and forcibly seizing what belongs to another;
. . . and the service of the belly throws the
soul into cares and troubles and griefs. . . .
Since, therefore, you have been set free from
these, you are without care, and without grief,
and without fear ; and there remains to you that
which was said by the Saviour : Take no care
for the morrow, for the morrow will take care of
itself.'^ Keep in mind also that saying before
mentioned : Look upon the ravens, and behold
the fowls of the heaven, that they neither sow
nor reap, nor gather into barns, and God takes
care of them ; how much more you, O ye of
little faith ! '° But look for His appearing, and
have your hopes in Him, and believe in His
5 Lit., the administration.
6 Perhaps for TrpoufSoAf; we should read irpo/SoAr;, projection or
emanation.
' Or, communicants of the Eucharist.
8 Or, arising from the things of the body.
9 Comp. Matt. vi. 34.
■° Luke xii. 24.
542
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
name : for He is the Judge of living and dead,
and He requites to each one according to his
deeds ; and at His coming and appearance at
last no one will have as a ground of excuse, when
he comes to be judged by Him, that he has not
heard. For His heralds are proclaiming in the
four quarters of the world. Repent, therefore,
and believe the message,' and accept the yoke
of gentleness and the light burden,^ that you may
live and not die. These things lay hold of, these
things keep ; come forth from the darkness, that
the light may receive you ; come to Him who
is truly good, that from Him you may receive
grace, and place His sign upon your souls.
When he had thus said, some of the bystand-
ers said to him : It is time for this debtor to re-
ceive his debt. And he said to them : The
creditor,^ indeed, always wishes to receive more ;
but let us give him what is proper. And having
blessed them, he took bread and oil, and herbs
and salt, and gave them to eat. But he con-
tinued in his fasting, for the Lord's day was
about to dawn. And on the night following,
while he was asleep, the Lord came and stood
by his head, saying : Thomas, rise up early and
bless them all ; and after the prayer and service
go along the eastern road two miles, and there I
shall show in thee my glory. For because thou
goest away, many shall flee to me for refuge, and
thou shalt reprove the nature and the power of the
enemy. And having risen up from sleep, he said
to the brethren who were with him : Children
and brethren, the Lord wishes to do something
or other to-day through me ; but let us pray and
entreat Him that nothing may be a hindrance to
us towards Him, but as at all times let it now
also be done unto us according to His purpose
and will. And having thus spoken, he laid his
hands upon them and blessed them. And hav-
ing broken the bread of the Eucharist, he gave
it to them, saying : This Eucharist shall be ■< to
you for compassion, and mercy, and recompense,
and not for judgment. And they said : Amen.
ABOUT THE DRAGON AND THE YOUNG MAN.
And the apostle went forth to go where the
Lord had bidden him. And when he came near
the second milestone he turned a little out of the
way, and saw the body of a beautiful youth ly-
ing ; and he said : Lord, was it for this that
Thou broughtest me out to come here, that I
might see this trial ? Thy will therefore be done,
as Thou purposest. And he began to pray, and
to say : Lord, Judge of the living, and of those
that are lying dead, and Lord of all, and Father i
— Father not only of the souls that are in bodies.
' Or, announcement.
2 Matt. xi. 30.
3 Lit., master of the debt.
■♦ i.e., be.
but also of those that have gone out of them ; for
of the souls that are in pollutions Thou art Lord
and Judge — come at this time, when I call upon
Thee, and show Thy glory upon him that is lying
down here. And he turned and said to those
that followed him : This affair has not happened
idly ; but the enemy has wrought and effected
this, that he might make an assault upon him ;
and you see that he has availed himself of no
other form, and has wrought through no other
living being, but through his subject.
And when the apostle had thus spoken, behold,
a great dragon came forth from his den, knock-
ing his head, and brandishing his tail down to
the ground, and, using a loud voice, said to the
apostle : I shall say before thee for what cause I
have put him to death, since thou art here in or-
der to reprove my works. And the apostle says :
Yes, say on. And the dragon : There is a cer-
tain woman in this place exceedingly beautiful ;
and as she was once passing by, I saw her, and
fell in love with her, and I followed and watched
her : and I found this young man kissing her, and
he also had intercourse with her, and did with
her other shameful things. And to me indeed
it was pleasant to tell thee this, for I know that
thou art the twin-brother of Christ, and always
bringest our race to nought. But, not wishing
to harass her, I did not at this time put him to
death ; but I watched him passing by in the
evening, and struck him, and killed him, and es-
pecially as he had dared to do this on the Lord's
day. 5 And the apostle inquired of him, saying :
Tell me, of what seed and of what race art thou ?
And he said to him : I am the offspring of the
race of the serpent, and hurtful of the hurtful ;
I am son of him who hurt and struck the four
brothers that stood ; I am son of him who sits
on the throne of destruction, and takes his own
from what he has lent ; ^ I am son of that apos-
tate who encircles the globe ; I am kinsman to
him who is outside of the ocean, whose tail hes
in his mouth ; I am he who went into paradise
through the hedge, and spoke with Eve what my
father bade me speak to her ; I am he who in-
flamed and fired Cain to kill his brother, and
through me thorns and prickles sprang up in the
ground ; I am he who cast down the angels from
above, and bound them down by the desires of
women, that earth-born 7 children might be pro-
duced from them, and that I might work my
will in them ; ^ I am he who hardened the heart
of Pharaoh, that he should murder the children
of Israel, and keep them down by the hard
yoke of slavery ; I am he who caused the mul-
titude to err in the desert when they made the
5 In this passage we have one of the data for fixing the date o(
the writing.
<> Or, from those to whom he was lent.
' And, by impHcation, gigantic.
* Or, by them.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
543
calf; I am he who inflamed Herod and incited
Caiaphas to the lying tales of falsehood before
Pilate, for this became me ; I am he who in-
flamed Judas, and bought him, that he should
betray Christ ; I am he who inhabits and holds
the abyss of Tartarus, and the Son of God has
wronged me against my will, and has gathered
his own out of me ; I am the kinsman of him
who is to come from the east, to whom also
power has been given to do whatever he will
upon the earth.
And that dragon having thus spoken in the
hearing of all the multitude, the apostle raised
his voice on high, and said : Cease henceforth,
0 thou most unabashed, and be ashamed and
altogether put to death ; for the end of thy de-
struction is at hand, and do not dare to say what
thou hast done through thy dependants. And
1 order thee, in the name of that Jesus who even
until now makes a struggle against you for the
sake of His own human beings, to suck out the
poison which thou hast put into this man, and
to draw it forth, and take it out of him. And
the dragon said : The time of our end is by no
means at hand, as thou hast said. Why dost
thou force me to take out what I have put into
him, and to die before the time? Assuredly,
when my father shall draw forth and suck out
what he has put into the creation, then his end
will come. And the apostle said to him : Show
us, therefore, now the nature of thy father.
And the dragon went up, and put his mouth
upon the wound of the young man, and sucked
the gall out of it. And in a short time the skin
of the young man, which was like purple, grew
white, and the dragon swelled. And when the
dragon had drawn up all the gall into himself,
the young man sprang up and stood, and ran
and fell at the apostle's feet. And the dragon,
being swelled up, shrieked out and died, and his
poison and gall were poured forth ; and in the
place where his poison was poured forth there
was made a great chasm, and that dragon was
swallowed up. And the apostle said to the king
and his brother : Take workmen, and fill up the
place in which the dragon has been swallowed
up, and lay foundations, and build houses above
it, that it may be made a dwelling-place for the
strangers.
And the young man said to the apostle, with
many tears : I have sinned against the God pro-
claimed by thee, and against thee, but I ask par-
don of thee ; for thou art a man having two
forms, and wherever thou wishest there art thou
found, and thou art held in by no one, as I see.
For I beheld that man, when I stood beside
thee, who also said to thee, I have many won-
ders to show by means of thee, and I have great
works to accomplish by means of thee, for which
thou shall obtain a reward ; and thou shalt make
many to live, and they shall be in repose and
eternal light as the children of God : do thou
therefore bring alive — he says, speaking to thee
about me — this young man who has been cast
down by the enemy, and in all time be the over-
seer of him. Thou hast, then, well come hither,
and again thou shalt well go away to him, he
being not at all forsaken by thee. And I am
without care and reproach, for the dawn has risen
upon me from the care of the night, and I am
at rest ; and I have also been released from him
who exasperated me to do these things : for I
have sinned against Him who taught me the
contrary, and I have destroyed him who is the
kinsman of the night, who forced me to sin by
his own practices ; and I have found that kins-
man of mine who is like the light. I have de-
stroyed him who darkens and blinds those who
are subject to him, lest they should know what
they are doing, and, ashamed of their works,
withdraw themselves from them, and their deeds
have an end ; and I have found Him whose
works are light, and whose deeds are truth, of
which whoever does them shall not repent. I
have been set free also from him in whom false-
hood abides, whom darkness as a covering goes
before, and shame conducting herself impu-
dently in idleness follows after. And I have
found also Him who shows me what is beautiful,
that I should lay hold of it, the Son of the truth,
who is kinsman of concord, who, driving away
the mist, enlightens His own creation, and heals
its wounds, and overturns its enemies. But I
entreat thee, O man of God, make me again to
behold and see Him, now become hidden from
me, that I may also hear His voice, the wonders
of which I cannot declare : for it is not of the
nature of this bodily organ.
And the apostle said to him : If, as thou hast
also said, thou hast cast off the knowledge of
those things which thou hast received, and if
thou knowest who has wrought these things in
thee, and if thou shalt become a disciple and
hearer of Him of whom, through thy living love,
thou now desirest the sight, thou shalt both see
Him, and shalt be with Him for ever, and shalt
rest in His rest, and shalt be in His joy. But
if thou art rather carelessly disposed towards
Him, and again returnest to thy former deeds,
and lettcst go that beauty and that beaming
countenance which has now been displayed to
thee, and if the splendour of the light of Him
whom thou now desirest be forgotten by thee,
thou shalt be deprived not only of this life, but
also of that which is to come ; and thou shalt go
to him whom thou hast said thou hast destroyed,
and shalt no longer behold Him whom thou
hast said thou hast found.
And when the apostle had thus spoken, he
went into the city, holding, that young man by
544
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
the hand, and saying to him : Those things which
thou hast beheld, my child, are a few out of the
many which God has : for it is not about these
things that appear that the good news is brought
to us, but greater things than these are promised
to us ; but inasmuch as we are in the body, we
cannot tell and speak out what He will do for
our souls. If we say that He affords us light, it
is seen by us, and we have it ; and if riches,
they exist and appear in this world, and we name
them, since it has been said, With difficulty will
a rich man enter into the kingdom of the heav-
ens.' And if we speak of fine clothing, which
they who delight in this life put on, it has been
said, They that wear soft things are in kings' pal-
aces ; ^ and if costly dinners, about these we
have received a commandment to keep away
from them, not to be burdened by carousing and
drunkenness and the cares of life ; 3 as also in
the Gospel it has been said. Take no heed for
your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink ; nor for your body, what ye shall put on :
because the Ufe is more than food, and the body
than clothing."* And if we speak of this rest
lasting only for a season, its judgment has also
been ordained. But we speak about the upper
world, about God and angels, about ambrosial
food, about garments that last and become not
old, about those things which eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, nor hath there come into the
heart of sinful men what God has prepared for
those that love Him. 5 Do thou also therefore
believe in Him, that thou mayst live ; and have
confidence in Him, and thou shalt never die.
For He is not persuaded by gifts, that thou
shouldst offer them to Him ; nor does He want
sacrifices, that thou shouldst sacrifice to Him.
But look to Him, and thou shalt not look in
vain, for His comeliness and desirable beauty
will make thee love Him ; and neither will He
allow thee to turn thyself away from Him.
And when the apostle was thus speaking to
that young man, a great multitude joined them.
And the apostle looked, and saw them hfting
themselves up that they might see him ; and
they went up into elevated places. And the
apostle said to them : Ye men who have come
to the assembly of Christ, and who wish to be-
lieve in Jesus, take an example from this, and
see that if you do not get high up, you cannot
see me, who am small, and cannot get a look of
me, who am like yourselves. If, then, you can-
not see me, who am like yourselves, unless you
raise yourselves a little from the earth, how can
you see Him who lives above, and is now found
below, unless you first raise yourselves out of
' Matt. xix. 23.
2 Matt. xi. 8.
3 Rom. xiii. 13; Luke xxi. 34.
4 Matt. vi. 25.
5 I Cor. ii. 9; Isa. Ixiv. 4.
your former behaviour, and unprofitable deeds,
and troublesome desires, and the riches that are
left behind here, and created things that are of
the earth, and that grow old, and the garments
that are destroyed, and the beauty that ages and
vanishes away, yea, even out of the whole body
in which all these have been stored past, and
which grows old, and becomes dust, returning
into its own nature ? for all these things the body
itself sets up.^ But rather believe in our Lord
Jesus Christ, whorn we proclaim to you, in order
that your hope may be upon Him, and that you
may have life in Him to ages of ages, that He
may be your fellow-traveller in this land, and
may release you from error, and may become ^
a haven for you in this troublous sea. And' there
shall be for you also a fountain welling out in this
thirsty land, and a fold full of food in the place
of the hungry, and rest for your souls, and also
a physician for your bodies.
Then the multitude of those assembled that
heard, wept, and said to the apostle : O man of
God, as for the God whom thou proclaimest, we
dare not say that we are his, because our works
which we have done- are alien from him, not
pleasing to him ; but if he has compassion upon
us, and pities us, and delivers us, overlooking
our former doings ; and if he set us free from
the evil things which we did when we were in
error, and shall not take into account nor keep
the recollection of our former sins, we shall be-
come his servants, and we shall do his will to
the end. And the apostle answered and said to
them : He does not reckon against you the sins
which you did, being in error ; but He overlooks
your transgressions which you have done in igno-
rance.^
ABOUT THE DEMON THAT DWELT IN THE WOMAN.
And the apostle went into the city, all the mul-
titude accompanying him ; and he thought of
going to the parents of the young man whom,
when killed by the dragon, he had brought to
life ; for they earnestly entreated him to come
to them, and to enter into their house.
And a certain woman, exceedingly beautiful,
suddenly uttered a loud cry, saying : O apostle
-of the new God, who hast come into India, and
servant of that holy and only good God — for
through thee he is proclaimed the Saviour of the
souls that come unto him, and through thee he
heals the bodies of those that are punished by
the enemy, and thou hast become the cause of
life to all who turn to him — order me to be
brought before thee, that I may declare to thee
what has happened to me, and that perhaps
there may be hope to me from thee, and those
* Or, establishes.
7 Or, and that there maybe.
8 Comp. Acts xvii. 30.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
545
who stand beside thee may have more and more
hope in the God whom thou proclaimest. For
I am not a httle tormented by the adversary,
who has assailed me for now a period of five
years. As a woman, I formerly sat down in
peace, and peace encompassed me on all sides ;
and I had nothing to trouble me, for of nothing
else ' had I a care. And it happened on one of
the days as I was coming forth from the bath,
there met me one like a man troubled and dis-
turbed ; and his voice and utterance seemed to
me to be indistinct and very weak. And he
said, standing over against me, Thou and I shall
be in one love, and we shall have intercourse
with each other, as a man is coupled with his
wife. And I answered him, saying, To my be-
trothed I consented not, entreating him not to
marry me ; and to thee, wishing to have inter-
course with me as it were in adultery, how shall
I give myself up? And having thus spoken, I
went away from him. And to my maid I said.
Hast thou seen the young man and his shame-
lessness, how shamelessly and boldly he talks to
me? And she said to me, It was an old man I
saw talking with thee. And when I was in my
own house, and had supped, my mind suggested
to me some suspicion, and especially because he
had appeared to me in two forms. I fell asleep,
having this same thing in my thoughts. And he
came that night, and made me share in his filthy
commerce. And I saw him when it was day,
and fled from him ; but, according to his wont,
he came at night and abused me. And now, as
thou seest me, I have been tormented by him
five years, and he has not departed from me.
But I know and am persuaded that even demons,
and spirits, and avenging deities, are subject to
thee, and tremble at thy prayer. Pray, then, for
me, and drive away from me the demon that
torments me, that I also may become free, and
may be brought to my former nature, and I shall
receive the gift^ that has been granted to my
kindred.
And the apostle said : O irrepressible wicked-
ness ! O the shamelessness of the enemy ! O
the sorcerer that is never at rest ! O the ill-
favoured one, bring to subjection the well-fa-
voured ! O the many-formed one ! He appears
just as he may wish, but his essence cannot be
changed. O offspring of the crafty and insatiable
one ! O bitter tree, which also his fruits are like !
O thou who art of the devil, who fights over those
who do not belong to him ! O thou who art of
the deceit that uses shamelessness ! O thou who
art of the wickedness that creeps like a serpent,
and art thyself his kindred ! And when the apostle
had thus spoken the fiend stood before him, no
one seeing him but the woman and the apostle,
' Or, no one else.
^ Or, grace.
and with a very loud voice he said in the hearing
of all : What have we to do with thee, O apostle
of the Most High ? What have we to do with
thee, O servant of Jesus Christ? What have we
to do with thee, O thou that sittest in council
with the Holy Spirit. Wherefore dost thou wish
to destroy us, when our time has not yet come?
On what account dost thou wish to take away
our power? for until the present hour we have
had hope and time left us.^ What have we to
do with thee ? Thou hast power over thine own,
and we over our own. Why dost thou wish to
use tyranny against us, and especially thou who
teachest others not to use tyranny ? Why dost
thou want those who do not belong to thee, as if
thou wert not satisfied with thine own ? \Vhy dost
thou liken thyself to the Son of God, who has
done us hurt? For thou art like him altogether,
just as if thou hadst been brought forth by him.
For we thought to bring him also under the yoke,
like the rest ; but he turned, and held us under
his hand. For we did not know him ; but he
deceived us by the form which he had put on,
and his poverty and his want ; for when we saw
him such, we thought him to be a man clothed
with flesli, not knowing that it was he who makes
men live. And he gave us power over our own,
and, in the time in which we live, not to let our
own go, but to employ ourselves about them.
But thou wishest to get more than is necessary,
or than has been given thee, and to overpower
us.
And having thus spoken, the demon wept,
saying : I let thee go, my most lovely yoke-fel-
low,'* whom I found long ago and was at rest ; I
leave thee, my beloved and trusty sister, in whom
I was well pleased. What I shall do I know
not, or whom I sliall call upon to hear me and
protect me. I know what I shall do. I shall
go to some place where the fame of this man has
not been heard, and perhaps I shall call thee,
my beloved, by a new name. 5 And lifting up
his voice, he said : Abide in peace, having re-
ceived an asylum with a greater than I ; but I,
as I have said, will go away and seek thy like,
and if I find her not I shall again return to thee :
for I know that when thou art beside this man,
thou hast an asylum in him ; but when he has
gone away, thou shalt be as thou wast before he
made his appearance, and him indeed wilt thou
forget, and to me there will again be opportunity
and boldness ; but now I am afraid of the name
of him who has delivered thee. And having
thus said, the demon disappeared. And just
when he had disappeared, fire and smoke were
seen there, and all there present were struck
with amazement.
3 Comp. Matt. viii. 29.
* Or, wife.
S i.e., get another instead of thee, my beloved.
546
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
And the apostle seeing this, said to them :
Nothing strange or unusuarl has that demon
shown, but his own nature, in which also he shall
be burnt up ; for the fire shall consume him, and
the smoke of him shall be scattered abroad.
And he began to say : O Jesus Christ, the secret
mystery which has been revealed to us. Thou
art He who disclosest to us all manner of mys-
teries, who hast set me apart from all my com-
panions, and who hast told me three words with
which I am set on fire, and I cannot tell them
to others ; O Jesus, man slain, dead, buried ;
Jesus, God of God, and Saviour who bringest
the dead to life, and healest those who are dis-
eased ; O Jesus, who appearest to be in want,
and savest as if in want of nothing, catching the
fishes for the morning and the evening meal, and
establishing all in abundance with a little bread ;
Jesus, who didst rest from the toil of the journey
as a man, and walk upon the waves as God ; '
Jesus Most High, voice arising from perfect
compassion, Saviour of all, the right hand of the
light overthrowing him that is wicked in his own
kind, and bringing all his kind into one place ;
Thou who art only begotten, the first-born of
many brethren,- God of God Most High, man
despised until now ; Jesus Christ, who overlook-
est us not when we call upon Thee ; who hast
been shown forth to all in Thy human life ; who
for our sakes hast been judged and kept in prison,
and freest all that are in bonds ; who hast been
called a deceiver,^ and who deliverest Thine own
from deception : I entreat Thee in behalf of those
standing and entreating Thee, and those that
believe in Thee ; for they pray to obtain Thy
gifts, being of good hope in Thine aid, occupying
Thy place of refuge in Thy majesty ; they give
audience, so as to hear from us the words that
have been spoken to them. Let Thy peace
come and dwell in them, that they may be puri-
fied from their former deeds, and may put off
the old man with his deeds, and put on the new
now declared to them by me.'*
And having laid his hands on them, he blessed
them, saying : The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be upon you for ever ! '= And they said. Amen.
And the woman begged of him, saying : Apostle
of the Most High, give me the seal, that that foe
may not come back upon me again. Then hg
made her come near him ; and putting his hand
upon her, he sealed her in the name of Father,
and Son, and Holy Ghost. And many others
also were sealed along with her. And the apostle
ordered his servant^ to set out a table ; and they
' Matt. xiv. 17; John xxi. 11; John iv. 6; Matt. xiv. 25.
2 Rom. viii. 29.
3 Malt, xxvii. 63.
* Col iii. g.
5 Rom. xvi. 20.
* Or, deacon.
set out a bench ^ which they found there. And
having spread a linen cloth upon it, he put on it
the bread of the blessing. And the apostle
standing by it, said : Jesus Christ, Son of CTod,
who hast deemed us worthy to communicate of
the Eucharist of Thy sacred body and honour-
able blood, behold, we are emboldened by the
thanksgiving ^ and invocation of Thy sacred
name ; come now, and communicate with us.
And he began to say : Come, perfect compassion ;
come, communion with mankind ; come. Thou
that knowest the mysteries of the chosen one ;
come, Thou that communicatest in all the com-
bats ^ of the noble combatant ; come, peace that
revealest the great things of all greatness ; come.
Thou that disclosest secrets, and makest manifest
things not to be spoken ; the sacred dove which
has brought forth twin young ; come, thou secret
mother ; come, Thou who art manifest in Thy
deeds, and givest joy and rest to those who are
united to Thee ; come and communicate with
us in this Eucharist, which we make in Thy
name, and in the love '° in which we are united
in calling upon Thee." And having thus said,
he made the sign of the cross upon the bread,
and broke it, and began to distribute it. And
first he gave it to the woman, saying : This shall
be to thee for remission of sins, and the ransom
of everlasting transgressions. And after her, he
gave also to all the others who had received the
seal.
ABOUT THE YOUNG MAN WHO KILLED THE MAIDEN.
And there was a certain young man who had
done a nefarious deed ; and having come to the
apostle, he took the bread of the Eucharist into
his mouth, and his two hands immediately with-
ered, so that he could no longer bring them to
his mouth. And those who were present and
saw him told the apostle what had happened.
And he, having summoned him, said : Tell me,
my child, and be ashamed of nothing,'^ what
thou hast done, and why thou hast come hither ;
for the Eucharist of the Lord has convicted thee.
For this gracious gift coming to many is especially
healing to those who approach it through faith
and love ; but thee it has withered away, and
what 'has happened has happened not without
some working cause. And the young man who
had been convicted by the Eucharist of the Lord
came up, and fell at the apostle's feet, and prayed
him, saying : An evil deed has been done by
me, yet I thought to do something good. I was
7 a-vtt.^€\\i.ov, which is not Greek, is obviously the Latin sub
sellium.
^ Or, Eucharist.
9 Or, prizes,
f Or, love-feast.
" Or, in Thy calling.
'2 Or, stand in awe of no one.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
547
in love with a certain woman living outside of
the city in an inn, and she loved me. And I
having heard from thee, and believed that thou
proclaimest the living God, came and received
the seal from thee along with the others ; and
thou saidst, Whoever shall indulge in filthy in-
tercourse, and especially in adultery, shall not
have life with the God whom I proclaim.' Since,
then, I altogether loved her, I begged of her,
and persuaded her to live with me in chaste and
pure intercourse, as thou thyself teachest ; but
she would not. When therefore she would not,
I took a sword and killed her ; for I could not
see her living in adultery with another.
The apostle, having heard this, said : O mad-
dening intercourse, into what shamelessness dost
thou lead ! O unrestrained lust, how hast thou
brought him into subjection to do this ! O work
of the serpent, how dost thou rage in thine own !
And the apostle ordered water to be brought
him in a dish. And when the water had been
brought, he said : Come waters from the living
waters, existing from the existing, and sent to
us ; the fountain sent to us from repose, the
power of salvation coming from that power that
subdues all things, and subjects them to its own
will ; come and dwell in these waters, that the
gracious gift of the Holy Spirit may be fully per-
fected in them. And he said to the young man :
Go, wash thy hands in these waters. And when
he had washed, they were restored. And the
apostle said to him : Dost thou believe in our
Lord Jesus Christ, that He can do all things ?
And he said : Even though I am least of all, I
believe ; but this I did, thinking to do a good
thing : for I implored her, as also I told thee ;
but she would not be persuaded by me to keep
herself chaste.
And the apostle said to him : Come, let us go
to the inn where thou didst this deed, and let us
see what has happened. And the young man
went before the apostle on the road ; and when
they came to the inn, they found her lying. And
the apostle, seeing her, was disheartened, for she
was a beautiful maiden ; and he ordered her to
be brought into the middle of the inn. And
having ptit her on a couch, they brought it, and
set it in the midst of the court-yard of the inn.
And the apostle laid his hand on her, and began
to say : Jesus, who always appearest to us — for
this Thou always wishest, that we should seek
Thee — and Thou Thyself hast given us this
power of asking and receiving ; ^ and not only
hast Thou given us this, but hast also taught us
how to pray ; ^ who art not seen by bodily eyes,
but who art not altogether hidden from those of
our soul, and who art hidden in Thy form, but
' I Cor. vi. 9.
^ Matt. vii. 7; Luke xi. 9.
3 Matt. vi. g; Luke xi. 2.
manifested to us by Thy works ; and by Thy
many deeds we have recognised Thee as we go
on, and I'hou hast given us Thy gifts without
measure, saying. Ask, and it shall be given \ou ;
seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you.* We pray, therefore, having
suspicion of our sins ; 5 and we ask of Thee not
riches, nor gold, nor silver, nor possessions, nor
any of those things that come from the earth
and go into the earth again ; but this we beg of
Thee, and entreat that in Thy holy name Thou
raise this woman lying here by Thy power, to
the glory and faith of those standing by.
And when he had thus prayed, he sealed the
young man, and said to him : Go, and take her
by the hand, and say to her, I through my hands
killed thee with the sword ; ^ and again I raise
thee by my hands, in the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And the young man went and stood by
her, saying : I have believed in Thee, O Christ
Jesus. And looking upon Judas Thomas the
apostle, he said to him : Pray for me, that my
Lord, upon whom also I call, may come to
my help. And having laid his hand on her
hand, he said : Come, Lord Jesus Christ, giv-
ing this woman life, and me the earnest of
Thy faith. And immediately, as he drew her
hand, she sprang up, and sat, looking at the
great multitude standing round. And she also
saw the apostle standing opposite to her ; and
having left the couch, she sprang up, and fell at
his feet, and took hold of his garments, saying :
I pray thee, my lord, where is that other who is
with thee, who has not left me to remain in that
fearful and grievous place, but has given me up
to thee, saying, Do thou take her, that she may
be made perfect, and thereafter brought into
her own place ?
And the apostle says to her : Tell us where
thou hast been. And she answered : Dost thou,
who wast with me, to whom also I was entrusted,
wish to hear? And she began to say: A cer-
tain man received me, hateful in appearance, all
black, and his clothing exceedingly filthy ; and
he led me away to a place where there were
many chasms, and a great stench and most hate-
ful odour were given forth thence ; and he made
me bend down into each chasm, and I saw in
the chasm blazing fire ; and wheels of fire ran
there, and souls were hung upon those wheels,
and were dashed against each other. And there
was there crying and great lamentation, and
there was none released. And that man said to
me. These souls are of thine own nation, and
for a certain number of days ^ they have been
given over to punishment and torture ; and then
* Matt. vii. 7.
5 Or, having our sins in view.
* Lit., with iron.
' Lit., days of number.
548
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
others are brought in instead of them ; and Hke-
wise also these are again succeeded by others.
These are they who have exchanged the inter-
course of man and wife. And again I looked
down, and saw infants heaped upon each other,
and struggling and lying upon each other ; and
he answered and said to me, These are their
children, and for this have they been placed here
for a testimony against them.
And he brought me to another chasm, and I
bent down and saw mud, and worms spouting
forth, and souls wallowing there ; and a great
gnashing of teeth was heard thence from them.
And that man said to me, These are the souls
of women that left their own husbands, and
went and committed adultery with others, and
who have been brought to this torment. He
showed me another chasm, into which I bent
down and saw souls hung up, some by the
tongue, some by the hair, some by the hands,
some by the feet, head downwards, and smoked
with smoke and sulphur ; about whom that man
who was with me answered me. These souls
which are hung up by the tongue are slan-
derers, and such as have uttered false and dis-
graceful words ; those that are hiaig up by
the hair ' are those that are shameless, and
that have gone about with uncovered heads
in the world ; these hung up by the hands
are those who have taken what belongs to
others, and have stolen, and who have never
given anything to the poor, nor assisted the
afflicted ; but they so acted, wishing to get
everything, and giving no heed at all to justice
and the laws ; and these hung up by the feet
are those who lightly and eagerly ran in wicked
ways, and disorderly wickedness, not looking
after the sick, and not aiding those departing
this life, and on account of this each individual
soul is requited for what has been done by it.
Again leading me away, he showed me a
cavern, exceedingly dark, exhaling a great
stench ; and many souls were peeping out
thence, wishing to get some share of the air,
but their keepers would not let them peep out.
And he who was with me said. This is the prison
of those souls which thou seest ; for when they
shall complete their punishments for those things
which each one has done, afterwards again others
succeed them — and there are some also quite
used up — and are given up to other punish-
ments. Those, then, who guarded the souls that
were in the dark cave said to the man that had
charge of me, Give her to us, that we may take
her in beside the others, until the time comes
for her to be given up to punishment. And he
answered them, I will not give her to you, for
I am afraid of him who gave her up to me ; for I
■ Obviously omitted either in the MSS. or in the text.
received no orders to leave her here, and I shall
take her up with me until I get some injunction
about her. And he took me and brought me to
another place, in which were men who were bit-
terly tortured. And he that is like thee took me
and gave me up to thee, having thus said to
thee. Take her, since she is one of the creatures
that have been led astray. And I was taken by
thee, and am now before thee. I beg, therefore,
and supplicate thee that I may not go into those
places of punishment which I saw.
And the apostle said to the multitudes stand-
ing by : You have heard, brethren, what this wo-
man has recounted ; and these are not the only
punishments, but there are others worse than
these ; and if you do not turn to this God whom
I proclaun, and refrain from your former works
and deeds which you have done without knowl-
edge, in these punishments you shall have your
end. Believe, therefore, in our Lord Jesus Christ,
and He will forgive you the sins done by you
heretofore, and will purify you from all the bod-
ily desires that abide in the earth, and will heal
you from the faults that follow after you, and go
along with you, and are found before you. And
let each of you put off the old man, and put on
the new, and leave your former course of con-
duct and behaviour ; and let those that steal
steal no more, but let them live, labouring and
working ; ^ and let the adulterers no more com-
mit adultery, lest they give themselves up to ever-
lasting punishment ; for adultery is with God an
evil altogether grievous above other evils. Put
away also from yourselves covetousness, and ly-
ing, and drunkenness, and slandering, and re-
quiting evil for evil : for all these are alien and
strange to the God proclaimed by us ; but rather
live in faith, and meekness, and hoHness,and hope,
in which God rejoices, that ye may become His
servants, having received from Him gracious gifts,
which few or none receive.
All the people therefore believed, and pre-
sented their souls obedient to the living God
and Christ Jesus, enjoying His blessed works,
and His holy service. And they brought much
money for the service of the widows ; for he had
them collected in the cities, and he sent to all
of them by his own servants ^ what was neces-
sary, both clothing and food. But he did not
cease proclaiming and saying to them, and show-
ing that this is Jesus the Christ, concerning whom
the Scriptures proclaimed that He should come,
and be crucified, and be raised from the dead
after three days. And he showed them a second
time, beginning from the prophets, and explain-
ing the things concerning Christ, and that it was
necessary for Him to come, and for all things to
2 Eph. iv. 28.
3 Or, deacons.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THOMAS.
549
be fulfilled that had been said to us beforehand
concerning Him.'
And the report of him ran through all the
cities and countries ; and all who had persons
sick or tormented by unclean spirits brought
them, and they were healed. Some also they
laid on the road by which he was to pass, and
he healed them all by the power of the Lord.-
Then said all with one accord who had been
healed by him, with one voice : Glory to Thee,
Jesus, who givest Thy healing to all alike by
means of Thy servant and apostle Thomas.
And being in good health, and rejoicing, we
pray Thee that we may be of Thy flock, and
be numbered among Thy sheep ; receive us,
therefore, O Lord, and consider not our trans-
gressions and former offences which we did, be-
ing in ignorance.
And the apostle said : Glory to the only-be-
gotten from the Father ; ^ glory to the first-born
of many brethren ; 4 Glory to Thee, the defender
and helper of those who come to Thy place of
refuge ; Thou that sleepest not, and raisest those
that are asleep ; that livest and bringest to life
those that are lying in death ; O God Jesus Christ,
Son of the living God, redeemer and helper, re-
fuge and rest of all that labour in Thy work.
* Comp. Luke xxiv. 46.
2 Comp. Acts V. 15.
3 John 1. 14.
■* Rom. viii. 29.
who aftbrdest health to those who for Thy name's
sake bear the burden of the day, and the icy
coldness of the night ; we give thanks for the
gracious gifts that have been given us by Thee,
and for the help from Thee bestowed upon us,
and Thy providential care that has come upon us
from Thee. Perfect these things upon us, there-
fore, unto the end, that we may have confidence
in Thee ; look upon us, because for Thy sake we
have left our homes, and for Thy sake have be-
come strangers gladly and willingly ; look upon
us, O Lord, because for Thy sake we have aban-
doned our possessions, that we may have Thee
for a possession that shall not be taken away ;
look upon us, O Lord, because we have left those
related to us by ties of kindred, in order that we
may be united in relationship to Thee ; look
upon us, O Lord, who have left our fathers and
mothers, and those that nourished us, that we
may behold Thy Father, and be satisfied with His
divine nourishment : look upon us, O Lord, be-
cause for Thy sake we have left our bodily yoke-
fellows,5 and our earthly fruit, in order that we
may share in that intercourse which is lasting
and true, and bring forth true fruits, whose nature
is from above, the enjoyment of which no one
can take away from us, with which we abide, and
they abide with us.
5 i.e., wives.
CONSUMMATION OF THOMAS THE APOSTLE.
At the command of King Misdeus ^ the blessed
Apostle Thomas was cast into prison ; and he
said : I glorify God, and I shall preach the word to
the prisoners, so that all rejoiced at his presence.
When, therefore, Juzanes the king's son, and Tertia
his mother, and Mygdonia, and Markia, had be-
come believers, but were not yet thought worthy
of baptism, they took it exceedingly ill that the
blessed one had been shut up. And having
come to the prison, and given much money to
the jailor,-^ they went in to him. And he, seeing
them, was glad, and glorified the Lord, and
blessed them. And they entreated and begged
the seal in the Lord, a beautiful young man hav-
ing appeared to them in a dream, and ordered
the apostle into the house of Juzanes.
And again the beautiful }-oung man coming to
them and Thomas, bade them do this on the
coming night. And he ran before them, and
' The following translation of a MS. in the Bodleian Library, tran-
scribed by Tischendorf {Apocal. Apocr., p. 158), gives a fuller
account of the martyrdom of St. Thomas: —
MARTYRDOM OF THE HOLY AND ALL-RENOWNED
APOSTLE THOMAS.
After the apostle had gone forth, according to the command of our
Lord, and God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Lord appeared to him,
sayiiig: Peace to thee, my disciple and apostle ! And the apostle fell
on his face on the ground, and prayed the Lord to reveal to him the
circumstances of his precious departure. And the Lord said to him:
Misdseus is contriving a plan to destroy thee very soon; but, behold,
he will come to me. And after having sealed him. He ascended into
the heavens. And the apostle taught the people, and there was added
unto the flock of Christ. But some men who hated Christ accused
him before King Misdeus, saying: Destroy this sorcerer, who cor-
rupts and deceives the people in this new one God whom he proclaims.
INIoreover, he has decciv-:d thy lady and thy son. On hearing
this, Misdeus, without inquiry, ordered him to be laid hold of, and
shut up in prison. And they did quickly what they were ordered,
and threw him into the prison, and sealed it. And when the women
who believed in God had heard that Judas was shut up, they gave a
great sum of money to the warders, and went in to him in the prison.
And the apostle says to them: My daughters, handmaidens of Jesus
Christ, listen to me. In my last day I address you, because 1 shnll
no more speak in the body; for, lo, I am taken up to my Lord Jesus
Christ, who has had pity upon me, who humbled Himself even to my
littleness. And I rejoice that the time is at hand for my change from
this, that I may depart and receive my reward in the end; for my
Lord is just. And at the end of his discourse to them, he said: O
my Saviour, who hast endured much for our sake, let Thy mercies
be upon us. And he sent them away, saying: The grace of the Holy
Spirit be with you! And they grieved and wept, knowing that King
Misdeus was going to put him to death. And Judas heard the warders
contending with each other, and saying: I>et us go and tell the king.
Thy wife and thy son are going to the prison to this sorcerer, and for
their sakes thou shoiildst put him to death soon. And at dawn they
arose and went to King Misdeus, and said: My lord, release that sor-
cerer, or cause him to be shut up elsewhere; for though we shut
in the prisoners, and secure the doors, when we rise we find them
opened. Nay, more; thy wife and son will not keep away from the
man any more than the rest of them. And when the king heard this,
he went to look at the seals. And he looked all about them on the
doors, and found them as they were. Then he says to the jailors:
550
gave them light on the way, and witliout noise
opened the doors that had been secured, until
all the mystery was completed. And having
made them communicate in the Eucharist, and
having talked much with them, and confirmed
them in the faith, and commended them to the
Lord, he went forth thence, leaving the women,
and again went to be shut up.'* And they grieved
and wept because Misdeus the king was to kill him.
And Thomas went and found the jailors fight-
ing, and saying : What wrong have we done to
that sorcerer, that, availing himself of his magic
art, he has opened the doors of the prison, and
wishes to set all the prisoners free ? But let us
go and let the king know about his wife and his
son. 5 And when he came they stripped him,
and girded him with a girdle ; and thus they
stood before the king.
What are you telling lies about? for certainly these seals are quite safe;
and how do you say that Tertia, and Mygdonia, and my son go within
the pri-son? And the warders said: We have told thee the truth, O
king. And after this the king went into the prison, and sent for the
apostle. And when he came, they took off his girdle, and set him
before the tribunal. And the king said: Art thou a slave, or free?
And Thomas said: I am One's slave. Thou hast no power over me
whatever. And Misdaeus says: Didst thou run away and come to this
country? Thomas: I came here to save many, and I am to depart
from my body by thy hands. Misdaeus says to him: Who is thy
master? and what is his name? and what country dost thou belong to?
Thomas: Thou canst not hear His true name at this time; but I tell
thee the name that has been given Him for the time: it is Jesus the
Christ. And Misdaeus says: I have been in no hurry to put thee to
death, but have restrained myself; but thou hast made a display of
thy works, so that thy sorceries have been heard of in every coun-
try. But no; I shall bring thee to an end, that thy sorceries may be
destroyed, and our nation purified. And Thomas said: What thou
callest sorceries shall abound in me, and never be removed from the
people here. And after this was said, Misdeus reflected in what
manner he should put the apostle to death, for he was afraid of the
people standing by who believed. And he arose and took Thomas
outside of the city; and he was accompanied by a few armed soldiers.
And the multitude suspected that the king was plotting about him,
and stood and addressed themselves to him. And when they had gone
forth three stadia, he delivered him to foui soldiers and one of the
polemarchs, and ordered them to spear him on the mountain; and he
returned to the city. And those who were present ran to Thomas,
eager to rescue him. And he was led away, accompanied by the sol-
diers, two on each side. . . . And Thomas, walking along, said: O
Thy secret mysteries, O Jesus! for even unto the end of life are they
fulfilled in us. O the riches of Thy grace! . . . for, lo, how four
have laid hold of me, since of four elements . . . (Here the frag-
ment ends.) [The MS. in which this occurs is not that one which has
been so frequently cited in the preceding Apocryphal Acts. — R.]
- Pseudo-Abdias, in his Histories of the Apostles, has as follows:
Wherefore, in a rage, Mesdeus king of India thrust into prison the
Apostle Thomas, and Zuganes his son, and several others.
3 Abdias: Treptia, who was the king's wife, and Mygdonia the
wife of Charisius, one of the king's friends, and Narchia the nurse,
gave the jailor 360 pieces of silver, and were let in to the apostle.
4 Abdias: Thomas stood in the prison, and said: Lord Jesus, who
didst endure very much for us, let the gates be shut as they were
before, and the seals be made again on the same doors.
s Abdias gives an account of the king going to the prison, and
disbelieving the report of the warders, because he found the seals on
the doors as he had left them.
CONSUMMATION OF THOMAS THE APOSTLE.
551
And Misdeus said to him : Art thou a slave,
or a freeman ? And Thomas answered and said
to him : I am not ' a slave, and thou hast no
power against me at all. And how, said Mis-
deus, hast thou run away and come to this
country ? And Thomas said : I came here that
I might save many, and that I might by thy
hands depart from this body. Misdeus says to
him : Who is thy master? and what is his name ?
and of what country, and of whom is he ? My
Lord, says Thomas, is my Master and thine,
being the Lord of heaven and earth. And
Misdeus said : What is he called? And Thomas
said : Thou canst not know His true name at
this time ; but I tell thee the name that has
been given Him for a season — Jesus the Christ.
And Misdeus said : I have not been in a hurry 2
to destroy thee, but have restrained myself; but
thou hast made a display of works, so that thy
sorceries have been heard of in all the country.
But now this will I do,^ that thy sorceries may
also perish with thee, that our nation may be puri-
fied from them. And Thomas said : Dost thou
call these things which will follow me sorceries ?
They shall never be removed from the people here.
And while these things were saying, Misdeus
was considering in what manner he should put
him to death ; for he was afraid of the multitude
standing round, many, even some of the chief
men, having believed in him. And he arose,
and took Thomas outside of the city ; and a few
soldiers accompanied him with their arms. And
the rest of the multitude thought that the king
was wishing to learn something from him ; and
they stood and observed him closely. And
when they had gone forth three stadia, he deliv-
ered him to four soldiers, and to one of the
chief officers,'* and ordered them to take him up
into the mountain and spear him ; but he him-
self returned to the city.
And those present ran to Thomas, eager to
rescue him ; but he was led away by the soldiers
who were with him. For there were two on
each side having hold of him, because of sorcery.
And the chief officer held him by the hand, and
led him with honour. And at the same time
the blessed apostle said : O the hidden mysteries
of Thee, O Lord ! for even to the close of life
is fulfilled in us the riches of Thy grace, which
does not allow us to be without feeling as to the
body. For, behold, four have laid hold of me,
and one leads me, since I belong to One, to
whom I am going always invisibly. But now I
learn that my Lord also, since He was a stranger,
to whom I am going, who also is always present
' The twt should, by the context, be omitted. [So Pseudo-Abdias.
-1^1 . .
^ Reading r)Treix8r]v for i.Trri\8tiv.
3 i e , I will so act.
* Lit., polemarchs, who in the early times of Athens combined
the duties of Foreign Secretary and War Secretary, and sometimes
took the command in the field.
with me invisibly, was struck by one ; but I am
struck by four.s
And when they came to that place where
they were to spear him, Thomas spoke thus to
those spearing him : Hear me now, at least, when
I am departing from my body ; and let not your
eyes be darkened in understanding, nor your
ears shut up so as not to hear those things in
which you have believed the God whom I preach,
after being delivered in your souls from rashness ;
and behave in a manner becoming those who
are free, being void of human glory, and live
the life towards God. And he said to Juzanes :
Son of an earthly king, but servant of Jesus
Christ, give what is due to those who are to ful-
fil the command ^ of Misdeus, in order that I
may go apart from them and pray. And Juzanes
having paid the soldiers, the apostle betook him- *
self to prayer ; and it was as follows : —
My Lord, and my God, and hope, and leader,
and guide in all countries, I tbllow Thee along
with all that serve Thee, and do Thou guide me
this day on my way to Thee. Let no one take
my soul, which Thou hast given to me. Let not
publicans and beggars look upon me, nor let
serpents slander me, and let not the children of
the dragon hiss at me. Behold, I have fulfilled
Thy work, and accomplished what Thou gavest
me to do. I have become a slave, that I might
receive freedom from Thee ; do then give it to
me, and make me perfect. And this I say not
wavering, but that they may hear who need to
hear. I glorify Thee in all, Lord and Master ;
for to Thee is due glory for ever. Amen.
And when he had prayed, he said to the sol-
diers : Come and finish the work of him that
sent you. And the four struck him at once, and
killed him. And all the brethren wept, and
wrapped him up in beautiful shawls, and many
linen cloths, and laid him in the tomb in which
of old the kings used to be buried.
And Syphor and Juzanes did not go to the
city, but spent the whole day there, and waited
during the night. And Thomas appeared to
them, and said : I am not there ; why do you sit
watching? for I have gone up, and received the
things I hoped for ; but rise up and walk, and
after no long time you shall be brought beside
me. And Misdeus and Charisius ^ greatly afflicted
Tertia and Mygdonia, but did not persuade
them to abandon their opinions. And Thomas
appeared, and said to them : Forget not the
former things, for the holy and sanctifying Jesus
Himself will aid you. And Misdeus and Cha-
risius, when they could not persuade them not
5 Abdias: The apostle said that great and divine mysteries were
revealed in his death, since he was led by four soldiers, because he
consisted of four elements: and the Lord Jesus had been struck by
one man, because He knew that one Father had begotten Him.
6 Lit., the servants of the ordei.
' The husband of Mygdonia.
552
CONSUMMATION OF THOMAS THE APOSTLE.
to be of this opinion, granted tliem their own
will. And all the brethren assembled together
For the blessed one had made Syphorus ' a pres-
byter in the mountain, and Juzanius ' a deacon,
when he was led away to die. And the Lord
helped them, and increased the faith by means
of them.
And after a long time, it happened that one
of the sons of Misdeus was a demoniac ; and
the demon being stubborn, no one was able to
heal him. And Misdeus considered, and said :
I shall go and open the tomb, and take a bone of
the aposUe's body, and touch my son with it,
and I know that he will be healed. And he went
to do what he had thought of. And the blessed
apostle appeared to him, and said : Thou didst
not believe in me when alive ; how wilt thou be-
• lieve in me when I am dead ? Fear not. Jesus
* These names are slightly different in form in this paragraph.
Christ is kindly disposed to thee, through His
great clemency. And Misdeus, when he did
not find the bones (for one of the brethren had
taken them, and carried them into the regions
of the VVest^), took some dust from where the
bones had lain, and touched his son with it, and
said : I believe in Thee, Jesus, now when he has
left me who always afflicts men, that they may
not look to Thy light which giveth understand-
ing, O Lord, kind to men. And his son being
healed in this manner, he met with the rest of
the brethren who were under the rule of Sypho-
rus, and entreated the brethren to pray for him,
that he might obtain mercy from our Lord Jesus
Christ ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
- Abdias: and buried them in the city of Edessa. [The trans-
lator cites the readings of Pseudo-Abdias, as given by Tischendorf
(from Fabricius), as those of" Abdias." The same form of citation
appears in the footnotes to the Martyrdom of Bartholomew^
PP- 553-557— R]
MARTYRDOM OF THE HOLY AND GLORIOUS
APOSTLE BARTHOLOMEW.
Historians declare that India is divided into
three parts ; and the first is said to end at Ethi-
opia, and the second at Media, and the third
completes the country ; and the one portion of
it ends in the dark, and the other in the ocean.
To this India, then, the holy Bartholomew the
apostle of Christ went, and took up his quarters
in the temple of Astaruth, and lived there as one
of the pilgrims and the poor. In this temple,
then, there was an idol called Astaruth, which
was supposed to heal the infirm, but rather the
more injured all. And the people were in entire
ignorance of the true God ; and from want of
knowledge, but rather from the difficulty of go-
ing to any other, they all fled for refuge to the
false god. And he brought upon them troubles,
infirmities, damage, violence, and much afflic-
tion ; and when any one sacrificed to him, the
demon, retiring, appeared to give a cure to the
person in trouble ; and the foolish people, see-
ing this, believed in him. But the demons re-
tired, not because they wished to cure men, but
that they might the more assail them, and rather
have them altogether in their power ; and think-
ing that they were cured bodily, those that sac-
rificed to them v/ere the more diseased in soul.
And it came to pass, that while the holy apos-
tle of Christ, Bartholomew, stayed there, Asta-
ruth gave no response, and was not able for
curing. And when the temple was full of sick
persons, who sacrificed to him daily, Astaruth
could give no response ; and sick persons who
had come from far countries were lying there.
When, therefore, in that temple not even one of
the idols was able to give a response, and was
of benefit neither to those that sacrificed to
them nor to those who were in the agonies of
death on their account, they were compelled to
go to another city, where there was a temple of
idols, where their great and most eminent god
was called Becher.' And having there sacrificed,
they demanded, asking why their god Astaruth
had not responded to them. And the demon
Becher answered and said to them : From the
' The history of Abdias gives the name as Berith, after Jud
ix. 46.
day and hour that the true God, who dwelleth
in the heavens, sent his apostle Bartholomew
into the regions here, your god Astaruth is held
fast by chains of fire, and can no longer either
speak or breathe. They said to him : And who
is this Bartholomew? He answered : He is the
friend of the Almighty God, and has just come
into these parts, that he may take away all the
worship of the idols in the name of his God.
And the servants of the Greeks said to him :
Tell us what he is like, that we may be able to
find him.
And the demon answered and said : He has
black hair, a shaggy head, a fair skin,^ large
eyes, beautiful nostrils, his ears hidden by the
hair of his head, with a yellow beard, a few grey
hairs, of middle height, and neither tall nor
stunted, but middling, clothed with a white un-
dercloak bordered with purple, and upon his
shoulders a very white cloak ; and his clothes
have been worn twenty-six years, but neither are
they dirty, nor have they waxed old. Seven
times 3 a day he bends the knee to the Lord,
and seven times ^ a night does he pray to God.
His voice is like the sound of a strong trumpet ;
there go along with him angels of God, who al-
low him neither to be weary, nor to hunger, nor
to thirst ; his face, and his soul, and his heart
are always glad and rejoicing ; he foresees every-
thing, he knows and speaks every tongue of every
nation. And behold now, as soon as you ask
me, and I answer you about him, behold, he
knows ; for the angels of the Lord tell him ; and
if you wish to seek him, if he is willing he will
appear to you ; but if he shall not be willing,
you will not be able to find him. I entreat you,
therefore, if you shall find him, entreat him not
to come here, lest his angels do to me as they
have done to my brother Astaruth.
And when the demon had said this, he held
his peace. And they returned, and set to work
to look into every face of the pilgrims and poor
men, and for two days they could find him no-
where. And it came to pass, that one who was
2 Lit., white flesh.
3 Pseudo-Abdias says: a hundred times.
553
554
MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE BARTHOLOMEW.
a demoniac set to work to cry out : Apostle of
the Lord, Bartholomew, thy prayers are burning
me up. Then said the apostle to him : Hold
thy peace, and come out of him. And that very
hour, the man who had suffered from the demon
for many years was set free.
And Polymius, the king of that country, hap-
pened to be standing opposite the apostle ; and
he had a daughter a demoniac, that is to say, a
lunatic. And he heard about the demoniac that
had been healed, and sent messengers to the
apostle, saying : My daughter is grievously torn ;
I implore thee, therefore, as thou hast delivered
him ' who suffered for many years, so also to
order my daughter to be set free. And the
apostle rose up, and went with them. And he
sees the king's daughter bound with chains, for
she used to tear in pieces all her limbs ; and if
any one came near her, she used to bite, and no
one dared to come near her. The servants say
to him : And who is it that dares to touch her?
The apostle answered them : Loose her, and let
her go. They say to him again : We have her
in our power when she is bound with all our
force, and dost thou bid us loose her? The
apostle says to them : Behold, I keep her enemy
bound, and are you even now afraid of her? Go
and loose her ; and when she has partaken of
food, let her rest, and early to-morrow bring her
to me. And they went and did as the apostle
had commanded them ; and thereafter the demon
was not able to come near her.
Then the king loaded camels with gold and
silver, precious stones, pearls, and clothing, and
sought to see the apostle ; and having made
many efforts, and not f®und him, he brought
everything back to his palace.
And it happened, when the night had passed,
and the following day was dawning, the sun hav-
ing risen, the apostle appeared alone with the
king in his bed-chamber, and said to him : Why
didst thou seek me yesterday the whole day with
gold and silver, and precious stones, pearls, and
raiment? For these gifts those persons long for
who seek earthly things ; but I seek nothing
earthly, nothing carnal. Wherefore I wish to
teach thee that the Son of God deigned to be
born as a man out of a virgin's womb. He was
conceived in the womb of the virgin ; He took
to Himself her who was always a virgin, having
within herself Him who made the heaven and
the earth, the sea, and all that therein is. He,
born of a virgin, like mankind, took to Himself
a beginning in time, He who has a beginning
neither of times nor days ; but He Himself made
every beginning, and everything created, whether
in things visible or invisible. And as this virgin
did not know man, so she, preserving her vir-
' Abdias calls him Pseustius.
ginity, vowed a vow^ to the Lord God. And
she was the first who did so. For, from the
time that man existed from the beginning of the
world, no woman made a vow of this mode of
life ; but she, as she was the first among women
who loved this in her heart, said, I offer to Thee,
O Lord, my virginity. And, as I have said to
thee, none of mankind dared to speak this word ;
but she being called for the salvation of many,
observed this — that she might remain a virgin
through the love of God, pure and undefiled.
And suddenly, when she was shut up in her
chamber, the archangel Gabriel appeared, gleam-
ing like the sun ; and when she was terrified at
the sight, the angel said to her. Fear not, Mary ;
for thou hast found favour in the sight of the
Lord, and thou shalt conceive. And she cast
off fear, and stood up, and said. How shall this
be to me, since I know not man? The angel
answered her. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the Most High shall over-
shadow thee ; wherefore also that holy thing
which is born of thee shall be called Son of
God. 3 Thus, therefore, when the angel had de-
parted from her, she escaped the temptation of
the devil, who deceived the first man when at
rest. For, having tasted of the tree of disobedi-
ence, when the woman said to him, Eat, he ate ;
and thus the first man was cast out of paradise,
and banished to this life. From him have been
born the whole human race. Then the Son of
God having been born of the virgin, and having
become perfect man, and having been baptized,
and after His baptism having fasted forty days,
the tempter came and said to Him : If thou art
the Son of God, tell these stones to become
loaves. And He answered : Not on bread alone
shall man live, but by every word of God."* Thus
therefore the devil, who through eating had con-
quered the first man, was conquered through the
fasting of the second man ; and as he through
want of self-restraint had conquered the first
man, the son of the virgin earth, so we shall
conquer through the fasting of the second Adam,
the Son of the Virgin Mary.
The king says to him : And how is it that thou
saidst just now that she was the first virgin of
whom was born God and man? And the apos-
tle answered : I give thanks to the Lord that
thou hearest me gladly. The first man, then,
was called Adam ; he was formed out of the
earth. And the earth, his mother out of which
he was, was virgin, because it had neither been
polluted by the blood of man nor opened for
the burial of any one. The earth, then, was like
the virgin, in order that he who conquered the
2 Or, prayed a prayer.
3 Comp. Luke i. 26-38. Abdias goes on: He then, after His birth,
suffered Himself to be templed by that devil who had overcome the
first man, persuading him to eat of the tree forbidden by God.
■* Comp. Luke iv. 1-13.
MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE BARTHOLOMEW.
555
son of the virgin earth might be conquered by
the Son of the Virgin Mary. And, behold, he
did conquer ; for his wicked craft, through the
eating of the tree by which man, being deceived,
came forth from paradise, Icept paradise shut.
Thereafter this Son of the virgin conquered all
the craft of the devil. And his craft was such,
that when he saw the Son of the virgin fasting
forty days, he knew in truth that He was the true
God. The true God and man, therefore, hath
not given Himself out to be known, except to
those who are pure in heart,' and who serve
Him by good works. The devil himself, there-
fore, when he saw that after the forty days He
was again hungry, was deceived into thinking
that He was not God, and said to Him, Why
hast thou been hungry? tell these stones to be-
come loaves, and eat. And the Lord answered
him, Listen, devil ; although thou mayst lord it
over man, because he has not kept the command-
ment of God, I have fulfilled the righteousness
of God in having fasted, and shall destroy thy
power, so that thou shalt no longer lord it over
man. And when he saw himself conquered, he
again takes Jesus to an exceeding high moun-
tain, and shows Him all the kingdoms of the
world, and says, All these will I give thee, if thou
wilt fall down and worship me. The Lord says
to him. Get thee behind me, Satan ; for it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and Him only shalt thou serve. And there was
a third temptation for the Lord ; for he takes
Him up to the pinnacle of the temple, and says,
If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down.
The Lord says to him, Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God. And the devil disappeared.
And he indeed that once conquered Adam, the
son of the virgin earth, was thrice conquered by
Christ, the Son of the Virgin Mary.
And when the Lord had conquered the tyrant.
He sent His apostles into all the world, that He
might redeem His people from the deception of
the devil ; and one of these I am, an apostle of
Christ. On this account we seek not after gold
and silver, but rather despise them, because we
labour to be rich in that place wheie the king-
dom of Him alone endureth - for ever, where
neither trouble, nor grief, nor groaning, nor death,
has place ; where there is eternal blessedness,
and ineffable joy, and everlasting exultation, and
perpetual repose. Wherefore also the demon
sitting in your temple, who makes responses to
you, is kept in chains through the angel of the
Lord who has sent me. Because if thou shalt
be baptized, and wishest thyself to be enlight-
ened, I will make thee behold Him, and learn
from how great evils thou hast been redeemed.
« Matt. V. 8.
2 Lit., reigneth.
At the same time hear also by what means he
injures all those who are lying sick in the temple.
The devil himself by his own art causes the men
to be sick, and again to be healed, in order that
they may the more believe in the idols, and in
order that he may have place the more in their
souls, in order that they may say to the stock
and the stone. Thou art our God.^ But that de-
mon who dwells in the idol is held in subjection,
conquered by me, and is able to give no response
to those who sacrifice and pray there. And if
thou wishest to prove that it is so, I order himto
return into the idol, and I will make him confess
with his own mouth that he is bound, and able
to give no response.
The king says to him : To-morrow, at the first
hour of the day, the priests are ready to sacri-
fice in the temple, and I shall come there, and
shall be able to see this wonderful work.
And it came to pass on the following day, as
they were sacrificing, the devil began to cry
out : Refrain, ye wretched ones, from sacrificing
to me, lest ye suffer worse for my sake ; because
I am bound in fiery chains, and kept in subjec-
tion by an angel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, whom the Jews crucified : for, being
afraid of him, they condemned him to death.
And he put to death Death himself, our king,
and he bound our prince in chains of fire ; and
on the third day, having conquered death and
the devil, rose in glory, and gave the sign of the
cross to his apostles, and sent them out into
the four quarters of the world ; and one of them
is here just now, who has bound me, and keeps
me in subjection. I implore you, therefore, sup-
plicate him on my account, that he may set me
free to go into other habitations.
Then the apostle answered : Confess, unclean
demon, who is it that has injured all those that
are lying here from heavy diseases ? The demon
answered : The devil, our ruler, he who is bound,
he sends us against men, that, having first injured
their bodies, we may thus also make an assault
upon their souls when they sacrifice to us. For
then we have complete power over them, when
they believe in us and sacrifice to us. And when,
on account of the mischief done to them, we re-
tire, we appear curing them, and are worshipped
by them as gods ; but in truth we are demons,
and the servants of him who was crucified, the
Son of the virgin, have bound us. For from
that day on which the Apostle Bartholomew
came I am punished, kept bound in chains of
fire. And for this reason I speak, because he
has commanded me. At the same time, I dare
not utter more when the apostle is present,
neither I nor our rulers.
The apostle says to him : Why dost thou not
3 Jer. ii. 27.
556
MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE BARTHOLOMEW.
save all that have come to thee ? The demon
says to him : When we injure their bodies, unless
we first injure their souls, we do not let their
bodies go. The apostle says to him : And how
do you injure their souls ? The demon answered
him : When they believe that we are gods, and
sacrifice to us, God withdraws from those who
sacrifice, and we do not take away the sufferings
of their bodies, but retire into their souls.
Then the apostle says to the people : Behold,
the god whom you thought to cure you, does the
more mischief to your souls and bodies. Hear
even now your Maker who dwells in the heavens,
and do not believe in lifeless stones and stocks.
And if you wish that I should pray for you, and
that all these may receive health, take down this
idol, and break it to pieces ; and when you have
done this, I will sanctify this temple in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and having baptized
all of you who are in it in the baptism of the
Lord, and sanctified you, I will save all.
Then the king gave orders, and all the people
brought ropes and crowbars, and were not at ail
able to take down the idol. Then the apostle
says to them : Unfasten the ropes. And when
they had unfastened them, he said to the demon
dwelling in it : In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, come out of this idol, and go into a des-
ert place, where neither winged creature utters a
cry, nor voice of man has ever been heard. And
straightway he arose at the word of the apostle,
and lifted it up from its foundations ; and in that
same hour all the idols that were in that place
were broken to pieces.
Then all cried out with one voice, saying :
He alone is God Almighty whom Bartholomew
the apostle proclaims. Then the holy Bartholo-
mew, having spread forth his hands to heaven,
said : God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of
Jacob, who for the salvation of men hast sent
forth Thine only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, in order that He might redeem by His
own blood all of us enslaved by sin, and declare
us to be Thy sons, that we may know Thee, the
true God, that Thou existest always to eternity
God without end : one God, the Father, ac-
knowledged in Son and Holy Spirit ; one God,
the Son, glorified in Father and Holy Spirit ;
one God, the Holy Spirit, worshipped in Father
and Son ; and acknowledged to be truly one,'
the Father unbegotten, the Son begotten, the
Holy Spirit proceeding ; and in Thee the Father,
and in the Holy Spirit, Thine only begotten Son
our Lord Jesus Christ is, in whose name Thou
hast given us power to heal the sick, to cure
paralytics, to expel demons, and raise the dead :
for He said to us. Verily I say unto you, that
whatever ye shall ask in my name ye shall re-
' Or, unity.
ceive.2 I entreat, then, that in His name all
this multitude may be saved, that all may know
that Thou alone art God in heaven, and in the
earth, and in the sea, who seekest the salvation
of men through that same Jesus Christ our Lord,
with whom 'iliou livest and reignest in unity of
the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
And when all responded to the Amen, sud-
denly there appeared an angel of the Lord,
shining brighter than the sun, winged, and other
four angels holding up the four corners of
the temple ; and with his finger the one sealed the
temple and the people, and said : Thus saith
the Lord who hath sent me, As you have all been
purified from all your infirmity, so also this temple
shall be purified from all uncleanness, and from
the demons dwelling in it, whom the apostle of
God has ordered to go into a desert place ; for so
hath God commanded me, that I may manifest
Him to you. And when ye behold Hrni, fear
nothing ; but when I make the sign of the cross,
so also do ye with your finger seal your faces, and
these evil things will flee from you. Then he
showed them the demon who dwelt in the temple,
like an Ethiopian, black as soot ; his face sharp
like a dog's, thin-cheeked, with hair down to his
feet, eyes like fire, sparks coming out of his
mouth ; and out of his nostrils came forth smoke
like sulphur, with wings spined like a porcupine ;
and his hands were bound with fiery chains, and
he was firmly kept in. And the angel of the
Lord said to him : As also the apostle hath com-
manded, I let thee go ; go where voice of man
is not heard, and be there until the great day of
judgment. And when he let him go, he flew
away, groaning and weeping, and disappeared.
And the angel of the Lord went up into heaven
in the sight of all.
Then the king, and also the queen, with their
two sons, and with all his people, and with all
the multitude of the city, and every city round
about, and country, and whatever land his king-
dom ruled over, were saved, and believed, and
were baptized in the name of the Father, and
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And the king laid
aside his diadem, and followed Bartholomew the
apostle of Christ.
And after these things the unbelievers of the
Greeks, having come together to Astreges 3 the
king, who was the elder brother of the king who
had been baptized, say to him : O king, thy
brother Polymius has become disciple to a cer-
tain magician, who has taken down our temples,
and broken our gods to pieces. And while they
were thus speaking and weeping, behold, again
there came also some others from the cities
round about, both priests ^ and people ; and
2 Matt. xxi. 22.
3 Abdias calls him Astyages; elsewhere he is called Sanathrugus.
■• Lit., no-priests — ^tiepec? for /u') iepe'S — a name given in scorn
to heathen priests by Christian writers.
MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE BARTHOLOMEW.
557
they set about weeping and making accusations '
before the king. Then King Astreges in a rage
sent a thousand armed men along with those
priests, in order that, wherever they should find
the apostle, they might bring him to him bound.
And when they had done so, and found him, and
brought him, he says to him : Art thou he who
has perverted my brother from the gods? To
whom the apostle answered : I have not per-
verted him, but have converted him to God.
The king says to him : Art thou he who caused
our gods to be broken in pieces ? The apostle
says to him : I gave power to the demons who
were in them, and they broke in pieces the
dumb and senseless idols, that all men might be-
lieve in God Almighty, who dwelleth in the
heavens. The king says to him : As thou hast
made my brother deny his gods, and believe in
thy God, so I also will make you reject thy God
and believe in my gods. The apostle says to
him : If I have bound and kept in subjection
the god which thy brother worshipped, and at
my order the idols were broken in pieces, if thou
also art able to do the same to my God, thou
canst persuade me also to sacrifice to thy gods ;
but if thou canst do nothing to my God, I will
break all thy gods in pieces ; but do thou believe
in my God.
And when he had thus spoken, the king was
informed that his god Baldad^ and all the other
idols had fallen down, and were broken in pieces.
Then the king rent the purple in which he was
clothed, and ordered the holy apostle Bartholo-
' Lit., calling out.
2 Abdias calls him Vualdath.
mew to be beaten with rods ; and after having
been thus scourged, to be beheaded.
And innumerable multitudes came from all
the cities, to the number of twelve thousand,
who had believed in him along with the king ;
and they took up the remains of the apostle with
singing of praise and with all glory, and they laid
them in the royal tomb, and glorified God. And
the king Astreges having heard of this, ordered
him to be thrown into the sea ; and his remains
were carried into the island of Liparis.
And it came to pass on the thirtieth day after
the apostle was carried away, that the king As-
treges was overpowered by a demon and misera-
bly strangled ; and all the priests were strangled
by demons, and perished on account of their
rising against ^ the apostle, and thus died by an
evil fate.
And there was great fear and trembling, and
all came to the Lord, and were baptized by
the presbyters who had been ordained by the
holy apostle Bartholomew. And according to
the commandment of the apostle, all the clergy
of the people made King Polymius bishop ; and
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ he re-
ceived the grace of healing, and began to do
signs. And he remained in the bishopric twenty
years ; and having prospered in all things, and
governed the church well, and guided it in right
opinions,4 he fell asleep in peace, and went to
the Lord : to whom be glory and strength for
ever and ever. Amen.
3 Or it may mean: that the apostle might be established.
* Or, in orthodoxy.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THADD^US,
ONE OF THE TWELVE.'
LebBvEus, who also is Thaddasus, was of the
city of Edessa — and it is the metropohs of
Osroene, in the interior of the Armenosyrians
— an Hebrew by race, accompUshed and most
learned in the divine writings. He came to
Jerusalem to worship in the days of John the
Baptist ; and having heard his preaching and
seen his angelic life, he was baptized, and his
name was called Thaddaeus. And having seen
the appearing of Christ, and His teaching, and
His wonderful works, he followed Him, and be-
came His disciple ; and He chose him as one
of the twelve, the tenth apostle according to the
Evangelists Matthew and Mark.
In those times there was a governor of the
city of Edessa, Abgarus by name. And there
having gone abroad the fame of Christ, of the
wonders which He did, and of His teaching,
Abgarus having heard of it, was astonished, and
desired to see Christ, and could not leave his
city and government. And about the days of
the Passion and the plots of the Jews, Abgarus,
being seized by an incurable disease, sent a letter
to Christ by Ananias the courier,^ to the follow-
ing effect : — To Jesus ^ called Christ, Abgarus
the governor of the country of the Edessenes,
an unworthy slave. The multitude of the won-
ders done by thee has been heard of by me, that
thou healest the blind, the lame, and the para-
lytic, and curest all the demoniacs ; and on this
account I entreat thy goodness to come even to
us, and escape from the plottings of the wicked
Jews, which through envy they set in motion
against thee. My city is small, but large enough
for both. Abgarus enjoined Ananias to take ac-
curate account of Christ, of what appearance
He was, and His stature, and His hair, and in
a word everything.
And Ananias, having gone and given the letter,
was carefully looking at Christ, but was unable
' [Curiously enough, the Vienna MS. has in the title: "one of
the seventy," instead of " one of the twelve." The same confusion
exists in the writings of Eusebius and Jerome. — R.]
- Lit., the swift runner.
3 [Compare with this letter that found in Eusebius (ffist. EccL,
i. 13), where the reply is also given. Eusebius claims that he had seen
the original documents. — R.]
to fix Him in his mind. And He knew as know-
ing the heart, and asked to wash Himself; and
a towel 4 was given Him ; and when He had
washed Himself, He wiped His face with it.
And His image having been imprinted upon the
linen. He gave it to Ananias, saying : Give this,
and take back this message, to him that sent
thee : Peace to thee and thy city ! For because
of this I am come, to suffer for the world, and to
rise again, and to raise up the forefathers. And
after I have been taken up into the heavens I
shall send thee my disciple Thaddaeus, who shall
enlighten thee, and guide thee into all the truth,
both thee and thy city.
And having received Ananias, and fallen down
and adored the likeness, Abgarus was cured of
his disease before Thaddaeus came.
And after the passion, and the resurrection,
and the ascension, Thaddaeus vv'ent to Abgarus ;
and having found him in health, he gave him an
account of the incarnation of Christ, and bap-
tized him, with all his house. And having in-
structed great multitudes, both of Hebrews and
Greeks, Syrians and Armenians, he baptized them
in the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy
Spirit, having anointed them with the holy per-
fume ; and he communicated to them of the un-
defiled mysteries of the sacred body and blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and delivered to them
to keep and observe the law of Moses, and to
give close heed to the things that had been said
by the apostles in Jerusalem. For year by year
they came together to the passover, and again
he imparted to them the Holy Spirit.
And Thaddaeus along with Abgarus destroyed
idol-temples and built churches ; ordained as
bishop one of his disciples, and presbyters, and
deacons, and gave them the rule of the psalmody
and the holy liturgy. And having left them, he
went to the city of Amis, great metropolis of the
Mesechaldeans and Syrians, that is, of Mesopo-
tamia-Syria, beside the river Tigris. And he
having gone into the synagogue of the Jews along
with his disciples on the Sabbath-day, after the
* Lit., doubled in four.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE THADD^US.
559
reading of the law the high priest said to Thad-
dseus and his disciples : Men, whence are you ?
and why are you here ?
And Thaddaeus said : No doubt you have
heard of what has taken place in Jerusalem about
Jesus Christ, and we are His disciples, and wit-
nesses of the wonderful things which He did and
taught, and how through hatred the chief priests
delivered Him to Pilate the procurator of Judsea.
And Pilate, having examined Him and found no
case,' wished to let Him go ; but they cried out.
If thou let him go, thou art not Caesar's friend,
because he proclaims himself king. And he
being afraid, washed his hands in the sight of
the multitude, and said, I am innocent of the
blood of this man ; see ye to it. And the chief
priests answered and said. His blood be upon
us and our children. And Pilate gave him up to
them. And they took Plim, and spit upon Him,
with the soldiers, and made a great mock of Him,
and crucified Him, and laid Him in the tomb,
and secured it well, having also set guards upon
Him. And on the third day before dawn He
rose, leaving His burial-clothes in the tomb.
And He was seen first by His mother and other
women, and by Peter and John first of my fellow
disciples, and thereafter to us the twelve, who
ate and drank with Him after His resurrection
for many days. And He sent us in His name to
proclaim repentance and remission of sins to all
the nations, that those who were baptized, having
had the kingdom of the heavens preached to
them, would rise up incorruptible at the end of
this age ; and He gave us power to expel de-
mons, and heal every disease and every malady,
and raise the dead.
> Or, fault.
And the multitudes having heard this, brought
together their sick and demoniacs. And Thad-
daeus, having gone forth along with his disciples,
laid his hand upon each one of them, and healed
them all by calling upon the name of Christ.
And the demoniacs were healed before Thad-
d^us came near them, the spirits going out of
them. And for many days the people ran to-
gether from different places, and beheld what
was done by Thaddaeus. And hearing his teach-
ing, many believed, and were baptized, confess-
ing their sins.
Having therefore remained with them for five
years, he built a church ; and having appointed
as bishop one of his disciples, and presbyters,
and deacons, and prayed for them, he went
away, going round the cities of Syria, and teach-
ing, and healing all the sick ; whence he brought
many cities and countries to Christ through His
teaching. Teaching, therefore, and evangelizing
along with the disciples, and healing the sick,
he went to Berytus, a city of Phoenicia by the
sea ; ^ and there, having taught and enlightened
many, he fell asleep on the twenty-first ^ of the
month of August. And the disciples having
come together, buried him with great honour;
and many sick were healed, and they gave glory
to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever. Amen.
- The other [Vienna] MS. here adds: And having gone into it, he
preached Christ, saying to them all with tears. Ye men who have ears to
hear, hear from me the word of life; hear attentively, and understand.
Cast off your many opinions, and believe and come to the one living and
true God, the God of the Hebrews. For He only is the true God
and Maker of the whole creation, searching the hearts of mankind, and
knowing all about each one before their birth, as being the Maker of
them all. To Him alone, fi.xing your eyes upon heaven, fall down
evening and morning, and at noon, and to Him alone offer the sacrifice
of praise, and give thanks always, refraining from what you your-
selves hate; because God is compassionate and benevolent, and rec-
ompetises to each one according to his works.
3 The Paris MS. has 20th.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST
JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN.
ABOUT HIS EXILE AND DEPARTURE.
When Agrippa, whom, on account of his
plotting against Peace, they stoned and put to
death, was king of the Jews, Vespasian Csesar,
coming with a great army, invested Jerusalem ;
and some prisoners of war he took and slew,
others he destroyed by famine in the siege, and
most he banished, and at length scattered up
and down. And having destroyed the temple,
and put the holy vessels on board a ship, he sent
them to Rome, to make for himself a tem])le of
peace, and adorned it with the spoils of war.
And when Vespasian was dead, his son Do-
mitian, having got possession of the kingdom,
along with his other wrongful acts, set himself
also to make a persecution against the righteous
men. For, having learned that the city was filled
with Jews, remembering the orders given by his
father about them, he purposed casting them all
out of the city of the Romans. And some of
the Jews took courage, and gave Domitian a
book, in which was written as follows : —
O Domitian, Csesar and king of all the world,
as many of us as are Jews entreat thee, as sup-
pliants we beseech of thy power not to banish
us from thy divine and benignant countenance ;
for we are obedient to thee, and the customs,
and laws, and practices, and policy, doing wrong
in nothing, but being of the same mind with the
Romans. But there is a new and strange nation,
neither agreeing with other nations nor consent-
ing to the religious observances of the Jews, un-
circumcised, inhuman, lawless, subverting whole
houses, proclaiming a man as God, all assem-
bling together ' under a strange name, that of
Christian. These men reject God, paying no
heed to the law given by Him, and proclaim to
be the Son of God a man born of ourselves,
Jesus by name, whose parents and brothers and
all his family have been connected with the
Hebrews ; whom on account of his great blas-
phemy and his wicked fooleries we gave up to
' Tischendorf gives a conjectural reading: who is present to
them when they assemble ; but the MSS. reading will bear the inter-
pretation given above.
560
the cross. And they add another blasphemous
lie to their first one : him that was nailed up
and buried, they glorify as having risen from the
dead ; and, more than this, they falsely assert
that he has been taken up by ^ clouds into the
heavens.
At all this the king, being affected with rage,
ordered the senate to publish a decree that they
should put to death -all who confessed them-
selves to be Christians. Those, then, who were
found in the time of his rage, and who reaped
the fruit of patience, and were crowned in the
triumphant contest against the works of the devil,
received the repose of incorruption.
And the fame of the teaching of John was
spread abroad in Rome ; and it came to the ears
of Domitian that there was a certain Hebrew in
Ephesus, John by name, who spread a report
about the seat of empire of the Romans, saying
that it would quickly be rooted out, and that the
kingdom of the Romans would be given over to
another. And Domitian, troubled by what was
said, sent a centurion with soldiers to seize John,
and bring him. And having gone to Ephesus,
they asked where John lived. And having come
up to his gate, they found him standing before
the door ; and, thinking that he was the porter,
they inquired of him where John lived. And he
answered and said : I am he. And they, despis-
ing his common, and low, and poor appearance,
were filled with threats, and said : Tell us the
truth. And when he declared again that he was
the man they sought, the neighbours moreover
bearing witness to it, they said that he was to go
with them at once to the king in Rome. And,
urging them to take provisions for the journey,
he turned and took a few dates, and straightway
went forth.
And the soldiers, having taken the public con-
veyances, travelled fast, having seated him in the
midst of them. And when they came to the
first change, it being the hour of breakfast, they
2 Or, in.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST JOHN. 561
entreated him to be of good courage, and to
take bread, and eat with them. And John said :
I rejoice in soul indeed, but in the meantime I
do not wish to take any food. And they started,
and were carried along quickly. And when it
was evening they stopped at a certain inn ; and
as, besides, it was the hour of supper, the cen-
turion and the soldiers being most kindly dis-
posed, entreated John to make use of what was
set before them. But he said that he was very
tired, and in want of sleep more than any food.
And as he did this each day, all the soldiers were
struck with amazement, and were afraid lest
John should die, and involve them in danger.
But the Holy Spirit showed him to them as
more cheerful. And on the seventh day, it be-
ing the Lord's day, he said to them : Now it is
time for me also to partake of food. And hav-
ing washed his hands and face, he prayed, and
brought out the linen cloth, and took one of the
dates, and ate it in the sight of all.
And when they had ridden a long time they
came to the end of their journey, John thus fast-
ing. And they brought him before the king, and
said : Worshipful king, we bring to thee John,
a god, not a man ; for, from the hour in which
we apprehended him, to the present, he has not
tasted bread. At this Domitian being amazed,
stretched out his mouth on account of the won-
der, wishing to salute him vvith a kiss ; but John
bent down his head, and kissed his breast. And
Domitian said : Why hast thou done this ? Didst
thou not think me worthy to kiss thee? And
John said to him : It is right to adore the hand
of God first of all, and in this way to kiss the
mouth of the king ; for it is written in the holy
books. The heart of a king is in the hand of
God.'
And the king said to him : Art thou John,
who said that my kingdom would speedily be
uprooted, and that another king, Jesus, was go-
ing to reign instead of me ? And John answered
and said to him : Thou also shalt reign for many
years given thee by God, and after thee very
many others ; and when the times of the things
upon earth have been fulfilled, out of heaven
shall come a King, eternal, true. Judge of living
and dead, to whom every nation and tribe shall
confess, through whom every earthly power and
dominion shall be brought to nothing, and every
mouth speaking great things shall be shut. This
is the mighty Lord and King of everything that
hath breath and flesh,^ the Word and Son of the
living One, who is Jesus Christ.
At this Domitian said to him : What is the
proof of these things? I am not persuaded by
words only ; words are a sight of the unseen.^
' Prov. xxi. I
2 Lit., of all breath and flesh.
•5 Exjual to our proverb, Seeing is believing.
What canst thou show in earth or heaven by the
power of him who is destined to reign, as thou
sayest? For he will do it, if he is the Son of
God. And immediately John asked for a deadly
poison. And the king having ordered poison to
be given to him, they brought it on the instant.
John therefore, having taken it, put it into a
large cup, and filled it with water, and mixed it,
and cried out with a loud voice, and said : In
Thy name, Jesus Christ, Son of God, I drink
the cup which Thou wilt sweeten ; and the poi-
son in it do Thou mingle with Thy Holy Spirit,
and make it become a draught of life and salva-
tion, for the healing of soul and body, for diges-
tion and harmless assimilation, for faith not to
be repented of, for an undeniable testimony of
death as the cup of thanksgiving.'* And when
he had drunk the cup, those standing beside
Domitian expected that he was going to fall to
the ground in convulsions. And when John
stood, cheerful, and talked with them safe,
Domitian was enraged against those who had
given the poison, as having spared John. But
they swore by the fortune and health of the king,
and said that there could not be a stronger poi-
son than this. And John, understanding what
they were whispering to one another, said to the
king : Do not take it ill, O king, but let a trial
be made,5 and thou shalt learn the power of the
poison. Make some condemned criminal be
brought from the prison. And when he had
come, John put water into the cup, and swirled
it round, and gave it with all the dregs to the
condemned criminal. And he, having taken it
and drunk, immediately fell down and died.
And when all wondered at the signs that had
been done, and when Domitian had retired and
gone to his palace, John said to him : O Domi-
tian, king of the Romans, didst thou contrive
this, that, thou being present and bearing wit-
ness, I might to-day become a murderer? What
is to be done about the dead body which is ly-
ing ? And he ordered it to be taken and thrown
away. But John, going up to the dead body,
said : O God, Maker of the heavens, Lord and
Master of angels, of glories, of powers, in the
name of Jesus Christ, Thine only begotten Son,
give to this man who has died for this occasion a
renewal of life, and restore him his soul, that
Domitian may learn that the Word is much more
powerful than poison, and is the ruler of life.
And having taken him by the hand, he raised
him up alive.
And when all were glorifying God, and won-
dering at the faith of John, Domitian said to
him : I have put forth a decree of the senate,
that all such persons should be summarily dealt
with, without trial ; but since I find from thee
* i.e., the Eucharist.
5 Tischendorf conjectures this clause, as the original is illegible.
562 ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST JOHN.
that they are innocent, and that their rehgion is
rather beneficial, I banish thee to an island, that
I may not seem myself to do away with my own
decrees. He asked then that the condemned
criminal should be let go ; and when he was let
go, John said : Depart, give thanks to God, who
has this day delivered thee from prison and from
death.
And while they were standing, a certain home-
born slave of Domitian's, of those in the bed-
chamber, was suddenly seized by the unclean
demon, and lay dead ; and word was brought to
the king. And the king was moved, and en-
treated John to help her. And John said : It is
not in man to do this ; but since thou knowest
how to reign, but dost not know from whom thou
hast received it, learn who has the power over
both thee and thy kingdom. And he prayed
thus : O Lord, the God of every kingdom, and
master of every creature, give to this maiden
the breath of life. And having prayed, he raised
her up. And Domitian, astonished at all the
wonders, sent him away to an island, appointing
for him a set time.
And straightway John sailed to Patmos, where
also he was deemed worthy to see the revelation
of the end. And when Domitian was dead,
Nerva succeeded to the kingdom, and recalled
all who had been banished ; and having kept the
kingdom for a year, he made Trajan his suc-
cessor in the kingdom. And when he was king
over the Romans, John went to Ephesus, and
regulated all the teaching of the church, holding
many conferences, and reminding them of what
the Lord had said to them, and what duty he
had assigned to each. And when he was old and
changed, he ordered Polycarp to be bishop over
the church.
And what like his end was, or his departure
from men, who cannot give an account of?
For on the following day, which was the Lord's
day, and in the presence of the brethren, he
began to say to them : Brethren, and fellow-
servants, and co-heirs, and copartners of the
kingdom of the Lord, know the Lord what
miracles He hath shown you through me, what
wonders, what cures, what signs, what gracious
gifts, teachings, rulings, rests, services, glories,
graces, gifts, faiths, communions ; how many
things you have seen with your eyes, that ear
hath not heard. Be strong, therefore, in Him,
remembering Him in all your doings, knowing
the mystery of the dispensation that has come
to men, for the sake of which the Lord has
worked. He then, through me, exhorts you :
Brethren, I wish to remain without grief, without
insult, without treachery, without punishment.
For He also knows insult from you, He knows
also dishonour, He knows also treachery, He
knows also punishment from those that dis-
obey His commandments. Let not therefore
our God be grieved, the good, the compassionate,
the merciful, the holy, the pure, the undefiled,
the only, the one, the immutable, the sincere, the
guileless, the slow to anger, He that is higher
and more exalted than every name that we speak
or think of — our God, Jesus Christ. Let Him
rejoice along with us because we conduct our-
selves well ; let Him be glad because we live in
purity ; let Him rest because we behave rever-
ently ; let Him be pleased because we live in
fellowship ; let Him smile because we are sober-
minded ; let Him be delighted because we love.
These things, brethren, I communicate to you,
pressing on to the work set before me, already
perfected for me by the Lord. For what else
have I to say to you ? Keep the sureties of your
God ; keep His presence, that shall not be taken
away from you. And if then ye sin no more,
He will forgive you what ye have done in igno-
rance ; but if, after ye have known Him, and
He has had compassion iipon you, you return to
the like courses, even your former offences will
be laid to your charge, and ye shall have no
portion or compassion before His face.'
And when he had said this to them, he thus
prayed : Jesus, who didst wreathe this crown by
Tiiy twining, who hast inserted these many flow-
ers into the everlasting flower of Thy counte-
nance, who hast sown these words among them,
be Thou Thyself the protector and healer of
Thy people. Thou alone art benignant and
not haughty, alone merciful and kind, alone a
Saviour, and just ; Thou who always seest what
belongs to all, and art in all, and everywhere
present, God Lord Jesus Christ ; who with Thy
gifts and Thy compassion coverest those that
hope in Thee ; who knowest intimately those
that everywhere speak against us, and blaspheme
Thy holy name, do Thou alone, O Lord, help
Thy servants with Thy watchful care. So be it,
Lord.
And having asked bread, he gave thanks thus,
saying : What praise, or what sort of offering, or
what thanksgiving, shall we, breaking the bread,
invoke, but Thee only? We glorify the name
by which Thou hast been called by the Father ;
we glorify the name by which Thou hast been
called through the Son ; we glorify the resur-
rection which has been manifested to us through
Thee ; of Thee we glorify the seed,^ the word,
the grace, the true pearl, the treasure, the plough,
the net,3 the majesty, the diadem, Him called
Son of man for our sakes, the truth, the rest, the
knowledge, the freedom, the place of refuge in
Thee. For Thou alone art Lord, the root of
immortality, and the fountain of incorruption,
' Comp. Heb. x. 26.
^ Or, sowing.
3 Comp. Matt. xiii.
ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST JOHN. 563
and the seat of the ages ; Thou who hast been
called all these for our sakes, that now we, call-
ing upon Thee through these, may recognise
Thine illimitable majesty, presented to us by
Thy presence, that can be seen only by the pure,
seen in Thine only Son.
And having broken the bread, he gave it to
us, praying for each of the brethren, that he
might be worthy of the Eucharist of the Lord.
He also therefore, having likewise tasted it, said :
To me also let there be a portion with you, and
peace, O beloved. And having thus spoken,
and confirmed the brethren, he said to Euty-
ches, also named Verus : Behold, I appoint thee
a minister ' of the Church of Christ, and I entrust
to thee the flock of Christ. Be mindful, there-
fore, of the commandments of the Lord ; and if
thou shouldst fall into trails or dangers, be not
afraid : for thou shalt fall under many troubles,
and thou shalt be shown to be an eminent wit-
ness- of the Lord. Thus, then, Verus, attend to
the flock as a servant of God, until the time
appointed for thy testimony.
And when John had spoken this, and more
than this, having entrusted to him the flock of
Christ, he says to him : Take some brethren,
with baskets and vessels, and follow me. And
Eutyches, without considering,^ did what he was
bid. And the blessed John having gone forth
from the house, went outside of the gates, having
told the multitude to stand off from him. And
having come to the tomb of one of our brethren,
he told them to dig. And they dug. And he
says : Let the trench be deeper. And as they
dug, he conversed with those who had come out
of the house with him, building them up, and
furnishing them thoroughly into the majesty of
the Lord. And when the young men had fin-
ished the trench, as he had wished, while we
knew ^ nothing, he takes off the clothes he had
on, and throws them, as if they were some bid-
ding, into the depth of the trench ; and, stand-
ing in only his drawers,5 stretched forth his
hands, and prayed.
O God, who hast chosen us for the mission ^
of the Gentiles, who hast sent us out into the
world, who hast declared Thyself through the
apostles ; who hast never rested, but always sav-
est from the foundation of the world ; who hast
made Thyself known through all nature ; who
hast made our wild and savage nature quiet and
peaceable ; who hast given Thyself to it when
thirsting after knowledge ; 7 who hast put to
death its adversary, when it took refuge in Thee ;
'Or, deacon.
2 i.e., martyr.
3 The other MSS. has: not without concern.
* Or, saw.
5 The word Siypiixriio is not to be found in any of the dictionaries.
Perhaps it is a misreading of fiia^uJtrTpa.
* Or, apostleship.
^ Lit., words or reasons.
who hast given it Thy hand, and raised it from
the things done in Hades ; who hast shown it
its own enemy ; who hast in purity turned its
thoughts upon Thee, O Christ Jesus, Lord of
things in heaven, and law of things on earth, the
course of things aerial, and guardian of things
etherial, the fear of those under the earth, and
grace of Thine own people, receive also the soul
of Thy John, which has been certainly deemed
worthy by Thee, Thou who hast preserved me
also till the present hour pure to Thyself, and
free from intercourse with woman ; who, when
I wished in my youth to marry, didst appear to
me, and say, I am in need of thee, John; who
didst strengthen for me beforehand my bodily
weakness ; who, when a third time I wished to
marry, didst say to me at the third hour, in the
sea, John, if thou wert not mine, I would let thee
marry ; who hast opened up the sight of my
mind, and hast favoured my bodily ^ eyes ; who,
when I was looking about me, didst call even
the gazing upon a woman hateful ; who didst
deliver me from temporary show, and preserve
me for that which endureth for ever ; who didst
separate me from the filthy madness of the flesh ;
who didst stop up '^ the secret disease of the soul,
and cut out its open actions ; who didst afflict
and banish him who rebelled in me ; who didst
establish my love to Thee spotless and unim-
paired ; who didst give me undoubting faith in
Thee ; who hast drawn out for me pure thoughts
towards Thee ; who hast given me the due re-
ward of my works ; who hast set it in my soul
to have no other possession than Thee alone :
for what is more precious than Thou ? Now, O
Lord, when I have accomplished Thy steward-
ship with which I was entrusted, make me
worthy of Thy repose, having wrought that which
is perfect in Thee, which is ineffable salvation.
And as I go to Thee, let the fire withdraw, let
darkness be overcome, let the furnace be slack-
ened, let Gehenna be extinguished, let the an-
gels follow, let the demons be afraid, let the
princes be broken in pieces, let the powers of
darkness fall, let the places on the right hand
stand firm, let those on the left abide not, let
the devil be muzzled, let Satan be laughed to
scorn, let his madness be tamed, let his wrath be
broken, let his children be trodden under foot,
and let all his root be uprooted ; and grant to
me to accomplish the journey to Thee, not in-
sulted, not despitefully treated, and to receive
what Thou hast promised to those that live in
purity, and that have loved a holy life.
And gazing towards heaven, he glorified God ;
and having sealed himself altogether, he stood
and said to us. Peace and grace be with you,
8 Or, visible.
9 Or, mu7.7.\e.
564 ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST JOHN.
brethren ! and sent the brethren away. And
when they went on the morrow they did not find
him, but his sandals, and a fomitain welhng up.
And after that they remembered what had been
said to Peter by the Lord about him : For what
does it concern thee if I should wish him to re-
main until I come ? ' And they glorified God
for the miracle that had happened. And having
thus believed, they retired praising and blessing
the benignant God ; because to Him is due glory
now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen.
' John xxi. 22.
fd^u
-r> ^iCAnT>/UC/C
REVELATION OF MOSES.
Account and life of Adam and Eve, the first-
created, revealed by God to His servant Moses,
when he received from the hand of the Lord
the tables of the law of the covenant, instructed
by the archangel Michael.
This is the account of Adam and Eve. After
they went forth out of paradise, Adam took Eve
his wife, and went up into the east. And he re-
mained there eighteen years and two months ;
and Eve conceived and brought forth two sons,
Diaphotus called Cain, and Amilabes ' called
Abel.
And after this, Adam and Eve were with one
another ; and when they lay down. Eve said to
Adam her lord : My lord, I have seen in a dream
this night the blood of my son Amilabes, who is
called Abel, thrown into the mouth of Cain his
brother, and he drank it without pity. And he
entreated him to gi-ant him a little of it, but he
did not listen to him, but drank it all up ; and it
did not remain in his belly, but came forth out
of his mouth. And Adam said to Eve : Let us
arise, and go and see what has happened to
them, lest perchance the enemy should be in any
way warring against them.
And having both gone, they found Abel killed
by the hand of Cain his brother. And God says
to the archangel Michael : Say to Adam, Do not
relate the mystery which thou knowest to thy
son Cain, for he is a son of wrath. But grieve
thyself not ; for I will give thee instead of him
another son, who shall show thee all things, as
many as thou shalt do to him ; but do thou tell
him nothing. This God said to His angel ; and
Adam kept the word in his heart, and with him
Eve also, having grief about Abel their son.
And after this, Adam knew his wife Eve, and
she conceived and brought forth Seth. And
Adam says to Eve : Behold, we have brought forth
a son instead of Abel whom Cain slew ; let us give
glory and sacrifice to God.
And Adam had ^ thirty sons and thirty daugh-
ters.2 And he fell into disease, and cried with
■ There is great variety as to these names in the Mss. The true
reading was probably 6iai|>i)Tojp or 6ta<^UTevTi)?, a planter, and ^jirjAaras
or MJ)Aoa6T7)s, a keeper of sheep.
2 Lit., made.
^ One MS. adds: And Adam lived 930 years ; and when he came
to his end he cried, etc.
a loud voice, and said : Let all my sons come
to me, that I may see them before I die. And
they were all brought together, for the earth was
inhabited in three parts ; and they all came to
the door of the house into which he had entered
to pray to God. And his son Seth said : Father
Adam, what is thy disease ? And he says : My
children, great trouble has hold of me. And
they say : What is the trouble and disease ? And
Seth answered and said to him : Is it that thou
rememberest \ht fruits of paradise of which thou
didst eat, and grievest thyself because of the de-
sire of them ? If it is so, tell me, and I will go
and bring thee fruit from paradise. For I will
put dung upon my head, and weep and pray,
and the Lord will hearken to me, and send his
angel ; and I shall bring // to thee,4 that thy
trouble may cease from thee. Adam says to
him : No, my son Seth ; but I have disease and
trouble. Seth says to him : And how have they
come upon thee ? Adam said to him : When
God made us, me and your mother, for whose
sake also I die. He gave us every plant in para-
dise ; but about one he commanded us not to
eat of it, because on account of it we should die.
And the hour was at hand for the angels who
guarded your mother to go up and worship the
Lord ; and the enemy gave to her, and she ate
of the tree, knowing that I was not near her, nor
the holy angels ; then she gave me also to eat.
And when we had both eaten, God was angry
with us. And the Lord, coming into paradise,
set His throne, and called with a dreadful voice,
saying, Adam, where art thou ? and why art thou
hidden from my face ? shall the house be hidden
from him that built it? And He says, Since thou
hast forsaken my covenant, I have brought upon
thy body seventy strokes. 5 The trouble of the
first stroke is the injury of the eyes ; the trouble
of the second stroke, of the hearing ; and so in
succession, all the strokes shall overtake thee.
And Adam thus speaking to his sons, groaned
out loud, and said : What shall I do? I am in
great grief. And Eve also wept, saying : My
lord Adam, arise, give me the half of thy disease,
^ One MS. has: and he will bring to me of the tree in which com-
passion flows, and thy trouble shall cease from thee.
5 Or, plagues.
566
REVELATION OF MOSES.
and let me bear it, because through me this has
happened to thee ; through me thou art in dis-
tresses and troubles. And Adam said to Eve :
Arise, and go with our son Seth near paradise,
and put earth upon your heads, and weep, be-
seeching the Lord that He may have compassion
upon me, and send His angel to paradise, and
give me of the tree in which flows the oil out of
it, and that thou mayest bring it to me ; and I
shall anoint myself, and have rest, and show thee
the manner in which we were deceived at first.
And Seth and Eve went into the regions of
paradise. And as they were going along. Eve
saw her son, and a wild beast fighting with him.
And Eve wept, saying : Woe's me, woe's me ;
for if I come to the day of the resurrection, all
who have sinned will curse me, saying. Eve did
not keep the commandment of God. And Eve
cried out to the wild beast, saying : O thou evil
wild beast, wilt thou not be afraid to fight with
the image of God? How has thy mouth been
opened ? how have thy teeth been strengthened ?
how hast thou not been mindful of thy subjection,
that thou wast formerly subject to the image of
God ? Then the wild beast cried out, saying :
O Eve, not against us thy upbraiding nor thy
weeping, but against thyself, since the beginning
of the wild beasts was from thee. How was thy
mouth opened to eat of the tree about which
God had commanded thee not to eat of it? For
this reason also our nature has been changed.
Now, therefore, thou shalt not be able to bear
up, if 1 begin to reproach thee. And Seth says
to the wild beast : Shut thy mouth and be silent,
and stand off from the image of God till the day
of judgment. Then the wild beast says to Seth :
Behold, I stand off, Seth, from the image of God.
Then the wild beast fled, and left him wounded,
and went to his covert.
And Seth went with his mother Eve near par-
adise : and they wept there, beseeching God to
send His angel, to give ' them the oil of com-
passion. And God sent to them the archangel
Michael, and he said to them these words : Seth,
man of God, do not weary thyself praying in
this supplication about the tree in which flows
the oil to anoint thy father Adam ; for it will
not happen to thee now, but at the last times.
Then shall arise all flesh from Adam even to that
great day, as many as shall be a holy people ;
then shall be given to them all the delight of
paradise, and God shall be in the midst of them ;
and there shall not any more be sinners before
Him, because the wicked heart shall be taken
from them, and there shall be given to them a
heart made to understand what is good, and
to worship God only. Do thou again go to thy
father, since the measure of his life has been
fulfilled, equal to ^ three days. And when his
soul goes out, thou wilt behold its dreadful pas-
sage.
And the angel, having said this, went away
from them. And Seth and Eve came to the tent
where Adam was lying. And Adam says to Eve :
Why didst thou work mischief against us, and
bring upon us great wrath, which is death, hold-
ing sway over all our race ? And he says to her :
Call all our children, and our children's chil-
dren, and relate to them the manner of our
transgression.
Then Eve says to them : Listen, all my chil-
dren, and my children's children, and I shall re-
late to you how our enemy deceived us. It came
to pass, while we were keeping paradise, that we
kept each the portion allotted to him by God.
And I was keeping in my lot the south and west.
And the devil went into the lot of Adam where
were the male wild beasts ; since God parted to
us the wild beasts, and had given all the males
to your father, and all the females He gave to
me, and each of us watched his own. And the
devil spoke to the serpent, saying, Arise, come
to me, and I shall tell y©u a thing in which thou
mayst be of service. Then the serpent came to
him, and the devil says to him, I hear that thou
art more sagacious than all the wild beasts, and
I have come to make thy acquaintance ; ^ and I
have found thee greater than all the wild beasts,
and they associate with thee ; notwithstanding,
thou doest reverence to one far inferior. Why
eatest thou of the tares'* of Adam'and his wife,
and not of the fruit of paradise ? Arise and come
hither, and we shall make him be cast out of
paradise through his wife, as we also were cast
out through him. The serpent says to him, I am
afraid lest the Lord be angry with me. The
devil says to him. Be not afraid ; only become
my instrument, and I will speak through thy
mouth a word by which thou shalt be able to
deceive him. Then straightway he hung by the
walls of paradise about the hour when the an-
gels of God went up to worship. Then Satan
came in the form of an angel, and praised God
as did the angels ; and looking out from the
wall, I saw him like an angel. And says he to
me. Art thou Eve? And I said to him, I am.
And says he to me, What doest thou in para-
dise? And I said to him, God has set us to
keep it, and to eat of it. The devil answered
me through the mouth of the serpent, Ye do
well, but you do not eat of every plant. And I
* Lit., and he will give.
2 Perhaps for tcroi' we should read eio-w, within. Another read-
ing is: for the days of his life have been fulfilled, and he will live from
to-day three days, and he will die.
3 C has: I take counsel with thee. [C is a Vienna manuscript of
the twelfth century; see p. 358, and Tischendorf, Apocalypses Apoc-
ryphee, pp xi., xii. — R.J
'' It seems to be settled that the ziznnia of the Greeks, the zawdn
of the Arabs, was darnel; but, from the associations connected with
the word, it is better to keep the common translation.
REVELATION OF MOSES.
567
say to him, Yes, of every plant we eat, but one
only which is in the midst of paradise, about
which God has commanded us not to eat of it,
since you will die the death. Then says the ser-
pent to me, As God liveth, I am grieved for you,
because you are like cattle. For I do not wish
you to be ignorant of this ; but rise, come
hither, listen to me, and eat, and perceive the
value of the tree, as He told us. But I said to
him, I am afraid lest God be angry with me.
And he says to me, Be not afraid ; for as soon
as thou eatest, thine eyes shall be opened, and
ye shall be as gods in knowing what is good and
what is evil. And God, knowing this, that ye
shall be like Him, has had a grudge against you,
and said, Ye shall not eat of it. But do thou
observe the plant, and thou shalt see great glory
about it. And I observed the plant, and saw
great glory about it. And I said to him. It is
beautiful to the eyes to perceive ; and I was
afraid to take of the fruit. And he says to me.
Come, I will give to thee : follow me. And I
opened to him, and he came inside into para-
dise, and went through it before me. And hav-
ing walked a little, he turned, and says to me, I
have changed my mind, and will not give thee
to eat. And this he said, wisliing at last to en-
tice and destroy me. And he says to me, Swear
to me that thou wilt give also to thy husband.
And I said to him, I know not by what oath I
shall swear to thee ; but what I know I say to
thee. By the throne of the Lord, and the cheru-
bim, and the tree of life, I will give also to my
husband to eat. And when he had taken the
oath from me, then he went and ascended upon
it. And he put upon the fruit which he gave me
to eat the poison of his wickedness, that is, of
his desire ; for desire is the head ' of all sin.
And I bent down the branch to the ground, and
took of the fruit, and ate. And in that very
hour mine eyes were opened, and I knew that I
was stripped ^ of the righteousness with which
I had been clothed ; and I wept, saying. What is
this thou hast done to me, because I have been
deprived- of the glory with which I was clothed?
And I wept too about the oath. And he came
down out of the tree, and went out of sight.
And I sought leaves in my portion, ^ that I might
cover my shame ; and I did not find them from
the plants of paradise, since, at the time that I
ate, the leaves of all the plants in my portion
fell, except of the fig alone. And having taken
leaves off it, I made myself a girdle, and it is
from those plants of which I ate. And I cried
out with a loud voice, saying, Adam, Adam,
where art thou ? Arise, come to me, and I shall
show thee a great mystery. And when your
' C has, root and origin.
2 Lit , naked.
3 i.e., of the garden.
father came, I said to him words of wickedne.ss,
which brought us down from great glory. For
as soon as he came I opened my mouth, and
the devil spoke ; and I began to advise him,
saying. Come hither, my lord Adam, listen to
me, and eat of the fruit of the tree of which
God said to us not to eat of it, and thou shalt
be as God. And your father answered and said,
I am afraid lest God be angry with me. And I
said to him, Be not afraid, for as soon as thou
shalt eat thou shalt know good and evil. And
then I quickly persuaded him, and he ate ; and
his eyes were opened, and he was aware, he also,
of his nakedness. And he says to me, O wicked
woman, why hast thou wrought mischief in us?
Thou hast alienated me from the glory of God.
And that same hour we heard the archangel
Michael sounding his trumpet, calling the angels,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, Come with me to
paradise, and hear the word in which I judge
Adam. And when we heard the archangel
sounding, we said, Behold, God is coming into
paradise to judge us. And we were afraid, and
hid ourselves. And God came up into paradise,
riding upon a chariot of cherubim, and the an-
gels praising Him. When God came into para-
dise, the plants both of Adam's lot and of my
lot bloomed, and all lifted themselves up ; and
the throne of God was made ready where the
tree of life was. And God called Adam, saying,
Adam, where art thou hidden, thinking that I
shall not find thee ? Shall the house be hidden
from him that built it? Then your father an-
swered and said. Not, Lord, did we hide our-
selves as thinking that we should not be found
by Thee ; but I am afraid, because I am naked,
and stand in awe of Thy power, O Lord. God
says to him. Who hath shown thee that thou art
naked, unless it be that thou hast forsaken my
commandment which I gave thee to keep it?
Then Adam remembered the word which I spake
to him when I wished to deceive him, I will put
thee out of danger from God. And he turned
and said to me. Why hast thou done this ? And
I also remembered the word of the serpent, and
said, The serpent deceived me. God says to
Adam, Since thou hast disobeyed my command-
ment, and obeyed thy wife, cursed is the ground
in thy labours. For whenever thou labourest it,
and it will not give its strength, thorns and this-
tles shall it raise for thee ; and in the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. And thou slialt
be in distresses of many kinds. Thou shalt weary
thyself, and rest not ; thou shalt be afflicted by
bitterness, and shalt not taste of sweetness ; thou
shalt be afflicted by heat, and oppressed by
cold ; and thou shalt toil much, and not grow
rich ; and thou shalt make haste,'* and not attain
* 1 have read TaxvvBriaei. for Tra\vi'9n(7ti, thou shalt grow lat.
568
REVELATION OF MOSES.
thine end ; and the wild beasts, of which thou
wast lord, shall rise up against thee in rebellion,
because thou hast not kept my commandment.
And having turned to me, the Lord says to me,
Since thou hast obeyed the serpent, and dis-
obeyed my commandment, thou shalt be in dis-
tresses ' and unbearable pains ; thou shalt bring
forth children with great tremblings ; and in one
hour shalt thou come to bring them forth,^ and
lose thy life in consequence of thy great straits
and pangs. And thou shalt confess, and say.
Lord, Lord, save me ; and I shall not return to
the sin of the flesh. And on this account in
thine own words I shall judge thee, on account
of the enmity which the enemy hath put in thee ;
and thou shalt turn again to thy husband, and
he shall be thy lord.3 And after speaking thus
to me. He spoke to the serpent in great wrath,
saying to him. Since thou hast done this, and
hast become an ungracious instrument until thou
shouldst deceive those that were remiss in heart,
cursed art thou of all the beasts. Thou shalt be
deprived of the food which thou eatest ; and
dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life ; upon
thy breast and belly shalt thou go, and thou shalt
be deprived both of thy hands and feet ; there
shall not be granted thee ear, nor wing, nor one
limb of all which those have whom thou hast
enticed by thy wickedness, and hast caused
them to be cast out of paradise. And I shall
put enmity between thee and between his seed.
He shall lie in wait for "• thy head, and thou for
his heel, until the day of judgment. And hav-
ing thus said. He commands His angels that we
be cast out of paradise. And as we were being
driven along, and were lamenting, your father
Adam entreated the angels, saying, Allow me a
little, that I may entreat God, and that He may
have compassion upon me, and pity me, for I
only have sinned. And they stopped driving
him. And Adam cried out with weeping, say-
ing, Pardon me, Lord, what I have done. Then
says the Lord to His angels, Why have you
stopped driving Adam out of paradise? It is
not that the sin is mine, or that I have judged
ill? Then the angels, falling to the ground,
worshipped the Lord, saying, Just art Thou,
Lord, and judgest what is right. And turning
to Adam, the Lord said, I will not permit thee
henceforth to be in paradise. And Adam an-
swered and said, Lord, give me of the tree of
life, that I may eat before I am cast out. Then
' The text has ^a.Ta.ioi%, vain; the true reading is probably
Ka^droi? or Ko)(6oi;.
- Inserted from MS. C.
3 MS. B inserts: And Eve was twelve years old when the demon
deceived her, and gave her evil desires. For night and day he ceased
not to bear hatred against them, because he himself was formerly in
paradise; and therefore he supplanted them, because he could not
bear to see them in paradise. [ B is a Vienna MS. of the thirteenth
or fourteenth century; see Tischendorf, Apocal. Apocr., p. xi. — R.]
■> This is after the version of the LXX., and it is also the inter-
pretation of Gesenius of the Hebrew shuph, Gen. iii. 15.
the Lord said to Adam, Thou shalt not now take
of it, for it has been assigned to the cherubim
and the flaming sword, which turneth to guard
it on account of thee, that thou mayst not taste
of it and be free from death for ever, but that
thou mayst have the war which the enemy has
set in thee. But when thou art gone out of para-
dise, if thou shalt keep thyself from all evil, as
being destined to die, I will again raise thee up
when the resurrection comes, and then there
shall be given thee of the tree of life, and thou
shalt be free from death for ever. And having
thus said, the Lord commanded us to be cast
out of paradise. And your father wept before
the angels over against paradise. And the an-
gels say to him. What dost thou wish that we
should do for thee, Adam? And your father
answered and said to the angels, Behold, you
cast me out. I beseech you, allow me to take
sweet odours out of paradise, in order that, after
I go out, I may offer sacrifice to God, that God
may listen to me. And the angels, advancing,
said to God, Jael, eternal King, order to be
given to Adam sacrifices s of sweet odour out of
paradise. And God ordered Adam to go, that
he might take perfumes of sweet odour out of
paradise for his food. And the angels let him
go, and he gathered both kinds — saffron and
spikenard, and calamus '^ and cinnamon, and
other seeds for his food ; and having taken them,
he went forth out of paradise. And we came to-
the earth. 7
Now, then, my children, I have shown you the
manner in which we were deceived. But do ye
watch over yourselves, so as not to forsake what
is good.
And when she had thus spoken in the midst
of her sons, and Adam was lying in his disease,
and he had one other day before going out of
the body. Eve says to Adam : Why is it that
thou diest, and I live ? or how long time have I
to spend after thou diest? tell me. Then says
Adam to Eve : Do not trouble thyself about
matters ; for thou wilt not be long after me, but
we shall both die alike, and thou wilt be laid
into my place.^ And when I am dead you will
leave ^ me, and let no one touch me, until the
angel of the Lord shall say something about me ;
for God will not forget me, but will seek His.
own vessel which He fashioned. Arise, rather,
pray to God until I restore my spirit into the
hands of Him who has given it ; because we
know not how we shall meet Him who made us,
whether He shall be angry with us, or turn and
have mercy upon us. Then arose Eve, and went
5 Or, incense.
6 This is the " sweet cane " of Isa. xliii. 24; Jer. vi. 20. See also
Ex. XXX. 23; Cant. iv. 14; Ezek. xxvii. 19.
7 Or, and we were upon the earth.
8 Perhaps t6.(\>ov, tomb, would be better than Ton-ov.
9 Or, anoint.
REVELATION OF MOSES.
569
outside ; and falling to the ground, she said :
I have sinned, O God ; I have sinned, O Father
of all ; I have sinned to Thee, I have sinned
against Thy chosen angels, I have sinned against
the cherubim, I have sinned against Thine un-
shaken throne ; I have sinned, O Lord, I have
sinned much, I have sinned before Thee, and
every sin ' through me has come upon the crea-
tion. And while Eve was still praying, being on
her knees, behold, there came to her the angel
of humanity, and raised her up, saying : Arise,
Eve, from thy repentance ; for, behold, Adam
thy husband has gone forth from his body ; arise
and See his spirit carried up to Him that made ^
it, to meet Him.
And Eve arose, and covered her face with her
hand ; and the angel says to her : Raise thyself
from the things of earth. And Eve gazed up
into heaven, and she saw a chariot of light going
along under four shining eagles — and it was not
possible for any one born of woman 3 to tell the
glory of them, or to see the face of them — and
angels going before the chariot. And when they
came to the place where your father Adam was
lying, the chariot stood still, and the seraphim
between your father and the chariot. And I
saw golden censers, and three vials ; and, behold,
all the angels with incense, and the censers, and
the vials, came to the altar, and blew them up,
and the smoke of the incense covered the firma-
ments. And the angels fell down and wor-
shipped God, crying out and saying : Holy Jael,
forgive ; for he is Thine image, and the work of
Thine holy hands.
And again, I Eve saw two great and awful
mysteries standing before God. And I wept
for fear, and cried out to my son Seth, saying :
Arise, Seth, from the body of thy father Adam,
and come to me, that thou mayst see what the
eye of no one hath ever seen ; and they are
praying for thy father Adam.-*
Then Seth arose and went to his mother, and
said to her : What has befallen thee ? and why
weepest thou ? She says to him : Look up with
thine eyes, and see the seven firmaments opened,
and see with thine eyes how the body of thy
father lies upon its face, and all the holy angels
with him, praying for him, and saying : Pardon
him, O Father of the universe ; for he is Thine
image. What then, my child Seth, will this be ?
and when will he be delivered into the hands of
our invisible Father and God ? And who are
the two dark-faced ones who stand by at the
prayer of thy father? And Seth says to his
mother : These are the sun and the moon, and
they are falling down and praying for my father
I Or, all sin.
^ The text has novrjaavTa, a misprint for TioiricravTa,
3 Lit., of a womb.
* The last clause is not in C.
Adam. Eve says to him : And where is their
light, and why have they become black-looking?
And Seth says to her : They cannot shine in the
presence of the Light of the universe,' and for
this reason the light from them has been hidden.
And while Seth was speaking to his mother,
the angels lying upon their faces sounded their
trumpets, and cried out with an awful voice, say-
ing. Blessed be the glory of the Lord upon what
He has made, for He has had compassion upon
Adam, the work of His hands. When the an-
gels had sounded this forth, there came one of
the six-winged seraphim, and hurried Adam to
the Acherusian lake, and washed him in pres-
ence of God. And he spent three hours ^' lying,
and thus the Lord of the universe, sitting upon
His holy throne, stretched forth His hands, and
raised^ Adam, and delivered him to the arch-
angel Michael, saying to him : Raise him into
paradise, even to the third heaven, and let him
be there until that great and dreadful day which
I am to bring upon the world. And the arch-
angel Michael, having taken Adam, led him
away, and anointed him, as God said to him
at the pardoning of Adam.
After all these things, therefore, the archangel
asked about the funeral rites of the remains ; and
God commanded that all the angels should come
together into His presence, each according to
his rank. And all the angels were assembled,
some with censers, some with trumpets. And
the Lord of Hosts went up, 7 and the winds drew
Him, and cherubim riding upon the winds, and
the angels of heaven went before Him ; and they
came to where the body of Adam was, and took
it. And they came to paradise, and all the trees
of paradise were moved so that all begotten from
Adam hung their heads in sleep at the sweet
smell, except Seth, because he had been begot-
ten according to the appointment of God.
The body of Adam, then, was lying on the
ground in paradise, and Seth was grieved exceed-
ingly about him. And the Lord God says :
Adam, why hast thou done this ? If thou hadst
kept my commandment, those that brought thee
down to this place would not have rejoiced.
Nevertheless I say unto thee, that I will turn
their joy into grief, but I will turn thy grief into
joy ; and having turned, I will set thee in thy
kingdom, on the throne of him that deceived
thee ; and he shall be cast into this place, that
thou mayst sit upon him. Then shall be con-
demned, he and those who hear him ; and they
shall be much grieved, and shall weep, seeing
thee sitting upon his glorious throne.
5 MS. A here ends thus: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, now and tver, and to ages of ages. -Amen. [A is the Venice
MS." of about the thirteenth century; " Tischendorf, A/>ocai. Afocr.,
p. xi. — R.]
6 The Mss. originally had days, and hours is substituted in an-
other hand.
' i.e., mounted His chariot.
570
REVELATION OF MOSES.
And then He said to the archangel Michael :
Go into paradise, into the third heaven, and bring
me three cloths of fine linen and silk. And God
said to Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael : '
Cover Adam's body with the cloths, and bring
olive oil of sweet odour, and pour upon him.
And having thus done, they prepared his body
for burial. And the Lord said : Let also the
body of Abel be brought. And having brought
other cloths, they prepared it also for burial,
since it had not been prepared for burial since
the day on which his brother Cain slew him.
For the wicked Cain, having taken great pains
to hide it, had not been able ; for the earth did
not receive it, saying : I will not receive a body
into companionship ^ until that dust which was
taken up and fashioned upon me come to me.
And then the angels took it up, and laid it on
the rock until his father died. And both were
buried, according to the commandment of God,
in the regions of paradise, in the place in which
God found the dust.^ And God sent seven
angels into paradise, and they brought many
sweet-smelling herbs, and laid them in the earth ;
and thus they took the two bodies, and buried
them in the place which they had dug and
built.
And God called Adam, and said : Adam,
Adam. And the body answered out of the
ground, and said : Here am I, Lord. And the
Lord says to him : I said to thee. Dust "^ thou art,
and unto dust thou shalt return. Again I prom-
ise thee the resurrection. I will raise thee up
in the last day in the resurrection, with every
man who is of thy seed.
And after these words God made a three-cor-
nered seal, and sealed the tomb, that no one
should do anything to him in the six days, until
' According to a Jewish tradition, these were the four angels who
stood round the throne of God.
2 Probably the reading should be crepor, another, and not eTalpov.
Or it may mean: I will not receive a friendly body, i.e., one upon
which I have no claims.
3 i.e., of which Adam was made.
■♦ Lit., earth.
his rib should return to him. And the benefi-
cent God and the holy angels having laid him
in his place, after the six days Eve also died.
And while she lived she wept about her falling
asleep, because she knew not where her body
was to be laid. For when the Lord was present
in paradise when they buried Adam, both she
and her children fell asleep, except Seth, as I
said. And Eve, in the hour of her death, be-
sought that she might be buried where Adam
her husband was, saying thus : My Lord, Lord
and God of all virtue, do not separate me, Thy
servant, from the body of Adam, for of his mem-
bers Thou madest me ; but grant to me, even
me, the unworthy and the sinner, to be buried
by his body. And as I was along with him in
paradise, and not separated from him after the
transgression, so also let no one separate us.
After having prayed, therefore, she looked up
into heaven, and stood up, and said, beating her
breast : God of all, receive my spirit. And
straightway she gave up her spirit to God,
And when she was dead, the archangel Mi-
chael stood beside her ; and there came three
angels, and took her body, and buried it where
the body of Abel was. And the archangel
Michael said to Seth : Thus bury every man that
dies, until the day of the resurrection. And af-
ter having given this law, he said to him : Do
not mourn beyond six days. And on the seventh
day, rest, and rejoice in it, because in it God
and we the angels rejoice in the righteous soul
that has departed from earth. Having thus
spoken, the archangel Michael went up into
heaven, glorifying, and saying the Alleluia : s
Holy, holy, holy Lord, to the glory of God the
Father, because to Him is due glory, honour,
and adoration, with His unbeginning and life-
giving Spirit, now and ever, and to ages of ages.
Amen. ^
5 MS. D ends here with: To whom be glory and strength to ages
of ages. Amen. [D is the Milan manuscript which Tischendorf as-
signs to " about the eleventh century," Apocalypses Apocrypha, p.
xi. — R.]
REVELATION OF ESDRAS.
WORD AND REVELATION OF ESDRAS, THE HOLY PROPHET AND BELOVED
OF GOD.
It came to pass in the thirtieth year, on the
twenty-second of the month, I was in my house.
And I cried out and said to the Most High :
Lord, give the glory,' in order that I may see
Thy mysteries. And when it was night, there
came an angel, Michael the archangel, and says
to me : O Prophet Esdras, refrain from bread
for seventy weeks? And I fasted as he told me.
And there came Raphael the commander of the
host, and gave me a storax rod. And I fasted
twice sixty ^ weeks. And I saw the mysteries of
God and His angels. And I said to them : I
wish to plead before God about the race of the
Christians. It is good for a man not to be born
rather than to come into the world. I was there-
fore taken up into heaven, and I saw in the first
heaven a great army of angels ; and they took
me to the judgments. And I heard a voice
saying to me : Have mercy on us, O thou
chosen of God, Esdras. Then began I to
say : Woe to sinners when they see one who
is just more than the angels, and they them-
selves are in the Gehenna of fire ! And Esdras
said : Have mercy on the works of Thine hands,
^'hou who art compassionate, and of great
mercy. Judge me rather than the souls of the
sinners ; for it is better that one soul should be
punished, and that the whole world should not
come to . destruction. And God said : I will
give rest in paradise to the righteous, and I have
become ** merciful. And Esdras said : Lord,
why dost Thou confer benefits on the righteous?
for just as one who has been hired out, and has
served out his time, goes and again works
as a slave when he come to his masters, so
also the righteous has received his reward in
the heavens. But have mercy on the sinners,
for we know that Thou art merciful. And God
said : I do not see how I can have mercy upon
them. And Esdras said : They cannot endure
' i.e., reveal.
2 Supplied by Tischendorf. Perhaps it should be days.
3 Perhaps this should be five — £ instead of f — which would make
seventy days, as above.
■♦ Or, I am.
Thy wrath. And God said : This is the faie of
such. And God said : I wish to have thee like
Paul and John, as thou hast given me uncor-
rupted the treasure that cannot be stolen, the
treasure of virginity, the bulwark s of men. And
Esdras said : It is good for a man not to be
born. It is good not to be in life. The irra-
tional creatu7'es are better than man, because
they have no punishment ; but Thou hast taken
us, and given us up to judgment. Woe to the
sinners in the world to come ! because their
judgment is endless, and the flame unquench-
able. And while I was thus speaking to him,
there came Michael and Gabriel, and all the
apostles ; and they said : Rejoice, O faithful man
of God ! And Esdras said : *" Arise, and come
hither with me, O Lord, to judgment. And the
Lord said : Behold, I give thee my covenant be-
tween me and thee, that you may receive it.
And Esdras said : Let us plead in Thy hearing.^
And God said : Ask Abraham your father how a
son pleads with his father,^ and come plead with
us. And Esdras said : As the Lord liveth, I will
not cease pleading with Thee in behalf of the
race of the Christians. Where are Thine ancient
compassions, O Lord? Where is Thy long-suf-
fering? And God said : As I have made night
and day, I have made the righteous and the sin-
ner ; and he should have lived like the righteous.
And the prophet said : Who made Adam the first-
formed ? And God said : My undefiled hands.
And I put him in paradise to guard the food of
the tree of life ; and thereafter he became diso-
bedient, and did this in transgression. And the
prophet said : Was he not protected by an
angel ? and was not his life guarded by the cheru-
bim to endless ages? and how was he deceived
who was guarded by angels? for Thou didst
command all to be present, and to attend to
5 Lit., wall.
•^ Tischendorf supplies this clause from conjecture, and adds that
some more seems to have fallen out.
' Lit , to Thine ear.
2 This seems to be the meaning of the text, which is somewhat
corrupt. It obviously refers to Abraham pleading for Sodom.
571
572
REVELATION OF ESDRAS.
what was said by Thee.' But if Thou hadst not
given him Eve, the serpent would not have de-
ceived her ; ^ but wliom Thou wilt Thou savest,
and whom Thou wilt Thou destroyest.3 And
the prophet said : Let us come, my Lord, to a
second judgment. And God said : I cast fire
upon Sodom and Gomorrah. And the prophet
said : Lord, Thou dealest with us according to
our deserts. And God said : Your sins tran-
scend my clemency. And the prophet said :
Call to mind the Scriptures, my Father, who hast
measured out Jerusalem, and set her up again.
Have mercy, O Lord, upon sinners ; have mercy
upon Thine own creatures ; '* have pity upon Thy
works. Then God remembered those whom He
had made, and said to the proj^het : How can I
have mercy upon them ? Vinegar and gall did
they give me to drink,5 and not even then did
they repent. And the prophet said : Reveal
Thy cherubim, and let us go together to judg-
ment ; and show me the day of judgment, what
like it is. And God said : Thou hast been de-
ceived, Esdras ; for such is the day of judgment
as that in which there is no rain upon the earth ;
for it is a merciful tribunal as compared with that
day. And the prophet said : I will not cease to
plead with Thee, unless I see the day of the
consummation. And God said : ^ Number the
stars and the sand of the sea ; and if thou shalt
be able to number this, thou art also able to
plead with me. And the prophet said : Lord,
Thou knowest that I wear human flesh ; and how
can I count the stars of the heaven, and the
sand of the sea ? And God said : My chosen
prophet, no man will know that great day and
the appearing ^ that comes to judge the world.
For thy sake, my prophet, 1 have told thee the
day ; but the hour have I not told thee. And
the prophet said : Lord, tell me also the years.
And God said : If I see the righteousness of the
world, that it has abounded, I will have patience
with them ; but if not, I will stretch forth my
hand, and lay hold of the world by the four
quarters, and bring them all together into the val-
ley of Jehoshaphat,^ and I will wipe out the
race of men, so that the world shall be no more.
And the prophet said : And how can Thy right
hand be glorified ? And God said : I shall be
glorified by my angels, x^nd the prophet said :
Lord, if Thou hast resolved to do this, why didst
Thou make man ? Thou didst say to our father
Abraham,^ Multiplying I will multiply thy seed
as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand that is
' This passage is very corrupt in the text; but a few emendations
bring out the meaning above.
2 Better, him.
3 Comp. Ex. xxxiii. 19; Rom. ix. 18.
■* Lit., framing, or fashioning.
5 Matt, xxvii. 34.
* This is inserted by Tischendorf.
7 Comp. 2 Tim. iv. i, 8; Tit. ii. 13.
^ Joel iii. 2, 12.
9 Gen. xxii. 17.
by the sea-shore ; '° and where is Thy promise ?
And God said : First will I make an earthquake
for the fall of four-footed beasts and of men ; and
when you see that brother gives up brother to
death, and that children shall rise up against
their parents, and that a woman forsakes her
own husband, and when nation shall rise up
against nation in war, then will you know that
the end is near." For then neither brother pities
brother, nor man wife, nor children parents, nor
friends friends, nor a slave his master; for he
who is the adversary of men shall come up from
Tartarus, and shall show men many things. What
shall I make of thee, Esdras ? and wilt thou yet
plead with me ? And the prophet said : Lord, I
shall not cease to plead with Thee. And God
said : Number the flowers of the earth. If thou
shalt be able to number them, thou art able also
to plead with me. And the prophet said : Lord,
I cannot number //icm. I wear human flesh ;
but I shall not cease to plead with Thee. I wish,
Lord, to see also the under parts of Tartarus.
And God said : Come down and see. And He
gave me Michael, and Gabriel, and other thirty-
four angels ; and I went down eighty-five steps,
and they brought me down five hundred steps,
and I saw a fiery throne, and an old man sitting
upon it ; and his judgment was merciless. And
I said to the angels : Who is this ? and what is
his sin ? And they said to n*ie : This is Herod,
who for a time was a king, and ordered to put to
death the children from two years old and under. '^
And I said : Woe to his soul ! And again they
took me down thirty steps, and I there saw boil-
ings up of fire, and in them t/tere -was a multi-
tude of sinners ; and I heard their voice, but
saw not their forms. And they took me down
lower many steps, which I could not measure.
And I there saw old men, and fiery pivots turn-
ing in their ears. And I said : Who are these**
and what is their sin ? And they said to me :
These are they who would not listen. '3 And they
took me down again other five hundred steps,
and I there saw the worm that sleeps not, and
fire burning up the sinners. And they took me
down to the lowest part of destruction, and I
saw there the twelve plagues of the abyss. And
they took me away to the south, and I saw there
a man hanging by the eyelids ; and the angels
kept scourging him. And I asked : Who is this?
and what is his sin? And Michael the com-
mander said to me : This is one who lay with
his mother ; for having put into practice a small
wish, he has been ordered to be hanged. And
they took me away to the north, and I saw there
a man bound with iron chains. And I asked :
Who is this ? And he said to me : This is he who
'° Lit., the hp of the sea.
" Comp. Matt. xxiv.
12 Matt. ii. 16.
'3 Or, who heard wrong.
REVELATION OF ESDRAS.
573
said, I am the Son of God, that made stones
bread, and water wine. And the prophet said :
My lord, let me know what is his form, and I
shall tell the race of men, that they may not be-
lieve in him. And he said to me : The form of
his countenance is like that of a wild beast ; his
right eye like the star that rises in the morning,
and the other without motion ; his mouth one
cubit ; his teeth span long ; his fingers like
scythes ; the track of his feet of two spans ; and
in his face an inscription, Antichrist. He has been
exalted to heaven ; he shall go down to Hades.'
At one time he shall become a child ; at another,
an old man. And the prophet said : Lord, and
how dost Thou permit him, and he deceives
the race of men ? And God said : Listen, my
prophet. He becomes both child and old man,
and no one believes him that he is my beloved
Son. And after this a trumpet, and the tombs
shall be opened, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible.- Then the adversary, hearing the
•dreadful threatening, shall be hidden in outer
darkness. Then the heaven, and the earth, and
the sea shall be destroyed. Then shall I burn
the heaven eighty cubits, and the earth eight
hundred cubits. And the prophet said : And
how has the heaven sinned ? And God said :
Since 3 . . . there is evil. And the prophet
said : Lord, and the earth, how has it sinned ?
And God said : Since the adversary, having
heard the dreadful threatening, shall be hidden,
even on account of this will I melt the earth,
and with it the opponent of the race of men.
And the prophet said : Have mercy, Lord, upon
the race of the Christians. And I saw a woman
hanging, and four wild beasts sucking her breasts.
And the angels said to me : She grudged to give
her milk, but even threw her infants into the
rivers. And I saw a dreadful darkness, and a
night that had no stars nor moon ; nor is there
there young or old, nor brother with brother,
nor mother with child, nor wife with husband.
And I wept, and said : O Lord God, have mercy
upon the sinners. And as I said this, there
came a cloud and snatched me up, and carried
me away again into the heavens. And I saw
there many judgments ; and I wept bitterly, and
said : It is good for a man not to have come
out of his mother's womb. And those who were
in torment cried out, saying : Since thou hast
come hither, O holy one of God, we have found
a little remission. And the prophet said : Blessed
are they that weep for their sins. And God said :
Hear, O beloved Esdras. As a husbandman
casts the seed of the corn into the ground, so
also the man casts his seed into the parts of the
woman. The first month it is all together ; the
' Comp. Matt. xi. 23.
^ I Cor. XV. 52.
■3 There is something wanting here in the text.
second it increases in size ; the third it gets hair ;
the fourth it gets nails ; the fifth it is turned into
milk ; •* and the sixth it is made ready, and re-
ceives life ; 5 the seventh it is completely fur-
nished ; the ninth the barriers of the gate of the
woman are opened ; and it is born safe and
sound into the earth. And the prophet said :
Lord, it is good for man not to have been born.
Woe to the human race then, when Thou shalt
come to judgment ! And I said to the Lord :
Lord, why hast Thou created man, and delivered
him up to judgment? And God said, with a
lofty proclamation : I will not by any means have
mercy on those who transgress my covenant.
And the prophet said : Lord, where is Thy good-
ness? And God said: I have prepared all
things for man's sake, and man does not keep
my commandments. And the prophet said :
Lord, reveal to me the judgments and paradise.
And the angels took me away towards the east,
and I saw the tree of life. And I saw there
Enoch, and Elias, and Moses, and Peter, and
Paul, and Luke, and Matthias, and all the right-
eous, and the patriarchs. And I saw there the
keeping of the air within bounds, and the blow-
ing of the winds, and the storehouses of the ice,
and the eternal judgments. And I saw there a
man hanging by the skull. And they said to
me : This man removed landmarks. And I saw
there great judgments.*" And I said to the Lord :
O Lord God, and what man, then, who has been
born has not sinned ? And they took me lower
down into Tartarus, and I saw all the sinners
lamenting and weeping and mourning bitterly.
And I also wept, seeing the race of men thus
tormented. Then God says to me : Knowest
thou, Esdras, the names of the angels at the end
of the world ? Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael,
Gabuthelon, Aker, Arphugitonos, Beburos, Zebu-
leon. Then there came a voice to me : Come
hither and die, Esdras, my beloved ; give that
which hath been entrusted to thee.^ And the
prophet said : And whence can you bring forth
my soul ? And the angels said : We can put it
forth through the mouth. And the prophet said :
Mouth to mouth have I spoken with God,*^ and
it comes not forth thence. And the angels said :
Let us bring it out through thy nostrils. And the
prophet said : My nostrils have smelled the sweet
savour of the glory of God. And the angels
said : We can bring it out through thine eyes.
And the prophet said : Mine eyes have seen the
back parts of God. 9 And the angels said : We
can bring it out through the crown of thy head.
< So in the text.
S Or, the soul.
* Or, tribunals.
7 Or, thy trust, or pledge.
Textus Receptus.
* Comp. Deut. xxxiv. lo.
9 Comp. Ex. xxxiii. 23.
Comp. I Tim. vi. 20; 2 Tim. i. 14, in
574
REVELATION OF ESDRAS.
And the prophet said : I walked about with
Moses also on the mountain, and it comes not
forth thence. And the angels said : We can put
it forth through the points of thy nails. And the
prophet said : My feet also have walked about
on the altar. And the angels went away without
having done anything, saying : Lord, we cannot
get his soul. Then He says to His only begotten
Son ; Go down, my beloved Son, with a great
host of angels, and take the soul of my beloved
Esdras. For the Lord, having taken a great
host of angels, says to the prophet : Give me the
trust which I entrusted to thee ; the crown has
been prepared for thee.' And the prophet said :
Lord, if Thou take my soul from me, who will
be left to plead with Thee for the race of men ?
And God said : As thou art m.ortal, and of the
earth, do not plead with me. And the proj^het
said : I will not cease to plead. And God said :
Give up just now the trust ; the crown has been
prepared for thee. Come and die, that thou
mayst obtain it. Then the prophet began to
say with tears : O Lord, what good have I done
pleading with Thee, and I am going to fall down
into the earth ? Woe's me, woe's me, that I am
going to be eaten up by worms ! Weep, all ye
saints and ye righteous, for me, who have
pleaded much, and who am delivered up to
death. Weep for me, all ye saints and ye right-
eous, because I have gone to the pit of Hades.
And God said to him : Hear, Esdras, my be-
loved. L who am immortal, endured a cross ;
I tasted vinegar and gall ; I was laid in a tomb,
and I raised up my chosen ones ; I called Adam
up out of Hades, that / might save ^ the race
of men. Do not therefore be afraid of death :
for that which is from me — that is to say, the
' Comp. 2 Tim. iv. 8.
^ The word is wanting in the Ms.
soul — goes to heaven ; and that which is from
the earth — that is to say, the body — goes to
the earth, from which it was taken. ^ And the
prophet said : Woe's me ! woe's me ! what shall
I set about? what shall I do? I know not.
And then the blessed Esdras began to say : O
eternal God, the Maker of the whole creation,
who hast measured the heaven with a span, and
who boldest the earth as a handful,'* who ridest
upon the cherubim, who didst take the prophet
Elias to the heavens in a chariot of -fire, 5 who
givest food to all flesh, whom all things dread
and tremble at from the face of Thy power, —
listen to me, who have pleaded much, and give
to all who transcribe this book, and have it, and
remember my name, and honour my memory,
give them a blessing from heaven ; and bless
him ^ in all things, as Thou didst bless Joseph at
last, and remember not his former wickedness in
the day of his judgment. And as many as have
not believed this book shall be burnt up like
Sodom and Gomorrah. And there came to him
a voice, saying : Esdras, my beloved, all things
whatever thou hast asked will I give to each one.
And immediately he gave up his precious soul
with much honour, in the month of October, on
the twenty-eighth. And they prepared him for
burial with incense and psalms ; and his precious
and sacred body dispenses strength of soul and
body perpetually to those who have recourse to
him from a longing desire. To whom is due
glory, strength, honour, and adoration, — to
the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit, now and ever, and to ages of ages.
Amen.
3 Eccles. xii. 7.
4 Or, in a measure. ApaKT)!/ in the text should be Spaxd.
Isa. xl. 12 in the LXX.
5 Comp. I Kings li. ii; Ecclus. xlviii. 9.
<> So the MS. Perhaps i/iem would be better.
Comp.
REVELATION OF PAUL.
I
\
Revelation of the holy Apostle Paul : the
things which were revealed to him when he went
up even to the third heaven, and was caught up
into paradise, and heard unspeakable words.'
There dwelt a certain nobleman in the city of
Tarsus, in the house of St. Paul the apostle, in
the government of Theodosius the worshipful
king, and of the most illustrious Gratianus ; ^
and there was revealed to him an angel of the
Lord, saying : Upturn the foundation of this
house, and lift up what thou shalt find. But he
thought that he had had a dream. And the
angel having persisted even to a third vision, the
nobleman was compelled to upturn the founda-
tion ; and having dug, he found a marble ^ box
containing this revelation ; and having taken it,
he showed it to the ruler of the city. And the
ruler, seeing it sealed up with lead, sent it to the
King Theodosius, thinking that it was something
else.* And the king having received it, and
transcribed it, sent the original writing to Jerusa-
lem. And there was written in it thus : —
The word of the Lord came to me, saying :
Say to this people. Till when do you sin, and add
to your sin, and provoke to anger the God who
made you, saying that you are children to Abra-
ham,5 but doing the works of Satan, going on in
speaking against God, boasting only in your ad-
dressing 0/ God, but poor on account of the
substance of sin ? Know, ye sons of men, that
the whole creation has been made subject to
God ; but the human race alone, by sinning, pro-
vokes God to anger. For often the great light,
the sun, has come before God, saying against
men : Lord God Almighty, how long dost Thou
endure all the sin of men? Command me, and
I will burn them up. And there came a voice
to him : My long-suffering endures them all, that
they may repent ; but if not, they shall come to
me, and 1 will judge them. And often also the
moon and the stars have come before God, say-
ing : Lord God Almighty, Thou hast given us
the dominion of the night, and we no longer
' 2 Cor. xii. 4.
^ The Mss. have Kontianus.
3 Or, according to the primary meaning of the word, shining,
sparkling. The translation of the Syriac version has, " a box of
white glass."
* Syr., Thinking that there was something of gold within it.
5 Syr., of the living God.
cover the thefts, and adulteries, and blood-shed-
dings of men ; command us, and we shall do
marvels against them. And there came a voice :
My long-suffering bears with them, that they
may turn to me ; but if not, they shall come to
me, and I will judge them. And in like man-
ner also the sea cried out, saying : Lord God Al-
mighty, the sons of men have profaned Thy holy
name ; command me, and I shall rise up and
cover the earth, and wipe out from it ^ the sons
of men. And there came a voice, saying : My
long-suffering bears with them, that they may re-
pent ; but if not, they shall come to me, and
I will judge them. You see, ye sons of men,
that the whole creation has been made subject
to God, but the human race alone sins before
God. On account of all these things, bless God
without ceasing, and yet more when the sun is
setting. For at this hour all the angels come to
God to adore Him, and they bring before Him
the works of men, of each what he has done
from morning even to evening, whether good or
evil. And one angel goes rejoicing on account
of man when he behaves well, and another goes
with a sad countenance. All the angels at the
appointed hour meet for the worship of God, to
bring each day's works of men. But do ye men
bless God without ceasing Whenever, there-
fore, at the appointed hour the angels of pious
men come, rejoicing and singing psalms, they
meet for the worship of the Lord ; and, behold,
the Spirit of God says to them : Whence do ye
come rejoicing? And they answered and said:
We are here from the pious men, who in all piety
spend their life, fearing the name of God. Com-
mand them, Lord, to abide even to the end in
Thy righteousness. And there came to them a
voice : I have both kept and will keep them
void of offence in my kingdom. And when it
came to pass that they went away, there came
other angels with a cheerful countenance, shining
like the sun. And behold a voice to them :
Whence have ye come? And they answered
and said : We have come from those who have
held themselves aloof from the world and the
things in the world for Thy holy name's sake, who
in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and the
* Or, sweep off it.
575
576
REVELATION OF PAUL.
dens of the earth, in beds on the ground, and in
fastings, spend their hfe.' Command us to be
with them. And there came a voice : Go with
them in peace, guarding them. Moreover, when
they went away, behold, there came other angels
to worship before God, mourning and weeping.
And the Spirit went forth to meet them, and
there came a voice to them : Whence have ye
come? And they answered and said : We have
come from those who have been called by Thy
name, and are slaves to the matter of sin.^
Why, then, is it necessary to minister unto them ?
And there came a voice to them : Do not cease
to minister unto them ; perhaps they will turn ;
but if not, they shall come to me, and I will judge
them. Know, sons of men, that all that is done
by you day by day, the angels write in the
heavens. Do you therefore cease not to bless
God.
And I was in the Holy Spirit, and an angel
says to me : Come, follow me, that I may show
thee the place of the just, where they go after
their end. And I went along with the angel,
and he brought me up into the heavens under
the firmament ; and I perceived and saw powers
great and dreadful, full of wrath, and through
the mouth of them a flame of fire coming out,
and clothed in garments of fire. And I asked
the angel : Who are these ? And he said to me :
These are they who are sent away to the souls
of the sinners in the hour of necessity ; for they
have not believed that there is judgment and
retribution. And I looked up into the heaven,
and saw angels, whose faces shone like the sun,
girded with golden girdles, having in their hands
prizes, on which the name of the Lord was in-
scribed, full of all meekness and compassion.
And I asked the angel : Who are these ? And
he answered and said to me : These are they
who are sent forth in the day of the resurrection
to bring the souls of the righteous,^ who intrep-
idly walk according to God."* And I said to the
angel : I wish to see the souls of the righteous
and of the sinners, how they go out of the world.
And the angel said to me : Look to the earth.
And I looked, and saw the whole world as noth-
ing disappearing before me. And I said to the
angel : Is this the greatness of men ? And he
said to me : Yes ; for thus every unjust man dis-
appears. And I looked, and saw a cloud of fire
wrapped over all the world ; and I said : What
is this, my lord ? And he said to me : This is
the unrighteousness mingled with the destruction
of the sinners. And I wept, and said to the
angel : I wished to see the departures of the
righteous and of the sinners, in what manner
' pomp. Heb. xi. 38.
^ i.e., to sinful matter — vAt) — the source of the aioy.a in the
Gnostic doctrine.
3 Comp. Matt. xiii. 41.
"• Or, come to God.
they go out of the world. And the angel says
to me : Paul, look down, and see what thou hast
asked. And I looked, and saw one of the sons
of men falling near death. And the angel says
to me : This is a righteous man, and, behold, all
his works stand beside him in the hour of his
necessity. 5 And there were beside him good
angels, and along with them also evil angels.
And the evil angels indeed found no place in
him, but the good took possession of^ the soul
of the righteous man, and said to it : Take note
of the body whence thou art coming out ; for
it is necessary for thee again to return to it in
the day of the resurrection, that thou mayst
receive what God hath promised to the right-
eous. And the good angels who had received
the soul of the righteous man, saluted it, as be-
ing well known to them. And it went with
them ; and the Spirit came forth to meet them,
saying : Come, soul, enter into the place of the
resurrection, which God hath prepared for His
righteous ones. And the angel said to me :
Look down to the earth, and behold the soul of
the impious, how it goes forth from its taber-
nacle, which has provoked God to anger, saying,
Let us eat and drink"; ^ for who is it that has
gone down to Hades, and come up and an-
nounced that there is judgment and retribution?
And take heed, and see all his works which he
has done standing before him. And the evil
angels came, and the good. The good there-
fore found no place of rest in it, but the evil
took possession of it, saying : O wretched soul,
pay heed to thy flesh ; take note of that whence
thou art coming forth, for thou must returr into
thy flesh in the day of the resurrection, that thou
mayst receive the recompense of thy sins. And
when it had gone forth from its tabernacle, the
angel who had lived along with it ran up to it,
saying to it : O wretched soul, whither goest thou ?
I am he who each day wrote down thy sins. Thou
hast destroyed the time of repentance ; be exceed-
ingly ashamed. And when it came, all the angels
saw it, and cried out with one voice, saying :
Woe to thee, wretched soul ! what excuse hast
thou come to give to God ? And the angel of
that soul said : Weep for it, all of you, along
with me. And the angel came up, and wor-
shipped the Lord, saying : Lord, behold the soul
which has dwelt in wickedness in its time, and in
its temporary life ; do to it according to Thy de-
cision. And there came a voice to that soul,
saying : ^^'here is the fruit of thy righteousness ?
And it was silent,^ not being able to give an
answer. And again there came a voice to it :
He who has shown mercy will have mercy shown
5 Comp. Rev. xiv. 13.
* Or, bare rule over.
7 Isa. xxii. 13", I Cor. xv. 32.
8 Lit., shut up.
REVELATION OF PAUL.
577
I
to him ; ' he who has not shown mercy will not
have mercy shown to him. Let this soul be de-
livered to the merciless angel Temeluch, and let
it be cast into outer darkness, where there is
weeping and gnashing of teeth. And there was
a voice as of tens of thousands, saying : Righteous
art Thou, O Lord, and righteous is Thy judg-
ment.- And moreover I saw, and, behold, an-
other soul was led by an angel ; and it wept,
saying : Have mercy upon me, O righteous
Judge, and deliver me from the hand of this
angel, because he is dreadful and merciless.
And a voice came to it, saying : Thou wast alto-
gether merciless, and for this reason thou hast
been delivered up to such an angel. Confess
thy sins which thou hast done in the world. And
that soul said : I have not sinned, O righteous
Judge. And the Lord said to that soul : Verily
thou seemest as if thou wert in the world, and
wert hiding thy deeds from men. Knowest thou
not that whensoever any one dies, his deeds
run before him, whether they are good or evil?
And when it heard this, it was silent. And I
heard the Judge saying : Let the angel come,
having in his hands the record of thy sins.
And the Judge says to the angel : I say to thee
the angel. Disclose all. Say what he has done
five years before his death. By myself I swear
to thee, that in the first period of his life there
was forgetfulness of all his former sins. And the
angel answered and said : Lord, command the
souls to stand beside their angels ; and that same
hour they stood beside them. And the lord of
that soul said : Take note of these souls, and
whether thou hast in any way sinned against
them. And it answered and said : Lord, a year
has not been completed since I killed the one,
and lived with the other. And not only this,
but I also wronged it. And the Lord said to it :
Knowest thou not that he who wrongs any one
in the world is kept, as soon as he dies, in the
place until he whom he has wronged come, and
l)oth shall be judged before me, and each receive
according to his works? And I heard a voice
saying : Let this soul be delivered to the angel
Tartaruch, and guarded till the great day of judg-
ment. And I heard a voice as of tens of thou-
sands saying : Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and
righteous Thy judgment.
And the angel says to me : Hast thou seen all
these things? And I answered: Yes, my lord.
And again he said to me : Come, follow me, and
I shall show thee the place of the righteous.
And I followed him, and he set me before the
doors of the city. And I saw a golden gate,
and two golden pillars before it, and two golden
plates upon it full of inscriptions. And the an-
gel said to me : Blessed is he who shall enter
> Matt. V. 7.
* Ps. cxix. 137.
into these doors ; because not every one goeth
in, but only those who have single-mi. idedness,
and guiltlessness, and a pure heart. ^ And I
asked the angel : For what purpose have the in-
scriptions been graven on these plates ? And he
said to me : These are the names of the righteous,
and of those who serve God. And I said to him :
Is it so that their names have been inscribed in
heaven itself while they are yet alive ? And the
angel said to me : . . .-^ of the angels, such as
serve Him well are acknowledged by God. And
straightway the gate was opened, and there came
forth a hoary-headed man to meet us ; and he
said to me : Welcome, Paul, beloved of God !
and, with a joyful countenance, he kissed me
with tears. And I said to him : Father, why
weepest thou ? And he said to me : Because
God hath prepared many good things for men,
and they do not His will in order that they may
enjoy them. And I asked the angel : My lord,
who is this? And he said to me : This is Enoch,
the witness of the last day.s And the angel says
to me : See that whatever I show thee in this
place thou do not announce, except what I
tell thee. And he set me upon ""^ the river
whose source springs up in the circle of heaven ;
and it is this river which encircleth the whole
earth. And he says to me : This river is
Ocean. And there was then a great light.
And I said : My lord, what is this ? And he
said to me : This is the land of the meek.
Knowest thou not that it is written. Blessed are
the meek, for they shall inherit the earth ? 7 The
souls of the righteous, therefore, are kept in this
place. And I said to the angel : When, then,
will they be made manifest? And he said to
me : When the Judge shall come in the day of
the resurrection, and sit down. Then, accord-
ingly, shall he command, and shall reveal the
earth, and it shall be lighted up ; and the saints
shall appear in it, and shall delight themselves-
in the good ^ that have been reserved from the
foundation of the world. And there were by
the bank of the river, trees planted, full of differ^
ent fruits. And I looked towards the rising of
the sun, and I saw there trees of great size ful'I'
of fruits ; and that land was more brilliant than
silver and gold ; and there were vines growing
on those date-palms, and myriads of shoots, and
myriads of clusters on each branch. And I said
to the archangel : What is this, my lord ? And
3 Comp. Ps. xxiv. 3.
■* The hiatus is thus filled up in the Syriac: Yes, not only are
their names written, but their works from day to day: the angel
their minister brings tidings of their works every day from morning to
morning; they are known to (iod by their hearts and their works.
And after they are recorded, if there happen to them a matter of sin
or deficiency, it is purified by chastisement according to their sin, that
there be not unto them any de^ct in their strivings.
5 Rev. xi. 3-12. Enoch and Elijah were supposed tO' be the two
witnesses there mentioned.
* Or, above.
7 Matt. V. 5.
* Or, the good things.
578
REVELATION OF PAUL.
he says to me : This is the Acherusian lake, and
within it the city of God. All are not permitted
to enter into it, except whosoever shall repent
of his sins ; and as soon as he shall repent, and
alter his life, he is delivered to Michael, and they
cast him into the Acherusian lake, and then he
brings him in the city of God, near the right-
eous. And I wondered and blessed God at all
that I saw. And the angel said to me : Follow
me, that I may bring thee into the city of God,
and into its light. And its light was greater
than the light of the world, and greater than
gold, and walls encircled it. And the length
and the breadth of it were a hundred stadia.
And I saw twelve gates, exceedingly ornamented,
leading into the city ; and four rivers encircled
it, flowing with milk, and honey, and oil, and
wine. And I said to the angel : My lord, what
are these rivers? And he said to me: These
are the righteous who, when in the world, did
not make use of these things, but humbled them-
selves for the sake of God ; and here they re-
ceive a recompense ten thousand fold.
And I, going into the city, saw a very lofty
tree before the doors of the city, having no fruit,
and a few men under it ; and they wept exceed-
ingly, and the trees bent down to them. And I,
seeing them, wept, and asked the angel : Who
are these, that they have not turned to go into
the city? And he said to me : Yes, the root of
all evils is vainglory. And I said : And these
trees, why have they thus humbled themselves?
And the angel answered and said to me : For
this reason the trees are not fruit-bearing, be-
cause they have not withheld themselves from
vaunting. And I asked the angel : My lord,
for what reason have they been put aside before
the doors of the city? And he answered and
said to me : On account of the great goodness
of God, since by this way Christ is going to
come into the city, and that those who go along
with Him may plead for these men, and that they
may be brought in along with them. And I was
going along, guided by the angel, and he set me
upon the river. And I saw there all the proph-
ets ; and they came and saluted me, saying :
Welcome, Paul, beloved of God. And I said to
the angel : My lord, who are these ? And he
said to me : These are all the prophets, and
these are the songs of all the prophecies,' and
of whoever hath grieved his soul, not doing its
will, for God's sake. Having departed, then,
he comes here, and the prophets salute him.
And the angel brought me to the south of the
city, where the river of milk is. And I saw
there all the infants that King Herod slew for
the Lord's name's sake. And the angel took me
again to the east of the city, and I saw there
' Syr., This is the place of the prophets. A very slight change
in the Greek text would give this reading.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And I asked the an-
gel : My lord, what place is this? And he said
to me : Every one who is hospitable to men
comes hither when he comes out of the world,
and they salute him as a friend of God on ac-
count of his love to strangers. And again he
took me away to another place, and I saw there
a river like oil on the north of the city, and I
saw people there rejoicing and singing praises.
And I asked : Who are these, my lord ? And
he said to me : These are they who have given
themselves up to God ; for they are brought
into this city. And I looked, and saw in the
midst of the city an altar, great and very lofty ;
and there was one standing near the altar, whose
face shone like the sun, and he had in his hands
a psaltery and a harp, and he sung the Alleluia
delightfully, and his voice filled all the city.
And all with one consent accompanied him,
so that the city was shaken by their shouting.
And I asked the angel : Who is this that singeth
delightfull}^, whom all accompany? And he
said to me : This is the prophet David ; this
is the heavenly Jerusalem. When, therefore,
Christ shall come in His second appearing, Da-
vid himself goes forth with all the saints. For
as it is in the heavens, so also upon earth : for
it is not permitted without David to offer sac-
rifice even in the day of the sacrifice of the
precious body and blood of Christ ; but it is
necessary for David to sing the Alleluia. And
I asked the angel : My lord, what is the meaning
of Alleluia? It is called in Hebrew, thebfx
MAREMATHA — spcech to God who founded all
things ; let us glorify Him in the same. So that
every one who sings the Alleluia glorifies God.
When these things, therefore, had been thus
said to me by the angel, he led me outside of
the city, and the Acherusian lake, and the good
land, and set me upon the river of the ocean
that supports the firmament of the heaven, and
said to me: Knowest thou where I am going?
And I said : No, my lord. And he said to me :
Follow me, that I may show thee where the souls
of the impious and the sinners are. And he
took me to the setting of the sun, and where
the beginning of the heaven had been founded
upon the river of the ocean. And I saw beyond
the river, and there was no light, there, but dark-
ness, and grief, and groaning ; and I saw a bub-
bling river, and a great multitude both of men
and women who had been cast into it, some up
to the knees, others up to the navel, and many
even up to the crown of the head. And I asked :
Who are these ? And he said to me : These are
they who lived unrepenting in fornications and
adulteries. And I saw at the south-west of the
river another river, where there flowed a river of
fire, and there was there a multitude of many
souls. And I asked the angel : Who are these,
REVELATION OF PAUL.
579
my lord? And he said to me: These are the
thieves, and slanderers, and flatterers, who did
not set up God as their help, but hoped in the
vanity of their riches. And I said to him :
What is the depth of this river? And he said
to me : Its depth has no measure, but it is im-
measurable. And I groaned and wept because
of mankind. And the angel said to me : Why
weepest thou? Art thou more merciful than
God ? for, being holy, God, repenting over men,
waits for their conversion and repentance ; but
they, deceived by their own will, come here, and
are eternally punished. And I looked into the
fiery river, and saw an old man dragged along
by two, and they pulled him in up to the knee.
And the angel Temeluch coming, laid hold of
an iron with his hand, and with it drew up the
entrails of that old man through his mouth.
And I asked the angel : My lord, who is this that
suffers this punishment ? And he said to me :
This old man whom thou seest was a presbyter ;
and when he had eaten and drunk, then he per-
formed the service of God. And I saw there
another old man carried in haste by four angels ;
and they threw him into the fiery river up to the
girdle, and he was frightfully burnt by the light-
nings. And I said to the angel : Who is this,
my lord ? And he said to me : This whom thou
seest was a bishop, and that name indeed he was
well pleased to have ; but in the goodness of God
he did not walk, righteous judgment he did not
judge, the widow and the orphan he did not pity,
he was neither affectionate nor hospitable ; ' but
now he has been recompensed according to his
works. And I looked, and saw in the middle of
the river another man up to the navel, having
his hands all bloody, and worms were coming up
through his mouth. And I asked the angel :
Who is this, my lord ? And he said to me : This
whom thou seest was a deacon, who ate and
drank, and ministered to God. And I looked
to another place where there was a brazen wall
in flames, and within it men and women eating
up their own tongues, dreadfully judged. And I
asked the angel : Who are these, my lord? And
he said to me : These are they who in the church
speak against their neighbours, and do not attend
to the word of God. And I looked, and saw a
bloody pit. And I said : What is this pit ? And
he said to me : This is the place where are cast
the wizards, and sorcerers, and the whoremongers,
and the adulterers, and those that oppress widows
and orphans. And I saw in another place women
wearing black, and led away into a dark place.
And I asked : Who are these, my lord ? And
he said to me : Tlicsc are they who did not listen
to their parents, but before tlicir marriage defiled
their virginity. And I saw women wearing white
' Comp. I Tim. iii. 1-4.
robes, being blind, and standing upon obelisks of
fire ; and an angel was mercilessly beating them,
saying : Now you know where you are ; you
did not attend when the Scriptures were read to
you. And the angel said to me : These are they
who corrupted themselves and killed their infants.
Their infants therefore came crying out : Avenge
us of our mothers. And they were given to an
angel to be carried away into a spacious place,
but their parents into everlasting fire.
And the angel took me up from these tor-
ments, and set me above a well, which had seven
seals upon its mouth. And the angel who was
with me said to the angel at the well of that
place : Open the well, that Paul the beloved of
God may see, because there has been given to
him authority to see the torments. And the
angel of the place said to me : Stand afar off",
until I open the seals. And when he had
opened them, there came forth a stench which
it was impossible to bear. And having come
near the place, I saw that well filled with dark-
ness and gloom, and great narrowness of space
in it. And the angel who was with me said to
me : This place of the well which thou seest is
cast off from the glory of God, and none of the
angels is importunate in behalf of them ; and as
many as have professed that the holy Mary is
not the mother of God, and that the Lord did
not become man out of her, and that the bread
of the thanksgiving and the cup of blessing are
not His flesh and blood,' are cast into this well :
and, as I said before, no angel is importunate
in their behalf. And I saw towards the setting
of the sun, where there is weeping and gnash-
ing of teeth, many men and women there tor-
mented. And I said to the angel : Who are
these, my lord ? And he said to me : These
are they who say that there is no resurrection of
the dead ; and to them mercy never comes.
Having heard this, I wept bitterly ; and look-
ing up into the firmament, I saw the heaven
opened, and the archangel Gabriel coming down
with hosts of angels, who were going round about
all the torments. And they who were judged in
the torments seeing them, all cried out with one
loud voice : Have mercy upon us, Gabriel, who
standest in the presence of God ; for we heard
that there was a judgment : behold, we know
it. And the archangel Gabriel answered and
said : As the Lord liveth, beside whom I stand,
night and day without ceasing I plead in behalf
2 The Syriac has: Those who do not confess Jesus Christ, nor His
resurrection, nor His humanity, but consider Him as all mortal, and
who say that the sacrament of the body of our Lord is bread.
The word fleoroKo? in the text was the occasion of the three
years' struggle between Nestorius and Cyril of Alexandria, which
ended by the condemnation of the former by the Council of Ephesus,
AU- 431. . . . . ,
The view of the Eucharist in the text is not mconsistent with an
early date, though it must be remembered that the idea of a substan-
tial presence became the orthodox doctrine only after the Second
Council of Nicaea in a.d. 787.
58o
REVELATION OF PAUL.
of the race of men ; but they did not do any
good wlien in life, but spent the period of their
Hfe in vanity. And now I shall weep, even I,
along with the beloved Paul ; perhaps the good
Lord may have compassion, and grant you re-
mission. And they assented with one voice :
Have mercy upon us, O Lord. And they fell
down before God, and supphcated, saying : Have
mercy, O Lord, Tipon the sons of men whom
Thou hast made after Thine image. And the
heaven was shaken like a leaf, and I saw the
four and twenty elders lying on their face ; and
I saw the altar, and the throne, and the veil ; and
all of them entreated the glory of God ; • and I
saw the Son of God with glory and great power
coming down to the earth.^ And when the sound
of the trumpet took place, all who were in the tor-
ments cried out, saying : Have mercy upon us.
Son of God ; for to Thee has been given power
over things in heaven, and things on earth, and
things under the earth. And there came a voice
saying : What good work have you done, that
you are asking for rest ? For you have done as
you wished, and have not repented, but you have
spent your life in profligacy. But now for the
sake of Gabriel, the angel of my righteousness,
and for the sake of Paul my beloved, I give you
a night and the day of the holy Lord's day, on
which I rose from the dead, for rest. And all
who were in the torments cried out, saying : We
bless Thee, O Son of the living God ; better for
us is such rest than the life which we lived when
spending our time in the world.
And after these things the angel says to me :
Behold, thou hast seen all the torments : come,
follow me, that I may lead thee away to para-
dise, and that thou mayst change thy soul by
the sight of the righteous ; for many desire to
salute thee. And he took me by an impulse of
the Spirit, and brought me into paradise. And
he says to me : This is paradise, where Adam
and Eve transgressed. And I saw there a beau-
tiful tree of great size, on which the Holy Spirit
. rested ; and from the root of it there came forth
all manner of most sweet-smelling water, parting
into four channels. And I said to the angel :
My lord, what is this tree, that there comes forth
from it a great abundance of this water, and
where does it go? And he answered and said
to me : Before the heaven and the earth existed.
He divided them into four kingdoms and heads,
of which the names are Phison, Gehon, Tigris,
Euphrates. And having again taken hold of
me by the hand, he led me near the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. And he says to me :
This is the tree by means of which death came
into the world, and Adam took of the fruit of it
from his wife, and ate ; and thereafter they were
* Rev. iv. 4.
2 Matt. xxiv. 30.
cast out hence. And he showed me another,
the tree of life, and said to me : This the cheru-
bim and the flaming sword guard. And when I
was closely observing the tree, and wondering,
I saw a woman coming from afar off, and a mul-
titude of angels singing praises to her. And I
asked the angel : AVho is this, my lord, who is
in so great honour and beauty ? And the angel
says to me : This is the holy Mary, the mother
of the Lord. And she came and saluted me,
saying : Welcome, Paul, beloved of God, and
angels, and men ; thou hast proclaimed the word
of God in the world, and established churches,
and all bear testimony to thee who have been
saved by means of thee : for, having been deliv-
ered from the deception of idols through thy
teaching, they come here.
While they were yet speaking to me, I gazed,
and saw other three men coming. And I asked
the angel : Who are these, my lord ? And he
said to me : These are Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, the righteous forefathers. And they came
and saluted me, saying : Welcome, Paul, beloved
of God. . . . God did not grieve us. But
we know thee in the flesh, before thou earnest
forth out of the world. And in succession they
told me their names from Abraham to Manasseh.
And one of them, Joseph who was sold in Egypt,
says to me : Hear me, Paul, friend of God : I
did not requite my brethren who cursed me.
For blessed is he who is able to endure trial,
because the Lord will give him in requital seven-
fold reward in the world to come.^ And while
he was yet speaking with- me, I saw another
coming afar off, and the appearance of him was
as the appearance of an angel. And I asked
the angel, saying: My lord, who is this? And
he said to me : This is Moses the lawgiver, by
whom God led forth the children of Israel out
of the slavery of Egypt. And when he came
near me, he saluted me weeping. And I said to
him : Father, why weepest thou, being righteous
and meek ? ■♦ And he answered and said to me :
I must weep for every man, because I brought
trouble upon a people that does not understand,
and they have not borne fruit ; and I see the
sheep of which I was shepherd scattered, and
the toil which I toiled for the children of Israel
has been counted for nothing ; and they saw
powers 5 and hosts in the midst of them, and
they did not understand ; and I see the Gentiles
worshipping, and believing through thy word,
and being converted, and coming here, and out
of my people that was so great not one has un-
derstood. For, when the Jews hanged the Son
of God upon the cross, all the angels and arch-
angels, and the righteous, and the whole creation
3 Comp. Matt. xix. 29.
* Num. xii. 3.
S Or, miracles.
REVELATION OF PAUL.
581
of things in heaven, and things in earth, and
things under the earth, lamented and mourned
with a great lamentation, but the impious and
insensate Jews did not understand ; wherefore
there has been prepared for them the fire ever-
lasting, and the worm that dies not.
^Vhile he was yet speaking, there came other
three, and saluted me, saying : Welcome, Paul,
beloved of God, the boast of the churches, and
model of angels. And I asked : Who are you ?
And the first said : I am Isaiah, whom Manasseh
sawed with a wood saw.' And the second said :
I am Jeremiah, whom the Jews stoned, but they
remained burnt up with everlasting fire. And
the third said : I am Ezekiel, whom the slayers
of the Messiah pierced ; all these things have we
endured, and we have not been able to turn the
stony heart of the Jews. And I threw myself on
my face, entreating the goodness of God, because
Pie had had mercy upon me, and had delivered
me from the race of the Hebrews. And there
came a voice saying : Blessed art thou, Paul,
beloved of God ; and blessQd are those who
through thee have believed in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, because for them has been
prepared everlasting life.
While this voice was yet speaking, there came
another, crying : Blessed art thou, Paul. And I
asked the angel: Who is this, my lord? And
he said to me : This is Noah, who lived in the
time of the deluge. And when we had saluted
each other, I asked him : Who art thou ? And
he said to me : I am Noah, who in a hundred
years built the ark, and without putting off the
' For this tradition, see the Bible Dictionaries under Manasseh.
Comp. Heb. xi. 37.
coat which I wore, or shaving my head ; more-
over, I practised continence, and did not come
near my wife ; and in the hundred years my coat
was not dirtied, and the hair of my head was not
diminished. And I ceased not to proclaim to
men, Repent, for, behold, a deluge is coming.
And no one paid heed ; but all derided me, not
refraining from their lawless deeds, until the
water of the deluge came and destroyed them
all.
And looking away, I saw other two from afar
off. And I asked the angel : Who are these,
my lord ? And he said to me : These are Enoch
and Elias. And they came and saluted me, say-
ing : Welcome, Paul, beloved of God ! And I
said to them: Who are you? And Elias the
prophet answered and said to me : I am Elias
the prophet, who prayed to God, and He caused
that no rain should come down upon the earth
for three years and six months, on account of the
unrighteousness of the sons of men. For often, of
a truth, even the angel besought God on account
of the rain ; and I heard. Be patient until Elias
my beloved shall pray, and I send rain upon the
earth.^
2 Here the [Greek] MS. abruptly ends. The Syriac thus con-
tinues: — And He gave not until I called upon Him again; then He
gave unto them. But blessed art thou, O Paul, that thy generation
and those thou teachest are the sons of the kingdom. .And know
thou, O Paul, that every man who believes through thee hath a great
blessing, and a blessing is reserved for him. Then he departed from
me.
And the angel who was with me led me forth, and said unto me:
Lo, unto thee is given this mystery and revelation. As thou pleasest,
make it known unto the sons of men. — And then follow details of
the depositing of the revelation under the foundation of the house in
Tarsus, — details which Tischendorf says the translator of the Syriac
did not find in his original. (The close of the English translation
of the Syriac version is given in full by 'I'ischendorf (pp. 68, 6g). It
varies greatly from the above paragraph in the te.\t, besides the addi-
tion of the details which Tischendorf regards as spurious. — K.J
i
REVELATION OF JOHN.
REVELATION OF SAINT JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN.
After the taking up of our Lord Jesus Christ,
I John was alone upon Mount Tabor,' where also
He showed us His undefiled Godhead ; and as
I was not able to stand, I fell upon the ground,
and prayed to the Lord, and said : O Lord my
God, who hast deemed me worthy to be Thy ser-
vant, hear my voice, and teach me about Thy
coming. When Thou shalt come to the earth,
what will happen ? The heaven and the earth,
and the sun and the moon, what will happen to
them in those times? Reveal to me all; for I
am emboldened, because Thou listenest to Thy
servant.
And I spent seven days praying ; and after
this a cloud of light caught me up from the moun-
tain, and set me before the face of the heaven.
And I heard a voice saying to me : Look up,
John, servant of God, and know. And having
looked up, I saw the heaven opened, and there
came forth from within the heaven a smell of
perfumes of much sweet odour ; and I saw an
exceeding great flood of light, more resplendent
than the sun. And again I heard a voice say-
ing to me : Behold, righteous John. And I
directed my sight, and saw a book lying, of the
thickness, methought, of seven mountains ; ^ and
the length of it the mind of man cannot com-
prehend, having seven seals. And I said : O
Lord my God, reveal to me what is written in
this book. And I heard a voice saying to me :
Hear, righteous John. In this book which thou
seest there have been written the things in the
heaven, and the things in the earth, and the
things in the abyss, and the judgments and
righteousness of all the human race.^ And I
said : Lord, when shall these things come to
pass? and what do those times bring? And I
heard a voice saying to me : Hear, righteous
John.'* There shall be in that time abundance
• For the history of the tradition that the transfiguration occurred
on Mount Tabor, see Robinson's Researches, ii. 358.
^ One MS. has: 700 cubits.
3 MS. B adds: And they shall be manifested at the consummation
of the age, in the judgment to come. Just as the prophet Daniel saw
the judgment, I sat, and the books were opened. Then also shall the
twelve apostles sit, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And when I
heard this from my Lord, I again asked; Show me, my Lord, when
these things shall come to pass, etc. [B is the designation of a Paris
manuscript dated 1523. AH the manuscripts are comparatively re-
cent; see Tischendorf, pp. .wiii., xix. — R.J
•• MS. B here inserts Lukexxi. 11.
582
of corn and wine, such as there hath never been
upon the earth, nor shall ever be until those
times come. Then the ear of corn shall pro-
duce a half chocnix,5 and the bend of the branch
shall produce a thousand clusters, and the cluster
shall produce a half jar of wine ; and in the fol-
lowing year there shall not be found upon the face
of all the earth a half choenix of corn or a half
jar of wine.
And again I said : Lord, thereafter what wilt
Thou do ? And I heard a voice saying to me :
Hear, righteous John. • Then shall appear the
denier, and he who is set apart in the darkness,
who is called Antichrist. And again I said : Lord,
reveal to me what he is like. And I heard a
voice saying to me : The appearance of his face
is dusky ; ^ the hairs of his head are sharp, like
darts ; his eyebrows like a wild beast's ; his right
eye like the star which rises in the morning, and
the other like a lion's ; his mouth about one
cubit ; his teeth span long ; his fingers like
scythes ; the print of his feet of two spans ; and
on his face an inscription, Antichrist ; he shall
be exalted even to heaven, and shall be cast
down even to Hades, making false displays. ^
And then will I ntiake the heaven brazen, so that
it shall not give moisture ** upon the earth ; and
I will hide the clouds in secret places, so that
they shall not bring moisture upon the earth ;
and I will conunand the horns of the wind, so
that the wind shall not blow upon the earth.^
And again I said : Lord, and how many years
s The choenix of corn was a man's daily allowance. It was equal
to two pints according to some, a pint and a half according to others.
6 Or, gloomy.
7 MS. B adds: And he will love most of all the nation of the He-
brews; and the righteous shall hide themselves, and flee to moun-
tains and caves. And he shall take vengeance on many of the right-
eous; and blessed is he who shall not believe in him.
^ Or, dew.
9 To the description of Antichrist, MS. E adds: He holds in his
hand a cup of death; and all that worship him drink of it. His right
eye is like the morning star, and his left like a lion's; because he
was taken prisoner by the archangel Michael, and he took his god-
head from him. And I was sent from the bosom of my Father, and I
drew up the head of the polluted one, and his eye was consumed.
And vvhen they worship him, he writes on their right hands, that they
may sit with him in the outer fire; and for all who have not been
baptized, and have not believed, have been reserved all anger and
wrath. And I said: My Lord, and what miracles does he do? Hear,
righteous John : He shall remove mountains and hills, and he shall
ijeckon with his polluted hand. Come all to me; and through his dis-
plays and deceits they will be brought together to his own place. He
will raise the dead, and show in everything like God. [E is one of
the Venice manuscripts. — R.]
REVELATION OF JOHN.
583
will he do this upon the earth? And I heard
a voice saying to me : Hear, righteous John.
Three years shall those times be ; and I will
make the three years like three months, and
the three months like three weeks, and the three
weeks like three days, and the three days like
three hours, and the three hours like three
seconds, as said the prophet David, His throne
. hast Thou broken down to the ground ; Thou
hast shortened the days of his time ; Thou hast
poured shame upon him.' And then I shall
send forth Enoch and Elias to convict him ; and
they shall show him to be a liar and a deceiver ;
and he shall kill them at the altar, as said the
prophet. Then shall they offer calves upon Thine
altar.-
And again I said : Lord, and after that what
will come to pass ? And I heard a voice saying
to me : Hear, righteous John. Then all the hu-
man race shall die, and there shall not be a liv-
ing man upon all the earth. And again I said :
Lord, after that what wilt Thou do? And I
heard a voice saying to me : Hear, righteous
John. Then will I send forth mine angels, and
they shall take the ram's horns that lie upon the
cloud ; and Michael and Gabriel shall go forth
out of the heaven and sound with those horns,
as the prophet David foretold. With the voice of
a trumpet of horn. 3 And the voice of the trum-
pet shall be heard from' the one quarter of the
world to the other ; •» and from the voice of that
trumpet all the earth shall be shaken, as the
prophet foretold. And at the voice of the bird
every plant shall arise ; s that is, at the voice of
the archangel all the human race shall arise.^
And again I said : Lord, those who are dead
from Adam even to this day, and who dwell in
Hades from the beginning of the world, and
who die at the last ages, what like shall they
arise ? And I heard a voice saying to me : Hear,
righteous John. All the human race shall arise
thirty years old.
And again I said : Lord, they die male and
female, and some old, and some young, and
some infants. In the resurrection what like
shall they arise ? And I heard a voice saying to
me : Hear, righteous John. Just as the bees
are, and differ not one from another, but are all
' Ps. Ixxxix. 44, 45.
2 Ps. li. 19.
3 Ps. xcviii. 6 according to the LXX.
■♦ Lit., from quarters even to quarters of the world.
S Adapted from Eccles. xii. 4.
* To this section MS. E adds many details : They that have gold
and silver shall tlirow them into the streets, and into every place in
the world, and no one will heed them. They shall throw into the
streets ivory vessels, and robes adorned with stones and pearls :
kings and rulers wasting away with hunger, patriarchs and governors
(or abbots), elders and peoples. Where is the fine wine, and the
tables, and the pomp of the world ? They shall not be found in all
the world ; and men shall die in the mountains and in the streets,
and in every pl.ite of the world. And the living shall die from the
stink of the dead, etc. Whosoever shall not worship the beast and
his pomp shall be called a witness (or martyr) in the kingdom of
heaven, and shall inherit eternal life with my holy ones.
of one appearance and one size, so also shall
every man be in the resurrection. There is
neither fair, nor ruddy, nor black ; neither Ethi-
opian nor different countenances ; but they shall
all arise of one appearance and one stature.
All the human race shall arise without bodies, as
I told you that in the resurrection they neither
marry nor are given in marriage, but are as tlie
angels of God.7
And again I said : Lord, is it possible in that
world to recognise each other, a brother his
brother, or a friend his friend, or a father his
own children, or the children their own parents ?
And I heard a voice saying to me : Hear, John.
To the righteous there is recognition, but to the
sinners not at all ; they cannot in the resurrec-
tion recognise each other. And again I John
said : Lord, is there there recollection of the
things that are here, either fields or vineyards,
or other things here ? And I heard a voice say-
ing to me : Hear, righteous John. The prophet
David speaks, saying, I remembered that we are
dust : as for man, his days are as grass ; as a
flower of the field, so he shall flourish : for a wind
hath passed over it, and it shall be no more, and
it shall not any longer know its place.^ And again
the same said : His spirit 9 shall go forth, and he
returns to his earth ; in that day all his thoughts
shall perish. '°
And again I said : Lord, and after that what
wilt Thou do ? And I heard a voice saying to
me : Hear, righteous John. Then will I send
forth mine angels over the face of all the earth,
and they shall lift off the earth everything hon-
ourable, and everything precious, and the
venerable and holy images, and the glorious
and precious crosses, and the sacred vessels of
the churches, and the divine and sacred books ;
and all the precious and holy things shall be
lifted up by clouds into the air. And then will
I order to be lifted up the great and venerable
sceptre," on which I stretched forth my hands,
and all the orders of my angels shall do reverence
to it. And then shall be lifted up all the race of
men upon clouds, as the Apostle Paul foretold.'^
Along with them we shall be snatched up in ''
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And then
shall come forth every evil spirit, both in the
earth and in the abyss, wherever they are on the
face of all the earth, from the rising of the sun
even to the setting, and they shall be united to
him that is served by the devil, that is. Antichrist,
and they shall be Hfted up upon the clouds.
And again I said : Lord, and after that what
wilt Thou do ? And I heard a voice saying to
7 Comp Matt. xxii. 30, and parallel passages.
* Ps. ciii. 14-16 according to LXX.
9 Or, breath.
■'' Ps. cxivi. 4 according to LXX.
" Another reading is cross.
'- I Thcss. iv. 17.
" Or, by.
584
REVELATION OF JOHN.
me : Hear, righteous John. Then shall I send
forth mine angels over the face of all the earth,
and they shall burn up the earth eight thousand
five hundred ' cubits, and the great mountains
shall be burnt up, and all the rocks shall be
melted and shall become as dust, and every tree
shall be burnt up, and every beast, and every
creeping thing creeping upon the earth, and every
thing moving upon the face of the earth, and
every flying thing flying in the air ; and there
shall no longer be upon the face of all the earth
anything moving, and the earth shall be without
motion.
And again I said : Lord, and after that what
wilt Thou do ? And I heard a voice saying to
me : Hear, righteous John. Then shall I un-
cover the four parts of the east, and there shall
come forth four great winds, and they shall
sweeps all the face of the earth from the one
end of the earth to the other ; and the Lord
shall sweep sin from off the earth, and the earth
shall be made white like snow, and it shall be-
come as a leaf of paper, without cave, or moun-
tain, or hill, or rock ; but the face of the earth
from the rising even to the setting of the sun
shall be like a table, and white as snow ; and the
reins of the earth shall be consumed by fire, and
it shall cry unto me, saying, I am a virgin before
thee, O Lord, and there is no sin in me ; as the
prophet David said aforetime, Thou shalt sprinkle
me with hyssop, and I shall be made pure ; Thou
shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than
snow.3 And again he "* said : Every chasm shall
be filled up, and every mountain and hill brought
low, and the crooked places shall be made
straight, and the rough ways into smooth ; and
all flesh shall see the salvation of God. 5
And again I said : Lord, and after that what
wilt Thou do? And I heard a voice saying to
me : Hear, righteous John. Then shall the earth
be cleansed from sin, and all the earth shall be
filled with a sweet smell, because I am about to
come down upon the earth ; and then shall come
forth the great and venerable sceptre, with thou-
sands of angels worshipping it, as I said before ;
and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man
from the heaven with power and great glory*
And then the worker of iniquity with his servants
shall behold it, and gnash his teeth exceedingly,
and all the unclean spirits shall be turned to
flight. And then, seized by invisible power,
having no means of flight, they shall gnash their
teeth against him, saying to him : Where is thy
power? How hast thou led us astray? and we
' Two Mss. have this number; the other four have 500, 1800, 30,
60-iooths.
2 Or, winnow.
3 Ps. li. 7.
* MS. D has: Again another prophet has said. [D is another
Paris manuscript of the fifteenth century. — R.]
5 Isa. xl. 4.
* Comp. Matt. xxiv. 30.
have fled away, and have fallen away from the
glory which we had beside Him who is coming
to judge us, and the whole human race. Woe
to us ! because He banishes us into outer dark-
ness.
And again I said : Lord, and after that what
wilt Thou do? And I heard a voice saying to
me : Then will I send an angel out of heaven,
and he shall cry with a loud voice, saying. Hear,
O earth, and be strong, saith the. Lord ; for I am
coming down to thee. And the voice of the an-
gel shall be heard from the one end of the world
even to the other, and even to the remotest part
of the abyss. And then shall be shaken all the
power of the angels and of the many-eyed ones,
and there shall be a great noise in the heavens,
and the nine regions of the heaven shall be
shaken, and there shall be fear and astonishment
upon all the angels. And then the heavens shall
be rent from the rising of the sun even to the
setting, and an innumerable multitude of angels
shall come down to the earth ; and then the
treasures of the heavens shall be opened, and
they shall bring down every precious thing, and
the perfume of incense; and they shall bring
down to the earth Jerusalem robed like a bride. 7
And then there shall go before me myriads of
angels and archangels, bearing my throne, cry-
ing out. Holy, holy, holy. Lord of Sabaoth ;
heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. ^ And
then will I come forth with power and great
glory, and every eye in 9 the clouds shall see me ;
and then every knee shall bend, of things in
heaven, and things on earth, and things under
the earth. '° And then the heaven shall remain
empty ; and I will come down upon the earth,
and all that is in the air shall be brought down
upon the earth, and all the human race and every
evil spirit along with Antichrist, and they shall
all be set before me naked, and chained by the
neck.
And again I said : Lord, what will become of
the heavens, and the sun, and the moon, along
with the stars? And I heard a voice saying to
me : Behold, righteous John. And I looked,
and saw a Lamb having seven eyes and seven
horns." And again I heard a voice saying to
me : I will bid the Lamb come before me, and
will say, Who will open this book ? And all the
multitudes of the angels will answer. Give this
book to the Lamb to open it. And then will I
order the book to be opened. And when He
shall open the first seal, the stars of the heaven
shall fall, from the one end of it to the other.
And when He shall open the second seal, the
moon shall be hidden, and there shall be no light
7 Rev. xxi. 2.
8 Comp. Isa. vi. 3.
9 Or, upon.
10 Phil. ii. 10.
" Rev. V. 6.
REVELATION OF JOHN.
585
in her. And when He shall open the third seal,
the light of the sun shall be withheld, and there
shall not be light upon the earth. And when
He shall open the fourth seal, the heavens shall
be dissolved, and the air shall be thrown into
utter confusion, as saith the prophet : And the
heavens are the works of Thy hands ; they shall
perish, but Thou endurest, and they shall all wax
old as a garment.' And when He shall open
the fifth seal, the earth shall be rent, and all the
tribunals upon the face of all the earth shall be
revealed. And when He sliall open the sixth
seal, the half of the sea shall disappear. And
when He sliall open the seventh sea!. Hades shall
be uncovered.
And I said : Lord, who will be the first to be
questioned, and to receive judgment? And I
heard a voice saying to me. The unclean spirits,
along with the adversary. I bid them go into
outer darkness, where the depths^ are. And I
said : Lord, and in what place does it lie ? And
I heard a voice saying to me : Hear, righteous
John. As big a stone as a man of thirty years
old can roll, and let go down into the depth,
even falling down for twenty years will not arrive
at the bottom of Hades ; as the prophet David
said before. And He made darkness His secret
place. 3
And I said : Lord, and after them what na-
tion ■♦ will be questioned? And I heard a voice
saying to me : Hear, righteous John. There
will be questioned of Adam's race those nations,
both the Greek and those who have believed in
idols, and in the sun, and in the stars, and those
who have defiled the faith by heresy, and who
have not believed the holy s resurrection, and
who have not confessed the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Ghost : then will I send them
away into Hades, as the prophet David foretold.
Let the sinners be turned into Hades, and all
the nations that forget God.'' And again he
said : They were put in Hades like sheep ; death
shall be their shej^herd.^
And again I said : Lord, and after them whom
wilt Thou judge? And I heard a voice saying to
me : Hear, righteous John. Then the race of
the Hebrews shall be examined, who nailed me
to the tree like a malefactor. And I said : And
what punishment will these get, and in what
place, seeing that they did such things to Thee ?
And I heard a voice saying to me : They shall
go away into Tartarus, as the prophet David fore-
told. They cried out, and there was none to save ;
to the Lord, and He did not hearken to them.^
' Ps. cii. 26.
2 Or, regions sunk in water.
3 Ps. xviii. II.
* Lit., tongue.
5 MS. D inserts, Trinity and.
6 I's. ix. 17.
7 Ps. xlix. 14.
^ Ps. xviii. 41.
And again the Apostle Paul said : As many as
have sinned without law shall also perish with-
out law, and as many as have sinned in law shall
be judged by means of law.9
And again I said : Lord, and what of those
who have received baptism? And I heard a
voice saying to me : Then the race of the Chris-
tians shall be examined, who have received bap-
tism ; and then the righteous shall come at my
command, and the angels shall go and collect '°
them from among the sinners, as the prophet
David foretold : The Lord will not suffer the
rod of the sinners in the lot of the righteous ; "
and all the righteous shall be placed on I'ny right
hand,'^ and shall shine like the sun.'^ As thou
seest, John, the stars of heaven, that they were
•all made together, but differ in light,'-* so shall it
be with the righteous and the sinners ; for the
righteous shall shine as lights and as the sun, but
the sinners shall stand in darkness.
And again I said : Lord, and do all the Chris-
tians go into one punishment? — kings, high
priests, priests, patriarchs, rich and poor, bond
and free? And I heard a voice saying to
me : Hear, righteous John. As the prophet
David foretold, The expectation of the poor shall
not perish for ever.'s Now about kings : they
shall be driven like slaves, and shall weep like
infants ; and about patriarchs, and priests, and
Levites, of those that have sinned, they shall be
separated in their punishments, according to the
nature '"^ of the peculiar transgression of each, —
some in the river of fire, and some to the worm
that dieth not, and others in the seven-mouthed
pit of punishment. To these punishments the
sinners will be appordoned.
And again I said : Lord, and where will the
righteous dwell ? And I heard a voice saying to
me : Then shall paradise be revealed, and the
whole world and paradise shall be made one,
and the righteous shall be on the face of all the
earth with my angels, as the Holy Spirit foretold
through the prophet David : The righteous shall
inherit the earth, and dwell therein for ever and
ever. '7
And again I said : Lord, how great is the
multitude of the angels? and which is the greater,
that of angels or of men ? And I heard a voice
saying to me : As great as is the multitude of
the angels, so great is the race of men, as the
prophet has said. He set bounds to the nations
according to the number of the angels of God.'^
And again I said : Lord, and after that what
9 Roni. ii. 12.
'° Lit., heap up.
U Ps. cxxv. 3.
'2 Matt. XXV. 33.
'3 Matt. xiii. 43.
'■* I Cor. XV. 41.
15 Ps. ix. 18.
'6 Lit., proportion or analogy.
'7 Ps xxxvii. 29.
'* Deut. xxxii. 8 according to the LXX.
586
REVELATION OF JOHN.
wilt Thou do? and what is to become of the
world? Reveal to me all. And I heard a
\'oice saying to me : Hear, righteous John.
After that there is no pain, there is no grief, there
is no groaning ; there is no recollection of evils,
there are no tears, there is no envy, there is no
hatred of brethren, there is no unrighteousness,
there is no arrogance, there is no slander, there
is no bitterness, there are none of the cares of
life, there is no pain from parents or children,
there is no pain from gold, there are no wicked
thoughts, there is no devil, there is no death,
there is no night, but all is day.' As I said
before. And other sheep I have, which are not
of this fold, that is, men who have been made like
the angels through their excellent course of life ;
them also must I bring, and they will hear my
voice, and there shall be one fold, one shepherd.^
And again I heard a voice saying to me : Be-
hold, thou hast heard all these things, righteous
* Rev. vii. 17, xxi. 4.
2 John X. 16. [The correct text of John x. 16 is: "one flock,
one shepherd ■ " but it was altered quite early. — R. j
3 i.e., the things heard.
4 Matt. vii. 6.
5 Ps. cvi. 3.
6 John xiv. 23.
7 As a specimen of the eschatology of these documents, Tischen-
dorf gives the following extracts from the termination of MS. E: —
Hear, righteous John: All these shall be assembled, and they shall
be in the pit of lamentation; and I shall set my throne in the place,
and shall sit with the twelve apostles and the four and twenty elders,
and thou thyself an elder on account of thy blameless life: and to
finish three services thou shalt receive a white robe and an unfading
crown from the hand of the Jjjrd, and thou shalt sit with the four
and twenty elders, etc. And after this the angels shall come forth,
having a golden censer and shining lamps; and they shall gather
together on the Lord's right hand those who have lived well, and done
His will, and He shall make them to dwell for ever and ever in light
and joy, and they shall obtain life everlasting. And when He shall
separate the sheep from the goats, that is, the righteous from the sin-
ners, the righteous on the right, and the sinners on the left; then shall
He send the angel Raguel, saying: Go and sound the trumpet for the
angels of cold and snow and ice, and bring together every kind of
John ; deliver them to faithful men, that they
also may teach others, and not think lightly of
them,3 nor cast our pearls before swine, lest per-
chance they should trample them with their feet.'*
And while I was still hearing this voice, the
cloud brought me down, and put me on Mount
Thabor. And there came a voice to me, saying :
Blessed are those who keep judgment and do
righteousness in all time.s And blessed is the
house where this description, lies, as the Lord
said. He that loveth me keepeth my sayings ^ in
Christ Jesus our Lord ; to Him be glory for
ever. Amen. 7
wrath upon those that stand on the left. Because I will not pardon
them when they see the glory of God, the impious and unrepentant,
and the priests who did not what was commanded. You who have
tears, weep for the sinners. And Temeluch shall call out to Taruch:
Open the punishments, thou keeper of the keys; open the judgments;
open the worm that dieth not, and the wicked dragon; make ready
Hades; open the darkness; let loose the fiery river, and the frightful
darkness in the depths of Hades. Then the pitiful sinners, seeing
their works, and having no consolation, shall go down weeping into
streams as it were of blood. And there is none to pity them, neither
father to help, nor mother to compassionate, but rather the angels
going against them, and saying: Ye poor wretches, why are you
weeping? In the world you had no compassion on the weak, you
did not help them. And these go away into everlasting punishment.
There you will not be able to bear the sight of Him who was born of
the virgin; you lived unrepenting in the world, and you will get no
pity, but everlasting punishmetit. And Temeluch says to Taruch:
Rouse up the fat three-headed serpent; sound the trumpet for the
frightful wild beasts to gather them together to feed upon them (i.e.,
the sinners); to open the twelve plagues, that all thecieeping things
may be brought together against the impious and unrepenting. And
Temeluch will gather together the multitude of the sinners, and will
kick the earth; and the earth will be split up in diverse places, and
the sinners will be melted in frightful punishments. Then shall God
send Michael, the leader of His hosts; and having sealed the place,
Temeluch shall strike them with the precious cross, and the earth
shall be brought together as before. Then their angels lamented ex-
ceedingly, then the all-holy yirgui and all the saints wept for them,
and they shall do them no good. And John says: Why are the sin-
ners thus punished? And I heard a voice saying to me: They
walked in the v/orld each after his own will, and therefore are they
thus punished.
Blessed is the man who reads the writing: blessed is he who has
transcribed it, and given it to other Catholic churches: blessed are all
who fear God. Hear, ye priests, and ye readers; hear ye people, etc.
THE BOOK OF JOHN CONCERNING THE FALLING
ASLEEP OF MARY.
THE ACCOUNT OF ST. JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN' OF THE FALLING ASLEEP
OF THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.
As the all-holy glorious mother of God and
ever-virgin Mary, as was her wont, was going to
the holy tomb of our Lord to burn incense, and
bending her holy knees, she was importunate
that Christ our God who had been born of her
should return to her. And the Jews, seeing her
lingering by the divine sepulchre, came to the
chief priests, saying : Mary goes every day to the
tomb. And the chief priests, having summoned
the guards set by them not to allow any one to
pray at the holy sepulchre, inquired about her,
whether in truth it were so. And the guards
answered and said that they had seen no such
thing, God having not allowed them to see her
when there. And on one of the days, it being
the preparation, the holy Mary, as was her wont,
came to the sepulchre ; and while she was pray-
ing, it came to pass that the heavens were opened,
and the archangel Gabriel came down to her,
and said : Hail, thou that didst bring forth Christ
our God ! Thy prayer having come through to
the heavens to Him who was born of thee, has
been accepted ; and from this time, according
to thy request, thou having left the world, shalt
go to the heavenly places to thy Son, into the
true and everlasting life.
And having heard this from the holy arch-
angel, she returned to holy Bethlehem, having
along with her three virgins who ministered unto
her. And after having rested a short time, she
sat up and said to the virgins : Bring me a cen-
ser, that I may pray. And they brought it, as
they had been commanded. And she prayed,
saying : My Lord Jesus Christ, who didst deign
through Thy supreme goodness to be born of
me, hear my voice, and send me Thy apostle
John, in order that, seeing him, I may partake
of joy ; and send me also the rest of Thy apos-
tles, both those who have already gone to Thee,
and those in the world that now is, in whatever
country they may be, through Thy holy com-
mandment, in order that, having beheld them,
I may bless Thy name much to be praised ; for
I am confident that Thou hearest Thy servant
in everything.
And while she was praying, I John came, the
Holy Spirit having snatched me up by a cloud
from Ephesus, and set me in the place where
the mother of my Lord was lying. And having
gone in beside her, and glorified Him who had
been born of her, I said : Hail, mother of my
Lord, who didst bring forth Christ our God, re-
joice that in great glory thou art going out of
this life. And the holy mother of God glorified
God, because 1 John had come to her, remem-
bering the voice of the Lord, saying : Behold
thy mother, and, Behold thy son.^ And the
three virgins came and worshipped. And the
holy mother of God says to me : Pray, and cast
incense. And I prayed thus : Lord Jesus Christ,
who hast done wonderful things, now also do
wonderful things before her who brought Thee
forth ; and let Thy mother depart from this life ;
and let those who crucified Thee, and who have
not believed in Thee, be confounded. And aftei
I had ended the prayer, holy Mary said to me :
Bring me the censer, x^nd having cast incense,
she said, Glory to Thee, my God and my Lord,
because there has been fulfilled in me Avhatsoevei
Thou didst promise to me before thou didsl
ascend into the heavens, that when I should de-
part from this world Thou wouldst come to me,
and the multitude of Thine angels, with glory
And I John say to her : Jesus Christ our Lore
and our God is coming, and thou seest ^ Him
as He promised to thee. And the holy mothei
of God answered and said to me : The Jews
have sworn that after I have died they will burr
my body. And I answered and said to her
Thy holy and precious body will by no means
I The titles vary considerably. In two MSS. the author is said to
be James the Lord's brother; in one, John Archbishop of Thessalon-
ica, who lived in the seventh century.
2 John xix. 26, 27.
3 i.e., wilt see.
587
588
THE FALLING ASLEEP OF MARY.
see corruption. And she answered and said to
me : Bring a censer, and cast incense, and pray.
And there came a voice out of the heavens say-
ing the Amen. And I John heard this voice ;
and the Holy Spirit said to me : John, hast
thou heard this voice that spoke in the heaven
after the prayer was ended? And I answered
and said : Yes, I heard. And the Holy Spirit
said to me : This voice which thou didst hear
denotes that the appearance of thy brethren the
apostles is at hand, and of the holy powers that
they are coming hither to-day.
And at this I. John prayed.
And the Holy Spirit said to the apostles : Let
all of you together, having come by the clouds
from the ends of the world, be assembled to
holy Bethlehem by a whirlwind, on account of
the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ ; Peter from
Rome, Paul from Tiberia,' Thomas from Hither
India, James from Jerusalem. Andrew, Peter's
brother, and Philip, Luke, and Simon the Cana-
naean, and Thaddaeus who had fallen asleep,
were raised by the Holy Spirit out of their
tombs ; to whom the Holy Spirit said : Do not
think that it is now the resurrection ; but on this
account you have risen out of your tombs, that
you may go to give greeting to the honour and
wonder-working of the mother of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, because the day of her
departure is at hand, of her going up into the
heavens. And Mark likewise coming round,
was present from Alexandria ; he also with the
rest, as has been said before, from each country.
And Peter being lifted up by a cloud, stood be-
tween heaven and earth, the Holy Spirit keeping
him steady. And at the same time, the rest of
the apostles also, having been snatched up in
clouds, were found along with Peter. And thus
by the Holy Spirit, as has been said, they all
came together.
And having gone in beside the mother of our
Lord and God, and having adored, we said : Fear
not, nor grieve ; God the Lord, who was born of
thee, will take thee out of this world with glory.
And rejoicing in God her Saviour, she sat up in
the bed, and says to the apostles : Now have I
believed that our Master and God is coming
from heaven, and I shall behold Him, and thus
depart from this life, as I have seen that you
have come. And I wish you to tell me how you
knew that I was departing and came to me, and
from what countries and through what distance
you have come hither, that you have thus made
haste to visit me. For neither has He who was
born of me, our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of
the universe, concealed it ; for I am persuaded
even now that He is the Son of the Most High.
And Peter answered and said to the apostles
' A place near Rome; one MS. calls it Tlberis.
Let us each, according to what the Holy Spirit
announced and commanded us, give full infor-
mation to the mother of our Lord. And I John
answered and said : Just as I was going in to
the holy altar in Ephesus to perform divine ser-
vice, the Holy Spirit says to me. The time of
the departure of the mother of thy Lord is at
hand ; go to Bethlehem to salute her. And a
cloud of light snatched me up, and set me down
in the door where thou art .lying. Peter also
answered: And I, living in Rome, about dawn
heard a voice through the Holy Spirit saying to
me. The mother of thy Lord is to depart, as the
time is at hand ; go to Bethlehem to salute her.
And, behold, a cloud of light snatched me up ;
and I beheld also the other apostles coming to
me on clouds, and a voice saying to me, Go
all to Bethlehem, And Paul also answered and
said : And I, living in a city at no great distance
from Rome, called the country of Tiberia, heard
the Holy Spirit saying to me. The mother of
thy Lord, having left this world, is making her
course to the celestial regions through her de-
parture ; ^ but go thou also to Bethlehem to
salute her. And, behold, a cloud of light hav-
ing snatched me up, set me down in the same
place as you. And Thomas also answered and
said : And I, traversing the country of the In-
dians, when the preaching was prevailing by the
grace of Christ, and the king's sister's son, Lab-
danus by name, was about to be sealed by me
in the palace, on a sudden the Holy Spirit says
to me. Do thou also, Thomas, go to Bethlehem
to salute the mother of thy Lord, because she
is taking her departure to the heavens. And a
cloud of light having snatched me up, set me
down beside you. And Mark also answered
and said : And when I was finishing the canon ^
of the third day in the city of Alexandria, just
as I was praying, the Holy Spirit snatched me
up, and brought me to you. And James also
answered and said : While I was in Jerusalem,
the Holy Spirit commanded me, saying. Go to
Bethlehem, because the mother of thy Lord is
taking her departure. And, behold, a cloud
of light having snatched me up, set me beside
you. And Matthew also answered and said :
I have glorified and do glorify God, because
when I was in a boat and overtaken by a storm,
the sea raging with its waves, on a sudden a
cloud of light overshadowing the stormy billow,
changed it to a calm, and having snatched me
up, set me down beside you. And those who
had come before likewise answered, and gave
an account of how they had come. And Bar-
tholomew said : I was in the Thebais proclaim-
ing the word, and behold the Holy Spirit says
2 Or, dissolution.
3 A canon is a part of the Church service consisting of nine odes.
The canon of the third day is the canon for Tuesday.
THE FALLING ASLEEP OF MARY.
589
to me, The mother of thy Lord is taking her
departure ; go, then, to salute her in Bethlehem.
And, behold, a cloud of light having snatched
me up, brought me to you.
The apostles said all these things to the holy
mother of God, why they had come, and in what
way ; and she stretched her hands to heaven,
and prayed, saying : I adore, and praise, and
glorify Thy much to be praised name, O Lord,
because Thou hast looked upon the lowliness
of Thine handmaiden, and because Thou that
art mighty hast done great things for me ; and,
behold, all generations shall count me blessed.'
And after the prayer she said to the apostles :
Cast incense, and pray. And when they had
prayed, there was thunder from heaven, and
there came a fearful voice, as if of chariots ;
and, behold, a multitude of a host of angels and
powers, and a voice, as if of the Son of man,
was heard, and the seraphim in a circle round
the house where the holy, spotless mother of
God and virgin was lying, so that all who were
in Bethlehem beheld all the wonderful things,
and came to Jerusalem and reported all the
wonderful things that had come to pass. And
it came to pass, when the voice was heard, that
the sun and the moon suddenly appeared about
the house ; and an assembly - of the first-born
saints stood beside the house where the mother
of the Lord was lying, for her honour and glory.
And I beheld also that many signs came to pass,
the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the lame
walking, lepers cleansed, and those possessed
by unclean spirits cured ; and every one who
was under disease and sickness, touching the
outside of the wall of the house where she was
lying, cried out : Holy Mary, who didst bring
forth Christ our God, have mercy upon us. And
they were straightway cured. And great multi-
tudes out of every country living in Jerusalem
for the sake of prayer, having heard of the signs
that had come to pass in Bethlehem through the
mother of the Lord, came to the place seeking
the cure of various diseases, which also they
obtained. And there was joy unspeakable on
that day among the multitude of those who had
been cured, as well as of those who looked on,
glorifying Christ our God and His mother. And
all Jerusalem from Betlilehem kept festival with
psalms and spiritual songs.
And the priests of the Jews, along with their
people, were astonished at the things which had
come to pass ; and being moved ^ with the heav-
iest hatred, and again with frivolous reasoning,
having made an assembly, they determine to
send against the holy mother of God and the
' Luke i 48.
2 Or, a church.
3 Burning — MS. B. [This MS. is in Venice; see Tischendorf,
Apocalypses Apocryph<e, p. xhii., for designations of Mss. — R.]
holy apostles who were there in Bethlehem.
And accordingly the multitude of the Jews, hav-
ing directed their course to Bethlehem, when at
the distance of one mile it came to pass that
they beheld a frightful vision, and their feet were
held fast ; and after this they returned to their
fellow-countrymen, and reported all the frightful
vision to the chief priests. And they, still more
boiling with rage, go to the procurator, crying
out and saying : The nation of the Jews has
been ruined by this woman ; chase her from
Bethlehem and the province of Jerusalem. And
the procurator, astonished at the wonderful things,
said to them : I will chase her neither from
Bethlehem nor from any other place. And the
Jews continued crying out, and adjuring him by
the health of Tiberius Caesar to bring the apos-
tles out of Bethlehem. And if you do not do so,
we shall report it to the Csesar. Accordingly,
being compelled, he sends a tribune of the sol-
diers 4 against the apostles to Bethlehem. And
the Holy Spirit says to the apostles and the
mother of the Lord : Behold, the procurator has
sent a tribune against you, the Jews having made
an uproar. Go forth therefore from Bethlehem,
and fear not : for, behold, by a cloud I shall
bring you to Jerusalem ; for the power of the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is with
you. The apostles therefore rose up immediately,
and went forth from the house, carrying the bed
of the Lady the mother of God, and directed
their course to Jerusalem ; and immediately, as
the Holy Spirit had said, being lifted up by a
cloud, they were found in Jerusalem in the house
of the Lady. And they stood up, and for five
days made an unceasing singing of praise. And
when the tribune came to Bethlehem, and found
there neither the mother of the Lord nor the
apostles, he laid hold of the Bethlehemites, say-
ing to them : Did you not come teUing the proc-
urator and the priests all the signs and wondei's
that had come to pass, and how the apostles had
come out of every country? Where are they,
then ? Come, go to the procurator at Jerusalem.
For the tribune did not know of the departure
of the apostles and the Lord's mother to Jerusa-
lem. The tribune then, having taken the Beth-
lehemites, went in to the procuriitor, saying that
he had found no one. And after five days it
was known to the procurator, and the priests,
and all the city, that the Lord's mother was in
her own house in Jerusalem, along with the apos-
tles, from the signs and wonders that came to
pass there. And a multitude of men and wo-
men and virgins came together, and cried out :
Holy virgin, that didst bring forth Christ our
God, do not forget the generation of men.
And when these things came to pass, the people
* Lit., chiliarch, i.e., commander of a thousand.
590
THE FALLING ASLEEP OF MARY.
of the Jews, with the priests also, being the
more moved with hatred, took wood and fire,
and came up, wishing to burn the house where
the Lord's mother was Uving with the apostles.
And the procurator stood looking at the sight
from afar off. And when the people of the Jews
came to the door of the house, behold, suddenly
a power of fire coming forth from within, by
means of an angel, burnt up a great multitude
of the Jews. And there was great fear through-
out all the city ; and they glorified God, who
had been born of her. And when the procura-
tor saw what had come to pass, he cried out to
all the people, saying : Truly he who was born
of the virgin, whom you have thought of driving
away, is the Son of God ; for these signs are
those of the true God. And there was a division
among the JeiWs ; and many believed in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, in consequence of the
signs that had come to pass.
And after all these wonderful things had come
to pass through the mother of God, and ever-
virgin Mary the mother of the Lord, while we
the apostles were with her in Jerusalem, the
Holy Spirit said to us : You know that on
the Lord's day the good news was brought to the
Virgin Mary by the archangel Gabriel ; and on
the Lord's day the Saviour was born in Bethle-
hem ; and on the Lord's day the children of
Jerusalem came forth with palm branches to
meet him, saying, Hosanna in the highest,
blessed is ' He that cometh in the name of the
Lord ; - and on the Lord's day He rose from the
dead ; and on the Lord's day He will come to
judge the living and the dead ; and on the
Lord's day He will come out of heaven, to the
glory and honour of the departure of the holy
glorious virgin who brought Him forth. And on
the same ^ Lord's day the mother of the Lord
says to the apostles : Cast incense, because
Christ is coming with a host of angels ; and,
behold, Christ is at hand, sitting on a throne of
cherubim. And while we were all praying, there
appeared innumerable multitudes of angels, and
the Lord mounted upon cherubim in great
power ; and, behold, a stream of light "♦ coming
to the holy virgin, because of the presence of
her only-begotten Son, and all the powers of the
heavens fell down and adored Him. And the
Lord, speaking to His mother, said : Mary.
And she answered and said : Here am 1, Lord.
And the Lord said to her : Grieve not, but let
thy heart rejoice and be glad ; for thou hast
found grace to behold the glory given to me by
my Father. And the holy mother of God looked
up, and saw in Him a glory which it is impos-
' Or, be.
2 Matt. xxi. 9; Luke xix. 38; Ps. cxviii. 26.
3 The holy — MS. A.
* Lit., a going forth of illumination.
sible for the mouth of man to speak of, or to
apprehend. And the Lord remained beside her,
saying : Behold, from the present time thy pre-
cious body will be transferred to paradise, and
thy holy soul to the heavens to the treasures of
my Father in exceeding brightness, where there
is peace and joy of the holy angels, — and other
things besides. 5 And the mother of the Lord
answered and said to him : Lay Thy right hand
upon me, O Lord, and bless me. And the Lord
stretched forth His undefiled right hand, and
blessed her. And she laid hold of His unde-
filed right hand, and kissed it, saying : I adore
this right hand, which created the heaven and
the earth ; and I call upon Thy much to be
praised name Christ, O God, the King of the
ages, the only-begotten of the Father, to receive
Thine handmaid. Thou wlio didst deign to be
brought forth by me, in a low estate, to save the
race of men through Thine ineffable dispensa-
tion ; do Thou bestow Thine aid upon every
man calling upon, or praying to, or naming the
the name of, Thine handmaid. And while she
is saying this, the apostles, having gone up to
her feet and adorcxl, say : O mother of the
Lord, leave a blessing tothe world, since thou
art going away from it. For thou hast blessed
it, and raised it up when it was ruined, by
bringing forth the Light of the world. And the
mother of the Lord prayed, and in her prayer
spoke thus : O God, who through Thy great
goodness hast sent from the heavens Thine only-
begotten Son to dwell in my humble body, who
hast deigned to be born of me, humble as I
am, have mercy upon the world, and every
soul that calls upon Thy name. And again she
prayed, and said : O Lord, King of the heavens,
Son of the living God, accept every man who
calls upon Thy name, that Thy birth may be
glorified. And again she prayed, and said : O
Lord Jesus Christ, who art all-powerful in heaven
and on earth, in this appeal I implore Thy holy
name ; in every time and place where there is
made mention of my name, make that place
holy, and glorify those that glorify Thee through
my name, accepting of such persons all their
offering, and all their supplication, and all their
prayer. And when she had thus prayed, the
Lord said to His mother : Let thy heart rejoice
and be glad; for every favour^ and every gift
has been given to thee from my Father in
heaven, and from me, and from the Holy Spirit :
every soul that calls upon thy name shall not be
ashamed, but shall find mercy, and comfort, and
support, and confidence, both in the world that
now is, and in that which is to come, in the
presence of my Father in the heavens. And the
s Perhaps the true reading is: thou shall dwell where there is
peace and joy of the holy angels.
^ Or, grace.
THE FALLING ASLEEP OF MARY.
591
Lord turned and said to Peter : The time has
come to begin the singing of the hymn. And
Peter having begun the singing of the hymn, all
the powers of the heavens responded with the
AUeluiah. And then the face of the mother of the
Lord shone brighter than the light, and she rose
up and blessed each of the apostles with her own
hand, and all gave glory to God ; and the Lord
stretched forth His undefiled hands, and received
her holy and blameless soul. And with the de-
parture of her blameless soul the place was filled
with perfume and ineffable light ; and, behold,
a voice out of the heaven was heard, saying :
Blessed art thou among women. And Peter,
and I John, and Paul, and Thomas, ran and
wrapped up her precious feet for the consecra-
tion ; and the twelve apostles put her precious
and holy body upon a couch, and carried it.
And, behold, while they were carrying her, a
certain well-born Hebrew, Jephonias by name,
running against the body, put his hands upon
the couch ; and, behold, an angel of the Lord
by invisible power, with a sword of fire, cut off
his two hands from his shoulders, and made
them hang about the couch, lifted up in the air.
And at this miracle which had come to pass all
the people of the Jews who beheld it cried out :
Verily, He that was brought forth by thee is the
true God, O mother of God, ever-virgin Mary.
And Jephonias himself, when Peter ordered him,
that the wonderful things of God might be
showed forth, stood up behind the couch, and
cried out : Holy Mary, who broughtest forth
Christ who is God, have mercy upon me. And
Peter turned and said to him : In the name of
Him who was born of her, thy hands which have
been taken away from thee, will be fixed on
again. And immediately, at the word of Peter,
the hands hanging by the couch of the Lady
came, and were fixed on Jephonias. And he
believed, and glorified Christ, God who had
been born of her.
And when this miracle had been done, the
apostles carried ' the couch, and laid down her
precious and holy body in Gethsemane in a new
tomb. And, behold, a perfume of sweet savour
came forth out of the holy sepulchre of our Lady
the mother of God ; and for three days the voices
of invisible angels were heard glorifying Christ
our God, who had been born of her. And when
the third day was ended, the voices were no
longer heard ; and from that time forth all knew
that her spotless and precious body had been
transferred to paradise.
And after it had been transferred, behold, we
see Elisabeth the mother of St. John the Baptist,
and Anna the mother of the Lady, and Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and David, singing the
AUeluiah, and all the choirs of the saints adoring
the holy relics of the mother of the Lord, and
the place full of light, than which light nothing
could be more brilliant, and an abundance of
perfume in that, place to which her precious and
holy body had been transferred in paradise, and
the melody of those praising Him who had been
born of her — sweet melody, of which there is no
satiety, such as is given to virgins, and them
only, to hear. We apostles, therefore, having
beheld the sudden precious translation of her
holy body, glorified God, who had shown us His
wonders at the departure of the mother of our
Lord Jesus Christ, whose ^ prayers and good
offices may we all be deemed worthy to receive,^
under her shelter, and support, and protection,
both in the world that now is and in that which
is to come, glorifying in every time and place
her only-begotten Son, along with the Father
and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.
' Four of theMSS. give a different account liere: While the apos-
tles were going forth from the city of Jerusalem carr^dng the couch,
suddenly twelve clouds of light snatched up the apostles, with the
body of our Lady, and translated them to paradise.
- i.e., the mother's.
3 One MS. has: To find mercy and remission of sins from our
Lord Jesus Christ.
THE PASSING OF MARY.
FIRST LATIN FORM.
CONCERNING THE PASSING' OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.
In that time before the Lord came to His
passion, and among many words wliich the
mother asked of the Son, she began to ask
Him about her own departure, addressing Him
as follows : — O most dear Son, I pray Thy holi-
ness, that when my soul goes out of my body,
Thou let me know on the third day before ; and
do Thou, beloved Son, with Thy angels, receive
it.^ Then He received the prayer of His be-
loved mother, and said to her : O palace and
temple of the living God, O blessed mother,^
0 queen of all saints, and blessed above all
women, before thou carriedst me in thy womb,
1 always guarded thee, and caused thee to be
fed daily with my angelic food,^ as thou know-
est : how can I desert thee, after thou hast car-
ried me, and nourished me, and brought me
down in flight into Egypt, and endured many
hardships for me ? Know, then, that my angels
have always guarded thee, and will guard thee
even until thy departure. But after I undergo
suffering for men, as it is written, and rise again'
on the third day, and after forty days ascend
into heaven, when thou shalt see me coming to
thee 5 with angels and archangels, with saints and
with virgins, and with my disciples, know for cer-
tain that thy soul will be separated from the
body, and I shall carry it into heaven, where it
shall never at all have tribulation or anguish.
Then she joyed and gloried, and kissed the
knees of her Son, and blessed the Creator of
heaven and earth, who gave her such a gift
through Jesus Christ her Son.
In the second year, therefore, after the ascen-
sion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the most blessed
Virgin Mary continued always in prayer da)' and
' MS. B, the assumption. [For the Hst of MSS. used by Tischen-
dorf, see his Apocal. Apocr., p. xliii. — R.]
2 MS. C adds : And cause all the apostles to be present at my de-
parture.
■3 Puerpera.
4 Protevnngeliutn cf James, ch 8, p. 363.
5 MS. C has: When, therefore, thou shalt see my archangel
Gabriel coming to thee with a palm which I shall send to thee from
heaven, know that I shall soon come to thee, my disciples, and
angeli, etc.
592
night. And on the third day before she passed
away, an angel of the Lord came to her, and
saluted her, saying : Hail, Mary, full of grace !
the Lord be with the^. And she answered, say-
ing : Thanks to God. Again he said to her :
Receive this palm which the Lord promised to
thee. And she, giving thanks to God, with
great joy received fr©m the hand of the angel
the palm sent to her. The angel of the Lord
said to her : Thy assumption will be after three
days. And she answered : Thanks to God.^
Then she called Joseph of the city of Arima-
thaea, and the other ? disciples of the Lord ; and
when they, both relations and acquaintances,
were assembled, she announced her departure to
all standing there. Then the blessed Mary
washed ^ herself, and dressed herself like a
queen, and waited the advent of her Son, as
He had promised to her. And she asked all
her relations to keep beside ^ her, and give her
comfort. And she had along with her three
virgins, Sepphora, Abigea, and Zael ; but the
disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ had been
already dispersed throughout the whole world
to preach to the people of God.
Then at the third hour '° there were great thun-
ders, and rains, and lightnings, and tribulation,
and an earthquake," while queen Mary was stand-
ing in her chamber. John the evangelist and
apostle was suddenly brought from Ephesus,
and entered the chamber of the blessed Mary, and
saluted her, and said to her: Hail, Mary, full
of grace ! the Lord be with thee. And she an-
swered : Thanks to God. And raising herself
up, she kissed Saint John. And the blessed
Mary said to him : O my dearest son, why hast
*> MS. C: And she began to give great thanks to God in these
words: My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced
in God my Saviour.
7 Or, other.
8 MS. A, raised, Levavit instead of lavit.
9 Lit., guard.
"^ MS. C inserts: of the second day after the angel had come to
her with the palm.
1' Or, earthquakes.
THE PASSING OF MARY.
593
thou left me at such a time, and hast not paid
heed to the commands of thy Master, to take
care of me, as He commanded thee while He
was hanging on the cross? And he asked par-
don with bended knee. Then the blessed Mary-
gave him her benediction, and again kissed him.
And when she meant to ask him whence he
came, and for what reason he had come to
Jerusalem, behold, all the disciples of the Lord,
except Thomas who is called Didymus, were
brought by a cloud to the door of the chamber
of the blessed Mary. They stood and went in,
and saluted the queen with the following words,
and adored her : Hail, Mary, full of grace ! the
Lord be with thee. And she eagerly rose quickly,
and bowed herself, and kissed them, and gave
thanks to God. These are the names of the
disciples of the Lord who were brought thither
in the cloud : John the evangelist and James
his brother, Peter and Paul, Andrew, Philip,
Luke, Barnabas, Bartholomew and Matthew,
Matthias who is called Justus,' Simon the
Chananaean, Judas and his brother, Nicode-
mus and Maximianus, and many others who
cannot be numbered. Then the blessed ALiry
said to her brethren : What is this, that you
have all come to Jerusalem? Peter, answering,
said to her : We had need to ask this of thee,
and dost thou question us? Certainly, as I
think, none of us knows why we have come
here to-day with such rapidity. I was at Anti-
och, and now I am here. All declared plainly
the place where they had been that day. And
they all wondered that they were there when
they heard these things. The blessed Mary said
to them : I asked my Son, before He endured
the passion, that He and you should be at my
death ; and He granted me this gift. Whence
you may know that my departure will be to-
morrow.- Watch and pray with me, that when
the Lord comes to receive my soul. He may
find you watching. Then all promised that they
would watch. And they watched and prayed
the whole night, with psalms and chants, with
great illuminations.
And when the Lord's day came, at the third
hour, just as the Holy Spirit descended upon
the apostles in a cloud,^ so Christ descended
with a multitude of angels, and received the
soul of His beloved mother. For there was such
splendour and perfume of sweetness, and angels
singing the songs of songs, where the Lord says,
As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the
daughters,-* that all who were there present fell
' It was Joseph, the other candidate for the apostleship, who was
called Justus (Acts i. 23).
2 MS. C adds: And she showed them the palm which the Lord
had sent her from heaven by His angel.
3 MS. C has: just as the Holy Spirit appeared in a cloud to His
disciples, viz., Peter, James, and John, when He was transfigured,
so, etc.
* Cant. ii. 2.
on their faces, as the apostles fell when Christ
transfigured Himself before them on Mount
Thabor, and for a whole hour and a half no one
was able to rise. But when the light went away,
and at the same time with the light itself, the
soul of the blessed virgin Mary was taken up
into heaven with psalms, and hymns, and songs
of songs. And as the cloud went up the whole
earth shook, and in one moment all the inhab-
itants of Jerusalem openly saw the departure of
St. Mary.
And that same hour Satan entered into them,
and they began to consider what they were to
do with her body. And they took up weapons,
that they might burn her body and kill the apos-
tles, because from her had gone forth the dis-
persions of Israel, on account of their sins and
the gathering together of the Gentiles. But
they were struck with blindness, striking their
heads against the walls, and striking each other.5
Then the apostles, alarmed by so much bright-
ness, arose, and with psalms carried the holy
body down from Mount Zion to the valley of
Jehoshaphat. But as they were going in the
middle of the road, behold, a certain Jew,^ Reu-
ben by name, wishing to throw to the ground
the holy bier with the body of the blessed Mary.
But his hands dried up, even to the elbow ;
whether he would or not, he went down even
to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, weeping and
lamenting because his hands were raised to the
bier, and he was not able to draw back his hands
to himself. And he began to ask the apostles 7
that by their prayer he might be saved and made
a Christian. Then the apostles, bending their
knees, asked the Lord to let him loose. And
he, being healed that same hour, giving thanks
to God and kissing the feet of the queen of all
the saints and apostles, was baptized in that
same place, and began to preach the name of
our God Jesus Christ.
Then the apostles with great honour laid the
body in the tomb, weeping and singing through
exceeding love and sweetness. And suddenly
there shone round them a light from heaven, and
they fell to the ground, and the holy body was.
taken up by angels into heaven.
Then the most blessed Thomas was suddenly
brought to the Mount of Olivet, and saw the
most blessed body going up to heaven, and began
to cry out and say : O holy mother, blessed
mother, spotless mother, if I have now found
grace because I see thee, make thy servant joyful
through thy compassion, because thou art going
to heaven. Then the girdle with which the
5 MS. C: By the divine vengeance, at that very instant they be-
gan to strike and slay each other with their weapons, and struck their
heads against the walls like madmen.
6 MS. C inserts: a scribe of the tribe of Dan.
7 MS. Cadds: and firmly to promise that, if he were made whole
by their prayers, he would become a Christian.
594
THE PASSING OF MARY.
apostles had encircled the most holy body was
thrown down from heaven to the blessed Thomas.
And taking it, and kissing it, and giving thanks to
God, he came again into the Valley of Jehosha-
phat. He found all the apostles and another
great crowd there beating their breasts on account
of the brightness which they had seen. And see-
ing and kissing each other, the blessed Peter said
to him : Truly thou hast always been obdurate and
unbelieving, because for thine unbelief it was not
pleasing to God that thou shouldst be along with
us at the burial of the mother of- the Saviour.
And he, beating his breast, said : I know and
firmly believe that I have always been a bad and
an unbelieving man ; therefore I ask pardon of all
of you for my obduracy and unbelief. And they
all prayed for him. Then the blessed Thomas
said : Where have you laid her body? And they
pointed out the sepulchre with their finger. And
he said : The body which is called most holy is
not there. Then the blessed Peter said to him :
Already on another occasion thou wouldst not
believe the resurrection of our Master and Lord
at our word, unless thou went to touch Him with
thy fingers, and see Him ; how wilt thou believe
us that the holy body is here ? Still he persists
saying : It is not here. Then, as it were in a
rage, they went to the sepulchre, which was a
new one hollowed out in the rock, and took up
the stone ; but they did not find the body, not
knowing what to say, because they had been
convicted by the words of Thomas. Then the
blessed Thomas told them how he was singing
mass in India — he still had on his sacerdotal
robes. He, not knowing the word of God, had
been brought to the Mount of Olivet, and saw
the most holy body of the blessed Mary going
up into heaven, and prayed her to give him a
blessing. She heard his prayer, and threw him
her girdle which she had about her. And the
apostles seeing the belt which they had put
about her, glorifying God, all asked pardon of
the blessed Thomas, on account of the bene-
diction which the blessed Mary had given him,
and because he had seen the most holy body
going up into heaven. And the blessed Thomas
gave them his benediction, and said : Behold
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity !•■
* Ps. cxxxiii. I.
And the same cloud by which they had been
brought carried them back each to his own
place, just like Philip when he baptized the
eunuch, as is read in the Acts of the Apostles ; ^
and as Habakkuk the prophet carried food to
Daniel, who was in the lions' den, and quickly
returned to Judaea.^ And so also the apostles
quickly returned to where they had at first been,
to preach to the people of God. Nor is it to be
wondered at that He should do such things, who
went into the virgin and came out of her though
her womb was closed ; who, though the gates
were shut, went in to His disciples ; •+ who made
the deaf to hear, raised the dead, cleansed the
lepers, gave sight to the blind,' and did many
other wonderful things. To believe this is no
doubtful matter.
I am Joseph who laid the Lord's body in my
sepulchre, and saw Him rising again ; and who,
before the ascension and after the ascension of
the Lord, always kept his most sacred temple
the blessed ever-virgin Mary, and iJii]io have kept
in writing and in my breast the things which
came forth from the mouth of God, and how
the things mentioned above were done by the
judgment of God. And I have made known to
all, Jews and Gentiles, those things which I saw
with my eyes, and heard with my ears ; and as
long as I live I shall not cease to declare them.
And her, whose assumption is at this day ven-
erated and worshipped throughout the whole
world, let us assiduously entreat that she be
mindful of us in the presence of her most pious
Son in heaven, to whom is praise and glory
through endless ages of ages. Amen.*^
2 Acts viii. 39.
3 Bel and the Dragon, vers. 33-39.
^ John XX. 19.
s MS. C adds : and in Cana of Galilee made wine out of water.
6 MS. C has this last section as follows: For I am Joseph, who
laid the body of our Lord Jesus Christ in my sepulchre, and saw Him
and spoke with Him after His resurrection; who afterwards kept
His most pious mother in my house until her assumption into the
heavens, and served her according to my power; who also was deemed
worthy to hear and see from her holy mouth many secrets, which I
have written and keep in my heart. That which I saw with mine
eyes, and heard with mine ears, of her holy and glorious assumption,
1 have written for faithful Christians, and those that fear God; and
while I live I shall not cease to pre.tch, speak, and write them to all
nations. And let every Christian know, that if he keep this writing
by him, even in his house, whether he be cleric, or lay, or a woman,
the devil will not hurt him; his son will not be lunatic, or demoniac,
or deaf, or blind; no one will die suddenly in his house; in whatever
tribulation he cries to her, he will be heard; and in the day of his
death he will have her with her holy virgins for his help. 1 beseech
continually that the same most pious and merciful queen may be always
mindful of me, and all who believe in her and hope bclore her mo'-t
pious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, lives and reigns God through endless ages of ages. Amen.
THE PASSING OF MARY.
595
SECOND LATIN FORM. '
HERE BEGINNETH THE PASSING OF THE BLESSED MARY.
I.' Therefore, when the Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ was hanging on the tree fastened by
the nails of the cross for the hfe of the whole world,
He saw about the cross His mother standing,
and John the evangelist, whom He peculiarly
loved above the rest of the apostles, because he
alone of them was a virgin in the body. He
gave him, therefore, the charge of holy Mary,
saying to him : Behold thy mother ! and saying
to her : Behold thy son ! ^ From that hour the
holy mother of God remained specially in the
care of John, as long as she had her habitation
in this life. And vvhen the apostles had divided
the world by lot for preaching, she settled m the
house of his parents near Mount Olivet.
2. In the second year, therefore, after Christ
had vanquished death, and ascended up into
heaven, on a certain day, Mary, burning with a
longing for Christ, began to weep alone, within
the shelter of her abode. And, behold, an angel,
shining in a dress of great light, stood before her,
and gave utterance to ^ the words of salutation,
saying : Hail ! thou blessed by the Lord, receive
the salutation of Him who commanded safety
to Jacob by His prophets. Behold, said He,
a palm branch — I have brought it to thee from
the paradise of the Lord — which thou wilt cause
to be carried before thy bier, when on the third
day thou shalt be taken up from the body. For,
lo, thy Son awaits thee with thrones and angels,
and all the powers of heaven. Then Mary said
to the angel : I beg that all the apostles of the
Lord Jesus Christ be assembled to me. To
whom the angel said : Behold, to-day, by the
power of my Lord Jesus Christ, all the apostles
1 The other MS. has the following introductory chapter: Melifo,
servant of Christ, bishop of the church of Sardis, to the venerable
brethren in tlie Lord appointed at Laodicea, in peace greeting. I re-
member that I have often written of one Leucius, who, having along
with ourselves associated with the apostles, turned aside through
alienated feelings and a rash soul from the path of rectitude, and in-
serted very many things in his books about the acts of the apostles.
Of their powers, indeed, he said many and diverse things; but of their
teaching he gave a very false account, affirming that they taught
otherwise than they did, and establishing his own impious statements,
as it were, by their words. Nor did he think this to be enough; but
he even vitiated, by his impious writing, the assumption of the blessed
ever-virgin Mary, the mother of God, to such a degree that it would
be impious not only to read it in the church of God, but even to hear
it. When you ask us, therefore, what we heard from the Apostle
John, we simply write this, and have directed it to your brotherhood;
believing, not the strange dogmas hatched by heretics, but the Father
in the Son, the Son in the Father, while the threefold person of the
Godhead and undivided substance remains; bclier'iiig not that two
human natures were created, a good and .a bad, but that one good
nature was created by a good God, which by the craft of the ser-
pent was vitiated through sin, and restored through the grace of
Christ. [Tischendorf gives this from Maxima Bibliotheca vet.
patr.. ii. 2, pp. 212 sqq. (ed. Sugdun). — R.]
2 John xix. 26, 27.
3 Lit., sprung forward to.
will come to thee. And Mary says to him : I
ask that thou send upon me thy blessing, that no
power of the lower world may withstand me in that
hour in which my soul shall go out of my body,
and that I may not see the prince of darkness.
And the angel said : No power indeed of the
lower world will hurt thee ; and thy Lord God,
whose servant and messenger I am, hath given
thee eternal blessing • but do not think that the
privilege of not seeing the prince of darkness is
to be given thee by me, but by Him whom thou
hast carried in thy womb ; for to Him belongeth
power over all for ever and ever. Thus saying,
the angel departed with great splendour. And
that palm shone with exceeding great light.
Then Mary, undressing herself, put on better
garments. And, taking the palm which she had
received from the hands of the angel, she went
out to the mount of Olivet, and began to pray,
and say : I had not been worthy, O Lord, to
bear Thee, unless Thou hadst had compassion
on me ; but nevertheless I have kept the treas-
ure which Thou entrustedst to me. Therefore
I ask of Thee, O King of glory, that the power
of Gehenna hurt me not. For if the heavens
and the angels daily tremble before Thee, how
much more man who is made from the ground,
who possesses no good thing, except as much
as he has received from Thy benignant bounty !
Thou art, O Lord, God always blessed for ever.
And thus saying, she went back to her dwelling.
3. And, behold, suddenly, while St. John was
preaching in Ephesus, on the Lord's day, at the
third hour of the day, there was a great earth-
quake, and a cloud raised him and took him up
from the eyes of all, and brought him before the
door of the house where Mary was. And knock-
ing at the door, he immediately went in. And
when Mary saw him, she exulted in joy, and
said : I beg of thee, my son John, be mind-
ful of the words of my Lord Jesus Christ, in
which He entrusted me to thee. For, behold,
on the third day, when I am to depart from the
body,-* I have heard the plans of the Jews, say-
ing. Let us wait for the day when she who bore
that seducer shall die, and let us burn her body
with fire. She therefore called St. John, and
led him into the secret chamber of the house,
and showed him the robe of her burial, and that
palm of light which she had received from the
* The other MS. has a better reading: For, behold, on the third
day I am to depart from the body ; and I have heard, etc.
596
THE PASSING OF MARY.
angel, instructing him that he should cause it to
be carried before her couch when she was going
to her tomb.
4. And St. John said to her : How shall I
alone perform thy funeral rites, unless my breth-
ren and fellow-apostles of my Lord Jesus Christ
come to pay honour to thy body ? And, behold,
on a sudden, by the command of God, all the
apostles were snatched up, raised on a cloud,
from the places in which they were preaching
the word of God, and set down before the door
of the house in which Mary dwelt. And, salut-
ing each other, they wondered, saying : What is
the cause for which the Lord hath assembled us
here ? '
5. Then all the apostles, rejoicing^ with one
mind, finished their prayer. And when they had
said the Amen, behold, on a sudden, there came
the blessed John, and told them all these things.
The apostles then, having entered the house,
found Mary, and saluted her, saying : Blessed
art thou by the Lord, who hath made heaven and
earth. And she said to them : Peace be with
you, most beloved brethren ! How have you
come hither? And they recounted to her how
they had come, each one raised on a cloud by
the Spirit of God, and set down in the same
place. And she said to them : God hath not
deprived me of the sight of you. Behold, I shall
go the way of all the earth, and I doubt not that
the Lord hath now conducted you hither to bring
me consolation for the anguish which is just com-
ing upon me. Now therefore I implore you,
that without intermission you all with one mind
watch, even till that hour in which the Lord will
come, and I shall depart froni the body.
6. And when they had sat down in a circle
consoling her, when they had spent three days
in the praises of God, behold, on the third day,
about the third hour of the day, a deep sleep
seized upon all \vho were in that house, and no
one was at all able to keep awake but the apostles
alone, and only the three vii-gins who were there.
And, behold, suddenly the Lord Jesus Christ
came with a great multitude of angels; and a
great brightness came down upon that place, and
the angels were singing a hymn, and praising
God together. Then the Saviour spoke, saying :
Come, most precious pearl, within the receptacle
of life eternal.
7. Then Mary prostrated herself on the pave-
' The other MS. here adds: And there came with them Paul, con-
verted from the circumcision, who had been selected along with Bar-
nabas for the ministry of the Gentiles. And when there was a pious
contention among them as to which of them should be the first to pray
to the Lord to show them the reason, and Peter was urging Paul to
pray first, Paul answered and said: That is thy duty, to begin first,
especially seeing that thou hast been chosen by God a pillar (Gal. ii. 9)
of the Church, and thou hast precedence of all in the apostleship;
but it is by no means mine, for I am the least of you alt, and Christ
was seen by me as one born out of due time (t Cor. xv. 8) : nor do
I presume to make myself equal to you: nevertheless by the grace of
God I am what I am (i Cor. xv. 10).
^ The other ms, adds: at the humility of Paul.
ment, adoring God, and said : Blessed be the
name of Thy glory, O Lord my God, who hast
deigned to choose me Thine handmaid, and to
entrust to me Thy hidden mystery. Be mindful
of me, therefore, O King of glory, for Thou
knowest that I have loved Thee with all my heart,
and kept the treasure committed to me. There-
fore receive me. Thy servant, and free me from
the power of darkness, that no onset of Satan
may oppose me, and that I may not see filthy
spirits standing in my way. And the Saviour
answered her : When I, sent by my Father for
the salvation of the world, was hanging on the
cross, the prince of darkness came to me ; but
when he was able to find in me no trace of his
vvork,3 he went off vanquished and trodden un-
der foot. But when thou shalt see him, thou
shalt see him indeed by the law of the human
race, in accordance with which thou hast come
to the end of thy life ; but he cannot hurt thee,
because I am with thee to help thee. Go in
security, because the heavenly host is waiting for
thee to lead thee in to the joys of paradise.
And when the Lord had thus spoken, Mary, rising
from the pavement, reclined upon her couch, and
giving thanks to God, gave up the ghost. And
the apostles saw that her soul was of such white-
ness, that no tongue of mortals can worthily
utter it ; for it surpassed all the whiteness of
snow, and of every metal, and of gleaming silver,
by the great brightness of its light.
8. Then the Saviour spoke, saying : Rise,
Peter, and take the body of Mary, and send it
to the right hand side of the city towards the
east, and thou wilt find there a new tomb, in
which you will lay her, and wait until I come to
you. And thus saying, the Lord delivered the
soul of St. Mary to Michael, who was the ruler
of paradise, and the prince of the nation of the
Jews ; '» and Gabriel went with them. And im-
mediately the Saviour was received up into
heaven along with the angels.
9. And the three virgins, who were in the same
place, and were watching, took up the body of
the blessed Mary, that they might wash it after
the manner of funeral rites. And when they
had taken off her clothes, that sacred body shone
with so much brightness, that it could be touched
indeed for preparation for burial, but the form of
it could not be seen for the excessive flashing
light : except that the splendour of the Lord ap-
peared great, and nothing was perceived, the
body, when it was washed, was perfecdy clean,
and stained by no moisture of filth. s And when
they had put the dead-clothes on her, that light
3 Comp. John xiv. 30.
4 Comp. Dan. x. 21, xii. i.
s This does not seem to make very good sense. Another reading
is: And the splendour appeared great, and nothing was perceived,
while the body, perfectly clean, and unstained by any horror of filth,
was being washed.
THE PASSING OF MARY.
597
was gradually obscured. And the body of the
blessed Mary was like lily flowers ; and an odour
of great sweetness came forth from it, so that no
sweetness could be found like it.
10. Then, accordingly, the apostles laid the
holy body on the bier, and said to each other :
Who is to carry this palm before her bier?
Then John said to Peter : Thou, who hast pre-
cedence of us in the apostleship, shouldst carry
this palm before her couch. And Peter answered
him : Thou wast tlie only virgin among us chosen
by the Lord, and thou didst fuid so great favour
that thou didst recline upon His breast.' And He,
when for our salvation He was hanging upon the
stem of the cross, entrusted her to thee with
His own mouth. Thou therefore oughtest to
carry this palm, and let us take up that body to
carry it even to the place of sepulture.^ After
this, Peter, raising//, am/ saying, 'Take the body,
began to sing and say : Israel hath gone forth
out of Egypt. AUeluiah. And the other apos-
tles along with him carried the body of the
blessed Mary, and John bore the palm of light
before the bier. And the other apostles sang
with a most sweet voice.
11. And, behold, a new miracle. There ap-
peared above the bier a cloud exceeding great,
like the great circle which is wont to appear beside
the splendour of the moon ; and there was in
the clouds an army of angels sending forth a sweet
song,3 and from the sound of the great sweetness
the earth resounded. Then the people, having
gone forth from the city, about fifteen thousand,
wondered, saying : What is that sound of so
great sweetness? Then there stood up one who
said to them : Mary has departed from the
body, and the disciples of Jesus are singing-*
praises around her. And looking, they saw the
couch crowned with great glory, and the apostles
singing with a loud voice. And, behold, one of
them, who was chief of the priests of the Jews
in his rank, filled with fury and rage, said to the
rest : Behold, the tabernacle of him who dis-
turbed us and all our race, what glory has it
received ? " And going up, he wished to overturn
the bier, and throw the body down to the
ground. And immediately his hands dried up
from his elbows, and stuck to the couch. And
when the apostles raised the bier, part of him
hung, and part of him adhered to the couch ;
and he was vehemently tormented with pain,
while the apostles were walking and singing.
And the angels who were in the clouds smote
the people with blindness.
12. Then that chief cried out, saying: I im-
' John xiii. 23.
^ The other ms. inserts: And Paul said to him: And I, who am
younger than any of you, will carry along with thee. And when all
had agreed, Peter, raising the bier at the head, began to sing and
say.
3 Lit., a song of sweetness.
* Lit., saying.
plore thee. Saint Peter, do not despise me, I
beseech thee, in so great an extremity, because
I am exceedingly tortured by great torments.
Bear in mind that when, in the prjetorium, the
maid that kept the doorS recognised thee, and
told the others to revile thee, then I spoke good
words in thy behalf. Then Peter answering,
said : It is not for me to give other to thee ; but
if thou believest with thy whole heart on the
Lord Jesus Christ, whom she carried in her
womb, and remained a virgin after the birth, the
compassion of the Lord, which with profuse
benignity saves "^ the unworthy, will give thee sal-
vation.7
To this he replied : Do we not believe? But
what shall we do? The enemy of the human
race has blinded our hearts, and confusion has
covered our face, lest we should confess the
great things of God, especially when we ourselves
uttered maledictions against Christ, shouting :
His blood be upon us, and upon our children.^''
Then Peter said : Behold, this malediction will
hurt him who has remained unfaithful to Him ;
but to those who turn themselves to God mercy
is not denied. And he. said : I believe all that
thou sayest to me ; only I implore, have mercy
upon me, lest I die.
13. Then Peter made the couch stand still,
and said to him : If thou believest with all thy
heart upon the Lord Jesus Christ, thy hands will
be released from the bier. And when he had
said this,'^ his hands were immediately released
from the bier, and he began to stand on his feet ;
but his arms were dried up, and the torture did
not go away from him. Then Peter said to him :
Go up to the body, and kiss the couch, and say :
I believe in God, and in the Son of God, Jesus
Christ, whom she bore, and I believe all what-
soever Peter the apostle of God has said to
me. And going up, he kissed the couch, and im-
mediately all pain went away from him, and his
hands were healed. Then he began greatly to
bless God, and from the books of Moses to ren-
der testimony to the praises of Christ, so that
even the apostles themselves wondered, and wept
for joy, praising the name of the Lord.
14. And Peter said to him : Take this palm
from the hand of our brother John, and going
into the city thou wilt find much people blinded,
and declare to them the great things of God ; and
whosoever shall believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
thou shalt ])at this palm upon their eyes, and
they shall see ; but those who will not believe
shall remain blind. And when he had done so,
he found much people blinded, lamenting thus :
Woe unto us, because we have been made like
5 John xviii. 17.
*> Or, heals.
7 Or, health.
^ Matt, xxvii. 25.
9 The other MS. has: And when he had said this, " I believe."
598
THE PASSING OF MARY.
the Sodomites struck with bhndness.' Nothing
now is left to us but to perish. I>ut when they
heard the words of the chief who had been cured
speaking, they beheved in the Lord Jesus Christ ;
and when he put the pahn over their eyes, they
recovered sight. Five of them remaining in
hardness of heart died. And the chief of the
priests going forth, carried back the pahii to the
apostles, reporting all things whatsoever had
been done.
15. And the apostles, carrying Mary, came to
the place of the Valley of Jehoshaphat which the
Lord had showed them ; and they laid her in a
new tomb, and closed the sepulchre. And they
themselves sat down at the door of the tomb, as
the Lord had commanded them ; and, behold,
suddenly the Lord Jesus Christ came with a
great multitude of angels, with a halo of great
brightness gleaming, and said to the apostles :
Peace be with you ! And they answered and
said : Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as
we have hoped in Thee.^ Then the Saviour
spoke to them, saying : Before I ascended to
my Father I promised to you, saying that you
who have followed me in the regeneration, when
the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His
majesty, will sit, you also, upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.^ Her, there-
fore, did I choose out of the tribes of Israel by
the command of my Father, that I should dwell
in her. What, therefore, do you wish that I
should do to her? Then Peter and the other
apostles said : Lord, Thou didst choose before-
hand this Thine handmaid to become a spotless
chamber for Thyself, and us Thy servants to
minister unto Thee. Before the ages Thou didst
foreknow all things along with the Father, with
whom to Thee and the Holy Spirit there is one
Godhead, equal and infinite power. If, there-
fore, it were possible to be done in the presence
• Gen. xix. 11; Wisd. xix. 17.
2 Ps. xxxiii. 22.
3 Matt. xix. 28.
of the power of Thy grace, it had seemed to us
Thy servants to be right that, just as Thou, hav-
mg vanquished death, reignest in glory, so, rais-
ing up again the body of Thy mother, Thou
shouldst take her with Thee in joy into heaven.
16. Then the Saviour said : Let it be accord-
ing to your opinion. And He ordered the arch-
angel Michael to bring the soul of St. Mary.
And, behold, the archangel Michael ^ rolled back
the stone from the door of the tomb ; and the
Lord said : Arise, my beloved and my nearest
relation ; thou who hast not put on corruption
by intercourse with man, suffer not destruction
of the body in the sepulchre. And immediately
Mary rose from the tomb, and blessed the Lord,
and falling forward at the feet of the Lord,
adored Him, saying : I cannot render sufficient
thanks to Thee, O Lord, for Thy boundless ben-
efits which Thou hast deigned to bestow upon
me Thine handmaiden. May Thy name, O Re-
deemer of the world, God of Israel, be blessed
for ever.
17. And kissing her, the Lord went back, and
delivered her soul to the angels, that they should
carry it into paradise.* And He said to the apos-
tles : Come up to me. And when they had come
up He kissed them, and said : Peace be to you !
as I have always been with you, so will I be even
to the end of the world. And immediately,
when the Lord had said this. He was lifted up
on a cloud, and taken back into heaven, and the
angels along with Him, carrying the blessed
Mary into the paradise of God. And the apos-
tles being taken up in the clouds, returned each
into the place allotted s for his preaching, telling
the great things of God, and praising our Lord
Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with the
Father and the Holy Spirit, in perfect unity, and
in one substance of Godhead, for ever and ever.
Amen.
< The other MS. has Gabriel.
5 Lit., the lot.
THE DECRETALS.
[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. S. D. F. SALMOND.]
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
TO
THE DECRETALS.
The learned editors of the Edinburgh series have given us only a specimen of these frauds,
which, pretending to be a series of " papal edicts " from Clement and his successors during the
ante-Nicene ages, are, in fact, the manufactured product of the nijith century, — the most stu-
pendous imposture of the world's history, the most successful and the most stubborn in its hold
upon enlightened nations. Like the mason's framework of lath and scantlings, on which he turns
an arch of massive stone, the Decretals served their purpose, enabling Nicholas I. to found the
Papacy by their insignificant aid. That swelling arch of vanity once reared, the framework might
be knocked out ; but the fabric stood, and has borne up every weight imposed upon it for ages. Its
strong abutments have been ignorance and despotism. Nicholas produced his flimsy framework of
imposture, and amazed the whole Church by the audacity of the claims he founded upon it. The
age, however, was unlearned and uncritical ; and, in spite of remonstrances from France under
lead of Hincmar, bishop of Rheims, the West patiently submitted to the overthrow of the ancient
Canons and the Nicene Constitutions, and bowed to the yoke of a new canon-law, of which
these frauds Avere not only made an integral, but the essential, part. The East never accepted
them for a moment : her great patriarchates retain the Nicene System to this day. But, as the
established religion of the "Holy Roman Empire," the national churches of Western Europe, one
by one, succumbed to this revolt from historic Catholicity. The Eastern churches were the more
numerous. They stood by the Constitutions confirmed by all the OEcumenical Synods ; they
altered not a word of the Nicene Creed ; they stood up for the great Catholic law, " Let the
ancient customs prevail ; " and they were, and are to this day, ihe grand historic stem of Chris ten-
do?n. The Papacy created the Western schism, and contrived to call it " the schism of the
Greeks." The Decretals had created the Papacy, and they enabled the first Pope to assume that
communion with himself was the test of Catholic communion : hence his excommunication of
the Easterns, which, after brief intervals of relaxation, settled into the chronic schism of the
Papacy, and produced the awful history of the mediaeval Church in Western Europe.
In naming Nicholas I. as the founder of the Papacy, and the first Pope, I merely reach the
logical consequence of admitted facts and demonstrated truths. I merely apply the recognised
principles of modern thought and scientific law to the science of history, and dismiss the tech-
nology o? empiricism in this science, as our age has abolished similar empiricisms in the exact
sciences. For ages after Copernicus, even those who basked in the light of the true system of
the universe went on in the old ruts, talking as if the Ptolemaic theory were yet a reality : and
so the very historians whose lucid pages explode the whole fabric of the Papal communion, still
go on, in the language of fable, giving to the early Bishops of Rome the title of " Popes ; " counting
St. Peter as the first Pope ; bewildering the student by many confusions of fact with fable ; and
conceding to the modern fabric of Romanism the name of " the Catholic Church," with all the
immense advantages that accrue to falsehood by such a surrender of truth, and the consequent
endowment of imposture with the raiment and the domain of Apostolic antiquity.
60 1
6o2 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
The student of this series must have noted the following fundamental facts : —
1. That the name />aj>a was common to all bishops, and signified no pre-eminence in those
who bore it.
2. That the Apostolic Sees were all equally accounted matrices of unity, and the roots of
other Catholic churches.
3. That, down to the Council of Nicjea, the whole system of the Church was framed on this
principle, and that these were the " ancient customs " which that council ordained to be perpetual.
4. That "because it was the old capital of the empire," and/t?/- no other reason (the Petrine
idea never once mentioned), the primacy of honour was conceded to Old Rome, and equal
honour to New Rome, because it was the new capital.' It was to be named second on the list
of patriarchates, but to be in no wise inferior to Old Rome ; while the ancient and all-command-
ing patriarchate of Alexandria yielded this credit to \ht parvenu of Byzantium only on the prin-
ciple of the Gospel, " in honour preferring one another," and only because the imperial capital
must be the centre of Catholic concourse.
Now, the rest of the story must be sought in post-Nicene history. The salient points are as
follows : —
1. The mighty centralization about Constantinople; the three councils held within its walls ;
the virtual session of the other councils under its eaves ; the inconsiderable figure of " Old Rome "
in strictly ecclesiastical history ; her barrenness of literature, and of great heroic sons, like Atha-
nasius and Chrysostom in the East, and Cyprian and Augustine in the West ; and her decadence as
a capital, — had led Leo I., and others after him, to dwell much upon " St. Peter," and to favour new
ideas of his personal greatness, and of a transmitted grandeur as the inheritance of his suc-
cessors. As yet, these were but " great swelling words of vanity ; " but they led to the formulated
fraud of the Decretals.
2. Ambition once entering the pale of Catholicity, we find a counter idea to that of the coun-
cils at the root of the first usurpation of unscriptural dignity. John " the Faster," bishop of New
Rome, conceived himself not merely equal (as the councils had decreed) to the bishop of Old
Rome, but his superior, in view of the decrepitude of the latter, and its occupation by the Goths,
while the imperial dignity of Constantinople was now matured. He called himself " QEcumenical
Bishop."
3. Gregory was then bishop of " Old Rome," and that was the time to assert the principle of
the Decretals, had any such idea ever been heard of. How did he meet his brother's arrogance ?
Not appealing to decretals, not by asserting that such was his own dignity derived from St.
Peter, but by protesting against such abasement of all the other patriarchs and all other bishops
(who were all equals), and by pronouncing the impious assumption of such a nefarious title to
denote a " forerunner of Antichrist." Plainly, then, there was no " Pope " known to Christen-
dom at the close of the sixth century,
4. But hardly was Gregory in his grave when court pohcy led the Emperor Phocas (one of the
most infamous of men) to gratify the wicked ambition of the new Bishop of Rome by giving to
him the titular honour of being a " forerunner of Antichrist." Boniface III. (607 a.d.) assumed
the daring title of "Universal Bishop." But it was a mere court-title : the Church never recog-
nised it ; and so it went down to his successors as mere " sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal "
till the days of Charlemagne.
5. In his times the Petrine fable had grown upon the Western mind. All Western Europe
had but one Apostolic See. As " the Apostolic See " it was known throughout the West, just as
" the Post-Ofifice " means that which is nearest to one's own dwelling. What was geographically
true, had grown to be theologically false, however ; and the Bishop of Rome began to consider
himself the only inheritor of Apostolic precedency, if not of all Apostolic authority and power.
' Compare these Canons: Nicaea, vi. ; Constantinople, ii., iii.; Ephesus, viii. ; and Chalcedon, xxviii.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 60
J
6. The formation of the Western Empire favoured this assumption : but it did not take definite
shape while Charlemagne lived, for he regarded himself, like Constantine, the " head of the
Church ; " ' and in his day he acted as supreme pontiff, called the Council of Frankfort, overruled
the Roman bishop, and, in short, was a lay-Pope throughout his empire. That nobody refused
him all he claimed, that Adrian " couched like a strong ass " under the burden of his rebukes, and
that Leo paid him bodily " homage," demonstrated that no such character as a " Pope " was yet
in existence. Leo III. had personally " adored " Charlemagne with the homage afterwards ren-
dered to the pontiffs, and Adrian had set him the example of personal submission.
7. But, Charlemagne's feeble sons and successors proving incapable of exercising his power,
the West only waited for an ambitious and original genius to come to the See of Rome, to yield
him all that Charlemagne had claimed, and to invest him with the more sacred character of the
Apostolic head to the whole Church.
8. Such a character arose in Nicholas I. He found the Decretals made to his hand by some
impostor, and he saw a benighted age ready to accept his assumptions. He therefore used them,
and passed tjiem into the organic canon-law of the West. The " Holy Roman Empire " reluc-
tantly received the impious frauds : ^ the East contemptuously resisted. Thus the Papacy was
formed on the base of the " Holy Roman Empire," and arrogated to itself the right to cut off and
anathematize the greater part of Christendom, with the old patriarchal Sees. So we have in
Nicholas the first figure in history in whose person is concentrated what Rome means by the
Papacy. No " Pope " ever existed previously, in the sense of her canon-law ; and it was not till
two centuries longer that even a " Pope " presumed to pronounce that title peculiar to die Bishop
of Rome.3
Such, then, are the historical facts, which render vastly important some study of the Decretals,
I shall give what follows exclusively from " Roman-Catholic " sources. Says the learned Dupin : ^ —
" I. All these Deci-etals wtre unknown to all the ancient Fathers, to all the Popes and all the ecclesiastical
authors i/iat wrote before the ninth century. Now, what rational man can believe that so vast a number of letters,
composed by so many holy Popes, containing so many important points in relation to the discipline of the Church,
could be unknown to Eusebius, to St. Jerome, to St. Augustine, to St. Basil, and, in short, to all those authors
that have spoken of their writings, or who have written upon the discipline of the Church ? Could it possibly
happen that the Popes, to whom these epistles are so very favourable, would never have cited and alleged them
to aggrandize their own reputation ? Who could ever imagine that the decisions of these Decretals should be
never so much as qtioted in any council or in any canon ? He that will seriously consider with himself, that, since
these Decretals have been imposed upon the world, they have been cited in an infinite number of places by Popes,
by councils, and as often by canonists, will be readily convinced that they would have acquired immense credit,
and been very often quoted by antiquity, if they had been genuine and true."
Here I must direct attention to the all-important fact, that whatever may have been the author-
ship of these forgeries, the Roman pontiffs, and the " Roman Catholic " communion as such,
have committed themselves over and over again to the fraud, as Dupin remarks above, and that,
long after the imposture was demonstrated and exposed ; in proof of which I cite the following,
from one whose eyes were opened by his patient investigation of such facts, but who, while a mem-
ber of the Roman communion, wrote to his co-religionist Cardinal Manning as follows : 5 —
" Is it credible that the Papacy should have so often appealed to these forgeries Tor its extended claims, had
it any better authorities — distinctive authorities — to fall back upon.' Every disputant on the Latin side finds
in these forgeries a convincing argument against the Greeks. 'To prove this,' the universal jurisdiction of the
Pope, said Abbot Barlaam, himself converted by them from the Greek Church, to convert his countrymen,
' one need only look through the decretal epistles of the Roman pontiffs from St. Clement to St. Sylvester.' In the
' Episcopvs ab extra ; I.e., head of temporalities.
2 Hincmar of Rheims opposed them as he could. See Prichard's Hiticmar, Oxford, 1849.
3 See vol. V. p. 154, Elucidation III.
* See his Eccles. History, Cent. iii. p. 173, ed. London, 1693.
S Ed. Hayes, London, 1868.
6o4 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
twenty-fifth session of the Council of Florence the provincial of the Dominicans is ordered to address the Greeks
on the rights of the Pope, the Pope being present. Twice he argues from the pseudo-decretal of St. Anacletus, at
another time from a synodical letter of St. Athanasius to Felix, at another time from a letter of Julius to the
Easterns, all forgeries. Afterwards, in reply to objections taken by Bessarion, in conference, to their authority,
apart from any question of their authenticity, his position in another speech is, ' that those decretal epistles of the
Popes, being synodical epistles in each case, are entitled to the same authority as the Canons themselves.' Can
we need further evidence of the weight attached to them on the Latin side .''
" Popes appealed to them in their official capacity, as well as private doctors; (i) Leo IX., for instance, to the
pseudo-donation in the proli.x epistle written by him, or in his name, to Michael Ccrularius, patriarch of Con-
stantinople, on the eve of the schism. (2) Eugenius IV. to the pseudo-decretals of St. Alexander and Julius, during
the negotiations for healing it, in his instructions to the Armenians. (3) But why, my lord, need I travel any further
for proofs, when in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, that has been for three centuries the accredited in-
structor of the clergy themselves, recommended authoritatively by so many Popes, notwithstanding the real value of
these miserable impostures had been for three centuries before the world, I find these words : ' ' On the primacy
of the Supreme Pontiff, see the third epistle (that is, pseudo-decretal) of Anacletus ' ! Such is, actually, the
authority to which the clergy of our own days are referred, in the first instance, for sound and true views on the
primacy. (4) Afterwards, when they have mastered what is said there, they may turn to three more authorities, all
culled likewise from Gratian, which they will not fail to interpret in accordance with the ideas they have already
imbibed. Nor can I refrain from calling attention to a much more flagrant case. On the sacrament of confir-
mation there had been many questions raised by the Reformers, calculated to set people thinking, and anxious to
know the strict truth respecting it. On this the Catechism proceeds as follow-s:^ — ,
'"Since it has been already shown how necessary it would be to teach generally respecting all the sacraments,
by whom they were instituted, so there is need of similar instruction respecting confirmation, that the faithful may
be the more attracted by the holiness of this sacrament. Pastors must therefore explain that not only was Christ
our Lord the author of it, but that, on the authority of the Roman pontiff St. Fabian (he., the pseudo-decretal attrib-
uted to him). Pie instituted the rite of the chrism, and the words used by the Catholic Church in its adminis-
tration.'
"Strange phenomenon, indeed, that the asseverations of such authorities should be %\\\\ ordered to be taught as
Gospel from our pulpits in these days, when everybody that is acquainted with the merest rudiments of ecclesias-
tical history knows how absolutely unauthenticated they are in point of fact, and how unquestionably the authori-
ties cited to prove them are forgeries.
" Absolutely, my lord, with such evidence before me, I am unable to resist the inference that truthfulness is
not one of the strongest characteristics of the teaching of even the modern Church of Rome ; for is not this a
case palpably where its highest living authorities are both indifferent to having possible untruths preached from
the pulpit, and something more than indifferent to having forgeries, after their detection as such, adduced
from the pulpit to authenticate facts ?
" This, again, strongly reminds me of a conversation I had with the excellent French priest who received me
into the Roman-Catholic Church, some time subsequently to that event. I had, as an Anglican, inquired very la-
boriously into the genuineness of the Santa Casa ; and having visited Nazareth and Loretto since, and plunged
into the question anew at each place, came back more thoroughly convinced than ever of its utterly fictitious
character, notwithstanding the privileges bestowed upon it by so many Popes. On stating my convictions to him,
his only reply was : ' There are many things in the Breviary which I do not believe, myself.' Oh the stumbling-
blocks of a system in the construction of which forgeries have been so largely used, in which it is still thought
possible for the clergy to derive edification from legends which they cannot believe, and the people instruction
from works of acknowledged imposture ! "
Further, Dupin remarks : ^ —
"The first man that published them, if we may believe Hincmar, was one Riculphus, bishop of Mentz, who
died about the ninth century. It is commonly believed, seeing the collection bears the name of Isidore, that he
brought them from Spain. But it never could have been composed by the great Archbishop of .Seville ; and there
is great reason to believe that no Spaniard, but rather some German or Frenchman, began this imposture.
" It likewise seems probable that some of these Decretals have been foisted in since the time of Riculphus.
Benedict, a deacon of the church of Mentz, who made a collection of canons for the successors of Riculphus, may
have put the last hand to this collection of false Decretals attributed to one Isidore, a different person from the
famous Bishop of Seville, and surnamed Peccator, or Mercator. About his time a certain Isidore did come from
Spain, along with some merchants, and then withdrew to Mentz. Not improbably, therefore, this man's name was
given to the collection, and it was naturally believed that it was brought from Spain.
" And since these letters first appeared in an unlearned, dark age, what wonder is it that they were received
' DeOrd. Sacrum., § 49. ^ § 5- ^ P- 173, as above.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 605
with very little opposition ? And yet Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims, with other French bishops, made great
difficulty in accepting them, even in that time. Soon after, however, they acquired some authority, owing to the
support of the court of Rome, the pretensions of which they mightily favoured."
On the twin imposture of the " Donation of Constantine," it may be well to cite the same
learned authority. But this shall be found elsewhere.'
Let me now recur to the same candid Galilean doctor, Dupin, who remarks as follows : —
" 2. The imposture of these letters is invincibly proved from hence : because they are made up of a con-
texture of passages out of Fathers, councils, papal epistles, and imperial ordinances, which have appeared after
the third century, down to the middle of the ninth.
"3. The citations of Scripture in all these letters /o/Z^w/ the Vulgate of St. Jerome, which demonstrates that
they are since his time (a.d. 420), and consequently do not proceed from Popes who lived long before St. Jerome.
"4. The matter of these letters is not at all in keeping with the ages when those to whom they are attributed
were living.
" 5. These Decretals are full of anachronisms. The consulships and names of consuls mentioned in them are
confused and out of order ; and, moreover, the true dates of the writers themselves, as Bishops of Rome, do
not agree with those assumed in these letters.
"6. Their style is extremely barbarous, full of solecisms; and in them we often meet with certain words never
used till the later ages. Also, they are all of one style ! Mow does it happen that so many different Popes, living
in divers centuries, should all write in the same manner.'"'
Dupin then goes on to examine the whole series with learning and candour, showing that every
single o?ie of them " carries with it unequivocal signs of lying and imposture." To his pages let
the student recur, therefore. I follow him in the following enumeration of the frauds he calmly
exposes with searching logic and demonstration : —
1. St. Clement to St. James the Lord's Brother. — Plainly spurious.
2. The Second Epistle of Clement to the Same. — Equally so.
3. St. Clement to all Suffragan Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and Others of the Clergy : to all
Princes Great and Small, and to all the Faithful.
Dupin remarks : " This very title suffices to prove the forgery, as, in the days of St. Clement,
there were no " princes great or small " in the Church. He adds that it speaks of " subdeacons,"
an order not then existing, and that it is patched up from scraps of the apocr}'phal Recognitions.
4. A Fourth Letter of the Same. It is self-refuted by " the same reasons."
5 . The Fifth Letter to St. James of St. Clement, Bishop of Rome and Successor of St. Peter.
" But," says Dupin, " as St. James died before St. Peter, it necessarily follows, that this epistle
cannot have been written by St. Clement." Further, "We have one genuine epistle of St. Clem-
ent, the style of which is wholly different from that of these Decretals."
6. The Epistle of Anacletus. — Barbarous, full of solecisms and falsehoods.
7. A Second Epistle of Anacletus. — Filled with passages out of authors who lived long after
the times of Anacletus.
8. A Third Letter, etc. — Spurious for the same reasons.
9. An Epistle of Evaristus. — Patched up out of writings of Innocent in the fifth century,
dated under consuls not contemporaries of the alleged writer.
10. A Second Epistle of the Saine. — Stuffed with patchwork of later centuries.
11. An Epistle of Alexander. — Contains passages from at least one author of the eighth cen-
tury.
\2. A Second Epistle of the Satnc. — Refers to the Council of Laodicea, which was held (a.d.
365) after Alexander was dead.
\-^. A Third Epistle, etc. — Quotes an author of the fifth century,
14. An Epistle of Xystus^. — Dated under a consul that lived in another age, and quotes
authors of centuries later than his own day.
\%. A Second Epistle of the Same. — Subject to the same objections, anachronisms, etc.
* Elucidation II., infra.
6o6 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
1 6. A>i Epistle of Telesphorits. — False dates, patched from subsequent authors, etc.
1 7. A)i Epistle of Hyginus. — Anachronisms, etc.
18. A Second of the Same. — Stuffed with anachronisms, and falsely dated by consuls not of
his age.
19. An Epistle of Pius I. — Full of absurdities, and quotes " the Theodosian Code " !
20. A Second. — It is addressed to Justus, etc. Bad Latin, and wholly unknown to antiquity,
though Baronius has tried to sustain it.
2\. A Third Letter, etc. — Addressed to Justus, bishop of Vienna. False for the same rea-
sons.
22. An Epistle of Anicetus. — Full of blunders as to dates, etc. Mentions names, titles, and
the like, unheard of till later ages.
23. An Epistle of Soter. — Dated under consuls who lived before Soter was bishop of Rome.
24. A Second Letter, etc. — tSpeaks of " monks," " palls," and other things of later times ; is
patched out of writings of subsequent ages, and dated under consuls not his contemporaries.
25. An Epistle of Eleutherus. — Subject to like objections.
26. A Second Letter, etc. — Anachronisms.
27. A Third Letter, etc. — Addressed to " Desiderius, bishop of Vienna." There was no such
bishop till the sixth century.
28. A Four til Letter, etc. — Quotes later authors, and is disproved by its style.
29. An Epistle of Zephyrijius. — Little importance to be attached to anything from such a
source ; but Dupin (who lived before his bad character came to light "in the writings of Hippol-
ytus) convicts it of ignorance, and shows that it is a patchwork of later ideas and writers.
30. A Second Letter. — "Yet more plainly an imposture," says Dupin.
31. An Epistle of St. Callistus. — What sort of a "saint" he was, our readers are already
informed. This epistle is like the preceding ones of Zephyrinus.
32. A Second Epistle, etc. — Quotes from writings of the eighth century.
33. An Epistle of Urban. — Quotes the Vulgate, the Theodosian Code, and Gregory the
Fourth.
34. An Epistle of Pontianus. — x^nachronisms.
35. A Second Epistle, etc. — Barbarous and impossible.
36. An Epistle of Anterus. — Equally impossible ; stuffed with anachronisms.
37. An Epistle of Fabianus. — Contradicts the facts of history touching Cyprian, Cornelius,
and Novatus.
38. A Second Epistle, etc. — Self-refuted by its monstrous details of mistake and the hke.
39. A Third Epistle, etc. — Quotes authors of the sixth century.
40. An Epistle of Cor?ielius. — Contradicts historical facts, etc.
41. A Second Epistle, etc. — Equally full of blunders. "But nothing," says Dupin, "shows
the imposture of these two letters more palpably than the diffel-ence of style from those truly
ascribed to .Cornelius in Cyprian's works."
42. A Third Letter, etc. — Equally false on its face. Dupin, with his usual candour, remarks :
" We find in it the word ' Mass,' which was unknown to the contemporaries of Cornelius."
43. An Epistle of Lucius. — It is dated six months before he became Bishop of Rome, and
quotes authors who lived ages after he was dead.
44. An Epistle of Stephen. — "Filled with citations out of subsequent authors."
45. A Second Epistle, etc. — Open to the like objection ; it does not harmonize with the times
to which it is referred.
Here Dupin grows weary, and winds up his review as follows : —
"For like reasons, we must pass judgment, in like manner, on the two Epistles of Sixtus II.; the two of
Dionysius ; the three of St. Felix I. ; the two of Eutychianus ; one of Caius ; two of Marcellinus and those
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 607
of Marcellus ; the three of Eusebius ; those of Miltiades, and the rest of Isidore's collection : they are full
of passages out of Fathers, Popes, and councils, more modern than the very Popes by whom they are pretended
to be written. In them are many things that clash with the known history of those times, and were purposely
fi'amed to favour the court of Rome, and to sustain her pretensions against the rights of bishops and the liberties of
churches. But it would take up too much time to show the gross falsehood of these monuments. They are now
rejected by common consent, and even by those authors who are most favourable to the court of Rome, who are
obliged to abandon the patronage of these epistles, though they have done a great deal of service in developing
the greatness of the court of Rome, and ruining the aiicient discipline oj the Church, especially with reference
to the rights of bishops and ecclesiastical decisions."
The following is the Translator's Preface to these frauds : —
In regard to these Decretals, Dean Milman says : " Up to this period the Decretals, the letters
or edicts of the Bishops of Rome, according to the authorized or common collection of Dionsysius,
commenced with Pope Siricius, towards the close of the fourth century. To the collection of
Dionysius was added that of the authentic councils, which bore the name of Isidore of Seville.
On a sudden was promulgated, unannounced, without preparation, not absolutely unquestioned,
but apparently overawing at once all doubt, a new code, which to the former authentic documents
added fifty-nine letters and decrees of the twenty oldest popes from Clement to Melchiades,'
and the donation of Constantine ; ^ and in the third part, among the decrees of the popes and
of the councils from Sylvester to Gregory II., thirty-nine false decrees, and the acts of several
tinauthentic councils." ^
In regard to the authorship and date of the False Decretals, Dean Milman says : " The author
or authors of this most audacious and elaborate of pious frauds are unknown ; the date and place
of its compilation are driven into such narrow limits that they may be determined within a few
years, and vWthin a very circumscribed region. The False Decretals came not from Rome ; the
time of their arrival at Rome, after they were known beyond the Alps, appears almost certain. In
one year Nicholas I. is apparently ignorant of their existence ; the next he speaks of them with full
knowledge. They contain words manifestly used at the Council of Paris, a.d. 829, consequently
are of later date. They were known to the Levite Benedict of Mentz, who composed a sup-
plement to the collection of capitularies by Ansegise, between a.d. 840-S47. The city of Mentz
is designated with nearly equal certainty as the place in which, if not actually composed, they were
first promulgated as the canon law of Christendom." •♦
1 [Elucidation I.]
2 [Elucidation II.]
3 History 0/ Latin Christianity, vol. iii. p. igi.
4 History of Latin Christianity, vol. iii. p. 193. [In the marvellous confusion of vol. ix. of the Edinburgh series, these Decretals
are mixed up with genuine works as " Fragments of the Third Century."]
THE EPISTLES OF ZEPHYRINUS.'
THE FIRST EPISTLE.
TO ALL THE BISHOPS OF SICILY.
OF THE FINAL DECISION OF THE TRIALS OF BISHOPS,
AND GRAVER ECCLESIASTICAL CASES IN THE SEAT
OF THE APOSTLES.
Zephyrinus, archbishop of the city of Rome,
to all the bishops settled in Sicily, in the Lord,
greeting.
We ought to be mindful of the grace of God
to us, which in His own merciful regard has
raised us for this purpose to the summit of
priestly honour, that, abiding by His command-
ments, and appointed in a certain supervision of
His priests, we may prohibit things unlawful,
and teach those that are to be followed. As
night does not extinguish the stars of heaven, so
the unrighteousness of the world does not blind
the minds of the faithful that hold by the sure
support of Scripture. Therefore we ought to
consider well and attend carefully to the Scrip-
tures, and the divine precepts which are con-
tained in these Scriptures, in order that we may
show ourselves not transgressors, but fulfillers of
the law of God.
Now patriarchs and primates, in investigating
the case of an accused bishop, should not pro-
nounce a final decision until, supported by the
authority of the apostles, they find that the per-
son either confesses himself guilty, or is proved
so by witnesses trustworthy and regularly ex-
amined, who should not be fewer in number
than were those disciples whom the Lord di-
rected to be chosen for the help of the apostles
— that is, seventy-two. Detractors also, who
are to be rooted out by divine authority, and the
advisers of enemies {auc tores inijnicoruin) , we
do not admit in the indictment of bishops or in
evidence against them ; nor should any one of
superior rank be indicted or condemned on the
accusations of inferiors. Nor in a doubtful case
' The little that is known of Zephyrinus is derived from Eusebius.
That historian states that Zephyrinus succeeded Victor in the presi-
dency of the Roman church " about the ninth year of the reign of
Severus " (a.d. 201), and that he died in the first year of the reign
of Antoninus (Heliogabahis, a.d. 218). He is several times alluded
to in the fragments ascribed to Caius, or in connection with them.
The two letters bearing his name are forgeries. They belong to
the famous collection of False Decretals forged in the ninth century.
should a decisive judgment be pronounced ; nor
should any trial be held valid unless it has been
conducted according to order. No one, more-
over, should be judged in his absence, because
both divine and human laws forbid that. The
accusers of those persons should also be free of
all suspicion, because the Lord has chosen that
His pillars should stand firm, and not be shaken
by any one who will. For a sentence should
not bind any of them if it is not given by their
proper judge, because even the laws of the world
ordain that that be done. For any accused
bishop may, if it be necessary, choose twelve
judges by whom his case may be justly judged.
Nor should he be heard or excommunicated or
judged until these be chosen by him ; and on
his being regularly summoned at first to a coun-
cil of his own bishops, his case should be justly
heard by them, and investigated on sound prin-
ciples. The end of his case, however, should
be remitted to the seat of the apostles, that it
may be finally decided there. Nor should it be
finished, as has been decreed of old by the
apostles or their successors, until it is sustained
by its authority. To it also all, and especially
the oppressed, should appeal and have recourse
as to a mother, that they may be nourished by
her breasts, defended by her authority, and re-
lieved of their oppressions, because " a mother
cannot," and should not, " forget her son." ^ For
the trials of bishops and graver ecclesiastical
cases, as the aposdes and their holy successors
have decreed, are to be finally decided along
with other bishops ^ by the seat of the apostles,
and by no other ; because, although they may
be transferred to other bishops, it was yet to
the blessed Apostle Peter these terms were
addressed : " Whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven." ^ And the other privileges which have
* Isa. xlix. 15.
3 The word " bishops" is omitted in Ms.
< Matt. xvi. 19.
609
6io
THE EPISTLES OF ZEPHYRINUS.
been granted to this holy seat alone are found
embodied both in the constitutions of the apos-
tles ' and their successors, and in very many
others in harmony with these. For the apostles
have prefixed seventy^ decrees, together with
very many other bishops, and have appointed
them to be kept. For to judge rashly of the
secrets of another's heart is sin ; and it is unjust
to reprove him on suspicion whose works seem
not other than good, since God alone is Judge
of those things which are unknown to men. He,
however, " knoweth the secrets of the heart," ^
and not another. For unjust judgments are to
be guarded against by all, especially however by
the servants of God. " And the servant of the
Lord must not strive," '' nor harm any one. For
bishops are to be borne by laity and clergy, and
masters by servants, in order that, under the
exercise of endurance, things temporal may be
maintained, and things eternal hoped for. For
that increases the worth of virtue, which does not
violate the purpose of religion. You should be
' This means the seventy-third apostolic canon, in which it is
ordained that episcopal cases be not decided but by superior bishops,
councils, or the Roman pontiff. [See note i, p 612.]
2 Another reading has sixty, and another fifty. Whatever be the
reading, it is true that by these decrees are meant the apostolic
canons; and although their number was only fifty, yet, because some-
times several decrees are comprehended in one canon, there would be
no inconsistency between the number of sixty or seventy apostolic
decrees and the number of fifty apostolic canons (Sev. Bin.).
3 Ps. xliv. 21.
* 2 Tim. ii. 24.
earnestly intent that none of your brothers be
grievously injured or undone. Therefore you
ought to succour the oppressed, and deliver
them from the hand of their persecutors, in
order that with the blessed Job you may say :
" The blessing of him that was ready to perish
will come upon me, and I consoled the widow's
heart. I put on righteousness, and clothed my-
self with a robe and a diadem, my judgment.
I was eye to the blind, and foot to the lame.
I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I
knew not I searched out most carefully. I brake
the grinders of the wicked, and plucked the
spoil out of his teeth ; " s and so forth. You,
therefore, who have been placed in eminence by
God, ought with all your power to check and
repel those who prepare snares for brethren, or
raise seditions and offences against them. For
it is easy by word to deceive man, not however
God. Therefore you ought to keep these off,
and be on your guard against them, until such
darkness is done away utterly, and the morning
star shines upon them, and gladness arises,
most holy brethren. Given on the 20th Septem-
ber, in the consulsh'ip of the most illustrious
Saturninus and Gallicanus.^
5 Job xxix. 13-17, according to the Vulgate version.
^ Or, Gallus. But Saturninus and Gallus were consuls in the
year 198, while Victor was yet alive.
THE SECOND EPISTLE.
TO THE BISHOPS OF THE PROVINCE OF EGYPT.
Zephyrinus, archbishop of the city of Rome,
to the most beloved brethren who serve the Lord
in Egypt.
So great trust have we received from the Lord,
the Founder of this holy seat and of the apos-
tolic church, and from the blessed Peter, chief of
the aposdes, that we may labour with unwearied
affection ' for the universal Church which has
been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and aid
all who serve the Lord, and give help to all who
live piously by apostolic authority. All who will
live ^ piously in Christ must needs endure re-
proaches from the impious and aliens, and be
despised as fools and madmen, that they may be
made better and purer who lose the good things
of time that they may gain those of eternity. But
the contempt and ridicule of those who afflict
and scorn them will be cast back upon them-
' Or, diligence. [See note 2, p. 612.]
2 2 Tim. ii. 24.
selves, when their abundance shall change to
want, and their pride to confusion.
On the Spoliation or Expulsion of certain Bishops.
It has been reported at the seat of the apostles
by your delegates,^ that certain of our brethren,
bishops to wit, are being expelled from their
churches and seats, and deprived of their goods,
and summoned, thus destitute and spoiled, to
trial ; a thing which is void of all reason, since
the constitutions of the apostles and their suc-
cessors, and the statutes of emperors, and the
regulations of laws, prohibit it, and the authority
of the seat of the apostles forbids it to be done.
3 By these apocrisaru are meant the deputies of the bishops, and
their locum tenentcs, as it were, who nianase the affairs of the Church,
hear the cases of individuals, and refer them to the bishops. They
are therefore called apocrisarh', i.e., responders, from n.TroKpivofxaL,
to respond. Mention is made of them in Justinian Novell., Quomodo
oporteat Episcopos, chap. xii. Albericus understands by them the
legates of the Pope. [Note 3.]
THE EPISTLES OF ZEPHYRINUS.
6ii
It has been ordained, indeed, in the ancient
statutes, that bishops who have been ejected and
spoiled of their property should recover their
churches, and, in the first place, have all their
property restored to them ; and then, in the
second place, that if any one may desire to ac-
cuse them justly, he should do so at the like
risk ; that the judges should be discreet, the
bishops right-minded and harmonious in the
Churchy where they should be witnesses for every
one who seemed to be oppressed ; and that they
should not answer till all that belonged to them
was restored to them, and to their churches by
law without detriment. Nor is it strange, breth-
ren, if they persecute you, when they persecuted
even to death your Head, Christ our Lord. Yet
even persecutions are to be endured patiently,
that ye may be known to be His disciples, for
whom also ye suffer. Whence, too, he says
Himself, " Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness' sake." ' Sustained by these
testimonies, we ought not greatly to fear the
reproach of men, nor be overcome by their up-
braidings, since the Lord gives us this command
by Isaiah the prophet, saying, " Hearken unto
me, ye that know righteousness, my people, in
whose heart is my law ; fear ye not the reproach
of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings ; "-
considering what is written in the Psalm, " Shall
not God search this out?, for He knoweth the
secrets of the heart,^ and the thoughts of such
men, that they are vanity." ■♦ '' They spoke van-
ity every one with his neighbour : with deceitful
lips in their heart, and with an evil heart they
spoke. But the Lord shall cut off all deceitful lips,
and the tongue that speaketh proud things ; who
have said. Our lips are our own ; who is Lord
over us? "5 For if they kept these things in
memory, they would by no means break forth
into so great v/ickedness. For they do not this
by laudable and paternal instruction {probabili
et paterna doctrina), but that they may wreak
their vengeful feeling against the servants of God.
For it is written, "The way of a fool is right in
his eyes ;'•' ^ and, "There are ways which seem
right unto a man, but the end thereof leads to
death." ^ Now we who suffer these things ought
to leave them to the judgment of God, who will
render to every man according to his works ; ^
who also has thundered through His servants,
saying, " Vengeance is mine, I will repay." 9 As-
sist ye, therefore, one another in good faith, and
by deed and with a hearty will ; nor let any one
' Matt. V. lo.
2 Isa. li. 7.
3 Ps. xliv. 21.
* Ps. Xciv. II.
5 Ps. xii. 2-4.
*> Prov. .\ii. 15.
' Prov. xiv. 12.
' Matt. xvi. 27.
9 Rom xii. 19.
remove his hand from the help of a brother,
since " by this," saith the Lord, " shall all men
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
one to another." '" Whence, too, He speaks by
the prophet, saying, " Behold how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity ! " " In a spiritual dweUing, I interpret it,
and in a concord which is in God, and in the
unity of the faith which distinguishes this pleas-
ant dwelling according to truth, which indeed
was more beauteously illustrated in Aaron and
the priests '- clothed with honour, as ointment
upon the head, nurturing the highest under-
standing, and leading even to the end of wisdom.
For in this dwelling the Lord has promised
blessing and eternal life. Apprehending, there-
fore, the importance of this utterance of the
prophet, we have spoken this present brotherly
word for love's sake, and by no means seeking,
or meaning to seek, our own things. For it is
not good to repay detraction with detraction,
or according to the coiiiinon proveH? to cast out
a beam with abeam {excutere palinn palo). Be
it far from us. Such manners are not ours. May
the Godhead indeed forbid it. By the just judg-
ment of God, power is given sometimes to sin-
ners to persecute His saints, in order that they
who are aided and borne on by the Spirit of God
may become more glorious through the discipline
of sufferings. But to those very persons who
persecute, and reproach, and injure them, there
will doubtless be woe. Woe, woe to those who
injure the servants of God ; for injury done to
them concerns Him whose service they discharge,
and whose function they execute. But we pray
that a door of enclosure be placed upon their
mouths, as we desire that no one perish or be
defiled by their lips, and that they think or pub-
lish with their mouth no hurtful word. Whence
also the Lord speaks by the prophet, " I said I
will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with
my tongue." '^ May the Lord Almighty, and
His only-begotten Son and our Saviour Jesus
Christ, give you this incitement, that with all
means in your power you aid all the brethren
under whatsoever tribulations they labour, and
esteem, as is meet, their sufferings your own.
Afford them the utmost assistance by word and
deed, that ye may be found His true disciples,
who enjoined all to love the brethren as them-
selves.
II.
On the Ordination of Presbyters and Deacons.
Ordinations of presbyters and Levites, more-
over, solemnly perform on a suitable occasion,
and in the presence of many witnesses ; and to
'° John xiii. 35.
" Ps. cxxxiii. I.
•2 'I'hc MS reads, '
'3 Ps. xxxix. I.
and those wearing the priestly dignity.'
6l2
THE EPISTLES OF ZEPHYRINUS.
this duty advance tried and learned men, that
ye may be greatly gladdened by their fellowship
and help. Place the confidence of your hearts
without ceasing on the goodness of God, and de-
clare these and the other divine words to suc-
ceeding generations : " For this is our God for
ever and ever, and He will guide us to eternity." '
Given on the 7 th November, in the consulship
of the most illustrious Saturninus and Galli-
canus.
* Ps. xlviii. 14.
2 Or, Gallus. [See note 5, p. 610.]
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
1. The translator's reference to Canon 73 is a mistake, and quite misleading. See vol. vii.
Canon 74, p. 504.
2. It is worth while to recall who and what Zephyrinus was. See vol. v. p. 156, Elucidation
V. ; also same volume of this series, p. 157, Elucidation VI. This unhappy prelate was a here-
tic ; and his decrees and opinions are worthless, as Hippolytus shows. Hence this letter, even
were it genuine, would be of no value whatever. Consult also vol. v. p. 156, in Elucidation IV. ;
also same volume. Elucidation III.
3. On p. 610, Ep. 2, sec. i, observe the reference to the "statutes of Emperors," where the
wily forger forgot himself, as if the Caesars of this date had legislated for the Christian Church.
On the spirit of the ancient Canons, refuting all these Decretals, compare the Canons of Nicaea,
4> 5, 6, 7, and 15 ; of Constantinople, 2 and 3; of Ephesus, 8; and of Chalcedon, 9 and 28.
To these Canons, against the claims of the Paparchy, the Church of England appealed at her
Restoration.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE CALLISTUS/
THE FIRST EPISTLE.^
TO BISHOP BENEDICTUS.
ON THE FASTS OF THE FOUR SEASONS, AND THAT
NO ONE SHOULD TAKE UP AN ACCUSATION
AGAINST A DOCTOR ( TEACHER ) .
Callistus, archbishop of the Church Catholic
in the city of Rome, to Benedictus, our brother
and bishop, greeting in the Lord.
By the love of the brotherhood we are bound,
and by our apostolic rule we are constrained, to
give answer to the inquiries of the brethren,
according to what the Lord has given us, and
to furnish them with the authority of the seal of
the apostles.
I.
(Of the seasons for fasting.)
Fasting, which ye have learned to hold three
times in the year among us, we decree now to
take place, as more suitable, in four seasons ;
so that even as the year revolves through four
seasons, we too may keep a solemn fast quar-
terly in the four seasons of the year. And as
we are replenished with corn, and wine, and oil
for the nourishment of our bodies, so let us be
replenished with fasting for the nourishment of
our souls, in accordance with the word of the
prophet Zechariah, who says, " The word of the
Lord came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, As I thought to punish you, when your
fathers provoked me to wrath, and I repented
not ; so again have I thought in these days to
do well unto Jerusalem, and to the house of
Judah : fear ye not. These are the things that
ye shall do : Speak ye every man the truth to
his neighbour ; judge the truth and the judg-
ment of peace in your gates ; and let none of
you imagine evil in your hearts against his
neighbour, and love no false oath : fqr all these
are things that I hate, saith the Lord of hosts.
■ Callistus succeeded Zephyrinus in the bishopric of Rome, and
discharged the duties of that office for five years. This is all the in-
formation which Eusebius (in his Chrom'con and Hist. Ecc/., vi. 21)
gives us in regard to Callistus. Later writers make many other state-
ments, j See note, p. 618.]
The letters attributed to him form part of the False Decretals of
the pseudo-lsidorus, mentioned in the notice of Zephyrinus.
^ Mansi, Concii., i. 737.
And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me,
saying. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The fast of
the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and
the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth,
shall be to the house of the Lord joy and glad-
ness, and cheerful feasts ; only love the truth
and peace, saith the Lord of hosts." ^ In this,
then, we ought to be all of one mind, so that,
according to apostolic teaching, we may all say
the same thing, and that there be no 'divisions
among us. Let us then be perfect in the same
mind, and in the same judgment ;"* in ready zeal
for which work we congratulate ourselves on
having your affection as our partner. For it is
not meet for the members to be at variance with
the head ; but, according to the testimony of
sacred Scripture, s all the members should follow
the head. It is matter of doubt, moreover, to
no one, that the church of the apostles is the
mother of all the churches, from whose ordi-
nances it is not right that you should deviate to
any extent. And as the Son of God came to do
the Father's will, so shall ye fulfil the will of
your mother, which is the Church, the head of
which, as has been stated already, is the church
of Rome. Wherefore, whatsoever may be done
against the discipline of this church, without the
decision of justice, cannot on any account be
permitted to be held vahd.
II.
(Of accusations against doctors.)
Moreover, let no one take up an accusation
against a doctor {teacher), because it is not right
for sons to find fault with fathers, nor for slaves
to wound their masters. Now, all those whom
they instruct are sons of doctors ; and as sons
ought to love their fathers after the flesh, so
ought they to love their spiritual fathers. For
he does not live rightly who does not believe
rightly, or who reprehends fathers, or calumniates
3 Zech. viii. 1-19.
4 1 Pet. iii.
s I Cor. xii.
613
6i4
THE EPISTLES OF POPE CALLISTUS.
them. Doctors therefore, who are also called
fathers, are rather to be borne with than repre-
hended, unless they err from the true faith. Let
no one, consequently, accuse a doctor by writ-
ing (yper sc7-ipta) ; neither let him answer to any
accuser, unless he be one who is trustworthy
and recognised by law, and who leads also a life
and conversation free from reproach. For it is
a thing unworthy that a doctor should reply to a
foolish and ignorant person, and one who leads
a reprehensible life, according to the man's folly ;
as Scripture says. Answer not a fool according to
his folly.' He does not live rightly who does
not believe rightly. He means nothing evil who
is faithful. If any one is faithful (a believer^, let
him see to it that he make no false allegations,
nor lay a snare for any man. The faithful man
acts always in faith \ and the unfaitiiful man
plots cunningly, and strives to work the ruin of
those who are faithful, and who live in piety
and righteousness, because like seeks like. The
unfaithful man is one dead in the living body.
And on the other hand, the discourse of the
man of faith guards the life of his hearers. For
as the Catholic doctor, and especially the priest
of the Lord, ought to be involved in no error,
so ought he to be wronged by no machination
or passion. Holy Scripture indeed says. Go not
after thy lusts, but refrain thyself from thine
appetites ; ^ and we must resist many allure-
ments of this world, and many vanities, in order
that the integrity of a true continence may be
obtained, whereof the first blemish is pride, the
beginning of transgression and the origin of sin ;
for the mind with lustful will knows neither to
abstain nor to give itself to piety. No good
man has an enemy except in the wicked, who are
permitted to be such only in order that the good'
man may be corrected or exercised through
' Prov. xxvi. 4.
2 Ecclus. xviii. 30.
their means. Whatever, therefore, is faultless
is defended by the Church Catholic. Neither
for prince, nor for any one who observes piety,
is it lawful to venture anything contrary to the
divine injunctions. Consequently an unjust judg-
ment, or an unjust decision {diffitiitio), instituted
or enforced by judges under the fear or by the
command of a prince, or any bishop or person
of influence, cannot be valid. The religious man
ought not to hold it enough merely to refrain
from entering into the enmities of others, or
increasing them by evil speech, unless he also
make it his study to extinguish them by good
speech. 3 Better is a humble confession in evil
deeds, than a proud boasting in good deeds.'*
Moreover, all who live the blessed life, choose
rather to run that course in the proper estate of
peace and righteousness, than to involve them-
selves in the avenging pains of our sins.s For
I am mindful that I preside over the Church
under the name of him whose confession was
honoured by our Lord Jesus Christ, and whose
faith ever destroys all errors. And I understand
that I am not at liberty to act otherwise than to
expend all my efforts on that cause in which the
well-being of the universal Church is at stake
{infcstatur). I hope, too, that the mercy of
God will so favour us, that, v/ith the help of His
clemency, every deadly disease may be removed,
God Himself expelling it, and that whatever
may be clone wholesomely, under His inspira-
tion and help, may be accompHshed to the praise
of thy faith and devotion. For all things cannot
otherwise be safe, unless, as far as pertains to the
service of the divine office, sacerdotal authority
upholds them. Given on the 21st day of No-
vember in the consulship of the most illustrious
Antoninus and Alexander.^
3 See Augustine's Co7i/essioiis, book ix. ch. ix.
*• See Augustine on Ps. xciii.
5 See Ambrose, Epistle xxi.
^ In the year 222.
THE SECOND EPISTLE.
TO ALL THE BISHOPS OF GAUL.
(of conspiracies and other illicit PURSUITS,
THAT THEY BE NOT ENGAGED IN, AND OF THE
RESTORATION OF THE LAPSED AFTER PENITENCE.)
Callistus to our most dearly beloved brethren,
all the bishops settled throughout Gaul.
By the report of very many, we learn that
your love, by the zeal of the Holy Spirit, holds
and guides the helm of the Church so firmly in
the face of all assaults, that by God's will it is
conscious neither of shipwreck nor of the losses
of shipwreck. Rejoicing, therefore, in such tes-
timonies, we beg you not to permit anything to
be done in those parts contrary to the apostolic
statutes ; but, supported by our authority, do ye
check what is injurious, and prohibit what is un-
lawful.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE CALLISTUS.
615
(Of those who conspire against bishops, or who take part
with such.)
Now we have heard that the crime of con-
spiracies prevails in your parts, and it has been
shown us that the people are conspiring against
their bishops ; of which crime the craft is hate-
ful, not only among Christians, but even among
the heathen, and it is forbidden by foreign laws.
And therefore the laws not only of the Church,
but of the world, condemn those who are guilty
of this crime ; and not only those indeed who
actually conspire, but those also who take part
with such.' Our predecessors, moreover, to-
gether with a very numerous body of bishops,
ordained that any guilty of this offence among
those who are set in the honour of the priest-
hood, and who belong to the clergy, should be.
deprived of the honour which they enjoy ; and
they ordered that others should be cut off from
communion, and expelled from the Church ; and
they decreed, at the same time, that all men of
both orders should be infamous {infames) ; and
that, too, not only for those who clid the deed,
but for those also who took part with such. For
it is but equitable that those who despise the
divine mandates, and prove themselves disobe-
dient to the ordinances of the fathers, should be
chastised with severer penalties, in order that
others may fear to do such things, and that all
may rejoice in brotherly concord, and all take
to themselves the example of severity and good-
ness. For if (which may God forbid) we neg-
lect the care of the Church, and are regardless
of its strength, our slothfulness will destroy dis-
cipline, and injury will be done assuredly to the
souls of the faithful. Such persons, moreover,
are not to be admitted to accuse any one : neither
can their voice, nor that of those who are under
the ban, injure or criminate any man.
(Of those who have intercourse with excomnumicated persons,
or with unbelievers.)
Those, too, who are excommunicated by the
priests, let no one receive previous to the just
examination of both sides ; nor let him have any
intercourse with such in speech, or in eating or
drinking, or in the salutation with the kiss, nor let
him greet such ; because, whosoever wittingly
holds intercourse with the excommunicated in
these or other prohibited matters, will subject
himself, according to the ordinance of the
apostles,^ to like excommunication. From these,
therefore, let clergy and laity keep themselves
if they would not have the same penalty to
endure. Also do not join the unbelievers.
' Comp. Kom. i. 32.
^ The reference is to the tith and
apostles. [Vol. vii. p. 501, this series.]
[2th of the canons ol the
neither have any fellowship with them.' They
who do such things, indeed, are judged not as
believers, but as unbelievers. Whence the apos-
tle says : " What part hath he that believeth with
an infidel ? or what fellowship hath righteousness
with unriarhteousness ? " ^
(That no bishop should presume in anything pertaining to an-
other's parish, and of the transference of bishops.)
Let no one, again, trespass upon the bound-
aries of another, nor presume to judge or ex-
communicate one belonging to another's parish ;
because such judgment or ordination, or ex-
communication or condemnation, shall neither
be ratified nor have any virtue ; since no one
shall be bound by the decision of another judge
than his own, neither shall he be condemned by
such. Whence also the Lord speaks to this
effect : " Pass not the ancient landmarks which
thy fathers have set." * Moreover, let no primate
or metropolitan invade the church or parish of a
diocesan {dicecesani) , or presume to excom-
municate or judge any one belonging to his
parish, or do anything without his counsel or
judgment ; but let him observe this law, which
has been'laid down by the apostles 5 and fathers,
and our predecessors, and has been ratified by
us : to wit, that if any metropolitan bishop, ex-
cept in that which pertains to his own proper
parish alone, shall attempt to do anything without
the counsel and good-will of all the comprovincial
bishops, he will do it at the risk of his position,
and what he does in this manner shall be held
null and void ; but whatever it may be necessary
to do or to arrange with regard to the cases of
the body of provincial bishops, and the necessities
of their churches and clergy and laity, this should
be done by consent of all the pontiffs of the same
province, and that too without any pride of lord-
ship, but with the tnost humble and harmonious
action, even as the Lord says : " I came not to
be ministered unto, but to minister." ^ And in
another passage He says : " And whosoever of
you is the greater, shall be your servant," ^ and
so forth. And in like manner the bishops of the
same province themselves should do all things
in counsel with him, except so much as pertains
to their own proper parishes, in accordance with
the statutes of the holy fathers (who, although
they have preceded us by a certain interval of
time, have yet drawn the light of truth and faith
from one and the same fountain of purity, and
have sought the prosperity of the Church of God
and the common advantage of all Christians by
the same enlightening and guiding Spirit), that
3 2 Cor. vi 14, 15.
* Prov. xxii. 28.
5 Canons 35 and 36. [Vol. vii. p. 503.]
f" Matt. XX. 28.
■" Mark x. 44.
6i6
THE EPISTLES OF POPE CALLISTUS.
with one mind, and one mouth, and one accord,
the Holy Trinity may be glorified for ever. No
primate, no metropolitan, nor any of the other
bishops, is at liberty to enter the seat of another,
or to occupy a possession which does not pertain
to him, and which forms part of the parish of
another bishop, at the direction of any one, un-
less he is invited by him to whose jurisdiction
it is acknowledged to belong ; nor can he set
about any arrangement or ordinance, or judg-
ment there, if he wishes to keep the honour of
his station. But if he presume to do otherwise,
he shall be condemned ; and not only he, but
those who co-operate and agree with him : for
just as the power of making appointments {ordi-
natio) is interdicted in such circumstances, so
also is the power of judging or of disposing of
other matters. For if a man has no power to
appoint, how shall he judge? Without doubt,
he shall in no wise judge or have power to judge :
for just as another man's wife cannot intermarry
with anyone {adiilterari), nor be judged or dis-
posed of by any one but by her own husband so
long as he liveth ; so neither can it in anywise
be allowed that the wife of a bishop, by whom
undoubtedly is meant his church or parish, should
be judged or disposed of by another without his
(the bishop's) judgment and good-will so long
as he liveth, or enjoy another's embrace, that is,
his ordaining. Wherefore the apostle says : "The
wife is bound by the law so long as her husband
liveth ; but if he be dead, she is loosed from the
law of her husband." ' In like manner also, the
spouse of a bishop (for the church is called his
spouse and wife) is bound to him while he liveth ;
but when he is dead she is loosed, and may be
wedded to whomsoever she will, only in the Lord,
that is, according to order. For if, while he is
alive^ she marry another, she shall be judged to
be an adulteress. And in the same manner, he
too, if he marry another of his own will, shall
be held to be an adulterer, and shall be deprived
of the privilege of communion. If, however, he
is persecuted in his own church, he must flee to
another, and attach himself to it, as the Lord
says : " If they persecute you in one city, flee
ye into another." ^ If, however, the change be
made for the sake of the good of the church, he
may not do this of himself, but only on the in-
vitation of the brethren, and with the sanction
of this holy seat, and not for ambition's sake,
but for the public good.
(Of marriages among blood-relations, and of those who are
born of them ; and of accusations which the laws reject.)
Moreover, marriages among blood-relations
are forbidden, since all laws, both sacred and
' Rom. vii. 2.
2 Matt. X. 23.
secular, forbid such. Wherefore the divine laws
not only expel, but even anathematize, those who
do so, and those who spring from them. Secu-
lar laws, again, call such persons infamous, and
interdict them from inheriting. And we too,
following our fathers, and keeping close by their
footsteps, brand such with infamy, and hold
them to be infamous, because they are sprinkled
with the stains of infamy. Neither ought we to
admit those men or their accusations, that secu-
lar laws reject. (For who doubts that human
laws, when they are not inconsistent with reason
and honour, are to be embraced, especially when
they either further the public good or defend the
authority of the ecclesiastical office, and uphold
it as a help ?) And we call those blood-relations
whom divine laws, and those of the emperors,
both Roman and Greek, name blood-relations,
and whom they admit to the right of inheriting,
and cannot exclude from that. Marriages, then,
between such are neither lawful nor capable of
holding good, but are to be rejected. (And
if any such are attempted in rash daring, they
come to be rescinded by apostolic authority.)
V,
(Of those who ought not to be admitted to prefer an accusa-
tion, or to bear witness ; and that evidence is not to be
given but on things happening in the person's presence )
Whosoever, therefore, has not been lawfully
married, or has been united without the dotal
title {do tali titulo) and the blessing of a priest,
cannot by any means bring a charge against
priests, or those who are lawfully married, or
bear witness against them, since every one who
is polluted with the stain of incest is infamous,
and is not allowed to accuse the above-named.
And consequently not only they, but all those
too who agree with them, are to be rejected,
and are rendered infamous. We hold that the
same should also be the case with robbers, or
with those who assault the elderly. The laws
of the world, indeed, put such persons to death ;
but we, with whom mercy has the first place, re-
ceive them under the mark of infamy to repent-
ance. That infamy also with which they are
stained, we are not able to remove ; but our de-
sire is to heal their souls by public penitence,
and by satisfaction made to the Church : for
public sins are not to be purged by secret cor-
rection. Those, again, who are suspected in
the matter of the right faith, should by no means
be admitted to prefer charges against priests,
and against those of whose faith there is no
doubt ; and such persons should be held of
doubtful authority in matters of human testi-
mony. Their voice, consequently, should be
reckoned invalid whose faith is doubted ; and
no credit should be given to those who are igno-
rant of the right faith. Accordingly, in jtidg-
THE EPISTLES OF POPE CALLISTUS.
617
ment, inquiry should be made as to the conver-
sation and faith of the person who accuses, and
of him who is accused ; since those who are not
of correct conversation and faith, and whose life
is open to impeachment, are not allowed to ac-
cuse their elders, neither can such permission
be given to those whose faith and life and lib-
erty are unknown. Nor should vile persons be
admitted to accuse them. But a clear examina-
tion is to be made as to what kind of persons
the accusers are {riinandcB sunt enucleaiim per-
sons accusa forum) ; for they are not to be ad-
mitted readily without writing, and are never
to be admitted as accusers on mere writing.
For no one may either accuse or be accused by
mere writing, but with the living voice ; and
every one must lay his accusation in the pres-
ence of him whom he seeks to accuse. And no
credit should be given to any accuser in the ab-
sence of him whom he seeks to accuse. In like
manner, witnesses must not prefer their evidence
by writing only ; but they must give their testi-
mony truthfully in their own persons, and in
matters which they have seen and do know.
And they are not to give evidence in any other
cases or matters but in those which are known
to have happened in their presence. Accusers,
moreover, of one blood, are not to bear witness
against those who are not related to the family,
nor is that to be the case with domestics {fa-
miliares) or those proceeding from the house ;
but if it is their wish, and they agree among
themselves, the parents only should give evi-
dence in such cases, and not others. Neither
accusers nor witnesses should be admitted who
are open to any suspicion ; for the feeling of re-
lationship, or friendship, or lordship, is wont to
impede the truth. Carnal love, and fear, and
avarice, commonly blunt the perceptions of men,
and pervert their opinions ; so that they look on
gain as godliness, and on money as the reward
of prudence. Let no one, then, speak deceit-
fully to his neighbour.' The mouth of the ma-
levolent is a deep pit. The innocent man, while
he believes easily, falls readily ; but though he
falls, he rises ; and the shuffler, with all his arts,
goes headlong to ruin, whence he can never rise
or escape. Therefore let every one weigh well
his words, and let him not say to another what
he would not say to himself. Whence the sa-
cred Scripture says well : " Do not that to an-
other which thou wouldest not have done to
thyself."^ For we need time to do anything
perfectly {mafui^ius) ; and let us not be precipi-
tate in our counsels or our works, neither let us
violate order. But if any one has fallen in any-
thing, let us not consign him to ruin ; but let
us reprove him with brotherly affection, as the
' Ps. xxiv. 4.
^ Comp. Tobit iv. 15.
blessed apostle says : " If a man be overtaken
in any fault, ye which are spiritual restore such
an one in the spirit of meekness ; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one
another's burden, and so will ye fulfil the law of
Christ." 3 Furthermore, the sainted David had
deadly crimes to repent of, and yet he was con-
tinued in honour. The blessed Peter also shed
the bitterest tears when he repented of having
denied the Lord ; but still he abode an apostle.
And the Lord by the prophet makes this prom-
ise to the sinning : " In the day that the sinner
is converted, and repenteth, I will not mention
any more against him all his transgressions." *
VI.
(As to whether a priest may minister after a lapse.)
For those are in error who think that the
priests of the Lord, after a lapse, although they
may have exhibited true repentance, are not ca-
pable of ministering to the Lord, and engaging
their honourable offices, though they may lead a
good life thereafter, and keep their priesthood
correctly. And those who hold this opinion are
not only in error, but also seem to dispute and
act in opposition to the power of the keys com-
mitted to the Church, whereof it is said : " What-
soever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in
heaven." 5 And in short, this opinion either is
not the Lord's, or it is true. But be that as it
may, we believe without hesitation, that both
the priests of the Lord and other believers may
return to their honours after a proper satisfaction
for their error, as the Lord Himself testifies by
His prophet : " Shall he who falls not also rise
again ? and shall he who turns away not return ? " ^
And in another passage the Lord says : " I de-
sire not the death of the sinner, but that he may
turn, and live." ^ And the prophet David, on
his repentance, said : " Restore unto me the joy
of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free
Spirit." ^ And he indeed, after his repentance,
taught others also, and offered sacrifice to God,
giving thereby an example to the teachers of the
holy Church, that if they have fallen, and there-
after have exhibited a right repentance to God,
they may do both things in like manner. For he
taught when he said : "I will teach transgressors
Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto
Thee." ^ And he offered sacrifice for himself,
while he said : " The sacrifice for God is a broken
spirit." '° For the prophet, seeing his own trans-
gressions purged by repentance, had no doubt as
3 Gal. vi. I, 4.
< Ezek. xvlii. 21, 22.
S Malt, xviii. 18.
'' Jer. viii. 4.
7 Ezek. xviii. 32 and xxxiii. 11.
8 Ps. li. 12.
9 Ps. li. 13.
'° Ps. li.17.
6i8
THE EPISTLES OF POPE CALLISTUS.
to healing those of others by preaching, and by
making offering to God. Thus the shedding of
tears moves the mind's feehng {passionem). And
when the satisfaction is made good, the mind is
turned aside from anger. For how does that man
think that mercy will be shown to himself, who
does not forgive his neighbour? If offences
abound, then, let mercy also abound ; for with the
Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous
redemption.' In the Lord's hand there is abun-
dance of all things, because He is the Lord of
powers {virtu turn) and the King of glory.^ For
the aposUe says : " All have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God ; being justified freely
by His grace, througli the redemption that is in
Jesus Christ : whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in His blood, to de-
clare His righteousness for the remission of sins
that are past, through the forbearance of God ;
to declare, ' I say,' at this time His righteousness,
that He might be just, and the justifier of him
which believeth in Jesus." ^ And David says :
" Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered." ^ Man, therefore,
is cleansed of his sin, and rises again by the
grace of God though he has fallen, and abides
in his first position, according to the above-cited
authorities. Let him see to it that he sin no
more, that the sentence of the Gospel may abide
in him : " Go, and sin no more." 5 Whence the
apostle says: "Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts
thereof: neither yield ye your members as in-
struments of unrighteousness unto sin : but yield
yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have
dominion over you : for ye are not under the
law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin
* Ps. cxxx. 7.
2 Ps. xxiv. 10.
3 Rom. iii. 23-26.
* Ps. xxxii. 1.
5 John viii. 11.
because we are not under the law, but under
grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to
whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of
sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteous-
ness? But God be thanked, that ye were the
servants of sin ; but ye have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
you. Being then made free from sin, ye became
the servants of righteousness. I speak after the
manner of men." ^ For greater is the sin of him
who judgeth, than of him who is judged. " Think-
est thou," says the apostle, " O man, that judgest
them that do such things, and doest the same,
that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? or
despisest thou the riches of His goodness, and
forbearance, and long-suffering? Dost thou not
know that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance? But, after thy hardness and im-
penitent heart, thou treasurest up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of
the righteous judgment of God ; who will ren-
der to every man according to his deeds : to
them who, by patient continuance in well-doing,
seek for glory, and honour, and immortality,
eternal life ; but unto them that are contentious,
and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteous-
ness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and an-
guish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil,
of the Jew first, and also of the Greek : but glory,
honour, and peace, to every man that vvorketh
good." 7 My brethren, shun not only the holding,
but even the hearing, of the judgment that bans
mercy ; for better is mercy than all whole burnt-
offerings and sacrifices.*^ We have replied to your
interrogations shortly, because your letter found
us burdened overmuch, and preoccupied with
other judgments. Given on the 8th day of Oc-
tober, in the consulship of the most illustrious
Antonine and Alexander." 9
6 Rom. vl. 12-19.
'' Rom. iii. 3-10.
8 M.irk xii. 33.
9 In the year 222.
NOTE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
See p. 613, note i. For Callistus and his times, see the testimony of Hippolytus, vol. v.
pp. 158, 159, 160; Elucidations X., XL, XII., XIIL, XIV., XV. It must be owned that the
forgery is better than the genuine productions of this forerunner of the Popes of the ninth and
tenth centuries. The title " Pope," in its later sense, seems not inappropriate to such a
character.
THE EPISTLE OF POPE URBAN FIRST/
TO ALL CHRISTIANS.
OF THE church's RECEIVING ONLY THE PROPERTY
OF THE FAITHFUL, AND NOT THE PRICE OF THE
SAME, AS IN THE TIMES OF THE APOSTLES ; AND
AS TO WHY ELEVATED SEATS SHOULD BE PRE-
PARED IN THE CHURCHES FOR THE BISHOPS ;
AND AS TO THE FACT THAT NO ONE SHOULD
HAVE INTERCOURSE WITH THOSE WHOM THE
BISHOPS EXCOMMUNICATE, AND THAT NO ONE
SHOULD RECEIVE THOSE WHOM THEY HAVE CAST
OUT IN ANY MANNER WHATEVER.^
Urban, bishop, to all Christians, in sanctifica-
tion of the spirit, in obedience and sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord, greeting.
It becomes all Christians, most dearly be-
loved, to imitate Him whose name they have
received. " What doth it profit, my brethren,"
says the Apostle James, " though a man say he
hath faith, and have not works ? " 3 " My breth-
ren, be not many masters, knowing that ye re-
ceive {sumiiis) the greater condemnation ; for in
many things we offend all."'* " Let him who is
a wise man, and endued with knowledge among
you, show out of a good conversation his works
with meekness of wisdom. "5
Of the life in common, and of the reason why the Church
has begun to hold property.
We know that you are not ignorant of the
fact that hitherto the principle of living with all
things in common has been in vigorous oper-
ation among good Christians, and is still so by
the grace of God ; and most of all among those
who have been chosen to the lot of the Lord,
that is to say, the clergy, even as we read in the
Acts of the Apostles : " And the multitude of
them that believed were of one heart and of
one soul : neither said any of them that ought
of the things which he possessed was his own ;
but they had all things common. And with
' Urban was the successor of Callistiis.
him is one of the pscudo-Isidorian forgeries.
2 Mansi, Concil. Collect., i. p. 748.
3 Jas ii. 14.
* Jas. iii. I, 2.
S Jas. iii. 13.
The letter ascribed to
great power gave the apostles witness of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ : and great grace
was upon them all. Neither was there any
among them that lacked : for as many as were
possessors of lands or houses sold them, and
brought the prices of the things that were sold,
and laid them down at the apostles' feet : and
distribution was made unto every man accord-
ing as he had need. And Joseph, who by the
apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being
interpreted, the son of consolation), a Levite,
and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold
it, and brought the money, and laid it at the
apostles' feet ; " *" and so forth. Accordingly, as
the chief priests and others, and the Levites,
and the rest of the faithful, perceived that it
might be of more advantage if they handed over
to the churches over which the bishops presided
the heritages and fields which they were in the
way of selling, inasmuch as they might furnish a
larger and better maintenance for the faithful
who hold the common faith, not only in present
but also in future times, out of the revenues of
such property than out of the money for which
they might at once be sold, they began to con-
sign to the mother churches the property and
lands which they were wont to sell, and got into
the manner of living on the revenues of these.
Of the persons by whom, and the uses for which, ecclesiastical
property should be managed, and of the invaders thereof.
The property, moreover, in the po-ssession of
the several parishes was left in the hands of the
bishops, who hold the place of the apostles ;
and it is so to this day, and ought to be so
in all fiiture time. And out of those possessions
the bishops and the faithful as their stewards
ought to furnish to all who wish to enter the life
in common all necessaries as they best can, so
that none may be found in want among them.
For the possessions of the faithful are also called
oblations, because they are offered to the Lord.
6 Acts iv. 32-37.
619
620
THE EPISTLE OF POPE URBAN FIRST.
They ought not therefore to be turned to any
other uses than those of the Church, and in be-
hoof of Christian brethren before mentioned,
and of the poor ; for they are the offerings of
the faithful, and they are redemption moneys for
sins {pretia peccatoriim), and the patrimony of
the poor, and are given over to the Lord for the
purpose already named. But if any one act
otherwise (which may God forbid), let him take
care lest he meet the condemnation of Ananias
and Sapphira, and be found guilty of sacrilege,
as those were who lied as to the price of the
property designated, of whom we read thus in
the before-cited passage of the Acts of the Apos-
tles : " But a certain man named Ananias, with
Sapphira his wife, sold land {agrum), and kept
back part of the price, his wife also being privy
to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at
the apostles' feet. But Peter said to Ananias,
Why hath Satan tempted {tentavii) thine heart
to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part
of the price of the land? Whilst it remained,
was it not thine own ? and after it was sold, was
it not in thine own power? Why hast thou con-
ceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not
lied unto men, but unto the Lord. And Ananias,
hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the
ghost. And great fear came on all them that
heard these things. And the young men arose,
and removed him {amovenmt) , and carried him
out, and buried him. And it was about the
space of three hours after, when his wife, not
knowing what was done, came in. And Peter
answered unto her, and said. Tell me whether
ye sold the land for so much ? And she said.
Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her,
How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt
the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of
them which have buried thy husband are at the
door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she
down straightway at his feet, and yielded up
the ghost. And the. young men came in, and
found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried
her by her husband. And great fear came upon
all the Church, and upon as many as heard these
things." ' These things, brethren, are carefully
to be guarded against, and greatly to be feared.
For the property of the Church, not being hke
personal, but like common property, and prop-
erty offered to the Lord, is to be dispensed with
the deepest fear, in the spirit of faithfulness, and
for no other objects than the above-named, lest
those should incur the guilt of sacrilege who di-
vert it from the hands to which it was consigned,
and lest they should come under the punish-
ment and death of Ananias and Sap])hira, and
lest (which is yet worse) they should become
anathema maranatha, and lest, though their body
* Acts V. i-ii.
may not fall dead like that of Ananias and Sap-
phira, their soul, which is nobler than the body,
should fall dead, and be cut off from the com-
pany of the faithful, and sink into the depths of
the pit. Wherefore all must give heed to this
matter, and watch in faithfulness, and avert the
dishonour of such usurpation, lest possessions
dedicated to the uses of things secret (or sacred)
and heavenly be spoiled by any parties invading
them. And if any one do so, then, after the
sharp vengeance which is due to such a crime,
and which is justly to be carried out against the
sacrilegious, let him be condemned to perpetual
infamy, and cast into prison or consigned to
life-long exile. For, according to the apostle,^
we ought to deliver such a man to Satan, that
the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
III.
As to any one's attempting to take from the Church the right
of liolding property.
By the increase, therefore, and the mode of life
which have been mentioned, the churches over
which the bishops preside have grown so greatly
with the help of the Lord, and the greater part
of them are now in possession of so much prop-
erty, that among them there is not a man who,
selecting the life in common, is kept in poverty ;
but such an one receives all necessaries from the
bishop and his ministers. Therefore, if any one
in modern or in future time shall rise up and at-
tempt to divert that property, let him be smitten
with the judgment which has been already men-
tioned.
IV.
Of the seats of tlie bishops.
Furthermore, as to the fact that in the
churches of the bishops there are found ele-
vated seats set up and prepared like a throne,
they show by these that the power of inspection
and of judging, and the authority to loose and
bind, are given to them by the Lord. Whence
the Saviour Himself says in the Gospel, " What-
soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven : and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven." ^ And elsewhere :
" Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever
sins ye remit, are remitted unto them ; and
whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." *
That no one should have intercourse with those with whom
the bishop has no intercourse, or receive those whom he
rejects.
These things, then, we have set before you,
most dearly beloved, in order that ye may un-
2 I Cor. V. 5.
3 Matt, xviii. 18.
* John XX. 22, 23.
THE EPISTLE OF POPE URBAN FIRST.
621
derstand the power of your bishops, and give
reverence to God in them, and love them as your
own souls ; and in order that ye may have no
communication with those with whom they have
none, and that ye may not receive those whom
they have cast out. For the judgment of a bish-
op is greatly to be feared, although he may bind
one unjustly, which, however, he ought to guard
against with the utmost care.
VI.
Of the engagement made in baptism, and of those who have
given themselves to the life m common.
And in exhorting you, we also admonish all
who have embraced the faith of Christ, and who
have taken from Christ the name of Christian,
that ye make your Christianity vain in no respect,
but keep stedfastly the engagement which ye
took upon yourselves in baptism, so that ye may
be found not reprobate, but worthy in His pres-
ence. And if any one of you has entered the
life which has all things common, and has taken
the vow to hold no private property, let him see
to it that he make not his promise vain, but let
him keep with all faithfulness this engagement
which he has made to the Lord, so that he may
acquire for himself not damnation, but a reward ;
for it is better for a man not to take a vow at all,
than not to discharge to the best of his ability
the vow that he has made. For they who have
made a vow, or taken on them the faith, and
have not kept their vow, or have carried out
their life in things evil, are punished more severe-
ly than those who have carried out their life
without a vow, or have died without faith, but
not without doing good works. For to this end
have we received a reasonable mind by the gift
of nature, and the renewal also of the second
birth, that, according to the apostle, we may
discern iysapiaimis) rather things above, and not
things on the earth ; ' for the wisdom of this
world is foolishness with God.^ For to what,
most dearly beloved, does the wisdom of this
world urge us, but to seek things that are hurt-
ful, and to love things that are to perish, and to
neglect things that are healthful, and to esteem
as of no value things that are lasting? It com-
mends the love of money, of which it is said,
* Col. iii. 2.
* I Cor. iii. 19.
The love of money is the root of all evil ; ^ and
which has this evil in especial, that while it ob-
trudes the transitory, it hides from view the eter-
nal ; and while it looks on things that are outside,
it does not look in upon things that lurk within ;
and while it seeks after strange things, it is an
evil that makes itself strange to him who does it.+
Behold, to what does the wisdom of this world
urge a man ? To live in pleasures. Whence it
is said : A widow that liveth in pleasure, is dead
while she liveth. s It urges a man to feed the
flesh with the softest delights, with sins, and
vices, and flames, to press the soul with intem-
perance in food and wine, and to check the life
of the spirit, and to put into his enemy's hand
the sword to be used against himself. Behold,
what is the counsel which the wisdom of this
world gives ? That those who are good should
choose rather to be evil, and that in error of
mind they should be zealous to be sinners, and
should not bethink themselves of that terrible
voice of God, when the wicked shall be burned
up like grass.^
VII.
Of the imposition of the bishop's hand.
For all the faithful ought to receive the Holy
Spirit after baptism by imposition of the hand of
the bishops, so that they may be found to be
Christians fully ; because when the Holy Spirit is
shed upon them, the believing heart is en-
larged for prudence and stedfastness. We re-
ceive of the Holy Spirit in order that we may be
made spiritual ; for the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God.^ We re-
ceive of the Holy Spirit in order that we may be
wise to discern between good and evil, to love
the just, and to loathe the unjust, so as to with-
stand malice and pride, and resist luxury and
divers allurements, and impure and unworthy
lust. We receive of the Holy Spirit in order that,
fired with the love of life and the ardour of glory,
we may be able to raise our mind from things
earthly to things heavenly and divine. — Given
on the Nones of September, — that is, on the
fifth day of the same month, in the consulship
of the most illustrious Antonine and Alexander.
3 I Tim. vi. 10.
4 " Sectatori," for which read " factori."
5 I Tim V. 6.
6 Ps. xcii. 7.
^ I Cor. ii. 14.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE PONTIANUS.'
THE FIRST EPISTLE.^
TO FELIX SUBSCRIBONIUS.
ON THE HONOUR TO BE BESTOWED ON PRIESTS.
PoNTiANus, bishop, to Felix Subscribonius,
greeting.
Our heart is exceedingly rejoiced with your
goodness, in that you strive by all means in your
power to carry out the practice of holy religion,
and strengthen sad and destitute brethren in
faith and religion. Wherefore we implore the
mercy of our Redeemer, that His grace may
support us in all things, and that He may grant
us to carry out in effect what He has given us to
aspire after. In this good thing, therefore, the
benefits of recompense are multiplied just in
proportion as our zeal for the work increases.
And because in all these things we need the
assistance of divine grace, we implore with con-
stant prayers the clemency of Omnipotent God,
that He may both grant us the desire for these
good works which should ever be wrought by us,
and give us power also to perform them, and di-
rect us in that way, for the fruit of well-doing —
which way the Pastor of pastors declared Him-
self to be — so that ye may be able to carry
out through Him, without whom nothing can be
done, those good works which you have begun.
Moreover, with respect to the priests of the Lord
whom we have heard you aid against the plots
of wicked men, and whose cause you sustain,
know ye that in so doing ye please God greatly,
who has called them to the service of Himself,
and has honoured them with so intimate a fel-
lowship with Him, that through them He accepts
the oblations of others, and pardons their sins,
and reconciles them with Him. They also make
the body of the Lord with their own mouth (/r<?-
prio ore corpus Domini conficiiini) , and give it
to the people. For of them it is said : He that
hurteth you, hurteth me \ and he that doeth you
an injury, shall receive again that which he hath
done unrighteously.3 And elsewhere : He that
' Eusebius tells us that Pontianus was bishop of the Roman church
five or six years (230-235 ad.). He succeeded Urbanus. The
letters are the forgeries of the pseudo-lsidorus.
^ Mansi, Concil. Collect., i. 735.
3 Perhaps Zech. ii. 8.
622
heareth you, heareth me ; and he that despiseth
you, despiseth me ; and he that despiseth me,
despiseth Him that sent me.'' Hence they are
not to be molested, but honoured. And in
them the Lord Himself is honoured, whose com-
mission they execute. They accordingly, if they
happen to fall, are to be raised up and sustained
by the faithful. And again, they are not to be
accused by the infamous, or the wicked, or the
hostile, or by the m&mbers of another sect or
religion. If they sin, they are to be arraigned
by the other priests ; further, they are to be held
in check {constringantiir) by the chief pontiffs,
and they are not to be arraigned or restrained
by seculars or by men of evil life. Not slight,
therefore, is our grief in hearing that you have
to sorrow for your brother's passing away (^tran-
situ). For which reason we beseech Almighty
God to console you by the breathing {aspira-
tione) of His grace, and keep you with heavenly
guardianship from evil spirits and perverse men.
For if ye have to bear any turmoil of certain
adversaries after his disease, do not think it
strange though ye, who seek to enjoy good in
your own country — that is, in the land of the
living — have to bear evil things at the hands of
men in a strange country. For the present life
is a sojourning ; and to him who sighs after the
true fatherland, the place of his sojourning is a
trial, however pleasant it may seem. And as to
you who seek the fatherland, among the sighs
which ye heave I hear the groans also of human
oppression rising. And this happens by the
wonderful dispensation of Almighty God, in
order that, while the truth calls you in love, this
present world may cast back your affection from
itself through the tribulations which it brings on,
and that the mind may be so much the more
easily delivered from the love of this world, as it
is also impelled while it is called. Therefore, as
you have begun, give heed to the duty of hos-
pitality ; labour most urgently in prayer and
tears ; devote yourselves more liberally and freely
* Luke X. 16.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE PONTIANUS.
623
now to those almsgivings which you have ever
loved, in order that in the recompense the profit
to you for your work may be greater in pro-
portion as your zeal for the labour has risen to
higher degrees here.
Furthermore, hailing your goodness with pa-
ternal pleasantness, we beg you not to fail in the
good works which ye have begun. And may no
one be able to turn you from them ; but may
the clergy and servants of God, and all Christians
who sojourn in those parts, fully discover by the
love of Christ and Saint Peter the disposition of
your charity in all things, and obtain the com-
forts of your favour in every necessity that may
arise ; to the end that all may be defended and
helped by your aid, and that we, too, may owe
you thanks, and that our Lord Jesus Christ may
make good to you eternal glory, and that the
blessed Apostle Peter, the chief of the apostles,
in whose cause you spend yourselves, may open
the gate of that same glory. — Given on the loth
day before the kalends of February (the 23d of
January), in the consulship of the most illustri-
ous Severus and Quintianus.'
' In the year 235.
THE SECOND EPISTLE.
TO ALL BISHOPS.
ON BROTHERLY LOVE, AND ON AVOIDING THE EVIL.
Pontianus, bishop of the holy and universal
Church, to all who worship the Lord aright, and
love the divine worship, greeting.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace to men of good will.' These words,
most beloved, are not the words of men, but of
angels ; and they were not. devised by human
sense, but were uttered by angels at the birth of
the Saviour. And from these words it can be
understood without doubt by all that peace is
given by the Lord, not to men of evil will, but
to men of good will. Whence the Lord, speak-
ing by the prophet, says : " How good is God
to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart !
But as for me, my feet were almost gone ; my
steps had well-nigh slipped : for I was envious
at the unrighteous, when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked." ^ Of the good, however, the Truth
says in His own person, " Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God."^ And they
are not the pure in heart who think evil things,
or things hurtful to their brethren ; for he who
is the faithful man devises nothing evil. The
faithful man, accordingly, loves rather to hear
things which are becoming, than to speak things
which are not becoming. And if any one is
faithful, let him see to it that he speak no evil,
and lay no snares in the way of any one. In
this, then, are the children of God distinguished
from the children of the devil. For the chil-
dren of God always think and strive to do things
which are of God, and give help unceasingly to
their brethren, and wish to injure no one. But,
on the other hand, the children of the devil are
' Luke i. 14.
2 Ps. Ixxiii. 1-3.
3 Matt. V. 8.
always meditating things evil and hurtful, be-
cause their deeds are evil. And of them the
Lord, speaking by the prophet Jeremiah, says :
" I will utter my judgments against them touch-
ing all their wickedness." •♦ "Wherefore I will
yet plead with you, saith the Lord ; and with
your children's children will I plead." s " Be-
hold, I frame evil against you, and devise a de-
vice against you." ^ These things, brethren, are
greatly to be feared, and to be guarded against
by all ; for the man on whom the judgment of
God may fall will not depart unhurt. And there-
fore let every one see to it carefully that he
neither contrive nor do against a brother what
he would not wish to have to endure himself.
And let not the man of faith come under the
suspicion even of saying or doing what he would
not wish to have to endure himself Wherefore
persons suspected, or hostile or litigious, and
those who are not of good conversation, or whose
life is reprehensible, and those who do not hold
and teach the right faith, have been debarred
from being either accusers or witnesses by our
predecessors with apostolic authority ; and we
too remove them from that function, and ex-
clude them from it in times to come, lest those
lapse wilfully whom we ought to keep in and
save ; lest not only (which may God forbid !) the
predicted judgment of God should fall upon
both, but we also should perish (which may God
forbid !) through their fault. For it is written,
" Have they made thee the master of a feast?
Take care for them, that thou mayst be merry
on their account, and receive as thy crown the
ornament, of esteem, and find approbation of
^ Jer. i 16.
5 Jer. ii. c).
6 Jer. xviii. n.
624
THE EPISTLES OF POPE PONTIANUS.
thine election." ' For the evil word affects the
heart, out of which proceed these four objects,
good and evil, life and death ; and the tongue
in its assiduous action is what determines these.
Wherefore the before-named parties are alto-
gether to be avoided ; and until the before-noted
matters are investigated, and the parties are
found to be clear of such, they are not to be
received : for the right sacrifice is to give heed
to the commandments, and to depart from all
iniquity. " To depart from wickedness is a thing
pleasing to the Lord, and to forsake unright-
eousness is a sacrifice of praise." ^ For it is
written, " Love thy friend, and be faithful unto
him. But if thou bewrayest his secrets, follow no
more after him. For as a man who destroyeth
his friend, so is he who destroys (loseth) the
friendship of his neighbour. And as one that
letteth a bird go out of his hand, so art thou that
has let thy neighbour go and shalt not get him
again. Follow after him no more, for he is far
off. For he has escaped like a roe out of the
snare, because his soul is wounded. Thou wilt
not be able to bind him any more, and there is
reconciliation for the reviled. But to bewray the
secrets of a friend is the desperation of a wretched
soul. He that winketh with the eye worketh
evil, and no one will cast him off. When thou art
present, he will despise his own mouth, and ex-
press his wonder at thy discourse ; but at the last
he will writhe his mouth, and slander thy sayings.
I have hated many things, but nothing like him ;
and the Lord will hate him. Whoso casteth a
stone on high, it will fall upon his own head, and
a deceitful stroke of the deceitful will make
wounds. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein ;
and he that setteth a stone in his neighbour's
way will ^all thereon ; and he that placeth a snare
for another will perish therein. He tiiat worketh
mischief, it shall fall upon him, and he shall not
know whence it cometh on him. Mockery and
reproach are from the proud ; and vengeance,
as a lion, shall be in wait for them. They that
rejoice at the fall of the righteous shall perish in
the snare, and anguish shall consume them be-
fore they die. Anger and wrath are both abom-
inations, and the sinful man shall have them
both." 3 " He that will be avenged shall find
vengeance from the Lord, and he will surely
keep his sins. Forgive thy neighbour the hurt
that he hath done unto thee, and then shall thy
sins be forgiven thee when thou prayest. One
man beareth hatred against another ; and doth
he ask redress of God ? He showeth no mercy
to a man which is like himself; and doth he ask
forgiveness of the Most High for his own sins?
He, though he is flesh, nourisheth hatred ; and
doth he ask pardon of God? Who will entreat
for his sins? Remember thy end, and let en-
mity cease ; for corruption and death impend on
commandments. Remember the fear of God,
and bear no malice to thy neighbour. Remem-
ber the covenant of the Highest, and look down
upon {despice) the ignorance of thy neighbour.
Abstain from strife, and thou shalt diminish thy
sins. For a furious man kindleth strife ; and a
sinful man will disquiet friends, and make en-
mity among them that be at peace. For even
as the trees of the wood are, so will the fire burn ;
and as a man's strength is, so will his anger be ;
and as his riches are, so will he make his anger
rise. An hastened contention will kindle a fire,
and an hastening quarrel will shed blood, and a
testifying {festificans) tongue will brmg death.
If thou blow upon the spark, it will burn like a
fire ; and if thou spit upon it, it will be extin-
guished : and both these come out of the mouth.
Cursed be the whisperer and doubled-tongued,
for such have troubled many ''hat were at peace.
A third {fertia) tongue hath disquieted many,
and driven them from nation to nation : the for-
tified cities of the rich it hath pulled down, and
overthrown the houses of great men. It has
subverted the virtues of peoples, and has de-
stroyed strong nations. A third tongue hath
cast out truthful ■* women, and deprived them of
their labours. Whoso hearkeneth unto it shall
never find rest, and never dwell quiedy. The
stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh,
but the stroke of the tongue will break bones.
Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but
not in such manner as those who have perished
by their tongue. Well is he that is defended
from the evil tongue, who hath not passed into
the anger thereof, and who hath not drawn the
yoke thereof, nor hath been bound with the
bands of it ; for the yoke thereof is a yoke of
iron, and the band thereof is a band of brass.
The death thereof is the vilest death, and the
grave were better than it. The perseverance
thereof shall not abide ; but it shall hold the
'- ways of the unrighteous, and its flame shall not
i burn the righteous. Such as forsake the Lord
shall fall into it, and it shall burn in them, and
not be quenched ; and it shall be sent upon
them as a lion, and hurt them as a leopard.
Hedge thine ears about with thorns, and listen
not to the evil tongue ; and make a door for thy
mouth, and bars for thine ears. Smelt {confia)
thy gold and silver, and make a balance for thy
words, and right curbs for thy mouth. And be-
ware that thou slide not perchance in thy tongue,
and fall before thine enemies that lie in wait for
thee, and thy fall be irremediable even to
death." 5 "Make no tarrying to turn to the
' Ecclus. xxxii. 1-3.
2 Ecclus. XXXV. 1-3.
3 Ecclus. xxvii. 17-30.
* Veridicas. The text reads " Viratas."
S Ecclus. xxviii.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE PONTIANUS.
625
Lord, and put not off from day to day. For
suddenly shall His wrath come, and in the time
of vengeance He will destroy thee. Set not
thine heart upon goods unjustly gotten, for they
shall not profit thee in the day of veiling (for exe-
cution, ohdiictiotiis) and vengeance. Move not
with every wind, and go not into every way ; for
so is the sinner proved with the double-tongue.
Be stedfast in the way of the Lord, and in the
truth of thine understanding, and in knowledge ;
and let the word of peace and righteousness
attend thee. Be courteous in hearing the word,
that thou mayest understand it, and with wisdom
give a true answer. If thou hast understanding,
answer thy neighbour ; if not, lay thy hand upon
thy mouth, lest thou be caught in a word of
folly, and be confounded. Honour and glory
are in the talk of the intelligent man ; the
tongue of the unwise is his fall. Be not called
a whisperer, and be not caught in thy tongue,
and confounded. For confusion and penitence
are upon the the thief, and the worst condemna-
tion upon the double-tongued. Moreover, for
the whisperer there is hatred, and enmity, and
shame. Justify the small and the great alike." '
Instead of a friend, become not an enemy to
thy neighbour. For the evil man shall inherit
' Ecclus. V. 7-18.
reproach and shame, and every sinner in like
manner that is envious and double-tongued.
Extol not thyself in the counsel of thine own
heart as a bull, lest perchance thy virtue be
shattered in folly, and it consume thy leaves,
and destroy thy fruits, and thou be left as a
dry tree in the desert. For a wicked soul shall
destroy him that hath it, and makes him to be
laughed to scorn by his enemies, and shall bring
him down to the lot of the impious."^ Most
dearly beloved, study to lift up the oppressed,
and always help the necessitous ; for if a man
relieves an afflicted brother, delivers a captive,
or consoles a mourner, let him have no doubt
that that will be recompensed to him by Him
on whom he bestows it all, and who says : " In-
asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least
of my brethren, ye have done it unto me." ^
Strive, then, unceasingly to do what is good in
such wise that ye may both obtain the fruit of
good works here, and enjoy the favour of God
m the future, to the intent that hereafter ye may
be worthy to enter the court of the heavenly
kingdom. — Given on the fourth day before the
kalends of May (the 28th of April), in the con-
sulship of the most illustrious Severus and Quin-
tianus.
2 Ecclus. vi. 1-4.
3 Matt. XXV. 40.
NOTE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
In Bower's History of the Popes (ed. Philadelphia, 1847), ^o^- i- P- 22, may be seen an
interesting note on the " Pontifical " of Bucherius, under the name of Pontianus. It was this
bishop who is said to have condemned Origen. He probably shared the fate of Hippolytus in
exile, and was martyred under Maximin the Thracian.
POPE ANTERUS.'
THE EPISTLE.
ON THE TRANSLATION OF BISHOPS AND OF EPISCOPAL
SEATS.
To the brethren, most dearly beloved, consti-
tuted to be bishops in the provinces of Boetica
and Toletana, Bishop Anterus sends greeting in
the Lord.
I should wish, my dearest brethren, always to
receive the glad account of your sincere love
and peace, so that the signs of your welfare
might be promoted in turn by the dissemination
of our letters among you, if our ancient enemy
should give us quiet and deliverance from his
attacks ; who was a liar from the beginning,- the
enemy of the truth, the rival of man — in order
to deceive whom he first deceived himself, —
the adversary of modesty, the master of luxury.
He feeds on cruelties ; he is punished by absti-
nence ; he hates fasts, and his ministers preach
to that effect, as he declares them to be super-
fluous, having no hope of the future, and echoing
that sentence of the apostle, in which he says,
" Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall
die." 3 O miserable boldness ! O subtlety of
a desperate mind ! For he exhorts to hatred,
and puts concord to flight. And because the
mind of man is easily drawn over to the worse
part, and chooses rather to walk by the broad
way than laboriously to take its course by the
narrow way, for this reason, brethren most dearly
beloved, follow ye the better, and always leave
the worse behind you. Do good, avoid evil, in
order that ye may be found to be the disciples
of the Lord in truth.
Now, of the transference of bishops, on which
subject it has been your wish to consult the holy
seat of the apostles, know ye that that may law-
fully be done for the sake of the common good,
or when it is absolutely necessary, but not at the
mere will or bidding of any individual. Peter,
our holy master, and the prince of the apostles,
was translated for the sake of the common good
' Anlenis succeeded Pontianus in the bishopric of the Roman
church (232-236 A. D.). The letter ascribed to him is one of the pseudo-
Isidorian forgeries.
^ John viii. 44.
3 1 Cor. XV. 32.
626
from Antioch to Rome, in order that he might
be in a position there of doing more service.
Eusebius also was transferred from a certain
minor city to Alexandria by apostolic authority.
In like manner Felix, on account of the doctrine
and the good life which he maintained, was
translated by the common consent of the bish-
ops and the other priests, and the people from
the city in which, on the election of the citizens,
he had been ordained, to Ephesus. For that
man is not chargeable'with shifting from city to
city who does not do that of his own inclination
or by the force of ambition, but who is trans-
ferred for the general good, or in virtue of some
necessity, by the counsel and with the consent
of the chief parties. Nor can he be said to
transfer himself from a smaller city to a larger,
who is placed in that position not by his own
self-seeking or his own choice, but either as be-
ing driven out of his own proper seat by force,
or as being compeUed by some necessity, and
who without pride and in humility has been
translated and installed there by others for the
good of the place or the people : for man look-
eth on the countenance, but the Lord seeth the
heart. And the Lord, speaking by the prophet,
says, " The Lord knows the thoughts of men,
that they are vanity." ■♦ That man, therefore,
does not change his seat who does not change
his mind. Nor does he change his city who is
changed not of his own will, but by the decision
and election of others. And accordingly he
docs not shift from city to city who does not
leave his own city for the sake of gain to him-
self, or of his own choice, but who, as has al-
ready been said, has been translated to another
city either in consequence of being driven out
of his own seat, or compelled by some necessity,
or in virtue of the election and injunction of the
priests and people. For as the bishops have
power regularly to ordain bishops and other
orders of priests, so, as often as any matter of
advantage or necessity constrains them, they
have power in the above-mentioned manner
* Ps. xciv. II.
POPE ANTERUS.
627
both to transfer and to install. As ye have asked
our opinion in these matters, though they are
not subjects unknown to you, we give you these
things in charge to hold them, lest, through the
ignorance of some, that which is better and
more profitable be avoided, and what is more
profitless be taken up, even as we read in the
holy Gospel : " Woe unto you, hypocrites ! for
ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin,
and have omitted the weightier matters of the
law, judgment, mercy, and faith : these ought
ye to have done, and not to leave the other un-
done. Ye blind guides, which strain out a gnat
and swallow a camel." ' What is lawful is with
them not lawful, and what is not lawful is lawful.
Even as Jannes and Mambres^ resisted the
truth, so do they, being reprobate in mind, and
lovers of pleasure rather than of God, teach
that that is unlawful which is lawful, to wit, that
bishops should shift from city to city in the man-
ner already noted ; and what is unlawful they
teach as lawful, to wit, to omit to show mercy to
those who endure straits : that is to say, they
deny that a bishop belonging to another city
should be bestowed for good, or for necessity's
sake, upon those who have no bishop, and who
want the sacred episcopal ministry ; and that an-
other episcopal seat should be assigned to bish-
ops who endure persecution or straits. They
contradict the sacred Scripture also, which testi-
fies that God desire th mercy rather than judg-
ment.^
What greater charity, I pray you, can there
be, or what more profitable service of piety, on
the part of any one to another, than to deliver
him from the darkness of ignorance and the
thick darkness of inexperience, and restore him,
in fine, by the nutriment of the doctrine of the
true faith, not for gain indeed, or ambition, but
for instruction and edification ? [For he becomes,
so to speak, the hand for the maimed, the foot
for the lame, the eye for the blind,-* who unlocks
the treasure of wisdom and knowledge to one
wrapped in the darkness of ignorance, and opens
up to such an one the brightness of the light
and the ways of the Lord.] s
Now for both parties — namely, for those who
endure a famine of the word of God, and for
bishops who endure straits, when they are in-
stalled in other cities for the common good —
no small degree of mercy is shown. And they
who deny this, although they have the form of
godliness, do yet deny the power thereof.^ For
in such a matter I make no recognition of race
{prosapiam). If, however, any one of the wise,
' Matt, xxiii. 23, 24.
2 2 Tim. ill. 8.
^ Hos. vi. 6; judictmn.
* Job XX ix. 15.
5 The bracketed passage is wanting in one manuscript.
* 2 Tim. iii. 5.
whom the stress of this storm (or season) has al-
lied with other leaders among the unwise, is
stained with a participation in their deeds, yet
the excellence of the wise man, although he may
chance to be privy to their offences, makes him
incapable of giving himself as a leader to sinners.
The cause of public good and necessity is one
thing, and the cause of self-seeking, and pre-
sumption, or private inclination, is another thing.
On account of self-seeking, or presumption, or
private inclination, bishops are not to be trans-
ferred from one city to another, but only on ac-
count of public good and necessity. And this
is a matter which no one denies, except those
of whom it is said, "They have erred through
wine ; they have not known the seer ; they have
been ignorant of judgment." ? FoV if I were
constrained to open up in narration things that
have been brought to end, I would show you
that no comfort comes from the comparison of
such deeds. But> most dearly beloved, " stand
ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths
of the Lord, and see what is the good way and
the right, and walk therein, and ye shall find
rest for your souls."** And, to speak according
to the word of AVisdom : " Love righteousness,
ye that be judges of the earth. Think of the
Lord in goodness, and in simplicity of heart
seek Him. For He is found of them that tempt
Him not, and showeth Himself unto such as do
not distrust Him. For froward thoughts sepa-
rate from God ; and His power, when it is tried,
reproveth the unwise. For into a malicious soul
wisdom shall not enter, nor dwell in the body
that is subject unto sin. For the holy spirit of
discipline will flee deceit, and remove from
thoughts that are without understanding, and
will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in.
For wisdom is a benign spirit, and will not ac-
quit a blasphemer of His words. For God is
witness of his reins, and a true beholder of his
heart, and a hearer of his tongue. For the
Spirit of the Lord hath filled the world, and that
which containeth all things hath knowledge of
the voice. Therefore he that speaketh unright-
eous things cannot be hid ; neither shall ven-
geance, when it punisheth, pass by him. For
inquisition shall be made into the counsels of
the ungodly. And the sound of his words shall
come unto the Lord, and unto the manifestation
of his wicked deeds ; for the ear of jealousy
heareth all things, and the noise of murmurings
shall not be hid. Therefore beware of murmur-
ing, which is unprofitable ; and refrain your
tongue from backbiting, for there is no word so
secret that it shall go for nought. The mouth
that belieth slayeth the soiil. Seek not death in
the error of your life, and pull not upon your-
' Isa. x.wiii. 7.
^ Jer. vi. 16.
628
POPE ANTERUS.
self destruction with the works of your hands ;
for God made not death, neither hath He pleas-
ure in the destruction of the living. For He
created all things that they might have their
being, and He wished the nations of the world
to be healthful. There is no poison of destruc-
tion in them, nor the kingdom of death upon
the earth of the living. Righteousness is per-
petual and immortal, but unrighteousness is the
acquisition of death. And ungodly men with
their hands and words called it to them ; and
when they thought to have it their friend, they
consumed to nought, and made a covenant
with it ; because they are worthy of death who
take part with it." ' " For they said, reason-
ing with themselves, but not aright. The time
of our Ufe is short and tedious ; and in the
death of a man there is no remedy, neither was
there any man known to have returned from the
grave. For we are born of nothing, and we
shall be hereafter as though we had never been.
For the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and
speech is a little spark for the moving of our
heart ; which being extinguished, our body shall
be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish
as the soft air. And our life shall pass as the
trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a
mist that is driven away with the beams of the
sun, and overcome with the heat thereof. And
our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man
shall have our works in remembrance. For our
time is a very shadow that passeth away, and
after our end there is no returning ; for it is fast
sealed, and no man shall come again." ^ And
for this reason every one must see to it that he
keep himself with all care, and watch himself for
his own good, so that when his last day and the
end of his life come upon him, he may not pass
over to everlasting death, but to eternal life.
For the deeds of those put under us are judged
by us, but our own doth God judge. Sometimes,
moreover, bishops are perverted through the
fault of the people, to the end that those fall
more precipitately who follow them. When the
head languisheth, the other members of the body
are affected thereby. And viler are those who
corrupt the life and morals of the good, than
those who spoil the property and goods of others.
Let each one take care that he have neither an
itching tongue nor itching ears ; that is to say,
that he neither be a detractor of others himself,
nor listen to others in their detractions. "Thou
sattest," saith he, " and spakest against thy
brother ; and thou didst slander thine own moth-
er's son." 3 Let every individual abstain from a
detracting tongue, and keep a guard upon his
own words, and understand that all that they say
» Wisd. i.
2 Wisd. ii. 1-5.
3 Ps. i. 20.
of Others shall enter into the judgment wherewith
they themselves shall be judged. No one readily
refers to an unwilling auditor. Let it be the care
of all of you, most dearly beloved, to keep not
only your eyes, but also your tongue, pure. And
let not another house ever know by your means
what is done in any man's house. Let all have
the simplicity of the dove, that they devise not
guile against any one ; and the subtlety of the
serpent, that they be not everthrown by the
crafty designs of others. It does not belong to
my humble station and measure to judge others,
and to say anything unfavourable of the minis-
ters of the churches. Far be it from me that I
should say anything unfavourable of those who
are the successors to the apostolic status, and
make the body of Christ with their sacred
mouth ; by whose instrumentality we too are
Christians, and who have the keys of the king-
dom of heaven, and exercise judgment before
the day of judgment. Moreover, it is contained
in the ancient law, that whoever has not given
obedience to the priests should either be stoned
outside the camp by the people, or with his neck
beneath the sword should expiate his presump-
tion by his blood.4 Now, however, the disobe-
dient is cut off by spiritual chastisement ; and
being cast out of the church, is torn by the rabid
mouth of demons. 5 For it becomes those who
have God in their heritage, to serve God free
from all the hindrances of the world, so that they
maybe able to say, "The Lord is the portion of
mine inheritance." ^ " O how good and pleas-
ant is Thy Spirit, O Lord, in all things ! " ^ And
Thou sparest all because they are Thine, O Lord,
who lovest souls. Therefo7-e chastenest Thou
them by litde and little that offend, and warnest
them of those things wherein they offend, and
dost address them, that leaving their wickedness,
they may believe on Thee, O Lord." ^ " But
Thou, our God, art gracious and true, long-suf-
fering, and in mercy ordering all things. For
if we sin, we are Thine, knowing Thy power.
And if we sin not, we know that we are counted
Thine." 9 " The spirit of those that fear the
Lord shall be required of him ; and in His re-
gard they shall be blessed." '° Wherefore, most
beloved brethren, " let no corrupt communica-
tion proceed out of your mouth, but that which
is good to the use of edifying, that it may min-
ister grace to the hearers. And grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto
the day of redemption. Let all bitterness,
and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-
speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.
* Deut. xvii.
5 Thus far Jerome.
6 Ps. xvi. 5.
7 Wisd. xii. I.
8 Wisd. xii. 2.
9 Wisd. XV. I, 2.
'° Ecclus. xxxiv. 13, 14.
POPE ANTERUS.
629
And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, even as God in Christ
hath forgiven you." ' " Be ye therefore follow-
ers of God, as dear children ; and walk in love,
as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given
Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to
God for a sweet-smelling savour. But fornica-
tion, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it
not be once named among you, as becometh
saints ; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient ; but rather
giving of thanks. For this know ye, under-
standing that no whoremonger, nor unclean
person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater,
hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ
and of God. Let no man deceive you with
vain words : for because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobe-
dience. Be not ye therefore partakers with
them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but
now are ye light in the Lord : walk as children
of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all good-
ness, and righteousness, and truth), proving what
is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fel-
lowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them. For it is a shame
even to speak of those things which are done
of them in secret. But all things that are re-
proved are made manifest by the light : for
whatsoever is made manifest i^manifestatur) is
light. Wherefore He saith. Awake, thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light. See then that ye walk cir-
cumspectly, brethren, not as fools, but as wise,
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding
what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk
with wine, wherein is excess ; but be filled with
the Holy Spirit ; speaking to yourselves in psalms,
and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and mak-
ing melody in your hearts to the Lord ; giving
thanks always for all things unto God and the
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
submitting yourselves one to another in the fear
of Christ." ^ Therefore, brethren, stand fast and
' Eph. iv. 29-32.
2 Eph. V. 1-21.
hold the tradition of the apostles and the apos-
tolic seat, " that our Lord Jesus Christ and our
Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us
everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace, may comfort your hearts, and stablish you
in every good work and word." ^ " Finally,
brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord
may have free course, and be glorified, even as
it is with you, and that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked naen : for all
men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful,
who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil." ">
Wherefore set your hearts continually in the
strength {virtute) of God, and always resist
the wicked, and tell these things, according to
the word of the prophet, " to the , generations
following ; for this God is our God unto eter-
nity, and He will rule us for ever and ever." s
Hence ye who are set for examples {in specula)
by the Lord, ought by all means to check and
keep back those who devise crafty counsels
against the brethren, or excite against them
seditions and slanders. For it is an easy thing
to deceive man with a word, but it is not so
with the Lord. Wherefore ye ought to repre-
hend such persons, and turn away from them,
to the end that, all darkness of this manner being
completely done away, the Morning Star may
shine upon them, and gladness arise in their
hearts. " And we have confidence in the Lord
touching you, brethren, that ye both do and will
do the things which we command you." ^ For
the more ye show forth your kindnesses to them,
the greater a return have ye to look for from the
omnipotent God whom they serve. May the om-
nipotent God keep you in His protection, and
grant you to maintain honour and precept;
and may glory and honour be to God the Father
Almighty, and to His only-begotten Son our
Saviour, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Given on the 12th day before the kalends of
April (the 21st of March), in the consulship of
the most illustrious Maximianus and Africanus.
3 2 Thess. ii. 15-17.
■♦ 2 Thess. iii. 1-3.
5 Ps. xlviii. 13, 14.
6 2 Thess. iii. 4.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
THE FIRST EPISTLE.
TO ALL THE MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH CATHOLIC.
OF THOSE WHO OUGHT NOT TO BE ADMITTED
TO CLEAR THEMSELVES, AND OF THE DUTY OF
HAVING NO FELLOWSHIP WITH THE EXCOMMU-
NICATED.
To the dearly-beloved brethren in the minis-
try of the Church Catholic in all regions, Fabian
sends greeting in the Lord.
By the divine precepts and the apostolic insti-
tutes, vve are admonished to watch in behoof of
the position of all the churches with unwearied
interest. Whence it follows that you ought to
know what is being done in things sacred in the
church of Rome, in order that, by following her
example, ye may be found to be true children
of her who is called your mother. Accordingly,
as we have received the institution from our fa-
thers, we maintain seven deacons in the city of
Rome distributed over seven districts of the
state, who attend to the services enjoined on
them week by week, and on the Lord's days and
the solemn festivals, in concert with the subdea-
cons, and acolytes, and servants of the succeed-
ing orders, and hold themselves in readiness
every hour for religious duty, and for the dis-
charge of all that is enjoined upon them. In
like manner ought ye also to do throughout your
different cities, as may be convenient, that reli-
gious duty may be discharged zealously and
regularly, without any delay or negligence. Fur-
thermore, we have ordained in like manner seven
subdeacons who shall stand by {i in mine rent) the
seven notaries, and bring into one full and accu-
rate account the histories of the martyrs, and
lay them before us for our examination. And
this, too, we urge you all to do, so that no doubt
or questioning of these things may arise in later
times ; " for whatsoever things were written, were
written for our learning."^ And whatsoever
things are written in truth in our times, are di-
rected to the learning of future times. And
therefore we enjoin these duties to be put in
■ Fabian was bishop of Rome from 236 to 250 a.d.
ascribed to him are rejected by all as spurious.
^ Rom. XV. 4.
630
The letters
charge of the most faithful, that nothing false
may be found in them, from which an offence
(which may God forbid) may arise to the faith-
ful. For this reason also we beg it of your love
in paternal benignity, that the holy Church may
now find the good-will of your love in all things,
and obtain the comforts of your favour when-
ever there is necessity. And as the goodness of
your zeal affords us the. assurance that we ought
to distrust it in nothing, but rather commit these
things in all confidence to you as to wise sons
of our church ; so, small importance being at-
tached to opportune occasions, your virtue ought
to exert itself the more strenuously in labours,
and keep off reproaches by all possible means,
and with all zeal. We exhort you also, accord-
ing to the word of the apostle, to be " stedfast
and immoveable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord ; forasmuch as ye know that your
labour is not vain in the Lord." ^ And in
another place : " Watch ye, and pray, and stand
fast in the faith. Quit you like men, and be
strong. Let all things be done with charity." *
Furthermore, we desire you to know this, that
in our times, as our sins embarrassed us, and that
ancient enemy who always goeth about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,5 in-
stigated him, Novatus came up out of Africa, and
separated Novatianus and certain other confess-
ors of Christ from the Church of Christ, and per-
suaded them into the acceptance of evil doctrine.
From such persons, brethren, keep yourselves
aloof, and beware of all who hold a faith and doc-
trine different from that which the apostles and
their successors have held and taught, 'est (which
may God forbid) going after him ye fall into
the toils of Satan, and be bound with his fetters.
Wherefore with most earnest prayers we beg it
of your brotherly love, that ye may deem it fit
to remember our insignificance in your holy
prayers, beseeching and entreating the Lord of
3 I Cor. XV. 58.
* I Cor. xvi. 13, 14.
5 I Pet. V. 8.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
631
heaven that we, as well as our holy mother the
Church of Christ, redeemed with His precious
blood, may be deUvered from the toils of Satan,
who lieth in wait for us, and from troublesome
and wicked men, and that the Word of God may
have free course and be glorified, and that the
evil doctrine of them, and of all who teach
things contrary to the truth, may be overthrown
and perish. We beseech you also to be zealous
in praying in your pious supplications, that our
God and Lord Jesus Christ, who will have all
men to be saved, and no one to perish,' may, by
His vast omnipotence, cause their hearts to turn
again to sound doctrine and to the Catholic faith,
in order that they may be recovered from the
toils of the devil who are held captive by him,
and be united with the children of our mother
the Church. Be mindful also of your brethren,
and have pity upon them, and labour for them
by all means in your power, that they be not
lost, but be saved unto the Lord by your prayers,
and other efforts of your goodness. So act there-
fore in these matters that ye may approve your-
selves as obedient and faithful children of the
holy Church of God, and that ye may obtain the
recompense of reward. These men, and all else
who do not teach the true doctrine, and hold
not the true faith, cannot act as accusers of any
true believer, because they are branded with in-
famy, and are cut off from the bosom of our
holy mother the Church by the sword of the
apostles, until their return to correct conversation
and belief. Hence by apostolic authority, and
in agreement with all the sons of the same apos-
tolic and universal Church, we resolve that all
who come under suspicion with respect to the
Catholic faith cannot be admitted as accusers of
those who hold the true creed ; for suspicions
are always to be set aside. Rightly therefore are
charges which are preferred by those who are
objects of suspicion in the matter of the true
faith, rejected. Neither are they at all to be
credited who are unacquainted with the faith of
the Trinity. Li like manner we set aside and
withdraw from all part in the accusing of the
faithful, all those whom the decrees of the holy
fathers in times past and times future alike
anathematize. Accordingly, the believing ought
always to be kept distinct from the unbelieving,
and the righteous from the unrighteous ; since
the unbelieving and evil-minded, by every means
in their power, are always troubling the believing,
and striving to undo them ; and consequently
they are not to be received, but rejected and
kept entirely at a distance, lest they may undo
or defame the believing. For this reason, dearly
beloved, beware of the pit of such persons, into
which we know many have fallen. Beware of the
' I Tim. ii 4.
snares (or darts) of such persons, and of the
efforts of the ancient enemy, by which we have
seen even those closely connected with us fall
wounded before us. Watch the nooses of the
liers in wait, by which they are wont to strangle
associates and comrades. Follow not such, but
keep them far off from you. Be ye, according
to the voice of Truth, wise as serpents and harm-
less as doves. 2 See to it that ye neither run nor
labour in vain ; but, sustained by each other's
prayers and supplications, strive ye to do the
will of God ; and from those persons whom I
have mentioned, if they show themselves incor-
rigible, keep yourselves separate in all things.
Li like manner keep yourselves separate from all
those of whom the apostle makes mention when
he says, " with such persons, no, not to eat ; " ^
since these latter, as well as the former, are to
be rejected, and are not to be admitted before
they have given satisfaction to the Church. For
those with whom it is not lawful to eat are mani-
fesdy separated from all intercourse with the rest
of the brethren until such satisfaction is given.
Wherefore they ought not and cannot be admit-
ted to the preferring of charges against the faith-
ful, but they ought to be debarred from their
society until the satisfaction already mentioned
is given, lest these too should be made like
them, or underlie their excommunication ; for to
this effect have the apostles decreed, saying,
With the excommunicated no fellowship is to be
held. And if any one, setting aside the rules
wittingly, sings with the excommunicated in his
house, or speaks or prays in company with them,
that man is to be deprived of the privilege of
communion. Such persons, therefore, are in all
things to be guarded against, and are not to be
received, because, according to the apostle, not
only those who commit such things are con-
demned, but also those who consent with those
who do them.* Whence also the blessed chief
of the apostles, Peter, addressing the people at
the ordination of Clement, says this among other
things : 5 If this Clement is hostile to any one
on account of his deeds, wait not ye for his say-
ing directly to you. Be not on terms of friend-
ship with this man. But mark ye carefully his
will as ye ought, and second it without need of
direct injunction ; and separate yourselves from
that man to whom ye perceive him to be inimi-
cal, and speak not with those with whom he
speaks not, in order that every one who may be
in fault, as he desires to possess the friendship
of all of you, may be zealous in effecting a rec-
onciliation all the more quickly with him who
presides over all, so that he may return to spirit-
ual well-being {redeat et salutem) hereby, when
2 Matt. X. 16.
3 1 Cor. V. II.
< Rom. i. 32.
S Clementines: Ep. of Clem, to James, xviii. [P. 221, supra.]
632
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
he begins to yield obedience to the charges of
the president. If, however, any one is not friend-
ly, and speaks with those with whom he (his
chief) speaks not, such an one belongs to those
who seek to exterminate the Church of God ; and
though he seems to be with you in body, he is
against you in mind and heart. And such an
one is a much more dangerous enemy than those
who are without, and who are openly hostile.
For this man under the guise of friendship acts
the part of an enemy, and scatters and ruins the
church. And therefore, dearly beloved, in these
apostolic institutes we warn and teach you, that
your charity, being instructed therein {effecta
cerfior) , may hereafter study to act with greater
care and prudence, so that perverse and unbe-
lieving men may not have the power of injuring
the faithful and well-disposed ; for the hope of
such, and of all the ungodly, is hke dust that is
blown away with the wind ; and like a thin froth
that is driven away with the storm ; and like as
the smoke which is dispersed here and there
with a tempest, and as the remembrance of a
guest of a single day that passeth away.' With
the utmost care, dearly beloved, are such per-
sons to be guarded against, and avoided, and
rejected, if they show themselves injurious. For
the laws of the world, no less than those of the
Church, do not admit the injurious, but reject
them. Whence it is written, " The mouth of the
wicked devoureth iniquity." ^ And the Lord,
' Wisd. V. 14.
2 Prov. xix. 28.
speaking by the prophet, saith, " With the holy
thou wilt show thyself holy ; and with the fro-
ward thou wilt show thyself froward ; and with
the excellent thou wilt show thyself excellent
{e/ec^us) ; and with the innocent man thou wilt
show thyself innocent." ^ And the apostle says,
" Evil communications corrupt good manners." *
Wherefore, as has already been indicated, the
wicked are always to be avoided and shunned,
and the good and rightly-disposed are to be
stedfastly followed, in order that, as far as pos-
sible, we may avoid the peril of sloth. And lest
this pest may be spread abroad more widely, let
us cut it off from us with all possible severity ;
for the temerity of presumption does not inter-
vene where there is the diligence of piety. Let
every one of you, sustained by this apostolic
representation, act according to his strength, and
study in brotherly love and in godly piety to
keep his own manners correct, and to help each
other, and to abide in charity, and to keep him-
self in the will of God unceasingly, in order that
we may praise the Lord together, and give Him
thanks always without wearying. Fare ye well
in the Lord, dearly beloved, and with the Lord's
help strive to fulfil to the best of your ability the
things before mentioned. — Given on the first
day of July, in the consulship of the most
illustrious Maximinus (or, Maximus) and Afri-
canus.5
3 Ps. xviii. 25, 26.
^ I Cor. XV. 33.
5 In the year 236.
THE SECOND EPISTLE.
TO ALL THE BISHOPS OF THE EAST.
THAT THE CHRISM ' SHOULD BE RENEWED WITH
CONSECRATION EVERY YEAR, AND THAT THE OLD
SUPPLY SHOULD BE SET ASIDE TO BE BURNT IN
THE CHURCHES ; ALSO CONCERNING THE ACCUS-
ING OF PRIESTS, AND ON THE DUTY OF THE
SHEEP NOT TO DARE TO BLAME THEIR SHEPHERD
UNLESS HE ERRS IN THE FAITH.
Fabian, bishop of the city of Rome, to all the
bishops of the East, and to the whole body of
the faithful, greeting in the Lord.
Your love for the seat of the apostles requires
counsels which we neither can nor ought to deny
you. It is clear, moreover, that our predecessors
did this for the bishops of many districts ; and
brotherly charity and the debt of obedience im-
' The unguent of oil and balsam used in the so-called sacrament
of confirmation. [See p. 604, supra.}
pose the duty of so doing also upon us who, by
the bountiful goodness of God, are placed in the
same seat. Care, therefore, is to be had by your
solicitude, that neither remissness may avail to
neglect, nor presumption be able to disturb,
those things which have been ordained by the
apostles and their successors, and established
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But
as it was proper that that should be defined
which the use of right order required, so what
has been so defined ought not to be violated.
That new chrism should be made every year, and the old be
burnt
Now, among other matters, in your letter we
find it stated that certain bishops of your dis-
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
633
trict adopt a different practice from yours and
ours, and do not prepare the chrism at the
Lord's supper every year, but keep it in use for
two or three, making such a supply of the holy
chrism once for all. For they say, as we find
in the letter referred to, that balsam cannot be
got every year ; and besides that, even though
it were got, there would be no necessity for pre-
paring chrism every year, but that, so long as
the one preparation of chrism is sufficiently
large, they have no need to make another. They
are in error, however, who think so ; and in
making such statements they speak like madmen
rather than men in their right senses. For on
that day the Lord Jesus, after supping with His
disciples, and washing their feet, according to
the tradition which our predecessors received
from the holy apostles and left to us, taught them
to prepare the chrism. That washing of their
feet signifies our baptism, as it is completed and
confirmed by the unction of the holy chrism.
For as the solemn observance of that day is to
be kept every year, so the preparing of that holy
chrism is to be attended to every year, and it is
to be renewed from year to year and given to
the faithful. For the material of this new sac-
rament is to be made anew every year, and on
the day already named ; and the old supply is to
be burned in the holy churches. These things
we have received from the holy apostles and
their successors, and we commit them to your
keeping. The holy church of Rome and that of
Antioch have been guardians of these things
from the times of the apostles : these things also
the churches of Jerusalem and Ephesus main-
tain. Presiding over these churches, the apos-
tles taught these things, and ordained that the
old chrism should be burnt, and permitted them
to use it no longer than one year, and com-
manded them thereafter to use the new, and not
the old material. If any one, therefore, ven-
tures to go against these things, let him under-
stand that the door of indulgence is barred
against him on your part and on that of all right-
minded men : for the perverse doctrine of most
depraved minds, while it uses the reins too in-
dulgently, slips into the sin of presumption ; and
it can by no means be cast out, unless it is
cleared of all support and correction on the part
of the intelligent. And those usages which the
holy Church throughout the whole world uni-
formly observes with respect to the divine mys-
teries, and towards the subjects of baptism, are
not to be regarded with indifferent concern, lest
we make way for purposeless efforts and super-
stitions. We ought not, therefore, to bring over
the untaught minds of the faithful to such prac-
tices as we have named, because they should be
instructed rather than played upon. For good
deeds make for our happiness, and evil deeds
prick us with the stings of sorrow. But here,
however we are situated, we are among tlie hands
of robbers and the teeth of raging wolves, and
the contumacious are put in the place of the
true sheep. And it is by the barking of the dogs
and the staff of the shepherd that the fury of the
wolves is checked. Those wounds, moreover,
which cannot be healed by remedies, must be
cut out with the knife. Neither can we keep
silence, for, in seeking here to call back some
from things unlawful, we are impelled by the
instinct of our office, having been set on the
watch-towers by the Lord with this object, that
we should prove the diligence of our watchful-
ness by checking things that should be prohib-
ited, and deciding for things that should be
observed.
Of the right of bishops not to be accused or hurt by de-
traction.
You desired also to consult us, as we find in
the above-mentioned letter of yours, on the sub-
ject of the accusmg of priests, — a thing which,
as we learn also from the same epistle, is exceed-
ingly frequent among you. You have intimated,
besides, that very many notice that not a few in
places of ecclesiastical dignity do not live in a
manner conformable to the discourses and sacra-
ments with which the people are served by their
means. O miserable men, who in looking at
these forget Christ, who long since indeed told
us how that the law of God should be obeyed,
rather than that those should be looked to for
imitation who do not the things which they say ;
and bearing with the traitor himself even to the
end. He sent him also along with the rest to
preach the Gospel. For the apostles had no such
custom, neither did they teach that it was one fit
to be had. And to like effect their successors
also, foreseeing by the Spirit of God things to
come, have determined largely on such subjects.
Besides, as you read in the Acts of the Apostles,
" There was at that time among them that
believed one heart and one soul ; neither said
any of them that ought of the things which
he possessed was his own ; but they had all
things common." ' For there was no laying
of accusations against each other among them,
except what was friendly ; neither ought there
ever to be such among their followers or among
believers : for the Lord says, " Do not that to
another which thou wouldst not have done to thy-
self." ^ And He says also, "Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself; " ^ and, " Love worketh no
ill to his neighbour." '> In accordance herewith,
the apostles themselves and their successors de-
' Acts iv. 32.
2 Man. vii. 12; Luke vi.
3 Matt. xxii. 39; Mark xii. 31.
•< Rom. xiii. 10.
634
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
creed of old time that those persons should not be
admitted to lay accusations who were under sus-
picion, or who but yesterday, or the day before, or
a little time ago, were at enmity, as they come thus
under suspicion, or who are not of good conver-
sation, or whose life is reprehensible, or who are
doubtful in the matter of the true faith. In like
manner is it decided to be with those whose faith
and life and liberty are unknown, or who are
marked with the stains of infamy, or entangled in
the snares of offences. Again, those have neither
the right nor the power to accuse the priests or the
clergy, who are incapable themselves of being
made priests legitimately, and are not of their
order; for just as the priests and the other mem-
bers of the clerical order are debarred from lay-
ing accusations against the secular laity, so these
latter, too, should be debarred and excluded
from the right of bringing charges against the
former. And as the former should not be ad-
mitted by the latter, so the latter should not be
admitted by the former : for as the conversation
of the priests of the Lord ought to be something
separate from the conversation of these others,
so should they be separate from them also in the
matter of litigation ; " for the servant of the Lord
ought not to strive." ' To the utmost of your
power, dearly beloved brethren, do ye prohibit
such accusations, and all unrighteous and in-
jurious emulations, because contention is to be
avoided by all means. " For a just man will fall
seven times in a day, and will rise again ; but
the wicked shall fall into mischief. Rejoice
not when thine enemy falleth," saith Solomon,
" and let not thine heart be glad when he stum-
bleth ; lest the Lord see it, and it displease
Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.
Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be
thou envious at the wicked : for the evil have
not the hope of the future, and the candle of
the wicked shall be put out. Envy not evil men,
neither be thou desirous to be with them ; for
their mind meditates rapine, and their lips speak
deceits."- Dearly beloved, beware of these
things. Ponder these things, and minister com-
fort to the brethren in all things ; for, as the
Truth says in His own person, " By this shall all
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have
love one to another." ^ For if in things secular
each man's right and his proper position are
kept for him, how much more ought there to be
no confusion induced in matters of ecclesiastical
order ! And this is a right which will be duly
observed if no deference is paid to mere power,
but all to equity. Whence it is an established
duty, that the bishops of each several district
should exercise a watchful care over all those
' 1 Tim. ii. 24.
2 Prov. xxiv. 17, etc.
3 John xiii. 35.
who live under their rule, and in the fear of God
should dispose of all cases in which they are
concerned, and of all matters in which they are in-
terested. It is therefore extremely inequitable
that any bishops should neglect their own cases,
and mix themselves up with those of others.
But those whose part it is to ordain such persons
to the priesthood, and by whom they have been
already ordained, ought to order the life and
judgment of such by the exercise of a competent
and regular administration ; for, as the law says,
" Cursed is every one that removeth his neigh-
bour's landmarks. And all the people said
Amen."- To this therefore, brethren, has God
foreordained you, and all who hold the highest
office of the priesthood, that ye should put all
injustice out of the way, and cut off presump-
tion, and help those who labour in the priest-
hood, and give no occasion for their reproach
and trouble, but bring assistance to him who
endures calumny and reproach, and cut off him
who works calumny and reproach, and act for
the help of the Lord in His priests. The Lord,
moreover, has chosen the priests for Himself,
that they should sacrifice to Him, and offer obla-
tions to their Lord. He commanded the Le-
vites also to be under them in their ministries.
Whence He speaks to Moses in these terms :
" And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall
be chief over the chief of the Leviies, and have
the oversight of them that keep the charge of the
sanctuary." 5 For of these the Lord spake to
Moses in this wise : " Take the Levites instead
of the first-born among the children of Israel,
and the cattle of the Levites instead of their
cattle ; and the Levites shall be mine : I am the
Lord."^ If the Lord willed the Levites to be
His own, how much more has He taken the
priests for Himself ! And of these He says :
"If any stranger cometh nigh, he shall be put to
death." 7 AH objects, moreover, that are the
Lord's are to be handled carefully, and are not
lightly to be injured ; for even among men,
those are reckoned faithful who attend to the
interests of their masters rightly, and deal with
them faithfully, and rightly observe the com-
mands of their masters, and transgress them not.
And those, on the other hand, are reputed un-
faithful who deal with the interests of their
masters carelessly and negligently, and despise
their commands, and do not observe them as
they ought. Accordingly we have set these
matters before you, in order that those who now
know it not may know this ; viz., that the priests,
too, whom the Lord has taken to Himself from
among all men, and has willed to be His own,
4 Dent, xxvii. 17.
5 Num. iii. 32.
* Num. iii. 45.
' Num. i. 51.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
635
are not to be dealt with lightly, nor injured, nor
rashly accused or reprehended, save by their
masters, seeing that the Lord has chosen to re-
serve their causes to Himself, and ministers
vengeance according to His own judgment. For
in these and other precepts of the Lord the
faithful are distinguished, and the unfaithful at
the same time disapproved. For these are rather
to be borne with by the faithful than made sub-
jects of reproach {exprobraiidi) ; just as there
is chaff with the wheat even to the last winnow-
ing, and as there are bad fish with good even on
to their separation, which is yet to be on the
shore, — that is to say, at the end of the world.
By no means, then, can that man be condemned
by a human examination, whom God has reserved
for His own judgment, that the purpose of God, ac-
cording to which He has decreed to save what had
perished, may be unalterable. And consequently,
as His will suffers no change, let no man pre-
sume on matters which are not conceded to him.
And herein is the meaning of that word which
the apostle speaks : " Now therefore there is
utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law
one with another. Why do ye not rather take
wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves
to be defrauded?" ' To this, too, our Lord's
word may refer : " And if any man will take
away thy coat, and sue thee at the law, let him
have thy cloak also." ^ And in another place :
"Of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them
not again." ^ Moreover, there are certain things
which might be thought most trivial were they
not shown in the Scriptures to be of more serious
import. Who would ever consider the man who
says to his brother "Thou fool" worthy of hell-
fire, were it no't that the Truth Himself told us
so? 4 Those, furthermore, who commit those
sms whereof the apostle says, "They who do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God," 5 are by all means to be guarded against,
and are to be compelled to seek amendment if
they do not choose it voluntarily, because they
are marked with the stains of infamy, and go
down into the pit, unless assistance is brought
them by sacerdotal authority. Those also are
to be dealt with in like manner of whom he says,
" With such persons, no, not to eat ; " ^ because
such persons are branded with infamy until they
are restored by sacerdotal authority, and rein-
stated in the bosom of our holy mother the
Church ; since those who are outside us cannot
communicate with us. And it is manifest that
these are outside us, and ought to be separated
from us, with whom it is not lawful for us to eat
' I Cor. vi. 7.
2 Matt. V. 40.
J Luke vi. 30.
« Matt. V. 22.
5 Gal. V. 21.
* I Cor. V. II.
or to take food. Li like manner also, all persons
who underlie the charge of any manner of turpi-
tude and dishonour, are rendered infamous ; and
all who arm themselves against fathers are rendered
infamous. " Sand, and salt, and a mass of iron,
is easier to bear than a man without understand-
ing, and foolish and impious." i " He that
wanteth understanding thinks upon vain things ;
and a foolish and erring man imagineth follies."*
For their suspicion has overthrown many, and
their opinion hath held them in vanity. " A
stubborn heart shall fare evil at the last ; and he
that loveth danger shall perish therein. .A. heart
that entereth two ways shall not have rest ; and
the evil heart in them shall be made to stumble.
A wicked heart shall be laden with sorrows ;
and the sinner shall heap sin upon sin."9 The
holy apostles and their successors, having such
things in mind, and foreseeing, as being filled
with the Holy Spirit, the course of wicked men,
and having regard to the simple, determined
that the accusing of priests should be a matter
undertaken with difficulty, or never undertaken,
that they might not be ruined or displaced by
wicked men. For if this were m.ade an easy
matter to secular and wicked men, there would
remain no one, or but the scantiest few ; seeing
that it ever has been and still is the case — and
(which is yet worse) that too in growing measure
— that the wicked persecute the good, and that
the carnal are hostile to the spiritual. For this
reason, then, as has been already said, they de-
creed that such should not be accused at all ; or
if that could not be avoided, that the accusing
of such should be made a matter of great diffi-
culty. And they determined also, as has been
stated above, by what persons that function
should not be assumed ; and they resolved fur-
ther, that bishops should not be cast out from
their own proper seats and churches. But if in
any way the matter of accusation should be
taken in hand before their rightful seat and all
their property are restored by those laws, they
should by no means be accused or criminated
by any one, and should not answer any one on
such charges, unless they choose to do so of
their own accord. Bi^it after they have been re-
instated, as has been before noted, and have had
all their effects restored to them by those laws,
when their affairs are arranged and set in order,
they should then have a long period allowed them
for the disposing of their case ; and thereafter,
if need be, they should be regularly summoned,
aud so come to the suit ; and if the matter seem
just, they should answer the propositions of
their accusers with the help of their brethren.
For so long as their effects, or their churches
^ Rcclus. xxii. 15.
8 I'^cclus. xvt. 23.
9 Ecclus. iii. 24, etc.
636
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
and property, are held by their adversaries, or
by any person, no manner of reason allows that
any charge ought to be preferred against them.
And no one is at liberty by any means to bring
any charge against them, whether superior or
inferior, so long as they are dispossessed of their
churches, effects, or powers. In like manner
also it was decreed, and we too confirm the same
statutes and hereby decree, that if any one among
the clergy proves an enemy or traducer of his
bishops, and seeks to criminate them, or con-
spires against them, at once, before the consid-
eration of judicial investigation, he should be
removed from the clerical order, and given over
to the court {curi(e),to which he shall devote
himself zealously all the days of his life, and shall
remain infamous without any hope of restora-
tion. And let no one ever presume to be at
once accuser, and judge, or witness ; for in every
judicial investigation there must always be four
persons present : that is, the judges elected, and
the accusers, and the defenders, and the wit-
nesses. In like manner we decree and ordain
by apostolic authority, that the flock should not
dare to bring a charge against their pastor, to
whose care they had been consigned, unless he
falls into error in the faith ; for the deeds of
superiors are not to be smitten with the sword
of the mouth ; neither can the disciple be above
the master, as the voice of Truth saith, "The
disciple is not above his master, nor the servant
above his lord." ' And pride is hateful before
God and men, and all iniquity is execrable.
" The Lord hath destroyed the memory of the
proud, and hath left the memory of the humble
in mind. The seed of men shall be honoured,
this seed that feareth God. But that seed shall
be dishonoured that transgresseth the command-
ments of the Lord. Among brethren, he that is
chief is honourable ; and they that fear the Lord
shall be in His eyes. My son, saith Solomon,
preserve thy soul in meekness, and give honour
to him whom honour beseemeth." ^ " Blame
not any one before thou examinest him ; and
when thou hast examined him, reprove him
justly. Answer not a word before thou hearest
the cause ; neither interrupt with talk in the
midst of thy seniors." ' After the example of
Ham the son of Noah, they are condemned who
' Matt. X. 24.
^ Ecclus. X. 7, etc.
3 Ecclus. xi. 7, 8.
bring the faults of their fathers into public view,
or presume to accuse or calumniate them ; even
as was the case with Ham, who did not cover
the shame of his father Noah, but exhibited it
for mockery. And in like manner those are
justified by the example of Shem and Japhet,
who reverently cover and seek not to display
those matters in which they find their fathers to
have erred. For if a bishop should happen to
err from the faith, he should in the first place
be corrected privately by those placed under
him {a subditis siiis). And if he show himself
incorrigible (which may God forbid), then an
accusation should be laid against him before
his primates, or before the seat of the apostles.
For his other actings, however, he is rather to
be borne with by his flock and those put under
him, than accused or made the subject of public
detraction ; because when any offence is com-
mitted in these matters by those put under
them. His ordinance is withstood who set them
before him, as the apostle says, "Whosoever
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of
God." ^ But he who fears Almighty God, agrees
in no way to do anything contrary to the Gospel,
or contrary to the apostles, or contrary to the
prophets or the institutions of the holy fathers.
The priests therefore are to be honoured, and
not to be injured or reproached. Thus read we
in Ecclesiasticus : " Fear the Lord with all thy
soul, and reverence His priests. Love Him
that made thee with all thy strength, and forsake
not His ministers. Honour God with thy whole
soul, and honour the priest, and cleanse thyself
beforehand with the shoulders {propiirga te cum
brachiis). Give him his portion, as it is com-
manded thee, of the first-fruits ; and purge thy-
self concerning negligence with a few things.
Thou shalt offer the gift of thy shoulders, and
the sacrifice of sanctification, and the first-fruits
of the holy things to the Lord. And stretch
thine hand unto the poor, that thine atonement
and blessing may be perfected." 5 We desire
these things to become known not to you only,
but through you to all the brethren, that we may
abide in Christ of one accord and one mind,
making no claim for ourselves through strife or
vainglory, and being pleasers not of men, but of
God our Saviour. To Him belongeth honour
and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
■* Rom. xiii. 2.
5 Ecclus. vii. 29-32.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
637
THE THIRD EPISTLE.
TO BISHOP HILARY.
THAT EXTRANEOUS JUDGMENTS SHOULD BE RE-
JECTED, AND THAT THE ACCUSED PERSON SHOULD
CARRY OUT HIS CAUSE IN HIS OWN LOCALITY ; AND
THAT EVERY ONE WHO BRINGS FORWARD A
CHARGE SHOULD INTIMATE IN WRITING HIS ABILI-
TY TO PROVE IT, AND THAT IF HE FAILS TO PROVE
WHAT HE ALLEGES, HE SHOULD BEAR THE PEN-
ALTY WHICH HE ADVANCED.
Fabian, to my dearly beloved brother Bishop
Hilary.
We ought to be mindful of the grace of God
to us, who, in the compassion of His own regard,
hath raised us for this reason to the summit of
sacerdotal dignity, that by cleaving to His com-
mandments, and by being set in a certain emi-
nence as overseers of His priests, we may
restrain things unlawful, and inculcate things that
are to be followed. For we have heard that in
those western parts in which you dwell, the craft
of the devil rageth so violently against the people
of Christ, and breaketh forth in delusions so
manifold, that it oppresseth and troubleth not
only the secular laity, but the priests of the Lord
themselves also. Wherefore, involved as we are
in deep grief, we cannot conceal what we ought
severely to correct. Accordingly a sufficient rem-
edy must be employed for such wounds, lest a
hasty facility in the cure may prove of no ser-
vice for the deadly disease of the head ; and
lest the trouble, by being too easily dealt with,
may involve, through the defect of an illegitimate
mode of cure, the hurt and the healers together
in its evil.
Of those who ought not to be admitted to the right of accusa-
tion.
On this account, therefore, we decree and re-
solve, that thpse wlio are not of good conversa-
tion, or whose life is impeachable, or whose faith
and life and liberty are unknown, should not
have the power of accusing the priests of the
Lord, lest vile persons should thus be admitted
to the liberty of accusing them. In like manner,
those who are involved in any matters of accusa-
tion, or who are under suspicion, should not
have a voice in laying charges against their
seniors ; for the voice of the suspected and the
inimical is wont to oppress the truth.
Of extraneous judgments.
Moreover, by a general ordinance, and without
prejudice to the authority of the apostles in all
things, we prohibit extraneous judgments, be-
cause it is not fit that he should be judged by
strangers, who ought to have those of his own
province and those elected by himself as his
judges, unless an appeal has been made. Where-
fore, if any one of the bishops is accused on pre-
cise charges, he ought to be heard by all the
bishops who are in the province ; for it is not
right that an accused person should be heard
elsewhere than in his own circuit. Again, if any
one is of opinion that he has a judge adverse to
him, he should claim the right of appeal ; and
an appellant ought to be injured by no kind of
oppression or detention ; but an appellant ought
to have the liberty of righting his case, when
wronged, by the remedy of appeal. There ought
also to be liberty of appeal in criminal cases.
And the right of appealing ought to be denied
to no one whom judgment has destined for pun-
ishment.
III.
Of the arraigned.
A person arraigned ought to plead his cause
before his judge ; and an arraigned person may
refuse to speak, if he choose so, before one who is
not his own proper judge ; and indulgence (/«-
ducia) should be granted to the arraigned as
often as they appeal.
Of the case of any one bringing forward a charge in passion,
or failing to prove his allegations.
If, then, any one in passion brings a charge
rashly against any one, mere abuse is not to be
taken for an accusation. But a certain time being
allowed for dealing with the matter, the person
should profess his ability in writing to prove what
he has alleged in passion ; so that, if he -should
happen to think better of the things he uttered
in passion, and decline to repeat or write them,
the person may not be held as charged with the
crime. Every one, therefore, who adduces a
charge, ought to state in writing his ability to
prove it. And, indeed, a cause should always
be dealt with in the place where the charge is
admitted ; and the man who fails to substantiate
his allegation, should himself bear the penalty
which he advanced.
v.
On the question of an accused bishop appealing to the seat
of the apostles.
It is determined, moreover, that, in the case
of an accused bishop appealing to the seat of
the apostles, that should be held to be a settle-
638
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
ment which is the decision of the pontiff of that
same seat. On all occasions, however, in cases
concerning priests, let this form be maintained,
that no one be bound by a decision pronounced
by another than his own proper judge. It is the
duty also of all the faithful to be ready to help
the oppressed and the miserable in their distress,
in order that by the manifestation of another
manner of recompense {vindictce) they may be
able to keep the recompense {vengeance) of God
from themselves. For he offers {lihat) things
prosperous to the Lord who keeps off things ad-
verse from the afflicted. Whence it is written,
" A brother aiding a brother shall be exalted." "
For the Church of God ought to be without spot
or wrinkle, and therefore it ought not to be trod-
den and defiled by certain persons ; for it is
written, "My dove, my undefiled, is but one."^
Hence, again, the Lord says to Moses, "There
is a place with me {penes me), and thou shalt
stand upon a rock." 3 What place is there that
belongs not to the Lord, seeing that all things
consist in Him by whom they were created ?
There is a place, however, with God — to wit,
the unity of the holy Church — in which there is
a standing upon a rock, while the perfection of
the confession {confcssioiiis soliditas) is held in
lowliness. We admonish thee, our brother, and
all our brethren who are rulers in the Church of
Christ, which He hath purchased with His blood,
to keep back, by whatever checks ye possess, all
men from that abyss into which some brethren
are slipping, in reviling the Lord's pastors, and
persecuting them both by v/ord and deed ; and
we counsel you not to suffer them to be wounded
with the hook of passion : for it is written, " For
the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness
of God." ^ Hence it is said again, " Let every
man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and
slow to wrath." 5 Now I doubt not that with
God's help you observe all these things ; but as
an occasion for counsel has arisen, I also secretly
attach my word to your good desires and deeds,
so that what you are doing of yourselves and in-
dependently of admonition you may do presently
not by yourselves alone, now that the counsellor
himself is added to you. Wherefore, brethren,
it becomes you and all the faithful to love each
other, and not to calumniate or accuse one an-
other : for it is written, " Love thy neighbour,
and be faithful unto him. But if thou bevvrayest
his secrets, thou shalt follow no more after him.
For as a man who destroyeth his friend, so is he
that loseth the love of his neighbour. And as
one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so art
thou who hast let thy neighbour go, and shalt
' Prov. xviii. 19.
^ Cant. vi. 9.
3 Ex. xxxiii. 21.
■< Jas. i. 20.
5 Jas. i. 19.
not get him again. Follow after him no more,
for he is far off. For he is as a roe escaped out
of the snare, since his soul is wounded. Further
thou wilt not be able to bind him up, and after
reviling there may be reconcilement ; but to be-
wray the secrets of a friend is the despair of an
unhappy mind. He that winketh with the eye
worketh evil, and every one will cast him off.
When thou art present, he will speak sweetly,
and will admire thy words. But at last he will
writhe his mouth, and slander thy sayings. I
have hated many things, but nothing like him ;
and the Lord will hate him. Whoso casteth a
stone on high, it will fall upon his own head ;
and a deceitful stroke shall make wounds in the
deceiver. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein ;
and he that placeth a stone in his neighibour's
way shall stumble thereon ; and he that setteth
a trap for another shall perish in it. He
that worketh mischief, it shall fall upon him ;
and he shall not know whence it cometh on him.
Mockery and reproach are from the proud ; and
vengeance, as a lion, shall lie in wait for them.
They that rejoice at the fall of the righteous shall
be taken in the snare ; and anguish shall con-
sume them before they die. Wrath and fury are
both abominations, and the sinful man shall have
them both.'"' "He that desireth to be avenged
shall find vengeance from the Lord, and He
will surely keep his sins in remembrance. For-
give thy neighbour the hurt that he hath done
thee ; so shall thy sins also be forgiven thee
when thou prayest. One man beareth hatred
against another, and doth he seek pardon from
the Lord? He showeth no mercy to a man
which is like himself, and doth he ask forgive-
ness of his own sins from the Most High ? He,
though he is but flesh, nourishes hatred ; and
does he implore mercy from God? Who will
entreat for pardon of his sins? Remember thy
end, and let enmity cease. For corruption and
death impend on His commandments. Re-
member the fear of God, and bear no malice
to thy neighbour. Remember the covenant of
the Highest, and wink at the ignorance of thy
neighbour. Abstain from strife, and thou shalt
diminish thy sins. For a furious man will kindle
strife, and a sinful man will disquiet friends,
and will make debate among them that be at
peace. For according to the trees of the wood,
so will the fire burn ; and according as a man's
strength is, so will his wrath be ; and according
to his riches, his anger will rise. An hasty con-
tention will kindle a fire ; and an hasty fighting
will shed blood; and a tale-bearing {iestificans)
tongue will cause death. If thou blow the spark,
it shall burn like a fire ; and if thou spit upon
it, it shall be quenched ; and both these come
out of thy mouth. The whisperer and double-
*> Ecclus. xxvii. 17-30.
THE EPISTLES OF POPE FABIAN.
639
tongued is cursed ; for he has destroyed many
that were at peace. A backbiting {tertia) tongue
hath disquieted many, and driven them from
nation to nation. Strong cities of the rich hath
it pulled down, and overthrown the houses of
great men. It has destroyed the strength of
peoples, and has scattered strong nations. A
backbiting tongue hath cast out virtuous women
{xnratas, spirited), and deprived them of their
labours. Whoso hearkeneth unto it shall never
find rest, and shall never have a friend on whom
he may repose. The stroke of the whip maketli
marks ; but the stroke of the tongue will break
the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of
the sword, but not so many as have fallen by
the tongue. Well is he that is defended from the
evil tongue, and hath not passed through the
venom thereof; who hath not drawn the yoke
thereof, nor hath been bound in her bands.
For the yoke thereof is a yoke of iron, and the
bands thereof are bands of brass. The death
thereof is an evil death, and the grave were
better than it. Its endurance shall not abide,
but it shall possess the ways of the unrighteous.
In its flame it shall not burn the righteous.
Such as forsake the Lord shall fall into it ; and
it shall burn in them, and not be quenched ;
and it shall be sent upon them as a lion, and de-
vour them as a leopard. Hedge thine ears {sccpi
mires') about with thorns, and refuse to listen to
the evil tongue, and make a door for thy mouth
and bars for thine ears. Smelt {coiifla) thy
gold and thy silver, and make a balance for thy
words, and a right bridle for thy mouth. And
beware lest thou slide perchance in thy tongue,
and fall in the sight of thine enemies that be in
wait for thee, and thy fall be irremediable unto
death." ' Let all beware of these things, and
" keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from
speaking guile." ^ " Finally, dearly beloved, be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of His
might. Put on the armour of God, that ye may
be able to stand against the wiles of the devil ;
for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities and powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spirit-
ual wickedness in heavenly places {ccelestibus).
Wherefore take unto you the armour of God, that
ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
to stand perfect in all {omnibus perfecti) . Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,
and having on the breastplate of righteousness,
and your feet shod with the preparation of the
Gospel of peace ; in all {in omnibus') taking the
shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And
take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God."^ It is our
wish, brother, that those things which we have
written to you should be made known generally
to all, in order that things which touch the others
should be made known to all. May Almighty
God protect you, brother, and all our brethren
everywhere situate, even to the end, — even He
who has thought good to redeem the whole world,
our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever.
Amen. — Given on the i6th day of October, in
the consulship of the most illustrious Africanus
and Decius.
* Ecclus. xxviii.
2 Ps. xxxiv. 13.
3 Eph. vi. 10-17.
NOTE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
It should be borne in mind by the reader that the holy martyr Fabian must not be less
esteemed because this forgery was put upon him long after his decease. The forger puts many
good things into his work, to make it accord with the character to which he attributes good and
bad together. So with all the Decretals : they are made specious by piety and texts of Scripture.
DECREES OF FABIAN.
TAKEN FROM THE DECRETAL OF GRATIAN.
That the man who refuses to be reconciled to his brother
should be reduced by the severest fastings.'
If any injured person refuses to be reconciled
to his brother, when he who has injured him
offers satisfaction, he should be reduced by the
severest fastings, even until he accepts the satis-
faction offered him with thankful mind.
II.
The man is rendered infamous who knowingly presumes to
forswear himself.^
Whosoever has knowingly forsworn himself,
should be put for forty days on bread and water,
and do penance also for the seven following
years ; and he should never be without penance ;
and he should never be admitted to bear witness.
After this, however, he may enjoy communion.
A man and a woman subject to madness cannot enter into
marriage.-*
Neither can a mad man nor a mad woman
enter into the marriage relation. But if it has
been entered, then they shall not be separated.
Marriage relations in the fifth generation may unite with each
other : and in the fourth generation, if they are found, they
should not be separated.'*
Concerning relations who enter affinity by the
connection of husband and wife, these, on the
decease of wife or husband, may form a union
in the fifth generation ; and in the fourth, if they
are found, they should not be separated. In the
third degree of relationship, however, it is not
lawful for one to take the wife of another on his
death. In an equable manner, a man may be
united in marriage after his wife's death with
those who are his own kinswomen, and with the
kinswomen of his wife.
' Dist. go, Si giiis contristatits. Basil, in Reg., c. 74.
^ 6, Q. I, Quicunqite sciens. Regino in the Book 0/ Petiattce.
^ 32. Q- 7, Neque /itriosus. And in the Decret. Ivo., book vi.,
Regino adduces it from the law of Rome.
* 35, Q. 2 and 3, De fropinquis. From the Pcenitentiale of
Theodorus.
640
To the immediately preceding notice.'
Those who marry a wife allied by blood, and
are separated, shall not be at liberty, as long
as both parties are alive, to unite other wives
with them in marriage, unless they can plead
the excuse of ignorance.
V.
Blood connections alone, or, if offspring entirely fails, the old
and trustwortliy, should reckon the matter of propinquity
in the synod.**
No alien should accuse blood connections, or
reckon the matter of consanguinity in the synod,
but relations to whose knowledge it pertains, —
that is, father and mother, sister and brother,
paternal uncle, maternal uncle, paternal aunt,
maternal aunt, and their children. If, however,
offspring entirely fails, the bishop shall make
inquiry canonically of the older and more trust-
worthy persons to whom the same relationship
may be known ; and if such relationship is found,
the parties should be separated.
Every one of the faithful should communicate three times a
year.'
Although they may not do it more frequently,
yet at least three times in the year should the
laity communicate, unless one happen to be
hindered by any more serious offences, — to
wit, at Easter, and Pentecost, and the Lord's
Nativity.
VII.
A presbyter should not be ordained younger than thirty years
of age."
If one has not completed thirty years of age,
he should in no way be ordained as presbyter,
even although he may be extremely worthy ; for
even the Lord Himself was baptized only when
He was thirty years of age, and at that period
He began to teach. It is not right, therefore,
that one who is to be ordained should be conse-
crated until he has reached this legitimate age.
S From the same.
^ 35. Q- 6, Consangtiineos extraneorum. And in the Decret.
Ivo., vii.
7 De Consccr., dist. 2, Eisi non. And in the Decret. Ivo., i.
8 Dist. 78, 5/ guis, 30; and in the Decret. Ivo., iii.; from Martin
Bracar, ch. 20.
ELUCIDATIONS. 641
THE DECREES OF THE SAME, FROM THE CODEX OF DECREES IN SIXTEEN
BOOKS, FROM THE FIFTH BOOK, AND THE SEVENTH AND NINTH
CHAPTERS.
n.
I.
That the oblation of the altar should be made each Lord's day.
We decree that on each Lord's day the obla-
tion of the altar should be made by men and
That an illiterate presbyter may not venture to celebrate mass.
The sacrifice is not to be accepted from the
hand of a priest who is not competent to dis-
women in bread and wine, in order that by charge the prayers or actions {acfiones^ and
means of these sacrifices they may be released I other observances in the mass according to re-
from the burden of their sins. 1 ligious usage.
ELUCIDATIONS.
I.
(From Clement to Melchiades, p. 607.)
The early Bishops of Rome, who till the time of Sylvester (a.d. 325) were, with few excep-
tions, like him pure and faithful shepherds, and not lords over God's heritage, shall here be enu-
merated. But first let us settle in few words the historic facts as to the See.
St. Paul was, clearly, the Apostolic founder of the Roman church, as appears from Holy
Scripture. St. Peter seems to have come to Rome not long before his martyrdom. Linus and
Cletus could not have been Bishops of Rome, for they were merely coadjutors of the Apostles
during their lifetime. Clement was the first who succeeded to their work after tlieir death;
and thus he should unquestionably be made the first of the Roman bishops, — a position of which he
was eminently worthy, for his was the spirit of St. Peter himself,' as set forth in that incomparable
passage of his first Epistle,- in which the Apostle bids all his brethren to be shepherds indeed, and
" ensamples to the flock." We may therefore give the outline of this history as follows : —
1. St. Paul was the "Apostle of the Gentiles," and St. Peter of " the Circumcision."
2. St. Paul came first to Rome, and organized the Christians he found there after the pattern
"ordained in all the churches."
3. He had Linus for his coadjutor, being himself a prisoner, until he went into Spain.
4. St. Peter came to Rome {circa a.d. 64), and laboured with the Jewish Christians there,
St. Paul recognising his mission among them.
5. This Apostle (soon thrown into prison) had Cletus for his coadjutor.
6. In the Neronian persecution Linus seem to have suffered with St. Paul, and probably
Cletus as well. The latter died before St. Peter.
7. St. Peter, therefore, about to suffer himself, ordains Clement to succeed him.
8. As he was the first "successor of the Apostles," therefore, in the See of Rome, and the
first who had jurisdiction there (for the Apostles certainly never surrendered their mission to
their coadjutors), it follows that Clement was the first Bishop of Rome.
9. This is confirmed by the earliest testimony, — that of Ignatius.
10. It agrees with Tertullian's testimony, and he speaks (as a lawyer and expert) from "the
registers." Irenaeus, speaking less precisely, may be harmonized with these testimonies without
violence to what he reports.
* See his genuine Epistle, vol. i. p. i, this series. Compare vol. i. pp. 69, 416, with vii. p. 478.
2 I Pet. V. 1-4. The Bishops of Rome have only to restore themselves to the spirit of St. Peter as here set forth, and the
schisms of the churches will be at an end. For Tertullian's testimony, see vol. iii. p. 258, note 9.
642
ELUCIDATIONS.
BISHOPS OF ROME.
Clement .
Evaristus
Alexander
Xystus I.
Telesphorus
6. Hyginus .
7. Pius . .
8. Anicetus .
9. Soter . .
10. Eleutherus
11. Victor
12. Zephyrinus
13. Callistus .
14. Urban
15. Pontianus
N.B. — After a
A.D.
68 to A.D.
72 " "
109 " "
117 " "
127 " "
139 " "
142 " "
156 " "
t68 " "
176 '•' "
190 " "
201 " "
218 " "
223 " "
230 " "
71-
108.
117.
127.
138.
142.
156.
168.
176.
189.
201.
218.
222.
230.
234.
16. Anterus .
17. Fabianus..
18. Cornelius
19. Lucius
20. Stephen .
21. Xystus II.
22. Dionysius
23. Felix . .
24. Eutychianus
25. Caius , .
26. Marcellinus
27. Marcellus
28. Eusebius.
29. Melchiades
30. Sylvester .
A.D. 235 to A.D. 236.
236 "
<l
249.
251 "
ii
251.
252 "
il
252.
253 "
li
256.
257 "
il
258.
259 "
11
269.
269 "
a
274.
275 "
li
282.
283 "
11
295-
296 "
11
304.
308 -
11
309-
310 "
11
310.
311 "
11
314.
314 "
11
335-
.D. 325 the Bishops of Rojue are canonical primates ; the Bishops of New
Rome primates equally, but second on the list ; then Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus. The
Councils of Constantinople and Chalcedon state that these primacies were awarded because
Rome and New Rome were the capitals of the oscumetje, or empire. The primacy conferred
no authority over the sister Sees of Apostolic foundation, and recognised no inequaUty among
bishops, save those of such honorary distinction.
THE PATRIARCHATE.
1. From (a.d. 325) Sylvester to Gregory the Great, and his successor, who lived but one year,
the Bishops of Rome were canonical primates.
2. Boniface III. accepted the court title of " Universal Bishop " (a.d. 606) from the Emperor
Phocas, but it was not recognised by the Church,
3. From this time to Adrian I. many Bishops of Rome vied with those of Constantinople
to augment their honour and power. The establishment of the Western Empire (a.d. 800)
made their ambitious claims acceptable to the Latins ; and they became primates of all Christen-
dom in Western estimation, with extra-canonical and indefinite claims as " successors of St.
Peter."
4. Nicholas I. (a.d. 863), by means of the False Decretals, gave shape to these extra-canonical
claims, abrogated the Nicene Constitutions in the West by making these Decretals canon-law,
and asserted a supremacy over the old patriarchates, which they never allowed : hence the
schism of the West from the Apostolic Sees of the East, and from the primitive discipline which
established the Papacy, as now understood.
5. From Nicholas I. (who died a.d. 867) the Latin churches recognised this Papacy more or
less ; the Gallicans resisting, though feebly, by asserting their " liberties," according to Nicene
Constitutions.
6. Gregory VII., honestly persuaded that the Decretals were authentic, enforced these spurious
canons without reference to antiquity, and pronounced the title of " Pope " the sole and pecuHar
dignity of the Bishops of Rome a.d. 1073. He reigned from a.d. io6i to 1085.
7. The churches of England and France, which claimed to be outside of the " holy Roman
Empire," under kings whose own crowns were " imperial," maintained a perpetual contest with
the Papacy, admitted the extra-canonical " primacy," but resisted all claims to " supremacy."
ELUCIDATIONS. 643
8. School-doctrines were framed and enforced, but were extra-symbolic, and of no Catholic
authority. They abased the episcopate to exalt the Papacy.
9. The Council of Trent, after the Northern revolt from the Papacy and School-doctrine, sat
seventeen years (from a.d. 1545 to a.d. 1563) framing the " Roman-CathoHc Church " out of the
remainder of national churches, depriving them of their nationalities, and making out of them all,
with the missions in America, one mixed confederation, to which it gave a new creed and new
organic laws ; debasing the entire episcopate (which it denied to be an order distinct from that
of presbyters), and making the Pope the "Universal Bishop," with other bishops reduced to
presbyters, acting as his local vicars.
10. The Gallicans feebly withstood these changes, and strove to maintain the primitive Consti-
tutions by accommodations with their theory of the " Gallican hberties," as founded by St. Louis.
11. Gallicanism was extinguished by Pope Pius IX., who proclaimed the Pope "infalHble,"
and thus raised his " supremacy " into an article of the Roman-Catholic faith.
12. The following is the modern creed of " Roman Catholics," which, with the latest additions,
embodies a library of dogmas in the eleventh article, and now, since the decree of hifallibility
makes the entire Bullary (a vast library of decrees and definitions), equally part of the Creed.'
THE TRENTINE CREED, OR THE CREED OF PIUS IV., A.D. 1564.
1. I most stedfastly admit and embrace Apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other observances
and constitutions of the Church.
2. I also admit the Holy Scripture according to that sense which our holy mother the Church has held, and
does hold, to which it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretations of the Scriptures. Neither will I
ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.
3. I also profess that there are truly and properly seven sacraments of the New Law, instituted by Jesus
Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all for every one; to wit. Baptism, Con-
firmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Order, and Matrimony ; and that they confer grace ; and that
of these, Baptism, Confirmation, and Order cannot be reiterated without sacrilege. I also receive and admit
the received and approved ceremonies of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of the aforesaid
sacraments.
4. I embrace and receive all and every one of the things which have been defined and declared in the holy
Council of Trent concerning original sin and justification.
5. I profess, likewise, that in the Mass there is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the
living and the dead ; and that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and substan-
tially, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and that there is made
a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the
blood, which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation. I also confess that under either kind
alone Christ is received whole and entire, and a true sacrament.
6. I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages-
of the faithful.
7. Likewise, that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to be honoured and invocated, and that they
offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be respected.
8. I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the mother of God, ever virgin, and also of the saints,
ought to be had and retained, and that due honour and veneration is to be given them.
9. I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is
most wholesome to Christian people.
10. I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church for the mother and mistress of all churches ;
and I promise true obediefice to the Bishop of Rome, successor to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and Vicar
of Jesus Christ.
11. I likewise undoubtedly receive and profess all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred
Canons, and general Councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent.
' De Maistre, thinking to overthrow the Anglicans, and imagining the Thirty-nine Articles to be " terms of communion " in the Anglican
Church, which they never were, commits himself rashly to the following position: " If a people possesses one of these Codes of Belief, we
may be sure of this : that the religion of such a people is false." No people on earth has such an enormous Code of Belief as those who
profess the creed of Pius the Fourth, and who accept the decrees of Pius the Ninth. See De Maistre, Le Principe Genirateur, etc.,
p. 2o, Paris, 1852. This Trent Creed is the fruit of the Decretals.
644 ELUCIDATIONS.
12. And I condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever,
condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the Church.
This true Catholic faith, without which no one can be saved, I N.N. do at this present freely confess and
sincerely hold; and I promise most constantly to retain, and confess the same entire and unviolated, with God's
assistance, to the end of my life. Amen.
N. B. — (i) To this was added, Dec. 8, 1S54, the new article of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin
Mary, to be believed as necessary to salvation.
N. B. — (2) To which was added (December, 1S64) the whole Syllabus.
N. B. — (3) To which was added (July 18, 1S70) the new dogma of Infallibility.
Observe, this "Creed" is imposed on all in the Roman Obedience, and especially on those who
enter it from other communions, as that without which no one can be saved. The Catholic Creed
of Nicsea is not sufficient. But the Seventh Canon of Ephesus not only forbids the composition of
any other creed, but especially adds : " Those who shall presume to compose another creed, or to
produce or offer it to persons desiring to return to the acknowledgment of the truth . . . from
any heresy whatever, shall be deposed ... if bishops or other clergy, and if they be laymen they
shall be anathematized."
II.
(Donation of Constantine, p. 607.)
On this stupendous fraud I quote from Dupin, as follows : —
"Among the number of Constantine's edicts I do not place the Donation which goes under his name.
Some have attributed this false monument to the author of the collection (Decretals) ascribed to Isidore, he
being a notorious forger of such kind of writings ; and this conjecture is more probable than some others.
" By this Donation, Constantine is supposed to give to the Bishops of Rome the sovereignty of the city, and
of the provinces of the Western Empire. I note some of the reasons which clearly prove this instrument to be
a forgery : —
" (i) Not one of the ancients mentions this pretended liberality of the emperor. How could Eusebius, and
all the other historians who wrote about Constantine, have passed over in silence, had it been a reality, the gift of
a Western Empire to the Bishop of Rome ?
" (2) Not one of the Bishops of Rome ever refers to such a donation, though it would have been much to
their advantage so to do.
" (3) It is dated falsely, and under consuls who flourished when Constantine was unbaptized ; yet his baptism
is referred to in this instrument. Again, the city of Constantinople is mentioned in it, although it was called
Byzantium for ten years subsequent to its date.
" (4) Not only is the style very different from the genuine edicts of the emperor, but it is full of terms and
phrases that came into use much after the time of Constantine.
" (5) How comes it that he should have given one-half of his empire to the Bishop of Rome, including the
city of Rome itself, without any one ever hearing of it for hundreds of years after?
" (6) The falsities and absurdities of this edict demonstrate that it was composed by an ignorant impostor.
Thus by it, for example, the Pope is permitted to wear a crown of gold, and a fabulous history is given of
the emperor's baptism by Sylvester: also, it contains a history of the emperor's miraculous cure of leprosy by
Sylvester, all which do plainly prove the forgery. It is certain that the city of Rome was governed by the emperor,
and that the Bishops of Rome were subject to him, and obeyed him, as all his other subjects.
" All that we have said plainly shows that the edict of Donation that bears the name of Constantine is wholly
supposititious ; but it is not so easy to find out who was the author. However it be, this document has neither any
use nor authority." '
' Dupin, ut supra, p. 17. See also Bryce's Holy Roman Empire, pp. 43 and 100. He pronounces " the Donation of Constantine'
to'ht" ths most stupeitdous of all the mediaeval forgeries. The Decretals certainly surpass it in their nature and their effects; but Mr.
Bryce's reference to these is very feeble and unsatisfactory, after Dupin. See p. 156 of his work, ed. Macmillan, 1880.
MEMOIRS OF EDESSA
AND OTHER ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. B. P. PRATTEN, B.A.]
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
TO
MEMOIRS OF EDESSA AND OTHER SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
The Syriac Documents here subjoined are to be regarded as interesting relics of the primitive
ages, but neither wholly genuine nor in details authentic. They have been interpolated and cor-
rupted so as to reflect, in some particulars, ideas wholly repugnant to those of Christian antiquity,
and which first received currency in the period of the Iconoclastic controversy." Yet the pages
of Eusebius bear witness to the Edessene legends as of very early origin, and it is reasonable to
suppose that they rest on some inquiries made by the contemporary Abgar concerning the great
Prophet who had appeared in Galilee. The visit of the Wise Men from the East, and the history
of Naaman the Syrian, lend antecedent probability to the idea that such inquiries may have been
made. The mission of Thaddaeus seems a historical fact ; and if he found Abgar predisposed to
believe, and familiar with the story of the Christ, the growth of the whole fable is sufficiently
accounted for. Let me quote Wake in the Preliminary Discourse to his Apostolic Fathers. He
says : - " That both the intercourse reported by Eusebius between our Saviour and this prince
(Abgarus), and the report of the picture being brought to him, have been received as a matter
of unquestionable truth in those parts, the authority of Gregorius Abulpharagius ^ will not suffer
us to doubt. . . . But Gelasius ^ pronounced the epistle of our Saviour to be apocryphal. . . .
Natalis Alexander judges both it and the reply of Abgar supposititious ; and Dupin, after him, yet
more solidly convicts it of such manifest errors as may satisfy all considering persons that
Eusebius and Ephraem were too easy of belief in this particular, and did not sufficiently examine
into it." 5
But I cannot do better than refer the inquirer to Jones' work On the Canon^ where,
even in early youth, I found the whole matter, and the story of the portrait of our Saviour,
attractive reading. I owe to that work my initiation into the study of what I am now endeavour-
ing to elucidate, in some degree, for others. I subjoin the words of Lardner,^ in concluding his
candid examination of the matter, as follows: "The whole history is the fiction of some Chris-
tian at Edessa, in the time of Eusebius or not long before. The people of Edessa were then
generally Christians ; and they valued themselves upon it, and were willing to do themselves the
honour of a very early conversion to the Christian faith. By some one of them, or more united
together, this history was formed, and was so far received by Eusebius as to be thought by him
not improper to be inserted in his Ecclesiastical History T
1 conclude that Eusebius was led to put some confidence in it by the antecedent probability to
' Had the early Christians used I'cotis, — i.e., pictures in their churches, — the churches themselves would everywhere have been
visible proof against the Council of Frankfort and all who condemned icons. Sculptured images are not icons, technically.
2 Abridged.
3 Jacobite primate, died 1286.
* Bishop of Rome a.d. 492-496.
5 Wake, Apostolic Fathers, p. 4.
' Vol. ii. pp. 1-31.
7 Credib., vi. 605.
647
648 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
which I have referred, favouring the idea that some knowledge of Christ had penetrated the
mind and heart of Abgar even in our Saviour's Ufetime. This idea receives some countenance
from the fact recorded by St. Matthew : ' " His fame went throughout all Syria ; and they
brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases," etc.
The remarks I have quoted from the learned will sufficiently prepare the reader for the other
Syria c Documents which follow these Edessene Memoirs, as I find it convenient to call them.
Here follows the Introductory Notice by the translator : —
These Documents were selected by the late Dr. Cureton, from manuscripts acquired by the
British Museum from the Nitrian Monastery in Lower Egypt, of which the first portion arrived in
1 84 1, the second in 1843, ^^^ ^ third in 1847. The preparation of them for publication occupied
the closing days of his life. It is to be regretted that his death occurred before he was able to
write a preface : the more so because, to use the words of Dr. W. Wright, the editor of the posthu-
mous work, " he had studied the questions connected with this volume for years and from every
point of view." In a note occurring in the preface to his Festal Letters of Athanasius^ he says :
" I have found among the Syriac mss. in the British Museum a considerable portion of the original
Aramaic document which Eusebius cites as preserved in the archives of Edessa, and various pas-
sages from it quoted by several authors, with other testimonies which seem to be sufficient to es-
tablish the fact of the early conversion of the inhabitants of that city, and among them of the king
himself, although his successors afterwards relapsed into paganism. These, together with accounts
of the martyrdom of some of the first bishops of that city, forming a'most interesting accession
to our knowledge of the early propagation of Christianity in the East down to about a.d. 300, I
have already transcribed, and hope to publish." " He was himself firmly persuaded," adds Dr.
Wright, " of the genuineness of the Epistles attributed to Abgar, king of Edessa, and our Lord : an
opinion which he shared with such illustrious scholars as Baronius, Tillemont, Cave, R. Mountague
(Bishop of Norwich), and Grabe."
Without attempting here to decide what degree of historical value belongs to these Documents,
it may be proper to observe that the several matters contained in them are so far distinct from
one another that they do not necessarily stand or fall together. Such matters are : the celebrated
Epistles, the conversion of King Abgar Uchomo, the visit of Thaddaeus, and the early prevalence
of Christianity at Edessa. With regard to the letters said to have passed between Abgar and our
Lord, it seems sufficient, without referring to the internal evidence, to remark, with Lardner and
Neander, that it is inconceivable how anything written by Christ should have remained down to
the time of Eusebius unknown to the rest of the world. ^ The conversion of Abgar is a distinct
matter of inquiry. But on this again, doubt, to say the least, is cast by the statement that Abgar
Bar Manu, who reigned between the years 160 and 170 a.d., is the first king of Edessa on whose
coins the usual symbols of the Baal-worship of the country are wanting, these being replaced in
his case by the sign of the Cross.** If this refers to a complete series of the coins of Edessa, the
evidence afforded must be considered very strong. For although, to take a parallel instance, "we
seek in vain for Christian emblems on the coinage of Constantine, the first Christian emperor," s
this may readily be accounted for by his preference of military distinction to the humbler honours
conferred by his new faith, whilst it does not appear that i?;;//-Christian emblems are found, and
on the coins of his son and successor Christian emblems do make their appearance. The other
two subjects referred to do not lie under the same suspicion. There is nothing in the nature of
the case to disprove the visit of Thaddaeus (or Addaeus) — nothing improbable in the fact itself,
whatever judgment may be formed of the details of it presented to us here. If, however, the visit
of Thaddaeus also should have to be rapked among apocryphal stories, this would not affect the
^ Cap. iv. 24. 3 Hist, of the Ckurch, vol. i. p. 109 (Foreign Theol. Lib.).
2 P. xxiii. * Bayer, Historia Edessejta e jiuJiimis illustrata, I. iii. p. 173.
5 Humphieys' Coin-Coilector's Manual, p. 364.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 649
remaining point — that witli which we are chiefly concerned in tliese Documents. " It is certain,"
says Neander, " that Christianity was early diffused in this country." How early, is not so certain.
But the evidence furnished by the later portions of these Documents, which there is nothing to
contradict and much to confirm, proves that early in the second century Christianity had already
made many converts there. The martyrdoms of Sharbil and Barsamya are said to have occurred
A.D. 113,' the year in which Trajan conquered the Parthian kingdom, of which Edessa was a part;
and, whilst the pagan element was plainly predominant, we find the Christians sufficiently numer-
ous to have a bishop and presbyters and deacons. This sufficiently falls in with the proof already
adduced of the conversion of even a king of Edessa about fifty years later.
To the Documents which are presumably of the ante-Nicene age, Dr. Cureton added two Met-
rical Homilies by Jacob of Serug, who lived in the next century. But, as they are so closely
connected with the most interesting portions of the rest, the martyrdoms, and are besides of con-
siderable merit as compositions, the decision of the editors to insert them will, it is presumed, be
approved by most readers. The two supplemental portions, one from the Latin of Simeon Meta-
phrastes, and the other from Le Vaillant de Florival's French translation of Moses of Chorene,
have also been inserted.
The translation of the Syriac portions, although made with Dr. Cureton's version constantly in
sight, may fairly be considered as independent. The only matter in which his authority has been
relied on is — in the case of proper names, the supply of the necessary vowels, — for the text is
vowelless. And even to this, one exception occurs, in the Martyrdom of Barsamya, where
'•' Evaristus " has been adopted instead of his " Erastus." In regard to the sense, it has been
frequently found necessary to differ from him, while a style somewhat freer, though, it is hoped,
not less faithful, has been employed. The Metrical Homilies also have been arranged so as to
present the appearance of poetry. The results of Dr. Wright's collation of the text with the mss.
have also contributed to the .greater correctness of the work.
The translator desires very thankfully to acknowledge his obligations to Dr. R. Payne Smith,
Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford,^ the progress of whose Thesaiirus Syriacus
is regarded with so much satisfaction and hope, for his kindness in furnishing much valuable infor-
mation respecting matters on which the lexicons are silent.
The notes marked Tr. are by the translator. The others, where the contrary is not indicated,
are, at least in substance. Dr. Cureton's : though their citation does not always imply approval.^
1 It should have been 115.
2 Now Dean of Canterbury.
3 The translator takes the opportunity of correcting the error by which the preparation of Tatian's work in vol. iii. of the Edin-
burgh Series was ascribed to him. The credit of it is due in the first instance to his lamented friend Mr. J. E. Ryland, at whose request,
and subsequently by that of the editors, he undertook to correct the manuscript, but was soon obliged by other engagements to relinquish
the task. [The correction was duly made in this series. See vol. ii. pp. 59, 61.]
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS
RELATING TO THE EARLIEST ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY
IN EDESSA AND THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES.
FROM THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH y
THE STORY = CONCERNING THE KING OF EDESSA.3
Now the story relating to Thaddseus was on
this wise : —
While the Godhead of our Saviour and Lord
Jesus Christ was proclaimed among all men by
reason of the astonishing mighty-works which
He wrought, and myriads, even from countries
remote from the land of JudcCa, who were af-
flicted with sicknesses and diseases of every
kind, were coming to Him in the hope of being
healed, King Abgar ■* also, who was renowned
among the nations on the east of the Euphrates
for his valour, had his body wasting away with
a grievous disease, such as there is no cure for
among men. And when he heard and was in-
formed of the name of Jesus, and about the
mighty works which He did, — for every one alike
bore witness concerning Him, — he sent a letter
of request by a man belonging to him, 5 and
besought Him to come and heal him of his
disease.
But our Saviour at the time that he asked Him
did not comply with his request. Yet He
' By Eusebiiis of Ctesarea. — Tr. The MS. from which this ex-
tract from Eusebius is taken is numbered 14,639, fol. 15 b. It is de-
scribed in Cureton's Corpus Ignntianum, p. 350.
2 Book I. chapter the thirteenth. — Tr.
3 Properly Urrhoi, or CrrAaz* I w*3lic| I. It seems proba-
ble that the word is connected with Osrhoene, the name of the prov-
ince in which Edessa held an important place, the correct form of
(1^?
which is supposed to be Orrhoene. The name Edessa
occurs only once in these Documents, viz., in the " Acts 0/ Sharbil^
sub ittit. — Tr.
■* " By this title all the toparchs of Edessa were called, just as the
Roman emperors were called Ca;sars, the kings of Egypt Pharaohs
or Ptolemies, the kings of Syria Antiochi." Assem., Bibl. Or., vol.
i. p. 261. Assemani adds: " Abgar in Syriac means lame." Moses
of Chorene, however, with more probability, derives it from the Ar-
menian Avag-dir, " grand homme, k cause de sa grande mansuetude
et de sa sagesse, et de plus, a cause de sa taille." See below the ex-
tract from his History 0/ Armenia, book ii. ch. 26.
5 Eusebius has 5i iT!i.aToKi\^6pov .
See note on Taxu6po/xov, on next page. — Tr.
deigned to give him ^ a letter in reply : for He
promised him that He would send one of His
disciples, and heal his sicknesses, and give sal-
vation 7 to him and to all who were connected
with him.*^ Nor did He delay to fulfil His
promise to him : but after He was risen from
the place of the dead, and was received into
heaven, Thomas ^ the apostle, one of the twelve,
as by an impulse from God, sent Thaddaeus,'"
who was himself also numbered among the sev-
enty " disciples of Christ, to Edessa, to be a
preacher and proclaimer of the teaching of
Christ ; and the promise of Christ was through
him fulfilled.
Thou hast in writing the evidence of these
things, which is taken from the Book of Records '^
which was at Edessa : for at that time the king-
dom was still standing.'^ In the documents, then,
which were there, in which was contained what-
ever was done by those of old down to the time
of Abgar, these things also are found preserved
down to the present hour. There is, however,
nothing to prevent our hearing the very letters
themselves, which have been taken by us '■♦ from
6 Lit. " deemed him worthy of." — Tr.
7 Gr. o-wTTjptoi': and so the Syriac word, meaning " life," if gener-
ally to be translated in this collection. — Tr.
8 Syr. " near to him; " Gr. ^wv irpoo-rjKoi-Tuj'.
9 His real name was Judas Thomas: see p. 8.
'° The name is taken from Eusebius, but in the original Syriac
treatises, which follow, he is called Addaeus.
" In The Teaching 0/ the Apostles he is said to have been one of
the " seventy-two apostles." His name, like that of Thomas, seems
to have been the very common one, Judas.
■- These were kept in the archives of the kingdom, which were
transferred by Abgar from Nisibis to Edessa when he made it the
capital of his dominions. See Moses Chor. B. ii. ch. 27, ivfra. The
archives appear to have been still kept at Edessa in A.D. 550. [Com-
pare this fact with TertiiUian's statement, vol. iii. p. 164.]
13 The kingdom of Edessa was brought to an end and entirely sub-
jected to the Romans in A D. 217 or 218.
'* The extract from the archives was probably made by Sextus
Julius Africanus, and copied by Eusebius from his Chronographia.
6;i
652
THE STORY CONCERNING THE KING OF EDESSA.
the archives, and are in words to this effect,
translated from Aramaic into Greek.
Copy of the letter which was written by King '
Abgar to Jesus, and sent to Him by the hand of
Hananias,^ the Tabularius,^ to Jerusalem : —
" Abgar the Black,-* sovereign 5 of the country,
to Jesus, the good Saviour, who has appeared in
the country of Jerusalem : Peace. I have heard
about Thee,^ and about the healing which is
wrought by Thy hands without drugs and roots.
For, as it -is reported, Thou makest the blind to
see, and the lame to walk ; and Thou cleansest
the lepers, and Thou castest out unclean spirits
and demons, and Thou healest those who are
tormented with lingering diseases, and Thou
raisest the dead. And when I heard all these
things about Thee, I settled in my mind one of
two things : either that Thou art God, who hast
come down from heaven, and doest these things ;
or that Thou art the Son of God, and doest these
things. On this account, therefore, I have writ-
ten to beg of Thee that Thou wouldest weary
Thyself to come to me, and heal this disease
which I have. For I have also heard that the
Jews murmur against Thee, and wish to do Thee
harm. But I have a city, small and beautiful,
which is sufficient for two."
Copy of those things which were written 7 by
Jesus by the hand of Hananias, the Tabularius,
to Abgar, sovereign of the country : —
" Blessed is he that hath believed in me, not
having seen me. For it is written ^ concerning
me, that those who see me will not believe in
me, and that those will believe who have not
seen me, and will be saved. But touching that
which thou hast written to me, that I should come
to thee — it is meet that I should finish here all
that for the sake of which I have been sent ;
and, after I have finished it, then I shall be taken
up to Him that sent me ; and, when I have been
taken up, I will send to thee one of my disciples,
that he may heal thy disease, and give salvation
to thee and to those who are with thee."
To these letters, moreover, is appended the
following also in the Aramaic tongue : —
" After Jesus was ascended, Judas Thomas sent
to him Thaddceus the apostle, one of the Seventy.
' Gr. TOTrap^o?.
2 Called Hanan in the original Syriac document; and so in Moses
Cher.: Eusebius has 'Avafia?, which is copied here.
3 Gr. TaxvSpoixov. But the post held by Hananias must have
been one of more dignity than that of a courier. He was probably
a Secretary of State. In The Acts of Addcpiis {in/rn) he is called, in
connection with the name Tabularius, ashnrir, or confidential servant.
It would seem that Tabularius has been confounded with Tabella-
rius, a letter-carrier. — Tr.
* Or " Abgar Uchomo." The epithet was peculiar to this King
Abgar. He was the fourteenth king: the eleventh was called Abgar
Sumoco, or " the Red."
The occasion of the name " Black" is doubtful: it can hardly
have arisen from the fact that Abgar was suffering, as Cedrenus
asserts, from the black leprosy. — Tr.
5 " Head," or " chief" — Tr.
* Comp. jVIatt. iv. 24 : " And His fame went throughout all Syria,"
etc. See also Moses Chor. B. ii. c. 30.
" Gr. a.\'Ti.yf>a(i>ivra, " written in reply."
* [John ix. 39, and xx. 29, 31 ; Hab. i. 5; with Isa. lii. 15, liii. i.]
And, when he was come, he lodged with Tobias,
son of Tobias. And, when the news about him
was heard, they made it known to Abgar : " The
apostle of Jesus is come hither, as He sent thee
word." Thaddoeus, moreover, began to heal
every disease and sickness by the power of God,
so that all men were amazed. And, when Abgar
heard the great and marvellous cures which he
wrought, he bethought himself that he was the
person about whom Jesus had sent him word
and said to him : When I have been taken up,
I will send to thee one of my disciples, that he
may heal thy disease. So he sent and called
Tobias, with whom he was lodging, and said to
him : I have heard that a mighty man has come,
and has entered in and taken up his lodging in
thy house : bring him up, therefore, to me. And
when Tobias came to Thaddaeus he said to him :
Abgar the king has sent and called me, and com-
manded me to bring thee up to him, that thou
mayest heal him. And Thaddceus said : I will
go up, because to him have I been sent with
power. Tobias therefore rose up early the next
day, and took Thaddaeus, and came to Abgar.
" Now, when they 'were come up, his princes
happened to be standing 9 there. And imme-
diately, as he was entering in, a great vision
appeared to Abgar on the countenance of Thad-
d^us the apostle. And, when Abgar saw Thad-
daeus, he prostrated himself before him.'° And
astonishment seized upon all who were standing
there : for they had not themselves seen that
vision, which appeared to Abgar alone. And he
proceeded to ask Thaddaeus : Art thou in truth
the disciple of Jesus the Son of God, who said
to me, I will send to thee one of my disciples,
that he may heal thee and give thee salvation?
And Thaddaeus answered and said : Because
thou hast mightily" beheved on Him that sent
me, therefore have I been sent to thee ; and
again, if thou shalt believe on Him, thou shalt
have the requests of thy heart. And Abgar said
to him : In such wise have I believed on Him,
that I have even desired to take an army and
extirpate those Jews who crucified Him ; were
it not that I was restrained by reason of the do-
minion of the Romans.'^ And Thaddaeus said :
Our Lord has fulfilled the will of His Father ;
and, having fulfilled it, has been taken up to His
Father. Absrar said to him : I too have believed
9 Cureton, "were assembled and standing;" nearly as Euseb.:
irapovTujv Kal ccttioto)!'. But in 2 Sam. xx. i, the only reference
given by Castel for the word '.^joi*^! is used for the Heb. XIpJ..
" he chanced." — Tr.
1° t**^^' '''^^ '^* n^pocreKuVjjCTe of Eusebius, may be rendered
" worshipped." — Tr.
" ^VJkJi— 905; Gr. ;ix6-ydA<o5, lit. "greatly;" C. "nobly." But
nothing more than iiiieiisity is necessarily denoted by either word.
Compare, for the Syriac, Ps. cxix. 107, 167; Dan. ii. 12. — Tr.
'- Compare the letters of Abgar and I'lberius, infra.
STORY CONCERNING THE KING OF EDESSA.
653
in Him and in His Father. And' Thaddseus
said : Therefore do I lay my hand upon thee in
His name. And when he had done this, imme-
diately he was healed of his sickness and of the
disease which he had. And Abgar marvelled,
because, like as he had heard concerning Jesus,
so he saw in deeds by the hand of Thadd^us
His disciple : since without drugs and roots he
healed him ; and not him only, but also Abdu,^
son of Abdu, who had the gout : for he too
went in, and fell at his feet,^ and when he
prayed over him he was healed. And many
other people of their city did he heal, and he
did great works, and preached the word of God.
"After these things Abgar said to him : Thou,
Thaddaeus, doest these things by the power of
God ; we also marvel at them. But in addition
to all these things I beg of thee to relate to me
the story about the coming of Christ, and in
w^hat manner it was ; and about His power, and
by what power He wrought those things of which
I have heard.
" And Thadd?eus said : For the present I will
be silent ; ■♦ but, because I have been sent to
preach the word of God, assemble me to-morrow
all the people of thy city, and I will preach
before them, and sow amongst them the word
of life ; and luill iell them about the coming of
Christ, how it took place ; and about His mis-
' In another piece, The Teaching of Adda-us, i.e., Th^idd^xis,
we have a portion of the original Syriac from which Eusebius' trans-
lation was made. The only portions that correspond are: in the
present piece, from this place to " — accept that of others," near the
end; and, in the following one, from the beginning to " — that which
is not ours." Some of the variations are worthy of notice.
2 See note g, p. 657, infra.
3 This answers sufficiently well to the Greek: 05 ko.\ a.vTo<;
Trpo(TeKdi)iV vn'o Toi'? ■n6Sa<; avTov eireaei'; but, as the original Syriac,
p. 12, reads " he too brought his feet to him, and he laid his hands upon
them and healed him," the Greek translation must have been at
fault.
For brought read presented. — Tr.
< The original Syriac has " I will not hold my peace from declar-
ing this."
sion,5 for what purpose he was sent by His
Father ; and about His power and His deeds,
and about the mysteries which He spake in the
world, and by what power He wrought these
things, and about His new preaching,^ and about .
His abasement and His humiliation, and how
He humbled and emptied and abased Himself,
and was crucified, and descended to Hades,^ and
broke through the enclosure ^ which had never
been broken through before, and raised up the
dead, and descended alone, and ascended with
a great multitude to His Father.^
" Abgar, therefore, commanded that in the
morning all the people of his city should assem-
ble, and hear the preaching of Thaddseus. And
afterwards he commanded gold and silver to be
given to him ; but he received it not, and said :
If we have forsaken that which was our own, how
shall we accept that of others ? "
These things were done in the year 340.'°
In order, moreover, that these things may not
have been translated to no purpose vvord for word
from the Aramaic into Greek, they are placed in
their order of time here.
Here endeth the first book.
5 So Euseb. The orig. Syr. has " His sender "
6 The orig. Syr. has " the certitude of His preaching." The error
seems to have arisen from the Greek translator confounding |.Zo£»^2^*»
with '\A.ftt.
More probably with [JLoZ-^m, "newness (of his preaching),"
which was freely translated by him (irepl) Tr\'i Ka.ivr\^ avrov Krjpv'lews;
and this, again, was by the Syrian re-translator rendered literally, as
in the text.
The word certitude (above) may be rendered unerring truth.
— Tr.
7 Or " Sheol," as in Hebrew. The orig. Syr. gives " the place of.
the dead."
8 Eph. ii. 14.
9 Comp, Matt, xxvii. 52.
■ 1° Valesius says that the Edessenes commenced their era with the
117th Olympiad, the first year of the reign of Seleucus. The year
340 corresponds, therefore, with the fifteenth year of Tiberius.
It should be the beginning q{ the 11 /ih Olympiad. — Tr.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
A CANTICLE OF MAR' JACOB THE TEACHER ON EDESSA.^'
Edessa sent to Christ by an epistle to come
to her and enlighten her. On behalf of all the
peoples did she make intercession to Him that
He would leave Zion, which hated Him, and
come to the peoples, who loved Him.
She despatched a messenger to Him, and
begged of Him to enter into friendship with her.
By the righteous king she made intercession to
Him, that He would depart from the Jewish
people, and towards the other peoples direct His
burden.
From among all kings one wise king did the
daughter of the peoples find. Ambassador she
made him. To her Lord she sent by him :
Come Thou unto me ; I will forget in Thee all
idols and carved images.
The harlot heard the report of Him from afar,
as she was standing in the street, going astray
with idols, playing the wench with carved images.
She loved, she much desired Him, when He was
■far away, and begged Him to admit her into His
chamber.
Let the much-desired Bridegroom kiss me :
with the kisses of His mouth let me be blessed.
I have heard of Him from afar : may I see Him
near ; and may I place my lips upon His, and
be delighted by seeing Him with mine eyes.
Thy breasts are better to me than wine : for
the fragrance of Thy sweetness is life for ever-
more. With Thy milk shall I be nourished ;
with Thy fragrance shall I grow sweet from the
smoke of idols, which with its rank odour did
make me fetid.
Draw me after Thee into Thy fold : for I am
1 Or " My Lord," or " Mr." — Tr.
2 This is taken from Cod. Add. 17, 158, fol. 56, where is added:
" when she sent to our Lord to come to her."
a sheep gone astray in the world. After Thee
do I run, and Thy converse do I seek : that in
me may be completed that number of a hun-
dred, by means of a lost one which is found. 3
Let Gabriel rejoice and be exceeding glad,
with the company of all the angels, in Thee, the
Good Shepherd, who on Thy shoulders didst
carry the maimed sheep, that that number of a
hundred might be preserved.
Thy love is better than wine ; than the face
of the upright Thy affection. By wine let us be
reminded of Thee, how by the cup of Thy blood
Thou didst grant us to obtain new life, and the
upright did celebrate Thy love.
A church am I from among the peoples, and
I have loved the Only-begotten who was sent
by God: whereas His betrothed hated Him, I
have loved Him ; and by the hands of Abgar the
Black "* do I beseech Him to come to me and
visit me.
Black am I, yet comely. Ye daughters of
Zion, blameless is your envy, seeing that the Son
of the Glorious One hath espoused me, to bring
me into His chamber. Even when I was hate-
ful, He loved me, for He is able to make me
fairer than water.
Black was I in sins, but I am comely : for I
have repented and turned me. I have put away
in baptism that hateful hue, for He hath washed
me in His innocent blood who is the Saviour of
all creatures.
He}-e end the Extracts from the Canticle on
Edessa.5
3 [Luke XV. 5.]
■* See note on p. 652
5 [This ancient imitation of the Canticles shows how that book was
understood, as of Christ and His Church.]
654
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS BOOKS CONCERNING ABGAR THE KING AND
ADD^US THE APOSTLE.
OF THE BLESSED ADD^US THE APOSTLE. FROM
HIS TEACHING WHICH HE GAVE EST EDESSA BE-
FORE ABGAR THE KING AND THE ASSEMBLY OF
THE CITY.'
And, when he had entered the sepulchre, he
was raised to hfe again, and came forth from the
sepulchre with many. And those who were
guarding the sepulchre saw not how He came
forth from the sepulchre ; but the watchers from
on high — they were the proclaimers and an-
nouncers of His resurrection. For, had He not
willed. He had not died, because He is Lord of
death, the exit from this life ; nor, had it not
pleased Him, would He have put on a body, in-
asmuch as He is Himself the framer of the body.
For that will which led Him to stoop to be born
of the Virgin, likewise caused Him further to
descend to the suffering of death. — And a little
after {we read) : For, although His appearance
was that of men, yet His power, and His knowl-
edge, and his authority, were those of God.
FROM THE TEACHING OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE,
WHICH WAS SPOKEN IN THE CITY OF EDESSA.^
Ye know that I said unto you, that none of
the souls which go forth out of the bodies of men
are under the power of death, but that they all
live and continue to exist, and that there are for
them mansions and an abode of rest. For the
reasoning power of the soul does not cease, nor
the knowledge, because it is the image of the
immortal God. For it is not without perceptions,
after the manner of the bodily frame, which has
no perception of that corruption which has ac-
quired dominion over it. Recompense, however,
and reward it will not receive apart from its
bodily form, because what it experiences belongs
not to itself alone, but to the bodily form also in
' Taken from Cod. Add. 14,535, fol. i.
^ From Cod. Add. 12,155, ^o'- 53 vers.
which it dwelt for a time. But the disobedient,
who have not known God, will then repent with-
out avail.
in.
FROM THE EPISTLE OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE,
WHICH HE SPAKE IN THE CITY OF EDESSA.^
Give heed to this ministry which ye hold, and
with fear and trembling continue ye in it, and
minister every day. Minister ye not in it with
neglectful habits, but with the discreetness of
faith. And let not the praises of Christ cease
out of your mouth, and let not any sense of
weariness come over you at the season of prayers.
Give heed to the verity which ye hold, and to
the teaching of the truth which ye have received,
and to the teaching of salvation which I commit
to you. Because before the tribunal of Christ
will it be required of you, when He maketh reck-
oning with the pastors and overseers, and when
He shall take His money from the traders with
the usury of what they have taught."* For He is
the Son of a King, and goeth to receive a king-
dom, and He will return and come and make a
resuscitation to life of all men.
IV.
Addseuss preached at Edessa and in Mesopo-
tamia (he was from Paneus^) in the days of
Abgar the king. And, when he was among the
Zophenians, Severus the son of Abgar sent and
slew him at Agel Hasna, as also a young man
his disciple.
V.
71. and Narcissus.5 For they did not suffer
that selection of the Seventy-two to be wanting,
as likewise neither that of the Twelve. This
man was of the Seventy-two : perhaps he was a
disciple of Addseus the apostle.
3 From Cod. Add. 17,193, fol. 36. See Teaching of Addceus,
p. 657, infra.
"• Or " of the doctrines. — Tr.
5 Extracts iv. and v. are from Cod. .'Vdd. 14,601, fol. 164, written
apparently in the eighth century.
l" i e., Paneas. — Tr.
655
656
EXTRACTS CONCERNING ABGAR AND ADD^US.
VI.
FROM THE DEPARTURE ' OF MARATH ^ MARY FROM
THE WORLD, AND THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. BOOK THE SECOND.
In the year three hundred and forty-five, in
the month of the latter Tishrin,^ Marath Mary
went out from her house, and went to the sepul-
chre of Christ : because every day she used to
go and weep there. But the Jews immediately
after the death of Christ seized the sepulchre,
and heaped great stones at the door of it. And
over the sepulchre and Golgotha they set guards,
and commanded them that, if any one should
go and pray at the sepulchre or at Golgotha, he
should immediately be put to death. And the
Jews took away the cross of our Lord, and those
two other crosses, and that spear with which our
Saviour was struck, and those nails which they
drove into His hands and into His feet, and those
robes of mockery in which He had been clad ;
and they hid them : lest, as they said, any one of
the kings or of the chief persons should come and
inquire concerning the putting to death of Christ.
And the guards went in and said to the priests :
Mary cometh in the evening and in the morning,
and prayeth there. And there was a commotion
in Jerusalem on account of Marath Mary. And
the priests went to the judge, and said to him :
My lord, send and command Mary that she go
not to pray at the sepulchre and at Golgotha.
And while they were deliberating, lo ! letters came
from Abgar, the king of the city of Edessa, to
Sabina the procurator ■♦ who had been appointed
by Tiberius the emperor, and as far as the river
Euphrates the procurator Sabina had authority.
And, because Addseus the apostle, one of the
seventy-two apostles, had gone down and built a
church at Edessa, and had cured the disease
with which Abgar the king was afflicted — for
Abgar the king loved Jesus Christ, and was con-
stantly inquiring about Him ; and, when Christ
was put to death and Abgar the king heard that
the Jews had slain Him on the cross, he was
much displeased ; and Abgar arose and rode and
came as far as the river Euphrates, because he
wished to go up against Jerusalem and lay it
waste ; and, when Abgar came and was arrived
at the river Euphrates, he deliberated in his
mind : If I pass over, there will be enmity be-
tween me and Tiberius the emperor. And Abgar
wrote letters and sent them to Sabina the pro-
curator, and Sabina sent them to Tiberius the
emperor. In this manner did Abgar write to
Tiberius the emperor : —
" From Abgar, the king of the city of Edessa.
Much peace to thy Majesty, our lord Tiberius !
In order that thy Majesty may not be offended
with me, I have not passed over the river
Euphrates : for I have been wishing to go up
against Jerusalem and lay her waste, forasmuch
as she has slain Christ, a skilful healer. But do
thou, as a great sovereign who hast authority over
all the earth and over us, send and do me judg-
ment on the people of Jerusalem. For be it
known to thy Majesty that I desire that thou wilt
do me judgment on the crucifiers."
And Sabina received the letters, and sent
them to Tiberius the emperor. And, when he
had read them, Tiberius the emperor was greatly
incensed, and he desired to destroy and slay all
the Jews. And the people of Jerusalem heard
it and were alarmed. And the priests went to
the governor, and said to him : My lord, send
and command Mary that she go not to pray at
the sepulchre and Golgotha. The judge said to
the priests : Go ye yourselves, and give her what
command and what caution ye please.
• VII.
FROM THE HOMILY COMPOSED BY THE HOLY MAR
JACOB, THE TEACHER, ON THE FALL OF ID0LS.5
To Edessa he made his journey, and found in it
a great work :
For the king was become a labourer for the
church, and was building it.
The apostle Addaeus stood in it like a builder,
And King Abgar laid aside his diadem and
builded with him.
When apostle and king concurred the one with
the other.
What idol must not fall before them ?
Satan fled to the land of Babylon from the dis-
ciples.
And the tale of the crucifixion had got before
him to the country of the Chaldeans.
He said, when they were making sport of the
signs of the Zodiac, that he was nothing.
VIII.
FROM THE HOMILY ABOUT THE TOWN OF ANTIOCH.^
To Simon was allotted Rome,^ and to John
Ephesus ; to Thomas India, and to Addoeus the
country of the Assyrians.'^ And, when they were
sent each one of them to the district which had
been allotted to him, they devoted themselves ^
to bring the several countries to discipleship.
1 From Cod. Add. 16,484, fol. 19. It consists of an apocrj'ptial
work on the Virgin, of the fifth or sixth century.
2 i.e., "My Lady" or "Madam" (= mea domina) : it is the
feminine form of " Mar." — Tr.
3 Beginning with the new moon of October. H'h^ former Tish-
Tin was the month immediately preceding. — Tr.
■* The Greek eTriTpoiro? is used. — Tr.
5 From Cod. Add. 14,624, apparently written in the ninth century.
6 From Cod. Add. 14,590, of the eighth or ninth century.
7 [.A note of the Middle Age. The reverse is taught in the
Scriptures, but even Hebrew Christians slurred the name of Paul.]
8 This is probably the correct readmg: the printed text means
"among the Assyrians." — Tr.
9 Lit. " set their faces." — Tr.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
THE TEACHING OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE.'
Add^us ^ said to him : Because thou hast thus
believed, I lay my hand upon thee in the name
of Him in whom thou hast thus believed. And
at the very moment that he laid his hand upon
him he was healed of the plague of the disease
which he had for a long time.^ And Abgar was
astonished and marvelled, because, like as he
had heard about Jesus, how He wrought and
healed, so Addaeus also, without any medicine
whatever, was healing in the name of Jesus.
And Abdu also, son of Abdu, had the gout in
his feet ; and he also presented his feet to him,
and he laid his hand upon them, and healed him,
and he had the gout no more. And in all the
city also he wrought great cures, and showed
forth wonderful mighty-works in it.
Abgar said to him : Now that every man
knoweth that by the power of Jesus Christ thou
doest these miracles, and lo ! we are astonished
at thy deeds, I therefore entreat of thee to re-
late to us the story about the coming of Christ,
in what manner it was, and about His glorious
power, and about the miracles which we have
heard that He did, which thou hast thyself seen,
together with thy fellow-disciples.
Addaeus said : I will not hold my peace from
declaring this ; since for this very purpose was
I sent hither, that I might speak to and teach
every one who is willing to believe, even as thou.
Assemble me to-morrow all the city, and I will
sow in it the word of life by the preaching which
I will address to you — about the coming of
Christ, in what manner it was ; and about Him
that sent Him, why and how He sent Him ; and
about His power and His wonderful works ; and
about the glorious mysteries of His coming,
which He spake of in the world ; and about the
unerring truth'* of His preaching; and how and
for what cause He abased Himself, and humbled
' This fragment, extending to the lacuna on p. 658, is contained in
the MS. No. 14,654, at fol. 33. It consists of one leaf only, and is
part of a volume of fragments, of which the age is certainly not later
than the beginning of the fifth century.
2 See note 1 on p. 653, — Tr.
3 Moses Chor says that he had been suflTering seven years from
a disease caught in Persia.
* " The certitude." — C. [See p. 653, supra, note 6.]
His exalted Godhead by the manhood which He
took, and was crucified, and descended to the
place of the dead, and broke through the en-
closure 5 which had never been broken through
before, and gave life to the dead by being slain
Him.self, and descended alone, and ascended
with many to His glorious Father, with whom
He had been from eternity in one exalted
Godhead.
And Abgar commanded them to give to Ad-
dseus silver and gold. Addaeus said to him :
How can we receive that which is not ours. For,
lo ! that which was ours have we forsaken, as we
were commanded by our Lord ; because without
purses and without scrips, bearing the cross upon
our shoulders, were we commanded to preach
His Gospel in the whole creation, of whose cruci-
fixion, which was for our sakes, for the redemp-
tion of all men, the whole creation was sensible
and suffered pain.
And he related before Abgar the king, and
before his princes and his nobles, and before
Augustin, Abgar's mother, and before Shalmath,^
the daughter of Meherdath,'' Abgar's wife,*^ the
signs of our Lord, and His wonders, and the
glorious mighty-works which He did, and His
divine exploits, and His ascension to His Father ;
and how they had received power and authority
at the same time that He was received up — by
which same power it was that he had healed
Abgar, and Abdu son of Abdu, the second per-
son 9 of his kingdom ; and how He informed
them that He would reveal Himself at the end
of the ages '° and at the consummation of all
created things ; also of the resuscitation and
resurrection which is to come for all men, and
5 Eph. ii. 14.
'' The vowels supplied in this word are conjectural, as is the case
with most of the proper names in these Documents. Perhaps the
name of this person is to be read Shalamtho, as there is a ^SaAa^ii/iitu,
the wife of Phasaelus, mentioned in Jos., Antiq., b. xviii. c. v.
' Who this was, does not appear. He may have been some con-
nection of Meherdates king of the Parthians, of whom Tacitus, Ann.,
xii. 12, speaks as having been entertained at Edessa by Abgar.
* According to Moses Chor. b. ii. ch. xxxv., the first, or chief,
wife of Abgar was Helena.
9 Probably one of the second rank. Tacitus, Ann., vi. 31, 32,
mentions a man named Abdus, perhaps the s.ime as this one, as pos-
sessing great authority in the Parthian kingdom. [Note2, p.653i?//r«.]
'° Or " times."— Tr.
657
658
THE TEACHING OF ADDvEUS THE APOSTLE.
the separation which will be made between the
sheep and the goats, and between the faithful
and those who believe not.
And he said to them : Because the gate of life
is strait and the way of truth narrow, therefore
are the believers of the truth few, and through
unbelief is Satan's gratification. Therefore are
the liars many who lead astray those that see.
For, were it not that there is a good end await-
ing believing men, our Lord would not have
descended from heaven, and come to be born,
and to endure the suffering of death. Yet He
did come, and us did He send ' ... of the
faith which we preach, that God was crucified
for ^ all men.
And, if there be those who are not willing ^ to
agree with these our words, let them draw near
to us and disclose to us what is in their mind,
that, like as in the case of a disease, we may
apply to their thoughts healing medicine for the
cure of their ailments. For, though ye were not
present at the time of Christ's suffering, yet from
the sun which was darkened, and which ye saw,
learn ye and understand concerning the great
convulsion ^ which took place at that time, when
He was crucified whose Gospel has winged its
way through all the earth by the signs which His
disciples my fellows do in all the earth : yea,
those who were Hebrews, and knew only the lan-
guage of the Hebrews, in which they were born,
lo ! at this day are speaking in all languages,
in order that those who are afar off may hear and
believe, even as those who are near. For He it
is that confounded the tongues of the presump-
tuous in this region who were before us ; and He
it is that teaches at this day the faith of truth
and verity by us, humble and despicable ^ men
from Galilee of Palestine. For I also whom ye
see am from Paneas,5 from the place where the
river Jordan issues forth, and I was chosen, to-
gether with my fellows, to be a preacher.
For, according as my Lord commanded me,
lo ! I preach and publish the Gospel, and lo !
His money do I cast upon the table before you,
and the seed of His word do I sow in the ears
of all men ; and such as are willing to receive it,
theirs is the good recompense of the confession
of Christ; but those who are not persuaded, the
dust of my feet do I shake off against them, as
He commanded me.
' The remainder of " The TeacJiing of Addcens" is taken from
another MS. of the Nitrlan collection in the Brit. Miis., Cod. Add.
14,644. It is one of those which were procured in the year of the
Greeks 1243 (a.d. 931) by the abbot Moses during his visit to Bag-
dad. It appears to be of the sixth century.
2 Both " for" and " willing" are conjectural, the MS. being dam-
aged. — Wright.
3 Possibly " earthquake," for which sense see Mich., p. 161 ; and
soon p. 659, infra. — Tr.
■♦ Properly " miserable." Compare Rom. vii. 24; i Cor. xv. 19.
— Tr
s Otherwise Csesarea Paneas, or C. Philippi: now Banias. — Tb.
Repent therefore, my beloved, of evil ways
and of abominable deeds, and turn yourselves
towards Him with a good and honest will, as He
hath turned Himself towards you with the favour
of His rich mercies ; and be ye not as the gen-
erations of former times that have passed away,
which, because they hardened their heart against
the fear of God, received punishment openly,
that they themselves might be chastised, and
that those who come after them may tremble
and be afraid. For the purpose of our Lord's
coming into the world assuredly was,^ that He
might teach us and show us that at the consum-
mation of the creation there will be a resuscita-
tion of all men, and that at that time their course
of conduct will be portrayed in their persons, and
their bodies will be volumes for the writings of
justice ; nor will any one be there who is unac-
quainted with books, because every one will read
that which is written in His own book.^
Ye that have eyes, forasmuch as ye do not
perceive, are yourselves also become like those
who see not and hear not ; and in vain do your
ineffectual voices strain themselves to deaf ^ ears.
Whilst they are not to be blamed for not hearing,
because they are by ^ nature deaf and dumb, yet
the blame which is justly incurred falls upon you,'°
because ye are not willing to perceive — not even
that which ye see. For the dark cloud of error
which overspreads your minds suffers you not to
obtain the heavenly light, which is the under-
standing of knowledge."
Flee, then, from things made and created, as
I said to you, which are only called gods in name,
whilst they are not gods in their nature ; and
draw near to this Being, who in His nature is
God from everlasting and from eternity, and
is not something made, like your idols, nor is He
a creature and a work of art, like those images in
which ye glory. Because, {ilthough this '^ Being
put on a body, yet is He God with His Father.
For the works of creation, which trembled when
He was slain and were dismayed at His suffering
of death, — these bear witness that He is Him-
self God the Creator. For it was not on account
of a man that the earth trembled,'^ but on ac-
6 Cureton: "the whole object of our Lord's coming into the
world was." But 01 Ti*'^ is = otnnino. — Tr.
7 A few lines are wanting here in the MS.
8 The greater part of the word rendered " deaf" is conjectural. —
Wright.
The "your" looks as if it were impersonal: "it is useless for
any one to talk to the deaf." — Tr.
9 " By " ( V.2 ) is not in the printed text. — Tr.
'° Lit. " tiie blame in which justice is involved (prop., buried) is
yours." — Tr.
•I Comp. Prov. xix. 25. — Tr.
'2 " This " is doubtful. — Wright.
'3 I have very little doubt that we should substitute \^'i\ ^^^
— the earth trembled — for P»'l ■ S*^? — who is from the earth.
— Wright. [Words iu italics are by the translator.]
THE TEACHING OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE.
659
count of Him who established the earth upon
the waters ; nor was it on account of a man that
the sun grew dark in the heavens, but on account
of Him who made the great hghts ; nor was it
for a man that the just and righteous were re-
stored to Hfe again, but for Him who had granted
power over death from the beginning ; nor was
it for a man that the veil of the temple of the
Jews was rent from the top to the bottom, but
for Him who said to them, " Lo, your house is
left desolate." For, lo ! unless those who cruci-
fied Him had known that He was the Son of
God, they would not have had to proclaim ' the
desolation^ of their city, nor would they have
brought down Woe ! upon themselves.^ For, even
if they had wished to make light of this confes-
sion,-* the fearful convulsions which took place at
that time would not have suffered them to do so.
For lo ! some even of the children of the cruci-
fiers are become at this day preachers and evan-
gelists, along with my fellow-apostles, in all the
land of Palestine, and among the Samaritans, and
in all the country of the Philistines. The idols
also of paganism are despised, and the cross of
Christ is honoured, and all nations and creatures
confess God who became man.
If, therefore, while Jesus our Lord was on
earth ye would have believed in Him that He is
the Son of God, and before ye had heard the
word of His preaching would have confessed Him
that. He is God, now that He is ascended to
His Father, and ye have seen the signs and the
wonders which are done in His name, and have
heard with your own ears the word of His Gos-
pel, let no one of you doubt in his mind — so
that the promise of His blessing which He sent
to you may be fulfilled 5 towards you : Blessed
are ye that have believed in me, not having seen
me ; and, because ye have so believed in me,
the town ^ in which ye dwell shall be blessed, and
the enemy shall not prevail against it for ever.''
' Lit. " have proclaimed." — Tr.
2 Cureton renders: " They would not have proclaimed the deso-
latioti of their city, nor would they have divulged the atjliction of
their soul in crying Woe!" Dr. Wright pronounces the two words
whose equivalents are given in italics to be very doubtful. Dr.
Payne Smith, instead of the latter of the two [ "^.s] ) , conjectures
( -OffLA^J 1^ v.^|. This conjecture has been adopted. "Brought
down " I »mti°l ^ Vi 1 is lit " caused to drop." — Tr.
3 The ancient Syriac Gospel, Luke xxiii 48, gives: "And all
those who were assembled there, and saw that which was done, were
smiting on their breast, and saying, Woe to us! what is this? Woe
to us for our sins! "
4 i.e., Christianity. — Tr.
5 Or " confirmed." — Tr.
6 Perhaps " town" will not seem too insignificant a word if it be
taken in its original sense of a fortified place, which the Syriac term
also denotes. It seemed desirable to distinguish, if possible, the two
words which have been rendered respectively " city " and " town " in
these pages. The only exception made is m a single passage where
Rome is spoken of. — Tr.
7 These words are not in the letter of Christ to Abgar. They
must therefore be, either a message brought by Addseus himself, or,
much more probably, a later interpolation : earlier, however, than
Ephr.iem Syrus, who alludes to them in his Testament This notion
of the immunity of the city nf Edessa is referred to by several Syriac
writers. Nor was it confined to the East : it obtained in vei-y early
Turn not away, therefore, from his faith : for, lo !
ye have heard and seen what things bear witness
to His faith — showing \\\2X He is. the adorable
Son, and is the glorious God, and is the victorious
King, and is the mighty Power ; and through
faith in Him a man is able to acquire the eyes
of a true mind,^ and to understand that, who-
soever worshippeth creatures, the wrath of justice
will overtake him.
For ill everything which we speak before you,
according as we have received of the gift of our
Lord, so speak we and teach and declare //, that
ye may secure ^ your salvation and not destroy'"
your spirits through the error of paganism : be-
cause the heavenly light has arisen on the crea-
tion, and He it is who chose the fathers of former
times, and the righteous men, and the prophets,
and spake with them in the revelation of the
Holy Spirit." For He is Himself the God of
the Jews who crucified Him ; and to Him it is
that the erring pagans offer worship, even while
they know it not : because there is no other God
in heaven and on earth ; and lo ! confession
ascendeth up to Him from the four quarters of
the creation. Lo ! therefore, your ears have
heard that which was not heard by you ; and lo !
further, your eyes have seen that which was
never seen by you.'^
Be not, therefore, gainsayers of that which ye
have seen and heard. Put away from you the
rebellious mind of your fathers, and free your-
selves from the yoke of sin, which hath dominion
over you in libations and in sacrifices offered
before carved images ; and be ye concerned for
your endangered '^ salvation, and for the unavail-
ing support on which ye lean ; '* and get you a
new mind, that worships the Maker and not the
times in our own country, where the letter of our Lord to Abgar was
regarded as a charm. In a very ancient service-book of the Saxon
times, preserved ih the British Museum, the letter follows the Lord's
Prayer and the Apostles' Creed: and an appended description of the
virtues of the epistle closes with these words, according to the Latin
version of Rufinus : "5/ quis hatic epistolam secum Jiabnerit,
securus ambulet in pace." Jeremiah Jones, writing of the last
century, says: " The common people in England have had it in their
houses in many places in a frame with a picture befijre it; and they
generally, with much honesty and devotion, regard it as the word of
God and the genuine epistle of Christ." Even now a similar practice
is believed to linger in some districts. The story of Abgar is told in
an Anglo-Saxon poem, published in Abgar its-Legenden paa Old-
Etigeisk by G. Stephens, Copenhagen, 1853.
It consists of 204 lines, is a tolerably close rendering of Eusebius,
and is ascribed by Stephens to Aelfnc, archbishop of York from 1023
to 1052. Note that ambulet (above) is for ambtilabit, apparently. —
Tr.
8 See Eph. i. r8.
9 Lit. "obtain." — Tr.
10 Or"lose." — Tr.
" Lit. " Spirit of holiness." — Tr.
•*[Isa. Hi. 15.]
'3 Prop. " lost, or " being lost," " perishing." — Tr.
'■» Lit. " support of your head." — Tr. The word rendered " sup-
port " is not in the dictionaries, but its derivation and form are known.
Mar Jacob, infra, has a similar expression: " A resting-place for the
head, etc."
Where, however, his word is derived from a root meaning to
" prop up " ( '^ Vim J , whereas the root of our word denotes to
"bend itself," " bow down" (— — i 1, and is often used of the de-
clining day (as Luke xxiv. 29). It is used of the bending of the head
in John xix. 30. The actual leaning of the head for support is not
expressed in the verb, but would naturally be inferred from it. — Tr.
66o
THE TEACHING OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE.
things which are made — a mind in which is
portrayed the image of verity and of truth, of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit ; beheving and being baptized in the triple
and glorious names. For this is our teaching
and our preaching. For the belief of the truth
of Christ does not consist of many things.' And
those of you as are willing to be obedient to
Christ are aware that I have many times repeated
my words before you, in order that ye might
learn and understand what ye hear.
And we ourselves shall rejoice in this, like the
husbandman who rejoices in the field which is
blessed ; God also will be glorified by your re-
pentance towards Him. While ye are saved
hereby, we also, who give you this counsel, shall
not be despoiled of the blessed reward of this
work. And, because I am assured that ye are
a land blessed according to the will of the Lord
Christ, therefore, instead of the dust of our feet
which we were commanded to shake off against
the town that would not receive our words, lo !
I have shaken off to-day at the door of your ears
the sayings of my lips, in which are portrayed
the coming of Christ which has already been,
and also that which is yet to be ; and the resur-
rection, and the resuscitation of all men, and the
separation which is to be made between the faith-
ful and the unbelieving ; and the sore punishment
which is reserved for those who know not God,
and the blessed promise of future joy which they
shall receive who have believed in Christ and
worshipped Him and His exalted Father, and
have confessed Him and His divine Spirit.^
And now it is meet for us that I conclude my
present discourse ; and let those who have ac-
cepted the word of Christ remain with us, and
those also who are willing to join with us in
prayer ; and afterwards let them go to their
homes.
And Addaeus the apostle was rejoiced to see
that a great number of the population of the city
stayed with him ; and they were lyut few who did
not remain at that time, while even those few
not many days after accepted his words and
believed in the Gospel set forth in ^ tlie preach-
ing of Christ.
And when Addaeus the apostle had spoken
these things before all the town of Edessa, and
King Abgar saw that all the city rejoiced in his
teaching, men and women alike, and heard thetn
saying to him, " True and faithful is Christ who
sent thee to us " — he himself also rejoiced
greatly at this, giving praise to God ; because,
like as he had heard from Hanan,'' his Tabu-
larius, about Christ, so had he seen the wonder-
' Lit. " the truth of Christ is not believed in many things." — Tr.
2 Lit. " the Spirit of His Godhead " = His Spirit of Godhead =
His divine Spirit." — Tr.
3 Lit. " the Gospel of." — Tr.
* See p. 652, note 3, supra.
ful mighty-works which Addaeus the apostle did
in the name of Christ.
And Abgar the king also said to him : Accord-
ing as I sent to Christ in my letter to Him, and
according as He also sent to me, so have I also
received from thine own self this day ; so will
I believe all the days of my life, and in the self-
same things will I continue and make my boast,
because I know also that there is no other power
in whose name these signs and wonders are done
but the power of Christ whom thou preachest in
verity and in truth. And henceforth Him will I
worship — I and my son Maanu,5 and Augustin,^
and Shalmath the queen. And now, wherever
thou desirest, build a church, a place of meeting
for those who have believed and shall believe in
thy words ; and, according to the command
given thee by thy Lord, minister thou at the sea-
sons with confidence ; to those also who shall
be with thee as teachers of this Gospel I am pre-
pared to give large donations, in order that they
may not have any other work beside the ministry ;
and whatsoever is required by thee for the ex-
penses of the building I myself will give thee
without any restrictioo,^ whilst thy word shall be
authoritative and sovereign in this town ; more-
over, without the intervention of any other per-
son do thou come into my presence as one in
authority, into the palace of my royal majesty.
And when Abgar was gone down to his royal
palace he rejoiced, he and his princes with him,
Abdu son of Abdu, and Garmai, and Shemash-
gram,^ and Abubai, and Meherdath,^ together
with the others their companions, at all that their
eyes had seen and their ears also had heard ;
and in the gladness of their heart they too began
to praise God for having turned their mind
towards Him, renouncing the paganism in which
they had lived,'" and confessing the Gospel of
Christ. And when Addaeus had built a church
they proceeded to offer in it vows and oblations,
they and the people of the city ; and there they
continued to present their praises all the days of
their life.
And Avida and Barcalba," who were chief men
and rulers, and wore the royal headband,'^ drew
5 Abgar had \>no sons of this name. This is probably the elder,
who succeeded his father at Edessa, and reigned seven years. Bayer
makes him the fifteenth king of Edessa.
^ Abgar's mother: see p. 657.
'' Lit. " reckoning." — Tr.
8 The vowels in this name are supplied from the treatise of Bar-
desan. Whiston, from the Armenian form, writes the name Samsa-
gram. He was sent, together with Hanan and Maryhab, as envoy
to Marinus. See Mos. Chor. B. ii. c. 30.
9 See Tac, Ann., xii. 12.
■° Lit. " stood." — Tr,
" The son of Zati (see p. 663, note 7, snfirn).
'2 Or " the headbands of the kings." Nothing appears to be
known of the derivation of the word |7&.<*, which does not occur
in the ordinary lexicons. Dr. Payne Smith has favoured the trans-
lator with the following note: " |?i^» is evidently some kind of
ornament. In Ephs. ii. 379 (in the form pa_«») it is an ornament
worn by young people. B. A. (Bar Alii Lex. Syro-Arab.)
THE TEACHING OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE.
66 1
near to Addaeus, and asked him about the matter
of Christ, requesting that he would tell them
how He, though He was God, appeared to them
as a man : And how, said they, were ye able to
look upon Him? And he proceeded to satisfy
them all about this, about all that their eyes had
seen and about whatsoever their ears had heard
from him. Moreover, everything that the
prophets had spoken concerning Him he re-
peated before them, and they received his words
gladly and with faith, and there was not a man
that withstood him ; for the glorious deeds
which he did suffered not any man to withstand
him.
Shavida, moreover, and Ebednebu, chiefs of
the priests of this town, together with Piroz'
and Dilsu their companions, when they had seen
the signs which he did, ran and threw down the
altars on which they were accustomed to sacri-
fice before Nebu and Bel,^ their gods, except the
great altar which was in the middle of the town ;
and they cried out and said : Verily this is the
disciple of that eminent and glorious Master,
concerning whom we have heard all that He did
in the coimtry of Palestine. And all those who
believed in Christ did Addsus receive, and bap-
tized them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And those who
used to worship stones and stocks sat at his feet,
recovered from the madness ? of paganism where-
with they had been afflicted. Jews also, traders
in fine raiment,"* who were familiar with the law
and the prophets — they too were persuaded,
and became disciples, and confessed Christ that
He is the Son of the living God.
But neither did King Abgar nor yet the
Apostle Addaeus compel any man by force to
believe in Christ, because without the force of
man the force of the signs compelled many to
believe in Him. And with affection did they
receive His doctrine — all this country of
Mesopotamia, and all the regions round
about it.
and K. (Georgii Karmsedlnoyo Lex.) render it (in the form
J5a_»fc) is>L^& ^•LX»'0> which may mean 'a circlet of jewels.'"
Cureton s?ys: " These headbands of the king, or diadems, seem to
have been made of silk or muslin scarves, like the turbans of orientals
at the present day, interwoven with gold, and with figures and de-
vices upon them, as was the case with that worn by Sharbil. See
Acts cf Sharbil, sub itiit." The art. Diadcvia in Dr. W. Smith's
Antiqq. seems to furnish a good idea of what is intended. The orna-
ment was probably white ; and this has caused our expression to
be sometimes confounded with the similar r'QiM > At *^\. See
Teaching of Simon Cephas, init. — Tr.
' The same name as Berosus, who is so called in the modern
Persian.
2 These were the chief gods of Edessa, the former representing
the sun, and the latter the moon.
3 The reference seems to be to Mark v. 15. — Tr.
■< The " soft clothing" of Matt. xi. 8, where the Peshito and the
" Ancient Recension " have the same word as appears here. Cureton
renders it "silk," but remarks: "It would appear to be cotton or
muslin, lana xylina, not bombycina." [The word clothing, with
the Peshito and, should be credited to the translator.]
AggJEus, moreover, who s made the silks ^ and
headbands of the king, and Palut, and Barshe-
lama, and Barsamya, together with the others
their companions, clave to Addaeus the apostle ;
and he received them, and associated them with
him in the ministry, their business being to read
in the Old Testament and the New,? and in the
prophets, and in the Acts of the Apostles, and
to meditate upon them daily ; strictly charging
them to let their bodies be pure and their persons
holy, as is becoming in men who stand before the
altar of God. " And be ye," said he, " far re-
moved from false swearing and from wicked
homicide, and from dishonest testimony, which
is connected with adultery ; and from magic
arts, for which there is no mercy, and from sooth-
saying, and divination, and fortune-tellers ; and
from fate and nativities, of which the deluded
Chaldeans make their boast ; and from the stars,
and the signs of the Zodiac, in which the foolish
put their trust. And put far from you unjust
partiality, and bribes, and presents, through which
the innocent are pronounced guilty. And along
with this ministry, to which ye have been called,
see that ye have no other work besides : for the
Lord is the work of your ministry all the days
of your life. And be ye diligent to give the seal
of baptism. And be not fond of the gains of
this world. And hear ye a cause with justice
and with truth. And be ye not a stumbling-
block to the blind, lest through you should be
blasphemed the name of Him who opened the
eyes of the blind, according as we have seen.
Let all, therefore, who see you perceive that
ye yourselves are in harmony with whatsoever ye
preach and teach."
And they ministered with him in the church
which Addaeus had built at the word and com-
mand of Abgar the king, being furnished with
supplies by the king and his nobles, partly for
the house of God, and partly for the supply of
the poor. Moreover, much people day by day
assembled and came to the prayers of the ser-
vice, and to tlie readiiig of the Old Testament,
s The text has not ? , but it is best to supply it. — Tr.
* Cureton gives "chains," which in his notes he changes to
"silks," or "muslins," adopting, with C, the reading \-^\ « ^ in-
stead of the (-»'?i-A of the printed text. Mos. Chor. calls Aggaeus
" un fabricant de coiffures de soie," according to the translation ot
Florival; or " quendam f^^-zVz" opificem," according to Whiston. It
maybe added that the word H^j-^^ is doubtless the same as our
" silk," which is only a form of Sericum, an adjective from Seres,
the people whose country was the native home of the silk-worm. —
Tr.
7 These terms could only have been used here in the sense of the
Law of Moses and the Gospel. If by the Acts of the Apostles is
meant the work of Luke, this passage seems to show that the com-
piler of this account of Addaeus wrote some years subsequently to the
events which he relates, or that it has been added by a later interpo-
lator. For at the earlier period of Addaeus' ministry no other part of
the New Testament was written than the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew,
which is probably the Gospel here meant.
662
■ THE TEACHING OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE.
and the New of the Diatessaron.' They also
beheved in the restoration of the dead, and
buried their departed in the hope of resuscita-
tion. The festivals of the Church they also ob-
served in their seasons, and were assiduous every
day in the vigils of the Church. And they made
visits of almsgiving, to the sick and to those that
were whole, according to the instruction of Ad-
d?eus to them. In the environs, too, of the city
churches were built, and many received from
him ordination to the priesthood.^ So that even
people of the East, in the guise of merchants,
passed over into the territory of the Romans, that
they might see the signs which Addoeus did. And
such as became disciples received from him or-
dination to the priesthood, and in their own
country of the Assyrians they instructed the peo-
ple of their nation, and erected houses of prayer
there in secret, by reason of the danger from those
who worshipped fire and paid reverence to water.^
Moreover, Narses, the king of the Assyrians,
when he heard of those same things which Ad-
daeus the apostle had done, sent a message to
Abgar the king : Either despatch to me the man
who doeth these signs before thee, that I may
see him and hear his word, or send me an ac-
count of all that thou hast seen him do in thy
own town. And Abgar wrote to Narses,-* and
related to him the whole story of the deeds of
Addceus from the beginning to the end ; and he
left nothing which he did not write to him. And,
when Narses heard those things which were writ-
ten to him, he was astonished and amazed.
Abgar the king, moreover, because he was not
able to pass over into the territory of the Ro-
mans,5 and go to Palestine and slay the Jews for
having crucified Christ, wrote a letter and sent
it to Tiberius Caesar,^ writing in it thus : — I
King Abgar to our Lord Tiberius Caesar :
Although I know that nothing is hidden from
thy Majesty, I write to inform thy dread and {
mighty Sovereignty that the Jews who are under }
thy dominion and dwell in the country of Pal-
estine have assembled themselves together and [
crucified Christ, without any fault worthy of'
death, after He had done before them signs and i
wonders, and had shown them powerful mighty- !
works, so that He even raised the dead to life
for them : and at the time that thev crucified
'Or "Ditomon." The reading of the MS. is not clear. It seems
that it ought to be Diatessaron, which Tatian the Syrian compiled
from the four Gospels about the middle of the second century. This
was in general use at Edessa up to the fourth centurj', and Ephraem
Syrus wrote a commentarv- on it. If this be so, we have here a later
interpolation. [The translator says (of Ditomon and Dzatess.) :
" The two words would differ but slightly in the mode of writmg." He
also corrects Cureton, who calls Tatian " the Syrian: " it should be
" the Assyrian."^
^ Lit. " the hand of priesthood : " and so fassz'm. — Tr.
3 Strabo, de Persis, b. xv. (ch. iii.) : " They sacrifice to fire and
to water."
■* See his letter in Mos. Chor., infra.
5 Die Cassius, liv. 8: " .Augustus fixed as the boundaries of the
empire of the Romans the Tigris and Euphrates."
'' See it also, with some variations, in Mos. Chor., infra.
Him the sun became darkened and the earth also
quaked, and all created things trembled and
quaked, and, as if of themselves, at this deed
the whole creation and the inhabitants of the
creation shrank away. And now thy Majesty
knoweth what it is meet for thee to command
concerning the people of the Jews who have
done these things.
And Tiberius Csesar wrote and sent to King
Abgar ; and thus did he write to him : —
The letter of thy Fidelity towards me I have
received, and it hath been read before me. Con-
cerning what the Jews have dared to do in the
matter of the cross, Pilate ^ the governor also has
written and informed Aulbinus^ my proconsul
concerning these selfsame things of which thou
hast written to me. But, because a war with the
people of Spain,9 who have rebelled against me,
is on foot at this time, on this account I have
not been able to avenge this matter ; but I am
prepared, when I shall have leisure, to issue a
command according to law against the Jews, who
act not according to law. And on this account,
as regards Pilate also, who was appointed by me
governor there — I have sent another in his
stead, and dismissed him in disgrace, because he
departed from the law,'° and did the will of the
Jews, and for the gratification of the Jews cruci-
fied Christ, who, according to what I hear con-
cerning Him, instead of suffering the cross of
death, deserved to be honoured and worshipped "
by them : and more especially because with their
own eyes they saw everything that He did. Yet
thou, in accordance with thy fidelity towards me,
and the faithful covenant entered into by thyself
and by thy fathers, hast done well in writing to
me thus.
And Abgar the king received Aristides, who
had been sent by Tiberius Caesar to him ; and
in reply he sent him back with presents of hon-
our suitable for him who had sent him to him.
7 It was Pilate's duty, as governor of Judea, to send an account to
the Roman Government of what had occurred in respect to Jesus; and
his having done so is mentioned by Justin Martyr, TertuUian, and
several other writers.
* The word is evidently misspelt. The name intended may have
been confounded with that of the Albinus who was made governor of
Judea at a later period by Nero, a.d. 62. The same person is referred
to, in the Exit of Mary, infra: " Sabinus, the governor who had been
appointed by the Emperor Tiberius; and even as far as the river Eu-
phrates the governor Sabinus had authority." The person meant can
only be Vitellius, who was then governor of Syria, who removed Pilate
from the administration of Judea, sending Marcellus in his stead, and
ordered him to appear before Tiberius at Rome. The emperor died
before he reached Rome.
9 No mention is made by historians of any war with Spain. But
about this time Vitellius, mentioned in the preceding note, was mixed
up with the wars of the Parthians and Hiberians; and, as Hiberi
is a name common to Spaniards as well as Hiberians, the apparent
error may have arisen in translating the letter out of Latin into
Syriac.
'° Baronius says Pilate violated the law by crucifying our Lord so
soon after sentence had been passed, whereas a delay of ten days was
required by a law passed in the reign of Tiberius.
" Tiberius is said by TertuUian {Apol.. 5) to have referred to the
senate the question of admitting Christ among the gods. This has
been interpolated into the epistle of Tiberius to Abgar as given in
Moses Chor., B. ii. c. 33. He also adds another letter from Abgar in
reply to this.
THE TEACHING OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE.
662,
And from Edessa he went to Thicuntha,' where
Claudius, the second from the emperor, was ;
and from thence, again, he went to Artica,^
where Tiberius Caesar was : Caius, moreover,
was guarding the regions round about Coesar.
And Aristides himself also related before Tibe-
rius concerning the mighty-works which Addseus
had done before Abgar the king. And when he
had leisure from the war he sent and put to
death some of the chief men of the Jews who
were in Palestine. And, when Abgar the king
heard of this, he rejoiced greatly that the Jews
had received punishment, as it was right.
And some years after Addaeus the apostle had
built the church in Edessa, and had furnished it
with everything that was suitable for it, and had
made disciples of a great number of the popu-
lation of the city, he further built churches in the
villages ^ also — doih those which were at a dis-
tance and those which were near, and finished
and adorned them, and appointed in them dea-
cons and elders, and instructed in them those
who should read the Scriptures, and taught the
ordinances and ■* the ministry without and
within.
After all these things he fell ill of the sickness
of which he departed from this world. And he
called for Aggseus before the whole assembly of
the church, and bade him draw near, and made
him Guide and Ruler 5 in his stead. And Palut,^
who was a deacon, he made elder ; and Abshe-
lama, who was a scribe, he made deacon. And,
the nobles and chief men being assembled, and
standing near him — Barcalba son of Zati,^
and Maryhab^ son of Barshemash, and Senac^
son of Avida, and Piroz son of Patric,'° together
' This word has been so much distorted and disfigured by the
transcribers, that I am unable to recognise what is the place intended.
— CURETON.
2 This word may be read Ortyka, and maybe intended for Orty-
gia near Syracuse, which was not far from the island of Capreae,
where Tiberius then resided, seldom leaving it to go farther than to
the neighbouring coast of Campania.
3 Lit. " the other villages." So, in several passages of these
Documents, " the rest of the other ." The habit of including two
or more distinguished nations under a class to which only one of them
belongs was not unknown among classical writers also: as when, e.g.,
Thucydides speaks of the Peloponnesian war as the most remarkable
of all the wars that preceded it. Milton's imitation, " The fairest of
her daughters. Eve" \Paradise Lost,'\\. 324], is well known. — Tr.
■* The O (and) seems to have been altered into 5 (of). —
Wright. Perhaps " of " is the better reading. — Tr.
5 It is plain from the context here, as well as wherever it occurs
in these early Syriac Documents, that this title (or that of Guide
alone) is precisely the same as that of Bishop, although the Greek
word en-io-KOTTo? had not yet obtained in the East. The first mention
we find of the title Bishop (in these pages) is in the Acts 0/ Sharbil
about A.D. 105-112, where Barsainya is called "the Bishop of the
Christians," although he is more generally designated as here. It is
also found in the Teaching 0/ Simon Cephas, sub fiti., which seems
to have been written early in the second century or at the end of the
first. The passage in the Teaching 0/ Addaeus, p. 665, infra, where
it occurs, was interpolated at a much later period. [The paren-
thetic words of this note are supplied by the translator.]
^ Perhaps <I>iAaiTa9.
"> Perhaps the same as Izates: see Jos., Antiq., xx. ii. i, 4; Tac,
Ann., xii. 14.
8 This seems to be the person spoken of by Moses Chor., B. ii. c.
30, under the name " Mar-Ihap, prince d'Aghtznik," as one of the
envoys sent by Abgar to Marinus.
9 Tacitus writes this name Sinnaces: see Ann., vi. 31, 32.
'° Patricius.
with the rest of their companions — Addaeus the
apostle said to them : —
" Ye know and are witness, all of you who
hear me, that, according to all that I have preached
to you and taught you and ye have heard from
me, even so have I behaved myself in the midst
of you, and ye have seen // in deeds also : be-
cause our Lord thus charged us, that, whatsoever
we preach in words before the people, we should
practise it in deeds before all men. And, ac-
cording to the ordinances and laws which were
appointed by the disciples in Jerusalem," and by
which my fellow-apostles also guided their con-
duct, so also do ye — turn not aside from them,
nor diminish aught from them : even as I also
am guided by them amongst you, and have not
turned aside from them to the right hand or to
the left, lest I should become estranged from the
promised salvation which is reserved for such as
are guided by them.
" Give '^ heed, therefore, to this ministry which
ye hold, and with fear and trembling continue
in it, and minister every day. Minister not in it
with neglectful habits, but with the discreetness
of faith ; and let not the praises of Christ cease
out of your mouth, nor let weariness of prayer
at the stated times come upon you. Give heed
to the verity which ye hold, and to the teaching
of the truth which ye have received, and to the
inheritance of salvation which I commit to you :
because before the tribunal of Christ will ye have
to give an account of it, when He maketh reck-
oning with the shepherds and overseers, and
when He taketh His money from the traders
with the addition of the gains. For He is the
Son of a King, and goeth to receive a kingdom
and return ; and He will come and make a resus-
citation to life for all men, and then will He sit
upon the throne of His righteousness, and judge
the dead and the living, as He said to us.
" Let not the secret eye of your minds be
closed by pride, lest your stumbling-blocks be
many in the way in which there are no stumbling-
blocks, but a hateful '^ wandering in its paths.
Seek ye those that are lost, and direct those that
go astray, and rejoice in those that are found ;
bind up the bruised, and watch over the fallings :
because at your hands will the sheep of Christ
be required. Look ye not for the honour that
passeth away : for the shepherd that looketh to
receive honour from his flock — sadly, sadly
stands his flock with respect to him. Let your
concern be great for the young lambs, whose
angels behold the face of the Father who is un-
seen. And be ye not stones of stumbling before
the blind, but clearers of the way and the paths
" These are given at pp. 673 sqq., infra.
'2 Quoted in the Epistle of Addcetis, infra.
'3 Probably " wicked," the meaning being that all such wandering
is wilful. Cureton makes "hateful" the predicate: "error is
abominable in its paths." — Tr.
664
THE TEACHING OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE.
in a rugged country, among the Jews the cruci-
fiers, and the dekided pagans : for with these two
parties have ye to fight, in order that ye may
show the trutli of the faith which ye hold ; and,
though ye be silent, your modest and decorous
appearance will fight for you against those who
hate truth and love falsehood.
" Buffet not the poor in the presence of the
rich : for scourge grievous enough for them is
their poverty.
" Be not beguiled by the hateful devices of
Satan, lest ye be stripped naked of the faith
which ye have put on." ' . . . " And with the
Jews, the crucifiers, we will have no fellowship.
And this inheritance which we have received from
thee we will not let go, but in that will we depart
out of this world ; and on the day of our Lord,
before the judgment-seat of His righteousness,
there will He restore to us this inheritance, even
as thou hast told us."
And, when these things had been spoken,
Abgar the king rose up, he and his chief men
and his nobles, and he went to his palace, all
of them being distressed for him because he was
dying. And he sent to him noble and excellent
apparel, that he might be buried in it. And,
when Addseus saw it, he sent to him, saying : \\\
my lifetime I have not taken anything from thee,
nor will I now at my death take anything from
thee, nor will I frustrate the word of Christ
which He spake to us : Accept not anything
from any man, and possess not anything in this
world. ^
And three days more after these things had
been spoken by Addseus the apostle, and he had
heard and received the testimony concerning the
teaching set forth in their preaching from those
engaged with him in the ministry, in the presence
of all the nobles he departed out of this world.
And that day was the fifth of the week, and the
fourteenth of the month lyar,^ nearly answer-
ing to May. And the whole city was in great
mourning and bitter anguish for him. Nor was
it the Christians only that were distressed for
him, but the Jews also, and the pagans, who
were in this same town. But Abgar the king was
distressed for him more than any one, he and
the princes of his kingdom. And in the sad-
ness of his soul he despised and laid aside the
magnificence of his kingly state on that day, and
with tears mingled with moans he bewailed him
with all men. And all the people of the city
that saw him were amazed to see how greatly he
suffered on his account. And with great and
* One leaf apparently is lost from the MS. in this place.
What follows appears to be part of the reply of those addressed —
their " testimony concerning the teaching set forth in their preach-
ing."— Tr.
* The reference seems to be to Matt. x. 7-10.
3 May. The death of Addaeus occurred before that of Abgar,
which took place a.d. 45. It would appear, therefore, that his minis-
try at Edessa lasted about ten or eleven years.
surpassing pomp he bore hitn, and buried him
like one of the princes when he dies ; and he
laid him in a grand sepulchre adorned with sculp-
ture wrought by the fingers — that in which were
laid those of the house of Ariu, the ancestors of
Abgar the king : there he laid him sorrowfully,
with sadness and great distress. And all the
people of the church went there from time to
time and prayed fervently ; and they kept up
the remembrance of his departure from year to
year, according to. the command and direction
which had been received by them from Addaeus
the apostle,* and according to the word of
Aggseus, who himself became Guide and Ruler,
and the successor of his seat after him, by the
ordination to the priesthood which he had re-
ceived from him in the presence of all men.
He too, with the same ordination which he
had received from him, made Priests and Guides
in the whole of this country of Mesopotamia.
For they also, in like manner as Addaeus the
apostle, held fast his word, and listened to and
received it, as good and faithful successors of
the apostle of the adorable Christ. But silver
and gold he took not -from any man, nor did the
gifts of the princes come near him : for, instead
of receiving gold and silver, he himself enriched
the Church of Christ with the souls of be-
lievers.
Moreover, as regards the entire state s of the
men and the women, they were chaste and cir-
cumspect, and holy and pure : for they lived like
anchorites ^ and chastely, without spot — in cir-
cumspect watchfulness touching the ministry, in
their sympathy ^ toward the poor, in their visita-
tions to the sick : for their footsteps were fraught
with praise from those who saw them, and their
conduct was arrayed in commendation from
strangers — so that even the priests of the house
of^ Nebu and Bel divided the honour with them
at all times, by reason of their dignified aspect,
their truthful words, their frankness of speech
arising from their noble nature, which was neither
subservient through covetousness nor in bondage
under the fear of blame. For there was no one
who saw them that did not run to meet them,
that he might salute them respectfully, because
the very sight of them shed peace upon the
beholders : for just like a net 9 were their words
of gentleness spread over the contumacious, and
they entered within the fold of truth and verity.
For there was no man who saw them that was
•« Compare the Teaching of the Apostles, OxA. xviii. p. 669, infra.
S This seems to apply to those who especially belonged to the
ministry of the Church.
This is the only passage in the Documents in which women are
spoken of as connected with the ministry. — Tr. [The estate of dea-
conesses was of Apostolic foundation. Rom. xvi. i-l .
* The reference is only to their purity of life. It is not implied
that they lived in seclusion. — Tr.
7 Lit. " their burden-bearing." — Tr.
^ Or " belonging to." — Tr.
9 An allusion to Matt. iv. 19: "I will make you fishers of men."
THE TEACHING OF ADD^US THE APOSTLE.
665
ashamed of them, because they did nothing that
was not accordant with rectitude and propriety.
And in consequence of these things their bear-
ing was fearless as they pubhshed their teaching
to all men. For, whatsoever they said to others
and enjoined on them, they themselves exhibited
in practice in their own persons ; and the hearers,
who saw that their actions went along with their
words, without much persuasion became their
disciples, and confessed the King Christ, praising
God for having turned them towards Him.
And some years after the death of Abgar the
king, there arose one of his contumacious ' sons,
who was not favourable to peace ; and he sent
word to Aggaeus, as he was sitting in the church :
Make me a headband of gold, such as thou
usedst to make for my fathers in former times.
Aggaeus sent to him : I will not give up the min-
istry of Christ, which was committed to me by
the disciple of Christ, and make a headband of
wickedness. And, when he saw that he did not
comply, he sent and brake his legs ^ as he was
sitting in the church expounding. And as he
was dying he adjured Palut and Abshelama : In
this house, for whose truth's sake, lo ! I am dying,
lay me and bury me. And, even as he had ad-
jured them, so did they lay him — inside the
middle door of the church, between the men and
the women. And there was great and bitter
mourning in all the church, and in all the city —
over and above the anguish and the mourning
which there had been within the church, such as
had been the mourning when Addoeus the apostle
himself died.
' i.e., refusing to accept Christianity: as a few lines before. — Tr.
The person referred to would seem to be the second of the two sons of
Abgar called Maanu, who succeeded his brother Maanu, and reigned
fourteen years — from a.d. 52 to a.d. 65, according to Dionysius as
cited by Assemani.
2 This ignominious mode of execution, which was employed in the
case of the two thieves at Calvary, seems to have been of Roman
origin. The object of the king in putting Aggaeus to this kind of
death was, probably, to degrade and disgrace him.
And,^ in consequence of his dying suddenly and
quickly at the breaking of his legs, he was not able to
lay his hand upon Palut. Palut went to Antioch, and
received ordination to the priesthood from Serapion
bishop of Antioch; by which Serapion himself also or-
dination had been received from Zephyrinus bishop of
the city of Rome, in the succession of the ordination to
the priesthood from Simon Cephas, who had received it
from our Lord, and was bishop there in Rome twenty-
five years in the days of the Caesar who reigned there
thirteen years.
And, according to the custom which exists in
the kingdom of Abgar the king, and in all king-
doms, that whatsoever the king commands and
whatsoever is spoken in his presence is com-
mitted to writing and deposited among the rec-
ords, so also did Labubna,-* son of Senac, son of
Ebedshaddai, the king's scribe, write these things
also relating to Addaeus the apostle from the be-
ginning to the end, whilst Hanan also the Tabu-
larius, a sharir of the kings, set-to his hand in
witness, and deposited the writing among the
records of the kings, where the ordinances and
laws are deposited, and where the contracts of
the buyers and sellers are kept with care, without
any negligence whatever.
Here endeth the teaching of Addaeus the apos-
tle, which he proclaimed in Edessa, the faithful
city of Abgar, the faithful king.
3 This paragraph is a barefaced interpolation made by some igno-
rant person much later, who is also responsible for the additions to
the Martyrdom of Sharbil, and to that of Barsamya. For this
Palut was made Elder by Addaeus himself, at the time that Aggaeus
was ap'pointeA Bis/ioJ>, or Guide and Ruler. This took place even
before the death of Abgar, who died a.d. 45; whereas Serapion did
not become bishop of Antioch till the beginning of the third century,
if, as is here stated, he was consecrated by Zephyrinus, who did not
become Bishop of Rome till a.d. 201.
* Moses Chor., ii. 36, calls him, in the translation of Le Vaillant
de Florival, "Gheroupna, fils de I'ecrivain Apchatar; " in that of
W^histon, " Lenibnas, Apsadari scribae filius." Apchatar of the first,
and Apsadar of the second, translator are evidently corruptions in the
Armenian from the Adbshaddai (= Ebedshaddai) of the Syriac. Dr.
Alishan, in a letter to Dr. Cureton from the Armenian Convent of St.
Lazarus, Venice, says he has found an Armenian MS., of probably
the twelfth century, which he believes to be a translation of the present
Syriac original. It is a history of Abgar and Thaddaeus, written by
Gh^rubnia with the assistance of Ananias (= Hanan), confidant (=
sharir) of King Abgar.
666
SYRIAC CALENDAR.
SYRIAC CALENDAR.
A Note by the Translator. — The following list of the Syrian names of months, in use in
the empire and during the era of the Seleucidoe, several of which have been mentioned in these
Documents, is taken from Caswinii Calendariiim Syriacum, edited in Arabic and Latin by Volck,
1859. The later Hebrew names also are here added for comparison. It must, however, be
noticed that " the years employed in the Syrian Calendar, were, at least after the incarnation,
Julian years, composed of Roman months." (See LArt de verifier les dates: Paris, 1818, torn,
i. p. 45.) The correspondence with the Hebrew months, therefore, is not so close as the names
would indicate, since these commenced with the new moons, and an intercalary month, Veadar,
following their twelfth month Adar, was added.
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
Syrian.
Hebrew.
Tishri prior.
Tishri, or Ethanim.
Tishri posterior.
Bull, or Marcheshvan
Canun prior.
Chisleui
Canun posterior.
Tebeth.
Shubat.
Shebat.
Adar.
Adar.
Nisan.
Nisan. •
Ajar.
Zif, or lyar.
Chaziran.
Sivan.
Tamuz.
Tammuz.
Ab.
Ab.
EluL
EluL
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES.'
At that time Christ was taken up to His
Father ; and how the apostles received the gift
of the Spirit ; and the Ordinances and Laws of
the Church ; and whither each one of the apos-
tles went ; and from whence the countries in the
territory of the Romans received the ordination
to the priesthood.
In the year three hundred and ^ thirty-nine of
the kingdom of the Greeks, in the month Hezi-
ran,3 on the fourth '* day of the same, which is
the first day of the week, and the end of Pente-
cost s — on the selfsame day came the disciples
from Nazareth of Galilee, where the conception
of our Lord was announced, to the mount which
is called that of the Place of Olives,^ our Lord
being with them, but not being visible to them.
And at the time of early dawn our Lord lifted up
His hands, and laid them upon the heads of the
eleven disciples, and gave to them the gift of
the priesthood. And suddenly a bright cloud re-
ceived Him. And they saw Him as He was
going up to heaven. And He sat down 5n the
right hand of His Father. And they praised
God because they saw His ascension according
as He had told them ; and they rejoiced because
they had received the Right Hand conferring on
them the priesthood of the house of Moses and
Aaron.
And from thence they went up fo the city, and 7
proceeded to an upper room — that in which our
Lord had observed the passover with them, and
' This work is taken, and printed verbatim, from the same MS. as
the preceding, Cod. Add. 14,64+, fol. 10. That Ms., however, has
been carefully compared with another in the Brit. Mus. in which it is
found, Cod. Add. 14,531, fol. 109; and with a third, in which the
piece is quoted as Canons of the Apostles, Cod. Add. 14,173, fol.
37. In using the second, a comparison has also been made of De
Lagarde's edition of it (Vienna, 1856). This treatise had also been
published before in Ebedic!.H Metropolitie Sobte et Arinenice collec-
tio canoniiin Synodicoruin by Cardinal Mai. It is also cited by Bar
Hebrceus in his iVomocanon, printed by Mai in the same volume.
These three texts are referred to in the notes, as A. B. C. respectively.
[It seems to me that this aid the Bryennios fragment arc alike relics
of some original older than both. To that of vol. vii. (p. 377) and
the Apostolic Constitutions, so called, this is a natural preface.]
^ A. omits" three hundred and." They are supplied from B. The
reading of C. is 342.
3 This month answers to Sivan, which began with the new moon
of June. — Tr.
4 C. reads " fourteenth."
5 The day of Pentecost seems to be put for that of the Ascension.
6 Syr. " Baith Zaithe." Corap. Luke xxiv. 50 sqq.
1 Comp. Acts i. 12 sqq.
the place where the inquiries had been made :
Who it was that should betray our Lord to the
crucifiers? There also were 7nade the inquiries :^
How they should preach His Gospel in the world?
And, as within the upper room the mystery of
the body and of the blood of our Lord began to
prevail in the world, so also from thence did the
teaching of His preaching begin to have author-
ity in the world.
And, when the disciples were cast into this
perplexity, how they should preach His Gospel
to men <?/" strange tongues ^ which were unknown
to them, and were speaking thus to one another :
Although we are confident that Christ will per-
form by our hands mighty works and miracles in
the presence of strange peoples whose tongues
we know not, and who themselves also are un-
versed in our tongue, yet who shall teach them
and make them understand that it is by the
name of Christ who was crucified that these
mighty works and miracles are done? — while, I
say, the disciples were occupied with these
thoughts, Simon Cephas rose up, and said to
them : My brethren, this matter, how we shall
preach His Gospel, pertaineth not to us, but to
our Lord ; for He knoweth how it is possible for
us to preach His Gospel in the world ; and we
rely on His care for us, which He promised us,
saying : " When I am ascended to my Father I
will send you the Spirit, the Paraclete, that He
may teach you everything which it is meet for
you to know, and to make known."
And, whilst Simon Cephas was saying these
things to his fellow-apostles, and putting them
in remembrance, a mysterious voice was heard
by them, and a sweet odour, which was strange
to the world, breathed upon them ;9 and tongues
of fire, between the voice and the odour, came
down from heaven '° towards them, and alighted
and sat on every one of them ; and, according
to the tongue which every one of them had sev-
erally received, so did he prepare himself to go
8 [It is evident that the apostles had no such ideas until after the
vision of St. Peter, Acts x. 9-35.]
9 The reading of B. and C. : A. reads "answered them."
'° B. reads " suddenly." [The translator interpolates upon hiin.\
667
668
THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES.
to the country in which that tongue was spoken
and heard.
And, by the same gift of the Spirit which was
given to them on that day, they api)ointed Ordi-
nances and Laws — such as were in accordance
with the Gospel of their preaching, and with the
true and faitliful doctrine of their teaching : —
1. The apostles therefore appointed : Pray ye
towards the east : • because, " as the lightning
which lighteneth from the east and is seen even
to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of
man be : " ^ that by this we might know and
understand that He will appear from the east
suddenly.3
2. The apostles further appointed : On the
first day of the week let there be service, and
the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the obla-
tion : '' because on the first day of the week our
Lord rose from the place of the dead, and on
the first day of the week He arose upon the
world, and on the first day of the week He
ascended up to heaven, and on the first day of
the week He will appear at last with the angels
of heaven.s
3. The apostles further appointed : On the
fourth ^ day of the week let there be service :
because on that day our Lord made the disclo-
sure to them about His trial,7 and His suffering,
and His crucifixion, and His death, and His
resurrection ; and the disciples were on account
of this in sorrow.^
4. The apostles further appointed : On the
eve of the Sabbathp at the ninth hour, let there
be service : because that which had been spoken
on the fourth day of the week about the suffering
of the Saviour was brought to pass on the same
eve ; the worlds and creatures trembling, and
the luminaries in the heavens being darkened.
5. The apostles further appointed : Let there
be elders and deacons, like the Levites ; '° and
subdeacons," like those who carried the vessels
of the court of the sanctuary of the Lord ; and
' On praying toward the east, comp. Apost. Constitutions, ii.
57, vii. 44; and Tertullian, Apol., 16.
A.C., ii. 57, contains an interesting account of the conduct of
pubHc worship It may be consulted in connection with Ordinances
2, 8, and 10, also. — Tr.
^ Matt. xxiv. 27.
3 B. and C. read " at the last." Ebediesu has " from heaven."
■* i.e , the Eucharist. — Tr.
5 C. reads " His holy angels "
*■ For Ords. 3 and 4, see Ap. Const., v. 13-15.
1 B. reads " His manifestation."
^ The reading of C.
This reading is preferable to that of A.: "were in this sorrow."
— Tr.
9 Lit. " the evening," but used in particular of the evening of the
sixth day of the week, the eve of the seventh: the evening being re-
garded, as in Gen. i. 5, as the first part of the day. Similarly, Trapaa-
icev>), which the Peshito translates by our word, is used in the Gospels
for the sixth day, with a prospective reference to the seventh. — Tr.
'o See Ap. Const., ii. 25.
" Comp. Eccl. Canons, No. 43. The Gr. iin-oSioKovoi is here
used, though for " deacon " the usual Syriac word is employed,
meaning "minister" or " seivant." From Riddle, Christian An-
tiqi-, p. 301, with whom Neander agrees, it would seem that sub-
deacons were first appointed at the end of the third century or the
beginning of the fourth. — Tr. [See vol. v. p. 4'7.]
an overseer,'^ who shall likewise be the Guide of
all the people, '3 like Aaron, the head and chief
of all the priests and Levites of the whole city.'*
6. The apostles further appointed : Celebrate
the day of the Epiphany '5 of our Saviour, which
is the chief of the festivals of the Church, on
the sixth day of the latter Canun/'' in the long
number of the Greeks. '^
7. The apostles further appointed : Forty '*
days before the day of the passion of our Saviour
fast ye, and then celebrate the day of the pas-
sion, and the day of the resurrection : because
our Lord Himself also, the Lord of the festival,
fasted forty days ; and Moses and Elijah, who
were endued with this mystery, likewise each
fasted forty days, and then were glorified.
8. The apostles further appointed : At the con-
clusion of all the Scriptures other let the Gospel
be read, as being the seal '9 of all the Scriptures ;
and let the people listen to it standing upon their
feet : because it is the Gospel of the redemption
of all men.
9. The apostles further appointed : At the
completion of fifty ^° days after His resurrection
make ye a commemoration of His ascension to
His glorious leather.
10. The apostles appointed : That, beside the
Old Testament, and the Prophets, and the Gos-
pel, and the Acts (of their exploits), nothing
should be read on the pulpit in the church.^'
11. The apostles further appointed: Whoso-
ever is unacquainted with the faith of the Church
and the ordinances and laws which are appointed
in it, let him not be a guide and ruler ; and who-
soever is acquainted with them and departs from
them, let him not minister again : because, not
being true in his ministry, he has Hed.
12. The apostles further appointed: Whoso-
ever sweareth, or" lieth, or beareth false witness,
or hath recourse to magicians and soothsayers
and Chaldeans, and putteth confidence in fates
and nativities, which they hold fast who know
not God, — let him also, as a man that knoweth
not God, be dismissed from the ministry, and not
minister ag[ain.
'^ |,fiO?, equivalent, not to efficncoTros, but to (XKOTroi = zvafc/i-
man, as in Ezek. xxxiii. 7.
'3 For this B. reads " world."
'4 B. has " camp."
'5 See Ap. Const., v. 13. . .
Christmas, of which no mention is made in these Ordmances, is
called " the first of all," the Epiphany being ranked next to it in the
Constitutions. — Tr. [See vol. vii. p. 492. J ^
'6 January: the Jewish Tebeth. " The former Canun ' is Decem-
ber, i.e., Chisleu. — Tr.
"7 The era of the Seleucidx, 311 A.C, appears to be referred to.
In this new names were given to certain months, and Canun was one
of them. See p. 066, supra.
" £cct. Can., No. 69. — Tr. See Ap. Const., v. 13-15-
>9 Properly " the sealer: " for, although the word is not found in
the lexicons, its formation shows that it denotes an agent. The.
meaning seems to be, that the Gospel gives completeness and validity
to the Scriptures. — Tr.
2° C. reads " forty."
21 See Ap. Const., i'l. 57; Teaching 0/ Simon Cephas, ad fin ;
Eccl. Can., Nos. 60, 85. —Tr.
22 B. and C, as well as Ebediesu, read " and."
THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES.
669
13. The apostles further appointed : If there
be any man that is divided in mind touching
the ministry, and who follows it not with a sted-
fast will,' let not this man minister again : because
the Lord of the ministry is not served by him
with a stedfast will ; and he deceiveth man
only, and not God, "before whom crafty devices
avail not." ^
14. The apostles further appointed : Whoso-
ever lendeth and receiveth usury,^ and is occu-
pied in merchandise and covetousness, let not
this man minister again, nor continue in the
ministry.
15. The apostles further appointed : That
whosoever loveth the Jews,-* like Iscariot, who
was their friend, or the pagans, who worship
creatures instead of the Creator, — should not
enter in amongst them and minister ; and more-
over, that if he be already amongst them, they
should not suffer him to remaiti, but that he
should be separated from amongst them, and
not minister with them again.
16. The apostles further appointed : That, if
any one from the Jews or from the pagans come
and join himself with them, and if after he has
joined himself with them he turn and go back
again to the side on which he stood before, and
if he again return and come to them a second
time, — he should not be received again; but
that, according to the side on which he was be-
fore, so those who know him should look upon
him.
1 7. The apostles further appointed : That it
should not be permitted to the Guide to trans-
act the matters which pertain to the Church
apart from those who minister with him ; but
that he should issue commands with the counsel
of them all, and that that only should be done
which all of them should concur in and not dis-
approve.5
18. The apostles further appointed: When-
ever any shall depart out of this world with a
good testimony to the faith of Christ, and with
affliction borne for His name's sake, make ye a
commemoration of them on the day on which
they were put to death.^
19. The apostles further appointed : In the
service of the Church repeat ye the praises of
' Lit. " it is not certain (or firm) to him." — Tr.
* The exact words of the Peshito of i Sam. ii. 3. The E. V.,
following the K'ri 1 7I, instead of the X/l of the text, renders " and
by Him actions are weighed."
The Peshito translator may have confounded the Heb. verb TD/I,
which appears not to exist in Aramaean, with its own verb fpri
I T— O-^l, through the similarity in sound of the gutturals 3 and p.
— Tr.
3 See Eccl. Canons, No. 44. — Tr.
< Comp. Eccl. Canons, Nos. 65, 70, 71. — Tr.
s See Eccl. Canons, No. 35. — Tr.
^ See the letter of the Church of Smyrna on the martyrdom of
Polycarp, and Euseb., ///>/. Eccl., hi. 15; [also p. 664,note4,i»/ra].
David day by day : because of this saying : " I
will bless the Lord at all times, and at all times
His praises shall be in my mouth ; " ^ and this:
" By day and by night will I meditate and speak,
and cause my voice to be heard before Thee."
20. The apostles further appointed : If any
divest themselves of mammon and run not after
the gain of money, let these men be chosen and
admitted to the ministry of the altar.
21. The apostles further appointed: Let any
priest who accidentally puts another in bonds *
contrary to justice receive the punishment that
is right ; and let him that has been bound re-
ceive the bonds as if he had been equitably
bound.
22. The apostles further appointed : If it be
seen that those who are accustomed to hear
causes show partiality, and pronounce the inno-
cent guilty and the guilty innocent, let them
never again hear another cause : thus receiving
the rebuke of their partiality, as it is fit.^
23. The apostles further ordained : Let not
those that are high-minded and lifted up with
the arrogance of boasting be admitted to the
ministry: because of this text: "That which is
exalted among men is abominable before God ; "
and because concerning them it is said : " I will
return a recompense upon those that vaunt
themselves."
24. The apostles further appointed : Let there
be a Ruler over the elders who are in the vil-
lages, and let him be recognised as head of
them all, at whose hand all of them shall be
required : for Samuel also thus made visits from
place to place and ruled. '°
25. The apostles further appointed : That
those kings who shall hereafter believe in Christ
should be permitted to go up and stand before
the altar along with the Guides of the Church :
because David also, and those who were like
him, went up and stood before the altar."
26. The apostles further appointed : Let no
man dare to do anything by the authority of the
priesthood which is not in accordance with jus-
tice and equity, but in accordance with justice,
and free from the blame of partiality, let all
tlmigs be done.
27. The apostles further appointed : Let the
bread of the Oblation be placed upon the altar
on the day on which it is baked, and not some
days after — a thing which is not permitted.
All these things did the apostles appoint, not
' Ps. xxxiv. I.
8 The particip.
iJli\, though usually pass., may, like some
other participles Peil, be taken actively, as appears from a passage
quoted by Dr. R. Payne Smith, Thes. Syr., s.v. This would seem
to be the only possible way of taking it here. — Tr.
9 Comp. Ap. Const., li. 45 sqq.
'° [Note the Institutions of -Samuel, vol. vii. p. 531, and obser\'e
the prominence here assigned to that prophet. Comp. Acts iii. 24.]
" [But note the case of Ambrose and Theodosius; Sozomen,
Eccl. Hist., book vii. cap. 25.]
670
THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES.
for themselves, but for those who should come
after them — for they were apprehensive that in
time to come wolves would put on sheep's cloth-
ing : since for themselves the Spirit, the Para-
clete, which was in them, was sufficient : that,
even as He had appointed these laws by their
hands, so He would guide them lawfully. For
they, who had received from our Lord power
and authority, had no need that laws should be
appointed for them by others. For Paul also,
and Timothy,' while they were going from place
to place in the country of Syria and Cihcia,
committed these same Commands and Laws of
the apostles and elders to those who were under
the hand of the apostles, for the churches of the
countries in which they were preaching and pub-
lishing the Gospel.
The disciples, moreover, after they had ap-
pointed these Ordinances and Laws, ceased not
from the preaching of the Gospel, or from the
wonderful mighty-works which our Lord did by
their hands. For much people was gathered
about them every day, who beheved in Christ ;
and they came to them from other cities, and
heard their words and received them. Nicode-
mus also, and Gamaliel, chiefs of the synagogue
of the Jews, used to come to the apostles in
secret, agreeing with their teaching. Judas,
moreover, and Levi, and Peri, and Joseph, and
Justus, sons of Hananias, and Caiaphas ^ and
Alexander the priests — they too used to come
to the apostles by night, confessing Christ that
He is the Son of God ; but they were afraid
of the people of their own nation, so that they
did not disclose their mind toward the disciples.
And the apostles received them affectionately,
saying to them : Do not, by reason of the shame
and fear of men, forfeit your salvation before
God, nor have the blood of Christ required of
you ; even as your fathers, who took it upon
them : for it is not acceptable before God, that,
while ye are, iti secret, with His worshippers, ye
should go and associate with the murderers of
. His adorable Son. How do ye expect that
your faith should be accepted with those that are
true, whilst ye are with those that are false ? But
it becomes you, as men who believe in Christ,
to confess openly this faith which we preach. ^
And, when they heard these things from the
Disciples, those sons of the priests, all of them
alike, cried out before the whole company of the
apostles : We confess and believe in Christ who
was crucified, and we confess that He is from
everlasting the Son of God ; and those who
dared to crucify Him do we renounce. For
' Acts xvi. 4; comp. ch. xv.
2 The belief was common amon^ the Jacobites that Caiaphas,
whose full name was Joseph Caiaphas, was the same person as the
historian Josephus, and that he was converted to Christianity. See
Assem., Bzbl. Orient., vol. ii. p. 165.
^ [The visible Church and sacraments are necessary, on this
principle, to the conversion of the world.]
even the priests of the people in secret confess
Christ ; but, for the sake of the headship among
the people which they love, they are not willing
to confess openly ; and they have forgotten that
which is written : * "Of knowledge is He the
Lord, and before Him avail not crafty devices."
And, when their fathers heard these things
from their sons, they became exceedingly hos-
tile to them : not indeed because they had be-
lieved in Christ, but because they had declared
and spoken openly of the mind of their fathers
before the sons of their people.
But those who believed clave to the disciples,
and departed not from them, because they saw
that, whatsoever they taught the multitude, they
themselves carried into practice before all men ;
and, when affliction and persecution arose against
the disciples, they rejoiced to be afflicted with
them, and received with gladness stripes and
imprisonment for the confession of their faith
in Christ ; and all the days of their life they
preached Christ before the Jews and the Samari-
tans.
And after the death of the apostles there were
Guides and Rulers 5 in the churches ; and, what-
soever the apostles had committed to them and
they had received from them, they continued to
teach to the multitude through the whole space
of their lives. They too, again, at their deaths
committed and delivered to their disciples after
them whatsoever they had received from the
apostles ; also what James had written from Jeru-
salem, and Simon from the city of Rome, and
John from Ephesus, and Mark from Alexandria
the Great, and Andrew from Phrygia, and Luke
from Macedonia, and Judas Thomas from India : ^
that the epistles of an apostle '' might be received
and read in the churches that were in every
place, just as the achievements of their Acts,
which Luke wrote, are read ; that hereby the
apostles might be known, and the prophets, and
the Old Testament and the New ;** that so might
be seen one truth was proclaimed in them all :
that one Spirit spake in them all, from one God
-whom they had all worshipped and had all
preached. And the divers countries received
their teaching. Everything, therefore, which had
been spoken by our Lord by means of the apos-
4 [Perhaps a metaphrase of Job v. 12, 13.]
5 This would seem to have been written anterior to the time when
the title of Bishop, as specially appropriated to those who succeeded
to the apostolic office, had generally obtained in the East. [Previ-
ously named as in the (^reek of 2 Cor. viii. 23.]
<> For writings ascribed to Andrew and Thomas, see Apocryphal
Scriptures, this volume, i>ifra. Comp. Eccl Canons, No. 85. —
Tr. There is no mention here of the Epistles of Paul. They may
not at this early period have been collected and become generally
known in the East. The Epistle of Jude is also omitted here, but it
was never received into the Syriac canon: .see De Wette, EiiiL, 6th
ed. p. 342.
' So the printed text. But " the apostles " seems to be meant. —
Tr.
8 See note 10 on p. 668. — Tr. It is plain from this that the
Epistles were not at that time considered part of what was called
the New Testament, nor the prophets of the Old.
THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES.
671
ties, and which the apostles had delivered to
their disciples, was believed and received in every
country, by the operation ' of our Lord, who said
to them : " I am with you, even until the world
shall end ; " the Guides disputing with the Jews
from the books of the prophets, and contending
also against the deluded pagans with the terrible
mighty-works which they did in the name of
Christ. For all the peoples, even those that
dwell in other countries, quietly and silently re-
ceived ^ the Gospel of Christ ; and those who
became confessors cried out under their perse-
cution : This our persecution to-day shall plead ^
on our behalf, lest we be punished, for having been
formerly persecutors ourselves. For there were
some of them against whom death by the sword
was ordered ; and there were some of them from
whom they took away whatsoever they possessed,
and let them go."* And the more affliction arose
against them, the richer and larger did their con-
gregations become ; and with gladness in their
hearts did they receive death of every kind.
And by ordination to the priesthood, which the
apostles themselves had received from our Lord,
did their Gospel wing its way rapidly into the
four quarters of the world. And by mutual visi-
tation they ministered to one another.
1. Jerusalem received the ordination to the
priesthood, as did all the country of Palestine,
and the parts occupied by the Samaritans, and
the parts occupied by the Philistines, and the
country of the Arabians, and of Phoenicia, and
the people of Caesarea, from James, who was
ruler and guide in the church of the apostles
which was built in Zion.
2. Alexandria the Great, and Thebais, and the
whole of Inner Egypt, and all the country of
Pelusium,5 and extending as far as the borders
of the Indians, received the apostles' ordination
to the priesthood from Mark the evangelist, who
was ruler and guide there in the church which
he had built, /;/ which he also ministered.
3. India,^ and all the countries belonging to
it and round about it, even to the farthest sea,
received the apostles' ordination to the priest-
hood from Judas Thomas, who was guide and
ruler in the church which he had built there, in
which he also ministered there.
4. Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, and Gala-
tia, even to Pontus, received the apostles' ordi-
nation to the priesthood from Simon Cephas,
who himself laid the foundation of the church
there,7 and was priest and ministered there up
' Lit. "nod," or "bidding," or " impulse." — Tr. [See TertuU.,
vol. iii. p. 252.]
* Lit. " were quiet and silent at." — Tr.
3 Lit. "be an advocate." — Tk.
4 f Heb. X. 33, 34]
5 C reads " Pentapolis."
* A. has " the Indians; " C. " the Ethiopians."
' C. adds, " and built a church at Antioch."
to the time when he went up from thence to
Rome on account of Simon the sorcerer, who
was deluding the people of Rome with his sor-
ceries.*^
5. The city of Rome, and all Italy, and Spain,
and Britain, and Gaul, together with ail the rest
of the countries round about them, received the
apostles' ordination to the priesthood from Simon
Cephas, who went up from Antioch ; and he was
ruler and guide there, in the church which he
had built there, and in the places round about
it.9
6. Ephesus, and Thessalonica, and all Asia,
and all the country of the Corinthians, and of
all Achaia and the parts round about it, received
the apostles* ordination to the priesthood from
John the evangelist, who had leaned upon the
bosom of our Lord ; who himself built a church
there, and ministered in his office of Guide
which he held there.
7. Nicoea, and Nicomedia, and all the coun-
try of Bithynia, and of Inner Galatia,'° and of
the regions round about it, received the apos-
tles' ordination to the priesthood from Andrew,
the brother of Simon Cephas, who was himself
Guide and Ruler in the church which he had
built there, and was priest and ministered there.
8. Byzantium, and all the country of Thrace,
and of the parts about it as far as the great
river," the boundary which separates from the
barbarians, received the apostles' ordination to
the priesthood from Luke the apostle, who him-
self built a church there, and ministered there
in his office of Ruler and Guide which he held
there.
9. Edessa, and all the countries round about
it which were on all sides of it, and Zoba,'^ and
Arabia, and all the north, and the regions round
about it, and the south, and all the regions on the
borders of Mesopotamia, received the apostles'
ordination to the priesthood from Addaeus the
apostle, one of the seventy-two apostles, '^ who
himself made disciples there, and built a church
there, and was priest and ministered there in his
office of Guide which he held there.
10. The whole of Persia, of the Assyrians, and
of the Armenians,, and of the Medians, and of
the countries round about Babylon, the Huzites
and the Gelae, as far as the borders of the Indi-
ans, and as far as the land '•♦ of Gog and Magog,
8 .See note 3, p. 673, infra.
9 [The omission of reference to St. Paul is a token of a corrupt
and medixval text here.]
•° The reading of C. The MS. A. gives what Cureton transcribes
as Gothia, which is almost the same as the. word rendered " Inner."
Possibly this explains the origin of the reading of A. "Galatia"
was perhaps accidentally omitted. — Tr.
" C. has " the Danube."
I- Or " Soba," the same as NisVbis.
'3 The number seventy-two may have arisen from the supposition,
mentioned in the Recognitious and in the Apostolical Constitutions,
that our Lord chose them in imitation of the seventy-two elders
appointed by Moses.
i-l Or " place." — Tr.
672
THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES.
and moreover all the countries on all sides, re-
ceived the apostles' ordination to the priesthood
from Aggaeus, a maker of silks,' the disciple of
Addaeus the apostle.
The other remaining companions of the apos-
tles, moreover, went to the distant countries of
the barbarians ; and they made disciples from
place to place and passed on ; and there they
ministered by their preaching ; and there occurred
their departure out of this world, their disciples
after them going on with the work down to the
present day, nor was any change or addition
made by them in their preaching.
Luke, moreover, the evangelist had such dili-
gence that he wrote the exploits of the Acts of
the Apostles, and the ordinances and laws of the
* See note 6 on p. 661,
ministry of their priesthood, and whither each
one of them went. By his diligence, I say, did
Luke write these things, and more than these ;
and he placed them in the hand of Priscus ^
and Aquilus, his disciples ; and they accompanied
him up to the day of his death, just as Timothy
and Erastus of Lystra, and Menaus,^ the first
disciples of the apostles, accompanied Paul until
he was taken up to the city of Rome because he
had withstood Tertullus the orator.*
And Nero Caesar despatched with the sword
Simon Cephas in the city of Rome. 5
2 B. reads " Priscilla," C. " Priscillas." Prisca and Priscilla are
the forms in which the name occurs in the New Testament.
3 Probably the same as Manaen, mentioned in Acts xiii. i, as
associated with Paul at Antioch.
■* [Ihe failure to praise the work of him who "laboured more
abundantly than all " others, is noteworthy, and can only be accounted
for by Middle-Age corruptions of the text ]
5 C. adds, " crucifying him on a cross." C. also adds, " Here
endeth the treatise of Addaeus the apostle."
[Possibly the Ducb Vice, etc., followed here, as a second book; v©l. vii. p. yjl^
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
'THE TEACHING OF SIMON CEPHAS^ IN THE CITY OF R0ME.3
In the third ■♦ year of Claudius Caesar, Simon
Cephas departed from Antioch to go to Rome.
And as he passed on he preached in the divers
countries the word of our Lord. And, when he
had nearly arrived there, 5 many had heard of it,
and went out to meet him, and the whole church
received him with great joy. And some of the
princes of the city, wearers of the imperial head-
bands,*^ came to him, that they might see him
and hear his word. And, when the whole city
was gathered together about him, he stood up
to speak to them, and to show them the preach-
ing of his doctrine, of what sort it was. And
he began to speak to them thus : —
Men, people of Rome, saints of all Italy, hear
ye that which I say to you. This day I preach
and proclaim Jesus the Son of God, who came
down from heaven, and became man, and was
with us as 07ie of ourselves, and wrought mar-
vellous mighty-works and signs and wonders be-
fore us, and before all the Jews that are in the land
of Palestine. And you yourselves also heard of
those things which He did : because they came
to Him from other countries also, on account of
the fame of His healing and the report of the
marvellous help He gave ; ^ and whosoever drew
near to Him was healed by His word. And,
inasmuch as He was God, at the same time that
He healed He also forgave sins : for His healing,
which was open to view, bore witness of His
hidden forgiveness, that it was real and trust-
worthy. For this Jesus did the prophets an-
nounce in their mysterious sayings, as they were
looking forward to see Him and to hear His
word : Him who was with His Father from
eternity and from everlasting; God, who was
hidden in the height, and appeared in the depth ;
' This is found in ihe same MS. as the preceding, quoted as A.
There is also another copy of it in Cod. Add. 14,609, referred to here
as B. [It looks like an afterthought of a later age, when the teach-
ing of Peter was elevated into a specialty.]
2 B. reads " the Apostle Peter."
3 [This apocrj'phal history proceeds on the theory that St. Peter
preceded St. Paul at Rome, which cannot be reconciled with Scrip-
ture and chronology. Gal. ii. 9; Rom. i. 5-15.]
■t The reading of the MS. is " thirtieth."
5 From this place to " the light " (last line of text on this page),
A. is lost, and the te.vt has been supplied from B.
^ The MS. gives, " clad in the white."
7 Lit. " His marvellous helps." — Tr. [Seep. 652, i«/>-rt.]
the glorious Son, who was from His Progenitor,
and is to be glorified, together with His Father,
and His divine Spirit, and the terrible power of
His dominion. And He was crucified of His
own will by the hands of sinners, and was taken
up to His Father, even as I and my companions
saw. And He is about to come again, in His
own glory and that of His holy angels, even as
we heard Him say to us. For we cannot say
anything which was not heard by us from Him,
neither do we write in the book of His Gospel
anything which He Himself did not say to us :
because this word is spoken in order that the
mouth of liars may be shut, in the day when
men shall give an account of idle words at the
place of judgment.
Moreover, because we were catchers of fish,**
and not skilled in books, therefore did He also
say to us : "I will send you the Spirit, the Para-
clete, that He may teach you that which ye know
not ; " for it is by His gift that we speak those
things which ye hear. And, further, by it we
bring aid to the sick, and healing to the diseased :
that by the hearing of His word and by the aid
of His power ye may believe in Christ, that He
is God, the Son of God ; and may be delivered
from the service of bondage, and may worship
Him and His Father, and glorify His divine
Spirit. For when we glorify the Father, we glorify
the Son also with Him ; and when we worship
the Son, we worship the Father also with Him ;
and when we confess the Spirit, we confess the
Father also and the Son : because in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit,
were we commanded to baptize those who be-
lieve, that they may live for ever.
Flee therefore from the words of the wisdom
of this world, in which there is no profit, and
draw near to those which are true and faithful,
and acceptable before God ; whose reward also
is laid up in store, and whose recompense standeth
sure. Now, too,? the light has arisen on the
5 [Mark i. 16-17. Compare Jer xvi. 16.]
9 The text A. is resumed after this word. The reading "and now
that the light," etc., seems faulty. The \ (that) might easily have
been occasioned by the \ of the word which it precedes. — Tr.
673
674
THE TEACHING OF SIMON CEPHAS.
creation, and the world has obtained the eyes of
the mind, that every man may see and under-
stand that it is not fit that creatures should be
worshipped instead of the Creator, nor together
with the Creator : because everything which is a
creature is made to be a worshipper of its Maker,
and is not to be worshipped hke its Creator.
But this One who came to us is God, the Son of
God, in His own nature, notwithstanding that
He mingled ' His Godhead with our manhood,
in order that He might renew our manhood by
the aid of His Godhead. And on this account
it is right that we should worship Him, because
He is to be worshipped together with His Father,
and that we should not worship creatures, who
were created for the worship of the Creator.
For He is Himself the God of truth and verity ;
He is Himself from before all worlds and
creatures ; He is Himself the veritable Son, and
the glorious fruit ^ which is from the exalted
Father.
But ye see the wonderful works which accom-
pany and follow these words. One would not
credit it : the time lo ! is short since He ascended
to His Father, and see how His Gospel has winged
its flight through the whole creation — that there-
by it may be known and believed that He Him-
self is the Creator of creatures, and that by His
bidding creatures subsist. And, whereas ye saw
the sun become darkened at His death, ye your-
selves also are witnesses. The earth, moreover,
quaked when He was slain, and the veil was rent
at His death. And concerning these things the
governor Pilate also was witness : for he himself
sent and made them known to Csesar,^ and these
things, and more than these, were read before
him, and before the princes of your city. And
on this account Caesar was angry against Pilate,
because he had unjustly listened to the persuasion
of the Jews ; and for this reason he sent and took
away from him the authority which he had given
to him. And this same thing was published and
known in all the dominion of the Romans.
That, therefore, which Pilate saw and made
known to Csesar and to your honourable senate,
the same do I preach and declare, as do also my
fellow-apostles. And ye know that Pilate could
not have written to the imperial government of
that which did not take place and which he had
' The word so rendered is much effaced in B , but it seems to be
\^.£^, " humbled."
This, however, might require a further change of the text, such
as Cureton suggests, so as to give the sense, " He h\unbled His God-
head on account of our manhood," unless we translate " in our man-
hood"— neither of which renderings seems to give so good a sense
as that in the text of A. — Tr. .
Respecting the word " mingled " I ^ \«i ) , which was sup-
posed to countenance the Eutychian heresy, see Assemani, Bibl
Orient., vol. i. p. 8i.
2 Or "offspring." — Tr.
3 [On the Acts of Pilate see Lardner, Credib,, vi. p. 605, and
Jones, Oti the Canon, vol. ii. p. 342. If Leucius Charinus forged
what goes by the name, it does not prove that genuine records of the
kind never existed. The reverse is probable. See vol. i. p. 179.]
not seen with his own eyes ; but that which did
take place and was actually done — this it was
that he wrote and made known. Moreover, the
watchers of the sepulchre also were witnesses of
those things which took place there : they be-
came as dead men ; and, when those watchers
were questioned before Pilate, they confessed
before him how large a bribe the chief-priests
of the Jews had given them, so that they might
say that we His disciples had. stolen the corpse
of Christ. Lo ! then, ye have heard many things ;
and moreover, if ye be not willing to be per-
suaded by those things which ye have heard, be
at least persuaded by the mighty-works which ye
see, which are done by His name.
Let not Simon the sorcerer delude you by
semblances which are not realities, which he
exhibits to you, as to men who have no under-
standing, who know not how to discern that which
they see and hear. Send, therefore, and fetch
him to where all your city is assembled together,
and choose you some sign for us to do before
you ; and, whichever ye see do that same sign,
it will be your part to believe in it.
And immediately they sent and fetched Simon
the sorcerer ; ^ and the men Avho were adherents
of his opinion said to him : As a man concern-
ing whom we have confidence that there is power
in thee to do anything whatsoever,5 do thou some
sign before us all, and let this Simon the Galileean,
who preaches Christ, see //. And, whilst they
were thus speaking to him, there happened to
be passing along a dead person, a son of one of
those who were chiefs and men of note and
renown among them. And all of them, as they
were assembled together, said to him : Which-
ever of you shall restore to life this dead person,
he is true, and to be believed in and received,
and we will all follow him in whatsoever he saith
to us. And they said to Simon the sorcerer :
Because thou \tast here before Simon the Gali-
Isean, and we knew thee before him, exhibit thou
first the power which accompanieth thee.^
Then Simon reluctantly drew near to the dead
person ; and they set down the bier before him ;
and he looked to the right hand and to the left,
and gazed up into heaven, saying many words :
some of them he uttered aloud, and some of
them secretly and not aloud. And he delayed
a long while, and nothing took place, and noth-
ing was done, and the dead person was lying upon
his bier.
And forthwith Simon Cephas drew near boldly
towards the dead man, and cried aloud before
•< [Vol vii. p. 453. Compare vol. vi. p. 438, note 15; also vol. i.
p. 171. On Justin's simple narrative all the rest was embroidered by
a later hand. |
5 From this place to " a gathering-place," p. 675, line 20, col. 2,
the text of A, Is lost.
* [St. Peter's visit could not have been previous to St. Paul's, and
up to that time Simon had certainly not corrupted the Romans
(Rom. i. 8J. The subject may be elucidated by what follows, infraJ\
THE TEACHING OF SIMON CEPHAS.
675
all the assembly which was standing there : In
the name of Jesus Christ, whom the Jews cruci-
fied at Jerusalem, and whom we preach, rise up
thence. And as soon as the word of Simon was
spoken the dead man came to life and rose up
from the bier.
And all the people saw and marvelled ; and
they said to Simon : Christ, whom thou preachest,
is true. And many cried out, and said : Let
Simon the sorcerer and the deceiver of us all
be stoned. But Simon, by reason that every one
was running to see the dead man that was come
to life, escaped from them from one street to
another and from house to house, and fell not
into their hands on that day.
But the whole city took hold of Simon Cephas,
and they received him gladly and affectionately ;
and he ceased not from doing signs and wonders
in the name of Christ ; and many believed in
him. Cuprinus,' moreover, the father of him
that was restored to life, took Simon with him to
his house, and entertained him in a suitable
manner, while he and all his household believed
in Christ, that He is the Son of the living God.
And many of the Jews and of the pagans became
disciples there. And, when there was great re-
joicing at his teaching, he built churches there,
in Rome and in the cities round about, and in
all the villages of the people of Italy ; and he
served there in the rank of the Superintendence
of Rulers twenty-five years. -
And after these years Nero Caesar seized him
' Perhaps Cyprianus, which is found written in Syriac in the same
manner as the word here.
2 This is the time often allotted to Peter's episcopate at Rome,
although it is certain that he did not constantly reside there during
that period: we fina him the year after at Jerusalem. [The chro-
nological incredibility of this residence in Rome has been fully demon-
strated: but it is so entirely inconsistent with the scriptural history,
and with that of St. Paul in particular, that no other argument is
necessary. On the other hand, it appears to me conclusively estab-
lished, that St. Peter closed his life in Rome, under Nero. And I
think this apostle's visit fully explained by the fact that the Roman
Christians were so largely "of the circumcision," that St. Paul him-
self might naturally have invited him to share his own labours in
Rome, on the well-known rule of his conduct (Rom. xv. 20; 2 Cor.
X. 13-16). See vol. vi. elucid. p. 47.]
and shut him up in prison. And he knew that
he would crucify him ; so he called Ansus,^ the
deacon, and made him bishop in his stead in
Rome. And these things did Simon himself
speak ; and moreover also the rest, the other
things which he had in charge, he commanded
Ansus to teach before the people, saying to him :
Beside the New Testament and the Old let there
not be read before the people ^ anything else : s
which is not right.
And, when Caesar had commanded that Simon
should be crucified with his head downwards, as
he himself had requested of Caesar, and that
Paul's head should be taken off, there was great
commotion among the people, and bitter distress
in all the church, seeing that they were deprived
of the sight of the apostles. And Isus the guide
arose and took up their bodies by night, and
buried them with great honour, and there came
to be a gathering-place there for many.
And at that very time, as if by a righteous
judgment, Nero abandoned his empire and fled,
and there was a cessation for a little while from
the persecution which Nero Caesar had raised
against them. And many years after the great
coronation ^ of the apostles, who had departed
out of the world, while ordination to the priest-
hood was proceeding both in all Rome and in
all Italy, it happened then that there was a great
famine in the city of Rome.''
Here endeth the teaching of Simon Cephas.
3 B. has Lainus= Z.z'«?<j, the person undoubtedly meant. The
error arose chiefly from the ^ [L] being taken as the sign of the
accusative case. Below, the name appears as Isus, and in the Acts
of Dnrsamya we have Anus.
This sign of the accusative may be omitted. — Tr.
■* In canon x. fsee next note) it is said " in the pulpit of the
church; " and in the Teaching cf Addons it is said that " a large
multitude of the people assembled for the reading of the Old Testa-
ment and the New." The inhibition seems, therefore, to refer only to
public reading. [See p. 661, siipra.l
s This agrees with the tenth canon in the Teaching of the
Apostles. [See p. 668, supra.),
6 That is, their martyrdom. But B. reads " labour."
'' This abrupt termination .seems to indicate that there was some-
thing more which followed. The famine referred to seems to be
the same as that mentioned in the interpolated passage at the end of the
Acts 0/ Sliarbil.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
ACTS OF SHARBIL,' WHO WAS A PRIEST OF IDOLS, AND WAS CONVERTED
TO THE CONFESSION OF CHRISTIANITY IN CHRIST.^
In the fifteenth year of the Sovereign Ruler ^
Trajan Caesar,* and in the third year of King
Abgar the Seventh,^ which is the year 416 of the
kingdom of Alexander king of the Greeks, and
in the priesthood of Sharbil and Barsamya,^
Trajan Caesar commanded the governors of the
countries under his dominion that sacrifices and
libations should be increased in all the cities of
their administration, and that those who did not
sacrifice should be seized and delivered over to
stripes, and to the tcariiiij of combs, and to bit-
ter inflictions of all kiinis of tortures, and should
afterwards receive the punishment of the sword.
Now, when the command arrived at the town
of Edessa of the Parthians, there was a great
festival, on the eighth of Nisan, on the third day
of the week : the whole city was gathered to-
gether by the great altar ^ which was in the mid-
dle of the town, opposite the Record office,*^ all
the gods having been brought together, and
decorated, and sitting in honour, both Nebu and
Bel together with their fellows. And all the
priests were offering incense of spices and liba-
tions,'? and an odour of sweetness was diffusing
itself around, and sheep and oxen were being
' There are two MSS. from which this piece is taken. The first is
Cod. Add 14,644, fol. 72 vers. This, which is referred to as A., has
been copied exactly, except that a few manifest errors have been cor-
rected and some deficiencies suppUed from the other. This latter,
quoted as B., is Cod. Add. 14.645. It is some three or four centuries
later than the first. They were first taken down by shorthand-writers,
called notarii (notaries), or exceptores, by which name they are
mentioned towards the end of this extract; the Greeks called them
Ttt^uYptic^ot. They were then arranged in proper order by persons
called by the Greeks uTro/i^rjaaroypaiijoi, and by the Romans Ab
Actis. — The use of \i-o^vi\ixa.ia. and other Greek words seems to
show that these Acts were originally written in that language.
Notaries, i.e., actiiarii, or at a later day exceptores. — Tr.
^ The Latin Acta, to which the Greek u7ron>'rjju,aTa here employed
corresponds, was used to denote the authorized records of judicial
proceedings. — Tr.
3 AuTOKptXTtOp, — Tr.
4 That is, A.D. 112. But the Greek era commences 3ir or 312
B.C., and therefore a.g. 416 would answer to a.d. 105. There appears
to be some error in the date.
5 The king reigning in the fifteenth year of Trajan was Maanu
Bar Ajazath, the seventh king of Edessa after Abgar the Black.
^ It would thus appear that Paganism and Christianity were tol-
erated together in Edessa at tnis time, equal honour being attributed to
the head of each religious party. Cf. Teaching of Addcetts, p. 661:
" Neither did KingAbgarcompelany man by force to believe in Christ."
'' A little before the passage quoted in the last note it is said that
this altar v/as left standing when the altars to Bel and Nebu were
thrown down.
8 Perhaps this is the same as the "Archives" mentioned p. 007,
note 14.
9 B. adds, " before the god Zeus."
676
slaughtered, and the sound of the harp and the
drum was heard in the whole town. And Shar-
bil was chief and ruler of all the priests ; and he
was honoured above all his fellows, and was clad
in splendid and magnificent vestments ; and a
headband embossed with figures of gold was set
upon his head ; and at the bidding of his word
everything that he ordered was done. And Ab-
gar the king, son of the gods, was standing at
the head of the people. And they obeyed Shar-
bil, because he drew nearer to all the gods than
any of his fellows, and as being the one who ac-
cording to that which he had heard from the
gods returned an answer to every man.
And, while these things were being done by
the command of the king, Barsamya, the bishop
of the Christians, went up to Sharbil, he and
Tiridath the elder and Shalula the deacon ; and
he said to Sharbil, the high priest : The King
Christ, to whom belong heaven and earth, will
demand an account at thy hands of all these
souls against whom thou art sinning, and whom
thou art misleading, and turning away from the
God of verity and of truth to idols that are
made and deceitful, which are not able to do
anything with their hands — moreover also thou
hast no pity on thine own soul, which is desti-
tute of the true life of God ; and thou declarest
to this people that the dumb idols talk with
thee \ and, as if thou wert listening to something
from them, thou puttest thine ear near to one
and another of them, and sayest to this people :
The god Nebu bade me say to you, " On account
of your sacrifices and oblations I cause peace in
this your country ; " and : Bel saith, " I cause
great plenty in your land ; " and those who hear
this from thee do not discern that thou art
greatly deceiving them — because "they have a
mouth and speak not, and they have eyes and
see not with them ; " it is ye who bear up them,
and not they who bear up '° you, as ye suppose ;
and it is ye who set tables before them, and not
'° B. adds here; " And in all these things thou hast forgotten God,
the Maker of all men, and because of His long-suffering hast ex-
alted thyself against His mercy, and hast not been willing to turn to
Him, so that He might turn to thee and deliver thee from this error,
in which thou standest."
ACTS OF SHARBIL.
677
they who feed you. And now be persuaded by
me touching that which I say to thee and advise
thee. If thou be wilHng to hearken to me,
abandon idols made, and worship God the Maker
of all (kings, and His Son Jesus Christ. Do
not, because He put on a body and became
man and was stretched out on the cross of death,
be ashamed of Him and refuse to worship Him .
for, all these things which He endured — it was
for the salvation of men and for their deliver-
ance. For this One who put on a body is God,
the Son of God, Son of the essence of His
Father, and Son of the nature of Him who
begat Him : for He is the adorable brightness
of His Godhead, and is the glorious manifesta-
tion of His majesty, and together with His
Father He existed from eternity and from ever-
lasting. His arm, and His right hand, and His
power, and His wisdom, and His strength, and
the living Spirit which is from Him, the Expia-
tor and Sanctifier of all His worshippers. These
are (he things which Palut taught us, with whom
thy venerable self ' was acquainted ; and thou
knowest that Palut was the disciple of Addaeus
the apostle. Abgar the king also, who was older
than this Abgar, who himself worshippeth idols
as well as thou, he too believed in the King
Christ, the Son of Him whom thou callest Lord
of all the gods.^ For it is fofbidden to Chris-
tians to worship anything that is made, and is a
creature, and in iis nature is not God : even as
ye worship idols made by men,^ who themselves
also are made and created. Be persuaded,
therefore, by these things which I have said to
thee, which things are the belief of the Church :
for I know that all this population are looking
to thee, and I am well assured that, if thou be
persuaded, many also will be persuaded with thee.'*
Sharbil said to him : Very acceptable to me
are these thy words which thou hast spoken
before me ; yea, exceedingly acceptable are they
to me. But, as for me, I know that I am out-
cast from 5 all these things, and there is no longer
any remedy for me. And, now that hope is cut
off from me,- why weariest thou thyself about a
man dead and buried,'^ for whose death there is
no hope of resuscitation? For I am slain by
paganism, and am become a dead man, (he prop-
erty of the Evil One : in sacrifices and libations
of imposture have I consumed all the days of
my life.
' Lit. '' thy old age." — Tr.
2 The Peshito, for Zeus in Acts xiv. 12, has " Ix)rd of the gods."
3 B. has " the work of men's hands." [Jer. xvi. 20.]
^ B. makes a considerable addition here, which it is hardly neces-
sary to quote, the words being in all probability only an interpolation.
Cureton elsewhere remarks: " I have almost invariably found in
these Syriac Mss. that the older are the shorter, and (hat subsequent
editors or transcribers felt themselves at liberty to add occasionally,
or paraphrase the earlier copies which they used " — a remark un-
happily of very wide application in regard to early Christian litera-
ture. — Tk. [ But Cureton is speaking for his pet idea. J
5 Or " destitute of." — Tr.
^ Lit. "a hidden dead man." — Tr.
And, when Barsamya the bishop heard these
things,^ he fell down before his feet, and said to
him : There is hope for those who turn, and
healing for those that are wounded. I myself
will be surety to thee for the abundant mercies
of the Son Christ : that He will pardon thee all
the sins which thou hast committed against Him,
in that thou hast worshipped and honoured His
creatures instead of Himself For that Gracious
One, who extended Himself on the cross of
death, will not withhold His grace from the souls
that comply wi(h His precep(s and take refuge
in His kindness which has been displayed to-
wards us. Like as He did towards the robber, so
is He able to do to thee, and also to those who
are like thee.
Sharbil said to him : Thou, like a skilful phy-
sician, who suffers pain from the pain of the af-
flicted, hast done well in that thou hast been
concerned about me. But at present, because
it is the festival to-day of this people, of every
one of (hem, I cannot go down with thee to-day
to the church. Depart thou, and go down with
honour ; and to-morrow at night I will come
down to thee : I too have henceforth renounced
for myself the gods made wi(h hands, and I will
confess the Lord Christ, the Maker of all men.
And the next day Sharbil arose and went down
to Barsamya by night, he and Babai his sister ;
and he was received by the whole church. And
he said to them : Offer for me prayer and suppli-
cation, that Christ may forgive me all the sins
that I have committed against Him in all this
long course of years. And, because they were
in dread of the persecutors, they arose and gave
him the seal of salvation,^ whilst he confessed
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirif
And, when all the city had heard that he was
gone down to the church, there began to be a
consternation among the multitude ; and they
arose and went down to him, and saw him clad
in the fashion of the Christians.'" And he said
to them : May the Son Christ forgive me all the
sins that I have committed against you, and all
in which I made you think that the gods talked
with me, whereas they did not talk ; and, foras-
much as I have been to you a cause of abomi-
nation, may I now be to you a cause of good :
instead of worshipping, as formerly, idols made
luiih hands, may ye henceforth worship God the
Maker. And, when they had heard these things,
there remained with him a great congregation
7 B. adds, " from Sharbil, his tears flowed and he wept."
8 B. adds, "of baptism, baptizing him."
The " seal " (crc^payi;) is probably explained by such passages as
Eph. iv. 30, that which bore the seal being regarded as the property
of him whose seal it was. Thus Gregory Naz. (Oral. 40) speaks of
baptism. .See kiddle's Christian Aiitiqq., p. 484. — Tr.
9 [This identifies the " seal " with baptism.]
'° B. adds, " and he sat and listened to the Scriptures of the Church,
and the testimonies which are spoken in them, touching the birth and
the passion and the resurrection and the ascension of Christ; and,
when he saw those that came down to him — "
678
ACTS OF SHARBIL.
of men and of women ; and Labu also, and
Hafsai, and Barcalba, and Avida, chief persons
of the city. Tliey all said to Sharbil : Hence-
forth we also renounce that which thou hast re-
nounced, and we confess the King Christ, whom
thou hast confessed.
But Lysanias," the judge of the country, when
he heard - that Sharbil had done this,^ sent by
night •♦ and carried him off from the church.
And there went up with him many Christians.
And he sat down, to hear him and to judge him,
before the altar which is in the middle of the
town, where he used to sacrifice to the gods.
And he said to him : Wherefore hast thou re-
nounced the gods, whom thou didst worship, and
to whom thou didst sacrifice, and to whom thou
wast made chief of the priests, and lo ! dost to-
day confess Christ, whom thou didst formerly
deny ? For see how those Christians, to whom
thou art gone, renounce not that which they have
held, 5 like as thou hast renounced that in which
thou wast born. If thou art assured of the gods,
how is it that thou hast renounced them this day ?
But, if on the contrary thou art not assured, as
thou declarest concerning them, how is it that
thou didst once sacrifice to them and worship
them ?
Sharbil said : When I was blinded in my mind,
I worshipped that which I knew not ; but to-day,
inasmuch as I have obtained the clear eyes of
the mind, it is henceforth impossible that I should
stumble at 'carved stones, or that I should any
longer be the cause of stumbling to others. For
it is a great disgrace to him whose eyes are open,
if he goes and falls into the pit of destruction.
The judge said : Because thou hast been priest
of the venerable gods, and hast been partaker
of the mystery of those whom the mighty em-
perors ^ worship, I will have patience with thee,
in order that thou mayest be persuaded by me,
and not turn away from the service of the gods ;
but, if on the contrary thou shalt not be per-
suaded by me, by those same gods whom thou
hast renounced I swear that, even as on a man
that is a murderer, so will I inflict tortures on
thee, and will avenge on thee the wrong done to
the gods, whom thou hast rebelled against and
renounced, and also the insult which thou hast
poured upon them ; nor will I leave untried any
kind of tortures which I will not inflict on thee ;
and, like as thine honour formerly was great, so
will I make thine ignominy great this day.
' In B., in a passage added further on, he is styled " Lysinas,"
and in the Martyrdom of Jiarsamya, infra, " Lysinus" or " Luci-
nus." In the Martyrologium Rovianiim he is called " Lysias
prseses." Tillemont supposes him to be Lusius Quietus. But the
time does not agree. The capture of Edessa under this man was in
the nineteenth year of Trajan, four years later than the martyrdom.
- B. adds, " from the Sharirs of the city."
3 B. has added several lines here.
■* B. adds, " the Sharirs of the city."
- Lit. " in which they stand." — Tr.
'^ Lit. " kings: " and so throughout. — Tk.
Sharbil said : I too, on my part, am not con-
tent that thou shouldest look upon me as for-
merly, when I worshipped gods made with hands ;
but look thou upon me to-day and question me
as a Christian man renouncing idols and confess-
ing the King Christ.
The judge said : How is it that thou art not
afraid of the emperors, nor moved to shame by
those who are listening to thy trial, that thou
sayest, "I am a Christian"? But promise that
thou wilt sacrifice to the gods, according to thy
former custom, so that thy honour may be great,
as formerly — lest I make to tremble at thee all
those who have believed like thyself.
Sharbil said : Of the King of kings I am afraid,
but at any king of earth I tremble not, nor yet
at thy threats towards me, which lo ! thou utterest
against the worshippers of Christ : whom I con-
fessed yesterday, and lo ! I am brought to trial
for His sake to-day, like as He Himself was
brought to trial for the sake of sinners like
me.
The judge said : Although thou have no pity
on thyself, still I will have pity on thee, and re-
frain from cutting off- those hands of thine with
which thou hast placed incense before the gods,
and from stopping with thy blood those ears of
thine which have heard their mysteries, and thy
tongue which has interpreted and explained to
us their secret things. Of those gods lo ! I am
afraid, and I have pity on thee. But, if thou
continue thus, those gods be my witnesses that
1 will have no pity on thee !
Sharbil said : As a man who art afraid of the
emperors and tremblest at idols, have thou no
pity on me. For, as for me, I know not what
thou sayest : therefore also is my mind not shaken
or terrified by those things which thou sayest.
For by thy judgments shall all they escape from
the judgment to come who do not worship that
which is not God in its own nature.
The judge said : Let him be scourged with
thongs,^ because he has dared to answer me thus,
and has resisted the command of the emperors,
and has not appreciated the honour which the
gods conferred on him : inasmuch as, lo ! he has
renounced them.
And he was scourged by ten men, who laid
hold on him, according to the command of the
judge.
Sharbil said : Thou art not aware of the
scourging of justice in that world which is to
come. For thou wilt cease, and thy judgments
also will pass away ; but justice will not pass
away, nor will its retributions come to an end.
7 The Syriac is siffl **l4 i.toris) , and is a foreign word, proba-
bly the Latin loris, which the Syriac translator, not understanding it
or not having an equivalent, may have written loris, and a subsequent
transcriber have written toris. It is plain that the later copyist to
whom the text B. is due did not know what is meant: for he has
omitted the word, and substituted " Sharbil."
ACTS OF SHARBIL.
679
The judge ' said : Thou art so intoxicated
with this same Christianity, that thou dost not
even know^ before whom thou art judged, and
by whom it is that thou art scourged — eveii by
those who formerly held thee in honour, and paid
adoration to thy priesthood in the gods. Why
dost thou hate honour, and love this ignominy?
For, although thou speakest contrary to the law,
yet I myself cannot turn aside from the laws of
the emperors.
Sharbil said : As thou takest heed not to de-
part from the laws of the emperors, and if more-
over thou depart /;-(?;« them thou knowest what
command they will give concerning thee, so do
I also take heed not to decline from the law of
Him who said, " Thou shalt not worship any im-
age, nor any likeness ; " and therefore will I not
sacrifice to idols made with hands : for long
enough was the time in which I sacrificed to
them, when I was in ignorance.
The judge said : Bring not upon thee punish-
ment ^ in addition to the punishment which thou
hast already brought upon thee. Enough is it
for thee to have said, " I will not sacrifice : " do
not dare to insult tlie gods, by calling them man-
ufactured idols whom even the emperors honour.
Sharbil said : But, if on behalf of the emper-
ors, who are far away and not near at hand and
not conscious of those who treat their commands
with contempt, thou biddest me sacrifice, how is
it that on behalf of idols, who lo ! are present
and are seen, but see not, thou biddest me sacri-
fice? Why, hereby thou hast declared before
all thy attendants-* that, because they have a
mouth and speak not, lo ! thou art become a
pleader for them : dumb idols " to whom their
makers shall be like," and " every one that trust-
eth upon them " shall be like thee.
The judge said : It was not for this that thou
wast called before me — that, instead of payi7ig
the honour which is due, thou shouldst despise
the emperors. But draw near to the gods and
sacrifice, and have pity on thyself, thou self-
despiser !
Sharbil sfiid : Why should it be requisite for
thee to ask me many questions, after that which
I have said to thee : " I will not sacrifice " ?
Thou hast called meaself-despiser? But would
that from my childhood I had had this mind,
and had thus despised myself,5 which was per-
ishing !
The judge said : Hang him up, and tear him
with combs on his sides. — And while he was
' R. reads " governor" (ijye/j.wi'), and so generally in the corre-
sponding places below.
2 B. reads "discern."
3 Or "judgment." — Tr.
■t The word used is the Latin " officium " (=officialcs, or corpus
oflTicialium — Tr.), which denoted the officers that attended upon
presidents and chief magistrates. The equivalent Gk. Tafi9 is used
below [in the Martyrdom of Habib, " attendants "].
5 Or " soul." — Tr.
thus torn he cried aloud and said : // is for the
sake of Christ, who has secretly caused His light
to arise upon the darkness of my mind. And,
when he had thus spoken, the judge commanded
again that he should be torn with combs on his
face.
Sharbil said : It is better that thou shouldest
inflict tortures upon me for not sacrificing, than
that I should be judged there for having sacrificed
to the work of men's hands.
The judge said : Let his body be bent back-
wards, and let straps be tied to his hands and
his feet ; and, when he has been bent backwards,
let him be scourged on his belly.
And they scourged him in this manner, accord-
ing to the command of the judge.
Then he commanded that he should go up to
the prison, and that he should be cast into a
dark dungeon. And the executioners,^ and the
Christians who had come up with him from the
church, carried him, because he was not able to
walk upon his feet in consequence of his having
been bent backwards. And he was in the gaol
many days.
But on the second of Ilul,^ on the third day
of the week, the judge arose and went down to
his judgment-hall by night; and the whole body
of his attendants was with him ; and he com-
manded the keeper of the prison, and they
brought him before him. And the judge said
to him : This long while hast thou been in prison :
what has been thy determination concerning
those things on which thou wast questioned be-
fore me ? Dost thou consent to minister to the
gods according to thy former custom, agreeably
to the command of the emperors?
Sharbil said : This has been my determina-
tion in the prison, that that with which I began
before thee, I will finish even to the last ; nor
will I play false with my word. vFor I will not
again confess idols, which I have renounced ;
nor will I renounce the King Christ, whom I have
confessed.
The judge said : Hang him up by his right
hand, because he has withdrawn it from the gods
that he may not again offer incense with it, until
his hand with which he ministered to the gods
be dislocated, because he persists in this saying
of his.
And, while he was suspended by his hand, they
asked him and said to him : Dost thou consent
to sacrifice to the gods ? But he was not able
to return them an answer, on account of the dis-
location of his arm. And the judge commanded,
and they loosed him and took him down. But
he was not able to bring his arm up to his side,
6 Those who officiated at a " qusestio," or examination by torture.
— Tr. The Latin ■' quastionarii."
7 i.e., Heb. S^'?^, from the new moon of September to that of
October. [See p. 666, S7t/ra.]
68o
ACTS OF SHARBIL.
until the executioners pressed it and brought it
up to his side.
The judge said : Put on incense, and go
whithersoever thou wilt, and no one shall com-
pel thee to be a priest again. But, if thou wilt
not, I will show thee tortures bitterer than these.
Sharbil said : As for gods that made not the
heavens and the earth, may they perish from un-
der these heavens ! But thou, menace me not
with words of threatening ; but, instead of words,
show upon me the deeds of threatening, that I
hear thee not again making mention of the de-
testable name of gods !
The judge said : Let him be branded with the
brand of bitter fire between his eyes and upon
his cheeks.
And the executioners did so, until the smell
of the branding reeked forth in the midst of the
judgment-hall : but he refused to sacrifice.
Sharbil said : Thou hast heard for thyself from
me, when I said to thee " Thou art not aware of
the smoke of the roasting of the fire which is
prepared for those who, like thee, confess idols
made by hands, and deny the living God, after
thy fashion."
The judge said : Who taught thee all these
things, that thou shouldest speak before me thus
— a man who was a friend of the gods and an
enemy of Christ, whereas, lo ! thou art become
his advocate.
Sharbil said : Christ whom I have confessed.
He it is that hath taught me to speak thus. But
there needeth not that I should be His advocate,
for His own mercies are eloquent advocates for
guilty ones like me, and these will avail to plead '
on my behalf in the day when the sentences shall
be eternal.
The judge said : Let him be hanged up, and
let him be torn with combs upon his former
wounds ; also let salt and vinegar be rubbed into
the wounds upon his sides. Then he said to
him : Renounce not the gods whom thou didst
formerly confess.
Sharbil said : Have pity on me and spare me
again from saying that there be gods, and pow-
ers, and fates, and nativities. On the contrary,
I confess one God, who made the heavens, and
the earth, and the seas, and all that is therein ;
and the Son who is from Him, the King
Christ.
The judge said : It is not about this that thou
art questioned before me — viz. : what is the
belief of the Christians which thou hast con-
fessed ; but this is what I said to thee, " Re-
nounce not those gods to whom thou wast made
priest."
Sharbil said : Where is that wisdom of thine
and of the emperors of whom thou makest thy
* Lit. " to be a plea." — Tr.
boast, that ye worship the work of the hands of
the artificers and confess them, whilst the artifi-
cers themselves, who made the idols, ye insult
by the burdens and imposts which ye lay upon
them? The artificer standeth up at thy presence,
to do honour to iliee ; and thou standest up in
the presence of the work of the artificer, and
dost honour it and worship it.
The judge said : Thou art not the man to call
others to account for^ these things; but from
thyself a strict account is demanded, as to the
cause for which thou hast renounced the gods,
and refusest to offer them incense like thy fellow-
priests.
Sharbil said : Death on account of this is true
life : those who confess the King Christ, He also
will confess before His glorious Father.
The judge said : Let lighted candles ^ be
brought, and let them be passed round about his
face and about the sides of his wounds. And
they did so a long while.
Sharbil said : It is well that thou burnest me
with this fire, that so I may be delivered from
" that fire which is not quenched, and the worm
that dieth not," which is threatened to those'*
who worship things made instead of the Maker :
for it is forbidden to the Christians to honour or
worship anything except the nature of Him who
is God Most High. For that which is made and
is created is designed to be a worshipper of its
Maker, and is not to be worshipped along with
its Creator, as thou supposest.
The governor said : It is not this for which
the emperors have ordered me to demand an
account at thy hands, whether there be judgment
and the rendering of an account after the death
of men ; nor yet about this do I care, whether
that which is made is to be honoured or not to
be honoured. What the emperors have com-
manded 7ne is this : that, whosoever will not sac-
rifice to the gods and offer incense to them, I
should employ against him stripes, and combs,
and sharp swords.
Sharbil said : The kings of this world are con-
scious of this world only ; but the King of all
kings. He hath revealed and shown to us that
there is another world, and a judgment in reserve,
in which a recompense will be made, on the one
hand to those who have ser\^ed God, and on the
other to those who have not served Him nor
confessed Him. Therefore do I cry aloud, that
I will not again sacrifice to idols, nor will I offer
oblations to devils, nor will I do honour to de-
mons !
The judge said : Let nails of iron be driven in
between the eyes of the \n?>o\Q.\\\.feUoiv, and let
2 Or " thou art not the avenger of." — Tr.
3 Lit. " candles of fire." — Tk.
■* The passage from this place to " in the eyes," below, is lost in
A., and supplied from B.
ACTS OF SHARBIL.
68 1
him go to that world which he is looking for-
ward to, like a fanatic.'
And the executioners did so, the sound of the
driving in of the nails being heard as they were
being driven in sharply.
Sharbil said : Thou hast driven in nails be-
tween my eyes, even as nails were driven into
the hands of the glorious Architect of the crea-
tion, and by reason of this did all orders of the
creation tremble and quake at that season.
For these tortures which lo ! thou art inflicting
on me are nothing in view of that judgment
which is to come. For those " whose ways are
always firm," because "they have not the judg-
ment of God before their eyes," ^ and who on
this account do not even confess that God ex-
ists — neither will He confess them.
The judge said : Thou sayest in words that
there is a judgment ; but I will show thee in
deeds : so that, instead of that judgment which
is to come, thou mayest tremble and be afraid
of this one which is before thine eyes, in which
lo ! thou art involved, and not multiply thy
speech before me.
Sharbil said : Whosoever is resolved to set
God before his eyes in secret, God will also be
at his right hand ; and I too am not afraid of
thy threats of tortures, with which thou dost
menace me and seek to make me afraid.
The judge said : Let Christ, whom thou hast
confessed, deliver thee from all the tortures which
I have inflicted on thee, and am about further to
inflict on thee ; and let Him show His deliver-
ance towards thee openly, and save thee out of
my hands.
Sharbil said : This is the true deliverance of
Christ imparted to me — this secret power which
He has given me to endure all the tortures thou
art inflicting on me, and whatsoever it is settled
in thy mind still further to inflict upon me ;
and, although thou hast plainly seen // to be so,
thou hast refused to credit my word.
The judge said : Take him away from before
me, and let him be hanged upon a beam the
contrary way,. head downwards; and let him be
beaten with whips while he is hanging.
And the executioners did so to him, at the
door of the judgment-hall.
Then the governor commanded, and they
brought him in before him. And he said to
him : Sacrifice to the gods, and do the will of
the emperors, thou priest that hatest honour
and lovest ignominy instead !
Sharbil said : Why dost thou again repeat thy
words, and command me to sacrifice, after the
many times that thou hast heard from me that
I will not sacrifice again? For it is not any
■ Or "dealer in fables," iT the word employed here, which is a
foreign one, be the Latin " fabularius," which is not certain.
2 Ps. X. s.— Tr
compulsion on the part of the Christians that has
kept me back from sacrifices, but the truth they
hold : this it is that has delivered me from the
error of paganism.
The judge said : Let him be put into a chest s
of iron like a murderer, and let him be scourged
with thongs hke a malefactor.
And the executioners did so, until there re-
mained not a sound place on him.
Sharbil said : As for these tortures, which
thou supposest to be bitter, out of the midst of
their bitterness will spring up for me fountains
of deliverance and mercy in the day of the eter-
nal sentences.
The governor said : Let small round pieces
of wood be placed between the fingers of his
hands,'* and let these be squeezed upon them
vehemently. 5
And they did so to him, until the blood came
out from under the nails of his fingers.
Sharbil said : If thine eye be not satisfied with
the tortures of the body, add still further to its
tortures whatsoever thou wilt.
The judge said : Let the fingers of his hands
be loosed, and make him sit upon the ground ;
and bind his hands upon his knees, and thrust
a piece of wood under his knees, and let it pass
over the bands of his hands, and hang him up
by his feet, thus bent, head downwards ; and
let him be scourged with thongs.
And they did so to him.
Sharbil said : They cannot conquer who fight
against God, nor may they be overcome whose
confidence is God ; and therefore do I say, that
" neither fire nor sword, nor death nor life, nor
height nor depth, can separate my heart from the
love of God, which is in our Lord Jesus Christ."
The judge said : Make hot a ball of lead and
of brass, and place it under his armpits.
And they did so, until his ribs began to be
seen.
Sharbil said : The tortures thou dost inflict
upon me are too little for thy rage against me — ■
unless thy rage were little and thy tortures were
great.
The judge said : Thou wilt not hurry me on
by these things which thou sayest ; for I have
room in my mind ^ to bear long with thee, and to
behold every evil and shocking and bitter thing
•5 So Cureton. Dr. Payne Smith remarks: " Cureton's 'chest'
is a guess from j^Za^j^O.. The only sense of |-S^ with which I am
acquainted is cadus, a cask." The word occurs again in the Mar-
tyrdom of Habi'b. In both places it seems to refer to some contri-
vance for holding /ast the person to be scourged. The root appears
to be (-C£, custodivit, retinuit (Castel). — Tr.
4 The martyr Minias, about .\.D. 240, had the same torture m-
flicted on him: " ligneis verubus praeacutis sub ungues ejus infixis,
omnes digitos ejus pra;cepit pertundi." See Surius, Sanctt. Vit.
Not " the same," perhaps. — Tr.
5 Or " bitterly." — Tr.
* Here a few lines have been torn out of A., and are supplied
from B.
682
ACTS OF SHARBIL.
which ' I shall exhibit in the torment of thy
body, because thou wilt not consent to sacrifice
to the gods whom thou didst formerly wor-
ship.
Sharbil said : Those things which I have said
and repeated before thee, thou in thine unbelief
knowest not how to hear : now, supposest thou
that thou knowest those things which are in my
mind ?
The judge said : The answers which thou
givest will not help thee, but will multiply upon
thee inflictions manifold.
Sharbil said : If the several stories of thy sev-
eral gods are by thee accepted as true, yet is it
matter of shame to us to tell of what sort they
are. For one had intercourse with boys, which
is not right ; and another fell in love with a
maiden, who fled for refuge into a tree, as your
shameful stories tell.
The judge said : This fellow, who was for-
merly a respecter of the gods, but has now turned
to insult them and has not been afraid, and has
also despised the command of the emperors and
has not trembled — set him to stand upon a
gridiron ^ heated with fire.
And the executioners did so, until the under
part of his feet was burnt off.
Sharbil said : If thy rage is excited at 7ny
mention of the abominable and obscene tales
of thy gods, how much more does it become
thee to be ashamed of their acts ! For lo ! if a
person were to do what one of thy gods did,
and they were to bring him before thee, thou
wouldest pass sentence of death upon him.
The judge said : This day will I bring thee to
account for thy blasphemy against the gods, and
thine audacity in insulting also the emperors ;
nor will I leave thee alone until thou offer incense
to them, according to thy former custom.
Sharbil said : Stand by thy threats, then, and
speak not falsely; and show towards me in deeds
the authority of the emperors which they have
given thee ; and do not thyself bring reproach
on the emperors with thy falsehood, and be thy-
self also despised in the eyes of thine attend-
ants !
The judge said : Thy blasphemy against the
gods and thine audacity towards the emperors
have brought upon thee these tortures which
thou art undergoing; and, if thou add further
to thine audacity, there shall be further added
to thee inflictions bitterer than these.
Sharbil said : Thou hast authority, as judge :
do whatsoever thou wilt, and show no pity.
The judge said : How can he that hath had
' " ^Vhich " is not in the printed text. — Tr.
2 The word used looks like a corruption of the Latin craticula.
Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. v. i, uses the Gk. word for this {rT\ya.vov) in
describing the martyrdom of Attains, who " was set in the TT)ya.vov,
and scorched all over, till the savour of his burnt flesh ascended from
his body."
no pity on his own body, so as to avoid suffering
in it these tortures, be afraid or ashamed of not
obeying the command of the emperors ?
Sharbil said : Thou hast well said that I am
not ashamed : because near at hand is He that
justifieth me, and my soul is caught up in rapture
towards him. For, whereas I once provoked
Him to anger by the sacrifices of idols, I am this
day pacifying Him by the inflictions I endin-e in
my person : for my soul is a captive to God who
became man.
The judge said : It is a captive, then, that
I am questioning, and a madman without sense ;
and with a dead man who is burnt, lo ! am I
talking.
Sharbil said : If thou art assured that I am
mad, question me no further : for it is a madman
that is being questioned ; nay, rather, I am a
dead man who is burnt, as thou hast said.
The judge said : How shall I count thee a dead
man, when lo ! thou hast cried aloud, " I will
not sacrifice? "
Sharbil said : I myself, too, know not how to
return thee an answer, since thou hast called me
a dead manand j'^/turnest to question me again
as if alive.
The judge said : Well have I called thee a
dead man, because thy feet are burnt and thou
carest not, and thy face is scorched and thou
boldest tlxy peace, and nails are driven in between
thine eyes and thou takest no account of it, and
thy ribs are seen between the furrows of the
combs and thou insultest the emperors, and thy
whole body is mangled and maimed with stripes
and thou blasphemest against the gods ; and,
because thou hatest thy body, lo ! thou sayest
whatsoever pleaseth thee.
Sharbil said : If thou callest me audacious be-
cause I have endured these things, it is fit that
thou, who hast inflicted them upon me, shouldest
be called a murderer in thy acts and a blas-
phemer in thy words.
The judge said : Lo ! thou hast insulted the
emperors, and likewise the gods ; and lo ! thou
insultest me also, in order that I may pronounce
sentence of death upon thee quickly. But in-
stead of this, which thou lookest for, I am pre-
pared yet further to inflict upon thee bitter and
severe tortures.
Sharbil said : Thou knowest what I have said
to thee many times : instead of denunciations
of threatening, proceed to show upon me the
performance of the threat, that thou mayest be
known to do the will of the emperors.
The judge said : Let him be torn with combs
upon his legs and upon the sides of his thighs.
And the executioners did so, until his blood
flowed and ran down upon the ground.
Sharbil said : Thou hast well done in treating
me thus : because I have heard that one of the
ACTS OF SHARBIL.
683
teachers of the Church hath said,' " Scars are on
my body, that I may come to the resurrection
from the place of the dead." Me too, who was
a dead man out of sight, lo ! thine inflictions
bring to Ufe again.
The judge said : Let him be torn with combs
on his face, since he is not ashamed of the nails
which are driven in between his eyes.
And they tore him with combs upon his cheeks,
and between the nails which were driven into
them.
Sharbil said : I will not obey the emperors, who
command that to be worshipped and honoured
which is not of the nature of God, and is not
God in its nature, but is the work of him that
made it.
The judge said : Like as the emperors wor-
ship, so also worship thou ; and that honour
which the judges render, do thou render also.
Sharbil said : Even though / insult that which
is the work of men and has no perception and
no feeling of anything, yefdo not f/iou insult God,
the Maker of all, nor worship along with Him
that which is not of Him, and is foreign to His
nature.
The judge said : Does this your doctrine so
teach you, that you should insult the very lumi-
naries which give light to all the regions of the
earth ?
Sharbil said : Although it is not enjoined upon
us to insult them, yet it is enjoined upon us not
to worship them nor honour them, seeing that
they are thmgs made : for this were an insuffer-
able ^ wrong, that a thing made should be wor-
shipped along with its Maker ; and it is an insult
to the Maker tliat His creatures should be
honoured along with Himself.
The judge said : Christ whom thou confessest
was hanged on a tree ; and on a tree will I hang
thee, like thy Master.
And they hanged him on a tree ^ a long
while.
Sharbil said : As for Christ, whom lo ! thou
mockest — see how thy many gods were unable
to stand before Him : for lo ! they are despised
and rejected, and are made a laughing-stock and
a jest by those who used formerly to worship
them.
The judge said : How is it that thou renoun-
cest the gods, and confessest Christ, who was
hanged on a tree ?
Sharbil said : This cross of Christ is the great
boast of the Christians, since it is by this that
the deliverance of salvation has come to all His
worshippers, and by this that they have had their
eyes enlightened, so as not to worship creatures
along with the Creator.
' [St. Paul's Stigmata.
2 Or " bitter.'' "
3 Or " beam."
-Tr.
-Tr.
Gal. vi. 17; Phil. iii. 11. J
The governor said : Let thy boasting of tHe
cross be kept within thy own mind, and let
incense be offered by thy hands to the gods.
Sharbil said : Those who have been delivered
by the cross cannot any longer worship and serve
the idols of error made with hands : for creature
cannot worship creature, because it is itself also
designed to be a worshipper of Him who made it ;
and that it should be worshipped along with its
Maker is an insult to its Maker, as I have said
before.
The governor said : Leave alone thy books
which have taught thee to speak thus, and per-
form the command of the emperors, that thou
die not by the emperors' law.
But Sharbil said : Is this, then, the justice of
the emperors, in whom thou takest such pride,
that we should leave alone the law of God and
keep their laws ?
The governor said : The citation of the books
in which thou believest, and from which thou
hast quoted — it is this which has brought upon
thee these afflictions : for, if thou hadst offered
incense to the gods, great would have been thine
honour, like as it was formerly, as priest of the
gods.
Sharbil said : To thine unbelieving heart these
things seem as if they were afflictions ; but to
the true heart " affliction imparts patience, and
from it cotnes also experience, and from experi-
ence likewise the hope " •* of the confessor.5
The governor said : Hang him up and tear
him with combs upon his former wounds.
And, from the fury with which the judge urged
on the executioners, his very bowels were almost
seen. And, lest he should die under the combs
and escape from still further tortures, he gave
orders and they took him down.
And, when the judge saw that he was become
silent and was not able to return him any further
answer, he refrained from him a little while, until
he began to revive.
Sharbil said : Why hast thou had pity upon
me for even this little time, and kept me back
from the gain of a confessor's death? 5
The governor said : I have not had pity on
thee at all in refraining for a little while : thy
silence it was that made me pause a little ; and,
if I had power beyond the law of the emperors,
I should like to lay other tortures upon thee, so
as to be more fully avenged on thee for thine
insult toward the gods : for in despising me thou
hast despised the gods; and I, on my part, have
borne with thee and tortured thee thus, as a man
who so deserves.
And the judge gave orders, and suddenly the
curtain ^ fell before him for a short time ; and
* Rom. V. 4. — Tr.
5 Lit. " of confessorship." — Tr.
6 The Latin " velum," or rather its plur.
684
ACTS OF SHARBIL.
Ite settled and drew up the sentence ' which he
should pronounce against him publicly.
And suddenly the curtain was drawn back
again ; and the judge cried aloud and said : As
regards this Sharbil, who was formerly priest of
the gods, but has turned this day and renounced
the gods, and has cried aloud " I am a Chris-
tian," and has not trembled at the gods, but has
insulted them ; and, further, has not been afraid
of the emperors «//(-/ their command ; and, though
I have bidden him sacrifice to the gods accord-
ing to his former custom, has not sacrificed, but
has treated them with the greatest insult : I
have looked into the matter, and decided, that
towards a man who doeth these things, even
though he were no7o to sacrifice, it is not fit that
any mercy should be shown ; and that it is not
fit that he should any longer behold the sun of
his lords, because he has scorned their laws. I
give sentence that, according to the law of the
emperors, a strap ^ be thrust into the mouth of
the insulter, as into the mouth of a murderer,
and that he depart outside of the city of the
emperors with haste, as one who has insulted
the lords of the city and the gods who hold au-
thority over it. I give sentence that he be sawn
with a saw of wood, and that, when be is near to
die, then his head be taken off with the sword
of the headsmen.
And forthwith a strap was thrust into his mouth
with all speed, and the executioners hurried him
off, and made him run quickly upon his burnt
feet, and took him away outside of the city, a
crowd of people running after him. For they
had been standing looking on at his trial all day,
and wondering that he did not suffer under his
afflictions : for his countenance, which was cheer-
ful, testified to the joy of his heart. And, when
the executioners arrived at the place where he
was to receive the punishment of death, the
people of the city were w^ith them, that they
might see whether they did according as the
judge had commanded, and hear what Sharbil
might say at that season, so that they might in-
form the judge of the country.
And they offered him some wine to drink,
according to the custom of murderers to drink.
But he said to them : I will not drink, because I
wish to feel the saw with which ye saw me, and
the sword which ye pass over my neck • but in-
stead of this wine, which will not be of any use
to me, give me a little time to pray, while ye
stand. And he stood up, and looked toward
the east,3 and lifted up his voice and said : For-
give me, Christ, all the sins I have committed
against Thee, and all the times in which I have
' The Gk. oTToiiao-i?. •
2 This expression x^^ii'oi' iti.^a.\e~\.v is used similarly in the life
of Euthymus in Eccl. Gmc. Monnmettta, vol. ii. p. 240.
3 See Teachi7ig of the Apostles, Ord. i, p. 568, note i. — Tr.
provoked Thee to anger by the polluted sacrifices
of dead idols ; and have pity on me and save
me,'* and deliver me from the judgment to come ;
and be merciful to me, as Thou wast merciful to
the robber ; and receive me like the penitents
who have been converted and have turned to
Thee, as Thou also hast turned to them ; and,
whereas I have entered into Thy vineyard, at the
eleventh hour, instead of judgment, deliver me
from justice : let Thy death, which was for the
sake of sinners, restore to life again my slain
body in the day of Thy coming.
And, when the Sharirs of the city heard these
things, they were very angry with the executioners
for having given him leave to pray.
And, while the nails were remaining which
had been driven in between his eyes, and his
ribs were seen between the wounds of the combs,
and while from the burning on his sides and the
soles of his feet, which were scorched and burnt,
and from the gashes of the combs on his face,
and on his sides, and on his thighs, and on his
legs, the blood was flowing and running down,
they brought carpenters' instruments, and tiirust
him into a wooden -vice, and tightened it upon
him until the bones of his joints creaked with
the pressure ; then they put upon him a saw of
iron, and began sawing him asunder ; and, when
he was just about to die, because the saw had
reached to his mouth, they smote him wnth the
sword and took off his head, while he was still
squeezed down in the vice.
And Babai his sister drew near and spread out
her skirt and caught his blood ; and she said to
him : May my spirit be united with thy spirit in
the presence of Christ, whom tliou hast known
and believed.
And the Sharirs of the city ran and came and
informed the judge of the things w^hich Sharbil
had uttered in his prayer, and how his sister had
caught his blood. And the judge commanded
them to return and give orders to the execu-
tioners that, on the spot where she had caught
the blood of her brother, she also should receive
the punishment of death. And the executioners
laid hold on her, and each one of them severally
put her to torture ; and, with her brother's blood
upon her, her soul took its flight from her, and
they mingled her blood with his. And, when
the executioners were entered into the city, the
brethren and young men 5 ran and stole away
their two corpses ; and they laid them in the
burial-place of the father of Abshelama the
bishop, on the fifth of Ilul, the eve of the Sab-
bath.
I wrote these Acts on paper — I, Marinus,
and Anatolus, the notaries ; and we placed them
■* Lit. " have pity on my salvation." — Tr.
5 By a transposition of letters, B. reads " laics.'
AC'FS OF SHARBIL.
685
in the archives of the city, where the papers of
the kings are placed.'
This Barsamya,^ the bishop, made a disciple of Shar-
bil the priest. And he lived in the days of Binus,^ bishop
of Rome ; in whose days the whole population of Rome
assembled together, and cried out to the prsetor'' of
their citv, and said to him : There are too many strangers
in this our cit}', and these cause famine and dearness of
everything : but we beseech thee to command them to
depart out of the city. And, when he had commanded
them to depart out of the city, these strangers assembled
themselves together, and said to the prastor : We beseech
thee, my lord, command also that the bones of our dead
may depart with us. And he commanded them to take the
bones of their dead, and to depart. And all the strangers
assembled themselves together to take the bones of
Simon Cephas and of Paul, the apostles; but the people
of Rome said to them : We will not give you the bones of
' B. has several lines here in addition.
^ The passage hence to the end is evidently a later addition by a
person unacquainted with chronology: for it is stated at the beginning
of these Acts that the transactions took place in the fifteenth year of
Trajan, a.d. 112; but Fabianus (see next note) was not made bishop
of Rome till the reign of Maximinus Thrax, about the year 236. [An
index of the history of this postscript.]
3 B. reads " Fabianus: " in A. the first syllable, or rather letter,
has been dropped. — The mention of Fabianus probably arose from
the fact oi his having instituted notaries for the express purpose of
searching for and collecting the Acts of Martyrs.
* The Greek eTrapxos. — Tr.
the apostles. And the strangers said to them : Learn ye
and understand that Simon, who is called Cephas, is of
Bethsaida of Galilee, and Paul the apostle is of Tarsus,
a city of Cilicia. And, when the people of Rome knew
that this matter was so, then they let them alone. And,
when they had taken them up and were removing them
from their places, immediately there was a great earth-
quake; and the buildings of the city were on the point of
falling down, and t/id city was near being overthrown.
And, when the people of Rome saw it, they turned and
besought the strangers to remain in their city, and that
the bones might be laid in their places again. And, when
the bones of the apostles were returned to their places,
there was cjuietness, and the earthquakes ceased, and the
winds became still, and the air became bright, and the
whole city became cheerful. And, when the Jews and
pagans saw it, they also ran and fell at the feet of
Fabianus, the bishop of their city, the Jews crying out :
We confess Christ, whom we crucified : He is the Son
of the living God, of whom the prophets spoke in their
mysteries. And the pagans also cried out and said to
him : We renounce idols and carved images, which are
of no use, and we belie've in Jesus the King, the Son of
God, who has come and is to come again. And, what-
ever other doctrines there were in Rome and in all Italy,
the followers of these also renounced their doctrines,
like as the pagans had renounced theirs, and confessed
the Gospel of the apostles, which was preached in the
church.
Here end the Acts of Sharbil the confessor.
FURTHER, THE MARTYRDOM OF BARSAMYA,' THE BISHOP OF THE BLESSED
CITY EDESSA.
In the year four hundred and sixteen of the
kingdom of the Greeks, that is the fifteenth year
of the reign of the sovereign ruler, our lord,
Trajan Caesar, in the consulship of Commodus
and Cyrillus,^ in the month llul, on the fifth day
of the month, the day after Lysinus,^ the judge
of the country, had heard the case of Sharbil
the priest ; as the judge was sitting in his judg-
ment-hall, the Sharirs of the city came before
him and said to him : We give information be-
fore thine Excellency concerning Barsamya, the
leader of the Christians, that he went up to
Sharbil, the priest, as he was standing and min-
istering before the venerable gods, and sent and
called him to him secretly, and spoke to him,
quoting from the books in which he reads in the
church where their congregation meets, and
recited to him the belief of the Christians, and
said to him, " It is not right for thee to worship
many gods, but only one God, and His Son
Jesus Christ " — until he made him a disciple,
' This is taken from the MS. cited as B. in the Acts of Sharbil.
There is an Armenian version orextract of this still in existence: see Dr.
Alishan's letter referred to on p. 665. [See elucidation, p. 689, iiifra'\
^ This is a mistake for Cerealis, and the consulate meant must be
that of Commodus Verus and Tutilius Cerealis, which was in the
ninth (not fifteenth) year of Trajan, which agrees with the 416th
year of the Greeks, or a.d. 105.
3 See note on p. 678.
and induced him to renounce the gods whom
he had formerly worshipped ; and by means of
Sharbil himself also many have become disciples,
and are gone down to the church, and lo ! this
day they confess Christ ; and even Avida, and
Nebo,* and Barcalba, and Hafsai, honourable
and chief persons of the city, have yielded to
Sharbil in this. We, accordingly, as Sharirs of
the city, make this known before thine Excel-
lency, in order that we may not receive punish-
ment as offenders for not having declared before
thine Excellency the things which were spoken
in secret to Sharbil by Barsamya the guide of
the church. Thine Excellency now knoweth
what it is right to command in respect of this
said matter.
And, immediately that the judge heard these
things, he sent the Sharirs of the city, and some
of his attendants with them, to go down to the
church and bring up Barsamya from the church.
And they led him and brought him up to the
judgment-hall of the judge ; and there went up
many Christians with him, saying : We also will
die with Barsamya, because we too are of one
mind with him in respect to the doctrine of
4 Called Labu at p. 678.
686
THE MARTYRDOM OF BARSAMYA.
which he made Sharbil a disciple, and in all that
he spoke to him, and in all the instntctio7i that
Sharbil received from him, so that he was per-
suaded by him, and died for the sake of that
which he heard from him.
And the Sharirs of the city came, and said to
the judge : Barsamya, as thine Excellency com-
manded, lo ! is standing at the door of the judg-
ment-hall of thy Lordship ; ' and honourable
chief-persons of the city, who became disciples
along with Sharbil, lo ! are standing by Bar-
samya, and crying out, " We will all die with
Barsamya, who is our teacher and guide."
And, when the judge heard those things which
the Sharirs of the city had told him, he com-
manded them to go out and write down the
names of the persons who were crying out, "We
will die with Barsamya." And, when they went
out to write down the natnes of these persons,
those who so cried out were too many for them,
and they were not able to write down their
names, because they were so many : for the cry
kept coming to them from all sides, that they
" would die for Christ's sake along with Bar-
samya."
And, when the tumult of the crowd became
great, the Sharirs of the city turned back, and
came in to the judge, and said to him : We are
not able to write down the names of the persons
who are crying aloud outside, because they are
too many to be numbered. And the judge com-
manded that Barsamya should be taken up to the
prison, so that the crowd might be dispersed
which was collected together about him, lest
through the tumult of the multitude there should
be some mischief in the city. And, when he
went up the gaol, those who had become disci-
ples along with Sharbil continued with him.
And after many days were passed the judge
rose up in the morning and went down to his
judgment-hall, in order that he might hear the
case of Barsamya. And the judge commanded,
and they brought him from the prison ; and he
came in and stood before him. The officers said :
Lo, he standeth before thine Excellency.
The judge said : Art thou Barsamya, who hast
been made ruler and guide of the people of the
Christians, and didst make a disciple of Sharbil,
who was chief-priest of the gods, and used to
worship them?
Barsamya said : It is I who have done this,
and I do not deny it ; and I am prepared to die
for the truth of this.
The judge said : How is it that thou wast not
afraid of the command of the emperors, so that,
when the emperors commanded that every one
should sacrifice, thou didst induce Sharbil, when
he was standing and sacrificing to the gods and
offering incense to them, to deny that which he
had confessed, and confess Christ whom he had
denied?
Barsamya said: I was assuredly^ made a
shepherd of men, not for the sake of those only
who are found, but also for the sake of those
who have strayed from the fold of truth, and be-
come food for the wolves of paganism ; and, had
I not sought to make Sharbil a disciple, at my
hands would his blood have been required ; and,
if he had not listened to me, I should have been
innocent of his blood.
The judge said : Now, therefore, since thou
hast confessed that it was thou that madest Shar-
bil a disciple, at thy hands will I require his
death ; and on this account it is right that thou
rather than he shouldest be condemned before
me, because by thy hands he has died the horri-
ble deaths of grievous tortures for having aban-
doned the command of the emperors and obeyed
thy words.
Barsamya said : Not to my words did Sharbil
become a disciple, but to the word of God
which He spoke : " Thou shalt not worship
images and the likenesses of men." And it is
not I alone that am content to die the death of
Sharbil for his confession of Christ, but also all
the Christians, members of the Church, are like-
wise eager for this, because they know that they
will secure their salvation before God thereby.
The judge said : Answer me not in this man-
ner, like Sharbil thy disciple, lest thine own tor-
ments be worse than his ; but promise that thou
wilt sacrifice before the gods on his behalf.
Barsamya said : Sharbil, who knew not God,
I taught to know Him : and dost thou bid me, who
have known God from my youth, to renounce
God ? God forbid that I should do this thing !
The judge said : Ye have made the whole
creation disciples of the teaching of Christ ; and
lo ! they renounce the many gods whom the many
worshipped. Give up this way of thinking,^ lest
I make those who are near tremble at thee as
they behold thee to-day, and those also that are
afar off as they hear of the torments to which
thou art condemned.
Barsamya said : If God is the help of those
who pray to Him, who is he that can resist
them ? Or what is the power that can prevail
against them? Or thine own threats — what can
they do to them : to men who, before thou give
commandment concerning them that they shall
die, have their death already set before their
eyes, and are expecting it every day ?
The judge said : Bring not the subject of
Christ before my judgment-seat ; but, instead
of this, obey the command of the emperors, who
command to sacrifice to the gods.
' Lit. "authority." — Tr.
2 See note 6 on p. 658. — Tr. [The Syriac for " assuredly."]
3 Lit. " this mind." — Tr.
THE MARTYRDOM OF BARSAMYA.
687
Barsamya said : Even though we should not
lay the subject of Christ before thee, yet the suf-
ferings of Christ are portrayed indelibly ' in the
worshippers of Christ ; and, even more than thou
hearkenest to the commands of the emperors, do
we Christians hearken to the commands of Christ
the King of kings.
The judge said : Lo ! thou hast obeyed Christ
and worshipped him up to his day : henceforth
obey the emperors, and worship the gods whom
the emperors worship.
Barsamya said : How canst thou bid me re-
nounce that in which I was born ? when lo ! thou
didst exact punishment for this at the hand of
Sharbil, and saidst to him : Why hast thou re-
nounced the paganism in which thou wast born,
and confessed Christianity to which thou wast
a stranger? Lo ! even before I came into thy
presence thou didst thyself give testimony on
the matter beforehand, and saidst to Sharbil :
The Christians, to whom thou art gone over, do
not renounce that in which they were born, but
continue in it. Abide, therefore, by the word,
which thou hast spoken.
The judge said : Let Barsamya be scourged,
because he has rebelled against the command of
the emperors, and has caused those also who
were obedient to the emperors to rebel with him.
And, when he had been scourged by five men,
he said to him : Reject not .the command of the
emperors, nor insult the emperors' gods.
Barsamya said : Thy mind is greatly blinded,
O judge, and so also is that of the emperors who
gave thee authority ; nor are the things that are
manifest seen by you ; nor do ye perceive that
lo ! the whole creation worships Christ ; and
thou sayest to me. Do not worship Him, as
if I alone worshipped Him — Him whom the
watchers " above worship on high.
Tlie judge said : But \i ye have taught men to
worship Christ, who is it that has persuaded
those above to worship Christ?
Barsamya said : Those above have themselves
preached, and have taught those below concern-
ing the living worship of the King Christ, seeing
that ihey worship Him, and His Father, together
with His divine Spirit. ^
The judge said : Give up these things which
your writings teach you, and which ye teach also
to others, and obey those things which the em-
perors have commanded, and spurn not their
laws — lest ye be spurned by means of the sword
from the light of this venerable sun.
Barsamya said : The light which passeth away
and abideth not is not the true light, but is only
the similitude of that true light, to whose beams
' Lit. " portrayed and fixed." — Tr.
^ [Guardian angels.) Comp. Dan. iv. 13. This designation was
given to angels after the captivity, in which the Jews had become
familiar with the doctrine of tutelary deities. — Tr.
3 Lit. "the Spirit of His Godhead." — Tr.
darkness cometh not near, which is reserved
and standeth fast for the true worshippers of
Christ.
The judge said : Speak not before me of any-
thing else instead of that about which I have
asked thee, lest I dismiss thee from life to death,
for denying this light which is seen and confess-
ing that which is not seen.
Barsamya said : I cannot leave alone that
about which thou askest me, and speak of that
about which thou dost not ask me. It was thou
that spakest to me about the light of the sun, and
I said before thee that there is a light on high
which surpasses in its brightness that of the sun
which thou dost worship and honour. For an
account will be required of thee for worshipping
thy {€\\o\N- creature instead of God thy Creator.
The judge said : Do not insult the very sun,
the light of creatures, nor set thou at nought
the command of the emperors, nor contentiously
resist the lords of the country, who have author-
ity in it.
Barsamya said : Of what avail is the light of
the sun to a blind man that cannot see it? For
without the eyes of the body, it is not possible
for its beams to be seen. So that by this thou
mayest know that it is the work of God, foras-
much as it has no power of its ow?i to show its
light to the sightless.
The judge said : When I have tortured thee
as thou deservest, then will I write word about
thee to the Lnperial government, reporting what
insult thou hast offered to the gods, in that thou
madest a disciple of Sharbil the priest, one who
honoured the gods, and that ye despise the laws
of the emperors, and that ye make no account
of the judges of the countries, and live like bar-
barians, though under the authority of the Ro-
mans.
Barsamya said : Thou dost not terrify me by
these things which thou sayest. It is true, I am
not in the presence of the emperors to-day ; yet
lo ! before the authority which the emperors
have given thee I am now standing, and I am
brought to trial, because I said, I will not re-
nounce God, to whom the heavens and the earth
belong, nor His Son Jesus Christ, the King of
all the earth.
The judge said : If thou art indeed assured of
this, that thou art standing and being tried be-
fore the authority of the emperors, obey their
commands, and rebel not against their laws, lest
like a rebel thou receive the punishment of death.
Barsamya said : But if those who rebel against
the emperors, even when they justly rebel, are
deserving of death, as thou sayest ; for those
who rebel against God, the King of kings, even
the punishment of death by the sword is too
little.
The judge said : It was not that thou shouldest
688
THE MARTYRDOM OF BARSAMYA.
expound in my judgment-hall thai: thou wast
brought in before me, because the trial on which
thou standest has but httle concern with expound-
ing, but much concern with the punishment of
death, for those who insult the emperors and
comply not with their laws.
Barsamya said : Because God is not before
your eyes, and ye refuse to hear the word of
God ; and graven images that are of no use,
" which have a mouth and speak not," are ac-
counted by you as though they spake, because
your understanding is blinded by the darkness
of paganism in which ye stand —
The judge interrupting said : Leave off those
things thou art saying, for they will not help thee
at all, and worship the gods, before the bitter
tearings of combs and harsh tortures come upon
thee.
Barsamya said : Do thou too leave off the
many questions which lo ! thou askest me, and
give command for the stripes and the combs
with which thou dost menace me : for thy words
will not help thee so much as thy inflictions will
help me.
The judge said : Let Barsamya be hanged up
and torn with combs.
And at that very moment there came to him
letters from Alusis ' the chief proconsul, father
of emperors.^ And he commanded, and they
took down Barsamya, and he was not torn with
combs ; and they took him outside of the hall
of judgment.
And the judge commanded that the nobles,
and the chief persons, and the princes, and the
honourable persons of the city, should come be-
fore him, that they might hear what was the order
that was issued by the emperors, by the hand of
the proconsuls, the rulers of the countries under
the authority of the Romans. And it was found
that the emperors had written by the hand of the
proconsuls to the judges of the countries : ^
" Since our Majesty commanded that there should
be a persecution against the people of the Chris-
tians, we have heard and learned, from the Sharirs
whom we have in the countries under the do-
minion of our Majesty, that the people of the
Christians are persons who eschew murder, and
sorcery, and adultery, and theft, and bribery and
fraud, and those things for which the laws of our
Majesty also exact punishment from those who
commit them. We, therefore, in our impartial
justice, have commanded that on account of
these things the persecution of the sword shall
cease from them, and that there shall be rest and
quietness in all our dominions, they continuing
' This seems to be Lnsiits Quietus, Trajan's general in the East
at this time.
^ Or " kings." — Tr.
3 We have here probably the most authentic copy of the edict of
Trajan commanding the stopping of the persecution of the Christians,
as it was taken down at the time by the reporters who heard it read.
to minister according to their custom and no
man hindering them. It is not, however, towards
them that we show clemency, but towards their
laws, agreeing as they do with the laws of our
Majesty. And, if any man hinder them after this
our command, that sword which is ordered by
us to descend upon those who despise our com-
mand, the same do we command to descend
upon those who despise this decree of our
clemency."
And, when this command of the emperor's
clemency was read, the whole city rejoiced that
there was quietness and rest for every man. And
the judge commanded, and they released Bar-
samya, that he might go down to his church.
And the Christians went up in great numbers to
the judgment-hall, together with a great multi-
tude of the population of the city, and they re-
ceived Barsamya with great and exceeding
honour, repeating psalms before him, according
to their custom ; there went also the wives of the
chief of the wise men. And they thronged
about him, and saluted him, and called him '* the
persecuted confessor," " the companion of Sharbil
the martyr." And h-e said to them : Persecuted
I am, like yourselves ; but from the tortures and
combs of Sharbil and his companions 1 am clean
escaped.'* And they said to him : We have
heard from thee that a teacher of the Church has
said, " The will, according to what it is, so is it
accepted." 5 And, when he was entered into the
church, he and all the people that were with him,
he stood up and prayed, and blessed them and
sent them away to their homes rejoicing and
praising God for the deliverance which He had
wrought for them and for the Church.
And the day after Lysinas ^ the judge of the
country had set his hand to these Acts, he was
dismissed from his authority.
I Zenophilus and Patrophilus are the notaries
who wrote these Acts, Diodorus and Euterpes,^
Sharirs of the city, bearing witness with us by
setting-to their hand, as the ancient laws of the
ancient kings command.
This ^ Barsamya, bishop of Edessa, who made a dis-
ciple of Sharbil, the priest of the same city, lived in
the days of Fabianus, bishop of the city of Rome. And
ordination to the priesthood was received by Barsamya
from Abshelama, who was bishop in Edessa ; and by
Abshelama ordination was received from Palut the First ;
and by Palut ordination was received from Serapion,
bishop of Antioch; and by Serapion ordination was
received from Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome ; and Zephy-
rinus of Rome received ordination from Victor of the
•< Lit. "am far removed." — Tr.
5 2 Cor. viii. 12. Both the Peshito and the Greek (if ti's be
rejected) have " what it hath : " not " what it is." — Tr.
'' See note on p 678. — Tr,
7 Perhaps " Eutropius."
8 What follows, down to the end, is a much later addition, evi-
dently made by the same ignorant person as that at p. 685, above: see
note 2 there.
ELUCIDATION.
689
same place, z'/z., Rome; and Victor received ordination
from Eleutherius; and Eleutherius received it from
Soter; and Soter received it from Anicetus; and Ani-
cetus received it from Dapius;' and Dapius received it
from Telesphorus ; and Telesphorus received it from
Xvstus ; ^ and Xystus received it from Alexander ; and
Alexander received it from Evartis;^ and Evartis re-
ceived it from Cletus; and Cletus received it from
Anus ; '' and Anus received it from Simon Cephas ; and
Simon Cephas received it from our Lord, together with
his fellow-apostles, on the first day of the week, t/ie
day of the ascension of our Lord to His glorious Father,
' That is " Pius." The blunder arose from taking the prefix D
(?) as a part of the name.
^ i.e., " Sixtus." — Tr.
3 Or " Eortis." The person referred to is " Evaristus." Cureton
reads " Erastus: " it does not appear why. — Tr.
■♦ i.e., " Linus: " see p. 675, note 3. — Tr.
which was the fourth day of Ileziran,^ which was in
the nineteenth^ year of the reign of Tiberius Cssar,
in the consulship of Rufus and Rubelinus, which year
was the year 341 ; for in the year 309 occurred the advent ^
of our Saviour in the world, according to the testimony
which we ourselves have found in a correct register'®
among the archives, which errs not at all in whatever it
sets forth.
Here endeth the martyrdom of Barsamya,
bishop of Edessa.
5 See note 3 on p. 667. — Tr. [Also see p. 666, S7tpral\
6 Put by mistake for " sixteenth," which agrees with the state-
ment of Juhus Africanus as to the date of our Lord's death; also with
the year of the consulate of Rubelhus Geminus and Fufius Geminus
(the persons intended below), and with the year of the Greeks 341,
which was A.D. 29 or 30.
^ Prop. " rising," as of the sun. — Tr.
® The Greek eiAijrdpioi': see Du Fresne, Glossarucm.
ELUCIDATION
(See p. 665, note 4. Also, p. 685, note i, of Barsamya.) *
I FOUND at the Armenian Convent of St. Lazarus, near Venice, a version of the Letter of
Abgar, translated into French " from the Armenian version of the fifth century," and pubhshed
in 1868, which is now before me. It ascribes the original to Laboubnia, and adds : "The name
Leroubna, mentioned only by Moses of Chorene, was not repeated after him by any one else,
save, perhaps, Mekhitar d' A'wivank (one of our chroniclers of the thirteenth century), who puts
him among our historians^ between Tatien and Mar Ibas Gadina, but without affirming whether
he knew him only by name or also by his writings." The editor goes on to speak of his corre-
spondence with Dr. Cureton (a.d. 1864) which is referred to in note 4, p. 665, supra. He notes
the incomplete and mutilated character of the Syriac copies used by Cureton, and congratulates
himself on the entire and integral condition of the Armenian, which he found in 1852 in the
Imperial Library at Paris, as Codex No. 88, MSS. Armen. Here the name of the author is given
as Laboubnia, and agrees with the Syriac. The interpolations he regards as made after the
fourth century.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
MARTYRDOM OF HABIB THE DEACON.'
In the month Ab,^ of the year six hundred
and twenty of the kingdom of Alexander the
Macedonian, in the consulate of Licinius and
Constantine,3 which is the year in which he "* was
born, in the magistracy 5 of Julius and Barak, in
the days of Cona^ bishop of Edessa, Licinius
made a persecution against the Church and all
the people of the Christians, after that first per-
secution which Diocletian the emperor had made.
And Licinius the emperor commanded that there
should be sacrifices and libations, and that the
altars in every place should be restored, that they
might burn sweet spices and frankincense before
Zeus.
And, when many were persecuted, they cried
out of their own accord : We are Christians ;
and they were not afraid of the persecution,
because these who were persecuted were more
numerous than those who persecuted them.
Now Habib, who was of the village of Telzeha^
and had been made a deacon, went secretly into
the churches which were in the villages, and
ministered and read the Scriptures, and encour-
aged and strengthened many by his words, and
admonished them to stand fast in the truth of
their belief, and not to be afraid of the perse-
cutors ; and gave them directions.
And, when many were strengthened by his
words, and received his addresses affectionately,
being careful not to renounce the covenant they
had made, and when the Sharirs of the city, the
men who had been appointed with reference to
this particular matter, heard of it, they went in
and informed Lysanias, the governor who was in
the town of Edessa, and said to him : Habib,
who is a deacon in the village of Telzeha, goes
about and ministers secretly in every place, and
resists the command of the emperors, and is not
afraid.
' This is found in the same MS. as the preceding: Cod. Add. 14,-
645, fol. 238, vers.
2 August. — Tr.
3 They were consuls together in A.D. 312, 313, 315.
* It does not appear who is meant. — Tr.
5 The Greek (rrpaTriyia, with a Syriac termination. STpaTijyoi
was used (or the Latin Magistratus or Duumviri
*" He laid the foundation of the church at Edessa a.d. 313: see
Assem., Bibl. Orient., vol. i. p. 394.
7 Called " Thelsaea" by Melaphrastes, p. 700, infra.
690
And, when the governor heard these things,
he was filled with rage against Habib ; and he
made a report, and sent and informed Licinius
the emperor of all those things which Habib was
doing ; he wished also to ascertain ^ what com-
mand would be issued respecting him and the i-est
of those who would tiot sacrifice. For although
a command had been issued that every one
should sacrifice, yet it had not been commanded
what should be done to those who did not sacri-
fice : because they had heard that Constantine,
the commander *> in Gaul and Spain, was become
a Christian and did not sacrifice. And Licinius
the emperor thus command Lysanias the govern-
or : Whoever it is that has been so daring as to
transgress our command, our Majesty has com-
manded that he shall be burned '° with fire ; and
that all others who do not consent to sacrifice
shall be put to death by the sword.
Now, when this command came to the town
of Edessa, Habib, in reference to whom the re-
port had been made, was gone across the river
to the country of the people of Zeugma," to
minister there also secretly. And, when the
governor sent and incjuired for him in his village,
and in all the country round about, and he was
not to be found, he commanded that alt his
family should be arrested, and also the inhabit-
ants of his village ; and they arrested them and
put them in irons, his mother and the rest of
his family, and also some of the people of his
village ; and they brought them to the city, and
shut them up in prison.
And, when Habib heard what had taken place,
he considered in his mind and pondered anx-
iously in his thoughts : It is expedient for me,
said he, that I should go and appear before the
judge of the country, rather than that I should
remain in secret and others should be brought
in to him and be crowned with martyrdom be-
8 Lit. " learn and see." — Tr.
9 The word used is probably kvToXmo'i = pmfectus : see Dr.
Payne Smith, Thes. 5yr. — Tr.
'° Dr. Wright's reading, by the change of -a letter, for " shall
perish." — Tr.
" This place was on the right bank of the Euphrates, and derived
its name Irom a bridge of boats laid across the river there. It was
about forty miles from Edessa. — Tr.
MARTYRDOM OF HABIB THE DEACON.
691
cause of me, and that I should find myself in
great shame. For in what respect will the name
of Christianity help him who flees from the con-
fession of Christianity? Lo ! if he flee from this,
the death of nature is before him whithersoever
he goes, and escape from it he cannot, because
this is decreed against all the children of Adam.
And Habib arose and went to Edessa secret-
ly, having prepared his back for the stripes and
his sides for the combs, and his person for the
burning of fire. And he went immediately ' to
Theotecna,- a veteran ^ who was chief of the
band of attendants * on the governor ; and he
said to him : I am Habib of Telzeha, whom ye
are inquiring for. And Theotecna said to him :
If so be that no one saw thee coming to me,
hearken to me in what I say to thee, and depart
and go away to the place where thou hast been,
and remain there in this time of persecution ; and
of this, that thou earnest to me and spakest with
me and that I advised thee thus, let no one
know or be aware. And about thy family and
the inhabitants of thy village, be not at all anx-
ious : for no one will at all hurt them ; but they
will be in prison a few days only, and then the
governor will let them go : because against them
the emperors have not commanded anything
serious or alarming. But, if on the contrary
thou wilt not be persuaded by me in regard to
these things which I have said to thee, I am
clear of thy blood : because, if so be that thou
appear before the judge of the country, thou
wilt not escape from death by fire, according to
the command of the emperors which they have
issued concerning thee.
Habib said to Theotecna : It is not about my
family and the inhabitants of my village that I
am concerned, but for my own salvation, lest it
should be forfeited. About this too I am much
distressed, that I did not happen to be in my
village on the day that the governor inquired for
me, and that on my account lo ! many are put
in irons, and I have been looked upon by him as
a fugitive. Therefore, if so be that thou wilt
not consent to my request and take me in be-
fore the governor, I will go alone and appear
before him.
And, when Theotecna heard him speak thus
to him, he laid hold of him firmly, and handed
him over to his assistants,^ and they went to-
gether to conduct him to the judgment-hall of
the governor. And Theotecna went in and in-
formed the governor, and said to him : Habib
of Telzeha, whom thine Excellency was inquir-
' Cureton has |2^^i.a, which he renders " alone." Dr. Payne
Smith considers this a mistake for | ^ V ^ v—" — ''^''•
2 In Latin, " Theotecnus."
3 Or " an old man." — Tr.
■• The Gk. Tafis here used corresponds to the Latin officiutn.
See note 4 on p. 679.
5 Or " domestics." — Tr.
ing for, is come. And the governor said : Who is
it that has brought him ? and where did they find
him ? and what did he do where he was ? Theo-
•tecna said to him : He came hither himself, of
his own accord, and without the compulsion of
any one, since no one knew anything about him.
And when the governor heard this, he was
greatly exasperated against him ; and thus he
spake : This felloiv, who has so acted, has shown
great contempt towards me and has despised
me, and has accounted me as no judge ; and,
because he has so acted, it is not meet that any
mercy should be shown towards him ; nor yet
either that I should hasten to pass sentence of
death against him, according to the command
of the emperors concerning him ; but it is meet
for me to have patience with him, so that the
bitter torments and punishments inflicted on him
may be the more abundant, and that through him
I may terrify many others from daring again to
flee.
And, many persons being collected together
and standing by him at the door of the judg-
ment-hall, some of whom were members of the
body of attendants, and some people of the
city, there were some of them that said to him :
Thou hast done badly in coming and showing
thyself to those who were inquiring for thee,
without the compulsion of the judge ; and there
were others, again, who said to him : Thou hast
done well in coming and showing thyself of
thine own accord, rather than that the compul-
sion of the judge should bring thee : for now is
thy confession of Christ known to be of thine
own will, and not from the compulsion of men.
And those things which the Sharirs of the city
had heard from those who were speaking to him
as they stood at the door of the judgment-hall
— and this circumstance also in particular, that
he had gone secretly to Theotecna and that he
had not been willing to denounce him, had been
heard by the Sharirs of the city — everything
that they had heard they made known to the
judge.
And the judge was enraged against those who
had been saying to Habib : \Vherefore didst
thou come and show thyself to the judge, with-
out the compulsion of the judge himself? And
to Theotecna he said : It is not seemly for a man
who has been made chief over his fellows to act
deceitfully in this manner towards his superior,
and to set at nought the command of the empe-
rors, which they issued against Habib the rebel,
that he should be burned with fire.
Theotecna said : I have not acted deceitfully
against my fellows, neither was it my purpose to
set at naught the command which the emperors
have issued : for what am I before thine Excel-
lency, that I should have dared to do this? But
I strictly questioned him as to that for which
692
MARTYRDOM OF HABIB THE DEACON.
thine Excellency also has demanded an account tied it in my mind to endure : therefore ^ came I
at my hands, that I might know and see whether \ and made my appearance before thee,
it was of his own free will that he came hither, i The governor said : Put him into the iron
or whether the compulsion of thine Excellency | cask ^ for murderers, and let him be scourged as
brought him by the hand of others ; and, when I he deserves. And, when he had been scourged,
I heard from him that he came of his own ac- | they said to him : Sacrifice to the gods. But
cord, I carefully brought him to the honourable [ he cried aloud, and said : Accursed are your
door of the judgment-hall of thy Worship.'
And the governor hastily commanded, and
they brought in Habib before him. The officers
said : Lo ! he standeth before thine Excellency.
idols, and so are they who join with you in wor-
shipping them like you.
And the governor commanded, and they took
him up to the prison ; but they refused him per-
And he began to question him thus, and said [ mission to speak with his family, or with the
inhabitants of his village, according to the com-
mand of the judge. On that day was the festi-
val of the emperors.
And on the second of Ilul the governor com-
manded, and they brought him from the prison.
And he said to him : \\'ilt thou renounce the
to him : What is thy name ? And whence art
thou? And what art thou?
He said to him : My name is Habib, and I am
from the village of Telzeha, and I have been
made a deacon.
The governor said : Wherefore hast thou trans-
gressed the command of the emperors, and dost ; profession thou hast made ^ and obey the corn-
minister in thine office of deacon, which thou ! mand which the emperors issue ? For, if thou
art forbidden by the emperors to do, and re- ; wilt not obey, with the bitter tearings of combs
fusest to sacrifice to Zeus, whom the emperors ! will I make thee obey them,
worship ? Habib said : I have not obeyed them, and
Habib said : We are Christians : we do not morever it is settled in my mind that I will not
worship the works of men, who are nothing, ^ obey them — no, nofeven if thou lay upon me
whose works also are nothing ; but we worship punishments still worse than those which the
God, who made the men.
The governor said : Persist not in that daring
mind with which thou art come into my presence,
and insult not Zeus, the great boast of the em-
perors.
Habib said :
work of men. It is very well for thee to say
that I insult him. But, if the car\ing of him
out of wood and the fixing of him with nails pro-
claim aloud concerning him that he is made,
how sayest thou to me that I insult him? since
lo ! his insult is from himself, and against him-
self
The governor said : By this very thing, that
thou refusest to worship him, thou insultest him.
Habib said : But, if because I do not worship
him I insult him, how great an insult, then, did
the carpenter inflict on him, who carved him
with an axe of iron ; and the smith, who smote
him and fixed him with nails !
And, when the governor heard him speak thus,
he commanded him to be scourged without pity.
And, when he had been scourged by five men,
he said to him : Wilt thou now obey the em-
perors? For, if thou wilt not obey ^/lem, I will
tear thee severely with combs, and I will torture
thee with all /cin(/s of tortures, and then at last
I will give command concerning thee that thou
be burned with fire.
Habib said : These threats with which lo !
thou art seeking to terrify me, are much meaner
and paltrier than those which I had already set-
' Lit. "rectitude." — Tr.
emperors have commanded.
The governor said : By the gods I swear,
that, if thou do not sacrifice, I will leave no
harsh and bitter srtfferings untried with which I
will not torture thee : and we shall see whether
But this Zeus is an idol, the | Christ, whom thou worshippest, v/ill deliver thee.
Habib said : All those who worship Christ are
delivered through Christ, because they worship
not creatures along with the Creator of creatures.
The governor said : Let him be stretched out
and be scourged with whips, until there remain
not a place in his body on which he has not
been scourged.
Habib said : As foi- these inflictions, which
thou supposest to be so bitter with their lacera-
tions,5 out of them are plaited crowns of victory
for those who endure them.
The governor said : How call ye afflictions
ease, and account the torments of your bodies
a crown of victory?
Habib said : It is not for thee to ask me con-
cerning these things, because thine unbelief is
not worthy to hear the reasons of them. That
I will not sacrifice I have said already, and I
say so still.
The governor said : Thou art subjected to
these punishments because thou deservest them :
I will put out thine eyes, which look upon this
Zeus and are not afraid of him ; and I will
stop thine ears, which hear the laws of the em-
perors and tremble not.
Lit. " then." — Tr.
3 See note 3 on p. 681. — Tr.
< Lit. " Wilt thou renounce that in which thou standest? " — Tr.
5 Lit. " scourgings." — Tr.
MARTYRDOM OF HABIB THE DEACON.
693
Habib said : To the God whom thou deniest
here belongs that other world ; and there wilt
thou be made to confess Him with scourgings,
though thou hast again denied Him.
The governor said : Leave alone that world
of which thou hast spoken, and consider anx-
iously now, that from this punishment to which
lo ! thou art being subjected there is no one that
can deliver thee ; unless indeed the gods deliver
thee, on thy sacrificing to them.
Habib said : Those who die for the sake of
the name of Christ, and worship not those ob-
jects that are made and created, will find their
life in the presence of God ; ' but those who love
the life of time more than that — their torment
will be for ever.
And the governor commanded, and they
hanged him up and tore him with combs ; and,
while they were tearing him with the combs,
they knocked him about. And he was hanging
a long while, until the shoulderblades of his
arms creaked.
The governor said to him : Wilt thou com-
ply even now, and pjut on incense before Zeus
there ? -
Habib said : Previously to these sufferings I
did not comply with thy demands : and now
that lo ! I have undergone them, how thinkest
thou that I shall comply, and thereby lose that
which I have gained by them?
The governor said : By punishments fiercer
and bitterer than these I am prepared to make
thee obey, according to the command of the
emperors, until thou do their will.
Habib said: Thou art punishing me for not
obeying the command of the emperors, when
lo ! thou thyself also, whom the emperors have
raised to greatness and made a judge, hast trans-
gressed their command, in that thou hast not
done to me that which the emperors have com-
manded thee.
The governor said : Because I have had pa-
tience with thee, therefore hast thou spoken
thus, like a man that brings an accusation.
Habib said : Hadst thou not scourged me,
and bound me, and torn me with combs, and
put my feet in fetters,-' there would have been
room to think that thou hadst had patience with
me. But, if these things take place in the
meanwhile, where is the patience towards me of
which thou hast spoken ?
The governor said : These things which thou
hast said will not help thee, because they all go
against thee, and they will bring upon thee in-
flictions bitterer even than those which the em-
perors have commanded.
' [Seems to be a reference to Rev. xx. 4.]
^ Pointing to the image. — Tk.
3 Or " the stocks." The word is of the most indefinite kind, an-
swering to ^vKov and lignujit. — 'I'r.
Habib said : Had I not been sensible that
they would help me, I should not have spoken
a single word about them before thee.
The governor said : / will silence thy speeches,
and at the same time as regards thee pacify the
gods, whom thou has not worshipped ; and I
will satisfy the emperors in respect to thee, as
regards thy rebellion against their commands.
Habib said : I am not afraid of the death with
which thou seekest to terrify me ; for, had I been
afraid of it, I should not have gone about from
house to house and ministered : on which account
I did so minister.-*
The governor said : How is it that thou wor-
shippest and honourest a man, but refusest to
worship and honour Zeus there ?
Habib said : I worship not a man, because
the Scripture 5 teaches me,^ "Cursed is every one
that putteth his trust in man ; " but God, who
took upon Him a body and became a man.
Him do I worship, and glorify.
The governor said : Do thou that which the
emperors have commanded ; and, as for that
which is in thy own mind, if thou art willing to
give it up, well ; but, if thou art not willing, the?i
do not abandon it.
Habib said : To do both these things is im-
possible : because falsehood is contrary to truth,
and it is impossible that that should be banished
from my thoughts which is firmly fixed in my
mind.
The governor said : By inflictions bitter and
severe will I make thee dismiss from thy thoughts
that of which thou hast said, It is firmly fixed in
my mind.
Habib said : As for these inflictions by which
thou thinkest that it will be rooted out of my
thoughts, by means of these it is that it grows
within my thoughts, like a tree which bears fruit.
The governor said : What help will stripes and
combs give to that tree of thine ? and more es-
pecially at the time when I shall command fire
against it, to burn it up without pity.
Habib said : It is not on those things at which
thou lookest that I look, because I contemplate
the things which are out of sight ; and therefore
I do the will of God, the Maker of all things,
and not that of an idol made with hands, which
is not sensible of anything whatever.
The governor said : Because he thus denies
the gods whom the emperors worship, let him
be torn with combs in addition to his former
tearings : for, amidst the many questions which
I have had the patience to ask him, he has for-
gotten his former tearings.
* For this sense, which appears to be the one intended, it is
necessary to change ^.JO^ into ciJ^^C^. — Tk.
[Jer. xvii. 5.]
Lit. " it ■
is written for me." — Tr.
694
MARTYRDOM OF HABIR THE DEACON.
And, while they were tearing him, he cried
aloud and said : " The sufferings of this time
are not equal to that glory which shall be re-
vealed in " ' those who love Christ.
And, when the governor saw that even under
these inflictions he refused to sacrifice, he said
to him : Does your doctrine so teach you, that
you should hate your own bodies?
Habib said : Nay, we do not hate our bodies :
the Scripture distinctly teaches us, " Whosoever
shall lose his life shall find it." - But another
thing too it teaches us : that we should " not
cast that which is holy to dogs, nor cast pearls
before swine." ^
The governor said : I know that in speaking
thus thy sole object is that my rage and the
wrath of my mind may be excited, and that I
may pronounce sentence of death against thee
speedily. I am not going, then, to be hurried
on to that which thou desirest ; but I will have
patience : not, indeed, for thy relief, but so that
the tortures inflicted on thee may be increased,
and that thou mayest see thy flesh falling off
before thy face by means of the combs that are
passing over thy sides.
Habib said : I myself also am looking for
this, that thou shouldst multiply thy tortures
upon me, even as thou hast said.
The governor said : Submit to the emper-
ors, who have- power to do whatsoever they
choose.
Habib said : It is not of men to do whatso-
ever they choose, but of God, whose power is
in the heavens, and over all the dwellers upon
earth ; " nor is there any that may rebuke His
hands'* and say to Him, 'What doest Thou?' "
The governor said : For this insolence of
thine, death by the sword is too small. I, how-
ever, am prepared to command the infliction
upon thee of a death more bitter than that of
the sword.
Habib said : And I, too, am looking for a
death which is more lingering than that of the
sword, which thou mayest pronounce upon me
at any time thou choosest.
And thereupon the governor proceeded to
pass sentence of death upon him. And he
called out aloud before his attendants, and said,
whilst they were listening to him, as were also
the nobles of the city : This Habib, who has
denied the gods, as ye have also heard from
him, and furthermore has reviled the emperors,
deserves that his life should be blotted out from
beneath this glorious Sun, and that he should
not any longer behold this luminary, associate
of gods ; and, had it not been commanded by
' Rom. viii. i8. — Tr.
2 Matt. X. 39. — Tr.
3 Matt. vii. 6. — Tr.
^ Chaldee, "restrain (literally,, iWj/Vf) His hand." See Dan. iv.
35. — Tr.
former emperors that the corpses of murderers
should be buried, it would not be right that the
corpse of this fellow either should be buried,
because he has been so insolent. I command,
that a strap be put into his mouth, as into the
mouth of a murderer, and that he be burned by
a slow lingering fire, so that the torment of his
death may be increased.
And he went out from the presence of the
governor, with the strap thrust into his mouth ;
and a multitude of the people of the city ran
after him. And the Christians were rejoicing,
forasmuch as he had not turned aside nor quitted
his post ; 5 but the pagans were threatening him,
for refusing to sacrifice. And they led him forth
by the western archway, over against the ceme-
tery,'' which was built by ^ Abshelama,^ the son
of Abgar. And his mother was clad in white,
and she went out with him.
And, when he was arrived at the place where
they were going to burn him, he stood up and
prayed, as did all those who came out with him ;
and he said : " O King Christ, since Thine is
this world, and Thine the world to come, be-
hold and see, that, while I might have fled from
these afflictions, I did not flee, in order that I
might not fall into the hands of Thy justice :
may this fire, in which I am to be burned, serve
me for a recompense before Thee, so that I may
be delivered from that fire which is not quenched ;
and receive Thou my spirit into Thy presence,
through Thy Divine Spirit, O glorious Son of
the adorable Father ! " And, when he had
prayed, he turned and blessed them ; and they
weeping gave him the salutation, both men and
women ; and they said to him : Pray for us in
the presence of thy Lord, that He would cause
peace among His people, and restoration to His
churches which are overthrown.
And, while Habib was standing, they dug a
place, and brought him and set him witliin it ;
and they fixed up by him a stake. And they
came to bind him to the stake ; but he said to
them : I will not stir from this place in which
ye are going to burn me. And they brought
fagots, and set them in order, and placed them
on all sides of him. And, when the fire blazed
up and the flame of it rose fiercely, they called
out to him : Open thy mouth. And the moment
he opened his mouth his soul mounted up. And
they cried aloud, both men and women, with the
voice of weeping.
And they pulled and drew him out of the fire,
throwing over him fine linen cloths and choice
ointments and spices. And they snatched away
5 Or " departed from his covenant." — Tr.
^ The Gk. KoinrjTTJpioi'. — Tr.
7 Cureton's "for" seems not so good, the reference not being
to a single tomb. — Tr.
8 Probably that in which Sharbil and Babai were buried: see p.
6S4, above.
MARTYRDOM OF HABIB THE DEACON.
695
some of the pieces of wood which had been put
for his burning, and the brethren and some per-
sons of the laity ' bore him away. And they
prepared him for interment, and buried him by
Guria and Shamuna the martyrs, in the same
grave in which they were laid, on the hill which
is called Baith Allah Cucla,^ repeating over him
psalms and hymns, and conveying his burnt
body affectionately and honourably to the grave.
And even some of the Jews and pagans took
part with the Christian brethren in winding up
and burying his body. At the time, too, when
he was burned, and also at the time when he
was buried, there was one spectacle of grief
overspreading those within and those without ;
tears, too, were running down from all eyes :
while every one gave glory to God, because for
His name's sake he had given his body to the
burning of fire.
The day on which he was burned was the eve
of the Sabbath,^ the second of the month Ilul
— the day on which the news came that Con-
stantine the Great had set out from the interior
of Spain, to proceed to Rome, the city of Italy,
that he might carry on war with Licinius, that
empero)- who at this day rules over the eastern
portion of the territories of the Romans ; and
lo ! the countries on all sides are in commotion,
because no man knows which of them will con-
quer and continue in his- imperial power. And
through this report the persecution slackened
for a little while from the Church.
And the notaries wrote down everything which
they had heard from the judge ; and the Sharirs
of the city wrote down all the other things which
were spoken outside the door of the judgment-
hall, and, according to the custom that existed,
they reported to the judge all that they had
seen and all that they had heard, and the decis-
ions of the judge were written down in their
Acts.
' Lit. "secular persons," or " men of the world." — Tr.
2 In Simeon Metaphrastes, whose copy would seem to have had
a slightly different reading, it is written Betkelabicla, and is said to
lie on the north side of the city.
3 i.e., the sixth day of the week. See note 9 on p. 668. — Tr.
I, Theophilus, who have renounced the evil
inheritance of my fathers, and confessed Christ,
carefully wrote out a copy of these Acts of
Habib, even as I had formerly written out those
of Guria and Shamuna,-* his fellow- martyrs. And,
whereas he had felicitated them upon their death
by the sword, he himself also was made like
them by the fire in which he was burnt, and re-
ceived his crown. And, whereas I have written
down the year, and the month, and the day, of
the coronation of these martyrs, it is not for the
sake of those who, like me, were spectators of
the deed, but with the view that those who come
after us may learn at what time these martyrs
suffered, and what manner of men they were ;
as they may leaj'ti also from the Acts of the
former martyrs, who suffered in the days of
Domitianus and of all the other emperors who
likewise also raised a persecution against the
Church, and put a great many to death, by
stripes and by tearing with combs, and by bitter
inflictions, and by sharp swords, and by burning
fire, and by the terrible sea, and by the merci-
less mines. And all these things, and things like
them, they suffered for the hope of the recom-
pense to come.
Moreover, the afflictions of these martyrs, and
of those of whom I had heard, opened the eyes
of me, Theophilus, and enlightened my mind,
and I confessed Christ, that He is the Son of
God, and is God. And may the dust of the
feet of these martyrs, which I received as I was
running after them at the time when they were
departing to be crowned, procure me pardon for
having denied Him, and may He confess me
before His worshippers, seeing that I have con-
fessed Him now !
And at the twenty-seventh question which the
judge put to Habib, he gave sentence against
him of death by the burning of fire.
Here endeth the martyrdom of Habib the
deacon.
•< As Simeon Metaphrastes, infra, evidently made use of these
Acts of Habib in his account of that martyr, it is probable that his
narrative of the martyrdom of Guria and Shamuna also was founded
on the copy of their Acts to which Theophilus here refers.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS
MARTYRDOM- OF THE HOLY CONFESSORS SHAMUNA, GURIA, AND HABIB,
FROM SIMEON METAPHRASTES.^
In the six hundredth year from the empire
of Alexander the Macedonian, when Diocletian
had been nine years sovereign of the Romans,
and Maximian was consul for the sixth time, and
Augar son of Zoaras was prcetor, and Cognatus
was bishop of the Edessenes, a great persecution
was raised against the churches in all the coun-
tries which were under the sway of the Romans.
The name of Christian was looked upon as exe-
crable, and was assailed and harassed with abuse ;
while the priests and the monks, ^ on account of
their staunch and unconquerable stedfastness,
were subjected to shocking punishments, and the
pious were at their wits' end with sadness and
fear. For, desiring as they did to proclaim the
truth because of their yearning affection for
Christ, they yet shrunk back from doing so for
fear of punishment. For those who took up
arms against true religion were bent on making
the Christians renounce Christianity and embrace
the cause of Saturn and Rhea, whilst the faithful
on their part laboured to prove that the objects
of heathen worship had no real existence.
At this period it was that an accusation was
preferred before the judge against Curia and
Shamuna. The former was a native of Sarcigitua,
and the latter of the village of Ganas ; they were,
however, both brought up at Edessa — which
they call Mesopotamia, because it is situated
between the Euphrates and the Tigris : a city
previously to this but little known to fame, but
which after the struggles of its martyrs obtained
universal notoriety. These holy men would not
by any means spend their lives in the city, but
removing to a distance from it, as those who
wished to be remote from its turmoils, they
made it their aim to be manifest to God only.
' Cureton gives it in Latin. — Tr.
2 This piece is taken from the well-known work of Surius, De
frdbatis Sancioriim vz'tz's. It does not appear who made this
Latin translation.
Metaphrastes is a celebrated ByEantine writer, who lived in the
ninth and tenth centuries. He derives his name from having written
paraphrases, or metaphrases, of the lives of the saints. Fabricius
gives a list of 539 lives commonly attributed to him. — Dr. W. Plate,
in Smith's Diet. Biog. and iWyi/t.~TK.
3 [A token of media;val origin.]
696
Guria's purity and lovingness were to him a pre-
cious and honourable possession, and from his
cultivation of the former the surname o{ the pure
was given him : so that from his name you would
not have known who, he was, but only when you
called him by his surname. Shamuna devoted
his body and his youthful and active mind to the
service of God, and rivalled Curia in excellence
of character. Against these men an indictment
was laid before the judge, to the effect that they
not only pervaded all the country round about
Edessa with their teaching and encouraged the
people to hold fast their faith, but also led them
to look with contempt on their persecutors, and,
in order to induce them to set wholly at nought
their impiety, taught them agreeably to that
which is written : "Trust not in princes — in the
sons of men, in whom is no safety." ■* By these
representations the judge was wrought up to a
high pitch of madness, and gave orders that all
those who held the Christian religion in honour
and followed the teaching of Shamuna and Curia,
together with those who persuaded them to this,
should be apprehended, and shut up in safe
keeping. The order was carried into effect ;
and, seizing the opportunity, he had some of
them flogged, and others tortured in various ways,
and induced them to obey the emperor's com-
mand, and then, as if he were behaving kindly
and mercifully, he allowed others to go to their
homes ; but our two saints, as being the ring-
leaders and those who had communicated their
piety to others, he ordered to be still further
maltreated in prison. They, however, rejoiced
in the fellowship of martyrdom. For they heard
of many in other provinces who had had to pass
through the same conflict as themselves : among
them Epiphanius and Petrus and the most holy
Pamphilus, with many others, at Csesarea in
Palestine ; Timotheus at Gaza ; at Alexandria,
Timotheus the Great ; Agapetus at Thessalonica ;
Hesychius at Nicomedia ; Philippus at Adrian-
opolis ; at Melitina Petrus ; Hermes and his
■* Ps. cxlvi. 3. — Tk.
MARTYRDOM OF SHAMUNA, GURIA, AND HABIB.
697
companions in the confines of Martyropolis : all
of whom were also encircled with the crown of
martyrdom by Duke ' Herachanus, along with
other confessors too numerous for us to become
acquainted with. But we must return to the
matters of whicli we were before speaking.
Antonius, then, the governor of Edessa, having
permitted others to return to their homes, had
a lofty judgment-seat erected, and ordered the
martyrs to be brought before him. The attend-
ants having done as they were bidden, the govern-
or said to the saints : Our most divine emperor
commands you to renounce Christianity, of which
you are followers, and to pay divine honour to
Jupiter by offering incense on the altar. To this
Shamuna replied : Far be it from us to abandon
the true faith, v.-hereby we hope to obtain immor-
tality, and worship the work of men's hands and
an image ! The governor said : The emperor's
orders must by all means be obeyed. Guria
answered : Our pure and divine faith will we
never disown, by following the will of men, who
are subject to dissolution. For we have a Father
in heaven whose will we follow, and He says :
"He that shall confess Me before men, him will
I also confess before My Father who is in heav-
en ; but he that shall deny Me before men, him
will I also deny before My Father and His
angels."^ The judge said : You refuse, then, to
obey the will of the emperor? But can you for
a moment think, that the purposes of ordinary
men and such as have no more power than your-
selves are to be really carried into execution,
while the commands of those who possess su-
preme power fall to the ground? They, said the
saints, who do the will of the King of kings spurn
and reject the will of the flesh. Then, on the
governor's threatening them with death unless
they obeyed, Shamuna said : We shall not die,
O tyrant, if we follow the will of the Creator :
nay rather, on the contrary, we shall live ; but,
if we follow the commands of your emperor,
know thou that, even though thou shouldest not
put us to death, we shall perish miserably all the
same.
On hearing this, the governor gave orders to
Anovitus the jailor to put them in very safe keep-
ing. For the mind which is naturally inclined
to evil cannot bear the truth, any more than
diseased eyes the bright beams of the sun. And,
when he had done as he was commanded, and
the martyrs were in prison, where many other
saints also had been previously shut by the
soldiers, the Emperor Diocletian sent for Muso-
nius the governor of Antioch and ordered him
to go to Edessa and see the Christians who were
confined there, whether they were of the com-
mon or of the sacred class, and question them
about their religion, and deal with them as he
j should see fit. So he came to Edessa ; and he
had Shamuna and Guria first of all placed before
j the tribunal of judgment, and said to them :
This, and no less, is the command of the lord
of the world, that you make a libation of wine
and place incense on the altar of Jupiter. If
you refuse to do so, I will destroy you with
manifold punishments : for I will tear your bodies
to pieces with whips, till I get to your very en-
trails ; and I will not cease pouring boiling lead
into your armpits until it reaches even to your
bowels ; after that, I will hang you up, now by
your hands, now by your feet, and I will loosen
the fastenings of your joints ; and I will invent
new and unheard of punishments which you will
be utterly unable to endure.
Shamuna answered : We dread " the worm,"
the threat of which is denounced against those
who deny the Lord, and " the fire which is not
quenched," more than those tortures which thou
hast set before us. For God Himself, to whom
we offer rational worship, will, first of all,
strengthen us to bear these manifold tortures,
and will deliver us out of thy hands ; and, after
that, will also give us to rest in a place of safety,
where is the abode of all those who rejoice. Be-
sides, it is against nothing whatever but the body
that thou takest up arms : for what possible harm
couldst thou do to the soul? since, as long as it
resides in the body, it proves superior to torture ;
and, when it takes its departure, the body has no
feeling whatever left. For, " the more our out-
ward man is destroyed, the more is our inward
man renewed day by day ; " ^ for by means of
patience we go through with this contest which
is set before us. The governor, however, again,
with a kind of protestation, in order that, in case
they did not obey, he might with the more justice
punish them, said : Give up your error, I beg
you, and yield to the command of the emperor :
ye will not be able to endure the tortures. The
holy Guria answered : We are neither the slaves
of error, as thou sayest, nor will we ever obey
the command of the emperor : God forbid that
we should be so weak-minded and so senseless !
For we are His disciples who laid down His life
for us, so manifesting the riches of His goodness
and His love towards us. We will, therefore,
resist sin even to death, nor, come what may, will
we be foiled by the stratagems of the ad\'ersary,
by which the first man was ensnared and plucked
death from the tree through his disobedience ; •*
and Cain was persuaded, and, after staining his
hands with his brother's blood, found the rewards
1 Dux.
2 iMatt.
33. -Tr.
3 2 Cor. iv. 16. — Tr.
* Or " through his disobedience in the matter of the tree," xi pey
ligni inohcdientinm are the real words of the Latin translator, who
is not, generally speaking, to be complimented for elegance or even
correctness, but seems to have made a servile copy of the mere words
of the Greek. — Tr.
698
MARTYRDOM OF SHAMUNA, GURIA, AND HABIB.
of sin to be wailing and fear. But we, listening
to the words of Christ, will " not be afraid of
those that kill the body but are not able to kill
the soul:" Him rather will we fear "who is
able to destroy our soul and body." ' The tyrant
said : It is not to give you an opportunity of dis-
proving my allegations by snatches of your own
writings that I refrain from anger and show my-
self forbearing ; but that you may perform the
command of the emperor and return in peace
to your homes.
These words did not at all shake the resolu-
tion of the martyrs ; but, approaching nearer :
What, said they, does it matter to us, if thou art
angry, and nursest thine anger, and rainest tor-
tures ui)on us like snow-flakes ? For then wouldst
thou be favouring us all the more, by rendering
the proof of our fortitude more conspicuous, and
winning for us a greater recompense. For this is
the crowning point of our hope, that we shall leave
behind our present dwelling, which is but for a
time, and depart to one that will last forever. For
we have "a tabernacle not made with hands "^ in
heaven, which the Scripture is accustomed also
to call "Abraham's bosom," because of the
familiar intercourse with God with which he was
blessed. The governor, seeing that their firmness
underwent no change, forthwith left off speaking
and proceeded with the threatened punishments,
giving orders to the jailor Anuinus that they should
be severally hung up by one hand, and that, when
their hands were dislocated by having to bear the
entire weight of the body, he should further sus-
pend a heavy stone to their feet, that the sense
of pain might be the sharper. This was done,
and from the third hour to the eighth they bore
this severe torture with fortitude, uttering not a
word, nor a groan, nor giving any other indication
of a weak or abject mind. You would have said
that they were suffering in a body which was not
theirs, or that others were suffering and they
themselves were nothing more than spectators
of what was going on.
In the meantime, whilst they were hanging by
their hands, tlie governor was engaged in trying
other cases. Having done with these, he ordered
the jailor to inquire of the saints whether or not
they would obey the emperor and be released
from their torture ; and on his putting the ques-
tion to them, when it was found that they either
could not or would not return an answer, he
ordered that they should be confined in the inner
part of the prison, in a dark dungeon, dark both
in name and in reality, and that their feet should
be made fast in the stocks. At dawn of day,
their feet were loosened from the confinement
of the stocks \ but their prison was close shut
up, so that not a single ray even of sunlight could
make its way in ; and the jailors were ordered
not to give them a bit of bread or a single drop
of water for three whole days. So that, in addi-
tion to all the rest, the martyrs were condemned
to a dark prison and a long privation of food.
When the third day arrived, about the beginning
of the month of August, the prison was opened
to admit light, but they were detained in it still
up to the loth of November. Then the judge
had them brought up before his tribunal : Has
not all this tune, said he, sufficed to induce you
to change your minds and come to some whole-
some decision ? They answered : We have already
several times told thee our mind : do, therefore,
what thou hast been commanded. The governor
forthwith ordered that Shamuna should be made
to kneel down on one side ^ and that an iron
chain should be fastened on his knee. This
having been done, he hung him up head down-
wards by the foot with which he had made him
kneel ; the other he pulled downwards with a
heavy piece of iron, which cannot be described
in words : thus endeavouring to rend the cham-
pion in twain. By this means the socket of the
hip-bone was wrenched out of its place and
Shamuna became lame. Guria, however, be-
cause he was weak and somewhat pale, he left
unpunished : not that he regarded him with
friendly eyes — not that he had any compassion
on his weakness ; but rather by way of sparing
for another opportunity one whom he was anxious
to punish : lest perchance, as he said, through
inadvertence on my part he should be worn out
before he has undergone the torments in reserve
for him.
By this time two hours of the day had passed
since Shamuna had been hung up ; and the fifth
hour had now arrived, and he was still suspended
on high — when the soldiers who stood around,
taking pity upon him, urged him to obey the
emperor's command. But the compassion of
sinners had no effect upon the saint. For,
although he suffered bitterly from the torture, he
vouchsafed them no answer whatever, leaving
them to lament at their leisure, and to deem
themselves rather, and not him, deserving of pity.
But, lifting his eyes to heaven, he prayed to God
from the depth of his heart, reminding Him of
the wonders done in old time : Lord God, he
said, without whom not even a poor little sparrow
falls into the snare ; who didst cheer the heart
of David amid his afflictions ; who gavest power
to Daniel even against the hons ; who madest
the children of Abraham victorious over the tyrant
and the flame : do Thou now also, O Lord, look
on the war which is being waged against us,
acquainted as Thou art with the weakness of our
nature. For the enemy is trying to turn away
Man.
2 Cor.
28. — Tk.
. I.— Tr.
3 Lit. " with one foot." — Tr.
MARTYRDOM OF SHAMUNA, GURIA, AND HABIB.
699
the workmanship of Thy right hand from the
glory which is witli Thee. But regard Thou us
with looks of compassion, and maintain within
us, against all attempts to extinguish it, the lamp
of Thy commandments ; and by Thy light guide
our paths, and vouchsafe us the enjoyment of
that happiness which is in Thee : for Thou art
blessed for ever, world without end. Thus did
he utter the praise of the Umpire of the strife ;
and a scribe who was present took down in
writing what was said.
At length the governor ordered the jailor to re-
lease him from his punishment. He did so, and
carried him away all faint and exhausted with
the pain he suffered, and they bore him back to
his former prison and laid him down by the side
of the holy Guria. On the 15 th of November,
however, in the night, about the time of cock-
crowing, the judge got up. He was preceded
by torches and attendants ; and, on arriving at
the Basilica, as it is called, where the court was
held, he took his seat with great ceremony on
the tribunal, and sent to fetch the champions
Guria and Shamuna. The latter came in walk-
ing between two of the jailors and supported by
the hands of both : for he was worn out with
hunger and weighed down with age : nothing
but his good hope sustained him. Guria, too,
had also to be carried in : for he could not walk
at all, because his foot had -been severely galled
by the chain on it. Addressing them both, the
advocate of impiety said : In pursuance of the
permission which was granted, you have, doubt-
less, consulted together about what it is expedi-
ent for you to do. Tell me, then, whether any
fresh resolution has been come to by you, and
whether you have in any respect changed your
mind in regard to your former purpose ; and
obey the command of the most divine emperor.
For thus will you be restored to the enjoyment
of your property and possessions, yea of this
most cheering light also. To this the martyrs
reply : No one who is wise would make any
great account of continuing for a little while in
the enjoyment of things which are but transient.
Sufficient for us is the time already past for the
use and the sight of them ; nor do we feel the
want of any of them. That death, on the con-
trary, with which thou art threatening us will
convey us to imperishable habitations and give us
a participation in the happiness which is yonder.
The governor replied : What you have said
has filled my ears with great sadness. However,
I will explain to you what is determined on : if
you place incense on the altar and sacrifice to
the image of Jupiter, all will be well, and each
of you will go away to his home ; but, if you
still persist in disobeying the command of the
emperor, you will most certainly lose your heads :
for this is what the great emperor wills and
determines. To this the most noble-minded
Shamuna replied : If thou shalt confer upon us
so great a favour as to grant us deliverance from
the miseries of this hfe and dismissal to the hap-
piness of the life yonder, so far as in us lies thou
shalt be rewarded by Him who lays out our pos-
sessions on what is for our good. The governor
replied to this somewhat kindly, as it seemed,
saying : I have patiently endured hitherto, put-
ting up with those long speeches of yours, in
order that by delay you may change your pur-
pose and betake yourselves to what is for your
good, and not have to undergo the punishment
of death. Those who submit, said he, to death
which is only for a time, for the sake of Christ,
will manifestly be delivered from eternal death.
For those who die to the world live in Christ.
For Peter also, who shines so brightly among
the band of apostles, was condemned to the
cross and to death ; and James, the son of
thunder, was slain by Herod Agrippa with the
sword. Moreover, Stephen also was stoned, who
was the first to run the course of martyrdom.
What, too, wilt thou say of John tlie Baptist?
Thou wilt surely acknowledge his distinguished
fortitude and boldness of speech, when he pre-
ferred death ratlier than keep silence about con-
jugal infidelity, and the adulteress received his
head as a reward for her dancing?
Again the governor said : It is not that you
may reckon up your saints, as you call them,
that I bear so patiently with you, but that, by
changing your resolution and yielding to the em-
peror's commands, you may be rescued from a
very bitter death. For, if you behave with such
excessive daring and arrogance, what can you
expect but that severer punishments are in store
for you, under the pressure of which you will be
ready even against your will to do what I de-
mand of you : by which time, however, it will be
altogether too late to take refuge in compassion ?
For the cry which is wrung from you by force
has no power to challenge pity ; whilst, on the
other hand, that which is made of your own
accord is deserving of compassion. The confess-
ors and martyrs of Christ said : There needs not
many words. For lo ! we are ready to undergo
all the ])unishments thou mayest lay upon us.
What, therefore, has been commanded thee, de-
lay not to perform. For we are the worshippers
of Christ the true God, and (again we say it)
of Him of whose kingdom there shall be no end ;
who also is alone able to glorify those in return
who glorify His name. In the meantime, whilst
these things were being said by the saints, the
governor i:)ronounced sentence against them that
they should suffer death by the sword. But they,
filled with a joy beyond the power of words to
express, exclaimed : To Thee of right belongeth
glory and praise, who art God of all, because it
700
MARTYRDOM OF THE HOLY CONFESSORS.
hath pleased Thee that we should carry on to
its close the conflict we have entered upon, and
that we should also receive at Thy hands the
brightness that shall never fade away.
When, therefore, the governor saw their un-
yielding firmness, and how they had heard the
final sentence with exultation of soul, he said to
the saints : May God search into what is being
done, and be tvitness that so far as I was con-
cerned it was no wish of mine that you should
lose your lives ; but the inflexible command of
the emperor to me compels me to this. He
then ordered a halberdier to take charge of the
martyrs, and, putting them in a carriage, to
convey them to a distance from the city with
some soldiers, and there to end them with the
sword. So he, taking the saints out at night by
the Roman gate, wlien the citizens were buried
in profound slumber, conveyed them to Mount
Bethelabicla on the north of the city. On their
arrival at that place, having alighted from the
carriage with joy of heart and great firmness of
mind, they requested the halberdier and those
who were under his orders to give them time to
pray ; and it was granted. For, just as if their
tortures and their blood were not enough to
plead for them, they still by reason of their hu-
mility deemed it necessary to pray. So they
raised their eyes to heaven and prayed earnestly,
concluding with the words : God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, receive in peace our spirits
to Thyself. Then Shamuna, turning to the hal-
berdier, said : Perform that which thou hast
been commanded. So he kneeled down along
with Guria, and they were beheaded, on the 15th
of November. This is the account of what hap-
pened to the martyrs.
But forasmuch as the number sought for a
third in order that in them the Trinity might be
glorified, it found, oh admirable providence !
Habib — at a subsequent time indeed : but he
also, along with those who had preceded him,
had determined to enter on the journey, and on
the very day ' of their martyrdom reached his
consummation. Habib, then, great among mar-
tyrs, was a native of the same place as they,
namely of the village of Thelsjea ; - and he had
the honour of being invested with the sacred
office of the diaconate. But, when Licinius
swayed the sceptre of the Roman empire and
Lysanias had been appointed governor of Edessa,
a persecution was again raised against the Chris-
tians, and the general danger threatened Habib.
For he would go about the city, teaching the
divine Scriptures to all he met with, and cour-
ageously seeking to strengthen them in piety.
When this came to the ears of Lysanias, he gave
information of it to the Emperor Licinius. For
' i e., the anniversary. — Tr.
^ In the Syriac account " Telzeha: " see p.
90, sitpra. — Tr.
he was anxious to Ije himself entrusted with the
business of bringing the Christians to trial, and
especially Habib : for he had never been en-
trusted with it before. The emperor, then, sent
him a letter and commanded him to put Habib
to death. So, when Lysanias had received the
letter, search was made everywhere for Habib,
who on account of his office in the Church lived
in some part of the city, his mother and some
of his relations residing with him. When he got
intelligence of the matter, fearing lest he should
incur punishment for quitting the ranks of mar-
tyrdom, he went of his own accord and presented
himself to a man who was among the chief of
the body-guard, named Theotecnus, and pres-
ently he said : I am Habib for whom ye are
seeking. But he, looking kindly at him, said :
No one, my good man, is as yet aware of thy
coming to me : so go away, and look to thy
safety ; and be not concerned about thy mother,
nor about thy relations : for they cannot possibly
get into any trouble. Thus far Theotecnus.
But Habib, because the occasion was one that
called for martyrdom, refused to yield to a weak
and cowardly spirit' and secure his safety in any
underhand way. He replied, therefore : It is
not for the sake of my dear mother, nor for the
sake of my kinsfolk, that I denounce myself;
but I have come for the sake of the confession
of Christ. For lo ! whether thou consent or no,
I will make my appearance before the governor,
and I will proclaim my ATaster Christ before
princes and kings. Theotecnus, accordingly,
apprehensive that he might go of his own accord
to the governor, and that in this way he might
himself be in jeopardy for not having denounced
him, took Habib and conducted him to the
governor : Here, said he, is Habib, for whom
search has been made. When Lysanias learned
that Habib had come of his own accord to the
contest, he concluded that this was a mark of
contempt and overweening boldness, as if he set
light by the solemn dignity of the judicial seat ;
and he had him at once put on his trial. He in-
quired of him his condition of life, his name, and
his country. On his answering that he was a
native of the village of Thelssea, and intimating
that he was a minister of Christ, the governor
immediately charged the martyr with not obey-
ing the emperor's commands. He insisted that
a plain proof of this was his refusal to offer in-
cense to Jupiter. To this Habib kept replying
that he was a Christian, and could not forsake
the true God, or sacrifice to the lifeless works of
men's hands which had no sensation. The gov-
ernor hereupon ordered, that his arms should be
bound with ropes, and that he should be raised
up high on a beam and torn with iron claws.^
3 Compare the " combs " of the Syriac, p. 6S4, supra. — Tr.
MARTYRDOM OF SHAMUNA, GURIA, AND HABIB.
701
The hanging up was far more difficult to bear i
than the tearing : for he was in danger of being
pulled asunder, through the forcible strain with
which his arms were stretched out.
In the meantime, as he was hanging up in
the air, the governor had recourse to smooth
words, and assumed the guise of patience. He,
however, continued to threaten him with severer
punishments unless he should change his resolu-
tion. But he said : No man shall induce me to
forsake the faith, nor persuade me to worship
demons, even though he should inflict tortures
more and greater. On the governor's asking
him what advantage he expected to gain from
tortures which destroyed his whole ' body, Habib,
Christ's martyr, replied : The objects of our
regard do not last merely for the present, nor do
we pursue the things that are seen ; and, if thou
too art minded to turn thy look towards our
hope and promised recompense, possibly thou
wilt even say with Paul : " The sufferings of this
time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which is to be revealed in us."- The
governor pronounced his words to be the lan-
guage of imbecility ; and, when he saw that, not-
withstanding all the efforts he made, by turns
using smooth words and assuming the part of
patience, and then again threatening him and
menacing him with a shocking ^ death, he could
not in either way prevail with him, he said, as he
pronounced sentence upon him : I will not in-
1 Reading " totum" for " solum." — Tr.
2 Rom. viii. 18. — Tr.
3 Lit. " bitter." — Tr.
flict on thee a sudden and speedy death ; I will
bring on thy dissolution gradually by means of
a slow fire, and in this way make thee lay aside
thy fierce and intractable spirit. Thereupon,
some wood was collected together at a place
outside the city on the northward, and he was
led to the pile, followed by his mother, and also
by those who were otherwise by blood related to
him. He then prayed, and pronounced a bless-
ing on all, and gave them the kiss in the Lord ;
and after that the wood was kindled by them,
and he was cast into the fire ; and, when he had
opened his mouth to receive the flame, he yielded
up his spirit to Him who had given it. Then,
when the fire had subsided, his relatives wrapped
him in a costly piece of linen and anointed him
with unguents ; and, having suitably sung psalms
and hymns, they laid him by the side of Shamuna
and Guria, to the glory of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, who constitute
a Divine Trinity, which cannot be divided : to
whom is due honour and worship now and always,
and for evermore. Amen. Such was the close
of the life of the martyr Habib in the time of
Licinius, and thus did he obtain the privilege of
being laid with tlie saints, and thus did he bring
to the pious rest from their persecutions. For
shortly afterwards the power of Licinius waned,
and the rule of Constantine prospered, and the
sovereignty of the Romans became his ; and he
was the first of the emperors who openly pro-
fessed piety, and allowed the Christians to five
as Christians.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
MOSES OF CHORENE/
HISTORY OF ARMENIA.
REIGN OF ABGAR ; ARMENIA BECOMES COMPLETELY
TRIBUTARY TO THE ROMANS ; WAR WITH HEROD'S
TROOPS ; HIS brother's son, JOSEPH, IS KILLED.
Abgar, son of Archam, ascends the throne in
the twentieth year of Archavir, king of the Per-
sians. This Abgar was called Avak-air (great
man), on account of his great gentleness and
wisdom, and also on account of his size. Not
being able to pronounce well, the Greeks and the
Syrians called him Abgar. In the second year of
his reign, all the districts of Armenia become
tributary to the Romans. A command is given
by the Emperor Augustus, as we are told in the
Gospel of St. Luke, to number all the people in
every part. Roman commissioners, sent for that
purpose into Armenia, carried thither the statue
of the Emperor Augustus, and set it up in all
the temples. At this very time, our Saviour
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the
world.
At the same period there was trouble between
Abgar and Herod : for Herod wished that his
statue should be erected near to that of Caesar
in the temples of Armenia. Abgar withstood
this claim. Moreover, Herod was but seeking a
pretext to attack Abgar : he sent an army of
Thracians and Germans to make an incursion
into the country of the Persians, with orders to
pass through the territories of Abgar. But Ab-
gar, far from submitting to this, resisted, saying
that the emperor's command was to march the
troops into Persia through the desert. Herod,
indignant, and unable to act by himself, over-
whelmed with troubles, as a punishment for his
wicked conduct towards Christ, as Josephus re-
lates, sent his nephew to whom he had given
his daughter, who had been married in the first
1 This extract is taken from the edition, in two volumes, printed
at Paris, of which the following is the title; MOlSE, DE KHO-
'Rt^E.,autcurdH Ve Steele : HISTOIRE DARMENIE, texte
Akmenien et traduction Francaise, avec notes expUcatives et
precis historiques sur V Armenie, par P. E. Le Vaillant de
Florival.
2 Book ii. chapter xxvi.
instance to Ph^ror, his brother. Herod's lieu-
tenant, at the head of a considerable army, has-
tened to reach Mesopotamia, met Abgar at the
camp in the province of Pouknan, fell in the
combat, and his troojis were put to flight. Soon
afterwards, Herod died : Archelaus, his son, was
appointed by Augustus ethnarch of Judaea.
FOUNDING OF THE TOWN OF EDESSA ; BRIEF AC-
COUNT OF THE RACE OF OUR ILLUMINATOR.
A little while afterwards, Augustus dies, and
Tiberius becomes emperor of the Romans in
his stead. Germanicus, having become Caesar,
dragging in his train the princes of the kingdom
of Archavir and of Abgar, celebrates a triumph
in respect of the war waged with them, in which
these princes had killed Herod's nephew. Ab-
gar, indignant, forms plans of revolt and pre-
pares himself for combat. He builds a town on
the ground occupied by the Armenian army of
observation, where previously the Euphrates had
been defended against the attempts of Cassius :
this new town is called Edessa. Abgar removed
to it his court, which was at Medzpine, all his
gods, Naboc, Bel, Patnicagh, and Tarata, the
books of the schools attached to the temples,
and even the royal archives.
After this, Archavir being dead, Ardaches, his
son, reigns over the Persians. Though it is not
in the order of the history with respect to time,
nor even the order according to which we have
begun these annals, yet, as we are treating of
the descendants of the king Archavir, even of
the blood of Ardaches his son, we will, to do
honour to these princes, place them, by antici-
pating the time, near to Ardaches, in order that
the reader may know that they are of the same
race, of the race of the brave Archag ; then we
will indicate the time of the arrival of their
fathers in Armenia, the Garcnians and the Sou-
renians, from whom St. Gregory and the Gamsa-
3 Chapter xxvii.
MOSES OF CHORENE.
703
rians are descended, when, following the order
of events, we come to the reign of the king
under whom they appeared.
Abgar did not succeed in his plans of revolt ;
for, troubles having arisen amongst his relatives
in the Persian kingdom, he set out at the head
of an army to allay and bring to an end the
dissension.
Ill.i
ABGAR COMES INTO THE EAST, MAINTAINS AR-
DACHES UPON THE THRONE OF PERSIA ; RECON-
CILES HIS BROTHERS FROM WHOM OUR ILLUMI-
NATOR AND HIS RELATIONS ARE DESCENDED.
Abgar, having gone to the East, finds on the
throne of Persia Ardaches, son of Archavir, and
the brothers of Ardaches contending against
him : for this prince thought to reign over them
in his posterity, and they would not consent to it.
Ardaches therefore hems them in on all sides,
hangs the sword of death over their heads ;
distractions and dissension were between their
troops and their other relations and allies : for
King Archavir had three sons and one daughter ;
the first of these sons was King Ardaches him-
self, the second Garene, the third Sourene ; their
sister, named Gochm, was wife of the general
of all the Ariks, a general chosen by their father
Archavir.
Abgar prevails on the sons of Archavir to
make peace ; he arranges between them the
conditions and stipulations : Ardaches is to reign
with his posterity as he proposed, and his broth-
ers are to be called Bahlav, from the name of
their town and their vast and fertile country, so
that their satrapies shall be the first, higher in
rank than all the satrapies of Persia, as being
truly a race of kings. Treaties and oaths stipu-
lated that in case of the extinction of male chil-
dren of Ardaches, his brothers should come to the
throne ; after the reigning race of Ardaches, his !
brothers are divided into three races named ^
thus : the race of Garene Bahlav, the race of
Sourene Bahlav, and the race of their sister, the
race of Asbahabied Bahlav, a race thus called
from the name of the domain of her husband.
St. Gregory is said to have sprung from the 1
race Sourene Bahlav, and the Gamsarians from
the race Garene Bahlav. We will relate in the
sequel the circumstances of the coming of these \
personages, only mentioning their names here j
in connection with Ardaches, in order that you ^
may know that these great races are indeed the
blood of Vagharchag, that is to say, the poster-
ity of the great Archag, brother of Vagharchag.
Everything being thus arranged, Abgar takes
with him the letter of the treaties, and returns
to his dominions, not in perfect health, but a
prey to severe suffering.
^ Chapter xxviii.
IV.2
ABGAR RETURNS FROM THE EAST; HE GIVES HELP
TO ARETAS IN A WAR AGAINST HEROD THE
TETR.'^RCH.
When Abgar had returned from the East, he
learnt that the Romans suspected him of having
gone there to raise troops. He therefore made
the Roman commissioners acquainted with the
reasons of his journey to Persia, as well as the
treaty concluded between Ardaches and his broth-
ers ; but no credence was given to his statement :
for he was accused by his enemies Pilate, Herod
the tetrarch, Lysanias and Philip. Abgar having
returned to his city Edessa leagued himself with
Aretas, king of Petra, and gave him some auxil-
iary troops under the command of Khosran Ard-
zrouni, to make war upon Herod. Herod had
in the first instance married the daughter of
Aretas, then had repudiated her, and thereupon
taken Herodias, even in her husband's lifetime,
a circumstance in connection with which he had
had John the Baptist put to death. Conse-
quently there was war between Herod and Aretas
on account of the wrong done to the daughter
of Aretas. Being sharply attacked, Herod's
troops were defeated, thanks to the help of the
brave Armenians ; as if, by divine providence,
vengeance was taken for the death of John the
Baptist.
ABGAR SENDS PRINCES TO MARINUS ; THESE DEPU-
TIES SEE OUR SAVIOUR CHRIST ; BEGINNING OF
THE CONVERSION OF ABGAR.
At this period INIarinus, son of Storoge, was
raised by the emperor to the government of
Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia.
Abgar sent to him two of his principal officers,
Mar-Ihap prince of Aghtznik, and Chamchacram
chief of the house of the Abahouni, as well as
Anan his confidant. The envoys proceed to the
town of Petkoupine to make known to Marinus
the reasons of Abgar's journey to the East, show-
ing him the treaty concluded between Ardaches
and his brothers, and at the same time to call
upon Marinus for his support. The deputies
found the Roman governor at Eleutheropolis ;
he received them with friendship and distinc-
tion, and gave this answer to Abgar : " Fear
nothing from the emperor on that account, pro-
vided you take good care to pay the tribute
regularly."
On their return, the Armenian deputies went
to Jerusalem to see our Saviour the Christ, being
attracted by the report of His miracles. Having
themselves become eye-witnesses of these won-
ders, they related them to Abgar. This prince.
2 Chapter xxix.
3 Chapter xxx.
704
MOSES OF CHORENE.
seized with admiration, believed truly that Jesus
was indeed the Son of God, and said : " These
wonders are not those of a man, but of a God.
No, there is no one amongst men who can raise
the dead : God alone has this power." Abgar
felt in his whole body certain acute pains which
he had got in Persia, more than seven years
before ; from men he had received no remedy
for his sufferings ; Abgar sent a letter of entreaty
to Jesus : he' prayed Him to come and cure him
of his pains. Here is this letter : —
ABGAR's letter to the saviour JESUS CHRIST.
" Abgar, son of Archam, prince of the land,
to Jesus, Saviour and Benefactor of men, who
has appeared in the country of Jerusalem,
greeting : —
" I have heard of Thee, and of the cures
wrought by Thy hands, without remedies, with-
out herbs : for, as it is said, Thou makest the
blind to see, the lame to walk, the lepers to be
healed ; Thou drivest out unclean spirits. Thou
curest unhappy beings afflicted with prolonged
and inveterate diseases ; Thou dost even raise
the dead. As I have heard of all these wonders
wrought by Thee, I have concluded from them
either that Thou art God, come down from
heaven to do such great things, or that Thou
art the Son of God, working as Thou dost these
miracles. Therefore have I written to Thee,
praying Thee to condescend to come to me
and cure me of the complaints with which I am
afflicted. I have heard also that the Jews mur-
mur against Thee and wish to deliver Thee up
to torments : I have a city small but pleasant, it
would be sufficient for us both."
The messengers, the bearers of this letter, met
Jesus at Jerusalem, a fact confirmed by these
words of the Gospel : " Some from amongst the
heathen came to find Jesus, but those who heard
them, not daring to tell Jesus what they had
heard, told it to Philip and Andrew, who repeated
it all to their Master."
The Saviour did not then accept the invitation
given to Him, but He thought fit to honour
Abgar with an answer in these words : —
VII.2
answer TO abgar's letter, which the apostle
THOMAS WROTE TO THIS PRINCE BV COMMAND
OF THE SAVIOUR.
" Blessed is he who believes in me without
having seen me ! For it is written of me :
' Those who see me will not believe in me, and
those who do not see me will believe and live.'
' Chapter xxxi.
2 Chapter xxxii.
As to what thou hast written asking me to come
to thee, I must accomplish here all that for which
I have been sent ; and, when I shall liave ac-
complished it all, I shall ascend to Him who
sent me ; and when I shall go away I will send
one of my disciples, who will cure thy diseases,
and give life to thee and to all those who are
with thee." Anan, Abgar's courier, brought him
this letter, as well as the portrait of the Saviour,
a picture which is still to be found at this day
in the city of Edessa.
vin.3
PREACHING OF THE APOSTLE THADD/EUS AT EDESSA ;
COPY OF FIVE LEITERS.
After the ascension of our Saviour, the Apos-
tle Thomas, one of the twelve, sent one of the
seventy-six disciples, Thaddoeus, to the city of
Edessa to heal Abgar and to preach the Gospel,
according to the wqrd of the Lord. Thaddseus
came to the house of Tobias, a Jewish prince,
who is said to have been of the race of the
Pacradouni. Tobias, having left Archam, did
not abjure Judaism .with the rest of his relatives,
but followed its laws up to the moment when he
believed in Christ. Soon the name of Thaddseus
spreads through the whole town. Abgar, on
learning of his arrival, said : " This is indeed
he concerning whom Jesus wrote to me ; " and
immediately Abgar sent for the apostle. When
Thaddseus entered, a marvellous ajipearance pre-
sented itself to the eyes of Abgar in the counte-
nance of the apostle ; the king having risen from
his throne, fell on his face to the earth, and
prostrated himself before Thaddseus. This spec-
tacle greatly surprised all the princes who were
present, for they were ignorant of the fact of the
vision. ''"Art thou really," said Abgar to Thad-
dseus, " art thou the disciple of the ever-blessed
Jesus? Art thou he whom He promised to send
to me, and canst thou heal my maladies?"
"Yes," answered Thaddseus; "if thou believ-
est in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the desires
of thy heart shall be granted." " I have be-
heved in Jesus," said Abgar, " I have believed
in His Father ; therefore I wished to go at the
head of my troops to destroy the Jews who have
crucified Jesus, had I not been prevented by
reason of the power of the Romans."
Thenceforth Tliadda^us began to preach the
Gospel to the king and his town ; laying his
hands upon Abgar, he cured him ; he cured also
a man with gout, Abdu, a prince of the town,
much honoured in all the king's house. He
also healed all the sick and infirm people in the
town, and all believed in Jesus Christ. Abgar
was baptized, and all the town with him, and
the temples of the false gods were closed, and
3 Chapter xxxiii.
MOSES OF CHORENE.
705
all the statues of idols that were placed on the
altars and columns were hidden by being cov-
ered with reeds. Abgar did not compel any
one to embrace the faith, yet from day to day
the number of the believers was multiplied.
The Apostle Thaddaeus baptizes a manufac-
turer of silk head-dresses, called Attaeus, conse-
crates him, appoints him to minister at Edessa,
and leaves him with the king instead of himself.
Thaddteus, after having received letters patent
from Abgar, who wished that all should listen to
the Gospel of Christ, went to find Sanadroug,
son of Abgar's sister, whom this prince had
appointed over the country and over the army.
Abgar was pleased to write to the Emperor Ti-
berius a letter in these words : —
Abgar's letter to Tiberius.
" Abgar, king of Armenia, to my Lord Tibe-
rius, emperor of the Romans, greeting : —
" I know that nothing is unknown to your
Majesty, but, as your friend, I would make you
better acquainted with the facts by writing.
The Jews who dwell in the cantons of Palestine
have crucified Jesus : Jesus without sin, Jesus
after so many acts of kindness, so many wonders
and miracles wrought for their good, even to the
raising of the dead. Be assured that these are
not the effects of the power of a simple mortal,
but of God. During the time that they were
crucifying Him, the sun was darkened, the earth
was moved, shaken ; Jesus Himself, three days
afterwards, rose from the dead and appeared to
many. Now, everywhere. His name alone, in-
voked by His disciples, produces the greatest
miracles : what has happened to myself is the
most evident proof of it. Your august Majesty
knows henceforth what ought to be done in
future with respect to the Jewish nation, which
has committed this crime ; your Majesty knows
whether a command should not be published
through the whole universe to worship Christ as
the true God. Safety and health."
Answer from Tiberius to Abgar'' s letter.
" Tiberius, emperor of the Romans, to Abgar,
king of the Armenians, greeting : —
" Your kind letter has been read to me, and I
wish that thanks should be given to you from
me. Though we had already heard several per-
sons relate these facts, Pilate has officially in-
formed us of the miracles of Jesus. He has
certified to us that after His resurrection from
the dead He was acknowledged by many to be
God. Therefore I myself also wished to do
what you propose ; but, as it is the custom of
the Romans not to admit a god merely by the
command of the sovereign, but. only when the
admission has been discussed and examined in
full senate, I proposed the affair to the senate,
and they rejected it with contempt, doubtless
because it had not been considered by them
first. But we have commanded all those whom
Jesus suits, to receive him amongst the gods.
We have threatened with death any one who
shall speak evil of the Christians. As to the
Jewish nation which has dared to crucify Jesus,
who, as I hear, far from deserving the cross and
death, was worthy of honour, worthy of the
adoration of men — when I am free from the
war with rebellious Spain, I will examine into
the matter, and will treat the Jews as they
deserve."
Abgar writes another letter to Tiberius.
" Abgar, king of the Armenians, to my lord
Tiberius, emperor of the Romans, greeting : —
" I have received the letter written from your
august Majesty, and I have applauded the com-
mands which have emanated from your wisdom.
If you will not be angry with me, I will say that
the conduct of the senate is extremely ridicu-
lous and absurd : for, according to the senators,
it is after the examination and by the suffrages
of men that divinity may be ascribed. Thus,
then, if God does not suit man. He cannot be
God, since God is to be judged and justified by
man. It will no doubt seem just to my lord
and master to send another governor to Jerusa-
lem in the place of Pilate, who ought to be igno-
miniously driven from the powerful post in
which you placed him ; for he has done the will
of the Jews : he has crucified Christ unjustly,
without your order. That you may enjoy health
is my desire."
Abgar, having written this letter, placed a
copy of it, with copies of the other letters, in
his archives. He wrote also to the young Nerseh,
king of Assyria, at Babylon : —
Abgar'' s tetter to Nerseh.
" Abgar, king of the Armenians, to my son
Nerseh, greeting : ^-
" I have received your letter and acknowledg-
ments. I have released Beroze from his chains,
and have pardoned his offences : if this pleases
you, give him the government of Nineveh. But
as to what you write to me about sending you
the physician who works miracles and preaches
another God superior to fire and water, that you
may see and hear him, I say to you : he was not
a physician according to the art of men ; he
was a disciple of the Son of God, Creator of fire
and water : he has been appointed and sent to
the countries of Armenia. But one of his prin-
cipal companions, named Simon, is sent into the
countries of Persia, Seek for him, and you will
hear him, you as well as your father Ardaches.
7o6
MOSES OF CHORENE.
He will heal all your diseases and will show you
the way of life."
Abgar wrote also to Ardachcs, king of the
Persians, the following letter : —
Abgar'' s letter to ArdacJies.
"Abgar, king of the Armenians, to Ardaches
my brother, king of the Persians, greeting : —
" I know that you have heard of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, whom the Jews have crucified,
Jesus who was raised from the dead, and has
sent His disciples through all the world to instruct
men. One of His chief disciples, named Simon,
is in your Majesty's territories. Seek for him,
and you will find him, and he will cure you of all
your maladies, and will show you the way of life,
and you will believe in his words, you, and
your ijrothers, and all those who willingly obey
you. It is very pleasant to me to think that my
relations in the flesh will be also my relations,
my friends, in the spirit."
Abgar had not yet received answers to these
letters when he died, having reigned thirty-eight
years.
IX.i
MARTYRDOM OF OUR APOSTLES.
After the death of Abgar, the kingdom of
Armenia was divided between two : Ananoun,
Abgar's son, reigned at Edessa, and his sister's
son, Sanadroug, in Armenia. What took place
in their time has been previously told by others :
the apostle's arrival in Armenia, the conversion
of Sanadroug and his apostasy for fear of the
Armenian satraps, and the martyrdom of the
apostle and his companions in the canton of
Chavarchan, now called Ardaz, and the stone
opening to receive the body of the apostle, and
the removal of this body by his disciples, his
burial in the plain, and the martyrdom of the
king's daughter, Santoukhd, near the road, and
the apparition of the remains of the two saints,
and their removal to the rocks — all circum-
stances related by others, as we have said, a long
time before us : we have not thought it important
to repeat them here. In the same way also what
is related of the martyrdom at Edessa Of Attaeus,
a disciple of the apostle, a martyrdom ordered
by Abgar's son, has been told by others before
us.
The prince who reigned after the death of his
father, did not inherit his father's virtues : he
opened the temples of the idols, and embraced
the religion of the heathen. He sent word to
Attgeus : " Make me a head-dress of cloth inter-
woven with gold, like those you formerly used to
make for my father." He received this answer
from Attfeus : " My hands shall not make a
' Chapter xxxiv.
head-dress for an unworthy prince, who does not
worship Christ the living God."
Immediately the king ordered one of his armed
men to cut off Attajus' feet. The soldier went,
and, seeing the holy man seated in the chair of
the teacher, cut off his legs with his sword, and
immediately the saint gave up the ghost. We
mention this cursorily, as a fact related by others
a long while ago. There came then into Armenia
the Apostle Bartholomew, who suffered martyr-
dom among us in the town of Arepan. As to
Simon, who was sent unto Persia, I cannot relate
with certainty what he did, nor where he suffered
martyrdom. It is said that one Simon, an apostle,
was martyred at Veriospore. Is this true, or
why did the saint come to this place ? I do not
know ; I have only mentioned this circumstance
that you may know I spare no pains to tell you
all that is necessary.
REIGN OF SANADROUG ; MURDER OF ABGAR'S CHIL-
DREN ; THE PRINCESS HELENA.
Sanadroug, being on the throne, raises troops
with the help of the brave Pacradouni and Ard-
zrouni, who had exalted him, and goes to wage
w'ar upon the children of Abgar, to make him-
self master of the whole kingdom. Whilst Sana-
droug was occupied with these affairs, as if by
an effect of divine providence vengeance was
taken for the death of Att?eus ; for a marble
column which the son of Abgar was having
erected at Edessa, on the summit of his palace,
while he was underneath to direct the work,
escaped from the hands of the workmen, fell
upon him and crushed his feet.
Immediately there came a message from the
inhabitants of the town, asking Sanadroug for a
treaty by which he should engage not to disturb
them in the exercise of the Christian religion, in
consideration of which, they would give up the
town and the king's treasures. ■ Sanadroug prom-
ised, but in the end violated his oath. Sana-
droug put all the children of the house of Abgar
to the edge of the sword, with the exception of
the daughters, whom he withdrew from the town
to place them in the canton of Hachdiank. As
to the first of Abgar's wives, named Helena, he
sent her to his town at Kharan, and left to her
the sovereignty of the whole of Mesopotamia, in
remembrance of the benefits he had received
from Abgar by Helena's means.
Helena, pious like her husband Abgar, did
not wish to live in the midst of idolaters ; she
went away to Jerusalem in the time of Claudius,
during the famine which Agabus had predicted ;
with all her treasures she bought in Egypt an
immense quantity of corn, which she distributed
2 Chapter xxxv.
MOSES OF CHORENE.
707
amongst the poor, a fact to which Josephus tes-
tifies. Helena's tomb, a truly remarkable one,
is still to be seen before the gate of Jerusalem.
XI.'
RESTOR.\TION OF THE TOWN OF MEDZPINE ; NAME
OF SANADROUG ; HIS DEATH.
Of all Sanadroug's doings and actions, we
judge none worthy of remembrance except the
building of the town of Medzpine ; for, this
town having been shaken by an earthquake,
Sanadroug pulled it down, rebuilt it more mag-
nificently, and surrounded it with double walls
and ramparts. Sanadroug caused to be erected
in the middle of the town his statue holding in
his hand a single piece of money, which signi-
fies : " All my treasures have been used in build-
ing the town, and no more than this single piece
of money is left to me."
But why was this prince called Sanadroug?
We will tell you : Because Abgar's sister, Otsea,
while travelling in Armenia in the winter, was
assailed by a whirlwind of snow in the Gortouk
mountains ; the tempest separated them all, so
' Chapter xxxvi.
that none of them knew where his companion
had been driven. The prince's nurse, Sanod,
sister of Piourad Pacradouni, wife of Khosran
Ardzrouni, having taken the royal infant, for
Sanadroug was still in the cradle, laid him upon
her bosom, and remained with him under the
snow three days and three nights. Legend has
taken possession of this circumstance : it relates
that an animal, a new species, wonderful, of great
whiteness, sent by the gods, guarded the child.
But so far as we have been informed, this is the
fact : a white dog, which was amongst the men
sent in search, found the child and his nurse ;
the prince was therefore called Sanadroug, a
name taken from his nurse's name (and from
the Armenian name, dourk, a gift), as if to sig-
nify the gift of Sanod.
Sanadroug, having ascended the throne in the
twelfth year of Ardaches, king of the Persians,
and having lived thirty years, died as he was
hunting, from an arrow which pierced his bowels,
as if in punishment of the torments which he had
made his holy daughter suffer. Gheroupna, son
of the scribe Apchatar, collected all these facts,
happening in the time of Abgar and Sanadroug,
and placed them in the archives of Edessa.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
HOMILY ON HABIB THE MARTYR, COMPOSED BY MAR JACOB.'
Habib the martyr, clad in flame, hath called to
me out of the fire.
That for him likewise I should fashion an
image of beauty among the glorious.
Comrade of conquerors, lo ! he beckoneth to me
out of the burning,
That, as for the glory of his Lord, I should
sing concerning him.
In the midst of live coals stands the hei'oic man,
and lo ! he calleth to me.
That I should fashion his image : but the blaz-
ing fire permits me not.
His love is fervid, glowing is his faith ;
His fire also burneth, and who is adequate to
recount his love ?
Nay, by reason of that love which led the mar-
tyr into the fire,
No man is able to recount his beauties divine.
For who shall dare enter and see in the blazing
fire
To whom he is like, and after what pattern he
is to be fashioned among the glorious?
Shall I fashion his image by the side of the
youths, the children of the furnace ?
With Hananiah shall I reckon Habib ? I know
not.
Lo ! these were not burned there : how, then,
is he like?
He, / say, like them, when he was burned,
and the youths not?
Which, I ask, the more beautiful — Habib the
martyr, or Azariah ?
I The MS. from which this is taken is Cod. Add. 17,158, fol. 30
vers. Mar Jacob, bishop of Sarug, or Batnae, was one of the most
learned and celebrated among all the Syriac writers. He was born
A.D. 452, made bishop of Sarug a.d. 519, and died .\.\>. 521. He was
the author of several liturgical works, epistles, and sermons, and,
amongst these, of numerous metrical homilies, of which two are given
here. Assemani enumerates no less than 231. Ephraem Syrus also
wrote a similar homily on Habib, Shamuna, and Guria.
The metre of the original in this and the following homily consists of
twelve sy lables, and six dissyllabic feet ; but whether they were read as
iambs ortroches, or as both, appears to depend on the nature of the
Syriac accentuation, which is still an unsettled question. Hoffmann,
in his slight notice of the subject {Grain. Syr., § 13), merely says:
" Scimus, poesin Syriacam non quantitatis sed accentus tantum
rationem habere, versusque suos syllabariim mi me ro metiri. Qua
taraen poeseos Syriacse conditione I'ar/eitis tuorarum in /ro/iuu-
tiandis vocalibus observandarum non toUitur." — Tr.
708
Difficult for me is the image : how I am to
look upon it, I know not.
Lo ! Michael was not bui-ned by the flame ;
But Habib was burned : which, then, the more
beautiful to him that looketh upon him?
Who shall dare say that this is repulsive, or
that;
Or not so comely this as that, to him that be-
holdeth him?
Three there ai-e in the fire, and the flame cometh
not near them ;
But one was burned : and how shall I suffice
to tell
That the Fourth fo7'77i is that of Him who went
down into the midst of the furnace,
That He might fashion an image for Habib
there along with those of the three ?
He giveth a place in the fire to him who was
burned.
That he may be, instead of Him the Fourth,
by the side of the conquerors.
And, if of the three the beauties be glorious,
though they were not burned.
How shall not this one, who was burned, be
mingled with the glorious?
If a man have the power either to be burned or
not to be burned.
Of this man, who was burned, more exalted
was the beauty than that of the three.
But, inasmuch as the Lord is the control of all
things.
He is to be praised, both where He rescues
and where He delivers up.
Moreover, too, the will of the three who were
not burned,
And of him who was burned, is one and the
same, in this case and in that ; ^
And, had its Lord commanded the fire to burn
them.
Even those three on their part, burned they
would have been ;
2 Lit. " here and there." — Tr.
HOMILY ON HABIB THE MARTYR.
709
And, if He had signified to it that it should not
burn that one man also,
He would not have been burned ; nor had it
been of himself that he was rescued.
To go into the fire was of their own will, when
they went in ;
But that they were not burned — because the
Lord of the fire willed and commanded it.
Therefore one equal beauty is that of him who
was burned.
And that of him who was not burned, because
the will also was equal.
Beloved martyr ! exalted is thy beauty ; exalted
is thy rank :
Graceful too thy crown, and mingled thy story
with that of the glorious.
Choice gold art thou, and the fire hath tried thee,
and resplendent is thy beauty.
And lo ! into the King's crown art thou
wrought, along with the victorious.
Good workman 1 who, in the doctrine of the Son
of God,
Pursueth his course like a valiant ' man, be-
cause of the beauty of his faith.
Habib the martyr was a teacher of that which
is true ;
A preacher also, whose mouth was full of faith.
Watchful was he, and prompt for service ; and
he encouraged with his teaching
The household of the house of God, through
his faith.
Of light was he full, and he wrestled with the
darkness
Which overspread the country from the pagan-
ism which had darkened it.
With the Gospel of the Son was his mouth filled
in the congregations ;
And as it were a leader of the way did he
become to the villages when he arrived
in them.
Zealous he was, because he was concerned for
the doctrine
Divine, that he might establish the adherents ^
of the faith.
At the time when the winds of the pagans blew,
a lamp was he.
And flamed forth whilst they blew upon him,
and went not out.
All on fire was he, and filled with the love of his
Lord, and was concerned
For this — that he might speak of Him without
hindrance. 3
' Cureton has " prosperous," which Dr. Payne Smith condemns,
remarking: " j Hj \ I find generally used for the Gk. opiaTos,
and once or twice for (cpaTiuTo?. It answers more frequently to
stremius = courageous, heroic." — Tr.
^ Lit. " the party " or " side." — Tr.
3 As in Gal. v 7, answering to the Gk. f-y/coTTTto. The verb 'O?
(Pa.) properly means to disquiet (as in John xiv. i), then Xa hin-
der. — Tr.
The thorns of errour sprang up in the land from
paganism ;
And, as much as in him lay, he rooted them
out by his diligence.
He taught, admonished, and confirmed in the
faith.
The friends of Christ,'* who were harassed by
persecutors.
Against sword and against fire did he wrestle.
With love hot as the flame, and was not afraid.
Like a two-edged brand,5 keen was
His faith, and against error did he contend.
Leaven did he prove to be in this land which
had become exhausted ^
Through fondness for the idols of vanity which
error had brought in.
He was like salt by reason of his savoury doctrine
To this region, which had become insipid
through unbelief.
A deacon was he, and filled the place of a high-
priest
By the preaching and teaching of that which
is true.
He was to the flock a good shepherd whilst he
was its overseer ;
And his life laid he down for the flock while
he tended it.
He chased away the wolf, and drove off from it
the beast of prey.
And he repaired the breaches, and gathered
the lambs into their folds.
He went out secretly and encouraged the con-
gregations :
He strengthened them, and exhorted them,
and held them up.
And he forged armour of faith, and put it on
them,
That they might not be ignominiously over-
thrown '' by the paganism which abounded.
The flocks of the fold of the Son of God were
being laid waste
By persecutors : and he encouraged the lambs
and the ewes.
■• The ordinary word for " Christians " in these documents is the
borrowed Xpco-riavoi : here a native word is used, formed from the
one which we read as " Messiah." — Tr.
5 A corruption of the word a o.\x.\\n\!>6. is used here. It is .said by
Josephus, A ntiq.y xx. 2.3, to have been the name given by the Assyr-
ians to some kind of sword. Suidas mentions it as a barbarian word
for (T7ra9r), a broadsword. Cureton's " scimetar" would be prefera-
ble, as being somewhat more distinctive, if it appeared that a scimetar
could have two edges. — Tr.
6 The temptation was strong to render J..J_3 ," became unleav-
ened " (or " tasteless ') , a sense apparently required by the decided
figure employed and by the language of the next couplet, where " in-
sipid "corresponds to "salt." The word jj-fc^^^ ( = "^"^or),
moreover, if not the Arabic <^a^ (to which Schaaf, though it does
not appear on what authority, assigns the meaning " sine /ermento
massam subegit ") , seems to point in the same direction. Dr. Payne
Smith, however, is not aware of any instance of the proposed mean-
ing: he says, " My examples make |-4^3 = exAeirro), to fail." — Tr.
7 Or " brought to contempt." — Tr.
7IO
HOMILY ON HABIB THE MARTYR.
And he was an advocate to the household of
faith ;
And he taught them not to be daunted by
persecutors.
He taught them to run to meet death,
Without being afraid either of sword or of
fire.
In the teaching of the Son of God he prospered,
So that his faith pursued its course without
dread.
Then errour grew envious, became furious, and
was maddened, because of him ;
And she pursued after him, that she might
shed upon the earth innocent blood.
The Defamer, who hates the race of men,
Laid snares for him, that he might rid the
place of his presence.'
He who hateth the truth pursued after him to
put him to death,
That he might make his voice to cease ^ from
the teaching of the house of God.
And errour raised an outcry demanding that Ha-
bib should die, because she hated him ;
Vexation goaded her on, and she sought to
take away his life.
His story was talked about ^ before the pagan
judge of the country,
And the dear fame of him reached the king :
who in great rage.
And because the diadem was interwoven with
paganism, decreed '< death
Against Habib, because he was full of faith.
And, when the command reached the judge, he
armed himself
With rage and fury ; and, with a mind thirst-
ing for blood.
And like hunters who lay nets for the young stag,
After Habib did they go out to catch him.
But this man was a preacher of the faith,
Who in the highway of the crucifixion was
prospering ;
And, that he might benefit by his teaching the
children of his people,
His work embraced the countries round about
him.
So, when error went out after him, she found
him not :
Not that he was fled, but that he had gone
out to preach the Gospel.
Then, because of the fury of the pagans, which
was great beyond all that was meet,
His kindred and his mother did they seize for
his sake.
' Lit. " society." — Tr.
2 Or " that his voice might cease." — Tr.
3 Lit. " mooted." — Tr.
4 Lit. " reached the king in great rage (i.e., so as to cause great
rage, wi being often = ec? denoting result), and, because . . ., he de-
creed."— Dr. Payne Smith.
Blessed art thou, O woman ! mother since thou
art of the martyr.
For wherefore was it that they seized thee and
bound thee, iniquitously?
What do they require of thee, O thou full of
beauty ? What, / ask, have they required
of thee?
Lo ! they require of thee that thou bring the
martyr, that he may be a sacrifice.
Bring, oh bring thy sweet fruit to the place of
the oblation —
The fruit whose smell is fragrant, that it may
be incense to the Godhead.
Fair shoot, thy cluster bring from where it is,
That its wine may be for a libation whose
taste is sweet.
The lamb heard that they were seeking him,
that he might be a sacrifice ;
And he set out and came to the sacrificers
rejoicing.
He heard that others also were being afflicted
for his sake.
And he came that he might bear the suffering
which was his; in the stead of many.
The lot fell on him, to be himself alone a sac-
rifice ;
And the fire that was to offer him up was
looking oviXfor hitn until he came.
Of the many who were bound for his sake
Not one single person was seized to die, but
only he.
He it was that was worthy, and for him was mar-
tyrdom reserved ;
And to snatch the martyr's place no man was
able.
And therefore of his own will did he present
himself
To the judge, that he might be seized, and die
for Jesus' sake.
He heard that they sought him, and he came
that he might be seized, even as they
sought him :
And he went in of himself before the judge,
and dauntless was his look.
He hid not himself, nor did he wish to flee from
the judge :
For with light was he imbued, and from the
darkness he would not flee.
No robber zvas he, no murderer, no thief.
No child of night : but all his course was run
in open day.
Wherefore from his flock should the good shep-
herd flee.
And leave his fold to be devoured by robbers ?
Wherefore should the physician flee, who goeth
forth to heal diseases,
And to cure souls by the blood of the Son of
God?
HOMILY ON HABIB THE MARTYR.
711
A fearless countenance ' did the brave man carry
with him, and a great heart ;
And to meet death he ran, rejoicing, for Jesus'
sake.
He went in, he stood before the judge, saying to
him :
I am Habib, whom ye sought : lo ! here I
stand.
And the pagan trembled, and amazement seized
him, and he marvelled at him —
At the man who was not afraid, either of sword
or of fire.
While he thought that he was fleeing apace, he
entered in and mocked him ;
And the judge shook, for he saw him cour-
ageous in the very face of death.
A disciple he of that Son of God who said :
" Rise, come, let us go : for he that betrayeth
me lo ! is here."
And to the crucifiers, again, He said : " Whom
seek ye?"
They say: "Jesus." And He said to them :
" I am He."
The Son of God of His own will came to the
cross ;
And on Him the martyr looked, and presented
himself imcompejled before the judge.
And the pagan beheld him, and was smitten with
fear, and was exasperated against him.
His rage was excited, and he began in his fury
to put to him questions.^
And, as if he had been one who had shed on the
ground the blood of the slain.
He proceeded to question the saintly man, but
he was not ashamed :
Menacing him, and trying to terrify him, and to
frighten him.
And recounting the sufferings which were be-
ing prepared by him on his account.
But Habib, when questioned, was not afraid.
Was not ashamed, and was not frightened by
the menaces he heard.
Lifting up his voice, he confessed Jesus, the Son
of God —
That he was His servant, and was His priest,
and His minister.^
At the fury of the pagans, roaring at him like
lions,
He trembled not, nor ceased "• from the con-
fession of the Son of God.
' Lit. " openness of countenance." — Tr.
* Prop. " agitate questions." — Tr.
3 Or " deacon." — Tr.
* Or " so as to cease." — Tr.
He was scourged, and the scourgings were very
dear to him.
Seeing that he bore a little of the stripes of
the Son of God.
He was put into bonds, 5 and he looked on his
Lord, whom also they had bound ;
And his heart rejoiced that in the path of His
sufferings he had begun to walk.
He ascended the block,^ and they tore him with
combs, but his soul was radiant with light.
Because he was deemed worthy that on him
should come the agony of the sufferings
of crucifixion.
In the pathway of death had he set his face to
walk.
And what could he desire to find in it but suf-
ferings ?
The fire of sacrifice 7 was betrothed to him, and
for her did he look ;
And she on her part sent him combs, and
stripes, and pains, to taste.
All the while that she was coming, she sent him
sufferings, that by means of them
He might be prepared, so that when she met
him she might not dismay him.
Sufferings purged him, so that, when the blazing
fire should put him to the proof,
There might not be any dross found in his
choice gold.
And he endured the whole of the pains that
came upon him,
That he might have experience of suffering,
and in the burning stand like a brave man.
And 1^ accepted rejoicing the sufferings which
he had to bear :
For he knew that at their termination he
should find death.
And he was not afraid, either of death or of suf-
ferings :
For with that wine of the crucifixion his heart
was drunk.
He despised his body, while it was being dragged
along by the persecutors ;
And his limbs, while they were being torn
asunder in bitter agony.^
Scourges on his back, combs on his sides, stocks
on his feet.
And fire in front of him : still was he brave
and full of faith.
They taunted him : Lo ! thou worshippest a
man ;
But he said : A man I worship not.
But God, who took a body and became man :
5 Lit. " he entered into bondage." — Tr.
6 The equuleus is meant. — Tr.
7 Or " of the sacrifices." — Tr.
8 Lit. " bitterly." — Tr.
712
HOMILY ON HABIB THE MARTYR.
Him do I worship, because He is God with
Him that begat Him.
The faith of Habib, the martyr, was full of light ;
And by it was enlightened Edessa, the faithful
a'fy.
The daughter of Abgar, whom Addseus betrothed
to the crucifixion —
Through it is her light, through it her truth
and her faith.
Her king is from it, her martyrs from it, her
truth from it ;
The teachers also of /ler faith are from it.
Abgar believed that Thou art God, the Son of
God;
And he received a blessing because of the
beauty of his faith.
Sharbil the martyr, son of the Edessceans, more-
ever said :
My heart is led captive by God, who became
man.
And Habib the martyr, who also was crowned at
Edessa,
Confessed these things : that He took a body
and became man ;
That He is the Son of God, and also is God, and
became man.
Edessa learned fr.om teachers the things that
are true :
Her king taught her, her martyrs taught her, the
faith ;
But to others, who were fraudulent teachers,
she would not hearken.
Habib the martyr, in the ear of Edessa, thus
cried aloud
Out of the midst of the fire : A man I wor-
ship not, ^
But God, who took a body and became man —
Him do I worship. T/ms confessed the mar-
tyr with uplifted voice.
From confessors torn with combs, burnt, raised
up on the block, slain,
Kxv^from a righteous king, did Edessa learn
the faith.
And she knows our Lord — that He is even God,
the Son of God ;
She also learned and firmly believed that He
took a body and became man.
Not from common scribes did she learn the
faith :
Her king taught her, her martyrs taught her ;
and she firmly believed them :
And, if she be calumniated as having ever wor-
shipped a man.
She points to her martyrs, who died for Him
as being God.
A man I worship not, said Habib,
Because it is written : " Cursed is he that put-
teth his trust in a man." '
' Jer. xvii. 5. — Tr.
Forasmuch as He is God, I worship Him, yea
submit to be burned
For His sake, nor will I renounce His faith.
This truth has Edessa held fast from her youth,
And in her old age she will not barter it away
as a daughter of the poor.
Her righteous king became to her a scribe, and
from him she learned
Concerning our Lord — that He is the Son of
God, yea God.
Addseus, who brought the bridegroom's ring and
put it on her hand.
Betrothed her thus to the Son of God, who is
the Qv\y-begotten.
Sharbil the priest, who made trial and proof of
all gods,
Died, even as he said, " for God who became
man."
Shamuna and Guria, for the sake of the Only-
be got ten.
Stretched out their necks to receive the stroke,
and for Him died, forasmuch as He is God.
And Habib the martyr, who was teacher of con-
gregations,
Preached of Him, that He took a body and
became man.
For a man the martyr would not have submitted
to be burned in the fire ;
But he was burned " for the sake of God who
became man."
And Edessa is witness that thus he confessed
while he was being burned :
And from the confession of a martyr that has
been burned who is he that can escape ?
All minds does faith reduce to silence and de-
spise —
She that is full of light and stoopeth not to
shadows.
She despiseth him that maligns the Son by deny-
ing that He is God ;
Him too that saith " He took not a body and
became man."
Li faith which was full of truth he stood upon
the fire ;
And he became incense, and propitiated with
his fragrance the Son of God.
In all his afflictions, and in all his tortures, and
in all his sufferings.
Thus did he confess, and thus did he teach
the blessed city.
And this truth did Edessa hold fast touching our
Lord —
Even that He is God, and of Mary became a
man.
And the bride hates him that denies His God-
head,
And despises and contemns him that maligns
His corporeal nature.
And she recognises Him as One in Godhead and
in manhood —
HOMILY ON HABIB THE MARTYR.
713
The Ox^Y -begotten, whose body is inseparable
from Him.
And thus did the daughter of the Parthians learn
to believe,
And thus did she firmly hold, and thus does
she teach him that listens to her.
The judge, therefore, full of zeal for paganism,
commanded
That the martyr should be led forth and burned
in the fire which was reserved for him.
And forthwith a strap was thrust into his mouth,
as though he had been a murderer.
His confession being kept within his heart
towards God.
And they hurried him away, and he went out
from the judgment-hall, rejoicing
That the hour was come when the crown
should be given to his faith.
And there went out with him crowds of people,
that they might bear him company,
Looking upon him, not as a dead man accom-
panied to his burial,
But as a man who was going away that by means
of fire he might become a bridegroom,
And that there might be bestowed the crown
which was by righteousness reserved for
him.
They looked upon him ^s upon a man entering
into battle,
And around him were spears, and lances, and
swords, but he vanquished them.
They beheld him going up like a champion from
the contest.
And in his triumph chaplets were brought to
him by those who beheld.
They looked upon him as he vanquished princi-
palities and powers.
Which all made war with him, and he put
them to shame.
The whole congregation of the followers of Christ
exulted over him.
Because he raised up the friends ' of the faith
by the sufferings which he bore.
There went forth with him the Church, a bride
full of light ;
And her face was beaming on the beloved
martyr who was united to her.
Then did his mother, because it was the marriage-
feast for her son.
Deck herself in garments nobler than her wont.
Since sordid raiment suited not the banquet-hall.
In magnificent attire all white she clad herself
right tastefully.
Hither to the battle came down love to fight
In the mother's soul — the love of nature, and
the love of God.
' Lit. " side," or " party." — Tr.
She looked upon her son as he went forth to be
put into the flame ;
And, forasmuch as there was in her the love
of the Lord, she suffered not.
The yearnings of her mother's womb cried out
on behalf of its fruit ;
But faith silenced them, so that their tumult
ceased.
Nature shrieked over the limb which was severed
from her ;
But the love of the Lord intoxicated the soul,
that she should not perceive it.
Nature loved, but the love of the Lord did con-
quer in the strife
Within the soul of the mother, that she should
not grieve for her beloved.
And instead of suffering, her heart was filled with
all emotions of joy ;
And, instead of mourning, she went forth in
splendid apparel.
And she accompanied him as he went out to be
burned, and was elate.
Because the love of the Lord vanquished that
of nature.
And clad in white, as for a bridegroom, she made
a marriage-feast —
She the mother of the martyr, and was blithe
because of him.
" Shamuna the Second " may we call this blessed
one :
Since, had seven been burned instead of one,
she had been well content.
One she had, and she gave him to be food for
the fire ;
And, even as that one, if she had had seven,
she had given them all.
He was cast into the fire, and the blaze kindled
around him ;
And his mother looked on, and grieved not at
his burning.
Another eye, which gazeth upon the things un-
seen.
Was in her soul, and by reason of this she ex-
ulted when he was being burned.
On the gems of light which are in martyrs'
crowns she looked,
And on the glory which is laid up for them
after their sufferings ;
And on the promised blessings which they inherit
yonder through their afflictions.
And on the Son of God who clothes their
limbs with light ;
And on the manifold beauties of that kingdom
which shall not be dissolved,
And on the ample door which is opened for
them to enter in to God.
On these did the martyr's mother look when he
was being burned,
And she rejoiced, she exalted, and in white
did she go forth with him.
7H
A HOMILY ON GURIA AND SHAMUNA.
She looked upon him while the fire consumed
his frame,
And, forasmuch as his crown was very noble,
she grieved not.
The sweet root was thrown into the fire, upon the
coals ;
And it turned to incense, and cleansed the air
from pollution.
With the fumes of sacrifice had the air been pol-
luted,
And by the burning of this martyr was it
cleansed.
The firmament was fetid with the exhalations
from ' the altars ;
And there rose up the sweet perfume of the
martyr, and it grew sweet thereby.
And the sacrifices ceased, and there was peace
in the assemblies ;
And the sword was blunted, that it should no
more lay waste the friends of Christ.
' Lit. " the sacrifices of." — Tr.
With Sharbil it began, with Habib it ended, in
our land ;
And from that time^ even until now not one
has it slain, since he was burned.
Constantine, chief of conquerors, took the em-
pire,
And the cross has trampled on the diadem of
the emperor, and is set upon his head.
Broken is the lofty horn of idolatry,
And from the burning of the martyr even un-
til now not one has it pierced.
His smoke arose, and it became incense to the
Godhead ;
And by it was the air purged which was tainted
by paganism.
And by his burning was the whole land cleansed :
Blessed be he that gave him a crown, and
glory, and a good name !
Here endeth the Homily on Habib the mar-
tyr, composed by Mar Jacob.
2 Lit. " from him.'
-Tr.
A HOMILY ON GURIA AND SHAMUNA, COMPOSED BY MAR JACOB.
Shamuna and Guria, martyrs who made them-
selves illustrious in their afflictions,
Have in love required of me to tell of their
illustrious deeds.
To champions of the faith the doctrine calleth
me,
That I should go and behold their contests
and their crowns.
Children of the right hand, who have done bat-
tle against the left.
Have called me this day to recite the marvel-
lous tale of their conflicts : —
Simple old men, who entered into the fight like
heroes.
And nobly distinguished themselves in the
strife of blood :
Those who were the salt of our land, and it was
sweetened thereby.
And its savour was restored, which had become
insipid through unbelief:
Candlesticks of gold, which were full of the oil
of the crucifixion.
By which was lighted up all our region, which
had turned to darkness :
Two lamps, of which, when all the winds were
blowing
Of every kind of error, the lights were not
put out :
Good labourers, who from the spring of day la-
boured
In the blessed vineyard of the house of God
right duteously :
Bulwarks of our land, who became to us as it
were a defence
Against all spoilers in all the wars that sur-
rounded us :
Havens of peace, a place also of retreat for all
that were distressed,
And a resting-place for the head of every one
that was in need of succour :
Two precious pearls, which were
An ornament for the bride of my lord Abgar,
the Aramaean's son.
Teachers they were who practised their teaching
in blood,
And whose faith was known by their sufferings.
On their bodies they wrote the story of the Son
of God
With the marks of combs and scourges which
thickly covered them.
They showed their love, not by words of the
mouth alone.
But by tortures and by the rending of their
limbs asunder.
For the love of the Son of God they gave up
their bodies :
A HOMILY ON GURIA AND SHAMUNA.
715
Since it beseemeth the lover that for his love
he should give up himself.
Fire and sword proved their love, how true it was ;
And more beautiful than silver tried in afiif-
nace of earth were their necks.
They looked on God, and, because they saw His
exalted beauties,
Therefore did they look with contempt upon
their sufferings for His sake.
The Sun of righteousness had arisen in their
hearts ;
And they were enlightened by it, and with His
light chased they away the darkness.
At the idols of vanity, which error had brought
in, they laughed,
Instinct with the faith of the Son of God
which is full of light.
The love of the Lord was as a fire in their hearts ;
Nor could all the brambles of idolatry stand
before it.
Fixed was their love on God unchangeably : '
And therefore did they look with scorn upon
the sword,- all athirst as it was for blood.
With guilelessness and yet with wisdom stood
they in the judgment-hall,
As they had been commanded by the Teacher
of that which is true.
Despising as they did kindred and family, guile-
less were they ;
Forasmuch, also, as possessions and wealth
were held in no account by them.
Nor guileless only : for in the judgment-hall with
the wisdom of serpents too
They were heedful of the faith of the house of
God.
When a serpent is seized and struck, he guards
his head.
But gives up and leaves exposed all his body
to his captors :
And, so long as his head is kept/w;;z harm, his
life abideth in him ;
But, if the head be struck, his life is left a
prey to destruction.
The head of the soul is men's faith ;
And, if this be preserved unharmed, by it is
also preserved their life : ^
Even though the whole body be lacerated with
blows.
Yet, so long as faith is preserved, the soul is
alive ;
But, if faith is struck down by unbelief,
Lost is the soul, and life has perished from
the man.
* Or " who changes not." — Tr.
2 2a|ixi//7)pa. — Tr.
3 Or " salvation: " a different word from that used in speaking of
the serpent. — Tr.
Shamuna and Guria of the faith as men •♦
Were heedful, that it '•hould not be struck
down by persecutors :
For they knew that, if faith is preserved.
Both soul and body are preserved from de-
struction.
And, because of this, touching their faith were
they solicitous.
That that should not be struck down in which
•their very life was hidden.
They gave up their bodies both to blows and to
dislocation,5
Yea to every kind of torture, that their faith
should not be stricken down ;
And, even as the serpent also hides his head
from blows,
So hid they their faith within their hearts";
And the body was smitten, and endured stripes,
and bore sufferings :
But overthrown was not their faith which was
within their hearts.
The mouth betrayeth the soul to death when it
speaks.
And with the tongue, as with a sword, work-
eth slaughter.
And from it spring up both life and death to men :
Denying a man dies, confessing he lives, and
the mouth hath power over it.
Denial is death, and in confession is the soul's
life;
And power hath the mouth over them both,
Hke a judge.
The word of the mouth openeth the door for
death to enter in ;
This, too, calleth for life, and it beameth forth
upon the man.
Even the robber by one word of faith
Won him the kingdom, and became heir of
paradise,^ all fraught with blessings.
The wicked judges too, from the martyrs, the
sons of the right hand,
Demanded that by word of mouth only they
should blaspheme ;
But, like true men holding fast the faith,
They uttered not a word by which unbelief
might be served.
Shamuna, beauty of our faith, who is adequate to
tell of thee ?
All too narrow is my mouth for thy praise,
too mean for thee to be spoken of by it.
Thy truth is thy beauty, thy crown thy suffering,
thy wealth thy stripes.
And by reason of thy blows magnificent is the
beauty of thy championship.
* Lit. " as a man." — Tr.
5 Or " rending asunder." — Tr.
^ Lit. " the garden." — Tr.
7i6
A HOMILY ON GURIA AND SHAMUNA.
Proud of thee is our country, as of a treasury
which is full of gold :
Since wealth art thou to us, and a coveted
store which cannot be stolen //'<?/;« tcs.
Guria, martyr, staunch hero of our faith,
Who shall suffice thee, to recount thy beauties
divine ?
Lo ! tortures on thy body are set like gems of
beryl,
And the sword on thy neck like a chain of
choice gold.
Thy blood upon thy form is a robe of glory full
of beauty,
And the scourging of thy back a vesture with
which the sun may not compare.
Radiant thou art and comely by virtue of these
thy sufferings, so abounding ;
And resplendent are thy beauties, because of
the pains which are so severe upon thee.
Shamuna, our riches, richer art thou than the
rich :
For lo ! the rich stand at thy door, that thou
mayest relieve them.
Small thy village, poor thy country : who, then,
gave thee
That lords of villages and cities should court
thy favour?
Lo ! judges in their robes and vestments
Take dust from thy threshold, as though it
were the medicine of life.
The cross is rich, and to its worshippers in-
creaseth riches ;
And its poverty despiseth all the riches of the
world.
Shamuna and Guria, sons of the poor, lo ! at
your doors
Bow down the rich, that they may receive
from you supplies for their wants.
The Son of God in poverty and want
Showed to the world that all its riches are as
nothing.
His disciples, all fishermen, all poor, all weak,
All men of little note, became illustrious
through His faith.
One fisherman, whose "village " too was a home
of fishermen,'
He made chief over the twelve, yea head of
the house.2
One a tentmaker, who aforetime was a persecutor,
He seized upon, and made him a chosen
vessel for the faith.
Shamuna and Guria came from villages that were
not wealthy.
And lo ! in a great city became they lords ;
1 i.e., " Bethsaida." — Tr.
^ Or " steward." — Tr.
And its chief men, its judges also, stand before
their doors,
And they solicit their charity to satisfy their
wants.
From their confession of the faith of the Son of
God
These blessed men acquired riches beyond
compute.
Poor did He Himself become, and the poor
made He rich ;
And lo ! enriched is the whole creation through
His poverty.
The chosen martyrs did battle against error,
And in the confession of the Son of God stood
they firm like valiant men.
They went in and confessed Him before the
judge with look undaunted,^
That He too might confess them, even as
they confessed Him, before His Father.
There arose against them the war of pagans like
a tempest ;
But the cross was their helmsman, and steered
them on.
They were required ta sacrifice to lifeless images,
But they departed not from their confession
of the Son of God.
The wind of idolatry blew in their faces.
But they themselves were as rocks piled up
against the hurricane.
Like a swift whirlwind, error snatched at them ;
But, forasmuch as they were sheltered by the
crucifixion, it hurt them not.
The Evil One set on all his dogs to bark, that
they might bite them ;
But, forasmuch as they had the cross for a
staff, they put them all to flight.
But who is sufficient to tell of their contests,
Or their sufferings, or the rending asunder of
their limbs ?
Or who can paint the picture of their coronation,"*
How they went up from the contest covered
with glory?
To judgment they went in, but of the judge they
took no account ;
Nor were they anxious what they should say
when questioned.
The judge menaced them, and multiplied his
words of threatening ;
And recounted tortures and all kinds of inflic-
tions, that he might terrify them.
He spake great words,5 that by fright and intimi-
dation.
By menaces too, he might incline them to
sacrifice.
3 Lit. " with openness of countenance." — Tr.
< Lit. " portray the image of their crowns." — Tr.
5 Lit. " magnified his words." — Tr.
A HOMILY ON GURIA AND SHAMUNA.
717
Yet the combatants despised the menaces, and
the intimidations,
And the sentence of judgment, and all bodily
deaths ;
And they prepared themselves for insult and
stripes, and for blows,
And for provocation, and to be dragged along,
and to be burnt ;
For imprisonment also, and for bonds, and for
all evil things,
And for all tortures, and for all sufferings, re-
joicing all the wliile.
They were not alarmed nor affrighted, nor dis-
mayed,
Nor did the sharpness of the tortures bend
them to sacrifice.
Their body they despised, and as dung upon the
ground accounted they it :
For they knew that, the more it was beaten,
the more would its beauty increase ;
And, the more the judge increased his menaces
to alarm them.
The more did they show their contempt of
him, having no fear of his threats.
He kept telling them what tortures he had pre-
pared for them ;
And they continued telling him about Gehenna,
which was reserved for him.
By those things which he told them he tried to
frighten them to sacrifice ;
And they spoke to him about the fearful judg-
ment yonder.
Truth is wiser than wise words.
And very hateful, however much it may be
adorned, is falsehood.
Shamuna and Guria went on speaking truth,
While the judge continued to utter falsehood.
And therefore were they not afraid of his threat-
ening,
Because all his menaces against the truth were
accounted by them as empty sound.'
The intercourse of the world they despised, they
contemned and scorned, yea they aban-
doned ;
And to return to it they had no wish, or to
enter it again.
From the place of judgment they set their faces
to depart
To that meeting-place for them all, the life of
the new world.
They cared neither for possessions nor for houses.
Nor for the advantages of this world, so full
of evil.
In the world of light was their heart bound cap-
tive with God,
And to "that" country did they set their face
to depart ;
■ Lit. " as breath." — Tr.
And they looked to the sword, to come and be
a bridge
To let them pass over to God, for whom they
were longing.
This world they accounted as a little tent.
But that yonder as a city full of beauties ;
And they were in haste by the sword to depart
hence
To the land of light, which is full of blessing
for diose who are worthy of it.
The judge commanded to hang them up by their
arms.
And without mercy did they stretch them out
in bitter agony.
A demon's fury breathed rage into the heart of
the judge,
And embittered him against the stedfast ones,
inciting him to crush them ;
And between the height and the depth he stretched
them out to afflict them :
And they were a marvel to both sides, when
they saw how much they endured.
At the old men's frame heaven and earth mar-
velled.
To see how much suffering it bore nor cried
out for help under their affliction.
Hung up and dragged along are their feeble
bodies by their arms.
Yet is there deep silence, nor is there one that
cries out for help or that murmurs.
Amazed were all who beheld their contests.
To see how calmly the outstretched forms bore
the inflictions laid upon tJiem.-
Amazed too was Satan at their spotless frames,
To see what weight of affliction they sustained
without a groan.
Yea, and gladdened too were the angels by that
fortitude of theirs.
To see how patiently it bore that contest so
terrible that was.
But, as combatants who were awaiting their
crowns.
There entered no sense of weariness into their
minds.
Nay, it was the judge that grew weary ; yea, he
• was astonished :
But the noble men before him felt no weariness
in their afflictions.
He asked them whether they would consent to
sacrifice ;
But the mouth was unable to speak from
pain.
Thus did the persecutors increase their inflictions,
Until they gave no place for the word to be
spoken.
2 Lit. " how much the outstretched forms bore in consequence of
the inflictions." — Tr.
7i8
A HOMILY ON GURIA AND SHAMUNA.
Silent was the mouth from the inflictions laid on
their limbs ;
But the will, like that of a hero, was nerved
with fortitude from itself.
Alas for the persecutors ! how destitute were they
of righteousness !
But the children of light — how were they clad
in faith !
They demand speech, when there is no place for
speaking,
Since the word of the mouth was forbidden
them by pain.
Fast bound was the body, and silent the mouth,
and it was unable
To utter the word when unrighteously ques-
tioned.
And what should the martyr do, who had no
power to say,
When he was questioned, that he would not
sacrifice ?
All silent were the old men full of faith,
And from pain they were incapable of speak-
ing.
Yet questioned they were : and in what way, if
a man is silent
When he is questioned, shall he assent to that
which is said?
But the old men, that they might not be thought
to assent.
Expressed clearly by signs the word which it
behoved them to speak.
Their heads they shook, and, instead of speech,
by a dumb sign they showed
The resolve of the new man that was within.
Their heads hung down, signifying amidst their
pains
That they were not going to sacrifice, and
every one understood their meaning.
As long as there was in them place for speech,
with speech did they confess ;
But, when it was forbidden them by pain, they
spake with a dumb sign.
Of faith they spoke both with the voice and
without the voice :
So that, when speaking and also when silent,
they were alike stedfast.
Who but must be amazed at the path of life,
how narrow it is,
And how straight to him that desires to walk
in it?
Who but must marvel to see that, when the will
is watchful and ready.
It is very broad and full of light to him that
goeth therein?
About the path are ditches ; full also is it of
pitfalls ;
And, if one turn but a little aside from it, a
ditch receives him.
That dumb sign only is there between the right
and the left.
And on "Yea" and "Nay" stand' sin and
righteousness.
By a dumb sign only did the blessed men plain-
ly signify that they would not sacrifice,
And in virtue of a single dumb sign did the
path lead them to Eden;
And, if this same dumb sign had inclined and
turned down but a little
Toward the depth, the path of the old men
would have been to Gehenna.
Upwards they made a sign, to signify that up-
wards were they prepared to ascend ;
And in consequence of that sign they ascend-
ed and mingled with the heavenly ones.
Between sign and sign were Paradise and Ge-
henna :
They made a sign that they would not sacri-
fice, and they inherited the place of the
kingdom.
Even while they were silent they were advocates
for the Son of God :
For not in multitude of words doth faith con-
sist.
That fortitude of theirs was a full-voiced con-
fession.
And as though with open mouth declared they
tlieir faith by signs ;
And every one knew what they were saying,
though silent.
And enriched and increased was the faith of
the house of God ;•
And error was put to shame by reason of two
old men, who, though they spake not.
Vanquished it ; and they kept silence, and
their faith stood fast.
And, though tempestuous accents were heard
from the judge.
And the commands of the emperor were
dreadful, yea violent,
And paganism had a bold face and an open
mouth.
And its voice was raised, and silent were the
old men with pain.
Yet null and void became the command and
drowned was the voice of the judge,
And without speech the mute sign of the mar-
tyrs bore off the palm.
Talking and clamour, and the sound of stripes,
on the left ;
And deep silence and suffering standing on
the right ;
And, by one mute sign with which the old men
pointed above their heads,
The head of faith was lifted up, and error was
put to shame.
' Or "depend." — Tr.
A HOMILY ON GURIA AND SHAMUNA.
719
Worsted in the encounter were they who spoke,
and the victory was to the silent :
For, voiceless they uttered by signs the dis-
course of faith.
They took them down, because they had van-
quished while silent ;
And they put them in bonds, threatening yet
to vanquish them.
Bonds and a dungeon void of light were by the
martyrs
Held of no account — yea rather as the light
which has no end.
To be without bread, and without water, and
without light,
Pleased them well, because of the love of the
Son of God,
The judge commanded by their feet to hang
them up
With their heads downwards, by a sentence
all unrighteous :
Hanged up was Shamuna with his head down-
wards ; and he prayed
In prayer pure and strained clear by pain.
Sweet fruit was hanging on the tree in that judg-
ment-hall,
And its taste and smell made the very deni-
zens of heaven to marvel.
Afflicted was his body, but sound was his faith ;
. Bound fast was his person, but unfettered was
his prayer over his deed.
For, prayer nothing whatsoever turneth aside.
And nothing hindereth it — not even sword,
not even fire.
His form was turned upside down, but his prayer
was unrestrained.
And straight was its path on high to the abode
of the angels.
The more the affliction of the chosen martyr
was increased,
The more from his lips was all confession
heard.
The martyrs longed for the whetted sword affec-
tionately,
And sought it as a treasure full of riches.
A new work has the Son of God wrought in the
world —
That dreadful death should be yearned for '
by many.
That men should nm to meet the sword is a
thing unheard of,
Except they were those whom Jesus has en-
listed in His service l)y His crucifixion.
That death is bitter, every one knoweth lo ! from
earliest time :
To martyrs alone is it not bitter to be slain.
' Or " beloved." — Tr.
They laughed at the whetted sword when they
saw it,
And greeted it with smiles : for it was that
which was the occasion of their crowns.
As though it had been something hated, they
left the body to be beaten :
Even though loving it, they held it not back
from pains.
For the sword they waited, and the sword went
forth and crowned them :
Because for it they looked ; and it came to
meet them, even as they desired.
The Son of God slew death by His crucifixion;
And, inasmuch as death is slain, it caused no
suffering to the martyrs.
With a wounded serpent one playeth without
fear;
A slain lion even a coward will drag along :
The great serpent our Lord crushed by His
crucifixion ;
The dread lion did the Son of God slay by His
sufferings.
Death bound He fast, and laid him prostrate and
trampled on him at the gate of Hades ;
And noiu whosoever will draweth near and
mocketh at him, because he is slain.
These old men, Shamuna and Guria, mocked at
death.
As at that lion which bj^the Son of God was
slain.
The great serpent, which slew Adam among the
trees,
Who could seize, so long as he drank not of
the blood of the cross?
The Son of God crushed the dragon by His
crucifixion,
And lo ! boys and old men mock at the
wounded serpent.
Pierced is the lion with the spear which pierced
the side of the Son of God ;
And whosoever will trampleth on him, and
despiseth him, yea mocketh at him.
The Son of God — He is the cause of all good
things.
And Him doth it behove every mouth to cele-
brate.
He did Himself espouse- the bride with the
blood which flowed from His wounds.
And of His wedding-friends He demanded as
a nuptial gift ^ the blood of their necks.
The Lord of the wedding-feast hung on the
cross in nakedness.
And whosoever came to be a guest. He let fall
His blood upon him.
2 Lit. " purchase. " — Tr.
3 jj_4ifl0j, though not in the lexicons, is the same word that
appears in Castel as j-3n tSoo?.
720
A HOMILY ON GURIA AND SHAMUNA.
Shamuna and Guria gave up their bodies for His
sake
To sufferings and tortures and to all the various
forms of woe.'
At Him they looked as He was mocked by
wicked men,
And thus did they themselves endure mockery
without a groan.
Edessa was enriched by your slaughter, O blessed
ones :
For ye adorned her with your crowns and with
your sufferings.
Her beauty are ye, her bulwark ye, her salt
ye,
Her riches and her store, yea her boast and
all her treasure.
Faithful stewards are ye : ^
Since by your sufferings ye did array the bride
in beauty.
The daughter of the Parthians, who was espoused
to the cross,^
■ Of you maketh her boast : since by your teach-
ing lo ! she was enlightened.
Her advocates are ye ; scribes who, though silent,
vanquished
All error, whilst its voice was uplifted high in
unbelief.
Those old men ^ of tj^ daughter of the Hebrews
were sons of Belial, 5
False witnesses, who killed Naboth, feigning
themselves to be true.
1 Lit. " to the forms (<rx'i^«'''a) of all afflictions." — Tr.
2 This seems preferable to Cureton's " Ye are the stewards of
(her) faith." The expression exactly corresponds in form to that in
Luke xvi. 8 (Peshito): "the steward of injustice" = " the unjust
steward."
3 Lit. "crucifixion." — Tr.
4 Or " elders." — Tr.
5 By this name the men referred to (not, however, the elders, but
the two false witnesses suborned by them) are called in i Kings xxi.
lo, 13. The expression in the text is literally " sons of iniquity,"
and is that used by the Peshito. — Tr.
Her did Edessa outdo by her two old men full
of beauty.
Who were witnesses to the Son of God, and
died like Naboth.
Two were there, and two here, old men ;
And these were called witnesses, and witnesses
those.
Let us now see which of them were witnesses
chosen of God,
And which city is beloved by reason of her old
men and of her honourable ones.
Lo ! the sons of Belial who slew Naboth are
witnesses ;
And here Shamuna and Guria, again, are wit-
nesses.
Let us now see which witnesses, and which old
men,
And which city can stand with confidence ^
before God.
Sons of Belial were those witnesses of that adul-
terous woman,
And lo ! their shame is all portrayed in their
names.
Edessa's just and righteous old men, her wit-
nesses.
Were like Naboth, who himself also was slain
for righteousness' sake.
They were not like the two lying sons of Belial,
Nor is Edessa hke Zion, which also crucified
the Lord.
Like herself her old men were false, yea dared
To shed on the ground innocent blood wick-
edly.
But by these witnesses here lo ! the truth is
spoken. —
Blessed be He who gave us the treasure-store
of their crowns !
Here endeth the Homily on Guria and Sha-
muna.
6 Or " have an open countenance." — Tr.
INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
1. The preceding Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents were inserted in vol. 20 of the
Edinburgh series, quite out of place as it seems to me ; and the more so, as other Syriac frag-
ments were to follow.
2. In vol. 22, equally out of place, and mixed up with incongruous material, followed the
very interesting work of Bardesanes, to which I now assign a natural collocation with the Edessene
Memoirs.
3. In vol. 24, with the Liturgies and other mixed material, comes the third Syriac fagot,
another valuable and very interesting contribution severed from its due connections.
The reader of this volume will rejoice to find Mr. Pratten's scattered but most instructive
translations here brought together, and arranged in less confused sequence and relations one with
another. The several announcements prefixed to each have, in like manner, been here gathered
and set in order.
It may be worth while, just here, to direct attention to the latest views of scholarship upon
Syria, its language and its antiquities. A learned critic, who often supplies one of our weekly
newspapers with articles on the Oriental languages worthy of the best reviews, has directed atten-
tion ' to a searching critique of Mommsen's recent addition to his Roman History, of a chapter
which " deals with Bible-lands in New-Testament times." Professor Noldke of Strasburg, a lead-
ing Semitic scholar, in the Zeitschrift of the German Oriental Society, thus takes him to task : —
" Syria enjoyed a higher prosperity under the Romans than Mommsen concedes, and this continued down into
the Christian period. The Hellenization made rapid strides, but not in such a manner that the Greek language
or Greek culture spread to a considerable degree; but rather, in such a way that European arts and manners
of life were established, and that a number of elements of Occidental culture became powerful in the thinking
and language of the educated. Mommsen, according to my conviction, considers the Hellenization of Syria to
have advanced imcch farther than it actually had. That the language of the country had been entirely banished
from the circles of the educated, and that it had assumed the position in reference to the Greek which the Celtic
in full had assumed over against the Latin, is certainly an exaggerated view. The Aramaic was an old developed
language {Cultiirsprache), which was already written before a single letter was seen in Latium. In the days
of the Achaemenidian rulers this was the official language of Egypt, and even of Asia Minor, and was accordijigly
spread far beyond the original territory. Again we find this language in the days of the Roman emperors not
only in Palmyra, but spread also in the whole country of the Nabatheans, and down to almost Medina; here
again beyond its native limits, as the official written language. And that this was not merely a remnant of the
former political supremacy is evident from the fact that the documents of Palmyra and those of the Nabatheans,
in an equal manner, show a younger stage of development of language than that of the Achaemenidian period;
this stage being virtually the same as is seen in the various Jewish literary works of that time,"
As Mommsen is continuing his irreligious elaborations of history, it may be well to bear in
mind his superficial ideas on such subjects, especially when he is reaching the affairs of early
Christianity.
I. Our translator (Mr. Pratten) makes the following announcements : —
" The translation of the Syriac pieces which follow ^ is based on a careful examination of that made by Dr.
Cureton, the merits of which are cordially acknowledged. It will, however, be seen that it differs from that
in many and important particulars
" Many thanks are due to the Dean of Canterbury for his kindness in giving much valuable help."
* New-York Independent, June 24, 1886. * That is, in vol. xxii. of the Edinburgh edition.
721
722 INTRODUCTION.
2. He thus introduces the treatise of Bardesanes : —
"Bardesan, or Bardesanes, according to one account, was born at Edessa in 154 A.D., and it is supposed that
he died sometime between 224 and 230. Eusebius says that he flourished in the time of Marcus Aurelius. He
was for some time resident at the court of Abgar VI., King of Edessa, with whom he was on intimate terms.
He at first belonged to the Gnostic sect of the Valentinians ; but abandoning it, he seemed to come nearer the
orthodox beliefs. In reality, jt is said, he devised errours of his own. He wrote many works. Eusebius
attributes the work now translated, 77^1? Book of Laws, or On Fate, to Bardesanes. Many modern critics have
come to the conclusion that it was written by a scholar of Bardesanes, but that it gives us the genuine opinions
and reasonings of Bardesanes. The question is of interest in connection with the Clementine Recognitions, which
contain a large portion of the work. The Syriac was first published by Cureton in his Spicilegium"
3. In introducing the Mara bar Serapion and the Ambrose,^ he thus refers to his friend
Dr. Payne Smith : —
The text of the two following short pieces^ is found in the Spicilegium Syriacum of the late Dr. Cureton.
This careful scholar speaks of the second of these compositions as containing " some very obscure passages."
The same remark holds good also of the first. Dr. Payne Smith describes them both as "full of difficulties."
So far as these arise from errors in the text, they might have been removed, had I been able to avail myself
of the opportunity kindly offered me by Dr. Rieu, Keeper of the Oriental Mss. at tjie British Museum, of inspect-
ing the original MS. As it is, several have, it is hoped, been successfully met by conjecture.
To Dr. R. Payne Smith, Dean of Canterbury, who, as on two previous occasions, has most kindly and
patiently afforded me his valuable assistance, I beg to offer my very grateful acknowledgments.
B. P. PRATTEN.
' Vol. xxiv., ed. Edinburgh The latter was formerly ascribed to Justin Martyr.
2 The A nibrose and the Serapion.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
BARDESAN.
THE BOOK OF THE LAWS OF DIVERS COUNTRIES.^
Some days since we were calling ^ to pay a
visit to our brother Shemashgram, and Bardesan
came and found us there. And when he had
made inquiries after his health/ and ascertained
that he was well, he asked us, " What were you
talking about? for I heard your voice outside as
I was coming in." For it was his habit, when-
ever he found us talking about anything before
he came,? to ask us, "What were you saying?"
that he might talk with us about it.
"Avida here," said we to him," was saying to
us, ' If God is one, as ye say, and if He is the
creator of men, and if it is His will that you
should do that which you are commanded, why
did He not so create men that they should not
be able to do wrong, but should constantly be
doing that which is right? for in this way His
will would have been accomplished.' "
" Tell me, my son Avida," said Bardesan to
him, " why it has come into thy mind that the
God of all is not One ; or that He is One, but
doth not will that men should behave themselves
justly and uprightly?"
" I, sir," said Avida, " have asked these breth-
ren, persons of my own age, in order that ' they '
may return me an answer."
" If," said Bardesan to him, " thou wishest to
learn, it were for thy advantage to learn from
some one who is older than they ; but if to teach,
it is not requisite for ' thee ' to ask ' them,' but
rather that thou shouldst induce ' them ' to ask
' thee ' what they wish. For teachers are ' asked '
questions, and do not themselves ask them ; or,
if they ever do ask a question, it is to direct
the mind of the questioner, so that he may ask
' Lit. "Son of Daisan," from a river so called near Edessa. —
Hahn. [Elucidation I. " The Laws of Countries" is the title. For
" Various Countries" I have used " Diver s."'\
2 Called by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iv. 30, The Discourse on Fate
("O TTcpi eifiapufVT)? 6iaAo7o?). This is more correct than the title
above given: the" Laws" are adduced only as illustrations of the
argument of the piece. The subject would, however, be more
properly given as " The Freedom of the Will."
3 Lit. " going in." Cureton renders, " we went up."
* Lit. "felt him."
5 Lit. " before him." Merx : " ehe er kam."
properly, and they may know what his desire is.
For it is a good thing that a man should know
how to ask questions."
'■'■ For my part," said Avida, " I wish to learn ;
but I began first of all to question my brethren
here, because I was too bashful to ask thee."
" Thou speakest becomingly," ^ said Bardesan.
" But know, nevertheless, that he who asks ques-
tions properly, and wishes to be convinced, and
approaches the way of truth without contentious-
ness, has no need to be bashful ; because he is
sure by means of the things I have mentioned to
please him to whom his questions are addressed.
If so be, therefore, my son, thou hast any opin-
ion of thy own ? respecting this matter about
which thou hast asked, tell it to us all ; and, if
we too approve of it, we shall express our agree-
ment with thee ; and, if we do not approve of it,
we shall be under obligation to show thee why we
do not approve of it. But if thou wast simply
desirous of becoming acquainted with this sub-
ject, and hast no opinion of thy own about it,
as a man who has but lately joined the disciples
and is a recent inquirer, I will tell thee respect-
ing it; so that thou mayest not go from us empty
away. If, moreover, thou art pleased with those
things which I shall say to thee, we have other
things besides to tell thee ^ concerning this mat-
ter ; but, if thou art not pleased, we on our part
shall have stated our views without any personal
feeling."
" I too," said Avida, " shall be much gratified ^
to hear and to be convinced : because it is not
from another that I have heard of this subject,
but I have spoken of it to my brethren here
out of my own mind ; and they have not cared
to convince me ; but they say, ' Only believe.
5 The word used is formed from the Greek evtrxotiovux;. [Here
observe what is said (in Klucidation L) by Noldke on the Hellenization
theory of Mommsen, with reference to this very work; p. 742, in/ra.\
' Lit. " hast anything in thy mind."
^ Lit. " there are for thee other things also."
9 j.^j is here substituted for the ^i| of the text, which yields
723
724
BARDESAN.
and thou wilt then be able to know ever}thing.' |
But for my part, I cannot believe unless I be ;
comnnced." !
" Not only," said Bardesan, " is Avida unwill- '
ing to believe, but there are many others also
who, because there is no faith in them, are not
even capable of being convinced ; but they are
always pulling down and building up, and so are
found destitute of aU knowledge of the truth. |
But notwithstanding, since Avida is not willing
to beheve, lo ! I will speak to you who do be- ,
lieve, concerning this matter about which he
asks ; and thus he too wtII hear something fur-
ther about it."
He began accordingly to address us as follows :
" Many men are there who have not faith, and
have not received knowledge from the True
Wisdom.' In consequence of this, they are not
competent to speak and give instruction to others,
nor are they readily inclined themselves to hear.
For they have not the foundation of faith to
build upon, nor have they any confidence on
which to rest their hope. Moreover, because
they are accustomed to doubt even concerning
God, they likewise have not in them the fear of
Him, which would of itself deliver them from
all other fears : for he in whom there is no fear
of God is the slave of all sorts of fears. For,
even with regard to those things of various kinds
which they disbelieve, they are not certain that
they disbeUeve them rightly, but they are unset-
tled in their opinions, and have no fixed belief,^
and the taste of their thoughts is insipid in their
own mouth ; and they are always haunted with
fear, and flushed with excitement, and reckless.
" But with regard to what Avida has said :
' How is it that God did not so make us that we
should not sin and incur condemnation?' — if
man had been made so, he would not have be-
longed to himself, but would have been the in-
strument of him that moved him ; and it is
evident also, that he who moves an instrument
as he pleases, moves it either for good or for evil.
And how, in that case, would a man differ from
a harp, on which another plays ; or from a ship,
which another guides : where the praise and the
blame reside in the hand of the performer or
the sieersman,^ and the harp itself knows not
what is played on it, nor the ship itself whether
it be well steered and guided or ill, they being
only instruments made for the use of him in
whom is the requisite skiU? But God in His
benignity chose not so to make man \ but by
freedom He exalted him above many of His
creatures, and even made him equal with the
angels. For look at the sun, and the moon, and
' Lit. " the wisdom of the truth."
2 Lit. " are not able to stand."
3 Or, " in the hand of the operator: " but it is better to employ
two words.
the signs of the zodiac,'' and all the other crea-
tures which are greater than we in some points,
and see how individual freedom has been denied
them, and how they are all fixed in their course
by decree, so that they may do that only which
is decreed for them, and nothing else. For the
sun never says, I will not rise at my appointed
time ; nor the moon, I will not change, nor
wane, nor wax ; nor does any one of the stars
say, I will not rise nor set ; . nor the sea, I will
not bear up the ships, nor stay within my boun-
daries ; nor the mountains. We will not continue
in the places in which we are set ; nor do the
winds say. We will not blow ; nor the earth, I
will not bear up and sustain whatsoever is upon
me. But all these things are ser\ants, and are
subject to one decree : for they are the instru-
ments of the wisdom of God, which erreth not.
" Not so, however, with man : for, if every-
thing ministered, who would be he that is min-
istered to ? And, if everything were ministered
to, who would be he that ministered ? In that
case, too, there would not be one thing diverse
from another : yet that which is one, and in
which there is no diversity of parts, is a being 5
which up to this time has not been fashioned.
But those things which are destined ^ for minis-
tering have been fixed in the power of man :
because in the image of Elohim ^ was he made.
Therefore have these things, in the benignity of
God, been given to him, that they may minister
to him for a season. It has also been given to
him to be guided by his own will ; so that what-
ever he is able to do, if he will he may do it,
and if he do not will he may not do it, and that
so he may justify himself or condemn. For,
had he been made so as not to be able to do
evil and thereby incur condemnation, in like
manner also the good which he did would not
have been his own, and he could not have been
justified by it. For, if any one should not of
his own will do that which is good or that which
is evil, his justification and his condemnation
would rest simply with that Fortune to which he
is subjected.^
I " It will therefore be manifest to you, that the
goodness of God is great toward man, and that
I ■* Or, " and the sphere."
S The word I * <^1 , here used, occurs subsequently as a designa-
tion of the Gnostic .iEons. Here, as Merx observes, it can hardly
go beyond its original meaning oi ens^ entia, IVesen, that -which is.
It e%'idently refers, however, in this passage to a system of things, a
1 world.
i 6 Lit. " required." [It is z. phenomenon to find this early speci-
I men of " anthropology " emanating from the far East, and antici-
; pating the Augustinian controversies on "fixed fate, free-will,
; foreknowledge absolute." Vet the West did not originate the
discussion. See vol. iv. p. 320. See the ethical or metaphysical side of
free-will discussed in Eaton's Bampton Lectures for 1872, p. 79,
ed. Pott, Young, & Co., New York, 1873. On St. Augustine, see
Wordsworth's valuable remarks in his Bampton Lectures for 1881.]
7 Gen. i. 27. The Hebrew itself, DTI^X D^V^, is given in
Syriac characters, without translation.
8 Cureton renders, "for which he is created." Merx has, "das
ihn gemacht hat."
BARDESAN.
725
freedom has been given to him in greater meas- 1
ure than to any of those elemental bodies ' of
which we have spoken, in order that by this free- [
dom he may justify himself, and order his con- !
duct in a godlike manner, and be copartner with
angels, who are likewise possessed of personal
freedom. For we are sure that, if the angels
likewise had not been possessed of personal free- !
dom, they would not have consorted with the
daughters of men, and sinned, and fallen from '
their places. In like manner, too, those other j
angels, who did the will of their Lord, were, by
reason of their self-control, raised to higher rank,
and sanctified, and received noble gifts. For
every being in existence is in need of the Lord
of all ; of His gifts also there is no end.
Know ye, however, notwithstanding what I
have said, that even those things of which I have
spoken as subsisting by decree are not absolutely
destitute of all freedom ; and on this account,
at the last day, they will all be made subject to
judgment."
" But how," said I to him, " should those
things which are fixed and regulated by decree be
judged? "
" Not inasmuch as they are fixed, O Phihp,"
said he, " will the elements be judged, but in-
asmuch as they are endowed with power. For
beings ^ are not deprived of their natural prop-
erties ^ when they come to be fashioned, but only
of the full exercise of their strength,* suffering
a decrease s of poiuer through their intermin-
gling one with another, and being kept in subjec-
tion by the power of their Maker ; and in so far
as they are in subjection they will not be judged,
but in respect of that only which is under their
own co7itroir
"Those things," said Avida to him, "which
thou hast said, are very good ; but, lo 1 the com-
mands which have been given to men are severe,
and they cannot perform them."
"This," said Bardesan, "is the saying of one
who has not the will to do that which is right ;
nay, more, of him who has already yielded obe-
dience and submission to his foe. For men
have not been commanded to do anything but
that which they are able to do. For the com-
mandments set before us are only two, and they
are such as are compatible with freedom and
consistent with equity : one, that we refrain from
everything which is wrong, and which we should
not like to have done to ourselves ; and the
• The Greek (rroixeia.
2 ^A^) , that which exists, especially that which has an independ-
ent existence, is used here of the Gnostic ^Eons. They were so
called in respect of their pre-existence, their existence independent
of time or creation. When they came to be " created," or more prop-
erly " fashioned," they were called " emanations."
3 Lit. " of their nature."
< Lit. " the strength of their exactness," i.e., their exact (or com-
plete) strength. Cureton has, " their force of energy"
* " being lessened," or " lowered."
other, that we should do that which is right, and
which we love and are pleased to have done to us
likewise. Who, then, is the man that is too weak
to avoid stealing, or to avoid l>ing, or to avoid
acts of profligacy, or to avoid hatred and decep-
tion ? For, lo ! all these things are under the con-
trol of the mind of man ; and are not dependent
on^ the strength of the body, but on the will of the
soul. For even if a man be poor, and sick, and
old, and disabled in his limbs, he is able to avoid
doing all these things. And, as he is able to
avoid doing these things, so is he able to love,
and to bless, and to speak the truth, and to
pray for what is good for every one with whom
he is acquainted ; and if he be in health, and
capable of working^ he is able also to give of
that which he has ; moreover, to support with
strength of body him that is sick and enfeebled
— this also he can do.
" Who, then, it is that is not capable of doing
that which men destitute of faith complain of, I
know not. For my part, I think that it is pre-
cisely in respect to these commandments that man
has more power than in anything else. For they
are easy, and there are no circumstances that can
hinder their performance. For we are not com-
manded to can-}' hea\y loads of stones, or of tim-
ber, or of anything else, which those only who
have gi-eat bodily strength can do ; nor to build
fortresses ^ and found cities, which kings only can
do ; nor to steer a ship, which mariners only have
the skill to steer ; nor to measure and divide land,
which land-xutzsMxt-vs, only know how to do ; nor
to practise any one of those arts which are pos-
sessed by some, while the rest are destitute of
them. But there have been given to us, in ac-
I cordance with the benignity of God, command-
i ments having no harshness in them 9 — such as
I any living man whatsoever '° may rejoice to do."
I For there is no man that does not rejoice when
j he does that which is right, nor any one that is
not gladdened within himself if he abstains from
[ things that are bad — except those who were not
I created for this good thing, and are called tares. '^
For would not the judge be unjust who should
' censure a man with regard to any such thing as
he has not the abihty to do? "
"Sayest thou of these deeds, O Bardesan,"
said Avida to him, " that they are easy to do? "
"To him that hath the will," said Bardesan,
" I have said, and do still say, that they are easy.
For this obedience I contend for is the proper be-
haviour of a free mind,'^ and of the soul which has
6 Lit. " do not take place by."
7 Cureton renders, "have the use of his hands:" Merx gives
' etwas erwirbt."
^ Or " towns."
9 Lit. " without ill-will."
1° Lit. " ever>- man in whom there is a soul."
" Lit. " can do rejoicing."
12 The Greek C.iia.v<.a..
'3 Lit. " a mind the son of the free."
726
BARDESAN.
not revolted against its governors. As for the action
of the body, there are many things which hinder
it : especially old age, and sickness, and poverty."
" Possibly," said Avida, " a man may be able to
abstain from the things that are bad ; but as for
doing the things that are good, what man is capa-
ble of this ? "
" It is easier," said Bardesan, " to do good than
to abstain from evil. For the good comes from
the man himself,' and therefore he rejoices when-
ever he does good ; but the evil is the work of
the Enemy, and therefore // is that, only when a
man is excited by some evil passion, and is not in
his sound natural condition,^ he does the things
that are bad. For know, my son, that for a man
to praise and bless his friend is an easy thing ; but
for a man to refrain from taunting and reviling
one whom he hates is not easy : nevertheless, it
is possible. When, too, a man does that which
is right, his mind is gladdened, and his con-
science at ease, and he is pleased for every one
to see what he does. But, when a man behaves
amiss and commits wrong, he is troubled and ex-
cited, and full of anger and rage, and distressed
in his soul and in his body ; and, when he is in
this state ^mind, he does not like to be seen by
any one ; and even those things in which he re-
joices, and which are accompanied with praise
and blessing from others, are spurned from his
thoughts, while those things by which he is agi-
tated and disturbed are rendered tnore distressing
te him because accompanied by the curse of con-
scious guilt.
" Perhaps, however, some one will say that
fools also are pleased when they do abominable
things. Undoubtedly : but not because they do
them as such, nor because they receive any con-
mendation /or them, nor because they do thetn
with a good hope ; ^ nor does the pleasure itself
stay long with them. For the pleasure which is
experienced in a healthy state 0/ the soul, with a
good hope, is one thing; and the pleasure of
a diseased state of the soul, with a bad hope,
is another. For lust is one thing, and love is
another ; and friendship is one thing, and good-
fellowship another ; and we ought without any
difficulty to understand that the false counterfeit
of affection which is called lust, even though
there be in it the enjoyment of the moment, is
nevertheless widely different from true affection,
whose enjoyment is for ever, incorruptible and
indestructible."
" Avida here," said I to him, " has also been
^speaking thus : ' It is from his nature that man
does wrong ; for, were he not naturally formed
to do wrong, he would not do it.' "
^ Lit. " is the man's own."
2 Lit. " is not sound in his nature."
3 Cureton, "for good hope." But \'f£lSI ^^^ is a common
expression for " in hope," as in Rom. viii. 20.
" If all men," said Bardesan, " acted alike,*
and followed one bias,5 it would then be mani-
fest that it was their nature that guided them,
and that they had not that freedom of which I
have been speaking to you. That you may un-
derstand, however, what is nature and what is
freedom, I will proceed to inform you.
"The nature of man is, that he should be
bom, and grow up, and rise to his full stature,
and produce children, and grow old, eating and
drinking, and sleeping and waking, and that then
he should die. These things, because they are
of nature, belong to all men ; and not to all
men only, but also to all animals whatsoever,^
and some of them also to trees. For this is
the work of physical nature, ^ which makes and
produces and regulates everything just as it has
been commanded. Nature, I say, is found to
be maintained among animals also in their ac-
tions. For the lion eats flesh, in accordance
with his nature ; and. therefore all lions are
eaters of flesh. The sheep eats grass ; and
therefore all sheep are eaters of grass. The
bee makes honey, by which it is sustained ;
therefore all bees are makers of honey. The
ant collects for herself a store in summer, from
which to sustain herself in winter ; and therefore
do all ants act likewise. The scorpion strikes
with its sting him who has not hurt it ; and thus
do all scorpions strike. Thus all animals pre-
serve their nature : the eaters of flesh do not
eat herbage ; nor do the eaters of herbage eat
flesh.
" Men, on the contrary, are not governed
thus ; but, whilst in the matters pertaining to
their bodies they preserve their nature like ani-
mals, in the matters pertaining to their minds
they do that which they choose, as those who
are free,^ and endowed with power, and as made
in the likeness of God. For there are some of
them that eat flesh, and do not touch bread ; and
there are some of them that make a distinction
between the several kinds of flesh-food; and
there are some of them that do not eat the
flesh of any animal whatever.^ There are some
of them that become the husbands of their moth-
ers, and of their sisters, and of their daughters ;
and there are some who do not consort with
women at all. There are those who take it
upon themselves to inflict vengeance, like lions
and leopards ; and there are those who strike
him that has not done them any wrong, like
scorpions ; and there are those that are led like
sheep, and do not harm their conductors. There
are some that behave themselves with kindness,
* Lit. " did one deed."
5 Lit. " used one mind."
* Lit. " in whom there is a soul."
8 Lit. " as children of the free."
9 Lit. " in which there is a soul."
BARDESAN.
727
and some with justice, and some with wicked-
ness.
" If any one should say that each one of them
has a nature so to do, let him be assured ' that
it is not so. For there are those who once were
profligates and drunkards ; and, when the ad-
monition of good counsels reached them, they
became pure . and sober,^ and spurned their
bodily appetites. And there are those who
once behaved with purity and sobriety ; and
when they turned away from right admonition,
and dared to set themselves against the com-
mands of Deity and of their teachers, they fell
from the way of truth, and became profligates
and revellers. And there are those who after
their fall repented again, and fear came and
abode upon them, and they turned themselves
afresh towards the truth which they had before
held.3
" What, therefore, is the nature of man ? For,
lo ! all men differ one from another in their con-
duct and in their aims,"* and such only as are of 5
one mind and of one purpose resemble one an-
other. But those men who, up to the present
moment, have been enticed by their appetites
and governed by their anger, are resolved to as-
cribe any wrong they do to their Maker, that
they themselves may be found faultless, and that
He who made them may, in the idle talk of ineft,^
bear the blame. They do not consider that na-
ture is amenable to no law. For a man is not
found fault with for being tall or short in his
stature, or white or black, or because his eyes
are large or small, or for any bodily defect what-
soever; but he is found fault with if he steal,
or lie, or practise deceit, or poison another, or
be abusive, or do any other such-like things.
" From hence, lo ! it will be evident, that for
those things which are not in our own hands, but
which we have from nature, we are in no wise
condemned, nor are we in any wise justified ; but
by those things which we do in the exercise of
our personal freedom, if they be right we are
justified and entitled to praise, and if they be
wrong we are condemned and subjected to
blame."
Again we questioned him, and said to him :
"There are others who say that men are gov-
erned by the decree of Fate, so as to act at one
time wickedly, and at another time well."
" I too am aware, O Philip and Baryama,"
said he to us, " that there are such men : those
who are called Chaldeans, and also others who
are fond of this subtle knowledge,^ as I myself
* Lit. " let him see."
^ Lit. " patient," i.e., tolerant of the craving which seeks gratifi-
cation
3 Lit. " in which they had stood."
* Or " volitions."
5 Lit. " have stood in."
'' So Merx, " in either Rede." Cureton, " by a vain plea."
' Lit. " this knowledge of art (or skilly."
also once was. For it has been said by me in
another place,^ that the soul of man longs 9 to
know that which the many are ignorant of, and
those men make it their aim to do this ; '° and
that all the wrong which men commit, and all
that they do aright, and all those things which
happen to them, as regards riches and poverty,
and sickness and health, and blemishes of the
body, come to them through the governance of
those stars which are called the Seven;" and
that they are, in fact, governed by them. But
there are others who affirm the opposite of these
things, — how that this art is a lying invention
of the astrologers ; '^ or that Fate has no exist-
ence whatever, but is an empty name ; that, on
the contrary, all things, great and small, are
placed in the hands of man ; and that bodily
blemishes and faults simply befall and happen
to him by chance. But others, again, say that
whatsoever a man does he does of his own will,
in the exercise of the freedom which has been
given to him, and that the faults and blemishes
and other untoward things which befall him he
receives as punishment from God.
" For myself, however according to my weak
judgment,'^ the matter appears to stand thtis :
that these three opinions '■♦ are partly to be ac-
cepted as true, and partly to be rejected as false ;
— accepted as true, because men speak after the
appearances which they see, and also because
these men see how things come upon them as if
accidentally ; to be set aside as fallacious, because
the wisdom of God is too profound '5 for them
— that wisdom which founded the world, and
created man, and ordained Governors, and gave
to all things the degree of pre-eminence which is
suited to every one of them. What I mean is,
that this power is possessed by God, and the An-
gels, and the Potentates,'^ and the GoveEnors,'7
and the Elements, and men, and animals-; but
that this power has not been given to all these
orders of beings of which I have spoken in re-
spect to everything (for He that has power over
everything is One) ; but over some things they
have power, and over some things they have not
power, as I have been saying : in order that in
those things over which they have power the
8 To what other work of his he refers is not known.
9 Cureton, " is capable." Dr. Payne Smith ( Thes. Syr., s. v.)
says, referring to ■ /•>V'^ as used in this passage: " e^et, citpit, sig-
nificare videtur."
'° So Dr. Payne Smith. Merx renders, " Even that which men
desire to do." Cureton has, " and the same men meditate to do."
" Lit. " the sevenths."
'- Lit. " Chalda;ans."
'^ Lit. " my weakness."
'■t Or 'sects" (atpeo'eis).
'S Lit. " rich."
'* T 1 > >V A ■ Shlitane. [Of Angels, see vol. i. p.269.]
'^ \ ^i'l'^i'V'i MedabhrSne. Merx, p. 74, referring to the
Peshito of Gen. i. 16, thinks that by the Potentates are meant the sun
and moon, and by the Governors the five planets.
728
BARDESAN.
goodness of God may be seen, and in those over
which they have no power they may know that
they have a Superior.
" There is, then, stuh a thing as Fate, as the
astrologers say. That everything, moreover, is
not under the control of our will, is apparent
from this — that the majority of men have had
the will to be rich, and to exercise dominion over
their fellows, and to be healthy in their bodies,
and to have things in subjection to them as they
please ; but that wealth is not found except with
a few, nor dominion except with one here and
another there, nor health of body with all men ;
and that even those who are rich do not have
complete possession of their riches, nor do those
who are in power have things in subjection to
them as they wish, but that sometimes things are
disobedient to them as they do not wish; and
that at one time the rich are rich as they desire,
and at another time they become poor as they
do not desire ; and that those who are thoroughly
poor have dwellings such as they do not wish,
and pass their lives in the world as they do not
like, and covet many things which only flee from
them. Many have children, and do not. rear
them ; others rear them, and do not retain pos-
session of them ; others retain possession of
them, and they become a disgrace and a sorrow
to their parents. Some are rich, as they wish,
and are afflicted with ill-health, as they do not
wish ; others are blessed with good health, as
they wish, and afflicted with poverty, as they do
not wish. There are those who have in abun-
dance the things they wish for, and but few of
those things for which they do not wish; and
there are others who have in abundance the
things they do not wish for, and but few of those
for which they do wish.'
" And so the matter is found to stand thus :
that wealth, and honours, and health, and sick-
ness, and children, and all the other various
objects of desire, are placed under the control
of Fate, and are not in our own power ; but that,
on the contrary, while we are pleased and de-
hghted with such things as are in accordance
with our wishes, towards such as we do not wish
for we are drawn by force ; and, from those
things which happen to us when we are not
pleased, it is evident that those things also with
which we are pleased do not happen to us be-
cause we desire them ; but that things happen
as they do happen, and with some of them we
are pleased, and with others not.
" And thus we men are found to be governed
by Nature all alike, and by Fate variously, and
by our freedom each as he chooses.
" But let us now proceed to show with respect
to Fate that it has not power over everything.
Clearly not : because that which is called Fate
is itself nothing more than a certain order of
procession,^ which has been given to the Poten-
tates and Elements by God ; and, in conformity
with this said procession and order, intelligences ^
undergo change when they descend ■* to be with
the soul, and souls undergo change when they
descend-* to he with bodies; and this order,
under the name of Fate and 7eVecrt?,5 is the agent
of the changes ^ that take place in this assem-
blage of parts of which man consists,'' which is
being sifted and purified for the benefit of what-
soever by the grace of God and by goodness has
been benefited, and is being and will continue
to be benefited until the close of all things.
"The body, then, is governed by Nature, the
soul also sharing in jts experiences and sensa-
tions ; and the body is neither hindered nor
helped by Fate in the several acts it performs.
For a man does not become a father before the
age of fifteen, nor does a woman become a
mother before the age of thirteen. In like man-
ner, too, there is a law for old age : for women
then become incapable of bearing, and men
cease to possess the natural power of begetting
children ; while other animals, which are like-
wise governed by their nature, do, eveti before
those ages I have mentioned, not only produce
offspring, but also become too old to do so, just
as the bodies of men also, when they are grown
old, cease to propagate : nor is Fate able to give
them offspring at a time when the body has not
the natural power to give them. Neither, again,
is Fate able to preserve the body of man in life
without meat and drink ; nor yet, even when it
has meat and drink, to grant it exemption from
death : for these and many other things belong
exclusively to Nature.^
" But, when the times and methods of Nature
' [The Book of Job and the Book of Ecclesiastes, with the elo-
quent and pathetic remonstrance (chap. iii. 18-22) " concerning
the estate of the sons of men," are proofs that God foresaw the
struggles of faith against the apparently unequal ways and rulings
of Providence. For popular answers see Parnell's Hermit, and
Addison, Spectator, No. 237. But a valuable comment may be
found in Wordswortfi's Bampton Lectures (for 1881) oh the one Re-
li^on, p. 5, Oxford, Parker, 1881.]
" Merx renders |^ «*; v^ by " emanation," quoting two passages
from Eph. Syr. where the root ]ii is used of the issuing of water
from a fountain. Dr. Payne Smith says: " The word seems to mean
no more than cursus: cf. Euseb., Theoph.,\. 31. 5, 55. i, 83. 22,
where it is used of the stars; and i. 74. 13, where it means the course
of nature."
3 Read l^r^ for Ukr^*'
* Lit. " in their descents."
5 Or " nativity," " natal hour " (1 f^a-o ^.*-S = place of birth,
" Geburtshaus: " Merx).
6 Lit. "this agent of change." Cureton, "this alternation."
" Das diese Veranderung bewirkende Agens " is the rendering of
Merx. , ^ .
7 Dr. Payne Smith thinks the reference to be to the Gnostic
voC?, il/vx"), and o-i/io, which seem to be spoken of just before. This
difficult passage is rendered by Cureton: '• And this alternation itself
is called the Fortune, and the Nativity of this assemblage, which is
being sifted and purified for the assistance of that which," etc. Merx
has, "... zur Unterstiitzung des Dinges, welches . . . unterstiiut
worden ist und iinterstiitzt bleibt bis zur Vernichtung des Weltalls."
8 Lit. " are Nature's own."
BARDESAN.
729
have had their full scope, then does Fate come
and make its appearance among them, and pro-
duce effects of various kinds : at one time help-
ing Nature and augmenting its power, and at
another crippling and baffling it. Thus, from
Nature comes the growth and perfecting of the
body ; but apart from Nature, that is by Fate,
come diseases and blemishes in the body. From
Nature comes the union of male and female,
and the unalloyed happiness of them both ; but
from Fate comes hatred and the dissolution of
the union, and, moreover, all that impurity and
lasciviousness which by reason of the 7iatiiral
propensity to intercourse men practise in their
lust. From Nature comes birth and children ;
and from Fate, that sometimes the children are
deformed, and sometimes are cast away, and
sometimes die before their time. From Nature
comes a supply of nourisJwient sufficient for the
bodies of all creatures ; ' and from Fate comes
the want of sustenance, and consequent suffering
in those bodies ; and so, again, from the same
Fate comes gluttony and unnecessary luxury.
Nature ordains that the aged shall be judges for
the young, and the wise for the foolish, and that
the strong shall be set over ^ the weak, and the
brave over the timid ; but Fate brings it to pass
that striplings are set over the aged, and the
foolish over the wise, and that in time of war
the weak command , the strong, and the timid
the brave.
" You must distinctly understand ^ that, in all
cases in which Nature is disturbed from its direct
course, its disturbance comes by reason of Fate ;
and this happens because the Chiefs ■♦ and Gov-
ernors, with whom rests that agency of change 5
which is called Nativity, are opposed to one
another. Some of them, which are called Dex-
ter, are those which help Nature, and add to its
predominance,^ whenever the procession is fa-
vourable to them, and they stand in those regions
of the zodiac which are in the ascendant, in their
own portions. 7 Those, on the contrary, which
are called Sinister are evil, and whenever they in
their turn are in possession of the ascendant
they act in opposition to Nature ; and not on
men only do they inflict harm, but at times on
animals also, and trees, and fruits, and the prod-
uce of the year, and fountains of water, and, in
short, on everything that is comprised within
Nature, which is under their government.
" And in consequence of this, — namely, the
divisions and parties which exist among the Po-
tentates,— some men have thought that the world
' Lit. " a sufficiency in measure for all bodies."
2 Lit. " be head.s to."
3 Lit. " know ye distinctly."
* Or " heads."
_ 5 Lit. " agent of change," as above. Merx; " das Veranderungs-
princip."
' Lit. " excellence."
' i.e., zones of the earth. See p. 732, note 2, infra.
is governed by these contending powers without
any superintendence from above. But that is
because they do not understand that this very
thing — / mean the parties and divisions subsist-
ing among them, — and the justification and con-
demnation consequent on their behaviour, belong
to that constitution of things founded in freedom
which has been given by God, to the end that
these agents likewise, by reason of their self-
determining power,^ may be either justified or
condemned. Just as we see that Fate crushes
Nature, so can we also see the freedom of
man defeating and crushing Fate itself, — not,
however, in everything, — just as also Fate itself
does not in everything defeat Nature. For it is
proper that the three things. Nature, and Fate,
and Freedom, should be continued in existence
until the procession of which I before spoke be
completed, and the appointed measure and num-
ber of its evolutions be accomplished, even as it
seemed good to Him who ordains of what kind
shall be the mode of life and the end of all crea-
tures, and the condition of all beings and na-
tures."
" I am convinced," said Avida, " by the argu-
ments thou hast brought forward, that it is not
from his nature that a man does wrong, and also
that all men are not governed alike. If thou
canst further prove also that it is not from Fate
and Destiny that those who do wrong so act, then
will it be incumbent on us to believe that man
possesses personal freedom, and by his nature
has the power both to follow that which is right
and to avoid that which is wrong, and will
therefore also justly be judged at the last
day."
" Art thou," said Bardesan, " by the fact that
all men are not governed alike, convinced that
it is not from their nature that they do wrong?
Why, then, thou canst not possibly escape the
conviction 9 that neither also from Fate exclu-
sively do they do wrong, if we are able to show
thee that the sentence of the Fates and Poten-
tates does not influence all men alike, but that
we have freedom in our own selves, so that we
can avoid serving physical nature and being in-
fluenced by the control of the Potentates."
" Prove me this," said Avida, " and I will be
convinced by thee, and whatsover thou shalt en-
join upon me I will do."
" Hast thou," said Bardesan, " read the books
of the astrologers '° who are in Babylon, in which
is described what effects the stars have in their
various combinations at the Nativities of men ;
and the books of the Egyptians, in which are
described all the various characters which men
happen to have?"
' Or, " power as to themselves."
9 Lit. " the matter compels thee to be convinced."
'° Lit. " Chaldaeans."
730
BARDESAN.
"I have read books of astrology," ' said Avida,
" but I do not know which are those of the Baby-
lonians and which those of the Egyptians."
"The teaching of both countries," said Bar-
desan, " is the same."
" It is well known to be so," said Avida.
" Listen, then," said Bardesan, " and observe,
that that which the stars decree by their Fate
and their portions is not practised by all men
alike who are in all parts of the earth. For
men have made laws for the7nselves in various
countries, in the exercise of that freedom which
was given them by God : forasmuch as this gift
is in its very nature opposed to that Fate ema-
nating from the Potentates, who assume to them-
selves that which was not given them. I will
begin my enumeration of these laws, so far as I
can remember them, from the East, the begin-
ning of the whole world : —
'■'■Laws of the Seres. — The Seres have laws
forbidding to kill, or to commit impurity, or to
worship idols ; and in the whole of Serica there
are no idols, and no harlots, nor any one that
kills a man, nor any that is killed : although they,
like other men, are born at all hours and on all
days. Thus the fierce Mars, whensoever he is
' posited ' in the zenith, does not overpower the
freedom of the Seres, and compel a man to shed
the blood of his fellow with an iron weapon ;
nor does Venus, when posited with Mars, com-
pel any man whatever among the Seres to con-
sort with his neighbour's wife, or with any other
woman. Rich and poor, however, ^nd sick peo-
ple and healthy, and rulers and subjects, are
there : because such matters are given into the
power of the Governors.
^'^ Laws of the Brahmanswho are in Ifidia. —
Again, among the Hindoos, the Brahmans, of
whom there are many thousands and tens of
thousands, have a law forbidding to kill at all, or
to pay reverence to idols, or to commit impurity,
or to eat flesh, or to drink wine ; and among
these people not one of these things ever takes
place. Thousands of years, too, have elapsed,
during which these men, lo ! have been gov-
erned by this law which they made for them-
selves.
" Another Law which is in Lndia. — There is
also another law in India, and in the same zone, ^
prevailing among those who are not of the caste ^
of the Brahmans, and do not embrace their
teaching, bidding them serve idols, and commit
impurity, and kill, and do other bad things,
which by the Brahmans are disapproved. In
the same zone of India, too, there are men who
are in the habit of eating the flesh of men, just
* Lit. " Chaldaism."
* The Greek (cAi/tia, denoting one of the seven belts (see p. 732,
below) into which the earth's latitude was said to be divided. The
Arabs also borrowed the word.
3 Or " family."
as all other nations eat the flesh of animals.
Thus the evil stars have not compelled the Brah-
mans to do evil and impure things ; nor have
the good stars prevailed on the rest of the Hin-
doos to abstain from doing evil things ; nor have
those stars which are well ' located ' in the re-
gions which properly belong to them,-* and in
the signs of the zodiac favourable to a humane
disposition, 5 prevailed on those who eat the flesh
of men to abstain from using this foul and abom-
inable food.
" Laws of the Persians. — The Persians, again,
have made themselves laws permitting them to
take as wives their sisters, and their daughters,
and their daughters' daughters ; and there are
some who go yet further, and take even their
mothers. Some of these said Persians are scat-
tered abroad, away from their country, and are
found in Media, and in the country of the Par-
thians,^ and in Egypt, and in Phrygia (they are
called Magi) ; and in all the countries and zones
in which they are found, they are governed by
this law which was made for their fathers, yet
we cannot say that for all the Magi, and for the
rest of the Persians,- Venus was posited with the
Moon and with Saturn in the house of Saturn
in her portions, while the aspect of Mars was
toward them.^ There are many places, too, in
the kingdom of the Parthians, where men kill
their wives, and their brothers, and their children,
and incur no penalty ; while among the Romans
and the Greeks, he that kills one of these incurs
capital punishment, the severest of penalties.
'■'Laws of the Geli. — Among the Geli the
women sow and reap, and build, and perform all
the tasks of labourers, and wear no raiment of
colours, and put on no shoes, and use no pleas-
ant ointments ; nor does any one find fault with
them when they consort with strangers, or cul-
tivate intimacies with their household slaves.
But the husbands of these Gelas are dressed in
garments of colours, and ornamented with gold
and jewels, and anoint themselves with pleasant
ointments. Nor is it on account of any effemi-
nacy on their part that they act in this manner,
but on account of the law which has been made
for them : in fact, all the men are fond of hunt-
ing and addicted to war. But we cannot say
that for all the women of the Geli Venus was
posited in Capricorn or in Aquarius, in a posi-
tion of ill luck ; nor can we possibly say that for
all the Geli Mars and Venus were posited in
* That is, their own " houses," as below. Each house had one of
the heavenly bodies as its " lord," who was stronger, or better " lo-
cated" in his own house than in any other. Also, of two planets
equally strong in other respects, that which was in the strongest house
was the stronger. The strength of the houses was determined by the
order in which they rose, the strongest being that about to rise, which
was called the ascendant.
5 Lit. " the signs of humanity."
6 The text adds o2.'fSi£iO.
7 Lit. " while Mars was witness to them."
BARDESAN.
731
Aries, where it is written that brave and wanton '
men are born.
" Laws of the Bactrians. — Among the Bac-
trians, who are called Cashani, the women adorn
themselves with the goodly raiment of men, and
with much gold, and with costly jewels ; and
the slaves and handmaids minister to them more
than to their husbands ; and they ride on horses
decked out with trappings of gold and with
precious stones.- These women, moreover, do
not practise continency, but have intimacies with
their slaves, and with strangers who go to that
country ; and their husbands do not find fault
with them, nor have the women themselves any
fear of punishment, because the Cashani look
upon ^ their wives only as mistresses. Yet we
cannot say that for all the Bactrian women
Venus and Mars and Jupiter are posited in the
house of Mars in the middle of the heavens,'' the
place where women are born that are rich and
adulterous, and that make their husbands sub-
servient to them in everything.
" Laws of the Racami, and of the Edessceans,
and of the Arabians. — Among the Racami, and
the Edessseans, and the Arabians, not only is she
that commits adultery put to death, but she also
upon whom rests the suspicion 5 of adultery
suffers capital punishment.
" Laws in Hatra. — There is a law in force ^
in Hatra, that whosoever steals any Httle thing,
even though it were worthless as water, shall be
stoned. Among the Cashani, on the contrary, if
any one commits such a theft as this, they merely
spit in his face. Among the Romans, too, he
that commits a small theft is scourged and sent
about his business. On the other side of the
Euphrates, and as you go eastward, he that is
stigmatized as either a thief or a murderer does
not much resent it ; ^ but, if a man be stigma-
tized as an arsenocoete, he will avenge himself
even to the extent of killing his accuser.
' The difficult word j i^olV/^ is not found in the lexicons. Dr.
. Payne Smith remarks that it could only come from ■ ""^ , which
verb, however, throws away its J, so that the form would be (.asiiO.
He suggests, doubtfully, that the right reading is | ^olVr, from
. ^ o1. which is used occasionally for appetite, and forms such an
adjective in the sense of animosus, aniind prceditus ; and that if
so, it may, like ) > ^ ^ q1 in Jude 19 and i Cor. xv. 44, 46, be =
i^uXtKot, having- an animal nature, sensual. Eusebius and
Csesarius have (jtso.to.\o\i%, a word of similar force.
2 Cureton's rendering, " and some adorn themselves," etc., is not
so good, as being a repetition of what has already been said. It is
also doubtful whether the words can be so construed. The Greek of
Eusebius gives the sense as in the text: Ko<j\i.ov<ja.i. no\\<Z xpvaif Kai
Xiflois PapuTi'(nois Toiis i'n-Trous. If (A ."'Vj horses, be masc, or
masc. only, as Pjernstein gives it, the participle should be altered to
the same gender. Rut Dr. Payne Smith remarks that Amira in his
Grammar makes it fem. Possibly the word takes both genders; pos-
sibly, too, the women of Bactria rode on mares.
3 Lit. " possess."
■* The zenith.
5 Lit. " name," or " report."
6 Lit. " made."
' Lit. " is not very angry."
" Laws. ... — Among ^ . . . boys ... to
us, and are not . . . Again, in all the region of
the East, if any persons are thus stigmatized,
and are known to be guilty, their own fathers and
brothers put them to death ; and very often ^
they do not even make known the graves where
they are buried.
" Such are the laws of the people of the East.
But in the North, and in the country of the
Gauls '° and their neighbours, such youths among
them as are handsome the men take as wives,
and they even have feasts 07i the occasion ; and
it is not considered by them as a disgrace, nor
as a reproach, because of the law which pre-
vails among them. But it is a thing impossible
that all those in Gaul who are branded with this
disgrace should at their Nativities have had Mer-
cury posited with Venus in the house of Saturn,
and within the limits of Mars, and in the signs
of the zodiac to the west. For, concerning such
men as are born under these conditions, it is
written that they are branded with infamy, as
being like women.
" Laws of the Britons. — Among the Britons
many men take one a7id the same wife.
'■''Laws of the Parthians. — Among the Par-
thians, on the other hand, one man takes many
wives, and all of them keep to him only, be-
cause of the law which has been made there in
that country.
" Laws of the Amazons. — As regards the
Amazons, they, all of them, the entire nation,
have no husbands ; but like animals, once a year,
in the spring-time, they issue forth from their
territories and cross the river ; and, having
crossed it, they hold a great festival on a moun-
tain, and the men from those parts come and
stay with them fourteen days, and associate with
them, and they become pregnant by them, and
pass over again to their own country ; and, when
they are delivered, such of the children as are
males they cast away, and the females they bring
up. Now it is evident that, according to the
ordinance of Nature, since they all became
pregnant in one month, they also in one month
are all delivered, a litrie sooner or a little later ;
and, as we have heard, all of them are robust
and warlike ; but not one of the stars is able
to help any of those males who are born so as to
prevent their being cast away.
" The Book of the Astrologers. — It is written
in the book of the astrologers, that, when Mer-
cury is posited with Venus in the house of
Mercury, he produces painters, sculptors, and
bankers ; but that, when they are in the house
of Venus, they produce perfumers, and dancers,
* Eusebius has, Hop' 'EAA>)<ri tk koX, ot (70<^oi epcu/xeVous ixov-
9 Lit. " how many times."
'° The text of Eusebms and the Recognitions is followed, which
agrees better with the context. The Syriac reads " Germans."
732
BARDESAN.
and singers, and poets. And yet, in all the
country of the Tayites and of the Saracens, and
in Upper Libya and among the Mauritanians,
and in the country of the Nomades, which is at
the mouth of the Ocean, and in outer Germany,
and in Upper Sarmatia, and in Spain, and in all
the countries to the north of Pontus, and in
all the country of the Alanians, and among the
Albanians, and among the Zazi, and in Brusa,
which is beyond the Douro, one sees neither
sculptors, nor painters, nor perfumers, nor bank-
ers, nor poets ; but, on the co7itrary, this decree
of Mercury and Venus is prevented from influ-
encing the entire circumference of the world.
In the whole of Media, all men when they die,
and even while life is still remaining in them, are
cast to the dogs, and the dogs eat the dead of
the whole of Media. Yet we cannot say that
all the Medians are born having the Moon pos-
ited with Mars in Cancer in the day-time be-
neath the earth : for it is written that those
whom dogs eat are so born. The Hindoos,
when they die, are all of them burnt with fire,
and many of their wives are burnt along with
them alive. But we cannot say that all those
women of the Hindoos who are burnt had at
their Nativity Mars and the Sun posited in Leo
in the night-time beneath the earth, as those
persons are born who are burnt with fire. All
the Germans die by strangulation,' except those
who are killed in battle. But it is a thing impos-
sible, that, at the Nativity of all the Germans,
the Moon and Hora should have been posited
between Mars and Saturn. The truth is, that in
all countries, every day, and at all hours, men
are born under Nativities diverse from one an-
other, and the laws of men prevail over the de-
cree of the stars, and they are governed by their
customs. Fate does not compel the Seres to
commit murder against their wish, nor the Brah-
mans to eat flesh ; nor does it hinder the Per-
sians from taking as wives their daughters and
their sisters, nor the Hindoos from being burnt,
nor the Medes from being devoured by dogs,
nor the Parthians from taking many wives, nor
among the Britons many men from taking one
and the same wife, nor the Edessseans from cul-
tivating chastity, nor the Greeks from practising
gymnastics, . . ., nor the Romans from perpetu-
ally seizing upon other countries, nor the men of
the Gauls from marrying one another ; nor does
it compel the Amazons to rear the males; nor
does his Nativity compel any man within the
circumference of the whole world to cultivate
the art of the Muses ; but, as I have already
said, in every country and in every nation all
men avail themselves of the freedom of their
nature in any way they choose, and, by reason
of the body with which they are clothed, do ser-
vice to Fate and to Nature, sometimes as they
wish, and at other times as they do not wish.
For in every country and in every nation there
are rich and poor, and rulers and subjects, and
people in health and those who are sick — each
one according as Fate and his Nativity have
affected him."
" Of these things. Father Bardesan," said I
to him, " thou hast convinced us, and we know
that they are true. But knowest thou that the
astrologers say that the earth is divided into
seven portions, which are called Zones ; and
that over the said portions those seven stars have
authority, each of them over one ; and that in each
one of the said portions the will of its own Poten-
tate prevails ; and that this is called its law? "
" First of all, know thou, my son Philip,"
said he to me, " that the astrologers have in-
vented this statement as a device/^;- the promo-
tion of error. For, although the earth be divided
into seven portions, yet in every one of the
seven portions many laws are to be found dif-
fering from one another. For there are not
seven kijids of laws-<?;//v found in the world, ac-
cording to the number of the seven stars ; nor
yet twelve, according to the number of the signs
of the zodiac ; nor yet thirty-six, according to
the number of the Decani.^ But there are many
kinds of laws to be seen as you go from kingdom
to kingdom, from country to country, from district
to district, and in every abode of man, differing
one from another. For ye remember what I said
to you — that in one zone, that of the Hindoos,
there are many men that do not eat the flesh of
animals, and there are others that even eat the
flesh of men. And again, I told you, in speaking
of the Persians and the Magi, that it is not in
the zone of Persia only that they have taken yfer
wives their daughters and their sisters, but that
in every country to which they have gone they
have followed the law of their fathers, and have
preserved the mystic arts contained in that teach-
ing which they delivered to them. And again,
remember that I told you of many nations spread
abroad over the entire circuit of the world,^ who
have not been confined to any one zone, but
have dwelt in every quarter from which the wind
blows,-* and in all the zones, and who have not
the arts which Mercury and Venus are said to
have given when in conjunction with each other.
Yet, if laws were regulated by zones, this could
not be ; but they clearly are not : because those
men I have spoken of axe at a wide remove from
having anything in common with many other
men in their habits of life.
' So Eusebius: oyx<»''M<*^¥ f'°PV' Otherwise " suffocation."
2 So called from containing each ten of the parts or degrees into
which the zodiacal circle is divided. Cf. Hahn, Bardesanes Gnos-
ticus, p. 72.
3 Lit. " who surround the whole world."
4 Lit. " have been in all the winds."
BARDESAN.
733
" Then, again, how many wise men, think ye,
have abolished from their countries laws which
appeared to them not well made ? How many
laws, also, are there which have been set aside
through necessity? And how many kings are
there who, when they have got possession of
countries which did not belong to them, have
abolished their established laws, and made such
other laws as they chose ? And, whenever these
things occurred, no one of the stars was able to
preserve the law. Here is an instance at hand
for you to ?,&& for yourselves : it is but as yes-
terday since the Romans took possession of
Arabia, and they abolished all the laws previously
existing there, and especially the circumcision
which they practised. The truth is,' that he who
is his own master is sometimes compelled to
obey the law imposed on him by another, who
himself in turn becomes possessed of the power
to do as he pleases.
" But let me mention to you a fact which more
than anything else is likely- to convince the
foolish, and such as are wanting in faith. All
the Jews, who received the law through Moses,
circumcise their male children on the eighth day,
without waiting for the coming of the proper
stars, or standing in fear of the law of the coun-
try where they are living. Nor does the star
which has authority over the zone govern them
by force ; but, whether they be in Edom, or in
Arabia, or in Greece, or in Persia, or in the north,
or in the south, they carry out this law which was
made for them by their fathers. It is evident
that what they do is not from Nativity : for it is
impossible that for all the Jews, on the eighth day,
on which they are circumcised, Mars should ' be
in the ascendant,' so that steel should pass upon
them, and their blood be shed. Moreover, all
of them, wherever they are, abstain from paying
reverence to idols. One day in seven, also,
they and their children cease from all work, —
from all building, and from all travelling, and
from all buying and selling ; nor do they kill an
animal on the Sabbath-day, nor kindle a fire,
nor administer justice ; and there is not found
among them any one whom Fate compels,^
either to go to law on the Sabbath-day and gain
his cause, or to go to law and lose it, or to pull
down, or to build up, or to do any one of those
things which are done by all those men who have
not received this law. They have also other
things in respect to which they do not on the
Sabbath conduct themselves like the rest of
mankind, though on this same day they both
bring forth and are born, and fall sick and die :
for these things do not pertain to the power of
man.
1 Lit. " for."
2 Lit. " able."
3 Lit. " commands."
" In Syria and in Edessa men used to part
with their manhood in honour of Tharatha ; but,
when King Abgar ■* became a believer he com-
manded that every one that did so should have
his hand cut off, and from that day until now no
one does so in the country of Edessa.
" And what shall we say of the new race of us
Christians, whom Christ at His advent planted
in every country and in every region? for, lo 1
wherever we are, we are all called after the one
name of Christ — Christians. On one day, the
first of the week, we assemble ourselves together,
and on the days of the readings 5 we abstain
from taking sustenance. The brethren who are
in Gaul do not take males for wives, nor those
who are in Parthia two wives ; nor do those who
are in Judaea circumcise themselves ; nor do our
sisters who are among the GeU consort with
strangers ; nor do those brethren who are in Per-
sia take their daughters /(JT wives ; nor do those
who are in Media abandon their dead, or bury
them alive, or give them as food to the dogs ;
nor do those who are in Edessa kill their wives
or their sisters when they commit impurity, but
they withdraw from them, and give them over to
the judgment of God ; nor do those who are in
Hatra*^ stone thieves to death; but, wherever they
are, and in whatever place they are found, the
laws of the several countries do not hinder them
from obeying the law of their Sovereign, Christ ;
nor does the Fate of the celestial Governors
compel them to make use of things which they
regard as impure.
" On the other hand, sickness and health, and
riches and poverty, things which are not within
the scope of their freedom, befall them wherever
they are. For although the freedom of man is
not influenced by the compulsion of the Seven,
or, if at any time it is influenced, it is able to
withstand the influences exerted upon it, yet,
071 the other hand, this same man, externally re-
garded,7 cannot on the instant liberate himself
from the command of his Governors : for he is
a slave and in subjection. For, if we were able
to do everything, we should ourselves be every-
thing ; and, if we had not the power to do any-
thing, we should be the tools of others.
" But, when God wills them, all things are
possible, and they may take place without hin-
drance : for there is nothing that can stay that
Great and Holy Will. For even those who think
that they successfully withstand it, do not with-
4 According to Neander, General Church History, i. 109, this
was the Abgar Bar Manu with whom Bardesan is said to have stood
very high. His conversion is placed between 160 and 170 A.D.
For ,
.^1_D, Merx, by omitting one >a , gives . t1 >i n,
" readings." But what is meant is not clear. Ephraem Syrus
ascribes certain compositions o( this name to Bardesanes. Cf.
Hahn, Bard. Gnost., p. 28.
6 Or" Hutra."
7 Lit. " this man who is seen."
734
BARDESAN.
stand it by strength, but by wickedness and
error. And this may go on for a httle while,
because He is kind and forbearing towards all
beings that exist,' so as to let them remain as
they are, and be governed by their own will,
whilst notwithstanding they are held in check by
the works which have been done and by the ar-
rangements which have been made for their help.
For this well-ordered constitution of things ^ and
this government which have been instituted, and
the intermingling of one with another, serve to
repress the violence of these beings, ^ so that they
should not inflict harm on one another to the full,
nor yet to the full suffer harm, as was the case
with them before the creation of the world. A
time is also coming when \k\\% propensity to inflict
harm which still remains in them shall be brought
to an end, through the teaching which shall be
given them amidst intercourse of another kind.
And at the establishment of that new world all
evil commotions shall cease, and all rebellions
terminate, and the foolish shall be convinced,
and all deficiencies shall be filled up, and there
shall be quietness and peace, through the gift of
the Lord of all existing beings."
Here endeth the Book of the Laws of Coun-
tries.
Bardesan, therefore, an aged man, and one
celebrated for his knowledge of events, wrote,
in a certain work which was composed by him,
concerning the synchronisms'* with one another
' Lit. " all natures."
2 Lit. " this order."
3 Lit. " natures."
4 The Greek avvoioi.
of the luminaries of heaven, speaking as fol-
lows : —
Two revolutions of Saturn,^ 6o years ;
5 revolutions of Jupiter, 6o years ;
40 revolutions of Mars, 60 years ;
60 revolutions of the Sun, 60 years ;
72 revolutions of Venus, 60 years ;
150 revolutions of Mercury, 60 years;
720 revolutions of the Moon, 60 years.
And this," says he, "is one synchronism of them
all ; that is, the time of one such synchronism
of them. So that from hence // appears that to
complete 100 such synchronisms there will be
required six thousands of years. Thus : —
200 revolutions of Saturn, six thousands of
years ;
500 revolutions of Jupiter, 6 thousands of
years ;
4 thousand revolutions of Mars, 6 thousands
of years ;
Six thousand revolutions of the Sun, 6 thou-
sands of years ;
7 thousand and .200 revolutions of Venus, 6
thousands of years ;
12 thousand revolutions of Mercury, 6 thou-
sands of years ;
72 thousand revolutions of the Moon, 6 thou-
sands of years."
These things did Bardesan thus compute when
desiring to show that this world would stand
only six thousands of years.
5 The five planets are called by their Greek names, Kpdf os, k.t.\.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
A LETTER OF MARA, SON OF SERAPION.'
Mara, son of Serapion, to Serapion, my son :
peace.
When thy master and guardian wrote me a
letter, and informed me that thou wast very diU-
gent in study, though so young in years, I blessed
God that thou, a httle boy, and without a guide
to direct thee, hadst begun in good earnest ; and
to myself also this was a comfort — that I heard
of thee, little boy as thou art, as displaying such
greatness of mind and conscientiousness : ^ a
character which, in the case of many who have
begu7i well, has shown no eagerness to continue.
On this account, lo, I have written for thee
this record, touching that which I have by care-
ful observation discovered in the world. For
the kind of life men lead has been carefully ob-
served by me. I tread the path of learning,^
and from the study of Greek philosophy* have
I found out all these things, although they suf-
fered shipwreck when the birth of life took
place.5
Be diligent, then, my son, in attention to those
things which are becoming for the free,^ so as
to devote thyself to learning, and to follow after
wisdom ; and endeavour thus to become con-
firmed in those habits with which thou hast
begun. Call to mind also my precepts, as a
quiet person who is fond of the pursuit of learn-
ing. And, even though such a life should seem
to thee very irksome, yet when thou hast made
experience of it for a little while, it will become
very pleasant to thee : for to me also it so hap-
pened. When, moreover, a person has left his
home, and is able still to preserve his previous
' [Elucidation I. p. 747, infra.
2 Lit. " ■ • •■
See p. 722, supra.]
' good conscience."
3 Or, " my daily converse is with learning." So Dr. Payne
Smith is inclined to take these difficult words, supplying, as Cureton
evidently does, the pronoun }j). The construction would be easier
if we could take the participle <^^^fflic ^s a passive, and render:
" It (the kind of life men lead) has been explored by me by means
of study."
< Lit. " Graecism."
5 The meaning probably is, that the maxims referred to lost their
importance for him when he entered upon the new life of a Christian
(so Cureton), or their importance to mankind when Christianity
itself was born into the world. But why he did not substitute more
distinctive Christian teaching is not clear. Perhaps the fear of perse-
cution influenced him.
* That is, the matters constituting " a liberal education."
character, and properly does that which it be-
hoves him to do, he is that chosen man who is
called " the blessing of God," and one who does
not find aught else to compare with his free-
dom.^ For, as for those persons who are called
to the pursuit of learning, they are seeking to
extricate themselves from the turmoils of time ;
and those v/ho take hold upon wisdom, they are
clinging to the hope of righteousness ; and those
who take their stand on truth, they are display-
ing the banner of their virtue ; and those who
cultivate philosophy, they are looking to escape
from the vexations of the world. And do thou
too, my son, thus wisely behave thyself in regard
to these things, as a wise person who seeks to
spend a pure life ; and beware lest the gain
which many hunger after enervate thee, and thy
mind turn to covet riches, which have no sta-
bility. For, when they are acquired by fraud,
they do not continue ; nor, even when justly
obtained, do they last ; and all those things
which arQ seen by thee in the world, as belong-
ing to that which is only for a little time, are
destined to depart like a dream : for they are
but as the risings and settings of the seasons.
About the objects of that vainglory, too, of
which the fife of men is full, be not thou solici-
tous : seeing that from those things which give
us joy there quickly comes to us harm. Most
especially is this the case with the birth of be-
loved children. For in two respects it plainly
brings us harm : in the case of the virtuous, our
very affection for them torments us, and from
their very excellence of character we suffer tor-
ture ; and, in the case of the vicious, we are
worried with their correction, and afflicted with
their misconduct.
Thou hast heard,^ moreover, concerning our
companions, that, when they were leaving Samo-
sata, they were distressed about it, and, as if
complaining of the time in which their lot was
cast, said thus : " We are now far removed from
our home, and we cannot return again to our
' Cureton's less literal rendering probably gives the true sense:
' with whose liberty nothing else can be compared."
5 Cureton: " I have heard." The unpointed text is here aiubig.
lOUS.
735
736
A LETTER OF MARA.
city, or behold our people, or offer to our gods
the greeting of praise." Meet was it that that
day should be called a day of lamentation, be-
cause one heavy grief possessed them all ahke.
For they wept as they remembered their fathers,
and they thought of their mothers ' with sobs,
and they were distressed for their brethren, and
grieved for their betrothed whom they had left
behind. And, although we had heard that their ^
former companions were proceeding to Seleucia,
we clandestinely set out, and proceeded on the
way towards them, and united our own misery
with theirs. Then was our grief exceedingly
violent, and fitly did our weeping abound, by
reason of our desperate plight, and our wailing
gathered itself into a dense cloud, ^ and our misery
grew vaster than a mountain : for not one of us
had the power to ward off the disasters that as-
sailed him. For affection for the living was
intense, as well as sorrow for the dead, and our
miseries were driving us on without any way of
escape. For we saw our brethren and our chil-
dren captives, and we remembered our deceased
companions, who were laid to rest in a foreign •♦
land. Each one of us, too, was anxious for him-
self, lest he should have disaster added to disas-
ter, or lest another calamity should overtake that
which went before it. What enjoyment could
men have that were prisoners, and who experi-
enced things like these ?
But as for thee, my beloved, be not distressed
because in thy loneliness thou hast 5 been driven
from place to place. For to these things men
are born, since they are destined to meet with
the accidents of time. But rather let thy thought
be this, that to wise men every place is alike, and
that in every city the good have many fathers
and mothers. Else, if thou doubt it, take thee a
proof from what thou hast seen thyself How
many people who know thee not love thee as
one of their own children ; and what a host of
women receive thee as they would their own be-
loved ones ! Verily, as a stranger thou hast been
fortunate ; verily, for thy small love many people
have conceived an ardent affection for thee.
What, again, are we to say concerning the de-
lusion^ which has taken up its abode in the
world? Both by reason of toil'' painful is the
journey through it, and by its agitations are we,
like a reed by the force of the wind, bent now
in this direction, now in that. For I have been
' Read r>"\ /'^ V|i instead of .OOI^O^I, "peoples."
2 Perhaps "our" is meant.
3 Cureton: "and the dark cloud collected our sighs." But the
words immediately following, as well as the fact that in each of the
clauses the nominative is placed last, favours the rendering given.
4 Lit., " borrowed."
s Lit , " because thy loneliness has."
6 Or " error." He may refer either to the delusion of those who
pursue supposed earthly good, or to the false appearances by which
men are deceived in such pursuit.
amazed at many who cast away their children,
and I have been astonished at others who bring
up those that are not theirs. There are persons
who acquire riches in the world, and I have also
been astonished at others who inherit that which
is not of their own acquisition. Thus niayest
thou understand and see that we are walking
under the guidance of delusion.
Begin and tell us, O wisest of men,^ on which
of his possessions a man can place reliance, or
concerning what things he can say that they are
such as abide. Wilt thou say so of abundance
of riches? they are snatched away. Of fort-
resses? they are spoiled. Of cities? they are
laid waste. Of greatness? it is brought down.
Of magnificence ? it is overthrown. Of beauty?
it withers. Or of laws ? they pass away. Or of
poverty? it is despised. Or of children? they
die. Or of friends ? they prove false. Or of the
praises of jnen ? jealousy goes before them.
Let a man, therefore, rejoice in his empire,
like Darius ; or in his good fortune, like Poly-
crates ; or in his bravery, like Achilles ; or in
his wife, like Agamemnon ; or in his offspring,
like Priam ; or in his skill, like Archimedes ; or
in his wisdom, like Socrates ; or in his learning,
like Pythagoras ; or in his ingenuity, like Pala-
medes ; — the life of men, my son, departs from
the world, but their praises and their virtues abide
for ever.
Do thou, then, my little son, choose thee that
which fadeth not away. For those who occupy
themselves with these things are called modest,
and are beloved, and lovers of a good name.
When, moreover, anything untoward befalls
thee, do not lay the blame on man. nor be angry
against God, nor fulminate against the time thou
livest in.
If thou shalt continue in this mind, thy gift is
not small which thou hast received from God,
which has no need of riches, and is never re-
duced to poverty. For without fear shalt thou
pass thy life,'' and with rejoicing. For fear and
apologies for one's nature belong not to the wise,
but to such as walk contrary to law. For no
man has even been deprived of his wisdom, as
of his property.
Follow diligently learning rather than riches.
For the greater are one's possessions, the greater
is the evil attendant upon them. For I have
myself observed that, where a man's goods are
many, so also are the tribulations which happen
to him ; and, where luxuries are accumulated,
there also do sorrows congregate ; and, where
riches are abundant, there is stored up the bitter-
ness of many a year.
7 For )Sn\Sn read jlVlV'i.
8 Cureton : " A sage among men once began to say to us." This
would require , .• ^,. not j- a.,
9 ^V/^VV
A LETTER OF MARA.
737
If, therefore, thou shalt behave with under-
standing, and shalt dihgently watch over thy con-
duct, God will not refrain from helping thee, nor
men from loving thee.
Let that which thou art able to acquire suffice
thee ; and if, moreover, thou art able to do with-
out property, thou shalt be called blessed, and
no man whatsover shall be jealous of thee.
And remember also this, that nothing will dis-
turb thy life very greatly, except it be the love of
gain ; and that no man after his death is called
an owner of property : because it is by the de-
sire of this that weak men are led captive, and
they know not that a man dwells among his pos-
sessions orily in the manner of a chance-comer,
and they are haunted with fear because these
possessions are not secured to them : for they
have abandoned that which is their own, and
seek that which is not theirs.
What are we to say, when the wise are dragged
by force by the hands of tyrants, and their wis-
dom is deprived of its freedom ' by slander, and
they are plundered for their superior intelligence,
without the opportunity of making a defence?
They are not wholly to be pitied. For what bene-
fit did the Athenians obtain by putting Socrates
to death, seeing that they received as retribution
for it famine and pestilence ? Or the people of
Samos by the burning of Pythagoras, seeing that
in one hour the whole ^ of their country was
covered with sand ? Or the Jews by the murder
of their Wise King, seeing that from that very
time their kingdom was driven 2CNZ.y f?'o?n them ?
For with justice did God grant a recompense to
the wisdom of all three of them. For the Athe-
nians died by famine ; and the people of Samos
were covered by the sea without remedy ; and
the Jews, brought to desolation and expelled from
their kingdom, are driven away into every land.
Nay, Socrates did " not " die, because of Plato ;
nor yet Pythagoras, because of the statue of
Hera ; nor yet the Wise King, because of the
new laws which he enacted.
Moreover I, my son, have attentively observed
mankind, in what a dismal state of ruin they are.
And I have been amazed that they are not utterly
prostrated^ by the calamities which surround
them, and that even their wars'* are net enough
for them, nor the pains they endure, nor the dis-
eases, nor the death, nor the poverty ; but that,
like savage beasts, they must needs rush upon
one another in their enmity, trying which, of them
' Lit., " made captive."
* For oiJiiiaS read ci.^3.
3 No verb is found in the lexicons to which 0 *°t3£^A| can be
referred. It may perhaps be Eshtaphel of a verb \siS, cognate with
■ o-'j " to be bent."
4 For \jOfja read j Tff| r>.
shall inflict the greater mischief on his fellow.
For they have broken away from the bounds of
truth, and transgress all honest laws, because
they are bent on fulfilling their selfish desires ;
for, whensoever a man is eagerly set on obtaining
that which he desires, how is it possible that he
should fitly do that which it behoves him to do ?
and they acknowledge no restraint,^ and but sel-
dom stretch out their hands towards truth and
goodness, but in their manner of life behave like
the deaf^ and the blind. Moreover, the wicked
rejoice, and the righteous are disquieted. He
that has, denies that he has ; and he that has
not, struggles to acquire. The poor seek lielp,
and the rich hide their wealth, and every man
laughs at his fellow. Those that are drunken
are stupefied, and those that have recovered
themselves are ashamed.^ Some weep, and some
sing ; and some laugh, and others are a prey to
care. They rejoice in things evil, and a man
that speaks the truth they despise.
Should a man, then, be surprised when the
world is seeking to wither him with its scorn,
seeing that they and he have not one a7id the
same manner of life ? " These " are the things for
which they care. One of them is looking for-
ward to the time when in battle he shall obtain
the renown of victory ; yet the valiant perceive
not by how many foolish objects of desire a man
is led captive in the world. But would that for
a little while self-repentance visited them ! For,
while victorious by their bravery, they are over-
come by the power of covetousness. For I
have made trial of men, and with this result :
that the one thing on which they are intent, is
abundance of riches. Therefore also it is that
they have no settled purpose ; but, through the
instability of their minds, a man is of a sudden
cast down from his elation of spirit to be swal-
lowed up with sadness. They look not at the
vast wealth of eternity, nor consider that every
visitation of trouble is conducting us all alike to
the same final period. For they are devoted to
the majesty of the belly, that huge blot on the
character of the vicious.
Moreover, as regards this letter which it has
come into my mind to write to thee, it is not
enough to read it, but the best thing is that it
be put in practice.^ For I know for myself,
that when thou shalt have made experiment of
5 Or " moderation."
6 Cureton: "dumb." The word l-^p** has both senses.
' Or " penitent."
8 So Dr. Payne Smith, who is inclined to take OUS ^OyOS' in
the sense, " it goes before, it is best, with respect to it." Cureton
translates, " it should also proceed to practice," joining jooiJ with
the participle just mentioned; whereas Dr. Smith connects it with
I j_a^S9, thus: " but that it should be put in practice is best with
respect to it."
n^
A LETTER OF MARA.
this mode of life, it will be very pleasant to
thee, and thou wilt be free from sore vexation ;
because it is on/y on account of children that
we tolerate riches.'
Put, therefore, sadness away from thee, O
most beloved of mankind, — a thing which never
in anywise benefits a man ; and drive care away
from thee, which brings with it no advantage
whatsoever. For we have no resource or skill
that can avail us — nothing but a great mind
able to cope with the disasters and to endure the
tribulations which we are always receiving at the
hands of the times. For at these things does it
behove us to look, and not only at those which
are fraught with rejoicing and good repute.
Devote thyself to wisdom, the fount of all
things good, the treasure that faileth not. There
shalt thou lay thy head, and be at ease. For
this shall be to thee father and mother, and a
good companion for thy life.
Enter into closest intimacy with fortitude and
patience, those virtues which are able successfully
to encounter the tribulations that befall feeble
men. For so great is their strength, that they
are adequate to sustain hunger, and can endure
thirst, and mitigate every trouble. With toil,
moreover, yea even with dissolution, they make
right merry.
To these things give diligent attention, and
thou shalt lead an untroubled life, and I also
shall have comfort,^ and thou shalt be called
" the delight of his parents."
For in that time of yore, when our city was
standing in her greatness, thou mayest be aware
that against many persons among us abomi-
nable words were uttered ; but for ourselves,^ we
acknowledged long ago that we received love,
no less than honour, to the fullest extent from
the multitude of her people : it was the state of
the times only that forbade ou7- completing those
things which we had resolved on doing.* And
here also in the prison-house we give thanks to
God that we have received the love of many :
for we are striving to our utmost to maintain a
life of sobriety and cheerfulness ; 5 and, if any
' This appears to show that the life of learned seclusion which
he has been recommending is one of celibacy — monasticism.
^ Or, " and thou shalt be,.to me a comfort," as Cureton.
3 That is, " myself."
'■ Such appears to be the sense of this obscure passage. The
literal rendering is, " We acknowledged of old that we received equal
love and honour to the fullest extent from her multitude" (or, from
her greatness) ; " but the time forbade our completing those things
which were already accomplished in our mind." What things he
refers to (for his words seem to have a particular reference) is not
clear. The word rendered " greatness," or " multitude," is in reality
two words in pointed mss. Here it does not appear, except from the
sense, which is intended.
5 Lit., " We are putting ourself to the proof to see how far ive
can stand in wisdom," etc.
one drive us by force, he will but be bearing pub-
lic testimony against himself, that he is estranged
from all things good, and he will receive disgrace
and shame from the foul mark of shame that is
upon him. For we have shown our truth — that
truth which in our now ruined kingdom we pos-
sessed not.^ But, if the Romans shall permit us
to go back to our own country, as called upon by
justice and righteousness to do, they will be act-
ing like humane men, and will earn the name of
good and righteous, and at the same time will
have a peaceful country in which to dwell : for
they will exhibit their greatness when they shall
leave us free men, and we shall be obedient to
the sovereign power which the time has allotted
to us. But let them not, like tyrants, drive us
as though we were slaves. Yet, if it has been
already determined what shall be done, we shall
receive nothing more d^-eadful than the peaceful
death which is in store for us.
But thou, my little son, if thou resolve dili-
gently to acquaint thyself with these things, first
of all put a check on appetite, and set limits
to that in which thou art indulging. Seek the
power to refrain from being angry ; and, instead
of yielding to outbursts of passion, listen to the
promptings of kindness.
For myself, what I am henceforth solicitous
about is this — that, so far as I have recollections
of the past, I may leave behind me a book con-
taining them, and with a prudent mind finish the
journey which I am appointed to take, and de-
part without suffering out of the sad afflictions
of the world. For my prayer is, that I may re-
ceive my dismissal ; and by what kind of death
concerns me not. But, if any one should be
troubled or anxious about this, I have no counsel
to give him : for yonder, in the dwelling-place
of all the world, will he find us before him.
One of his friends asked Mara, son of Sera-
pion, when in bonds at his side : " Nay, by thy
life, Mara, tell me what cause of laughter thou
hast seen, that thou laughest." " I am laughing,"
said Mara, " at Time : ^ inasmuch as, although
he has not borrowed any evil from me, he is pay-
ing me back."
Here endeth the letter of Mara, son of Sera-
pion.
^ " This is a very hopeless passage. . . . Perhaps the codex has
—XtthoJO, 'the kingdom of our ruin,' i.e., the ruined country in
which we used to dwell. For possibly it refers to what he has said
before about the ruined greatness of his city, captured by the Romans.
I suppose Mara was a Persian." — Dr. Payne Smith.
7 Or, " the time."
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
AMBROSE/
A MEMORIAL^ which Ambrose, a chief man of
Greece, wrote : who became a Christian, and all
his fellow-senators raised an outcry against him ; j
and he fled from them, and wrote and pointed i
out to them all their foolishness.
Beginning his discourse,^ he answered and |
said : —
Think not, men of Greece, that my separation'
from your customs has been made without a just
and proper reason. For I acquainted myself with
all your wisdom, consisting of poetry, of oratory,
of philosophy ; and when I found not there any-
thing agreeable to what is right, or that is worthy
of the divine nature, I resolved to make myself
acquainted with the wisdom of the Christians also,
and to learn and see who they are, and when they
took their rise, and what is the nature of this new
and strange wisdom of theirs,^ or on what good
hopes those who are imbued with it rely, that they
speak only that which is true.
Men of Greece, when I came to examine the
Christian writings, 1 found not any folly 5 in them,
as I had found in the celebrated Homer, who has
said concerning the wars of the two trials : ^
" Because of Helen, many of the Greeks perished
at Troy, away from their beloved home."? For,
first of all, we are told ** concerning Agamemnon
their king, that by reason of the foolishness of
his brother Menelaus, and the violence of his
' This piece has much in common with the Discnurse to the
Greeks (Aoyo; 7rpb;'EAAr|i'a5), ascribed by many to Justin, which is
contained in vol. i. pp. 271-272 of this series. Two things seem to
be evident: (i) That neither oi the two pieces is the original compo-
sition: for each contains something not found in the other; (2) That the
original was in Greek: for the Syriac has in some instances evidently
mistranslated the Greek.
2 The Greek uTro/xi'jjjuiaTa.
■5 Lit.," and in the beginning of his words."
4 Lit. " what is the newness and strangeness of it."
5 The word also means " sin; " and this notion is the more promi-
nent of the two in what follows.
*> It is difficult to assign any satisfactory meaning to the word
. In . my which appears, however, to be the reading of the M.S.,
since Cureton endeavours to justify the rendering given. " Calamities,"
a sense the word will also bear, seems no easier of explanation. If we
could assume the meaning to be " nations" {7iat!ones) , a word simi-
lar in sound to that found in the text, explaining it of heathen peoples.
Gentiles (comp. Ter.tullian, De Idol-, 22, " per deos nritionum "), this
might seem to meet the difficultjf. Hut there is no trace in this com-
position of a Latin influence: if a foreign word must he used, we should
rather have expected the Greek iOvr).
" //., ii. 177 sq.
^ Lit., " they say."
madness, and the uncontrollable nature of his pas-
sion, he resolved to go and rescue Helen from
the hands of a certain leprous 9 shepherd ; and
afterwards, when the Greeks had become victo-
rious in the war, and burnt cities, and taken wo-
men and children captive, and the land was filled
with blood, and the rivers with corpses, Agamem-
non himself also was found to be taken captive
by his passion for Briseis. Patroclus, again, we
are told, was slain, and Achilles, the son of the
goddess Thetis, mourned over him ; Hector was
dragged along the ground, and Priam and Hecuba
together were weeping over the loss of their chil-
dren ; Astyanax, the son of Hector, was thrown
down from the walls of Ilion, and his mother
Andromache the mighty Ajax bore away into cap-
tivity ; and that which was taken as booty was
after a little while, all squandered in sensual in-
dulgence.
Of the wiles of Odysseus the son of Laertes,
and of his murders, who shall tell the tale ? For
of a hundred and ten suitors did his house in
one day become the grave, and it was filled with
corpses and blood. He, too, it was that by his
wickedness gained the praises of men, because
through his pre-eminence in craft he escaped
detection ; he, too, it was who, you say, sailed
upon the sea, and heard not the voice of the
Sirens only because he stopped his ears with wax.'°
The famous Achilles, again, the son of Peleus,
who bounded across the river, and routed " the
Trojans, and slew Hector, — this said hero of
yours became the slave of Philoxena, and was
overcome by an Amazon as she lay dead and
stretched upon her bier ; and he put off his ar-
mour, and arrayed himself in nuptial garments,
and finally fell a sacrifice to love.
9 It has been proposed to substitute in the Greek copy AiTrapoO,
" dainty," for Aen-poO. But the Syriac confirms the MS. reading.
The term is thought to be expressive of the contempt in which shep-
herds were held. See vol. i. p. 271, note i.
'° In the Greek this is adduced as an evidence of his weakness:
" because he was unable to stop his ears by his self-control
('/)poi'rjaft)."
" «_Di.^i t^e reading of the text, which can only mean " fled,"
is manifestly incorrect. The Aphel of this verb, ■ r^'. v| , " caused
to flee," is suggested by Dr. Payne Smith, who also proposes
l_ai», " exstirpavit."
739
740
AMBROSE.
Thus much concerning your great " men ; " '
and thou, Homer, hadst deserved forgiveness, if
thy silly story-telling had gone so far only as to
prate about men, and not about the gods. As for
what he says about the gods, I am ashamed even
to speak of it : for the stories that have been in-
vented about them are very wicked and shock-
ing ; passing strange,^ too, and not to be believed ;
and, if the truth must be told,^ fit only to be
laughed at. For a person will be compelled to
laugh when he meets with them, and will not be-
lieve them when he hears them. For think of
gods who did not one of them observe the laws
of rectitude, or of purity, or of modesty, but
were adulterers, and spent their tmie in de-
bauchery, and yet were not condemned to death,
as they ought to have been !
Why, the sovereign of the gods, the very
'■'■ father of gods and men," not only, as ye say,
was an adulterer (this was but a light thing), but
even slew his own father, and was a paederast.
I will first of all speak of his adultery, though I
blush to do so: for he appeared to Antiope as a
satyr, and descended upon Danae as a shower
of gold, and became a bull for Europa, and a
swan for Leda ; whilst the love of Semele, the
mother of Dionysus, exposed both his own ar-
dency of passion and the jealousy of the chaste
Hera. Ganymede the Phrygian, too, he carried
off disguised as an eagle, that the fair and come-
ly boy, forsooth, might serve as cup-bearer to
him. This said sovereign of the gods, moreover,
killed his father Kronos, that he might seize upon
his kingdom.
Oh ! to how many charges is the sovereign of
the gods amenable,-* and how many deaths does
he deserve to die, as an adulterer, and as a sor-
cerer,5 and as a paederast ! Read to the sover-
eign of the gods, O men of Greece, the law
concerning parricide, and the condemnation pro-
nounced on adultery, and about the shame that
attaches to the vile sin of paederasty. How
many adulterers has the sovereign of the gods in-
doctrinated in sin! Nay, how many paederasts,
and sorcerers, and murderers ! So that, if a man
be found indulging his passions, he must not be
put to death : because he has done this that he
may become like the sovereign of the gods ; and,
if he be found a murderer, he has an excuse in
the sovereign of the gods ; and, if a man be a
sorcerer, he has learned it from the sovereign of
the gods ; and, if he be a paederast, the sover-
eign of the gods is his apologist. Then, again.
' Or, " yourhcro&s."
2 This is not intended as a translation of . ^M.V<? which is
literally " conquered." Dr. Payne Smith thinks it just possible that
there was in the Greek some derivative of vTrepfidWu} = " to surpass
belief," which the Syrian translator misunderstood.
3 This is conjectured to be the meaning of what would be literally
rendered, " ei id quod coactuiit est."
•< Lit., " of how many censures is . . . full."
5 Since he could change his form to suit his purpose.
if one should speak of courage, Achilles was
more valiant that this said sovereign of the gods :
for he slew the man that slew his friend ; but the
sovereign of the gods wept over Sarpedon his
son when he was dying, being distressed for
him.
Pluto, again, who is a god, carried off Kora,^
and the mother of Kora was hurrying hither and
thither searching for her daughter in all desert
places ; and, although Alexander Paris, when he
had carried off Helen, paid the penalty of ven-
geance, as having inade himself her lover by
force, yet Pluto, who is a god, when he carried
off Kora, remained without rebuke ; and, although
Menelaus, who is a man, knew how to search for
Helen his wife, yet Demeter, who is a goddess,
knew not where to search for Kora her daugh-
ter.
Let Hephaestus put away jealousy from him,
and not indulge resentment.'' For he was
hated,^ because he ' was old and lame ; while
Ares was loved, because he was a youth and
beautiful in form. There was, however, a re-
proof administered in 7-espcct of the adultery.
Hephaestus was not," indeed, at first aware of
the love existing between Venus ^ his wife and
Ares ; but, when he did become acquainted
with it, Hephaestus said : " Come, see a ridicu-
lous and senseless piece of behaviour — how to
me, who am her own, Venus, the daughter of
the sovereign of the gods, is offering insult — to
me, / say, who am her own, and is paying honour
to Ares, who is a stranger to her." But to the
sovereign of the gods it was not displeasing : for
he loved such as were like these. Penelope,
moreover, remained a widow twenty years, be-
cause she was expecting the return of her hus-
band Odysseus, and busied herself with cunning
tasks, '° and persevered in works of skill, while all
those suitors kept pressing her to marry them;
but Venus, who is a goddess, when Hephaestus
her husband was close to her, deserted him, be-
cause she was overcome by love for Ares. Heark-
en, men of Greece : which of you would have
dared to do this, or would even have endured to
see it ? And, if any one " should " dare to act so,
what torture would be in store for him, or what
scourgings !
Kronos, again, who is a god, who devoured all
those children of his, was not even brought be-
fore a court of justice. They further tell us that
the sovereign of the gods, his son, was the only
6 That is, " the Daughter" (namely, of Demeter), the name un-
der which Proserpine was worshipped in Attica.
7 Because the behaviour of which he had to complain was sanc-
tioned by the highest of the gods.
^ For ■ ^rqT/|, " was tried," read , . 1 w ^| The Greek has
lxiixicrr]ro. Cureton: "forgotten."
9 The word is " Balthi."
JO Dr. Payne Smith reads )M ^^^ instead of )s\^^:^,
word which, as Cureton says, is not in the le.xicons.
AMBROSE.
741
one that escaped from him ; and that the mad-
ness of Kronos his father was cheated of its
purpose because Rhea his wife, the mother of
the sovereign of the gods, offered him a stone in
the place of the said sovereign of the gods, his
son, to prevent him from devouring him. Heark-
en, men of Greece, and reflect upon this mad-
ness ! Why, even the dumb animal that grazes
in the field knows its proper food, and does not
touch strange food ; the wild beast, too, and the
reptile, and the bird, know their food. As for
men, I need not say anything about them : ye
yourselves are acquainted with their food, and
understand it well. But Kronos, who is a god,
not knowing his proper food, ate up a stone !
Therefore, O men of Greece, if ye will have
such gods as these, do not find fault with one an-
other when ye do such-like things. Be not an-
gry with thy son when he forms the design to
kill thee : because he thus resembles the sover-
eign of the gods. And, if a man commit adul-
tery with thy wife, why dost thou think of him
as an enemy, and yet to the sovereign of the
gods, who is like him, doest worship and ser-
vice? Why, too, dost thou find fault with thy
wife when she has committed adultery and leads
a dissolute life,' and yet payest honour to Venus,
and placest her images in shrines? Persuade
your Solon to repeal his laws ; Lycurgus, also,
to make no laws ; let the Areopagus repeal ^
theirs, and judge no more ; and let the Atheni-
ans have councils no longer. Let the Athenians
discharge Socrates from his office : for no one
like Kronos has ever come before him. Let
them not put to death Orestes, who killed his
mother : for, lo ! the sovereign of the gods did
worse things than these to his father. QEdipus
also too hastily inflicted mischief on himself, in
depriving his eyes of sight, because he had
killed his mother unwittingly : for he did not
think about 3 the sovereign of the gods, who
killed his father and yet remained without pun-
ishment. Medea, again, who killed her children,
the Corinthians banish y;^//? their country ; and
yet they do service and honour to Kronos, who
devoured his children. Then, too, as regards
Alexander Paris — he was right in carrying off
Helen : for he did it that he might become like
Pluto, who carried off Kora. Let your men be
set free from law, and let your cities be the
abode of wanton women, and a dwelling-place
for sorcerers.
Wherefore, O men of Greece, seeing that your
gods are grovelling like yourselves, and your
heroes destitute of courage,'* as your dranias tell
' The reading of the Greek copy, aKoAauTw? ^uitrav, is here
given. The Syrian adapter, misunderstanding a/coAao'Tio?, renders:
" and is without punishment."
2 Cureton, " break."
3 Lit. " look at."
* So in the Greek copy. The Syriac, which has " valiant," ap-
pears to have mistaken ai/avSpoL for avSpeloi.,
and your stories declare — then, again, what
shall be said of the tribulations of Orestes ; and
the couch of Thyestes ; and the foul taint in the
family of Pelops ; and concerning Danaus, who
through jealousy killed his %ox\%-in-law, and de-
prived them of offspring ; the banquet of Thyes-
tes, too, feedi?tg upon the corpse set before him
by way of vengeance for her whom he had
wronged; about Procne also, to this hour scream-
ing as she flies ; her sister too, warbling with her
tongue cut out? 5 What, moreover, is it fitting
to say about the murder committed by Qidipus,
who took his own mother to wife, and whose
brothers killed one another, they being at the
satne time his sons?
Your festivals, too, I hate ; for there is no mod-
eration where they are ; the sweet flutes also,
dispellers of care, which play as an incitement
to dancing ; ^ and the preparation of ointments,
wherewith ye anoint yourselves ; and the chaplets
which ye put on. In the abundance of your wick-
edness, too, ye have forgotten shame, and your un-
derstandings have become blinded, and ye have
been infuriated ^ by the heat of passion, and have
loved the adulterous bed.^
Had these things been said by another, perhaps
our adversaries would have brought an accusation
against him, on the plea that they were untrue.
But your own poets say them, and your own hymns
and dramas declare them.
Come, therefore, and be instructed in the word
of God, and in the wisdom which is fraught with
comfort. Rejoice, and become partakers of it.
Acquaint yourselves with the King Immortal, and
acknowledge His servants. For not in arms do
they make their boast, nor do they commit mur-
ders : because our Commander has no delight in
abundance of strength, nor yet in horsemen and
their gallant array, nor yet in illustrious descent ;
but He delights in the pure soul, fenced round
by a rampart of righteousness. The word of God,
moreover, and the promises of our good King,
and the works of God, are ever teaching us. Oh
the blessedness of the soul that is redeemed by the
power of the word ! Oh the blessedness of the
trumpet of peace without war ! Oh the blessed-
ness of the teaching which quenches the fire of
appetite ! which, though it makes not poets, nor
fits men to be philosophers, nor has among its vo-
taries the orators of the crowd ; yet instructs 7nen,
and makes the dead not to die, and lifts men
from the earth as gods up to the region which is
above the firmament. Come, be instructed, and
be like me : for I too was o?ice as ye are.
5 The tradition seems to be followed which makes Procne to have
been changed into a swallow, and her sister (Philomela) into a night-
ingale.
^ Cureton : " play with a tremulous motion." But the Syriac very
well answers to the Greek iKKaKoxJixtvoi. Trpb? oitrTpuiScts Kivriaii<;, if
we take >.£ to denote resuU: q.d., " so as to produce movement"
7 Greek, kK&a.Kxfv6\i.tvot..
8 Lit. " bed of falsity." [Compare notes on vol. i. pp. 271 272.I
742 ELUCIDATIONS.
/
ELUCIDATIONS.
(Mara, son of Serapion, p. 735.)
1 CANNOT withhold from the student the valuable hints concerning " the dialect of Edessa " by
which Professor Noldke ' corrects the loose ideas of Mommsen, more especially because the
fresh work of Mommsen will soon be in our hands, and general credit will be attached to specious
representations which are sure to have a bearing on his ulterior treatment of Christianity and the
Roman Empire.
Of the Syriac language Professor Noldke says : —
" It was the living language of Syria which here appears as the language of writing. In Syria it had long ago
been compelled to yield to the Greek as the official language, but private writings were certainly yet to a great
extent written in Aramaic. We cannot lay much stress upon the fact that the respectable citizen in the Orient
would have the schoolmaster of the village compose a Greek inscription for his tomb, of which he undoubtedly
understood but little himself. And what a Greek this often was ! That no books written by Aramaic Gentiles have
been preserved for us, does not decide against the existence of the Aramaic as the language of literature in that
day ; for how could such Gentile works have been preserved for us .' To this must be added, that that particular
dialect which afterward became the common literary language of Aramaic Christendom — namely-, that of Edessa —
certainly had in the Gentile period already been used for literary purposes. The official report of the great flood
in the year 201, which is prefixed to the Edessa Chronicles, is written by a Gentile. To the same time must be
ascribed the letter, written in good Edessan language by the finely educated Mara bar Serapion, from the neigh-
bouring Samosata, who, notwithstanding his good-will toward youthful Christianity, was no Christian, but repre-
sented rather the ethical stand-point of the Stoicism so popular at that time. The fixed settling of Syriac orthog-
raphy must have taken place at a much earlier period than the hymns of Bardesanes and his school, which are
for us very old specimens of that language, since these hymns represent a versification much younger than the
stage of development which is presupposed in this orthography. In general, it must be granted that the dialect
of Edessa had been thoroughly developed already in pre-Christian times ; otherwise, it could not have been so fixed
and firm in writing and forms of expression. And the Syriac Dialogue on Fate, which presupposes throughout
the third century, treats of scientific questions, according to Greek models, with such precision that we again see
that this was not the beginning, but rather the close, of a scientific Syriac literature, which flourished already
when there were but few or possibly no Christians there. Of course I recognise, with Mommsen, that Edessa
offered a better protection to the national language and literature than did the cities of Syria proper ; but circum-
stances were not altogether of a different nature in this regard in Haleb, Hems, and Damascus than they were
in Edessa and Jerusalem. If, as is known, the common mass spoke Aramaic in the metropolitan city of Antiochia,
it cannot safely be accepted that in the inland districts the Greek was not the language of the ' educated,' but only
of those who had specially learned it. The Macedonian and Greek colonists have certainly only in a very small
part retained this language in those districts down to the Roman period. In most cases they have been, in a
minority from the beginning over against the natives. Further, as the descendants of old soldiers, they can
scarcely be regarded as the called watchmen of Greek customs and language."
II.
(No verb is found in the lexicons, etc., note 3, p. 737.)
The Study of Syriac is just beginning to be regarded as only less important to the theologian
than that of the Hebrew. The twain will be found a help, each to the other, if one pursues the
study of the cognate languages together. In fact, the Book of Daniel demands such a prepara-
tion for its enjoyment and adequate comprehension.^ Let me commend to every reader the
' For previous quotations refer to p. 721, supra.
2 It must not be inferred that I speak as a Syriac scholar. I have laboured unsuccessfully, and late in life, to repair my sad neglect at
an earlier period; and I can speak only as a penitent.
ELUCIDATIONS. 743
admirable example of Beveridge, who at eighteen years of age produced a grammar of the Syriac
language, and also a Latin essay on the importance of cultivating this study, as that of the ver-
nacular of our Lord Himself. This little treatise is worthy of careful reading ; and right worthy
of note is the motto which he prefixed to it, — "Estote imitatores mei, sicut et ego sum Chrisli"
(i Cor. xi. i).
When one thinks of the difficulties even yet to be overcome in mastering the language, — the
want of a complete lexicon, etc.,' — it is surprising to think of Beveridge's pioneer labours in extreme
youth. Gutbir's Lexicon Syriacum had not yet appeared, nor his edition of the Peshito, which
preceded it, though Brian Walton's great name and labours were his noble stimulants. Nobody
can read the touching account which Gutbir ^ gives of his own enthusiastic and self-sacrificing
work, without feeling ashamed of the slow progress of Oriental studies in the course of two cen-
turies since the illustrious Pocock gave his grand example to English scholarship. All honour to
our countryman Dr. Murdock, who' late in life entered upon this charming pursuit, and called on
others to follow him. 3 May I not venture to hope that even these specimens of what may be
reaped from the field of Aramaic literature may inspire my young countrymen to take the lead in
elucidating the Holy Scriptures from this almost unopened storehouse of " treasures new and old " ?
' Dean Payne Smith has assumed the unfinished task of Bernstein.
2 See his Preface to the Testament, published at Hamburg a.d. 1664. He had the type cut at his personal expense, and set up the
press and lodged the printers in his own house.
3 See his translation of the Peshito Syriac version, Stanford & Swords (Bishop Hobart's publishers), New York, 1855.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD
CENTURIES.
[TRANSLATED BY THE REV. B. P. PRATTEN.]
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
TO
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
Under the title of Fragments of the Second and Third Centuries are grouped together, in the
Edinburgh series, a mass of valuable illustrative material, which might have been distributed with
great advantage through the former volumes, in strict order of chronology. Something is due,
however, to the unity of authorship, and to the marked design of the editors of the original
edition to let these Fragments stand together, as the work of their accomplished collaborator, the
Rev. B. P. Pratten, with whose skill and erudition our readers are already familiar.'
I have contented myself, therefore, with giving approximate order and continuity, on chrono-
logical grounds, to the series of names subjoined. Bardesanes has been eliminated here, and
placed more appropriately with the Syriac authors. The reader will find references which may
aid him in seeking further information. Some of these names are of lasting value and interest
in the Church. I prefer to call these " Fragments " their " Remains."
To each of the following names I have prefixed some details of information, with such dates
as the learned supply.
The following is the
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
The fragments that follow are the productions of writers who lived during the second century
or the beginning of the third. Little is known of the writers, and the statements made in regard
to them are often very indefinite, and the result of mere conjecture.
1. Quadratus was one of the first of the Christian apologists. He is said to have presented
his apology to Hadrian while the emperor was in Athens attending the celebration of the Eleu-
sinian mysteries.
2. Aristo of Pella, a Jew, was the author of a work called The Disputation of yason and
Papiscus. Nothing further is known of him. He flourished in the first half of the second
century.
3. Melito was bishop of Sardis, and flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. He wrote
many works, but all of them have perished except a few fragments. The genuineness of the
Syriac fragments is open to question.
4. Hegesippus also flourished in the time of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is
the first ecclesiastical historian ; but his book was rather notes for an ecclesiastical history, than a
history.
5. Dionysius was bishop of Corinth in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. He wrote letters to
various churches.
— «
^ See vol. li. (p. 125), etc,
747
748 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
6. Rhodon went from Asia to Rome, and became a pupil of Tatian. After the lapse of his
master into heresy he remained true to the faith, and wrote against heretics.
7. Maximus flourished about the same time as Rhodon, under the emperors Commodus and
Severus.
8. Claudius Apollinaris was bishop of Hierapolis, and presented a defence of the Christians
to Marcus Aurelius. He wrote many important works, of which we have only a few fragments.
9. Poly crates was bishop of Ephesus. He took part in the controversy on the Passover
question. He died about 200 a.d.
10. Theophilus was bishop of Csesarea. He was a contemporary of Polycrates, and, like
him, engaged in the Passover controversy.
11. Serapion was ordained bishop of Antioch a.d. 190, but almost no other fact of his life is
known. He wrote several works.
12. Apollonius wrote a work against the Montanists, probably in the year a.d. 210. This is
all that is known of him.
13. Pantaenus, probably a Sicilian by birth, passed from Stoicism to Christianity, and went to
Judaea to proclaim the truth. He returned to Alexandria, and became president of the catechetical
school there, in which post he remained till his death, which took place about the year 212 a.d.
14. The Letter of the Churches in Vienne and Lyons was written shortly after the persecution
in Gaul, which took place in a.d. 177. It is not known who is the author. Some have supposed
that Irenseus wrote it, but there is no historical testimony to this effect.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD
CENTURIES.
QUADRATUS, BISHOP OF ATHENS.'
[a.d. 126.] Quadratus ^ is spoken of by Eusebius as a " man of understanding and of Apostolic
faith." And he celebrates Aristides as a man of similar character. These were the earliest apolo-
gists ; both addressed their writings to Hadrian, and they were extant and valued in the churches
in the time of Eusebius.
FROM THE APOLOGY FOR THE CHRISTIAN RELIGI0N.3 1 raised up, but wcre afterwards constantly pres-
OuR Saviour's works, moreover, were always ; ent. Nor did they remain only during the
present : for they were real, consisting of those | sojourn of the Saviour on earth, but also a con-
who had been healed of their diseases, those i siderable time after His departure ; and, indeed,
who had been raised from the dead ; who were 1 some of them have survived even down to our
not only seen whilst they were being healed and I own times.'*
ARISTO OF PELLA.
[a.d. 140. J Aristo of Pella 5 is supposed to have been a Jew, whose work was designed to help
the failing Judaism of his country. Though his work is lost, alike the original and the Latin
translation of one " Celsus," it seems to have been a popular tract among Christians of Cyprian's
time, and the Latin preface is often suffixed to editions of that Father.
The work of Aristo is known as the Disputation of Papiscus and yason, and Celsus tells us
that Jason was a Hebrew Christian, while his opponent was a Jew of Alexandria. Now, Papiscus
owns himself convinced by the arguments of Jason, and concludes by a request to be baptized.
Celsus, who seems to have been a heathen or an Epicurean, derides the work with scornful com-
miseration ; but Origen rebukes this, and affirms his respect for the work. All this considered,
one must think Aristo was "almost persuaded to be a Christian," and deserves a place among
Christian writers.
FROM THE DISPUTATION OF JASON AND PAPISCUS.
"I REMEMBER," says Jerom.e {Comm. ad Gal.,
cap. iii. coram. 13), "in \\\& Dispute between
Jason and Papiscus, which is composed in
Greek,, to have found it written : ' The execra-
tion of God is he that is hanged.' "
FROM THE SAME WORK.
Jerome likewise, in his Hebrew Questions on
Genesis, says : " In the beginning God made the
heaven afid the earth. The majority believe, as
it is affirmed also in the Dispute between Jason
and Papiscus, and as TertuUian in his book
■ But see Lightfoot, A. F., part ii. vol. t. p. 524.
^ On Quadratus and Aristides, consult Routh, R. S.
Westcott, Ok the Canon, p. 92.
i In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iv. 3.
I ■♦ [Westcott supposes the Diognetus of Mathetes (vol. i. p. 23)
also i may be the work of Quadratus; Canon, p. 96.]
I 5 Routh, R. S., vol. i. p. 93. Westcott, Canon, p. 106. Grabe's
I mention. Routh's discussion, in annotations, is most learned and
' exhaustive.
749
750
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
Against Praxeas contends, and as Hilarius too,
in his exposition of one of the Psahns, declares,
that in the Hebrew it is : ' In the Son, God made
the heaven and the earth.' But that this is false,
the nature of the case itself proves."
PERHAPS FROM THE SAME WORK.
. . . And when the man himself' who had
instigated them ^ to this folly had paid the just
penalty (says Eusebius, ^w/., iv. 6), " the whole
nation from that time was strictly forbidden to
set foot on the region about Jerusalem, by the
formal decree and enactment of Adrian, who
commanded that they should not even from a
distance look on their native soil ! " So writes
Aristo of Pella.
FROM THE SAME WORK.
I have found this expression Seven heavens
(says Maximus, in Scholia on the work concerning
the Mystical Theology, ascribed to Dionysius the
Areopagite, cap. i.) also in the Dispute bettveen
Papiscus and Jason, written by Aristo of Pella,
which Clement of Alexandria, in the sixth book
of the Outlines,^ says was composed by Saint
Luke.
CONCERNING THE SAME WORK.
Thus writes Origen .•"*... in which hook a
Christian is represented disputing with a Jew
from the Jewish Scriptures, and showing that the
prophecies concerning the Christ apply to Jesus :
although his opponent addresses himself to the
argument with no common ability,5 and in a
manner not unbefitting his Jewish character.
MELITO, THE PHILOSOPHER.
[a.d. 160-170-177.] Melito'^ may have been the immediate successor of the " angel " (or
" apostle ") of the church of Sardis, to whom our Great High Priest addressed one of the apocalyptic
messages. He was an " Apostolic Father " in point of fact ; he very probably knew the blessed Poly-
carp and his disciple Irenseus. He is justly revered for the diligence with which he sought out
the evidence which, in his day, established the Canon of the Old Testament, then just complete.
In the following fragments we find him called Bishop of Sardis, Bishop of Attica, and Bishop
of Itlica. He is also introduced to us as " the Philosopher," and we shall find him styled " the
Eunuch " by Polycrates. It is supposed that he had made himself a coelebs " for the kingdom
of heaven's sake," without mistaking our Lord's intent, as did Origen. He was not a monk, but
accepted a single estate to be the more free and single-eyed in the Master's service. From the
encyclopedic erudition of Lightfoot we glean some particulars, as follows : —
1. I have adopted his date, as Lightfoot gives it, — that is, the period of his writings, — under
the Antonines. The improbability of seventy years in the episcopate is reason enough for reject-
ing the idea that he was himself the "angel of the church of Sardis," to whom our Lord sent the
terrible rebuke.
2. His silence concerning persecutions under Vespasian, Trajan, and Antoninus Pius cannot
be pleaded to exempt them from this stain, against positive evidence to the contrary.
3. A coincidence with Ignatius to the Ephesians ^ will be noted hereafter.
4. Melito, with Claudius ApoUinaris and even Polycrates, may have been personally acquainted
with Ignatius ; ^ of course, one with another. These lived not far from Smyrna ; Asia Minor was,
in the first century, the focus of Christian activity.
5. We know of his visit to the East from his own account, preserved by Eusebius. The
Christians of proconsular Asia were accustomed to such journeys. Even Clement of Alexandria
may have met him, as he seems to have met Tatian and Theodotus.^
6. Melito vouches for the rescript of Hadrian, '° but his supposed reference to the edict of
Antoninus does not bear close scrutiny as warrant for its authenticity."
' Barchochebas.
2 The Jews.
3 'Yttotuttwitu)!.
4 Contra Celsutn, iv. 52.
6 Routh, R. S., vol. i. p. 113. And see Westcott, Canon, p. 245.
7 Lightfoot, A. F., vol. ii. p. 48.
2 7(5., vol. i. p. 428.
9 Vol. ii. {Stroiiiata) p. 301, this series.
'° Vol. i. p. 186, this series.
" Lightfoot, A. F., vol. i. p. 468.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
751
7. The Apology of our author was addressed to Aurelius in his mid-career as a sovereign,
about A.D. 1 70. Justin, Melito, Athenagoras, and Theophilus all tell the same sad story of im-
perial cruelty. Even when Justin wrote to Antoninus, Marcus was supreme in the councils of the
elder emperor.'
8. He became a martyr, probably under Marcus Aurelius, circa a.d. 177;^ some eminent
critics have even dated his Apology as late as this.
I.
A DISCOURSE WHICH WAS IN THE PRESENCE OF AN-
TONINUS C^SAR, AND HE EXHORTED ^ THE SAID
C^SAR TO ACQUAINT HIMSELF WITH GOD, AND
SHOWED TO HIM THE WAY OF TRUTH.
He began to speak as follows : —
" It is not easy," said Melito, " speedily to
bring into the right way the mail who has a long
time previously been held fast by error. It may,
however, be effected : for, when a man turns
away ever so little from error, the mention of the
truth is acceptable to him. For, just as when
the cloud breaks ever so little there comes fair
weather, even so, when a man turns toward God,
the thick cloud of error which deprived him of
true vision is quickly withdrawn from before
him. For error, like disease '^ and sleep, long
holds fast those who come under its influence ; s
but truth uses the word as a goad, and smites
the slumberers, and awakens them ; and when
they are awake they look at the truth, and also
understand it : they hear, and distinguish that
which is from that which is not. For there
are men who call iniquity righteousness : they
think, for example, that it is righteousness for a
man to err with the many. But I, for my part,
affirm that it is not a good excuse /^r error that
a man errs with the many. For, if one man
only sin,^ his sin is great : how much greater
will be the sin when many sin together !
" Now, the sin of which I speak is this : when
a man abandons that which really exists, and
serves that which does not really exist. There
' is ' that which really exists, and it is called God.
He, / say, really exists, and by His power doth
everything subsist. This being is in no sense
made, nor did He ever come into being ; but
He has existed from eternity, and will continue
to exist for ever and ever. He changeth not,
while everything else changes. No eye ^ can see
Him, nor thought apprehend Him, nor language
describe Him ; and those who love Him speak
of Him thus : ' Father, and God of Truth.'
" If, therefore, a man forsake the light, and
say that there is another God, it is plain from
what he himself says that it is some created
thing which he calls God. For, if a man call
fire God, it is not God, because it is fire ; and,
if a man call water God, it is not God, because
it is water ; and, if he so call this earth on which
we tread, or these heavens which are seen by us,
or the sun, or the moon, or some one of these
stars which run their course without ceasing by
Diiune command, and do not speed along by
their own will, neither are these gods ; and, if a
man call gold and silver gods, are not these ob-
jects things which we use as we please? and, if
he so call those pieces of wood which we burn,
or those stones which we break, how can these
things be gods ? For, lo ! they are for the use
of man. How can ' they ' escape the commission
of great sin, who in their speech change the
great God into those things which, so long as
they continue, continue by Divine command ?
" But, notwithstanding this, I say that so long
as a man does not hear, and so does not discern
or understand that there is a Lord over these
creatures, he is not perhaps to be blamed : be-
cause no one finds fault with a blind man though
he walk ever so badly. For, in the same man-
ner as the blind, so men also, when they were
seeking after God, stumbled upon stones and
blocks of wood ; and such of them as were rich
stumbled upon gold and silver, and were pre-
vented by their stumblings from finditig that
which they were seeking after. But, now that
a voice has been heard through all the earth,*^
declaring that there is a God of truth, and there
has been given to every man an eye wherewith
to see, those persons are without excuse who are
ashamed oi inciirying the censure <?/ their former
companions in error, and yet desire to walk in
the right way. For those who are ashamed to
be saved must of necessity perish. I therefore
counsel them to open their eyes and see : for,
lo ! light is given abundantly 9 to us all to see
thereby ; and if, when light has arisen upon us.
' Lightfoot, A.F., vol. ii.
2 Ibid., pp. 446, 494.
3 " Which was delivered in the presence . . . and in tvhich
etc." This appears to be the sense intended, and is that given by
M. Renan: " Sermo qui factus est." Cureton renders, " Who was in
the presence, etc.," and supposes that Melito first saw and conversed
with the emperor, and afterwards wrote this discourse. Melito speaks
of it more than once as written. This view, however, does not dis-
pose of the fact that Melito is here affirmed to have " exhorted (lit.,
said to) Caesar, etc." It was clearly meant to be understood that
the discourse, or speech, was spoken : the references to writing merely
show that it was written, either before or after the delivery.
■* Cureton:
The word
takes both meanings.
passion.
5 Lit. "sojourn beneath it."
6 Cureton: " act foolishly."
^ Lit. " sight."
* Comp. Rom. x. i8.
9 Cureton: " light without envy." But the expression reembles
the Gk. dt/i^dfius, ungrudgingly, without stint.
752
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
any one close his eyes so as not to see, into the
ditch he must go.' But why is a man ashamed
of the censure of those who have been in error
along with himself? Rather does it behove him
to persuade them to follow in his steps ; and, if
they should not be persuaded by him, theyi to
disengage himself from their society. For there
are some men who are unable to rise from their
mother earth, and therefore also do they make
them gods from the -earth their mother ; and
they are condemned by the judgments of truth,
forasmuch as they apply the name of Hifii who
is unchangea"ble to those objects which are sub-
ject to change, and shrink not from calling those
things gods which have been made by the hands
of man, and dare to make an image of God
whom they have not seen.
"But I have to remark further, that the SibyP
also has said concerning them that it is the im-
ages of deceased kings that they worship. And
this is easy to understand : for, lo ! even now
they worship and honour the images of those of
Csesarean rank^ more than their former gods ;
for from those their former gods both pecuniary
tribute and produce accrue to Coesar, as to one
who is greater than they. On this account,
those who despise them, and so cause Caesar's
revenue to fall short, are put to death. But to
the treasury of other kings also it is appointed
how much the worshippers in various places shall
pay, and how many vesselfuls '^ of water from
the sea they shall supply. Such is the wicked-
ness of the world — of those who worship and
fear that which has no sensation. Many of them,
too, who are crafty, either for the sake of gain,
or for vainglory, or for dominion over the multi-
tude, both themselves worship, and incite those
who are destitute of understanding to worship,
that which has no sensation.
" I will further write and show, as far as my
ability goes, how and for what causes images
were made to kings and tyrants, and ]ioiu they
came to be regarded 5 as gods. The people of
Argos made images to Hercules, because he
belonged to their city, and was strong, and by
his valour slew noxious beasts, and more espe-
cially because they were afraid of him. For he
was subject to no control, and carried off the
wives of many : for his lust was great, like that
of Zuradi the Persian, his friend. Again, the
people of Acte worshipped Dionysus,^ a king,
' Lit. " to the ditch is his way." Comp. Matt. xv. 14.
2 See vol. i. p. 280, this series, where the following lines are
quoted by Justin Martyr tVom the Sibylline Oracles : —
" But we have strayed from the Immortal's ways,
And worship with a dull and senseless mind
Idols, the workmanship of our own hands,
And images and figures of dead men."
3 Cureton: " those belonging to the Caesars." But the Caesars
themselves are clearly meant.
■* Cureton: "sacks full." The first word is used of a leathern
pouch or wallet, as in Luke x. 4 (Peshito) for nripa.
5 Lit., " they became."
* Cureton, without necessity, reads the word " Dionysius."
because he had recently 7 planted the vine in
their country. The Egyptians worshipped Joseph
the Hebrew, who was called Serapis, because he
supplied them with corn during the years of
famine. The Athenians worshipped Athene, the
daughter of Zeus, king of the island of Crete,
because she built the town of Athens, and made
Ericthippus her son king there, whom she had
by adultery with Hephaestus, a blacksmith, son
of a wife of her father. She was, too, always
courting the society of Hercules, because he
was her brother on her father's side. For Zeus
the king became enamoured of Alcmene, the
wife of Electryon, who was from Argos, and
committed adultery with her, and she gave birth
to Hercules. The people of Phoenicia wor-
shipped Balthi,** queen of Cyprus, because she
fell in love with Tamuz, son of Cuthar king of
the Phoenicians, and left her own kingdom and
came and dwelt in Gebal, a fortress of tlie Phoe-
nicians, and at the^ same time made all the
Cyprians subject to King Cuthar. Also, before
Tamuz she had fallen in love with Ares, and
committed adultery with him ; and Hephaestus,
her husband, caught her, and his jealousy was
roused against her, and he came and killed
Tamuz in Mount Lebanon, as he was hunting 9
wild boars ; and from that time Balthi remained
in Gebal, and she died in the city of Aphiki,'°
where Tamuz was buried. The Elamites wor-
shipped Nuh, daughter of the king of Elam :
when the enemy had carried her captive, her
father made for her an image and a temple in
Shushan, a royal residence which is in Elam.
The Syrians worshipped Athi, a Hadibite, who
sent the daughter of Belat, a person skilled in
medicine, and she healed Simi, the daughter
of Hadad king of Syria ; and some time after-
wards, when Hadad himself had the leprosy
upon him, Athi entreated Elisha the Hebrew,
and he came and healed him of his leprosy.
The people of Mesopotamia also worshipped
Cuthbi, a Hebrew woman, because she delivered
Bakru, the paternal hi'ng" of Edessa, from his
enemies. With respect to Nebo, who is wor-
shipped in Mabug, why should I write to you ?
For, lo ! all the priests who are in Mabug know
that it is the image of Orpheus, a Thracian
7 Cureton renders " originally." But comp. Judith iv. 3, where
the same word answers to jrpocrc^aTios.
^ Venus.
9 Cureton's conjecture of \\ 4 mI O"" \\ » *»«1 for || «1«« ^^s
been adopted.
'° Some have identified it with Aphek, Josh. xix. 30. The rites
observed here were specially abominable.
" Cureton: " the patrician." Dr. Payne Smith, Thes. Syr. s.v.,
regards the word as equivalent to TrarJip t^s ttoX^u}';, pater ciTitatis,
" a title of honour found in the Piyzantine writers," and is inclined lo
think it a term belonging to the dialect of Edessa. A similar use
of the same adjective is quoted from Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. Taint.,
p. 12: " "3X cognomen R. Nachmanis, qui a celebritate familiae sic
cognominatus est, quasi Pairiiius." This view appears to be sup-
ported by the similar use of an adjective for a substantive above:
''persons of Csesarean rank," for " Caesars."
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
753
Magus. Hadran, again, is the image of Zara-
dusht, a Persian Magus. For both of these Magi
practised magic at a well which was in a wood
in Mabug, in which was an unclean spirit, and it
assaulted and disputed the passage of every one
who passed by in all that country in which the
town of Mabug is situated ; and these Magi, in
accordance with what was a mystery in their
Magian system, bade Simi, the daughter of Ha-
dad, to draw water from the sea and pour it into
the well, so that the spirit should not come up
and commit assault. In like manner, the rest
of mankind made images to their kings and wor-
shipped them ; of which matter I will not write
further.
" But thou, Ts. person of liberal mind, and fa-
miliar with the truth, if thou wilt /rii'/^r/)' consider
these matters, commune with thine own self; '
and, though they should clothe thee in the garb
of a woman, remember that thou art a man.
Believe in Him who is in reality God, and to
Him lay open thy mind, and to Him commit
thy soul, and He is able to give thee immortal
life for ever, for everything is possible to Him ; ^
and let all other things be esteemed by thee just
as they are — images as images, and sculptures
as sculptures ; and let not that which is only
made be put by thee in the place of Him who
is not made, but let Him, the ever-living God,
be constantly present to thy mind.^ For thy
mind itself is His likeness : for it too is invisible
and impalpable,'' and not to be represented by
any form, yet by its will is the whole bodily
frame moved. Know, therefore, that, if thou
constantly serve Him who is immoveable, even
He exists for ever, so thou also, when thou shalt
have put off this body, which is visible and cor-
ruptible, shalt stand before Him for ever, en-
dowed with life and knowledge, and thy works
shall be to thee wealth inexhaustible and pos-
sessions unfailing. And know that the chief of
thy good works is this : that thou know God, and
serve Him. Know, too, that He asketh not
anything of thee : He needeth not anything.
" Who is this God? He who is Himself truth,
and His word truth. And what is truth? That
which is not fashioned, nor made, nor represented
by art : that is, which has never been brought in-
' Lit.," be (or, get to be) with thyself" Cureton: "enter into
thyself." The me.jning appears to be, " think for ihy.self."
^ Cureton: " Everythin;^ tometh through His hands." It should
rather be, " into His hands," i.e , "He has power to do everything."
See note 7, p. 725.
^ Lit., " be running in thy mind."
< The text has - ^ A aS^^ which M. Renan derives from
the root ■ ^ ^ ^' and translates " commovctur." This, although
correct in grammar, does not suit the sense. The grammars recog-
nise the form as a possible Eshtaphel of ■ t- « " iangere," but it
is not found in actual use. Dr. Payne .Smith thinks the right reading
to be ■ ^ ^ I ?\i^r, which gives the required sense.
to existence, and is on tJiat account cd^^A truth. s
If, therefore, a man worship that which is made
with hands, it is not the truth that he worships,
nor yet the word of truth.
" I have very much to say on this subject ; but
I feel ashamed for those who do not understand
that they are superior to the work of their own
hands, nor perceive how they give gold to the
artists that they may make for them gods, and
give them silver for their adornment and honour,
and move their riches about from place to place,
and then worship them. And what infamy can
be greater than this, that a man should worship
his riches, and forsake Him who bestowed those
riches \\\>o\\ him? and that he should revile man,
yet worship the image of man ; and slay a beast,
yet worship the likeness of a beast? This also
is evident, that it is the workmanship of their
fellow-men that they worship : for they do not
worship the treasures ^ while they are laid by in
the bag, but when the artists have fashioned im-
ages out of them they worship them ; neither do
they worship the gold or the silver considered
as property,^ but when the gravers have sculp-
tured them then they worship them. Senseless
man ! what addition has been made to thy gold,
that now thou worshippest it ? If it is because
it has been made to resemble a winged animal,
why dost thou not worship the winged animal
itself? And if because it has been made like a
beast of prey, lo ! the beast of prey itself is be-
fore thee. And if it is the workmanship itself
that pleases thee," let the workmanship of God
please thee, who made all things, and in His own
likeness made the workmen, who strive to do
like Him, but resemble Him not.
" But perhaps thou wilt say : How is it that
God did not so make me that I should serve
Him, and not images? In speaking thus, thou
art seeking to become an idle instrument, and
not a living man. For God made thee as per-
fect as it seemed good to Him. He has given
thee a mind endowed with freedom ; He has set
5 Or, " that which is fi.xed and invariable." There seems to be a
reference to the derivation of PgaAf (truth) from ^M.,firmus (sta-
bills) fult. Cureton has strangely mistranslated JOOT jcori^
|c<n jjj, by " that which, without having been brought into exist-
ence, does exist." The first fCOl is nothing but the sign of em-
phatic denial which is frecjuently appended to U, and (.Offtio is the
infinitive of emphasis belonging to the second |031.
6 Cureton: "materials." The printed text has 1 1 VlVJ?
" drugs." The correct reading, there can hardly be a doubt, is
7 Lit., " the property of the gold or silver," if the word ) rffffli^.Q.'l
is rightly taken. Although no such derivative of ■ '^ *^^ is found
in the lexicons, the form is possible from the Palel of that verb: e.g.
^l^^Q,^ from ^ 1*^ r . See Hoffmann, Cm /«. J)'^r., sec. 87, ly.
754 REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
before thee objects in great number, that thou
on thy part mayest distinguish tJie nature ^y each
thing and choose for thyself that which is good ;
He has set before thee the heavens, and placed
in them the stars ; He has set before thee the
sun and the moon, and they too every day run
their course therein \ He has set before thee
tlie multitude of waters, and restrained them by
His word ; He has set before thee the wide
earth, which remains at rest, and continues be-
fore thee without variation : ' yet, lest thou
shouldst suppose that of its own nature it so
continues, He makes it also to quake when He
pleaseth ; He has set before thee the clouds,
which by His command bring water from above
and satisfy the earth — that from hence thou
mayest understand that He who puts these things
in motion is superior to them all, and mayest
accept thankfullv the goodness of Him who has
given thee a mind whereby to distinguish these
things from one another.
" Wherefore I counsel thee to know thyself,
and to know God. For understand how that
there is within thee that which is called the
soul — by it the eye seeth, by it the ear heareth,
by it the mouth speaketh ; and how it makes
use of the whole body ; and how, whenever He
pleaseth to remove the soul from the body, this
falleth to decay and perisheth. From this, there-
fore, which exists within thyself and is invisible,
understand how God also moveth the whole by
His power, like the body ; and that, whenever
it pleases Him to withdraw His power, the
whole world also, like the body, will fall to decay
and perish.
" But why this world was made, and why it
passes away, and why the body exists, and why
it falls to decay, and why it continues, thou canst
not know until thou hast raised thy head from
this sleep in which thou art sunk, and hast opened
thine eyes and seen that God is One, the Lord
of all, and hast come to serve Him with all thy
heart. Then will He grant thee to know His
will : for every one that is severed from the
knowledge of the living God is dead and buried
even 7uhile in his body. Therefore is it that
thou dost wallow on the ground before demons
and shadows, and askest vain petitions from that
which has not anything to give. But thou, stand
thou up from among those who are lying on the
earth and caressing stones, and giving their sub-
stance as food for the fire, and offering their
raiment to idols, and, while themselves possessed
of senses, are bent on serving that which has no
sensation ; and offer thou for thy imperishable
soul petitions for that which decayeth not, to
God who suffers no decay — and thy freedom
will be at once apparent ; and be thou careful of
' Lil. " in one fashion."
it,^ and give thanks to God who made thee, and
gave thee the mind of the free, that thou might-
est shape thy conduct even as thou wilt. He
hath set before thee all these things, and showeth
thee that, if thou follow after evil, thou shalt be
condemned for thy evil deeds ; but that, if after
goodness, thou shalt receive from Him abundant
good, 3 together with immortal life for ever.
"There is, therefore, nothing to hinder thee
from changing thy evil manner of life, because
thou art a free man ; or from seeking and find-
ing out who is the Lord of all ; or from serving
Him with all thy heart : because with Him there
is no reluctance to give the knowledge of Him-
self to those that seek it, according to the meas-
ure of their capacity to know Him.
" Let it be thy first care not to deceive thy-
self For, if thou sayest of that which is not
God : This is God, thou deceivest thyself, and
sinnest before the God of truth. Thou fool ! is
that God which is bought and sold? Is that
God which is in want? Is that God which must
be watched over? How buyest thou him as a
slave, and servest him as a master? How askest
thou of him, as of one that is rich, to give to
thee, and thyself givest to him as to one that is
poor? How dost thou expect of him that he
will make thee victorious in battle ? for, lo ! when
thy enemies have conquered thee, they strip him
likewise.
" Perhaps one who is a king may say : I can-
not behave myself aright, because I am a king ;
it becomes me to do the will of the many. He
who speaks thus really deserves to be laughed
at : for why should not the king himself lead the
way •* to all good things, and persuade the people
under his rule to behave with purity, and to know
God in truth, and in his own person set before
them the patterns of all things excellent — since
thus it becomes him to do ? For it is a shameful
thing that a king, however badly he may conduct
himself, should yet judge and condemn those
who do amiss.
" My opinion is this : that in ' this ' way a king-
dom may be governed in peace — when the sov-
ereign is acquainted with the God of truth, and
is withheld by fear of Him from doing wrong 5
to those who are his subjects, and judges every-
thing with equity, as one who knows that he
himself also will be judged before God ; while,
at the same time, those who are under his rule ^
are withheld by the fear of God from doing
wrong to their sovereign, and are restrained by
the same fear from doinj? wronor to one another.
2 Or, " of what pertains to it."
3 Lit. " many good things."
^ Lit. " be the beginner."
5 Cureton is probably right in so taking the words, although the
construction is not quite the same as in the similar sentence a little
below. If so, for QlJ^ we must read 31 1 V^.
^ Lit. " hand."
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
755
By this knowledge of God and fear of Him all
evil may be removed from the realm. For, if
the sovereign abstain from doing wrong to those
■^/ho are under his rule, and they abstain from
doing wrong to him and to each other, it is evi-
dent that the whole country will dwell in peace.
Many blessings, too, will be enjoyed there, be-
cause amongst them all the name of God will be
glorified. For what blessing is greater than this,
that a sovereign should deliver the people that
are under his rule from error, and by this good
deed render himself pleasing to God ? For from
error arise all those evils from which kingdoms
suffer; but the greatest of all errors is this:
when a man is ignorant of God, and in God's
stead worships tliat which is not God.
" There are, however, persons who say : It is
for the honour of God that we make the image :
in order, that is, that we may worship the God
who is concealed from our view. But they are
unaware that God is in every country, and in
every place, and is never absent, and tliat there is
not anything done and He knoweth it not. Yet
thou, despicable man ! within whom He is, and
without whom He is, and above whom He is,
hast nevertheless gone and bought thee wood
from the carpenter's, and it is carved and made
into an image insulting to God.' To this thou
offerest sacrifice, and knowest not that the all-
seeing eye seeth thee,' and that the word of truth
reproves thee, and says to thee : How can the
unseen God be sculptured ? Nay, it is the like-
Jiess of thyself that thou makest and worshippest.
Because the wood has been sculptured, hast thou
not the insight to perceive that it is still wood,
or that the stone is still stone ? The gold also
the workman^ taketh according to its weight in
the balance. And when thou hast had it made ^
into an image, why dost thou weigh it? There-
fore thou art a lover of gold, and not a lover of
God. And art thou not ashamed, perchance it
be deficient, to demand of the maker of it why
he has stolen some of it? Though thou hast
eyes, dost thou not see? And though thou hast
intelligence,'' dost thou not understand? Why
dost thou wallow on the ground, and offer sup-
plication to things which are without sense?
Fear Him who shaketh the earth, and maketh
the heavens to revolve, and suiiteth the sea, and
removeth the mountain from its place — Him
who can make Himself like a fire, and consume
all things ; and, if thou be not able to clear thy-
' Lit. " into an insult of God." So M. Renin, "in opprobrium
Dei." Cureton. admitting that this may be ihc sense, renders, " an
abomination of God," and refers to the circumstance that in Scripture
an idol is frequently so spoken of. But 't^l is not used in such
passages (it is either jZci^X^, or, less frcquenly, |Zc.!tf j_^ ), nor
does it appear ever to have the meaning which Cureton assigns to it.
2 Lit. " he."
3 Lit. " hast made it."
* Lit. " heart."
self of guilt, yet add not to thy sins ; and, if thou
be not able to know God, yet doubt not 5 that
He exists.
" Again, there are persons who say: Whatso-
ever our fathers have bequeathed to us, that we
reverence. Therefore, of course, it is, that those
whose fathers have bequeathed them poverty
strive to become rich ! and those whose fathers
did not instruct them, desire to be instructed,
and to learn that which their fathers knew not !
And why, forsooth, do the children of the blind
see, and the children of the lame walk ? Nay,
it is not well for a man to follow his prede-
cessors, if they be those whose course was evil ;
but rather that we should turn from that path
of theirs, lest that which befell onr predecessors
should bring disaster upon us also. Wherefore,
inquire whether thy father's course was good :
and, if so, do thou also follow in his steps ; but,
if thy father's course was very evil, let thine be
good, and so let it be with thy children after
thee.''^ Be grieved also for thy father because
his course is evil, so long as thy grief may avail
to help him. But, as for thy children, speak to
them thus : There is a God, the Father of all,
who never came into being, neither was ever
made, and by whose will all things subsist. He
also made the luminaries, that His works may
see one another; and He conceals Himself in
His power from all His works : for it is not per-
mitted to any being subject to change to see
Him who changes not. But such as are mindful
of His 7iiords, and are admitted into that cove-
nant which is unchangeable, ' they ' see God — so
far as it is possible for them to see Him. These
also will have power to escape destruction, when
the flood of fire comes upon all the world. For
there was once a flood and a wind,^ and the
great ^ men were swept away by a violent blast
from the north, but the just were left, for a dem-
onstration of the truth. Again, at another time
there was a flood of water, and all men and ani-
mals perished in the multitude of waters, but
the just were preserved in an ark of wood by
the command of God. So also will it be at the
last time : there shall be a flood of fire, and the
earth shall be burnt up, together with its moun-
5 Lit. "be of opinion."
6 This seems preferable to Cureton's, "and let thy children also
follow after thee." Had this been the meaning, probably the verb
'^ll would have been used, as in the preceding sentence, not f 5j,
^ So the Sibylline oracle, as quoted by Cureton in the Greek: —
" And, when he would the starry steep of heaven
Ascend, the Sire Immortal did his works
With mighty blasts assail: forthwith the winds _
Hurled prostrate from its height the towering pile.
And bitter strife among the builders roused."
8 Lit. " chosen." The same expression, except that the similar
I'iijJ^, is used for jy*^ i , occurs Sap. Sol. xiv. 6, as a transla-
tion of i/7repr|<^di'wi' yiyai'Tuji', gigantes superbi. See Thes. Syr.,
756
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
tains ; and mankind sliall be burnt up, along
with the idols which tliey have made, and the
carved images which they have worshipped ;
and the sea shall be burnt up, together with its
islands ; but the just shall be preserved from
wrath, like as were their fellows of the ark from
the waters of the deluge. And then shall those
who ha\'e not known God, and those who have
made them idols, bemoan themselves, when they
shall see those idols of theirs being burnt up,
together with themselves, and nothing shall be
found to help them.
" When thou, Antoninus ' Caesar, shalt become
acquainted with these things, and thy children
also with thee, then wilt thou bequeath to them
an inheritance for ever which fadeth not away,
and thou wilt deliver thy soul, and the souls of
thy children also, from that which shall come
upon the whole earth in the judgment of truth
and of righteousness. For, according as thou
hast acknowledged Him here, so will He ac-
knowledge thee there ; and, if thou account
Him here superfluous, He will not account thee
one of those who have known Him and con-
fessed Him.
" These may suffice thy Majesty ; and, if they
be too many, yet deign to accept them." ^
Here endeth Melito.
11.
FROM THE DISCOURSE ON SOUL AND B0DY.3
For this reason did the Father send His Son
from heaven without a bodily form, that, when
He should put on a body by means of the Vir-
gin's womb, and be born man, He might save
man, and gather together those members of His
which death had scattered when he divided
man.
Afid further on: — The earth shook, and its
foundations trembled ; the sun fled away, and
the elements turned back, and the day was
changed into night: for they could not endure
//'^'j^/V^//^ their Lorci hanging on a tree. The
whole creation was amazed, marvelling and say-
ing, "What new mystery, then, is this? The
Judge is judged, and holds his peace; the In-
visible One is seen, and is not ashamed ; the
Incomprehensible is laid hold upon, and is
not indignant ; the Illimitable is circumscribed,
and doth not resist ; the Impassible suffereth,
and doth not avenge ; the Immortal dieth, and
answereth not a word ; the Celestial is laid in
the grave, and endureth ! ^\'hat new mystery is
this?" The whole creation, / say, was aston-
* The MS. has " Antonius."
2 Cureton, for the last clause, gives "as thou wilt," remarking
that the sense is obscure. The literal rendering is, " if thou wilt,"
the consequent clause being unexpressed. " If you please, accept
theiii," seems what is meant.
J By .Melito, bibhop of bardis.
ished ; but, when our Lord arose from the place
of the dead, and trampled death under foot,
and bound the strong one, and set man free,
then did the whole creation see clearly that for
man's sake the Judge was condemned, and the
Invisible was seen, and the Illimitable was cir-
cumscribed, and the Impassible suffered, and
the Immortal died, and the Celestial was laid
in the grave. For our Lord, when He was born
man, was condemned in order that He might
show mercy, was bound in order that He might
loose, was seized in order that He might release,
suffered in order that He might feel compassion,*
died in order that He might give life, was laid in
the grave that He might raise /?-om the dead.^
HI.
FROM THE DISCOURSE ON THE CROSS.^
On these accounts He came to us ; on these
accounts, though He was incorporeal, He formed
for Himself a body after our fashion, 7 — appear-
ing as a sheep, yet still remaining the Shepherd ;
being esteemed a servant, yet not renouncing the
Sonship ; being carded /;/ the womb of Mary,
yet arrayed in the nature of His Father ; tread-
ing upon the earth, yet filling heaven ; appearing
as an infant, yet not discarding the eternity of
His nature : being invested with a body, yet not
circumscribing the unmixed simplicity of His
Godhead ; being esteemed poor, yet not divested
of His riches; needing sustenance inasmuch as
He was man, yet not ceasing to feed the entire
world inasmuch as He is God ; putting on th?
likeness of a servant, yet not impairing^ the
likeness of His Father. He sustained every
character "^ belonging to Him in an immutable
nature : He was standing before Pilate, and at
the same time was sitting with His Father ; He
was nailed upon the tree, and yet was the Lord
of all things.
IV.
ON FAITH. '°
We have collected together extracts from the
Law and the Prophets relating to those things
which have been declared concerning our Lord
Jesus Christ, that we may prove to your love
that this Being is perfect reason, the \Vord of
God ; He who was begotten before the light ;
He who is Creator together with the Father ; He
who is the Fashioner of man ; He who is all in
all ; He who among the patriarchs is Patriarch ;
He who in the law is the Law ; among the
4 ■ frt >a1 seems to be the true reading, not the
of the
printed MS.
5 [.Such passages sustain the testimony of Jerome and others, that
this venerable and learned Father was an eloquent preacher.]
6 By the same.
' Or " wove — a body from our material."
8 Lit. " changing."
9 Lit. " He was everj'thlng."
l-^ Of .Melito the bishop.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
757
priests. Chief Priest ; among kings, the Ruler ;
among prophets, the Prophet ; among the angels.
Archangel ; in the voice of the preacher, the
Word ; among spirits, the Spirit ; in the Father,
the Son ; in God, God ; King for ever and ever.
For this is He who was pilot to Noah ; He who
was guide to Abraham ; He who was bound with
Isaac ; He who was in exile with Jacob ; He who
was sold with Joseph ; He who was captain of
the host with Moses ; He who was the divider
of the inheritance with Jesus the son of Nun ;
He who in David and the prophets announced
His own sufferings; He who put on a bodily
form in the Virgin ; He who was born in Beth-
lehem ; He who was wrapped in swaddling-
clothes in the manger ; He who was seen by the
shepherds ; He who was glorified by the angels ;
He who was worshipped by the Magi ; He who
was pointed out by John ; He who gathered to-
gether the apostles ; He who preached the king-
dom ; He who cured the lame ; He who gave
light to the blind ; He who raised the dead ;
He who appeared in the temple ; He who was
not believed on by the people ; He who was
betrayed by Judas ; He who was apprehended
by the priests ; He who was condemned by
Pilate ; He who was pierced in the flesh ; He
who was hanged on the tree ; He who was buried
in the earth ; He who rose from the place of
the dead ; He who appeared to the apostles ;
He who was carried up to heaven ; He who is
seated at the right hand of the Father ; He who
is the repose of those that are departed ; the
recoverer of those that are lost ; the light of
those that are in darkness ; the deliverer of those
that are captive ; the guide of those that go
astray ; the asylum of the afflicted ; the bride-
groom of the Church ; the charioteer of the
cherubim ; the captain of the angels ; God who
i.i from God ; the Son who is from the Father ;
Jesus Christ the King for evermore. Amen.
V.'
This is He who took a bodily form in the Vir-
gin, and was hanged upon the tree, and was
buried within the earth, and suffered not disso-
lution ; He who rose from the place of the dead,
and raised up men from the earth — from the
grave below to the height of heaven. This is
the Laml) that was slain ; this is the I,amb that
opened not His mouth.- This is He who was
born of Mary, fair sheep of the fold. This is He
that was taken from the flock, and was led to
the slaughter, and was slain in the evening, and
was buried at night ; He who had no bone of
Him broken on the tree ; He who suffered not
dissolution within the earth ; He who rose from
' By Melito, bishop of Atlica. [Of this epigraph, which becomes
Ittica below, I have never seen a sufficient explanation.]
~ Lit. " the Lamb without voice."
the place of the dead, and raised up the race of
Adam from the grave below. This is He who
was put to death. And where was He put to
death? In the midst of Jerusalem. By whom?
By Israel : because He cured their lame, and
cleansed their lepers, and gave light to their
blind, and raised their dead ! This was the
cause of His death. Thou, O Israel, wast giv-
ing commands, and He was being crucified ;
thou wast rejoicing, and He was being buried ;
thou wast reclining on a soft couch, and He was
watching in the grave and the shroud. 3 O Israel,
transgressor of the law, why hast thou committed
this new iniquity, subjecting the Lord to new suf-
ferings— thine own Lord, Him who fashioned
thee. Him who made thee. Him who honoured
thee, who called thee Israel? But thou hast not
been found to be Israel : for thou hast not seen
God, nor understood the Lord. Thou hast not
known, O Israel, that this was the first-born of
God, who was begotten before the sun, who
made the light to shine forth, who lighted up the
day, who separated the darkness, who fixed the
first foundations, who poised the earth, who col-
lected the ocean, who stretched out the firma-
ment, who adorned the world. Bitter were thy
nails, and sharp ; bitter thy tongue, which thou
didst whet ; bitter was Judas, to whom thou
gavest hire ; bitter thy false witnesses, whom
thou stirredst up ; bitter thy gall, which thou
preparedst ; bitter thy vinegar, which thou mad-
est ; bitter thy hands, filled with blood. Thou
slewest thy Lord, and He was lifted up upon the
tree; -and an inscription was fixed above, to
show who He was that was slain. And who was
this? (that which we shall not say is too shock-
ing to hear, and that which we shall say is very
dreadful: nevertheless hearken, and tremble.)
// 7vas He because of whom the earth quaked.
He that hung up the earth in space was Himself
hanged up ; He that fixed the heavens was fixed
ivith nails; He that bore up the earth was
borne up on a tree ; the Lord of all was sub-
jected to ignominy in a naked body — God put
to death ! the King of Israel slain vvith Israel's
right hand ! Alas for the new wickedness of
the new murder ! The Lord was exposed with
naked body : He was not deemed worthy even
of covering ; and, in order that He might not
be seen, the luminaries turned away, and the day
became darkened,-* because they slew God, who
hung naked on the tree. It was not the body
of our Lord that the luminaries covered with
darkness when they set, 5 but the eyes of men.
3 The Greek ^Awo-wokoihoi'.
•• [For Phlegon's testimony, see references, vol. vii. p. 257. But
note Lightfoot, Ap. F., part ii. vol-i. p. 512; his remark on Origen,
Cehiis, vol. iv. p. 437, this series.]
s This is the rendering of " ^1 ^ ; but Cureton has " fied," as
though he read CXa^.
758
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
For, because the people quaked not, the earth
quaked ; because they were not affrighted, the
earth was affrighted. Thou smotest thy Lord :
thou also hast been smitten upon the earth. And
thou indeed liest dead ; but He is risen from
the place of the dead, and ascended to the
height of heaven, having suffered for the sake of
those who suffer, and having been bound for the
sake of Adam's race which was imprisoned, and
having been judged for the sake of him who was
condemned, and having been buried for the sake
of him who was buried.
And further on : — This is He who made the
heaven and the earth, and in the beginning, to-
gether with the Father, fashioned man ; who was
announced by means of the law and the proph-
ets ; who put on a bodily form in the Virgin ;
who was hanged upon the tree ; who was buried
in the earth ; who rose from the place of the
dead, and ascended to the height of heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of the Father.
He that bore up the earth was borne up on a
tree. The Lord was subjected to ignominy with
naked body — God put to death, the King of
Israel slain !
P^RAGMENTS.^
I.
FROM THE WORK ON THE PASSOVER.^
When Servilius Paulus was proconsul of Asia,
at the time that Sagaris^ suffered martyrdom,
there arose a great controversy at Laodicea con-
cerning tlie time of the celebration of the Passover,
which on that occasion had happened to fall at
the proper season ; s and this treatise was tlien
written.^
II.
FROM THE APOLOGY ADDRESSED TO MARCUS
AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 7
For the race of the pious is now persecuted
in a way contrary to all precedent, being har-
' By the holy Melito, bishop of the city of Ittica. [For Mehto, in
Lightfoot's Afiost. Fathers, consult part ii. vol. i. pp. 133, 328, 428,
443-446, 468-469, 494. See Lardner, Credib., vol. ii. 1 57, etc. ; West-
cott, Canon, p. 246. See Polycraies, hifra; on which consult
Schaff, History, etc., vol. ii. p. 736. Above all, see Routh, R. S.,
torn. i. pp. 113-153.]
2 The following Fragments of Melito are translated from the
Greek, except No. IX., which is taken from the Latin.
i In Eusebius, Nist. Eicl , iv. 26. [Melito wrote two books on
the Paschal and one O71 the Lord's Day (0 jrepi Kupiax^? A070?), ac-
cording to Eusebius. P.ut is this On the Lord's Day other than one
of the books on the Paschal? It may be doubted. Routh refers us
to Barnabas. See vol. i. cap 15, note 7, p. 147, this series. See
also Dionysius of Corinth, in/rn.}
4 He was bishop of Laodicea, and suffered martyrdom during the
persecution under M. Aurelius .Antoninus — MiGNE.
5 The churches of Asia Minor kept Easter on the fourteenth day
from the new moon, whatever day of the week that might be; and
hence were called Qiinrtodeczmnns. Other churches, chiefly those
of the West, kept it on the Sunday following the day of the. Jewish
passover. In the case here referred to, the 14th of the month oc-
curred on the .Sunday in question.
'" Migne, not so naturally, punctuates otherwise, and renders,
" which had happened then to fall at the proper season, and on that
occasion this treatise was written."
7 In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., t. e.
assed by a new kind of edicts ^ everywhere in
Asia. For unblushing informers, and such as
are greedy of other men's goods, taking occasion
from the orders issued, carry on their robbery
without any disguise, plundering of their prop-
erty night and day those who are guilty of no
If these proceedings take place at thy bid-
ding,") well and good.'° For a just sovereign will
never take unjust measures ; and we, on our part,
gladly accept the honour of such a death. This
request only we present to thee, that thou wouldst
first of all examine for thyself into the behaviour
of these reputed agents of so much strife, and
then come to a just decision as to whether they
merit death and punishment, or deserve to live
in safety and quiet. But if, on the contrary, it
shall turn out that this measure, and this new sort
of command, which it would be unbecoming to
employ even against barbarian foemen, do not
proceed from thee, then all the more do we en-
treat thee not to leave us thus exposed to the
spoliation of the populace.
For the philosophy current with us flourished
in the first instance among barbarians;" and,
when it afterwards sprang up among the nations
under thy rule, during the distinguished reign of
thy ancestor Augustus, it proved to be a blessing
of most happy omen to thy empire. For from
that time the Roman power has risen to great-
ness and splendour. To this power thou hast
succeeded as the much desired '^ possessor ; and
such shalt thou continue, together with thy son,'^
if thou protect that philosophy which has grown
up with thy empire, and which took its rise with
Augustus ; to which also thy more recent ances-
tors paid honour, along with the other religions
prevailing in the empire. A very strong proof,
moreover, that it was for good that the system
we profess came to prevail at the same time that
the empire of such happy commencement was
established, is this — that ever since the reign
of Augustus nothing untoward has happened ;
but, on the contrary, everything has contributed
to the splendour and renown of the empire, in
accordance with the devout wishes '^ of all. Nero
and Domitian alone of all tlie emperors, imposed
8 Migne thinks that by these are meant the orders given by magis-
trates of cities on their own authority", in distinction from those which
issued from emperors or governors of provinces.
9 The reference must be to private letters: for in any of the lead-
ing cities of Asia a mandate of the emperor would have been made
public before the proconsul proceeded to execute it. — Migne.
'° 'EoTTcu KoAoJ! y(.v6\xivov seems to be here used in the sense of
KaAw? alone. The correctness of Migne's translation, recte atgue
ordine facta snnto, is open to doubt.
'■ The Jews. Porphyry calls the doctrines of the Christians /3ap-
Papov ToA/i^fia. See Euseb., Hist. Eccl., vi. 19. — MiGNE.
'^ Commodus, who hence appears to have been not yet associated
with his father m the empire. — MlGNE.
14 Ei>;^as.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
759
upon by certain calumniators, have cared to
bring any impeachment against our doctrines.
They, too, are the source from which it has hap-
pened that the lying slanders on those who pro-
fess them have, in consequence of the senseless
habit which prevails of taking things on hear-
say, flowed down to our own times.' But the
course which they in their ignorance pursued
was set aside by thy pious progenitors, who fre-
quently and in many instances rebuked by their
rescripts^ those who dared to set on foot any
hostilities against them. It appears, for exam-
ple, that thy grandfather Adrian wrote, among
others, to Fundanus, the proconsul then in
charge of the government of Asia. Thy father,
too, when thou thyself wast associated with him ^
in the administration of the empire, wrote to the
cities, forbidding them to take any measures ad-
verse to us : among the rest to the people of
Larissa, and of Thessalonica, and of Athens, and,
in short, to all the Greeks. And as regards
thyself, seeing that thy sentiments respecting the
Christians "* are not only the same as theirs, but
even much more generous and wise, we are the
more persuaded that thou wilt do all that we ask
of thee.
III.
FROM THE SAME APOLOGY. 5
We are not those who pay homage to stones,
that are without sensation ; but of the only God,
who is before all and over all, and, moreover,
we are worshippers of His Christ, who is verita-
bly God the Word '^ existing before all time.
IV.
FROM THE BOOK OF EXTRACTS.^
Melito to his brother Onesimus, greeting : —
As you have often, prompted by your regard
for the word of Goii, expressed a wish to have
some extracts made from the Law and the
Prophets concerning the Saviour, and concern-
ing our faith in general, and have desired, more-
over, to obtain an accurate account of the
Ancient Books, as regards their number and
their arrangement, I have striven to the best of
my ability to perform this task : well knowing
your zeal for the faith, and your eagerness to
become acquainted with the Word, and espe-
cially because / am assured that, through your
yearning after God, you esteem these things be-
yond all things else, engaged as you are in a
struggle for eternal salvation.
^ * \(\>' biv Kai TO tt)? (TVKOtjyavTLa^ aAdyuj (rvy7}9eia Trept Tou?
TOLOvTov; pvrivai, trujx^e^rjKe ^ev&oi,
2 '¥.yypacf>o>^.
3 The reading of Valesius, crov to. -rravTa (jvv&ioi.KOvvTO<i aiuSi, is
here adopted.
4 Uept TovTwi'.
5 In the Chrotiicon Alexandrinunt.
' In Eusebius, /. c.
I accordingly proceeded to the East, and
went to the very spot where the things in qucs-
tio7i were preached and took place ; and, having
made myself accurately acquainted with the
books of the Old Testament, I have set them
down below, and herewith send you tlie list.
Their names are as follows : —
The five books of Moses — Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy ; Joshua,'^
Judges, Ruth, the four books of Kings, the two
of Chronicles, the book of the Psalms of David,
the Proverbs of Solomon, also called the Book of
Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job,
the hooks of \\\& prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, of the
twelve contained in a single book, Daniel, Eze-
kiel, Esdras. From these I have made my ex-
tracts, dividing them into six books.
V.
FROM THE CATENA ON GENESIS.^
In place of Isaac the just, a ram appeared for
slaughter, in order that Isaac might be liberated
from his bonds. The slaughter of this animal
redeemed Isaac from death. In like ' manner,
the Lord, being slain, saved us ; being bound.
He loosed us ; being sacrificed, He redeemed
us. . . .
For the Lord was a lamb, like the ram which
Abraham saw caught in the bush Sabec.'° But
this bush represented the cross, and that place
Jerusalem, and the lamb the Lord bound for
slaughter.
For as a ram was He bound, says he concern-
ing our Lord Jesus Christ, and as a lamb was He
shorn, and as a sheep was He led to the slaugh-
ter, and as a lamb was He crucified ; and He
carried the cross" on His shoulders when He
was led up to the hill to be slain, as was Isaac
by his father. But Christ suffered, and Isaac
did not suffer : for he was but a type of Him
who should suffer. Yet, even when serving only
for a type of Christ, he smote men with aston-
ishment and fear.
For a new mystery was presented to view, — •
a son led by his father to a mountain to be slain,
whose feet he bound together, and laid him on
the wood of the sacrifice, preparing with care '^
whatever was necessary to his immolation. Isaac
on his part is silent, bound like a ram, not open-
ing his mouth, nor uttering a sound with his
voice. For, not fearing the knife, nor quailing
before the fire, nor troubled by the -prospect of
suffering, he sustained bravely the character of
the type of the Lord. Accordingly there lies
^ 'I>j<ro09 Nravj).
9 From Melito of Sardis.
'° The Hebrew word llDp, thicket, is not found as a proper name.
" To^vkov.
12 ilera o-7rov5>)S. Migne: Ciimfestinationc.
-jdo REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
Isaac before us, with his feet bound like a ram,
his father standing by, with the knife all bare in
his hand, not shrinking from shedding the blood
of his son.
VI.
TWO SCHOLIA ON GKN. XXII. 1 3.'
The Syriac and the Hebrew use the word
"suspended,"- as more clearly typifying the
cross.
The word Sabek ^ some have rendered re-
mission,^ others iiprigiit,'^ as if the meaning,
agreeing with the popular belief, were — a goat
walking erect up to a bush, and there standing
erect caught by his horns, so as to be a plain
type of the cross. For this reason it is not trans-
lated, because the single Hebrew word signifies
in other languages '^ many things. To those,
however, who ask it is proper to give an answer,
and to say that Sabek denotes lifted upj
VII.
ON THE NATURE OF CHRIST.^
For there is no need, to persons of intelligence,
to attempt to prove, from the deeds of Christ
subsequent to His baptism, that His soul and
His body. His human nature ^ like ours, were
real, and no phantom of the imagination. For
the deeds done by Christ after His baptism, and
especially His miracles, gave indication and as-
surance to the world of the Deity hidden in His
flesh. For, being at once both God and per-
fect man likewise, He gave us sure indications
of His two natures : '° of His Deity, by His mir-
acles during the three years that elapsed after
His baptism ; of His humanity, during the thirty
similar periods which preceded His baptism, in
which, by reason of His low estate " as regards
the flesh, He concealed the signs of His Deity,
although He was the true God existing before
all ages.
VIII.
FROM THE ORATION ON OUR LORD'S PASSION."
God has suffered from the right hand of Is-
rael.'3
' In the edition of the LXX. published by Card. Caraffe, 1581.
2 /cpe^i.aiu.ei'o?. The Hebrew is TH^Jj the Syriac | >m|, both
meaning simply " caught."
3 See note on the fragment just before.
5 opflios.
6 Lit. " when translated."
7 CTTTJpjU.ei'O?.
^ In Anastasius of .Sinai, The Guide, ch. 13.
9 Or, according to Migne's punctuation, " His soul, and the body
of His human nature." The words are, to aAijOe? xal a(i>aviaaTov
Trj<; tliv\r\<; avTou *cat Toii (7ui/.taTO? tt)? Ka9* 17/xas ai'0pio7rtK^5 (^vccw^.
1° Oiitrias. [Comp. note 13, jVj/ya.]
^^ To aTeAei.
'- Anastasius, Guide, ch. 12.
'3 [O 0eos TTcT!oi'6ev inr'o 5efias 'I<rpai)AcTiSo5. Compare Tatian,
vol ii. p. 71, note 2; also Origen, vol. iv. p. 480, note 4, this series.
And see Routh, Ji. S., i. p. 148. So " God put to death," p. 757,
su/>ra.]
IX.'4
Head of the Lord — His simple Divinity ; be-
cause He is the Beginning and Creator of all
things : in Daniel. '5
The white hair of the Lord, because He is
" the Ancient of Days : " as above.
The eyes of the Lord — the Divine inspection :
because He sees all things. Like that in the
apostle : For all things are naked and open in
His eyes." '^
The eyelids of the Lord — hidden spiritual
mysteries in the Divine precepts. In the Psalm :
" His eyelids question, that is prove, the chil-
dren of men." '7
The stnelling of the Lord — His delight in
the prayers or works of the saints. In Gen-
esis : " And the Lord smelled an odour of sweet-
ness." '^
The month of the Lord — His Son, or word
addressed to men. In the prophet, " The mouth
of the Lord hath spoken ; " '9 and elsewhere,
"They provoked His mouth to anger." ^°
The tongue of the Lord — His Holy Spirit. In
the Psalm : " My tongue is a pen." ^'
The face of the Lord — His manifestation. In
Exodus, " My face shall go before thee ; " -- and
in the prophet, " The face of the Lord divided
them." 23
The word of the Lord — His Son. In the
Psalm : " My heart hath uttered a good
word." 2'
The arm of the Lord — His Son, by whom
He hath wrought all His works. In the prophet
Isaiah : "And to w4iom is the arm of the Lord
revealed ?" ^■»
The right hand of the Loi-d — that is. His
Son ; as also abo\e in the Psalm : " The right
hand of the Lord hath done valiantly." ^s
The right hand of the Lord — electio omnis.
As in Deuteronomy : " In His right hand is a
fiery law." ^^
The wings of the Lord — Divine protection.
In the Psalm : " In the shadow of Thy wings
will I hope." 27
The shoulder of the Lord — the Divine power,
by which He condescends to carry the feeble.
In Deuteronomy : " He took them up, and put
them on His shoulders."-^
The hand of the Lord — Divine operation.
'■* From The Key.
'5 Dan. vii. 9, 13, 22.
''^ Heb. iv. 13.
■7 Ps. xi.4-
'^ Gen. viii. 21.
'9 Isa. i. 20.
20 Lam. i. 18.
21 Ps. xlv. 1.
22 Ex. xxxiii. 14.
23 Lam. IV. 16.
^< Isa. liii. I.
25 Ps. cxviii. 16.
26 Deut. xxxiii. 2.
27 Ps. Ivii. I.
28 Deut. xxxiii. 12.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
761
In the prophet : " Have not my hands made all
these things? " '
The finger of the Lofd — the Holy Spirit, by
whose operation the tables of the law in Exodus
are said ro have been vv^ritten ; ^ and in the Gos-
pel : " If I by the finger of God cast out de-
mons." 3
The fingers of . the Lord — The lawgiver
Moses, or the prophets. In the Psalm : " I
will regard the heavens," that is, the books of
the Law and the Prophets, " the works of Thy
fingers." •*
The zuisdoni of the Lord — His Son. In the
apostle : •' Christ the power of God, and the
wisdom of God ; " 5 and in Solomon : "The wis-
dom of the Lord reacheth from one end to the
other mightily." ^
The womb of the Lord — the hidden recess of
Deity out of which He brought forth His Son.
In the Psalm : " Out of the womb, before Luci-
fer, have I borne Thee. 7
Tlie feet of the Lord — Llis immoveableness
and eternity. In the Psalm : " And thick dark-
ness toas under His feet." '^
The throne of the Lord — angels, or saints, or
simply sovereign dominion.^ In the Psalm :
" Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." '°
Seat — the same as above, angels or saints,
because the Lord sits upon these. In the Psalm :
"The Lord sat upon His holy seat." "
The descent of the Lord — His visitation of
men. As in Micah : " Behold, the Lord shall
come forth from His place ; He shall come
down trampling under foot the ends of the
earth." '^ Likewise in a bad sense. In Genesis :
" The Lord came down to see the tower." '^
The ascent of the Lord — the raising up of
man, who is taken from earth to heaven. In the
Psalm : " Who ascendeth above the heaven of
heavens to the east." ''^
The standing of the Lord — the patience of
the Deity, by which He bears with sinners that
they may come to repentance. As in Habak-
kuk : " He stood and measured the earth ; " 'S
and in the Gospel : " Jesus stood, and bade him
be called," ■'^ that is, the blind man.
The transition of tJie Lord — Ldis assumption
of our flesh, through which by His birth. His
death. His resurrection. His ascent into heaven,
' Isa. Ixvi. 2.
2 Ex. xxxiv. I.
3 Luke xi. 20.
4 Ps. viii. 3.
5 I Cor. i. 24.
^ Sap. viii. i.
7 Ps. ex. 3.
8 Ps. xviii 9.
9 Ipsa regnandi potestas.
■'' I's. xlv. 6; comp. Ps. v., xxix.
" Ps xlvii. 8.
'- Mic. i. 3.
'3 Gen.xi. 3.
'■< Ps. Ixviii. 33.
'5 Hab. iii. 6.
'*' Mark x. 49.
He made transitions, so to say. In the Song of
Songs : " Behold, He cometh, leaping upon the
mountains, bounding over the hills." '7
Tlie going ■'^ of the Lord — His coming or visi-
tation. In the Psalm.
The way of the Lord — the operation of the
Deity. As in Job, in speaking of the devil :
" He is the beginning of the ways of the Lord." ''-'
Again : The ways of tlie Lord — His precepts.
In Hosea : " For the ways of the Lord are
straight, and the just shall walk in them." ^°
The footsteps of the Lord — the signs of Ldis
secret operations. As in the Psalm : " And Thy
footsteps shall not be known." ^'
The knowledge of the Lord — that which makes
men to know Him. To Abraham Lie says:
" Now I know that thou fearest the Lord ; " ^^
that is, I have made thee to know.
The ignorafice of God^^ is Ldis disapproval.
In the Gospel : " I know you not." ^+
The remembrance of God — His mercy, by
which He rejects and has mercy on whom He
will. So in Genesis : " The Lord remembered
Noah ; " ^5 and in another passage : " The Lord
hath remembered His people." ^''
The repentance of the Lord — Ldis change of
procedure. ^^ As in the book of Kings : " It re-
pented me that I have made Saul king." ''^
The anger and wrath of the Lord — the ven-
geance of the Deity upon sinners, when He
bears with them with a view to punishment, does
not at once judge them according to strict etjuity.
As in the Psalm : " In His anger and in His
wrath will He trouble them." ^9
The sleeping of the Loj-d — when, in the
thoughts of some, His faithfulness is not suffi-
ciently wakeful. In the Psalm : " Awake, why
sleepest Thou, O Lord ? " 3°
The watches of the Lord — in the guardianship
of His elect He is always at hand Ijy the pres-
ence of Ldis Deity. In the Psalm : " Lo ! He
will not slumber nor sleep." ^i
The sitting of the Lord — His ruling. In the
Psalm: "The Lord sitteth upon His holy
seat." "
The footstool of the Lord — man assumed by
the Word ; or His saints, as some think. In the
Psalm : "Worship ye His footstool, for it is holy."
The lualking of the Lord — the delight of
17 Cant. Cant. ii. S.
■' CJressus.
19 Job xl. ig.
'^^ Hos. xiv. lo.
21 P^. Ixxvii. ig.
22 Gen. xxii. 12.
23 Ne.scire Dei.
^'t Luke xiii. 25.
-5 Gen. viii. i.
26 Esther x. 12.
27 Rerum mutatlo.
28 I Sam. XV. II.
29 Ps. ii. 5.
30 Ps. xliv. 23.
31 Ps. cxxi. 4.
762
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
the Deity in the walks of His elect. In the proph- In the apostle: "At the command, and at the
et : " I will walk in them, and will be their Lord.'" voice of the archangel, and at the trumpet of
The trumpet of the Lord — His mighty voice. [ God, shall He descend from heaven." ^
HEGESIPPUS.J
[a.d. 170.] One of the sub-Apostolic age, a contemporary of Justin and of the mart}TS of
"the good Aurelius," we must yet distinguish Hegesippus^ from the apologists. He is the
earliest of the Church's chroniclers — we can hardly call him a historian. His aims were noble
and his character was pure ; nor can we refuse him the credit due to a foresight of the Church's
ultimate want of historical material, which he endeavoured to supply.
What is commonlv regarded as his defect is in reality one of his greatest merits as a witness :
he was a Hebrew, and looks at the Church from the stand-point of "James the Lord's brother."
When we observe his Catholic spirit, therefore, as well as his Catholic orthodoxy ; his sympathy
with the Gentile Church and Pauline faith of the Corinthians ; his abhorrence of " the Circum-
cision " so far as it bred sects and heresies against Christ ; and when vve find him confirming the
testimony of the Apostolic Fathers, and sustaining the traditions of Antioch by those of Jerusalem,
— we have double reason to cherish his name, and to treasure up "the fragments that remain " of his
works. That touching episode of the kindred of Christ, as they appeared before Domitian, has
always impressed my imagination as worthy to be classed with the story of St. John and the rob-
ber, as one of the most suggestive incidents of early Christian history. We must lament the loss
of other portions of the Memoirs which were known to exist in the seventeenth century. He
was a traveller, and must have seen much of the Apostolic churches in the East and West ; and
the mere scraps we have of his narrative concerning Corinth and Rome excite a natural curiosity
as to the rest, which may lead to gratifying discoveries.
FRAGMENTS FROM HIS FIVE BOOKS OF COMMENTARIES ON THE ACTS OF THE
CHURCH.
CONCERNING THE MARTYRDOM OF JA:\IES, THE
BROTHER OF THE LORD, FROM BOOK V.5
James, the Lord's brother, succeeds to the
government of the Church, in conjunction with
the apostles. He has been universally called tJie
Just, from the days of the Lord down to the
present time. For many bore the name of
James ; but this one was holy from his mother's
womb. He drank no wine or other intoxicating
liquor,*^ nor did he eat flesh ; no razor came upon
his head ; he did not anoint himself with oil,
nor make use of the bath. He alone was per-
mitted to enter the holy place : ^ for he did not
wear any woollen garment, but. fine linen only.
He alone, / say, was wont to go into the tem-
ple : and he used to be found kneeling on his
knees, begging forgiveness for the people — so
that the skin of his knees became horny like
that of a camel's, by reason of his constantly
bending the knee in adoration to God, and beg-
ging forgiveness for the people. Therefore, in
consequence of his pre-eminent justice, he was
called tJie Just, and Oblias^ which signifies in
Greek Defence of the People, and Justice, in ac-
cordance with what the prophets declare con-
cerning him.
Now some persons belonging to the seven
sects existing among the people, which have
been before described by me in the Notes,
asked him: "What is the door of Jesus?"
' Ezek. xxxvii. 27.
2 I Thess. iv. 15. [The nbove has been shown to have no claim
to be the work of Melito. It is a compilation of the sixth century,
in all probability.]
3 Westcott, Canon, p 228.
* Routh, y?t'/. Sar., vol. i pp. 205-219. Lightfool is culpably lax
in calling Rome " the Papal throne" {temp. AuiieL), and mistak-
ing alike the testimony of Irenaeus and of our author. Ap. /•'., part
ii. vol 1. p. 4J5.
5 In Eusebius, Hi'si. EccL, ii. 23. [Comp. Isa. iii. 10, Sept.\
' Ti oiyia.
5 The reference appears to be to the Hebrew word 73^, '^ rising
ground, which was applied as a proper name to a fortified ridge of
Mount Zion. See 2 Chron. xxvii. 3. It has been proposed to read
e^caAeiTO Sa55i*c /cat *n^'Ata/u., 6 koTiv 6'*cato? /cat Trepto^*/ tou Aaou.
The text, in which not only a Hebrew word but also a Greek
(Aiicaio?) is explained in Greek, can hardly give the correct read-
ing. [The translator suggests 'nSAia? as the probable reading of
the LXX., though it is corrupted as above.]
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
76-
And he replied that He was the Saviour. In
consequence of this answer, some beUeved that
Jesus is the Christ. But the sects before men-
tioned did not beheve, either in a resurrection
or in the coming of One to requite every man
according to his works ; but those who did be-
heve, beheved because of James. So, when many
even of the ruhng class beheved, there was a
commotion among the Jews, and scribes, and
Pharisees, who said : " A httle more, and we
shall have all the people looking for Jesus as
the Christ.
They came, therefore, in a body to James, and
said : " We entreat thee, restrain the people :
for they are gone astray in their opinions about
Jesus, as if he were the Christ, We entreat thee
to persuade all who have come hither for the
day of the passover, concerning Jesus. For we
all listen to thy persuasion ; since we, as well
as all the people, bear thee testimony that thou
art just, and showest partiality to none. Do thou,
therefore, persuade the people not to entertain
erroneous opinions concerning Jesus : for all the
people, and we also, hsten to thy persuasion.
Take thy stand, then, upon the summit ' of the
temple, that from that elevated spot thou mayest
be clearly seen, and thy words may be plainly
audible to all the people. For, . in order to at-
tend the passover, all the tribes have congregated
hither, and some of the Gentiles also."
The aforesaid scribes and Pharisees accord-
ingly set James on the summit of the temple,
and cried aloud to him, and said : " O just one,
whom we are all bound to obey, forasmuch as
the people is in error, and follows Jesus the cru-
cified, do thou tell us what is the door of Jesus,
the crucified." And he answered with a loud
voice: "Why ask ye me concerning Jesus the
Son of man? He Himself sitteth in heaven, at
the right hand of the Great Power, and shall
come on the clouds of heaven."
And, when many were fully convinced hy these
words, and offered praise for the testimony of
James, and said, " Hosanna to the son of David,"
then again the said Pharisees and scribes said to
one another, " We have not done well in procur-
ing this testimony to Jesus. But let us go up
and throw liini down, that they may be afraid,
and not believe him." And they cried aloud,
and said : " Oh ! oh ! the just man himself is in
error." Thus they fulfilled the Scripture written
in Isaiah : " Let us away with the just man, be-
cause he is troublesome to us : therefore shall
they eat the fruit of their doings." So they
went up and threw down tlie just man, and said
to one another : " Let us stone James the Just."
And they l)egan to stone him : for he was not
killed by the fall ; but he turned, and kneeled
* nTepuyior. [Matt. iv. 5.]
down, and said : " I beseech Thee, Lord God
our Father, forgive them ; for they know not
what they do."
And, while they were thus stoning him to
death, one of the priests, the sons of Rechab, the
son of Rechabim, to whom testimony is borne
by Jeremiah the prophet, began to cry aloud,
saying : " Cease, what do ye? The just man is
praying for us." But one among them, one of
the fullers, took the staff with which he was
accustomed to wring out the garments he dyed,
and hurled it at the head of the just man.
And so he suffered martyrdom ; and they
buried him on the spot, and the pillar erected to
his memory still remains, close liy the temple.
This man was a true witness to both Jews and
Greeks that Jesus is the Christ.
And shortly after Vespasian besieged Judaea,
taking them captive.
CONCERNING THE RELATIVES OF OUR SAVIOUR.^
There still survived of the kindred of the Lord
the grandsons of Judas, who according to the
flesh was called his brother. These were in-
formed against, as belonging to the family of
David, and Evocatus brought them before Do-
mi tian Csesar : for that emperor dreaded the
advent of Christ, as Herod had done.
So he asked them whether they were of the
family of David ; and they confessed they were.
Next he asked them what property they had, or
how much money they possessed. They both
replied that they had only 9000 denaria between
them, each of them owning half that sum ; but
even this they said they did not possess in cash,
but as the estimated value of some land, consist-
ing of thirty-nine //^//^ra only, out of which they
had to pay the dues, and that they supported
themselves by their own labour. And then they
began to hold out their hands, exhibiting, as
proof of their manual labour, the roughness of
their skin, and the corns raised on their hands
by constant work.
Being then asked concerning Christ and His
kingdom, what was its nature, and when and
where it was to api)ear, they returned answer
that it was not of this world, nor of the earth,
but belonging to the sphere of heaven and an-
gels, and would make its appearance at the end
of time, when He shall come in glory, and
judge living and dead, and render to every one
according to the course of his life.^
Thereupon Domitian passed no condemnation
upon them, but treated them with contempt, as
too mean for notice, and let them go free. At
the same time he issued a command, and put a
stop to the persecution against the Church.
2 Also in Eusebius, Hist. EccL, iii. 20.
3 Td eiriTTjOcu/iaTa oOtoi/,
764
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
When they were released they became leaders '
of the churches, as was natural in the case of
those who were at once martyrs and of the kin-
dred of the Lord. And, after the establishment
of peace to ike Church, their lives were prolonged
to the reign of Trajan.
CONCERNING THE MARTYRDOM OF SYMEON THE
SON OF CLOPAS, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM.^
Some of these heretics, forsooth, laid an in-
formation against Symeon the son of Clopas, as
being of the family of David, and a Christian.
And on these charges he suffered martyrdom
when he was 120 years old, in the reign of
Trajan Csesar, when Atticus was consular legate ^
/// Syria. And it so happened, says the same
writer, that, while inquiry was then being made
for those belonging to the royal tribe of the Jews,
the accusers themselves were convicted of be-
longing to it. With show of reason could it be
said that Symeon was one of those who actually
saw and heard the Lord, on the ground of his
great age, and also because the Scripture of the
Gospels makes mention of Mary the daughter
of Clopas, who, as our narrative has shown al-
ready, was his father.
The same historian mentions others also, of
the family of one of the reputed brothers of the
Saviour, named Judas, as having survived until
this same reign, after the testimony they 'bore
for the faith of Christ in the time of Domitian,
as already recorded.
He ivrites as folhnus : They came, then, and
took the presidency of every church, as wit-
nesses for Christ, and as being of the kindred
of the Lord. And, after profound peace had
been established in every church, they remained
down to the reign of Trajan Caesar : that is,
until the time when he who was sprung from an
uncle of the Lord, the afore-mentioned Symeon
son of Clopas, was informed against by the
various heresies, and subjected to an accusation,
like the rest, and for the same cause, before the
legate Atticus ; and, while suffering outrage dur-
ing many days, he bore testimony for Christ :
so that all, including the legate himself, were
astonished above measure that a man 1 20 years
old should have been able to endure such tor-
ments. He was finally condemned to be crucified.
. . . Up to that period the Church had re-
mained like a virgin pure and uncorrupted : for,
if there were any persons who were disposed to
tamper with the wholesome rule of the preaching
of salvation,* they still lurked in some dark place
of concealment or other. But, when the sacred
band of apostles had in various ways closed their
1 'Hi/rjcTafrOai.
2 Also in Eu-ehins, Hist. EccL, iii. 32.
3 "YTraTtKoi/. [St. John died a few ycirs before.]
4 ToO auiTyipiov Kij^jL/y/iaros.
lives, and that generation of men to whom it had
been vouchsafed to listen to the Godlike Wisdom
with their own ears had passed away, then did
the confederacy of godless error take its rise
through the treachery of false teachers, who,
seeing that none of the apostles any longer sur-
vived, at length attempted with bare and uplifted
head to oppose the preaching of the truth by
preaching " knowledge falsely so called."
CONCERNING HIS JOURNEY TO ROME, AND THE
JEWISH SECTS.5
And the church of the Corinthians continued
in the orthodox faith'' up to the time when Primus
was bishop in Corinth. I had some intercourse
with these bretJiren on my voyage to Rome,
when 1 spent several days with the Corinthians,
during which we were mutually refreshed by the
orthodox faith.
On my arrival at Rome, I drew up a list of
the succession of bishops down to Anicetus,
whose deacon was Eleutherus. To Anicetus
succeeded Soter, and ajfter him came Eleuthe-
rus. But in the case of every succession, ^ and
in every city, the state" of affairs is in accordance
with the teaching of the Law and of the Proph-
ets and of the Lord. . . .
And after James the Just had suffered martyr-
dom, as had the Lord also a^id on the same
account, again Symeon the son of Clopas, de-
scended from the Lord's uncle, is made bishop,
his election being promoted by all as being a
kinsman of the Lord.
Therefore was the Church called a virgin, for
she was not as yet corrupted by worthless teach-
ing.*^ Thebulis it was who, displeased because
he was not made bishop, first began to corrupt
her by stealth. He too was connected with the
seven sects which existed among the people, like
Simon, from whom come the Simoniani ; and
Cleobius, from whom come the Cleobiani ; and
Doritheus, from whom come the Dorithiani ;
and GorthKus, from whom come the Gortheani ;
Masbothfeus, from whom come the Masbothaei.
From these men also come the Menandrianists,
and the Marcionists, and the Carpocratians, and
the Valentinians, and the Basilidians, and the
Saturnilians. Each of these leaders in his own
private and distinct capacity brought in his own
private opinion. From these have come false
Christs, false prophets, false apostles — men who
have split up the one Church into parts 9 through
their corrupting doctrines, uttered in disparage-
ment of God and of His Christ. . . .
There were, moreover, various opinions in the
5 Also in Eusebius, Hist. EccL, iv. 22.
6 'El' Tui opdC) A67C0.
' [Elucidation, p. 7S5.]
8 Axoais /u-araioi;.
[Acts XX. 29-31.]
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
765
matter of circumcision among the cliildren of I senes, the Galileans, the Hemerobaptists, the
Israel, held by those who were opposed to the I Masbothcei, the Samaritans, the Sadducees, the
tribe of Judah and to Christ : such as the Es- 1 Pharisees,
DIONYSIUS, BISHOP OF CORINTH.
[a.d. 1 70.] Eusebius is almost diffuse in what he tells us of this Dionysius,' " who was appointed
over the cliurch at Corinth, and imparted freely, not only to his own people, but to others, and
those abroad also, the blessings of his divine labours." He wrote " Catholic Epistles ; " he
addressed an epistle to the Spartans and the Athenians ; and, as Eusebius says, Dionysius the
Areopagite, the convert of St. Paiil, was the first bishop of Athens. ^ He wrote to the Nicomedians,
refuting Marcion, and closely adhering to " the rule of faith." In an epistle to the Gortynians and
others in Crete, he praises Philip for his courageous ministry, and warns them against the heretics.
He seems to recognise Palmas as bishop of Amastris and Pontus, and adds expositions of Scripture,
and rules regarding marriage, its purity and sanctity. He also inculcates tenderness to penitent
lapsers and backsliders. With Pinytus, bishop of the Gnossians, he corresponds on similar sub-
jects; but Pinytus, while he thanks him and commends his clemency, evidently regards him as
too much inclined to furnish "food for babes," and counsels him to add "strong meat for those
of full age." He also writes to Chrysophora, his most faiUiful sister, imparting spiritual instruction.
FRAGMENTS FROM A LETTER TO THE ROMAN CHURCH.
For this has been your custom from the be-
ginning, to do good to all the brethren in vari-
ous ways, and to send resources to many
churches which are in every city, thus refreshing
the poverty of the needy, and granting subsidies
to the brethren who are in the mines.^ Through
the resources which ye have sent from the begin-
ning, ye Romans, keep up the custom of the
Romans handed down by the fathers, which your
blessed Bishop Soter has not only preserved, but
added to, sending a splendid gift to the saints,
and exhorting with blessed words those brethren
who go up to Rome, as an affectionate father his
children.
ir.
FROM THE SAME EPISTLE.'*
We passed this holy Lord's day, in which we
read your letter, from the constant reading of
which we shall be able to draw admonition, even
as from the reading of the former one you sent
us written through Clement.
III.
FROM THE SAME.
Therefore you also have by such admonition
joined in close union the churches that were
planted by Peter and Paul, that of the Romans
and that of the Corinthians : for both of them
went 5 to our Corinth, and taught us in the same
way as they tauglit you when they went to Italy ;
and having taught you, they suffered mart}Tdom
at the same time.*"
IV.
FROM THE SAME. 7
For I wrote letters when the brethren re-
quested me to write. And these letters the
apostles of the devil have filled with tares, tak-
ing away some things and adding others, for
whom a woe is in store. It is not wonderful,
then, if some have attempted to adulterate the
Eorcl's writings, when they have formed designs
against those which are not such.^
■ Book iv. cap. 24, from which these Fragments are collected.
See Westcott, On the Cnno/i, p 206.
2 See Lightf'iot, A/>. Fathers, part ii. vol. i. p. 555, where he
corrects the reading /cai l\oKvK(ip7To<;.
i [Routh (also on Pinytus and Soter), R. S., p. 177. This series,
vol. VI. p. 102, note 3. Note aUo Lightfoot, A. /^., pari ii. vol. ii.
p. 192, note I ; and Westcott, Canon, p. 206. j
■♦ [Comp. p. 758, note 8, supra. AUo Ignatius, vol. i. p. 63,
at note 2, this series.]
5 MSS, " planted."
6 The text is evidently corrupt.
^ [For the reply of Pinytus, and what is said by Eusebius of seven
other epistles, .see Rouih, R. S., vol. i pp 181-184.]
' i.e., of such importance or of such a character.
766
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
RHODON.'
[a.d. I So.] This Rhodon' was supposed by St. Jerome to have been the author of the work
against the Cataphrygians, ascribed to Asterius Urbanus more probably. ^ Eusebius t gives us the
fragment from his work against Marcion, addressed to Calhstion, which is here translated. He
tells us that he was a pupil of Tatian, and expresses an intention of furnishing original solutions
of Scriptural problems stated by Tatian, 5 and by that author explained in a manner apparently un-
satisfactory. He also appears to have written against the blasphemous Apelles/ whose Hexa-
emeron was an attempt to refute Moses ; but whether he also fulfilled his promise concerning an
'ETTtXwns of Tatian's Problems (or Questions), seems doubtful. Routh has devoted to the frag-
ment here translated six pages of notes,7 which he subjoins to the Greek text (of Eusebius) and
a Latin version of the same.
Wherefore also they ^ disagree among them-
selves, maintaining as they do an opinion which
has no consistency with itself. For one of their
herd, Apelles, who prides himself on the strict-
ness of his life,'' and on his age, admits that
there is only one first principle,'" yet says that the
prophecies have come from an o])posing spirit, in
which opinion he is influenced by the responses
of a soothsaying" maid named Philuraene. But
others, among whom are Potitus and Basilicus,
like Marcion '^ himself, introduce two first prin-
ciples. These men, following the Pontic wolf,
and not being able to discover any more than
he the division of things, have had to recourse
to rash assertion, and declared the existence of
two first principles simply and without proof.
Others of them, again, drifting from bad to
worse, assume not two only, but even three na-
tures. Of these men the leader and champion is
Syneros, as those who adopt his teaching say. . . .
For the old man Apelles entered into conver-
sation with us, and was convicted of uttering
many' false opinions. For example, he asserted
that men should on no account examine into
their creed, '^ but that every one ought to con-
tinue to the last in the belief he has once adopted.
For he declared that those who had rested their
hope on the Crucified One would be saved,
provided only they were found living in the
practice of good works. But the most per-
plexing of all the doctrines laid down by him
was, as we have remarked before, what he said
concerning God : for he affirmed that there was
only one first principle, precisely as our own faith
teaches. . . .
On asking him, " Where do you get proof of
this ? or how are you able to assert that there is
only one first principle? tell us," — he said that
the prophecies refuted themselves, because they
had uttered nothing at all that was true : for
that they were discordant and false, and self-
contradictory. As to the question, " How does
it appear tiiat there is only one first principle? "
he said he could not tell, only he was impelled
to that belief. On my thereupon conjuring him
to speak the truth, he solemnly declared that he
was expressing his real sentiments ; and that he
did not know" how " there could be one uncreated
God, but that he believed the fact. Here I
burst into laughter and rebuked him, because he
professed to be a teacher, and yet was unable to
confirm by arguments what he taught.
MAXIMUS, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM.
[a.d. 185-196.] He was a noted character among Christians, according to Eusebius ; living,
according to Jerome, under Commodus and Severus. He wrote on the inveterate question con-
cerning the Origin of Evil; and the fragment here translated, as given by Eusebius, is also text-
ually cited by Origen against the Marcionites,'-* if that Dialogue be his. The reader will not fail
' In Eusebius, Hist. EccL, v. 13.
2 Or Rhode.
^ Vol. vii. pp. 333-338, this series, where I neglected to insert a
reference to Routh, Rel. Sac, vol. ii. pp. 183-217.
* H. if., book V. cap. 13.
S Vol li. p 62, this series.
*> See Origen, vol. iv. p. 567, this series.
' Rcl. Sac, vol. i. pp. 437-446.
8 The Marcionites.
9 noAiTeia. See IVIigne's note.
'° 'Apx'ji'. [See vol. vii. p. 365, this series.]
'- Some copies have " Marcion the sailor," and so Tertullian {de
Prcescriptionibus) speaks of hira. [Vol. iii. cap. 30, p. 257, this
series.]
'J 'Xav Koyov.
'•» A fact which gave rise to a controversy, on which consult Routh,
Rei. Sac, vol. ii. p. 78.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
767
to recollect that liberal citations out of this work are also to be found in Methodius, On Free- IVi/I^
But all who desire fuller information on the subject will be gratified by the learned prolegomena
and notes of Routh, to wliich I refer them.- Whether Maximus was the bishop of Jerusalem
(a.d. 185) mentioned by Eusebius as presiding in that See in the sixth year of Commodus, seems
to be uncertain.
FROM THE BOOK CONCERNING MATTER, OR IN DE-
FENCE OF THE PROPOSITION THAT MATTER IS
CREATED, AND IS NOT THE CAUSE OF EVIL.^
" That there cannot exist two uncreated sub-
stances at one and the same time, I presume that
you hold equally tuith myself. You appear,
however, very decidedly to have assumed, and
to have introduced into the argument, this prin-
ciple, that we must of unavoidable necessity
maintain one of two things : either that God
is separate from matter ; or else, on the contrary,
that He is indissolubly connected with it.
" If, then, any one should choose to assert
that He exists in union with matter, that would
be saying that there is only one uncreated sub-
stance. For either of the two must constitute a
part of the other ; and, since they form parts of
each other, they cannot be two uncreated sub-
stances. Just as, in speaking of man, we do not
describe him as subdivided into a number of
distinct parts, each forming a separate created
substance, but, as reason requires us to do, assert
that he was made by God a single created sub-
stance consisting of many parts, — so, in like
manner, if God is not separate from matter, we
are driven to the conclusion that there is only
one uncreated substance.
" If, on the other hand, it be affirmed that He
is separate from matter, it necessarily follows
that there is some other substance intermediate
between the two, by which their separation is
made apparent. For it is impossible that one
thing should be shown to be severed by an in-
terval from another, unless there be something
else by which the interval between the two is
produced. This principle, too, holds good not
only with regard to this or any other single case,
but in any number of cases you please. For the
same argument which we have employed in deal-
ing with the two uncreated substances must in like
manner be valid if the substances in question be
given as three. For in regard to these also I
should have to inquire whether they are separate
from one another, or whether, on the contrary,
each of them is united to its fellow. For, if you
should say that they are united, you would hear
from me the same argument as before ; but if,
on the contrary, you should say that they are
separate, you could not escape the unavoidable
assumption of a separating medium.
" If, again, perchance any one should think
that there is a third view which may be consist-
ently maintained with regard to uncreated sub-
stances,— namely, that God is not separate from
matter, nor yet, on the other hand, united to it
as a part, but that God exists in matter as in a
place, or possibly matter exists in God, — let
such a person observe the consequence : —
" Tiiat, if we make matter God's place, we
must of necessity admit that He can be con-
tained,'* and that He is circumscribed by matter.
Nay, further, he must grant that He is, in the
same way as matter, driven about hither and
thither, unable to maintain His place and to stay
where He is, since that in which He exists is
perpetually being driven about in one direction
or another. Beside this, he must also admit
that God has had His place among the worst
kind of elements. For if matter was once in
disorder, and if he reduced it to order for the
purpose of rendering it better, there was a time
when God*existed among tlic disordered elements
of matter.
" I might also fairly put this question : whether
God filled the whole of matter, or was in some
part of it. If any one should choose to say that
God was in some part of matter, he would be
making Him indefinitely smaller than matter, in-
asmuch as a part of it contained the whole of
Him; 5 but, if he maintained that He pervaded
the whole of matter, I need to be informed how
He became the Fashioner of this matter. For
we must necessarily assume, either that there was
on the part of God a contraction,^ so to speak,
of Himself, and a withdrawal from matter,
whereupon He proceeded to fashion that from
which He had retired \ or else that He fashioned
Himself in conjunction with matter, in conse-
quence of having no place to retire to.
" But suppose it to be maintained, on the
other hand, that matter is in God, it will behove
us similarly to inquire, whether we are to under-
stand by this that He is sundered from Himself,
and that, just like the air, which contains various
kinds of animals, so is He sundered and divided
into parts for the reception of those creatures
' See vol. vi, p. 358, etc., this series, where I have spoken of
Maximus as the original of the Dialogue ascribed to Methodius.
2 Routh, Rel. Sac, vol. li. p. 85. See pp. 77-121, devoted to
this author.
3 In Eusebius, Prcep. Evait^., vii. 22.
4 XwoTjToi', the reading of one MS., instead of x'>>P'?'ri»c6i'.
5 For ii Se ;ixepo5 cLvrfis, oAoi' e\ujpri(rif avTof, Migne reads, «i ye
(or I 61) luepo? aiiTJjs oAoi', ic.T.A.
'' 2ua'ToA)j»' Tii'a.
768
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
which from time to time exist in ' Him ; or
whether matter is in God as in a place, — for
instance, as water is contained in earth. For
should we say ' as in air,' we should perforce be
speaking of God as divisible into parts ; but if
' as water in earth,' and if matter was, as is ad-
mitted, in confusion and disorder, and moreover
also contained what was evil, we should have to
admit that God is the place of disorder and evil.
But this it does not seem to me consistent with
reverence to say, but hazardous rather. For you
contend that matter is uncreated,- that you may
not have to admit that God is the author of evil ;
and yet, while aiming to escape this difficulty, you
make Him the receptacle of evil.
" If you had stated that your suspicion that
matter was uncreated arose from the nature
of created things as we find them,^ I should have
employed abundant argument in proof that it
cannot be so. But, since you have spoken of the
existence of evil as the cause of such suspicion,
I am disposed to enter upon a separate exami-
nation of this point. For, when once it has
been made clear how it is that evil exists, and
when it is seen to be impossible to deny that God
is the author of evil, in consequence of His hav-
ing had recourse to matter for His materials,'* it
seems to me that a suspicion of this kind disap-
pears.
"You assert, then, that matter, destitute of all
qualities good or bad, co-existed at -the outset
with God, and that out of it He fashioned the
world as we now find it."
" Such is my opinion."
" Well, then, if matter was without any quali-
ties, and the world has come into existence from
God, and if the world possesses qualities, the
author of those qualities must be God."
" Exactly so."
" Since, too, I heard you say yourself just now
that out of nothings nothing can possibly come,
give me an answer to the question I am about
to ask you. You seem to me to think that the
qualities of the world have not sprung from pre-
existing ^ qualities, and moreover that they are
something different from the substances them-
selves r
"I do."
" If, therefore, God did not produce the quali-
ties /// question from qualities already existing,
nor yet from substances, by reason that they are
not substances, the conclusion is inevitable, that
they were made by God out of nothing. So that
you seemed to me to affirm more than you were
warranted to do, when you said that it had been
' TcJi' yivo)xiv{av (^i') auTcu, Migne.
^ This word, ayeirrjTov, is added from Migne's conjecture.
3 'Ek Tu»i/ vnoaravTuii' y^v-qrioi'.
4 'Ek toO i'A-qv aiiToi/ OrroTi^ci'at.
5 'E^ oix ovTMv. [Note this phrase. Comp. vol. vi. p. 292, n. 3.J
6 *Y7roKet^ej'u>»/.
proved impossible to hold the opinion ? that any-
thing was made by God out of nothing.
" But let us put the matter thus. We see per-
sons among ourselves making certain things out
of nothing, however true it may be that they
make them by means of something.*^ Let us take
our illustration, say, from builders. These men
do not make cities out of cities ; nor, similarly,
temples out of temples. Nay, if you suppose
that, because the substances necessary for these
constructions are already provided, therefore they
make them out of that which already exists, your
reasoning is fallacious. For it is not the substance
that makes the city or the temples, but the art
which is employed about the substance. Neither,
again, does the art proceed from any art inher-
ing in the substances, but it arises independently
of any such art in them.
" But I fancy you will meet the argument by
saying that the artist produces the art which is
manifest in the substance he has fashioned out of
the art which he himself dlrcady has. In reply to
this, however, I think it may be fairly said, that
neither in man does art spring from any already
existing art. For we cannot possibly allow tha*"
art exists by itself, since it belongs to the class
of things which are accidentals, and which re-
ceive their existence only when they appear in
co?ifiection with substance. For man will exist
though there should be no architecture, but the
latter will have no existence unless there be first
of all man. Thus we cannot avoid the conclu-
sion, that it is the nature of art to spring up in
man out of nothing. If, then, we have shown
that this is the case with man, we surely must
allow that God can make not only the qualities
of substances out of nothing, but also the sub-
stances themselves. For, if it appears possible that
anything whatever can be made out of nothing,
it is proved that this may be the case with sub-
stances also.
" But, since you are specially desirous of in-
quiring about the origin of evil, I will proceed
to the discussion of this topic. And I should
like to ask you a fevv questions. Is it your opin-
ion that things evil are substances, or that they
are qualities of substances ? "
" Qualities of substances, I am disposed to
say."
"But matter was destitute of qualities and of
form : this I assumed at the outset of the dis-
cussion. Therefore, if things evil are qualities
of substances, and matter was destitute of quali-
ties, and you have called God the author of
qualities, God will also be the former of that
which is evil. Since, then, it is not possible, on
' ForcruAAeAo-yicrTai 10? ovk a&vvaTov elvai fio^d^eii', Migne reads,
UJ9 o"vAAe*A6yt(TTat a?ivva70v elvai So^a^etr.
5 Lit. " in something." Whether the materials or the art is meant
is not very clear. Possibly there is a play of words in the use of the
two prepositions, in and iv.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
769
this supposition any more than on the other, to
speak of God as not the cause of evil, it seems
to me superfluous to add matter to Him, as if
that were the cause of evil. If you have any re-
ply to make to this, begin your argument."
" If, indeed, our discussion had arisen from a
love of contention, I should not be willing to
have the inquiry raised a second time about the
origin of q.m\\ ; but, since we are prompted rather
by friendship and the good of our neighbour to
engage in controversy, I readily consent to have
the question raised afresh on this subject. You
have no doubt long been aware of the character
of my mind, and of the object at which I aim in
dispute : that I have no wish to vanquish false-
hood by plausible reasoning, but rather that
truth should be established in connection with
thorough investigation. You yourself, too, are
of the same mind, I am well assured. Whatever
method, therefore, you deem successful for the
discovery of truth, do not shrink from using it.
For, by following a better course of argument,
you will not only confer a benefit on yourself,
but most assuredly on me also, instructing me
concerning matters of which I am ignorant."
" You seem clearly to agree with ' me, that
things evil are in some sort substances : ^ for,
apart from substances, I do not see them to have
any existence. Since, then, my good friend,
you say that things .evil are substances, it is
necessary to inquire into the nature of substance.
Is it your opinion that substance is a kind of
bodily structure?" ^
" It is."
" And does that bodily structure exist by itself,
without the need of any one to come and give it
existence?"
"Yes."
And does it seem to you that things evil are
connected with certain courses of action? "
" That is my belief."
" And do actions come into existence only
when an actor is there ? "
"Yes."
" And, when there is no actor, neither will his
action ever take place? "
" It will not."
" If, therefore, substance is a kind of bodily
structure, and this does not stand in need of
some one in and through whom it may receive
its existence, and if things evil are actions of
some one, and actions require some one in and
through whom they receive their existence, —
things evil will ' not ' be substances. And if things
evil are not substances, and murder is an evil,
and is the action of some one, it follows that
' Migne, instead of Trapao-r^vai, conjectures napaa-rriiTai, which,
however, would not suit what appears to be the meaning.
2 Ou(Tta? Ttl'a?.
3 Soi/uaTiK^i/ Tt,va aviTTaaiv.
murder is not a substance. But, if you insist
that agents are substance, then I myself agree
with you. A man, for instance, who is a mur-
derer, is, in so far as he is a man, a substance ;
but the murder which he commits is not a sub-
stance, but a work of the substance. Moreover,
we speak of a man sometimes as bad because he
commits murder ; and sometimes, again, because
he performs acts of beneficence, as good : and
these names adhere to the substance, in conse-
quence of the things which are accidents of it,
which, however, are not the substance itself. For
neither is the substance murder, nor, again, is it
adultery, nor is it any other similar evil. But,
just as the grammarian derives his name from
grammar, and the orator from oratory, and the
physician from physic, though the substance is
not physic, nor yet oratory, nor grammar, but
receives its appellation from the things which
are accidents of it, from which it popularly re-
ceives its name, though it is not any one of
them, — so in like manner it appears to me that
the substance receives name from things re-
garded as evil, though it is not itself any one of
them.
" I must beg you also to consider that, if you
represent some other being as the cause of evil
to men, he also, in so far as he acts in them, and
incites them to do evil, is himself evil, by reason
of the things he does. For he too is said to be
evil, for the simple reason that he is the doer of
evil things; but the things which a being does
are not the being himself, but his actions, from
which he receives his appellation, and is called
evil. For if we should say that the things he
does are himself, and these consist in murder,
and adultery, and theft, and such-like, these
things will be himself. And if these things are
himself, and if when they take place they get
to have a substantial existence,'' but by not tak-
ing place they also cease to exist, and if these
things are done by men, — men will be the
doers of these things, and the causes of existing
and of no longer existing. But, if you affirm
that these things are his actions, he gets to be
evil from the things he does, not from those
things of which the substance of him consists.
" Moreover, we have said that he is called evil
from those things which are accidents of the
substance, which are noithemselves the substance :
as a physician from the art of physic. But, if
he receives the beginning of his existence from
the actions he performs, he too began to be evil,
and these evil things likewise began to exist.
And, if so, an evil being will not be without a
beginning, nor will evil things be unoriginated,
since we have said that they are originated by
him."
* Triv avataaar ex*'-
770
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
" The argument relating to the opinion I be-
fore expressed, you seem to me, my friend, to
have handled satisfactorily : for, from the prem-
ises you assumed in the discussion, I think you
have drawn a fair conclusion. For, beyond
doubt, if matter was at first destitute of qualities,
and if God is the fashioner of the qualities //
now has, and if evil things are qualities, God is
the author of those evil things. The argument,
then, relating to that opinion we may consider
as well discussed, and to me it now seems false
to speak of matter as destitute of qualities.
For it is not possible to say of any substance '
whatsoever that it is without qualities. For, in
the very act of saying that it is destitute of quali-
ties, you do in fact indicate its quality, represent-
ing of what kind matter is, which of course is
ascribing to it a species of quality. Wherefore,
if it is agreeable to you, rehearse the argument
to me from the beginning : for, to me, matter
seems to have had qualities from all eternity.-
For in this way I can affirm that evil things also
come from it in the way of emanation, so that
the cause of evil things may not be ascribed to
God, but that matter may be regarded as the
cause of all such things."
" I approve your desire, my friend, and praise
the zeal you manifest in the discussion of opin-
ions. For it assuredly becomes every one who is
desirous of knowledge, not simply and out of
hand to agree with what is said, but to make a
careful examination of the arguments adduced.
For, though a disputant, by laying down false
premises, may make his opponent draw the con-
clusion he wishes, yet he will not convince a
hearer of this ; but only when he says that
which 3 it seems possible to say with fairness.
So that one of two things will happen : either
he will, as he listens, be decisively helped to
reach that conclusion towards which he already
feels himself impelled, or he will convict his ad-
versary of not speaking the truth.
" Now, it seems to me that you have not suf-
ficiently discussed the statement that matter has
qualities from the first. For, if this is the case,
what will God be the maker of? For, if we
speak of substances, we affirm these to exist be-
forehand ; or if again of qualities, we declare
these also to exist already. Since, therefore,
both substance and qualities exist, it seems to me
unreasonable to call God a creator.
" But, lest I should seem to be constructing
an argument to suit my purpose, be so good as
to answer the question : In what way do you as-
sert God to be a creator? Is He such because
He changed the substances, so that they should
no longer be the same as they had once been,
' Migne reads oucrias for a\.ria.i;,
3 Reading, with Migne, ei b ti for el Tt
but become different from what they were ; or
because, while He kept the substances the same
as they were before that period, He changed
thqir qualities ? "
" I do not at all think that any alteration took
place in substances : for it appears to me absurd
to say this. But I affirm that a certain change
was made in their qualities ; and it is in respect
of these that I speak of God as a creator. Just
as we might happen to speak of a house as made
out of stones, in which case we could not say
that the stones no longer continue to be stones
as regards their substance, now that they are
made into a house (for I affirm that the house
owes its existence to the quality of its construc-
tion, forasmuch as the previous quality of the
stones has been changed), — so does it seem to
me that God, while the substance remains the
same, has made a certain change in its qualities ;
and it is in respect of such change that I speak
of the origin of this world as having come from
God."
" Since, then, you maintain that a certain
change — namely, of qualities — has been pro-
duced by God, answer me briefly what I am de-
sirous to ask you."
" Proceed, pray, with your question."
" Do you agree in the opinion that evil things
are qualities of substances?"
'ado."
" Were these qualities in matter from the first,
or did they begin to be ? "
" I hold that these qualities existed in combi-
nation with matter, without being originated."
" But do you not affirm that God has made a
certain change in the qualities?"
" That is what I affirm."
" For the better, or for the worse ? "
" For the better, I should say."
"Well, then, if evil things are qualities of
matter, and if the Lord of all changed its quali-
ties for the better, whence, it behoves us to ask,
come evil things? For either the qualities re-
mained the same in their nature as they previ-
ously were, or, if they were not evil before, but
you assert that, in consequence of a change
wrought on them by God, the first qualities of
this kind came into existence in connection with
matter, — God will be the author of evil, inas-
much as He changed the qualities which were
not evil, so as to make them evil.
"Possibly, however, it is not your view that
God changed evil qualities for the better; but
you mean that all those other qualities which
happened to be neither good nor bad,'* were
changed by God with a view to the adornment
of the creation."
" That has been my opinion from the outset."
* Or " indifferent: " aSia</)opoi.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
771
" How, then, can you say that He has left the
qualities of bad things just as they were? Is it
that, although He was able to destroy those qual-
ities as well as the others. He was not willing ;
or rf/V/ I/e refrain because He had not the
power? For, if you say He had the power, but
not the will, you must admit Him to be the
cause of these qualities : since, when He could
have put a stop to the existence of evil. He
chose to let it remain as it was, and that, too, at
the very time when He began to fashion matter.
For, if He had not concerned Himself at all with
matter, He would not have been the cause of
those things which He allowed to remain. But,
seeing that He fashioned a certain part of it, and
left a certain part as we have described it, al-
though He could have changed that also for the
better, it seems to me that He deserves to have
the blame cast on Him, for having permitted a
part of matter to be evil, to the ruin of that
other part which He fashioned.
" Nay, more, it seems to me that the most se-
rious wrong has been committed as regards this
part, in that He constituted this part of matter
so as to be now affected by evil. For, if we were
to examine carefully into things, we should find
that the condition of matter is worse now than
in its former state, before it was reduced to
order. For, before \t was separated into parts,
it had no sense of evil ; but now every one of
its parts is afflicted with a sense of evil.
"Take an illustration from man. Before he
was fashioned, and became a living being through
the art of the Creator, he was by nature exempt
from any contact whatever with evil \ but, as
soon as ever he was made by God a man, he
became liable to the sense of even approaching
evil : and thus that very thing which you say was
brought about by God for the benefit of matter,'
is found to have turned out rather to its detri-
ment.
" But, if you say that evil has not been put a
stop to, because God was unable to do away with
it, you will be making God powerless. But, if
He is powerless, it will be either because He is
weak by nature, or because He is overcome by
fear, and reduced to subjection by a stronger.
If, then, you go so far as to say that God is weak
by nature, it seems to me that you imperil your
salvation itself; but, '\{ you say that He is weak
through being overcome by fear of a greater,
things evil will be greater than God, since they
frustrate the carrying out of His purpose. But
this, as it seems to me, it would be absurd to say
of God. For why should not ' they ' rather be
considered gods, since according to your account
they are able to overcome God : if, that is to
say, we mean by God that which has a control-
ling power over all things?
' Migne reads iu titpyeaia for earlv evepyetria.
" But I wish to ask you a few questions con-
cerning matter itself. Pray tell me, therefore,
whether matter was something simple or com-
pound. I am induced to adopt this method of
investigating the subject before us by considering
the diversity that obtains in existing things. For,
if perchance matter was something simple and
uniform, how comes it that the world is com-
pound,^ and consists of divers substances and
combinations? For by 'compound ' we denote
a mixture of certain simple elements. But if, on
the contrary, you prefer to call matter compound,
you will, of course, be asserting that it is com-
pounded of certain simple elements. And, if it
was compounded of simple elements, these simple
elements must have existed at some time or other
separately by themselves, and when they were
compounded together matter came into being :
from which it of course follows that matter is
created. For, if matter is compound, and com-
pound things are constituted from simple, there
was once a time when matter had no existence,
— namely, before the simple elements came to-
gether. And, if there was once a time when
matter was not, and there was never a time when
the uncreated was not, matter cannot be uncre-
ated. And hence there will be many uncreated
substances. For, if God was uncreated, and the
simple elements out of which matter was com-
pounded were also uncreated, there will not be
two uncreated things only, — not to discuss the
question what it is which constitutes objects
simple, whether matter or form.
" Is it, further, your opinion that nothing in
existence is opposed to itself? "
" It is."
" Is water, then, opposed to fire? "
" So it appears to me."
" Similarly, is darkness opposed to light, and
warm to cold, and moreover moist to dry?"
" It seems to me to be so."
" Well, then, if nothing in existence is opposed
to itself, and these things are opposed to each
other, they cannot be one and the same matter ;
no, nor yet be made out of one and the same
matter.
" I wish further to ask your opinion on a mat-
ter kindred to that of which we have been speak-
ing. Do you believe that the parts of a thing
are not mutually destructive?"
" I do."
" And you believe that fire and water, and so
on, are parts of matter? "
" Quite so."
" Do you not also believe that water is subver-
sive of fire, and light of darkness, and so of all
similar things?"
" Yes."
^ The text has, crOrflfTo? hi 6 /coo-fio?; which Migne changes to,
jToJs 6»j <7u>'6ct6s i<jTiv 6 Koo'fxos;
772
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
" Well, then, if the parts of a whole are not
mutually destructive, and yet the parts of matter
are mutually destructive, they cannot be parts
of one matter. And, if they are not parts of
one another, they cannot be composed of one
and the same matter ; nay, they cannot be mat-
ter at all, since nothing in existence is destruc-
tive of itself, as we learn from the doctrine of
opposites : for nothing is opposed to itself — an
opposite being by nature opposed to something
else. White, for example, is not opposed to
itself, but is said to be the opposite of black ;
and, similarly, light is shown not to be opposed
to itself, but is considered an opposite in rela-
tion to darkness ; and so of a very great number
of things besides. If, then, matter were some
one thing, it could not be opposed to itself.
This, then, being the nature of opposites, it is
proved that matter has no existence."
CLAUDIUS APOLLINARIS,' BISHOP OF HIERAPOLIS, AND APOLOGIST.
[a.d. 160-180.] This author, an early apologist, is chiefly interesting as a competent witness,
who tells the story of the Thundering Legion ^ in an artless manner, and gives it the simple char-
acter of an answer to prayer. This subject is treated by Lightfoot, in his recent work on the
Apostolic Fathers T- in an exhaustive manner ; and the story, reduced to the simple narrative as
Apollinaris gives it, receives from him a just and discriminating approval.
Apollinaris, as well as Rhodon, has been imagined the author of the work (ascribed to Asterius
Urbanus) against Montanism, dedicated to Abiricius Marcellus.-* This is sufficiently refuted by
Routh,5 whose Greek text, with notes, must be consulted by the studious.^
Apollinaris was bishop of Hierapolis on the Maeander, and, Lightfoot thinks, was probably
with Melito and Polycrates, known to Polycarp, and influenced by his ejjample and doctrine.^
He addressed his Apology, which is honourably mentioned by Jerome, to M. Antoninus, the em-
peror. He also wrote Adversus Gentcs and De Veritate ; also against the Jews. Serapion calls
him^ " most blessed."
FROM AN UNKNOWN BOOK.9
"This narration (says Eusebius, Hist., v. 5)
is given" (it relates to that storm of rain which
was sent to the army of the Emperor M. Anto-
ninus, to allay the thirst of the soldiers, whilst
the enemy was discomfited by thunderbolts
hurled upon them) " even by those historians
who are at a wide remove from the doctrines
that prevail among us, and who have been simply
concerned to describe what related to the ejnpe-
rors who are the subjects of their history ; and it
has been recorded also by our own writers. But
historians without tlie pale of the Church, as being
unfriendly to the faith, while they have recorded
the prodigy, have refrained from acknowledging
that it was sent in answer to our prayers. On
the other hand, our writers, as lovers of truth,
have reported the matter in a simple and artless
way. To this number Apollinaris must be con-
sidered as belonging. 'Thereupon,' he says,
' the legion which had by its prayer caused the
prodigy received from the emperor a title suit-
able to the occurrence, and was called in the
Roman language the Thunder-hurling Legion.' "
FROM THE BOOK CONCERNING THE PASSOVER."*
There are, then, some who through ignorance
raise disputes about these things (though their
conduct is pardonable : for ignorance is no sub-
ject for blame — ■ it rather needs further instruc-
tion), and say that on the fourteenth day the
Lord ate the lamb with the disciples, and that
on the great day of the feast of unleavened bread
He Himself suffered ; and they quote Matthew
as speaking in accordance with their view.
Wherefore their opinion is contrary to the law,
and the Gospels seem to be at variance with
them."
FROM THE SAME BOOK.
The fourteenth day, the true Passover of the
Lord ; the great sacrifice, the Son of God instead
1 Westcott, Canon, p. 248.
2 See vol. i. p. 187, this series, and references in my note (11.)
on same page. The incident occurred during the war against the
Quadi, AD. 174.
3 Part ii. vol. i pp. 469-476.
•• See p. 766, note 3, supra ; also vol. vii., this series, p. 338.
5 Rel. Sac, torn. ii. p. 196; and /iid., tom. i. pp. 157-174.
6 FeL Sac. tom. i. p. 173-
7 Ap. Faikei-s, part ii. vol. i. p. 428.
8 See p. 775, in/ra.
9 [See vol. i. p. 187, note 2.] r . .u
10 This extract and the following are taken from the preiace to the
Chronicon Paschale.
11 [Routh, R. S., vol. i. p. i6o.]
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
773
of the Iamb, who was bound, who bound the I pierced in His holy side, who poured forth from
strong, and who was judged, though Judge of liv- His side the two purifying elements,' water and
ing and dead, and who was delivered into the : blood, word and spirit, and who was buried on the
hands of sinners to be crucified, who was lifted
up on the horns of the unicorn, and who was
day of the passover, the stone being placed upon
the tomb.
POLYCRATES,^ BISHOP OF EPHESUS.
[a.d. 130-196.] This author 3 comes in as an appendix to the stories of Polycarp and Irenseus
and good Anicetus, and his writings also bear upon the contrast presented by the less creditable
history of Victor. If, as I suppose, the appearance of our Lord to St. John on " the Lord's
day " was on the Paschal Sunday, it may at first seem surprising that this Apostle can be claimed
by Polycrates in behalf of the Eastern custom to keep Easter, with the Jews, on the fourteenth
day of the moon. But to the Jews the Apostles became " as Jews " in all things tolerable, so long
as the Temple stood, and while the bishops of Jerusalem were labouring to identify the Paschal
Lamb with their Passover. The long survival of St. John among Jewish Christians led them to
prolong this usage, no doubt, as sanctioned by his example. He foreknew it would quietly pass
away. The wise and truly Christian spirit of Irengeus prepared the way for the ultimate unanimity
of the Church in a matter which lies at the base of " the Christian Sabbath," and of our own ob-
servance of the first day of the week as a weekly Easter. Those who in our own times have
revived the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, show us how much may be said on their side,'^ and
elucidate the tenacity of the Easterns in resisting the abolition of the Mosaic ordinance as to the
Paschal, although they agreed to keep it " not with the old leaven."
Our author belonged to a family in which he was the eighth Christian bishop ; and he pre-
sided over the church of Ephesus, in which the traditions of St. John were yet fresh in men's
minds at the date of his birth. He had doubtless known Polycarp, and Irenaeus also. He seems
to have presided over a synod of Asiatic bishops (a.d. 196) which came together to consider this
matter of the Paschal feast. It is surely noteworthy that nobody doubted that it was kept by a
Christian and Apostolic ordinance. So St. Paul argues from its Christian observance, in his rebuke
of the Corinthians. 5 They were keeping it " unleavened " ceremonially, and he urges a spiritual
unleavening as more important. The Christian hallowing of Pentecost connects with the Paschal
argument.^ The Christian Sabbath hinges on these points.
FROM HIS EPISTLE TO VICTOR AND THE ROMAN
CHURCH CONCERNING THE DAY OF KEEPING THE
PASSOVER. 7
As for us, then, we scrupulously observe the
exact day,^ neither adding nor taking away.
For in Asia great luminaries '' have gone to their
rest, who shall rise again in the day of the com-
ing of the Lord, when He cometh with glory
from heaven and shall raise again all the saints.
/ speak of Philip, one of the twelve apostles,'"
who is laid to rest at Hierapolis ; and his two
daughters, who arrived at old age unmarried ; "
his other daughter also, who passed her life '^
under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and re-
poses at Ephesus ; John, moreover, who re-
clined on the Lord's bosom, and who became
a priest wearing the mitre, '^ and a witness and a
teacher — he rests at Ephesus. Then there is
Polycarp, both bishop and martyr at Smyrna;
and Thraseas from Eumenia, both bishop and
' W6.\i.v KaSaptria, qu. ■naXi.vKa.da.pcna. = " re-purifiers."
2 Westcolt, Canon, p. 432, note i ; Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers, pp.
379. etc., 494.
3 See Lardner, Crcdib., vol. ii. cap. 23, p. 259.
* They cannot be satisfactorily answered, it seems to me, save
by the appeal to John xx. 19, 26, Acts xx. 7, i Cor. xvi. 2, and Rev.
i. 10, for" the Lord's day,'" and to the Council of Jerusalem (Acts
XV. 28; Col. ii. 16) for the repeal of Sabbatical ordinances; and to
the great laws (Matt. xvi. 19; John xiv. 26; Matt, xxviii. 20) of
plenary authority given by Christ Himself to His Apostles.
5 I Cor. 7, 8, and margin of Revised Version; also Acts xii. 4
and 12.
*> Acts ii. I, xx. 16; I Cor. xvi. 8.
^ In Eusebius, HisL EccL, v. 24.
8 'Appa6io0pyi)Toca7O/iAec ii\v r\\j.ipa.v.
9 2T0i;(eia.
'° [See vol. vii. p. SCO, n. 6. Great confusions adhere to this name.]
'I Avo fiuyarepe? avToO ycyTjpaKutat Trap^eVot,
■2 lVoki.Tiv(jaixivri. [Phil. iii. 20, Greek.\
'3 lUxaAoi'. [Probably the ornament of the high priest; Exod.
xxviii. 35, 36.]
774
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
martyr, who rests at Smyrna. Why should I
speak of Sagaris, bishop and martyr, who rests
at Laodicea? of the blessed Papirius, moreover?
and of Melito the eunuch,' who performed all
his actions under the influence of the Holy Spirit,
and lies at Sardis, awaiting the visitation ^ from
heaven, when he shall rise again from the dead ?
These all kept the passover on the fourteenth
day of the month, in accordance with the Gos-
pel, without ever deviating from it, but keeping
to the rule of faith.
Moreover I also, Polycrates, who am the least
of you all, in accordance with the tradition of
my relatives, some of whom I have succeeded —
seven of my relatives were bishops, and I am
the eighth, and my relatives always observed the
day when the people put away ^ the leaven — I
myself, brethren, I say, who am sixty-five years
old in the Lord, and have fallen in with the
brethren in all parts of the world, and have read
through all Holy Scripture, am not frightened at
the things which are said to terrify us. For
those who are greater than I have said, " We
ought to obey God rather than men." * . . .
I might also have made mention of the bishops
associated with me, whom it was your own desire
to have called together by me, and I called them
together : whose names, if I were to write them
down, would amount to a great number. These
bishops, on coming to see me^ unworthy as I
am, 5 signified their united approval of the letter,
knowing that I wore these grey hairs not in vain,
but have always regulated my conduct in obedi-
ence to the Lord Jesus.
THEOPHILUS, BISHOP OF C^SAREA IN PALESTINE.
[a.d. I So.] When Eusebius says that the churches of "all AsiaV concurred in the Ephesine
use concerning the Paschal, he evidently means Asia Minor, as in the Scriptures and elsewhere.^
Throughout " the rest of the world," he testifies, however, that such was not the use. The Pal
estinian bishops, after the Jewish downfall, seem to have been the first to comprehend the
propriety of adopting the more Catholic usage ; and our author presided over a council in Caesarea,
of which he was bishop, assisted by Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, with Cassius of Tyre and
Clarus of Ptolemais, which confirmed it. It is to be noted, that Alexandria is cited by Theophilus
as authority for this custom ; and it is not quite correct to say that the Western usage prevailed at
Nicsea, for it was the general use, save only in Asia Minor and churches which were colonies of the
same. This fact has been overlooked, and is very important, in history.
FROM HIS EPISTLE ON THE QUESTION OF THE PASS-
OVER, WRITTEN IN THE NAME OF THE SYNOD OF
C^SAREA.7
Endeavour also to send abroad copies of our
epistle among all the churches, so that those
able to lay the blame on us. We would have
you know, too, that in Alexandria** also they
observe the festival on the same day as ourselves.
For the Paschal letters are sent from us to them,
and from them to us : so that we observe the
who easily deceive their own souls may not be 1 holy day in unison and together.
SERAPI0N,9 BISHOP OF ANTIOCH.
[a.d. circa 190-200-211.] He was the eighth bishop of Antioch, a diligent writer and
exemplary pastor. Little as we have of his remains, Lardner shows how very useful is that little,
(i) He testifies to the Apostles as delivering the words of Christ Himself; (2) to the jealousy
of the early Christians in sifting inspired writings from those of no authority as Scriptures ; (3)
to their methods, as in the case of the pseudo-gospel of Peter ; and (4) to the utterly apocryphal
' [i.e , spiritually, embracing a chaste celibacy in deference to
Christ. Matt. xix. 12.]
2 'ETTLffKOTriJl/.
3 'Hpi/ve. Some read rjprve.
4 Acts V. 29.
5 IOV /XlKpOf ,
(> See (Polycrates) p. 773, supra, and Eusebius, H. E., book v,
cap. xxiii., etc , pp. 222-226
7 In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 25.
8 I Note, the authority of Alexandria is quoted, not that of Rome.]
9 Westcott, Ca>w?t, p. 444. Lardner, Credit., ii. 264, 417.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES. 775
character of that book, which Grabe and others suppose to be the work of Leucius, a noted forger
and falsifier. It had never been heard of in the great See of Antioch, and this famous bishop
could only get sight of it by fishing it out of the dirty pool of the Docetae.
I.
FROM THE EPISTLE TO CARICUS AND PONTICUS.'
That ye may see also that the proceedings of
this lying confederacy,^ to which is given the
name of New Prophecy, is abominated among
the whole brotherhood throughout the world, I
have sent you letters of the most blessed Clau-
dius Apollinarius, who was made bishop of
Hierapolis in Asia.
II.
FROM THE BOOK CONCERNING THE GOSPEL OF
PETER.3
For we, brethren, receive both Peter and the
rest of the apostles as Christ Himself. But those
writings which are falsely inscribed with their
name,"* we as experienced persons reject, know-
ing that no such writings have been handed
down to us. 5 When, indeed, I came to see you,
I supposed that all were in accord with the
orthodox faith ; and, although I had not read
through the Gospel inscribed with the name of
Peter which was brought forward by them, I
said : If this is the only thing which threatens ^
to produce ill-feeling among you, let it be read.
But, now that I have learnt from what has been
told me that their mind was secretly cherishing
some heresy,^ I will make all haste to come
to you again. Expect me therefore, brethren,
shortly. Moreover, brethren, we, having dis-
covered to what kind of heresy Marcion ad-
hered, and seen how he contradicted himself,
not understanding of what he was speaking, as
you will gather from what has been written to
you* — for, having borrowed this said Gospel
from those who were familiar with it from con-
stant perusal, namely from the successors of
those who were his leaders i7i the heresy, whom
we call Docetae (for most of the opinions held
by him are derived from their teaching), we
were able to read it through ; and while we found
most of its contents to agree with the orthodox
account of the Saviour, we found some things
inconsistent with that, and these we have set
down below for your inspection.
AP0LL0NIUS.9
[a.d. 211.] He was a most eloquent man, according to St. Jerome ; and his writings against
Montanism were so forcible as to call forth TertuUian himself, to confute him, if possible. He
flourished under Commodus and Severus, and probably until the times of Caracalla. He bears
testimony to the existence of a canon of Scripture,'° and to its inspired authority as the rule of
faith and practice ; and he witnesses, by citation, to the Gospel of St. Matthew. The Revelation
of St. John also, according to Eusebius, was employed by him in his works ; and he preserves a
tradition that our Lord bade the Apostles continue in Jerusalem for the space of twelve years.
We cannot affirm that he was invested with any office in the Church.
CONCERNING MONTANISM."
But who is this nev/ teacher? His works and
teaching inform 21s. This is he who taught the
dissolution of marriage ; who inculcated fasting ;
who called Peruga and Tymius, small towns of
Phrygia, Jerusalem, because he wished to collect
thither people from all parts ; who set up exact-
ors of money ; who craftily contrives the taking
of gifts under the name of voluntary offerings ;
who grants stipends to those who publish abroad
his doctrine, that by means of gluttony the teach-
ing of the doctrine may prevail.
We declare to you, then, that these first proph-
etesses, as soon as they were filled with the
spirit, left their husbands. Of what falsehood,
then, were they guilty in calling Prisca a maiden !
' In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 19.
3 In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 12.
■♦ The reading of Migne, ovo/xaTL, is adopted instead of ovonara.
S Td TOiaOra ov TrapcAd^Ofxei/.
7 Atpeo-et Tij'l 6 i-oCs aiiriov 4ve<l>uj\evet'.
8 The construction is not again resumed.
9 Routh, Rel. Sac, vol. i. pp. 465-485.
'° Wcstcott, Canon, p. 433.
" In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 18.
776
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
Do you not think that all Scripture forbids a
prophet to receive gifts and money? When,
therefore, I see that the prophetess has received
gold and silver and expensive articles of dress,
how can I avoid treating her with disapproval ?
III.
Moreover, Themison also, who was clothed in
a garb of plausible ■ covetousness, who declined
to bear the sign of confessorship, but by a large
sum of money put away from him the chains of
martyrdoiti, although after such conduct it was
his duty to conduct himself with humility, yet
had the hardihood to boast that he was a martyr,
and, in imitation of the apostle, to compose a
general epistle, in which he attempted to in-
struct^ in the elements of the faith those who
had believed to better purpose than he, and de-
fended the doctrines of the new-fangled teach-
ing,3 and moreover uttered blasphemy against
the Lord and the apostles and the holy Church.
But, not to dwell further on these matters, let
the prophetess tell us concerning Alexander, who
calls himself a martyr, with whom she joins in
banqueting ; who himself also is worshipped by
many ; * whose robberies and other deeds of
daring, for which he has been punished, it is not
necessary for us to speak of, since the treasury s
has him in keeping. Which of them, then, con-
dones the sins of the other? The prophet the
robberies of the martyr, or the martyr the covet-
ousness of the prophet? For whereas the Lord
has said, " Provide not gold, nor silver, nor two
coats a-piece,^'' ^ these men have, on the flat con-
trary, transgressed the command by the acquisi-
tion of these forbidden things. For we shall
show that those who are called among them
prophets and martyrs obtain money not only from
the rich, but also from the poor, from orphans
and widows. And if they are confident //;a//^(fy
are ris,ht in so doing, let them stand fo!ward
and discuss the point, in order that, if they be
refuted, they may cease for the future so to trans-
gress. For the fruits of the prophet must needs
be brought to the test : for " from its fruit is the
tree known." ^ But that those that desire it may
become acquainted with what relates to Alexan-
der, he was condemned by ^milius Frontinus,
proconsul at Ephesus, not on account of the
name of Christ, but for the daring robberies he
committed when he was already a transgressor.**
Afterwards, when he had spoken falsely of the
name of the Lord, he was released, having de-
ceived the faithful there ; 9 and even the brethren
of his own district, '° from which he came, did
not receive him, because he was a robber. Thus,
those who wish to learn what he is, have the
public treasury of Asia to go to. And yet the
prophet, although he spent many years with him,
Vxiowi forsooth nothing about him ! By convict-
ing " him," we by his means clearly convict of mis-
representation " the prophet likewise. We are
able to prove the like in the case of many others
besides. And if they are confident of their in-
nocence, let them abide the test.
If they deny that their prophets have taken
gifts, let them confess thus much, that if they
be convicted of having taken them, they are not
prophets ; and we will adduce ten thousand
proofs that they have. It is proper, too, that all
the fruits of a prophet should be examined. Tell
me : does a prophet dye Ids hair ? Does a prophet
use stibium on his eyes ? Is a prophet fond of
dress? Does a prophet play at gaming-tables
and dice ? Does a prophet lend money on in-
terest ? '^ Let them confess whether these things
are allowable or not. For my part, I will prove
that these practices have occurred among them.
PANT^NUS,'3 THE ALEXANDRIAN PHILOSOPHER.
[a.d. 182-192-212.] The world owes more to Pantaenus than to all the other Stoics put
together. His mind discovered that true philosophy is found, not in the Porch, but in Nazareth,
in Gethsemane, in Gabbatha, in Golgotha ; and he set himself to make it known to the world.
We are already acquainted with the great master of Clement,'-* " the Sicilian bee," that forsook
' aflOTTtO'TOl'.
2 icaTiJxeii'.
3 <Tvva.ytjiviC^^(jQ(xt. TOt? T^9 KaLvo^wvt'a? A6yot9.
* Or, " whom many of them (the Montanists — reading avTiav for
avTta, worship."
5 o7rio-9o6ofi6?, a chamber at the back of the temple of Minen-a, in
which public money was kept.
6 Matt. X. 9.
7 Malt. xii. 33.
8 Trapa^aTTjs, here meaning an apostate.
9 This is explained by Rufinus to mean: "When certain breth-
ren who had influence with the judge interceded for him, he pretended
that he was suffering for the name of Christ, and by this means he
was released."
t° Trapoi/cia.
ti iiTTocTTocrtv, from i"i)io-r>j/u.i, probably m the sense of subslititt-
iitg one thing for aiiother.
I- Toi^Aai? icat Ku^ot;.
'3 Vol. ii. p. 342; Westcott, Canon, pp. go, 381; Routh, R. S ,
vol. i. pp. 375-379.
••» Vol. li. pp. 165, etc., and p. 301, note 9; also p. 342, Elucid. II.,
this series.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
m
the flowers of Enna, to enrich Alexandria with what is " sweeter than honey and the honey-comb ; "
and we remember that he became a zealous missionary to the Oriental Ethiopia, and found there
the traces of St. Matthias' labours, and those also of St. Bartholomew. From this mission he
seems to have returned about a.d. 192. Possibly he was master of the Alexandrian school before
he went to India, and came back to his chair when that mission was finished. There he sat till
about A.D. 212, and under him this Christian academy became famous. It had existed as a
catechetical school from the Apostles' time, according to St. Jerome. I have elsewhere noted some
reasons for supposing that its founder may have been ApoUos.' All the learning of Christendom
may be traced to this source ; and blessed be the name of one of whom all we know is ennobling
to the Church, and whose unselfish career was a track of light "shining more and more unto the
perfect day."
\?
" In the sun hath He set His tent." ' Some
affirm that the reference is to the Lord's body,
which He Himself places in the sun : ■* Hermo-
genes, for instance. As to His body, some say
it is His tent, others the Church of the faithful.
But our Pantsenus said : " The language em-
ployed by prophecy is for the most part indefi-
nite, the present tense being used for the future,
and again the present for the past."
II.s
This mode of speaking Saint Dionysius the
Areopagite declares to be used in Scripture to
denote predeterminations and expressions of the
divine will.^ In like manner also the follow-
ers of Pantcenus,7 who became the preceptor of
the great Clement the Stromatist, affirm that
they are commonly used in Scripture for expres-
sions of the divine will. Accordingly, when asked
by some who prided themselves on the outside
learning,'^ in what way the Christians supposed
God to become acquainted with the universe, 'J
their own opinion being that He obtains His
knowledge of it in different ways, — of things
falling within the province of the understanding
by means of the understanding, and of those
within the region of the senses by means of
the senses, — they replied : " Neither does He
gain acqiiainfance with sensible things by the
senses, nor with things within the sphere of the
understanding by the understanding : for it is
not possible that He who is above all existing
things should apprehend them by means of ex-
isting things. We assert, on the contrary, that
He is acquainted with existing things as the
products of His own volition." '° They added,
by way of showing the reasonableness of their
view : " If He has made all things by an act of
His will (and no argument will be adduced to
gainsay this) , and if it is ever a matter of piety and
rectitude to say that God is acquainted with His
own will, and if He has voluntarily made every
several thing that has come into existence, then
surely God must be acquainted with all existing
things as the products of His own will, seeing
that it was in the exercise of that will that He
made them."
PSEUD-IREN^US.
[a.d. 177.] This letter should have been made a preface to the works of Irenseus, or at least
an appendix. It is worthy of his great name ; " the finest thing of the kind in all antiquity," says
Lardner. Critics of no mean name have credited it to Irenaeus ; but, as this cannot be proved, I
have accordingly marked it as d, pseudonym. The same writer condenses the arguments of others,
on which he decides to adhere to the later chronology of Eusebius, assigning its date to the
seventeenth year of Marcus Aurelius." Naturally humane and comparatively gentle in other
respects he was ; but Stoicism, as well as heathenism, showed what it could exact of such a char-
acter in maintenance of the popular and imperial superstitions. Terrible is the summary of
• Vol. vi. p. 236. St. Luke, in the company of Apollos, may
have met a catechumen of his in that " excellent Theophilus " of
his writings (St. Luke i. 4, Greek), whose history shows that cate-
chetical teaching was already part of the Christian system.
- In Extracts front the Prophets, written probably by Theodo-
tus, and collected by Clement of Alexandria or some other writer.
3 Ps. xix. 4.
4 <t»a<rt TO <r(jj/xa toO Kuptov e^* Ttp jjAtw auTOK a7roTt0€a'0at.
s In the Scholia of Maximus on St. Gregory the Divine.
6 0eA///jtaTa,
7 Oi Trepl X\.a.vTa.i.vov. [Vol. ii. pp. 165-167, this series.]
8 Tr)i' €^aj -no-ihivaiv.
9 Ta ov-roi.
■o 'n? i6ia fleATjfiara.
" Vol. iv. p. 125, this series. Compare Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers,
part ii. vol. i. pp. 499, etc., 510, etc.
778
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
Lightfoot concerning the barbarities of this darhng of the "philosophers: " "It is a plain fact,
that Christian blood flowed more freely under M. Aurelius than at any time previously during the
half century since the Bithynian martyrdoms under Trajan, or was yet to flow at any time during
the decades which would elapse before the Severian persecution. These persecutions extend
throughout his reign : they were fierce and deliberate ; aggravated, at least in some cases, by cruel
tortures. They had the emperor's direct personal sanction. They break out in all parts of the
empire, — in Rome, in Asia Minor, in Gaul, in Africa, possibly also in Byzantium."
Bishop Lightfoot accounts for the fact, that, in spite of this sanguinary character of the period,
little complaint is heard from the suffering Church, by a simple statement wliich is honourable to
Aurelius as a Roman and an emperor. He was such a contrast to the Neros and Caligulas, that
the wretched Romans loved him as a father; to reproach him was, therefore, poor policy for
Christians. They would have been answered, practically : " If so good a sovereign finds it necessary
to punish you, the fault is your own ; you have only to be as we are, and he will treat you as
well as he does us."
Of this awful outbreak in Lyons and Vienne, says Lightfoot : ' " The persecution was whole-
sale, so that it was not safe for any Christian to appear out of doors. No difference of age or sex
was made. The prisoners were put to the most cruel tortures. All the elements of power com-
bined to crush the brethren."
To forbear threatenings, to revile not again, to conquer through patient sufi"ering, to perse-
vere, " looking unto Jesus," and to be silent, like Him, before their murderers, was therefore
the world-wide conduct of the saints. This golden letter shows what they were called to endure,
and how they glorified Christ by their deaths, from the utmost Orient to the extreme limits of the
West.
THE LETTER OF THE CHURCHES OF VIENNA AND LUGDUNUM TO THE CHURCHES
OF ASIA AND PHRYGIA.=
It began thus : — " The servants of Christ
who sojourn in Vienna and Lugdunum of Gaul
to the brethren throughout Asia and Phrygia,
who have the same faith and hope of redemp-
tion as ourselves, peace, grace, and glory from
God the Father, and from Christ Jesus our
Lord."
After some further preliminary remarks the
letter proceeds : — " The greatness of the tribula-
tion in this region, and the exceeding anger of
the heathen nations against the saints, and the
sufferings which the blessed Witnesses ^ endured,
neither are we competent to describe accurately,
nor indeed is it possible to detail them in writ-
ing. For with all his strength did the adversary
assail us, even then giving a foretaste of his ac-
tivity among us which is to be without restraint ;
and he had recourse to every means, accustom-
ing his own subjects and exercising them before-
hand against the servants of God, so that not
only were we excluded from houses,** baths, and
the forum, but a universal prohibition was laid
against any one of us appearing in any place
whatsoever. But the grace of God acted as
our general against him. It rescued the weak ;
it arrayed against him men like firm pillars, who
could through patience bear up against the whole
force of the assaults of the wicked one. These
came to close quarters with him, enduring every
form of reproach and torture ; and, making light
of grievous trials, they hastened on to Christ,
showing in reality that the ' sufferings of the
present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that is to be revealed in us.' 5
And first they nobly endured the evils which
were heaped on them by the populace, —
namely, hootings and blows, draggings, plun-
derings, stonings, and confinements,^ and every-
thing that an infuriated mob is wont to perpetrate
against those whom they deem bitter enemies.
And at length, being brought to the forum by
the tribune of the soldiers, and the magistrates
that had charge of the city, they were examined
in presence of the whole multitude ; and having
' Ap. Fathers, part ii. vol. i. p. 499.
2 This letter has come down to us in fragments quoted by Euse-
bius. We have used the translation of Lord Hailes as the basis of
ours. [Compare Vol. i. p. 309, this series, and note the adhesion of
the primitive Gallican Church to the East, — to the land of Polycarp
and Pothinus. Concerning Pothinus, see Routh, Rcl. Sac, i. p. 328,
and the correction by Lightfoot, Ap. F., part li. vol i. p. 430, etc.
The Gallican Church may yet arise from the dust, and restore the
primitive primacy of Lyons. God grant it ! ]
3 We have translated M^oprvpe? " witnesses " and /jiapTvpia " testi-
mony" throughout.
4 Housesof friends and relatives. Olshausen takes them to be
public buildings.
5 Rom. viii. 18. [On quotations from Scripture, etc., see Westcolt,
Canon, p. 378, ed. 1855.]
*= By " confinements" in this passage evidently is meant that the
populace prevented them from resorting to public places, and thus
shut them up in their own houses.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
779
confessed, they were shut up in prison until the
arrival of the governor.
" After this, when they were brought before
the governor, and when he displayed a spirit of
savage hostility to us, Vettius Epagathus, one
of tlie brethren, interposed. For he was a man
who had contained the full measure of love
towards God and his neighbours. His mode
of life had been so strict, that though he was a
young man, he deserved to be described in the
words used in regard to the elderly Zacharias :
' He had walked therefore in all the command-
ments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.' '
He was also eager to serve his neighbour in any
way, he was very zealous for God, and he was
fervent in spirit. Such being the character of
the man, he could not bear that judgment should
be thus unreasonably passed against us, but was
moved with indignation, and requested that he
himself should be heard in defence of his breth-
ren, undertaking to prove that there is nothing
ungodly or impious amongst us. On this, those
who were round the judgment-seat cried out
against him, for he was a man of distinction ; and
the governor, not for a moment listening to the
just request thus made to him, merely asked him
if he himself were a Christian. And on his con-
fessing in the clearest voice that he was, he also
was taken up into the number of the Witnesses,
receiving the appellation of the Advocate of the
Christians,^ and having himself the Advocate,
the Spirit,^ more abundantly than Zacharias;
which he showed in the fulness '* of his love, in
that he had of his own good-will offered to lay
down his own life in defence of the brethren.
For he was and is a genuine disciple of Christ,
' following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' 5
" After this the rest began to be distinguished,*^
for the proto-martyis were decided and ready,
and accomplished the confession of their testi-
mony with all alacrity. But there appeared also
those who were unprepared and unpractised, and
who were still feeble, and unable to bear the
tension of a geat contest. Of these about ten in
number proved abortions ; causing great grief
and immeasurable sorrow amongst us, and damp-
ing the ardour of the rest who had not yet been
apprehended. For these, although they suffered
every kind of cruelty, remained nevertheless in
the company of the Witnesses, and did not for-
sake them. But then the whole of us were
greatly alarmed on account of our uncertainty
as to confession, not because we feared the tor-
• Luke i. 6.
2 From the heathen judge.
3 Luke i. 67.
4 The writer refers to St. John's Gospel (xv. 13) : " Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
5 Rev. xiv. 4.
* This expression seems to refer to what took place in athletic
combats. The athletes were tested before fighting, and those in every
way qualified were permitted to fight, while the others were rejected.
This testing, Valesius supposes, was called Siaxpitris.
tures inflicted, but because we looked to the end,
and dreaded lest any one should fall away.
Those who were worthy, however, we^e daily
apprehended, filling up the number of the others :
so that out of the two churches all the excellent,
and those to whom the churches owed most of
all their establishment and prosperity, were col-
lected together in prison. Some heathen house-
hold slaves belonging to our people were also
apprehended, since the governor had given
orders publicly that all of us should be sought
out. These, through the instigation of Satan,
and through fear of the tortures which they saw
the saints enduring, urged on also by the soldiers,
falsely accused us of Thyestean banquets and
Qidipodean connections, and other crimes which
it is lawful for us neither to mention nor think
of; and, indeed, we shrink from believing that
any such crimes have ever taken place among
men. When the rumour of these accusations
was spread abroad, all raged against us like wild
beasts ; so that if any formerly were temperate
in their conduct to us on account of relationship,
they then became exceedingly indignant and
exasperated against us. And thus was fulfilled
that which was spoken by our Lord : ' The time
shall come when every one who slayeth you
shall think that he offereth service to God.' ^
" Then at last the holy Witnesses suffered tor-
tures beyond all description, Satan striving ea-
gerly that some of the evil reports might be
acknowledged by them.^ But in an exceeding
degree did the whole wrath of mob, general, and
soldiers fall on Sanctus, a deacon from Vienna,
and on Maturus, a newly-enlightened but noble
combatant, and on Attains, a native of Perga-
mus, who had always been the Pillar ^ and
foundation of the church there, and on Blandina,
through whom Christ showed that the things that
to men appear mean and deformed and con-
temptible, are with God deemed worthy of great
glory, on account of love to Him, — a love which
is not a mere boastful appearance, but shows
itself in the power which it exercises over the life.
For while we were all afraid, and especially her
mistress in the flesh, who was herself one of the
combatants among the Witnesses, that she would
not be able to make a bold confession on account
of the weakness of her body, Blandina was filled
with such power, that those who tortured her one
after the other in every way from morning till
evening were wearied and tired, confessing that
they had been baffled, for they had no other
torture they could apply to her ; and they were
7 John xvi. 2.
8 The words here admit of two meanings: that something blas-
phemous might be uttered by them — such as speaking against
Christ and swearing by Caesar: or that some accusation against the
Christians might be uttered by them — confirming, for instance, the
reports of infanticide and incest prevalent against the Christians. The
latter in this passage seems unquestionably to be the meaning.
9 I Tim. lii. 15.
78o
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
astonished that she remained in hfe, when her
whole body was torn and opened up, and they
gave their testimony ' that one only of the
modes of torture employed was sufficient to have
deprived her of life, not to speak of so many
excruciating inflictions. But the blessed woman,
like a noble athlete, recovered her strength in
the midst of the confession ; and her declaration,
' I am a Christian, and there is no evil done
amongst us,' brought her refreshment, and rest,
and insensibility to all the sufferings inflicted on
her.
" Sanctus also nobly endured all the excessive
and superhuman^ tortures which man could
possibly devise against him ; for the wicked
hoped, on account of the continuance and great-
ness of the tortures, to hear him confess some of
the unlawful practices. But he opposed them
with such firmness that he did not tell them even
his own name, nor that of his nation or city, nor
if he were slave or free ; but in answer to all these
questions, he said in Latin, ' I am a Christian.'
This was the confession he made repeatedly,
instead of giving his name, his city, his race,
and indeed in reply to every question that was
put to him ; and other language the heathens
heard not from him. Hence arose in the minds
of the governor and the torturers a determined
resolution to subdue him ; so that, when every
other means failed, they at last fixed red-hot
plates of brass to the most delicate parts of his
body. And these indeed were burned, but he
himself remained inflexible and unyielding, firm
in his confession, being bedewed and strength-
ened by the heavenly fountain of the water of
life which issues from the belly of Christ. ^ But
his body bore witness to what had happened :
for it was all wounds and weals, shrunk and
torn up, and had lost externally the human
shape. In him Christ suffering wrought great
wonders, destroying the adversary, and showing
for an example to the rest that there is nothing
fearful where there is the Father's love, and
nothing painful where there is Christ's glory.
For the wicked after some days again tortured
the Witness, thinking that, since his body was
swollen and inflamed, if they were to apply the
same tortures they would gain the victory over
him, especially since the parts of his body could
not bear to be touched by the hand, or that
he would die in consequence of the tortures, and
J Heinichen construes difTerently. He makes the " torturers
astonished that Blandina gave her testimony that one kind of torture
was sufficient to deprive her of life." Perhaps the right construction
is to make on mean " because " or " for: " " They were astonished
at Blandina bearing her testimony, for one kind of torture was suf-
ficient to have killed her."
^ The words K7rep0c3ArjfieVu)s Kai virep ■na.vta. dvBpMirov naturally
go with vTTotxiuujv, and therefore intimate that Sanctus' endurance
was greater than human; but we doubt if this is intended by the
writer.
3 John vii. 38: " He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath
said, out of his bosom shall flow rivers of living water."
thus inspire the rest with fear. Yet not only did
no such occurrence take place in regard to him,
but even, contrary to every expectation of man,
his body unbent itself and became erect in the
midst of the subsequent tortures, and resumed
its former appearance and the use of its limbs,
so that the second torture turned out through
the grace of Christ a cure, not an affliction.
" Among those who had denied was a woman
of the name of Biblias. The devil, thinking that
he had already swallowed hei", and wishing to
damn her still more by making her accuse false-
ly, brought her forth to punishment, and em-
ployed force to constrain her, already feeble and
spiritless, to utter accusations of atheism against
us. But she, in the midst of the tortures,
came again to a sound state of mind, and
awoke as it were out of a deep sleep ; for the
temporary suffering reminded her of the eternal
punishment in Gehenna, and she contradicted
the accusers of Christians, saying, ' How can
children be eaten by those who do not think it
lawful to partake of the blood of even brute
beasts? ' And after this she confessed herself a
Christian, and was added to the number of Wit-
nesses.
" But when the tyrannical tortures were ren-
dered by Christ of no avail through the patience
of the blessed, the devil devised other contriv-
ances — confinement in the darkest and most
noisome cells of the prison, the stretching of the
feet on the stocks,'* even up to the fifth hole, and
the other indignities which attendants stirred up
by wrath and full of the devil are wont to inflict
on the imprisoned. The consequence was, that
very many were suffocated in prison, as many at
least as the Lord, showing His glory, wished to
depart in this way. For there were others who
were tortured so bitterly, that it seemed impos-
sible for them to survive even though they were
to obtain every kind of attention ; and yet they
remained alive in prison, destitute indeed of care
from man, but strengthened by the Lord, and
invigorated both in body and soul, and they ani-
mated and consoled the rest. But the new con-
verts who had been recently apprehended, and
whose bodies had not previously been tortured,
could not indure the confinement, but died in
the prison.
" Now the blessed Pothinus, who had been
entrusted with the service of the bishopric in
Lugdunum, was also dragged before the judg-
ment-seat. He was now upwards of ninety years
of age, and exceedingly weak in body. Though
he breathed with difficulty on account of the
feebleness of the body, yet he was strengthened
* The holes were placed in a line, so that the further the hole In
which one leg was put from the hole in which the other leg was put,
the more nearly would the two legs form a straight line, and the
greater would be the pain.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
78i
by the eagerness of his spirit, on account of his
earnest desire to bear his testimony. His body,
indeed, was already dissolved through old age
and disease, yet the life was preserved in him,
that Christ might triumph through him. When
he was brought by the soldiers to the judgment-
seat, under a convoy of the magistrates of the
city, and amid exclamations of every kind from
the whole population, as if he himself were the
Christ, he gave the good testimony. Being
asked by the governor who was the God of the
Christians, he said, ' If thou art worthy, thou
shalt know.' Thereupon he was unmercifully
dragged about, and endured many blows ; for
those who were near maltreated him in every
way with their hands and feet, showing no re-
spect for his age, while those at a distance hurled
against him each one whatever came to hand,
all of them believing that they would sin greatly
and act impiously if they in any respect fell short
in their insulting treatment of him. For they
thought that in this way they would avenge their
gods. And Pothinus, breathing with difficulty, was
cast into prison, and two days after he expired.
" Upon this a grand dispensation ' of God's
providence took place, and the immeasurable
mercy of Jesus was made manifest, — such an
occurrence as but rarely happens among the
brotherhood, yet one that does not fall short of
the art of Christ. . For those who in the first
apprehension had denied, were imprisoned along
with the others, and shared their hardships.
Their denial, in fact, turned out at this time to
be of no advantage to them. For while those
who confessed what they really were, were im-
prisoned simply as Christians, no other accusa-
tion being brought against them, those who
denied were detained as murderers and profli-
gates. They, moreover, were doubly punished.
For the confessors were lightened by the joy of
their testimony and their hope in the promises,
and by their love to Christ, and by the Father's
Spirit. But the deniers were tormented greatly
by their own consciences, so that when they were
led forth their countenances could be distin-
guished among all the rest. For the confessors
went forth joyous, with a mingling of glory and
abundant grace in their looks, so that their
chains lay like becoming ornaments around them,
as around a bride adorned with golden fringes
wrought with divers colours.' And they breathed
at the same time the fragrance of Christ,^ so that
some even thought that they were anointed
with this world's perfume. But the deniers were
downcast, humbled, sad-looking, and weighed
' The dispensation is, that those who denied were not set free,
but confined with the others: and that this harsh treatment and sad
state of mind confirmed the resohition of those not yet appreliended
to confess Christ. Various other explanations have been given, but
this seems the most reasonable.
2 Ps. xlv. 13.
3 2 Cor. ii. 15.
down with every kind of disgrace. They were,
moreover, reproached even by the heathens with
being base and cowardly, and charged with the
crime of murder ; they had lost the altogether
honourable, glorious, and life-giving appellation.*
When the rest saw this, they were strengthened,
and those who were apprehended confessed un-
hesitatingly, not allowing the reasoning of the
devil to have even a place in their thoughts."
Eusebius omits something, saying that after a
little the letter proceeded as follows : —
"After these things, then, their testimonies took
every shape through the different ways in which
they departed. 5 For, plaiting a crown from dif-
ferent colours and flowers of every kind, they
presented it to the Father. It was right there-
fore that the noble athletes, after having endured
divers contests and gained grand victories, should
receive the great crown of incorruption.
" Maturus, therefore, and Sanctus, and Blan-
dina, and Attains were publicly *' exposed to the
wild beasts — that common spectacle of heathen
barbarity ; for a day was expressly assigned to
fights with wild beasts on account of our people.
And Maturus and Sanctus again endured every
form of torture in the amphitheatre, as if they
had had no suffering at all before. Or rather,
like athletes who had overthrown their adver-
sary several times,^ and were now contending
for the crown itself, again they endured the
lashes ^ which were usual there ; and they were
dragged about by the wild beasts, and suffered
every indignity which the maddened populace
demanded in cries and exhortations proceeding
from various parts of the amphitheatre. And
last of all they were placed in the iron chair,
on which their bodies were roasted, and they
themselves were filled with the fumes of their
own flesh. But the heathens did not stop even
here, but became still more frantic in their de-
sire to overcome the endurance of the Chris-
tians. But not even thus did they hear anything
else from vSanctus than the utterance of the con-
fession which he had been accustomed to make
from the beginning. These, then, after life had
lasted a long time throughout the great contest,
were at last sacrificed,^ after they alone had
1 Of Christian.
5 We have adopted here an emendation of Routh's. The literal
version of the common text is: " The testimonies of their departure
were divided into every form."
'^ The Greek is el<; to Sritxatnov, was led " to the public buildiitg"
to the wild beasts. The public building is taken to be the amphithe-
atre.
7 The words " several times " are represented in Greek by 6ia TxAei-
6vu>v K\-qpuiv, lit. " through several lots." When there were several
athletes to contend, the pairs were determined by lot. After the first
contest the victors were again formed into pairs by lot, until finally
there should be but one pair left. .See the process at the Olympic
games described in Lucian Hermotimfls, c. xl. p. 782.
^ The bestiarii, before fighting with wild beasts, had to run the
gauntlet.
9 Rufinus tra.ns\ates jugyt/aii su>ii. Probably, "killed with the
sword." The term may have been a technical one, being applied to
the gladiators or bestiarii, whose death may have been looked on as
a sacrifice to a god or a dead hero.
782
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
formed a spectacle to the world, throughout that
day, instead of all the diversity which usually
takes place in gladiatorial shows.
" Blandina ' was hung up fastened to a stake,
and exposed, as food to the wild beasts that
were let loose against her ; and through her pre-
senting the spectacle of one suspended on some-
thing like a cross, and through her earnest
prayers, she inspired the combatants with great
eagerness : for in the combat they saw, by means
of their sister, with their bodily eyes. Him who
was crucified for them, that He might persuade
those who trust in Him that every one that has
suffered for the glory of Christ has eternal com-
munion with the living God. When none of
the wild beasts at that time touched her, she was
taken down from the stake and conveyed back
to prison. She was thus reserved for another
contest, in order that, gaining the victory in
many preparative conflicts, she might make the
condemnation of the Crooked Serpent^ unques-
tionable, and that she might encourage the
brethren. For though she was an insignificant,
weak, and despised woman, yet she was clothed
with the great and invincible athlete Christ. On
many occasions she had overpowered the adver-
sary, and in the course of the contest had woven
for herself the crown of incorruption.
" Attalus also was vehemently demanded by
the mob, for he was a man of mark. He en-
tered the lists a ready combatant on account of
his good conscience, since he had been truly
practised in the Christian discipline, and had
always been a Witness of the truth among us.
He was led round the amphitheatre, a tablet
going before him, on which was written in Latin,
' This is Attalus the Christian ; ' and the people
swelled with indignation against him. But the
governor, learning that he was a Roman, ordered
him to be taken back to prison and kept with
the rest who were there, with regard to whom he
had written to the Csesar, and was now awaiting
his determination.
" The intervening time did not prove barren
or unfruitful to the Witnesses, but through their
patient endurance the immeasurable love of
Christ was made manifest. For through the liv-
ing the dead were made alive ; and the Witnesses
conferred favours on those who were not Wit-
nesses, and the Virgin Mother had much joy in
receiving back alive those whom she had given
up as dead abortions. For through the Wit-
nesses the greater number of those who had
denied returned, as it were, into their mother's
womb, and were conceived again and re-quick-
ened ; and they learned to confess. And being
now restored to life, and having their spirits
' Blandina was a slave: hence the mode of punishment.
matter see Lipsius, De Crtice. [And my note, p. 784.]
^ Lord Hailes remarks that this alludes to Isa. xxvii. i.
On this
braced, they went up to the judgment-seat to be
again questioned by the governor, while that
God who wishes not the death of the sinner,^
but mercifully calls to repentance, put sweetness
into their souls. This new examination took
place because the Caesar had given orders that
the Witnesses should be punished, but that if any
denied they should be set free. And as now
was commencing here the fair, which is attended
by vast numbers of men assembling from all
nations, he brought the blessed up to the judg-
ment-seat, exhibiting them as a theatrical show
and spectacle to the mobs. Wherefore also he
again questioned them, and whoever appeared
to have had the rights of Roman citizenship
he beheaded, and the rest he sent to the wild
beasts.
" Now Christ was greatly glorified in those
who formerly denied ; for, contrary to every
expectation of the heathen, they confessed. For
these were examined separately, under the be-
lief that they were to be set free ; but confessing,
they were added to the number of the Witnesses.
But there were also some who remained without ;
namely, those who had no trace of faith, and no
perception of the marriage garment,-* nor notion
of the fear of God, but through their conduct
caused evil reports of our way of life, that is,
sons of perdition. But all the rest were added
to the Church.
" Present at the examination of these was one
Alexander, a native of Phrygia, a physician by
profession. He had lived for many years in
Gaul, and had become well known to all for his
love to God and his boldness m proclaiming the
truth, for he was not without a share of apostolic
grace. He stood near the judgment-seat, and,
urging by signs those who had denied to confess,
he looked to those who stood round the judg-
ment-seat like one in travail. But the mobs,
enraged that those who had formerly denied
should now confess, cried out against Alexander
as if he were the cause of this change. Then the
governor summoned him before him, and in-
quired of him who he was ; and when Alexan-
der said he was a Christian, the governor burst
into a passion, and condemned him to the wild
beasts. And on the next day he entered the am-
phitheatre along with Attalus ; for the governor,
wishing to gratify the mob, again exposed Attalus
to the wild beasts. These two, after being tor-
tured in the amphitheatre with all tlie instru-
ments devised for that purpose, and having un-
dergone an exceedingly severe contest, at last
were themselves sacrificed. Alexander uttered
3 Ezek. xxxiii. 11.
-• Heinichen renders " the bride's garment," and explains in the
following manner. The bride is the Church, the garment Christ; and
the sons of perdition had no idea what garment the Church of Christ
should wear, had no id-a that they should be clothed with Christ, and
be filled with His Spirit. It is generally taken to be the marriage
garment of Matt. xxii. 12.
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
783
no groan or murmur of any kind, but conversed
in his heart with God ; but Attalus, when he was
placed on the iron chair, and all the parts of his
body were burning, and when the fumes from
his body were borne aloft, said to the multitude
in Latin, ' Lo ! this which ye do is eating men.
But as for us, we neither eat men nor practise
any other wickedness.' And being asked what
name God has, he answered, ' God has not a
name as men have.'
" After all these, on the last day of the glad-
iatorial shows, Blandina was again brought in
along with Ponticus, a boy of about fifteen years
of age. These two had been taken daily to the
amphitheatre to see the tortures which the rest
endured, and force was used to compel them to
swear by the idols of the heathen ; but on ac-
count of their remaining stedfast, and setting all
their devices at nought, the multitude were
furious against them, so as neither to pity the
tender years of the boy nor to respect the sex
of the woman. Accordingly they exposed them
to every terror, and inflicted on them every tor-
ture, repeatedly trying to compel them to swear.
But they failed in effecting this ; for Ponticus,
encouraged by his sister,' so plainly indeed that
even the heathens saw that it was she that en-
couraged and confirmed him, after enduring
nobly every kind of torture, gave up the ghost ;
while the blessed Blandina, last of all, after
having like a noble mother encouraged her chil-
dren, and sent them on before her victorious to
the King, trod the same path of conflict which
her children had trod, hastening on to them with
joy and exultation at her departure, not as one
thrown to the wild beasts, but as one invited to a
marriage supper. And after she had been
scourged and exposed to the wild beasts, and
roasted in the iron chair, she was at last enclosed
in a net and cast before a bull. And after hav-
ing been well tossed by the bull, though without
having any feeling of what was happening to
her, through her hope and firm hold of what
had been entrusted to her and her converse with
Christ, she also was sacrificed, the heathens
themselves acknowledging that never among
them did woman endure so many and such fear-
ful tortures.
" Yet not even thus was their madness and
their savage hatred to the saints satiated. For
wild and barbarous tribes, when excited by the
Wild Beast, with difficulty ceased from their
rage, and their insulting conduct found another
and peculiar subject in the bodies of the Wit-
nesses. For they felt no shame that they had
been overcome, for they were not possessed of
human reason ; but their defeat only the more
' She may have been his sister by birth, as some have supposed,
but the term "sjster" would have been applied had she been con-
nected by no other tie than that of a common faith.
inflamed their rage, and governor and people,
like a wild beast, showed a like unjust ha-
tred of us, that the Scripture might be ful-
filled, ' He that is unjust, let him be unjust
still ; and he that is righteous, let him be
righteous still.' ^ For they threw to the dogs
those who had been suffocated in prison, care-
fully watching them day and night, lest any one
should receive burial from us. They then laid
out the mangled remains left by the wild beasts,
and the scorched remains left by the fire, and
the heads of the rest along with their trunks, and
in like manner for many days watched them ly-
ing unburied with a military guard. There were
some who raged and gnashed their teeth at them,
seeking to get from them further vengeance.
Others derided and insulted them, at the same
time magnifying their own idols, and ascribing
to them the punishment inflicted on the Chris-
tians. There were persons also of a milder
disposition, who to some extent seemed to sym-
pathize ; yet they also frequently upbraided, say-
ing, ' Where now is their God, and what good
have they got from that religion which they
chose in preference to their life ? ' Such was the
diversity which characterized the conduct of the
heathens. But our state was one of deep sor-
row that we could not bury the bodies. For
night aided us not in this matter ; money failed
to persuade, and entreaty did not shame them
into compliance ; but they kept up the watch in
every way, as if they were to gain some great
advantage from the bodies of the Christians not
obtaining burial.
Something is omitted. The letter then goes
on : —
"The bodies of the Witnesses, after having
been maltreated in every way, and exposed in
the open air for six days, were burned, reduced
to ashes, and swept by the wicked into the river
Rhone, which flows past, in order that not even
a vestige of them might be visible on earth.
And these things they did, as if they had been
able to overcome God, and deprive them of
their second birth,^ in order, as they said, that
' they may not have hope in a resurrection, trust-
ing to which they introduce some strange and
new mode of worship, and despise dangers, and
go readily and with joy to death. Now let us
see if they will rise again, and if their God can
help them, and rescue them out of our hands.' "
Eusebius here breaks off his series of con-
tinuous extracts, but he makes a few more for
special purposes. The first is the account
which the churches gave of the character of
the Witnesses : —
" Who also were to such an extent zealous
2 Rev. x-xii. 11. Lardner thinks the passage is quoted from Dan.
xii. 10. Crcdib., part ii. c. 16.
3 TraAi-yyei'ftna. The term refers here to the new state of affairs
at the end of the world.
784
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
followers and imitators of Christ, who, being in
the shape of God, thought it not an object of
desire to be treated like God ; ' that though they
were in such glory, and had borne their testi-
mony not once, nor twice, but often, and had
been again taken back to prison after exposure
to the wild beasts, and bore about with them the
marks of the burnings and bruises and wounds
all over their bodies, yet did they neither pro-
claim themselves Witnesses, nor indeed did they
permit us to address them by this name ; but if
any one of us on any occasion, either by letter
or in conversation, called them Witnesses, they
rebuked him sharply. For they willingly gave
the title of Witness to Christ, ' the faithful and
true Witness,' ^ and first-born from the dead,
and the leader to the divine life. And they re-
minded us of those Witnesses who had already
departed, and said : ' These indeed are now
Witnesses, whom Christ has vouchsafed to take
up to Himself in the very act of confession, thus
pulting His seal upon their testimony through
their departure. But we are mean and humble
confessors.' And with tears they besought the
brethren that earnest prayers might be made for
their being perfected. They in reality did all
that is implied in the term 'testimony,' acting
with great boldness towards all the heathen ;
and their nobleness they made manifest through
their patience, and fearlessness, and intrepidity.
But the title of Witness, as implying some su-
periority to their brethren,^ they refused, being
fiilled with the fear of God."
After a little they say : —
" They humbled themselves ^ under the power-
ful hand by which they are now highly exalted.
Then they pleaded for all,5 but accused none ;
■ Phil. ii. 6.
2 Rev. i. 5 and iii. 14.
3 The Greek is Tr)v vrpb? tou5 a5eA(f)ous tuiv tiaprvpiov Trpoirrj-yo-
piav, generally translated, " offered to them by their brethren."
* I Pet. V. 6.
5 The Greek is, irao-i ixev ajTeAoyoOvTO. Rufinus translated,
" Placabant omnes, neniinem accusabant." Valesius thought that
the words ought to be translated, " They rendered an account of
their faith to all;" or, "They defended themselves before all."
Heinichen has justified the translation in the text by an appeal to a
passage in Eusebius, Nz'si. Eccl., iv. 15.
they absolved all, they bound none ; and they
prayed for those who inflicted the tortures, even
as Stephen the perfect Witness, ' Lord, lay not
this sin to their charge.' '^ But if he prayed for
those who stoned him, how much more for the
brethren ! "
After other things, again they say : —
" For they had this .very great conflict with
him, the devil, on account of their genuine love,
in order that the Beast being choked, might vom-
it forth those whom he thought he had already
swallowed. For they assumed no airs of superi-
ority over the fallen, but with those things in
which they themselves abounded they aided the
needy, displaying towards them the compassion
of a mother. And pouring out many tears for
them to the Father, they begged life ; ^ and He
gave it to them, and they shared it with their
neighbours. And departing victorious over all
to God, having always loved peace, and having
recommended peace to us, in peace they went
to God, leaving no sorrow to their Mother, nor
division and dissension to their brethren, but joy
and peace, and concord and love."
"The same writing of the fore-mentioned
martyrs," says Eusebius, " contains a story worth
remembrance.
" For there was one of them of the name of
Alcibiades, who lived an exceedingly austere life,
confining his diet to bread and water, and par-
taking of nothing else whatsoever. He tried to
continue this mode of life in prison ; but it was
revealed to Attains after the first conflict which
he underwent in the amphitheatre that Alcibiades
was not pursuing the right course in refusing to
use the creatures of God, and in leaving an ex-
ample which might be a stumbling-block to
others. And Alcibiades was persuaded, and par-
took freely of all kinds of food, and thanked
God. For they were not without the oversight
of the grace of God, but the Holy Spirit was
their counsellor."
6 Acts vii. 60.
' Ps. XX. 4.
NOTE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
A French writer has remarked, " Ce n'est pas Spartacus qui a supprim6 I'esclavage ; c'est
bien plutot Blandine."
ELUCIDATION^. 785
ELUCIDATION.
(In every succession, p. 764.)
Here our author mentions that he noted the succession of Bishops at Rome, but he gives his
list with no remark about Rome in particular. He adds that " in every succession and in every
city (i.e., in every See) a primitive accordance with the law and the Gospel is maintained."
How can our excellent Lightfoot ' give it a colour wholly gratuitous in these words : " He inter-
ested himself in the succession of the Roman See, intent, like Irenceus in the next generation, on
showing the permanence of the orthodox tradition, through the continuity of the Roman episco-
pate." Irengeus, who, above all the Westerns, is identified with the Orient !
Where is the evidence of any such idea or " intent " ? As for Irenaeus, his testimony has been
sufficiently illustrated before, with proof that his words have not the slightest reference to the
continuity of the Roman more than any other See, save only as the influx of visitors from
other Sees helped to give it orthodoxy by their concurrent testimony.^
NOTE.
It may be worth while to state here, that I have uniformly (mistakes excepted) put my chron-
ological statements, at the head of introductions, into brackets, so as to make the reader sure
that the Edinburgh edition is not to be responsible for them. Some have inferred, therefore, that
what follows is from the Edinburgh ; but I think my modes of expression sufficient, generally, to
guard against misconception. Notes (like this) are sometimes marked, '• By the American Editor,"
when I have feared a misleading ambiguity. Otherwise, I have been unguarded. All the intro-
ductions in these " Remains " are mine, save the prefatory paragraphs of the translator on
pp. 747, 748. Annotations on my own material are not bracketed. The very large amount of
work bestowed upon this edition can only be known by comparison with the Edinburgh. In
several instances of delicate criticism I have obtained valuable aid from my beloved friend, F. P.
Nash, Esq., of Hobart College, especially in questions of the low Latin or ambiguous Greek.
A. C. C.
' Ap. Fathers, part ii. vol. i. p. 435; and the same laxity, p. 384, coincident with his theory as to a virtual post- Apostolic development
of episcopacy.
2 Compare vol. i. pp. 415, 460, and vol. v. Elucid. VI.; also Elucid. XI. pp. 157-159, this series.
INDEXES.
TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS
AND EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Abyss, what is meant by, 43.
Angel, the guardian of infants, 48;
of generation, 49 ; of the sun, 50.
Angels, appearance of, how caused,
49; the fallen, taught men as-
tronomy, divination, and other
arts, 49; are called days, 50; dif-
ferent orders of, 50.
Anger, the mischief of, 25.
Arethas referred to, 36.
Asher, the patriarch, speaks to his
children concerning two faces of
vice and virtue, 30, 31 ; exhorts
them to walk in the way of truth
and righteousness, 31 ; death
of, 32.
Augustine referred to, 35, 37, 44.
Baptism, the sign of regeneration,
43; compared to a stream, 43;
with Spirit and fire, meaning of,
46; of Christ, why, 44.
Beatitudes of the Lord, provisions
for the Lord's way, 44.
Benjamin, the patriarch, speaks of his
birth, 35, of his being recog-
nised by Joseph, 36; exhorts his
children to follow the example
of Joseph, 36, to have a pure
mind, 36, to flee the evil-doing
of Beliar, 37, that they may have
a part in the kingdom of the
Lord, 37 ; concludes with a ref-
erence to the Apostle Paul, 37.
Bernard, St., quoted, 37.
Boat, the first, made by Zebulun, 24.
Caesar, earthly things to be rendered
to, 46.
Cave referred to, 3.
Chiliasm of Barnabas referred to, 26.
Christ, why baptized, 44 ; called the
Law and Word, 50.
Church, the, minister of the Lord's
power, 45.
Clement of Alexandria referred to, 13.
Clementine Homilies referred to, 15.
Clementine Recognitions referred to,
15-
Commandments, witnesses to the, 44.
Communication, oral and written, dif-
ference between, 46.
Comprehension connected with sci-
ence, 47. •
Cyril referred to, 36.
Dan, the patriarch, warns nis children
against anger and lying, 25-26;
speaks of their captivity, 26; ex-
horts them to fear the Lord, 26,
to take heed of Satan, 26 ; his
death, 26.
Day, meaning of, 49.
Defects, secret, foreign to the right-
eous man, 50.
Demons tempted Solomon, 49.
Devil, the, tempted Christ, why, 49.
Disease, external, not to be dreaded,
44.
Dorner referred to, 26.
Encyclopaedia Britannica referred to,
12.
Enoch, Book of, referred to, 10, 12,
13, 15, 16, 20, 23, 27, yj, 43.
Envy, its effect, 1 1.
Epiphanius referred to, 35.
Faith and knowledge, 44, 45 ; and
righteousness, effect of, 50.
Faithful, the, are called kings, 48.
Fasting, meaning of the word, 44.
Fear is mingled with goodness by
God, 44.
Fire, the power of, 46.
Fornication, its effects, 10, 12.
Free choice is given to the soul, 45.
Gad, the patriarch, speaks of his
youth, 29, of his hatred against
Joseph, 29, of his punishment,
30; warns his children against
hatred, 29, and envy, 30 ; his
death and burial, 30.
Generation, the angel of, 49.
Gesenius referred to, 10.
Gnostic, teaching of, 45; life of, 47 ;
virtue, effect of, 48.
God, the creator of man, 45, also his
Saviour, 44 ; how to be conceived,
45; why called a consuming fire,
46; we ought to render to, the
things belonging to, 46 ; mingles
fear with goodness, 44 ; the judg-
ment of, is good, 48 ; how to be
glorified, 48.
Grabe referred to, 3, 14.
Grace, the saving, effect of, 45.
Grosseteste referred to, 6.
Hatred, effects of, 29.
Heavens, meaning of, 49 ; the seven,
13-
Herodotus referred to, 19.
" Israelites indeed," who they are, 47.
Issachar, the patriarch, speaks of his
birth, 22, his occupation and up-
rightness, 22, exhorts his chil-
dren to walk in simplicity of
heart, minding their own affairs,
22 ; his death, 23.
Jones referred to, 27, 29, 32, 36.
Joseph, the patriarch, narrates his
early life, 32, his misfortunes in
Egypt) 32-35; speaks of his mar-
riage, 35, of his visions concern-
ing the Lamb of God, 35, 36 ;
exhorts his children to follow
after sobriety and purity, in pa-
tience and humility of heart, 33,
34, 35; his death, 35; descrip-
tion of, by Simeon, 1 1, 12 ; a type
of Christ, 4.
Josephus referred to, 27, 29, 32, 36.
Joshua called a saviour, 43.
Jubilees, Book of, referred to, 13, 17,
18, 35-
Judah, the ]5atriarch, speaks of his
fortitude, 17, 18, of his marriage
and that of his sons, iS, of his
fall, 19; warns his children
against drunkenness, which leads
to fornication, and against the
love of money, 19, 20; predicts
the coming of the Messiah, who
shall be the Saviour of all, 21 ;
his death and burial, 21.
Kayser referred to, 14.
Knowledge and righteousness, 44.
Lardner referred to, 3, 4, 10, 14, 23,
43. 48.
Leathes referred to, 3.
790 TESTAMENTS AND EXCERPTS: INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Levi, the patriarch, speaks of his
vengeance on Hamor, 13, 14, of
his revelations, 13, of the seven
heavens, 13, of the seven men
in white raiment, investing him
with the insignia of the priest-
hood, 14 ; is instructed in the law
of the priesthood and sacrifices,
14, 15; spealcs of his marriage,
15; admonishes his children to
fear the Lord, 15; foretells that
they will act ungodly against the
Saviour, 15, 16, that they will be
led into captivity, 16, and finally
be saved through the Lord, 16;
his death and burial, 17.
Lightfoot referred to, 6.
Long-suffering, effect of, 48.
Love of money, its evil fruits, 19, 20.
Man, created by God, 45.
Mandrakes, the, of Reuben, 21, 22.
Martyr, the so-called, must be per-
secuted, 50.
Matter, how represented, 43.
Midrash Breshith Rabba referred to,
II, 36.
Money, love of, its evil fruits, 19, 20.
Naphtali, the patriarch, speaks of
his birth, 27, of his youth, 27,
of his dreams, 28 ; exhorts his
children not to change the order
of nature, 27, 28 ; his death and
burial, 28.
Nitzsch referred to, 14.
Order of nature, how illustrated, 27,
28.
Origen referred to, 3, 5, 37.
Paris, M., referred to, 6.
Passions are called spirits, 48.
Plutarch referred to, 9.
Property, how to be managed, 48.
Prophecy is uttered indefinitely, 49.
Protevangelium Jacobi referred to,
35-
Psalm xix., verses of, explained by
Theodotus, 49, 50.
Punishments produced from sins.
Regeneration by water and Spirit, 44.
Reuben, the patriarch, speaks of his
sin and sufferings, 9; warns
against women and fornication,
10; his death and burial, 11.
Righteous, the so-called, must be
wronged, 50.
Righteousness, must be added to
knowledge, 44, and faith, effect
of, 50.
Salvation, things necessary to, 47.
Science, mysteries of, how often re-
garj^ed, 47.
Scriptures, why to be searched, 47.
Servant of God, who so called, 50.
Sick are ever praying, 44.
Simeon, the patriarch, speaks of his
hostility to Joseph, 11; warns
his children against envy, 11, 12;
his death and burial, 12.
Simplicity of heart recommended,
22.
Son of God is the beginning, 43.
Soul, the, has free choice, 45.
Spirits, in man, 9; of error, 9.
Stars, what they are, 49.
Study necessary for teachers, 48.
Sufferings, why desired by the an-
cients, 44.
Suicer referred to, 16.
" Tabernacle in the sun," meaning of,
49.
Targum referred to, 11, 18, 23, 29,
35. 36-
Tatian, referred to, 13 ; refuted, 48.
Teachers ought always to study, 48.
Tertullian referred to, 3, 5, 37.
Testaments, the, of the Twelve Patri-
archs, introductory notice to,
3-8 ; time of composition, 3, 5 ;
character of, 3, 4, 5 ; object of,
5; author of, 3, 5; his religious
stand-point, 5,6; language of, 5;
quoted by Tertullian, 5, and Or-
igen, 5 ; manuscripts of, 6, 7 ;
editions of, 7 ; versions, 7 ; liter-
ature on, 8 ; contents of, 9-37.
Testimony of the Lord, effect of, 50.
Theodoret referred to, 37.
Theodotus, Excerpts of, or Selections
from the Prophetic Scriptures,
43-50; introductory notice to, 41 ;
notes on verses from Psalm xix.,
49. 50-
Tischendorf referred to, 7.
Vorstman referred to, 7, 14.
Watchers, the, 10, 27.
Westcott referred to, 3, 5.
Zebulun, the patriarch, speaks of his
relation to Joseph, 23, of his
building the first boat, 24, of the
five years he spent as a fisher,
supplying every one with fish,
24; exhorts his children to show
mercy and compassion towards
all, 24; warns them against di-
visions, 24; points to the com-
ing of the God-Man, 25; his
death and burial, 25.
TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS
AND EXCERPTS OF THEODOTUS.
INDEX OF TEXTS.
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Gen. i. I . . . .
• 43
Josh. xix. 43
. 18
Hos. X. 1 1 . . .
• 43
John III. 5 . . . . 16
i. 2 . .
44
xxiv. 30 . .
. 18
Amos ix. 7 . . .
12
viii. 12.
15
i-3 • •
48
Judg. ii. 9 ...
. 18
Mic. i. 14 . . . .
. 18
ix. 5 .
15
i. i8. .
5°
xiv. I . . .
. iS
Mai. iv. 2. . . .
• 25
xix. I T .
15
ii. lo .
10
I Sam. ix. 23 . .
• 32
Additions to Dan. 32
Acts iii. 17 .
20
vi. 4
10
2 Sam. xxiii. 30
. 18
36-41, 68 . . .
• 43
xxi. 18-26
4
xxiii. 9 .
II
I Kings xi. I, II .
20
Baruch vi. 43 . .
19
xxvi. 7 .
3
XXV. 34
37
I Chron. ii. 43 . .
• 17
Ecclus. ix. 4. . .
21
Rom. viii. 15
45
xxvii. 25
37
iv. 22 . .
18
xlii. 7 . .
27
xi. I .
37
xxix. 33
II
xi. 36 . .
. 18
xlii. 24 . .
31
xi. 15 .
26
xxix. 35
17
Ps. xviii. I . . .
• 49
2 Mace. vii. 9-36 .
21
xi. 26 .
21
xxx. 8 .
27
xviii. 26 . . .
48
Tobit viii. 7, 8 . .
22
xvi. 1 5-1;
14
xxx. 14 sec
i- •
21
xviii. 43 . . .
48
Wisd. iii. 7 . . .
48
I Cor. i. 18 .
46
xxx. 20
■ 23
xviii. 50 . . .
48
xi. 16 . . .
30
V. II .
16
XXXV. 22
10
xix. I seq. . .
49
xi. 20 . . .
27
vii. 5 .
28
xxxvii. 22,
29
II
xix. 8 . . . .
50
Matt. ii. 2 ...
16
xi. 10.
10
xxxvii. 28
29
xix. 12 (LXX.)
50
iii. ri . . .
46
XV. 49
46
xxxviii. I
18
Prov. viii. 31 . .
2\
V. 6 ...
45
2 Cor. iv. 18 .
44
xxxviii. 5
18
xiii. 24 . .
44
V. 45 . . .
31
Gal. iv. 6 . .
45
xxxviii. 12
19
xiv. 29 (LXX.)
29
VI. 6 . . .
32
Eph. iii. 10 .
21
XXXIX. I (LXX.)
32
Eccles. ii. 8 . . .
21
vi. 22 . . .
36
iii. 15 .
45
xlii. 22 . . .
II
iii. 5. . .
28
vi. 27 . . .
44
iv. 19 .
16
xlviii. 7 (LXX.)
35
Isa. i. 8 . . . .
35
vi- 32, 33 ■
44
V- 3. 5 •
16
xlviii. 16 . .
'3
ii. 3 . . . .
50
xii. 44 . . .
44
Phil. iii. 5 .
37
xlix. 3 .
17
xi. 2 . . . .
13
xii. 50 . . .
45
Col. iii. 5 . .
16
xlix. 7 .
12
xii. 3 .
16
xiii. 12 . .
46
I Thess. ii. 16
14
xlix. 21
27
xix. 20 . . .
45
xiii. 43 . .
49
iv. 6
16
xlix. 27
37
xxiv. 20. . .
35
xxiii. 9 . .
45
I Pet. iii. 20 .
16
Exod. xxviii. 27 (LXX
.), 14
xliv. 6 . . .
48
xxvii. 25 . .
16
Heb. V. I . .
14
xxix. 5, 6 (LXX
■). 14
Ixvi. 21 . . .
14
xxvii. 51-53.
13
vii. 2 .
25
Lev. ii. 13 . . .
15
Jer. xxxiii. 15 . .
16
xxvii. 63 . .
16
''i^S •
21
xi. 5, 7 . .
31
xxxiii. 20-22 .
30
Mark ix. 49 . . . .
15
Jude VI. 7
10
Num. xii. 27
14
Ezek. xlviii. 26, 27
25
Luke i. 36 . . .
30
Rev. ii. 7 . .
16
XV. 25 .
20
Dan. i. 15 ...
32
i. 43 . . .
49
iv. 4 .
3
Deut. ii, 23 .
12
iv. 13. 17, 23
10
xi. 34 . . .
36
vii. 4 .
3
xvii. 6.
44
x.3(LXX.).
9
xii. 25 . . .
44
XX. 5, 6
37
Josh. XV. 34 . .
17
Hos. i. 2 . . . .
43
xii. 49 . . .
46
xxi. 3 .
26
XV. 44 .
18
V. 2 . . . .
43
xxiv. 21 . .
13
xvi. 8 . .
17
V. 8. . . .
43
xxiv. 34 . .
48
xvii. 8 . .
17
X. 7
43
John i. 4-9 . . .
IS
791
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY, AND
CLEMENTINE RECOGNITIONS AND HOMILIES.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Aaron, an example of circumspect
behaviour, 65 ; anointed, 89.
Abel, name and nature of, 243.
Abraham, 186; the posterity of, 186.
Achilles and Polyxena, Peleus and
Thetis, Prometheus, 265.
Actions, wicked, to be avoided, 336.
Adam, anointed a priest, 90; hacl he
the Spirit ? 241 ; was not igno-
rant, 241.
Adultery, spiritual, 243 ; evils of, 255 ;
of the gods, 259; advocated by
philosophers, 260.
Advent, the, of the true Prophet, 88.
Advents, the two, of Christ, 90, 95.
^'Egis, 201.
Afflictions, the, of the righteous, suf-
fered for the remission of sins,
294.
Ages, the two, 339.
Aides, 197, 201.
Allegories, the, of Orpheus and He-
siod, relating to the heathen
cosmogony, 200; relating to Ju-
piter, 201 ; relating to Venus,
201 ; uselessness of, 201 ; an af-
terthought of the heathen, 202 ;
of mythology, 203 ; the bad ac-
tions ascribed to the gods at-
tempted to be explained by, 256,
264 ; the inventors of these sto-
ries of the gods blameworthy,
265, 266.
ArrTazons, strange stories of the, 188.
Amnon, sins of, an admonition, 64.
Amours of Jupiter, 258, 259.
Andrew, address of, 92 ; rebukes
Peter, 115.
Andromeda, 199.
Angels, guardian, 108; unawares,
192; evil seducers, 140; bear
sway over nations, 178; the met-
amorphoses of, 272 ; the fall of,
and its cause, 272 ; discoveries
made by, 273 ; the giant off-
spring of, 273; demons sprung
from the fallen, 274.
Anger, righteous, 153, 205.
Animals and plants, as illustrating
the providence of God, 172 ; wor-
ship of, by the Egyptians, 148.
Animosity of the Jews, 91.
792
Annubion (also Anubion), and Ap-
pion, 205, 207, 252, 342, 344;
explains the design of Simon
Magus' transformation of Faus-
tinianus, 207, and of Faustus,
344 ; persuades Matthidia to go
to Antioch with Faustinianus,
207, 208.
Anointing, 89.
Antaradus, 292.
Antioch, excitement at, caused by
Simon Magus, 206.
Antonius, father of Simon Magus, 98.
Aphrodite, 198; and Kronos, 265.
Apostles, challenged by Caiaphas,
89; their public discussion with
the Jews, 92-93 ; appeal to the
Jews, 94 ; tumult raised against
the, 94, 95 ; false, 142.
Appion, meets and salutes Clement,
253; previous acquaintance of
Clement with, and trick played
on, 253; second discussion with
Clement, 262; and Annubion,
205, 252, 342; in quest of Faus-
tus, and return to Peter, 345.
Aquila, on Simon Magus, 98 seq., 232
seq. ; question of, as to responsi-
bility, 102; and Niceta sent by
Peter to Laodicea, 157, 292, and
with Clement to Tyre, 251, 252 ;
story of their shipwreck, 162;
discovers his mother, 163, 300;
story of their shipwreck and in-
troduction to Simon Magus told
by Niceta, 163; and Nicetas
recognise each other as broth-
ers, 300; plead with Peter for
the immediate baptism of their
mother, 104, 301, 302 ; discussion
with the old workman about ^£-;/-
esis, 176-182; his father, long
lost to him, found in the old
workman, 190, 191 ; remarks on
the cosmological and mythologi-
cal allegories of the heathen,
201 seq.
Aradus, Peter's excursion to, and
occurrences there, 159.
Artemis, 264.
Assembling together, the duty of,
251.
Associations, pernicious, denounced,
58.
Astrologers, 185.
Astrological lore, 187 ; refutation of,
187.
Astrology, the existence of evil in
the world according to, 194;
te^ of, 195; bafHed by free-will,
195-
Athene, 201.
Athenodorus, 253, 345.
Atoms, the doctrine of, 170; the con-
course of, could not make the
world, 170; more difficulties of
the theory of, 170.
Attendants of Peter, names of the,
229.
Attributes of God, 237, 283.
Auses, 87.
Authority, apostolic, 106.
Avarice, effects of, 220.
Babel, the tower of, raised to Zoroas-
ter, 141.
Banquet of the gods, the, 203.
Baptism, substituted for sacrifices,
88 ; removes the unclean spirit
from men, 116; invitation to,
132; multitudes receive, 133; the
wedding garment, 142, 274 ; for
the remission of sins, 269; in
good works, 275; the necessity
of, 154, 290; use of, 155, 290;
must be preceded by fasting,
164; extinguishes the fire of sin,
185; by Peter, 251.
Baptizecl, the privileges of the, 278.
Bardesanes referred to, 187.
Barnabas, comes to Rome, 78;
preaches Christ there, 78, 79;
Clement's interposition in his be-
half, 79; Clement's intercourse
with, 79 ; departure of, from
Rome, 80; addresses the Jews
at Jerusalem, 93 ; preaches at
Alexandria, 225; is interrupted
by the crowd, 225 ; defended by
Clement, 225, 226; instructs
Clement, 226 ; departs from
Alexandria, 226.
Bartholomew, address of, 93.
Beggar woman, the, of Aradus, 150;
EPISTLES AND CLEMENTINA: INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 793
turns out to be the mother of
Clement, 159-161.
Behaviour, circumspect, examples
of, 65.
Beings, evil, turned to good account,
140.
Bernice, daughter of Justa, 252 ; re-
ceives Clement, Aquila, and Ni-
cetas, 252 ; reports the doings of
Simon Magus, 252.
Birth, the old and the new, 184.
Bishop, the duty of a, 219; labours
and reward of, 221 ; to be obeyed,
221, 251.
Bishopric, authority and labour of,
250.
Blood and breath as illustrating
divine providence, 173.
Body, the human, illustrating divine
providence, 173; the symmetry
of, 173-
Books, Christian, to be imparted to
the initiated only, 215.
Born of water, 2S9.
Boyish questionings, the, of Clement,
223.
Brahmans, the, 187.
Breath and blood illustrating divine
providence, 173.
Csesarea, Peter sent to, 95, is chal-
lenged by Simon Magus at, 96.
Caiaphas challenges the apostles, 89;
is answered, 93; charges Peter
with presumption, 93,
Cain, name and nature of, 243:
Call, the, of the Gentiles, 88, 145.
Callisto, 199.
Cannibals, the first, 273.
Care of God of human affairs, 150.
Catalogue, a black, 198.
Catechists, the, duties of, 220.
Caution, need of, 97.
Chaos, origin of, 263.
Chaste woman, the, 303.
Chastisement, the, of the righteous
and the wicked, 178.
Chastity, inculcated by the Scrip-
tures, I 55 ; the importance of,
155; its reward, 165; Peter on,
303. 304-
Christ, why the true Prophet is so
called, 89; the two comings of,
90, 95 ; rejected by the Jews, 90 ;
the only Saviour, 91 ; the saints
before the coming of, 91 ; con-
sistency of his teaching, 105; ac-
knowledged the God of the Jews,
no, and Moses, 135, 271 ; temp-
tation of, 142, 274; the true
Prophet, 145, 205, 242; hidden
from the Jews, 271 ; miracles of,
philanthropic, 235 ; prophecies
of, 241 ; the reign of, 242 ; His
teaching respecting the interpre-
tation of Scripture, 247; sayings
of, 248; teaching of, 248; not
God, but son of God, 316.
Christian life, the, 130; morality,
155; the weakest, more powerful
than the strongest demon, 142.
Christians, conduct of, among hea-
thens, 63 ; flight of, to Jericho, 96 ;
are like passengers in a troubled
sea, 221.
Church, the, a ship, 220 ; duties of
office-bearers in, 250, of mem-
bers of the, 251.
Cleansing, inward and outward, 155.
Clement, not the author of the Epis-
tle concerning Virginity, 53 ;
Epistle of, to James, 218; or-
dained by Peter his successor,
218 seq. ; installation of, 221;
his early history, 77, 223; his
mental distress, 77, 223; his
dissatisfaction with the schools,
and increasing disquiet, 77, 78 ;
his design to test the immortal-
ity of the soul, 78, 224; hears of
Christ, 78, 224; meets with Bar-
nabas at Rome, 78 ; interposes
in behalf of Barnabas, 79; inter-
course with Barnabas, 79 ; sets
out for Judaea, but is driven to
Alexandria, 225 ; hears Barna-
bas, 121;; interposes in his be-
half, 225, 226; his intercourse
with Barnabas, 226; arrives at
Ccesarea, and is introduced to
Peter, 80, 227 ; cordial reception
of, by Peter, 80, 227 ; his account
of himself to Peter, So; instruc-
tions given to, by Peter, 81, 227 ;
requested to be Peter's attend-
ant, 81 ; profits by Peter's in-
struction, and Peter's satisfac-
tion with, 82, 228; repetition of
Peter's instruction to, 83, 84 ;
convinced of the truth of Chris-
tianity, 228 ; Peter's thanksgiving
on account of, 228 ; sent by Peter
toTvre, 251, 252 ; meets his friend
Appion, and holds a discussion
with him, 253; relates his previ-
ous acquaintance with Appion,
256; the trick he played on Ap-
pion, 257 ; result of the trick,
261 ; meets Appion again for
discussion, 262 ; not as yet bap-
tized, he is not admitted to unite
with the disciples in prayer, 143;
his joy at remaining with Peter,
157, 293; his affection for Peter,
1 1;7, 293; his family history : dis-
appearance of his mother and
brothers, 158, 294, and father,
159, 294; his mother found at
Aradus as a beggar-woman, i 59
-161, 294, 295; recapitulation
of her story by Peter, 162, 296;
recognition of his brothers, 162,
163 ; his mother requests to be
baptized, 163, 301, 302 ; his moth-
er receives baptism, 165, 305 ; dis
cussion with the old workman
about i^euests, 183-190, 308; rec-
ognition of his father in the old
workman, 190, 191 ; his father
recognised by his mother, 191,
307 ; a suggestion made by, to
Peter, 193; discussion with his
father respecting good and evil,
194 seq.; Niceta's admonition
to, 196 ; his discourse on the
heathen cosmogony and mythol-
ogy, 197-200; happy ending of
his family history, 310, 307 ; bap-
tism of his father, 210.
Clementina, meaning of, 69 ; discus-
sions of, 69, 70; introductory
notice to, 69-71.
Cletus, bishop of Rome, 76.
Climateric periods, 185.
"Climates" in astrology, 189; the
doctrine of, untenaljle, 189.
Comings of Christ, the two, 90, 95.
Commandments, the ten, correspond-
ing to the ten plagues of Egypt,
128.
Concealment and revelation, 271.
Conception, 115; in sin, 184.
Conduct, of the holy man in his jour-
neys, 61-62 ; of Christians among
heathens, 63; patterns of good
and bad conduct, 63 seq.
Conjunction, doctrine of, 184.
Consistency of Christ's teaching, 105.
Constellations, the, 259.
Contradictions of Scripture, 240, 246
seq., 314 seq. (See Scripture.)
Contraries in nature, 179, 180.
Conversion, the duty of seeking one's
own, 203.
Converts and preachers, their mutual
love, 292.
Cornelius, the centurion, his strata-
gem to cause Simon Magus to
flee from Antioch, 206.
Correspondences in creation, 174.
Cosmogony, the Gentile, 197; of Or-
pheus, 200; of Hesiod, 200.
Creation, an account of, 84, 85; im-
plies providence, 168 ; mode of,
169; theories of, 169; from noth-
ing, 169; atomic theory unten-
able, 170; concourse of atoms
could not form a world, 170 ; Pla-
to's testimony respecting, -170;
mechanical theory of, 171 ; cor-
respondences in, 174; works of,
244; the extent of, 244; bound-
less, 244; man's dominion over,
245-
Creator, the, no God above, 112;
our Father, 113; the Supreme
God, 114; necessary, 169; the
world made from nothing by,
169.
Creatures, the, often take vengeance
on sinners, 149, 286.
Custom, a second nature, 254, 255;
and truth, 253.
Customs, the, of different nations
and countries, 18S; Jewish, 189;
of one's country and fathers, are
they to be observed.'' 253.
Damascus, Saul sent to, 96.
Daphne, 199.
David, the sin of, an admonition, 64.
Deacons, duties of, 220.
Dead men deified, 199.
Death and ]?ain result of sin, 336.
Decrees of God, 246.
De Maistre referred to, 172.
Demoniac, a healed, 192.
Demons, how they enter men, 274;
how they get power over men,
13S, 276; why they wish to pos-
sess men, 138, 277; subjection
of, to angel generals, 257 ; origin
of, 273; the law given to, 273,
274 ; the Gospel and prayer give
us power over, 138, 277; power
794 EPISTLES AND CLEMENTINA: INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
over, in proportion to the faith,
138, 277; deceits of, 277 ; tricks
of, 277 ; power of, 278 ; incite to
idolatry, 138, 287 ; their knowl-
edge, 139; sometimes speak
truth, why? 139; reasons why
the deceits of, are not detected,
278; props of the system of,
278 ; the weakest Christian
mightier than the mightiest,
142; the baptized have power
to drive away, 278 ; have no
power over a man unless he
voluntarily submits to them,
142; subject to believers, 279;
none but evil, appear to the
impious, 322 ; the friendship
of, involves men in disgrace,
151 ; their connection with
astrology, 185.
Designing mind, a, seen in the crea-
tion, 180.
Desiring the salvation of others, 164.
Destiny, 254.
Devil, the, the existence of, asserted,
331 ; Peter refuses to discuss
certain questions relating to,
331 ; suppositions as to the
origin of, 331 ; God is not
blameable for permitting the
existence of, 332 ; Peter accuses
Simon Magus of being worse
than, 332 ; theories in regard to
the origin of, 332, ^33 ; the crea-
tion of, 334 ; why entrusted with
power, 335 ; has not equal power
with God, 335; is he a mere re-
lation ? 335 ; wiles of the, 240.
Diligence in study recommended,
122, 152.
Dionysius, 198.
Discussions, public, between the
apostles and the Jews, 92, 94;
of Peter with Simon Magus,
102 seq., 117 seq., 312 seq.; dif-
ferences between the different
discussions of Peter with Simon,
102, 117; of Niceta, Aquila, and
Clement with the old workman,
166 seq., 175 seq., 182 seq.; be-
tween Clement and Appion, 257
seq., 262 seq.
Disease, a theory of, 277.
Disobedience, danger of, 250.
Disorder and order in creation, 177.
Doctrine according to godliness, the,
254.
Dora, Peter at, 134.
Dositheus and Simon Magus, 91,
99; contest between, for pre-
eminence, 233.
Double-mindedness to be avoided,
220.
Dreams, evidence furnished by, dis
cussed, 322 ; the impious see
true visions and, 323.
Duty and faith, 280.
Earnestness in religion, 204.
Earth, the, made for man, 154.
Egg, the creative, developed from
chaos, 197, 200.
Egypt, the Israelites in, 86.
Egyptian idolatry more reasonable
than other forms of idolatry, 148.
Egyptians, pay divine honour to a
man, 267 ; gods of the, 282 ; de-
fence of their system exposed,
282, 283.
Elements, four, 168.
Elisha, an example of circumspect
behaviour, 65; served by the
Shunammite woman, 65.
Enemies, love of, 289; of God, men
are naturally, loi.
Enoch, translation of, 137.
Enormities of paganism, 151.
Epicurus, theory of atoms of, 17
Eros, 258, 260, 261.
Error, cannot stand with truth, 107 ;
and ignorance, 280.
Errors, use of, 239.
Eternity of punishment, 150.
Evil, existence of, 118, 119; denied
by some, 1 19; origin of, 120, 180;
God not the author of, 120, 334;
does not exist in substance, 139;
why God permits, 140 ; the ex-
istence of, on astrological princi-
ples, 194; sin cause of, 334 ; the
prince of, why made, 180, 183.
Evil beings, turned to good account,
140; angels, seducers, 140; do-
ers, shall be punished, 178; and
good, set over the one against
the other, 179.
Evil one, the. See Devil.
Evils, ignorance the mother of, 144;
brought in by sin, 179; uses of,
184; admitted, 194.
Existence and conception, 115.
Exodus, the, 87.
Exorcisms, rules for, 59, 60.
Faith, the gift of God. 271 ; and rea-
son, 116; and unbelief, 143; and
duty, 280; obstacles to, 309.
Fall, the, of man, the cause of, 272;
of angels, 272.
Fasting, baptism must be preceded
by, 164.
Father, love to God as our, 289; no
one knows the, how to be under-
stood, 327.
Faustinianus (Faustus), father of
Clement, 158, 294, 307 ; disap-
pearance of, 159, 294; Peter's
first meeting with, 165, 305 ; his
discussions with, etc., 166, 306;
recognition of, by Clement and
his brothers, 190, etc.; recogni-
tion of, by Matthidia, 307 ; trans-
formed by Simon Magus into his
own likeness, 206, 343; how this
transformation was effected, 207 ;
why it was effected, 344 ; person-
ates Simon Magus to defeat him,
208-209, 345 ; restored to his
own form, 209 ; his baptism,
210.
Faustinus, brother of Clement, 158,
294.
Faustus (Faustinianus), brother of
Clement, 158, 294.
Fear, the restraining influence of,
185; of men, 186; of God, 1S6,
2S0; and love, 299.
Female prophetess, the, 242 ; a de-
ceiver, 242.
Few shall be saved, 239.
Fire-worship, the origin of, 276; of
the Persians, 141.
Flattery or magic, which the more
potent, 257.
Flesh, the desires of, to be subdued,
144; persons who first ate the,
273-
Flood, the history of the, 85; brought
as a punishment of evil-doers,
178, 273 ; the world after the, 86.
Folly of idolatry, 139, 146.
Foreknowledge, 240; of God, 246;
of Moses, 247.
Forewarned, forearmed, 229.
Form of sound words, the, 175.
Forms and types, 176.
Fornication, 219.
Frauds, pious, singular illustrations
of, 206-209.
Freedom, of the will, 119; of man,
286.
Free-will, possessed by men, 144, 183;
baffles astrology, 195.
Friends of the Son of God, the, 183.
Friendship, with God, how secured,
84; and philanthropy, 297.
Future and the present, 310.
Gamaliel, stills a tumult raised
against the apostles, 94; his
speech, 94, 95.
Garment of baptism, the, how it may
be spotted, 142.
Gehazi, an example of circumspect
behaviour, 65.
Gelones, customs of the, 188.
Generation an illustration of divine
providence, 173.
Genesis, 234, 254; discussion about,
166; does and regulates all
things, 166, 167, 305; prayer in-
consistent with, 168, 305 ; further
discussions about, 176 seq., 182
seq., 306, 308 ; not it, but free-
will, determines the history of
men, 188; divided into seven
parts or clirnates, 189; the Gos-
pel more powerful than, 189; in-
consistent with the justice of
God, 189; stubborn facts in sup-
port of, 190; the difficulties
cleared up by recognitions, 190.
Gentile cosmogony, 197.
Gentiles, the call of, 88, 145; expec-
tation of, 145; invitation to,
146.
Gentilism, buttress of, 200.
Germination of seeds illustrating
divine providence, 172.
Giants, the, 85; origin of, 273.
God, what is not, 297.
God, unity of, 108, 109; the author
of good only, 120; His will irre-
sistible, 120; shall be seen by
the pure in heart, 122; is right-
eous as well as good, 124, 137,
231, 325; the ways of, 231 ; jus-
tice of, shown at the day of judg-
ment, 124, 237; to be loved
supremely, 128; why He per-
mits evil, 140; alone the proper
object of worship, 146 ; His care
of human affairs, 150; who are
worshippers of, 151 ; to be loved
more than parents, 154; governs
EPISTLES AND CLEMENTINA: INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 795
the world by His providence,
167, 309; why He has made vile
creatures, 176; the folly of sit-
ting in judgment on, 181 ; created
the world by His Son, as a
double house, 1S3; His long-
suffering, 205 ; attributes of, 237 ;
283 ; how to be thought of, 237 ;
His works of creation, 244, 245 ;
the excellency of the knowledge
of, 245 ; foreknowledge of, 246 ;
decrees of, 246; not pleased with
sacrifices, 247 ; disparagements
of, 247; the, of the Jews, 254;
indicated as blameless, 272;
neither the world nor any part of
it to be considered as being, 283 ;
jealous, 286; creatures avenge
the cause of, 2S6; is philanthrop-
ic, 298; the nature of, 316;
the shape of, in man, 316; the
character of, 317; man in the
shape of, 319; the figure of,
320; the centre or heart of the
universe, 320; the nature and
shape of, 320; the fear of, 321 ;
the fear and love of, 321 ; mis-
conceptions respecting, in the
Old Testament, 329; not blame-
able for permitting the existence
of the devil, 332 ; incomprehen-
sible, 333; produced the evil
one, but not evil, 334; the maker
of the devil, 334; His power of
changing Himself, 341 ; not the
author of the evil one, so as He
is of the good one, 341 ; why He
appoints the evil one over the
wicked, 342 ; of Simon Magus,
unjust, 113; unrevealed, 325;
defects ascribed to, by Simon
Magus, 245, refuted by Peter,
246.
God, the Son of, 315.
Gods, of the heathen, many so-called,
108; things sacred to, 199; why
they are worshipped, being so
vile, 200, 254; adulterers, 259;
evil influence of the example of
the, 255; attempted explanation
of the bad actions ascribed to,
200 seq., 256; supper of the,
203; not really gods, 260; imi-
tation of, 260 ; really wicked
magicians, 266; graves of the,
266; the contemporaries of, did
not look on them as being gods,
266, 267 ; those which are made
by hands are not, 281 ; of the
worshippers, like the worship-
pers, 202 ; of the Egyptians,
282 ; the, which have not made
the heavens, 289.
Golden rule, the, 268, 2S5, 299.
Good and evil, 129, 193.
Good, the sufferings of the, 298.
Good one, the, and the evil one, the
different origins of, 341.
Good out of evil, 223.
Good works, necessity of, 155.
Goodness, none without liberty, 121 ;
and justice defined, 324.
Gospel, the, the success of, 89;
preached at Rome, 225, and at
Alexandria, 225 ; gives power
over demons, 138; more power
ful than g^e/iesj's, 189.
Guardian angels, 108.
Habit, the power of, 97.
Ham, the first magician, 140; the
father of Mesraim, also called
Zoroaster, 140, 275.
Hand, cutting off the right, 165.
Harvest, the plenteous, 135.
Heaven, the visible and the invisible,
116; the visible, why made, 121 ;
why to be dissolved, 121 ; dis-
trict of, 187.
Helena and Simon Magus, 233;
what Simon says of, 233.
Hell and purgatory, 239.
Hera and Pallas, 264.
Hercules, 265.
Hero-worship, 141, 276.
Hesiod, cosmogony of, 200; referred
to, 263.
Hilgenfeld referred to, 70, 73, 84,
189.
Hippolytus referred to, 70, 89.
Holy place, the, for sacrifice, 87.
Homer referred to, 263.
Homilies, the, of Clement, introduc-
tory notice to, 213; relation to
the Recognitions, 70, 73, 213;
editions of, 213; contents of,
223-346.
Honesty enjoined, 220.
Hospitality, 295 ; a contest about.
Human life, the inequalities of lot
in, 338-
Hyacinthus, 199.
Hypocrites, how regarded, 221.
Idleness, perniciousness of, 58.
Idolatry, origin of, 137; demons in-
cite to, 138; folly of, 139, 146,
284 ; led to all immorality, 141 ;
a delusion of the serpent, 281 ;
why God suffers, 285 ; argu-
ments in favor of, answered,
287; the Egyptian, 148, 282.
Idols, the test of, 278 ; the unprofit-
ableness of, 146, 281, 287; not
animated by the Divine Spirit,
283 ; confutation of the worship
of, 283; impotence of, 284;
heathen worshippers of, under
the power of the demon, 2S7.
Ignorance, causes of, 8r ; the mother
of evils, 144 ; sins of, 337 ; man
. sins through, 340; and error,
280; no excuse for the sinner,
282.
Ignorant, condemnation of the, 282.
Image of God, the restoration to,
280; man made after the, 285.
Imagination, 114; Peter's experi-
ence of, 114; fallacy of, 115.
Imitation of the gods, 254.
Immensity, the doctrine of, as taught
by the law, 115.
Immorality produced by idolatry,
141.
Immortality of the soul, 124; proved
from the success of the wicked
in this life, 124; Clement's per-
plexities about, 223, 224 ; the
belief of, necessary to a knowl-
edge of God, 231 ; denied by
Simon Magus, 234 ; asserted by
Peter, 286.
Impiety, origin of, 151; what it is,
240.
Incest practised by the Persians,
187.
Inequality, of lot in human life, 338;
necessity of, among men, 183.
Initiation, necessary before possess-
ing the privilege of reading
Christian books, 215; mode of,
216; vow and adjuration con-
nected with, 216.
Innocence, a state of, a state of en-
joyment, 136.
Inordinate things, why made, 177.
Installation of Clement, 221.
Instincts manifested, 167.
Interpretation, allegorical, 200.
Intestines, an illustration of divine
providence, 173.
Israel, the way of knowledge re-
vealed to, 329; how ignorant of
God, 329.
Israelites, the, in Egypt, 86; their
exodus from Egypt, in the wil-
derness, and at Sinai, 87 ; the
sins of, 87.
James, the bishop of Jerusalem, 94 ;
is addressed by Gamaliel, 94,
95; address of, 95; assaulted by
the Jews, 95 ; sends Peter to
Caesarea to meet Simon Magus,
96; teachers coming from Jeru-
salem must bring testimonials
from, 142; contents of Clement's
despatches to, 134; Epistle of
Clement to, 218 ; Epistle of Peter
to 215.
James, the son of Alphasus, addresses
the Jews, 93.
James, the son of Zebedee, addresses
the Jews, 92.
Jealous God, a, God is, 286.
Jehovah the only God, 109.
Jericho, flight of the Christians to, 96.
Jesus, ministered unto by women, 65 ;
the true Prophet, 145.
Jewish customs, 189.
Jews, the, the rejection of Christ by,
90; the animosity of, 91 ; sects
of, 91 ; discussion with the apos-
tles, 92-93 ; admonished to ac-
cept Christ as the Saviour, 94 ;
Christ the acknowledged God
of, I ID.
John, the disciples of, 92 ; refuted,
93; Simon Magus formerly a
disciple of, 233.
John, the son of Zebedee, address
of, 92.
Joseph, conduct of, 63.
Judging, God, ridiculous, 181 ; who
qualified for, 298.
Judgment to come, 152.
Juno, 107.
Jupiter, his birth, 197 ; incests of, 197,
19S, 254; goes to war with his
father, 198,254; adulteries and
vile transformations of, 198, 199,
258; sepulchre of, 199; sepul-
chres of the sons of, 199 ; alle-
gory of, 201.
796 EPISTLES AND CLEMENTINA: INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Justa, the Syro-Phoenician woman,
232 ; becomes a proselyte, 232 ;
adopts two boys whom she edu-
cates with Simon Magus, 232.
King of the present time, the, and
the King of righteousness, 274.
Kingdom of God, the, and His right-
eousness, 103 ; righteousness the
way to, 103 ; the way to, not con-
cealed from the Israelites, 329.
Kingdoms, the two, 145, 180.
Knowledge, the advantage of, 144;
the responsibility which it in-
volves, 144 ; enhances responsi-
bility, 156; deadens lust, 186;
value of, 190; universal, pos-
sessed by none, 196.
Kronos, 254; and Rhea, 263; and
Aphrodite, 265.
Laodicea, a journey to, 300.
Laodiceans, the, a chief man of, of-
fers Peter and his friends hospi-
tality, 174 ; meeting at the house
of the chief man of, 175.
Law, corruption of the, not written
by Moses, 236; the original, 272.
Learners and cavillers, 123.
Learning, necessary before teaching,
123-
Lebbaeus, address of, 93.
Lechler referred to, 69.
Lehman referred to, 70, 134.
Liberty, no goodness without, 121 ;
and necessity, 286.
Life, the Christian, 130; human, ine-
qualities of lot in the, 338 ; oil
from the tree of, 89.
Light, the supreme, Simon Magus'
views of, I ID.
Linus, bishop of Rome, 76.
Lipsius referred to, 70.
Long-suffering of God, 205.
Love, of self the foundation of good-
ness, 128; of man, 310; of God,
321 ; enjoined, 219; and fear, 299.
Love-letter, a, written by Appion for
Clement, 258; a reply to, 260.
Luna and Simon Magus, 99, 100.
Lust, anger, and grief, the uses of, 337.
Lying for religion, a striking illustra-
tion of, 207,208; competition in,
208-209.
Magic, the secret of that practised
by Simon Magus, 100; the power
of, 257.
Magician, Ham the first, 140.
Magicians of Egypt, 129; miracles
of, 129.
Magussei, the, 187.
Male and female, 242; the corre-
spondence and relation of, 173.
Man, the earth made for, 154; origi-
nal state of, 272 ; the fall of, 272 ;
the lord of all, 280 ; in the shape
of God, 319 ; as created by God,
339; his power to choose good
or evil, 339; sins through igno-
rance, 340 ; naturally enemy of
God, loi ; the responsibility of,
102 ; ways of, opposite to God's,
231.
Maro, Peter stops at the house of.
135; appointed by Peter bishop
of Tripolis, 156.
Marriage, urged on presbyters, 219;
always honourable, 250; supper,
the, 274.
Martyrdon\ of Peter, 218.
Matter, is it eternal ? 334.
Matthew, address of, 92.
Matthidia, mother of Clement, T58,
294 ; her disappearance, 1 58,
294 ; found at Aradus as a beg-
gar-woman, 159, 294; her story,
159, 160, 295; Peter's reflections
on her story — recognised by
Clement, 160, 161; recapitula-
tion of her story, 162, 300; rec-
ognised by Aquila and Niceta,
162, 300; seeks baptism, 163,
301, 302; baptism of, delayed,
164; values baptism aright, 302 ;
unintentionally fasted one day,
302; baptized in the sea, 165,
305 ; recognises her husband,
191 ; accompanies her husband
to Antioch, 208, 345.
Mechanical theory of creation, the,
171.
Medea, 197.
Meeting together, the duty of, urged
on Christians, 251.
Merchants, the best, 276.
Merx referred to, 74.
Mesraim, son of Ham, 140 ; also called
Zoroaster, 140.
Metamorphoses, 199; of the angels,
272.
Metis, Poseidon, and Zeus, 264.
Micah, an example of circumspect
behaviour, 65 ; question ad-
dressed by, to Peter, 341.
Mind, the universe the product of, 267.
Minerva, 201.
Ministry, the support of the, 251.
Miracles, false, 127 ; of the magicians
of Egypt, 129; the uselessness
of false, 130; of Simon Magus,
useless, 235 ; of Christ, philan-
thropic, 235.
Misanthropy, 220.
Modesty and sobriety called for by
true religion, 151.
Monarchy, 249, 275.
Moon, motions of, 177.
Morality, Christian, its superiority,
156. .
Moses, an example of circumspect
behaviour, 65 ; how he delivered
his writings, 215, 216; the law
not written by, 247 ; foreknowl-
edge of, 247 ; allows the Israel-
ites to offer sacrifices, 87 ; and
Christ, 135, 271.
Mother of Clement. See Matthidia.
Motions of the sun, moon, and stars,
177.
Mythology, heathen, 197 seq. ; expla-
nation of, 203.
Myths, the heathen, not to be taken
literally, 262, 263, 264; the in-
ventors of such vile, blame-
worthy, 265.
Names, the giving of, to animals, 242.
Nature, the folly of speaking of, as
making, 174.
Nebrod or Zoroaster, 140, 275.
Necessity and liberty, 286.
Necromancy, 100.
Neptune, 197, 201.
Niceta, on Simon Magus, 98, 234 seq. ;
leaves Simon Magus, and be-
comes a Christian, 102, 234; and
Aquila, recognise each other as
brothers, 300; are sent by Peter
to Laodicea, 157, 292; and with
Clement to Tyre, 251, 252; and
Aquila, discovered to be Clem-
ent's brothers, 162, 163; dis-
cover their mother, 162, 163;
tells the story of his own and
Aquila's shipwreck, and intro-
duction to Simon Magus, 163,
301 ; pleads for the baptism of
his mother, 164, 302; discussion
with the old workman, 166-174:
recognises the old workman as
his father, 190-191 ; ])leads for
his father's reception to the
Church, 192, 193; admonition to
Clement, 196; explains the alle-
gories of the heathen, cosmogon-
ical and mythological, 200-202,
203.
Nimrod, 141.
Nineveh, the men of, 291.
Noah and his sons, 85, 137, 275.
A'olo tpiscopari, 250.
Obedience, leads to peace, 249 ; dan-
ger of the contrary, 250; and
union, enjoined, 65.
Offences must come, 298.
Office-bearers in the Church, the du-
ties of, 250.
Oil from the tree of life, the, with
which Christ was anointed, 89.
Old Testament, misconceptions of
God in the, 329; some parts of,
written to try us, 329.
Oracles, the heathen, 139; why they
sometimes come true, 139.
Orcus, 197.
Order, in instruction, 123; God's, 231.
Ordinate things, why made, 177.
Ordination at Tripolis, 156; of Zac-
chaeus by Peter, 251.
Orgies, 276, 287.
Origen, quotes the Recognitions of
Clement, 74.
Orpheus, the cosmogony of, 200.
Orthasia, 292.
Paganism, the enormities of, 151.
Pain and death result of sin, 336.
Pairs, good and evil, 129; ten, 130;
doctrine of, 231, 235.
Pallas and Hera, 264.
Parents, God to be loved more than,
154.
Paris, the judgment or, 265.
Passages, extra - canonical, quoted,
238, 247, 249, 329.
Paths, the two, 269.
Peace, and strife, proclaimed by
Christ, 105 ; to the sons of, 105 ;
and war, 106; and the sword,
153,288.
Pearls not to be cast before swine, 117.
Peleus and Thetis, Prometheus,
Achilles, and Polyxena, 265.
EPISTLES AND CLEMENTINA: INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
797
Persephone, 197.
Persians, the fire-worship of, 141, 276;
incest practised among the, 187.
Peter, the apostle, his cordial recep-
tion of Clement, 80, 227 ; instruc-
tions given by, to Clement, 81,
82, 83, 84, 227, 235, 236; his satis-
faction with Clement, 82, 228;
requests Clement to be his at-
tendant, 81, 293; names of the
attendants of, 229; postpone-
ment of his discussion with Si-
mon Magus, 82, 83, 235; tactics
of, in regard to Simon Magus,
236; exposes the design and ob-
ject of Simon Magus, 239; sent
to Caesarea, 96; is welcomed by
Zacchaeus, 96; is challenged by
Simon Magus, 96; his discussion
with Simon Magus begins, 102,
243; lays down the principles on
which the discussion should be
conducted, 104; interrupted by
Simon, 104, 105 seq.; his expe-
rience of the fallacy of imagina-
tion, 114, 115; his reverie, 114;
rebuked by Andrew, 115; ad-
journment of his discussion with
Simon Magus, 116, 249; his dis-
cussion with Simon Magus re-
sumed, 117 seq. ; accessibility of,
127; resolves to follow Simon
Magus to Rome, 131 ; appoints
Zacchaeus bishop of Caesarea, 131,
250, and ordains elders and dea-
cons there, 131 ; sends twelve
persons before him, 132; follows
Simon to Tyre, 249 ; addresses
. the ])eople at Tyre, 268 ; departs
to Sidon, 269 ; proceeds to Trip-
olis, 133, 270; his thoughtful-
ness, 270; addresses the people,
271 seq.; halts at Dora, 134;
addresses the people, 135; heals
the sick, 136, 275, 276; arrange-
ments made by, at Tripolis, 156;
his third day at Tripolis, 280;
leaves Tripolis for Antioch, 157,
292; at Antaradus, 292; sends
Nicetus and Aquila to Laodi-
cea, 292; his simplicity of life,
157,293; his humility, 157, 293;
his excursion to Aradus, 159,
294, where he finds the mother
of Clement as a beggar-woman,
159, 160, 295; his reflection on
the story told by the beggar-
woman, 160, 296; brings her to
Clement, 161, 296; leaves Ara-
dus, i6r, 297; proceeds to La-
odicea, 300; recapitulates the
story of Clement's mother, 162,
300, which leads to the discov-
ery that Niceta and Aquila are
her sons, 162-163, 300, 301 ; re-
quires that their mother shall
fast before receiving bajJlism,
164-165,300; baptizes Matthid-
ia, 165,305; finds an old work-
man at the harbour who accosts
him, 165, 305; his discussion
with the old man, 306, 307 ; ar-
ranges for a friendly conference
with the old workman, 166;
states the question for discussion,
166; has a contest of hospitality
with the chief man of the city,
174; arranges for another con-
ference at the house of the chief
man, 175; renews the conference,
182; discovers the old workman
to be the father of Clement, igo,
307 ; wishes to convert him, 308
seq. ; heals a demoniac daughter
of the chief man by his presence
in the house, 192; shows Clem-
ent the necessity of probation in
the case of his father, 192; is
appointed umpire in the further
discussion with the old man,
194; his words about the true
Prophet, his Master, 196; Clem-
ent's discourse before, 196 seq.;
remarks of, on Clement's speech,
199 seq.; his discussion with Si-
mon respecting the unity of God,
312 ; the mode of the discussion,
312; his reply to Simon's appeal
to the Old Testament, and other
objections, 313 seq. ; close of the
first day's discussion, 317 ; sec-
ond day's discussion with Simon,
318 seq.; third day's discussion
with Simon, 324 ; fourth day's
discussion with Simon, 330 seq.;
Simon is confounded by, rebuked
by Faustus (Faustinianus), and
retires, 338; reply to the ques-
tions of Sophonias and others,
339 seq.; Clement's father re-
quests his permission to visit
Appion and Annubion, 206, 342 ;
Simon Magus excites the people
at Antioch against, 206, 345 ;
stratagem suggested to, by Cor-
nelius, against Simon Magus,
206, 343 ; a counterplot of,
against Simon Magus, 207, 208,
345 ; success of his plot, 209,
346; the old man goes to Anti-
och, 209, 345; Peter's entry into
Antioch, 209, 346; his thanksgiv-
ing, 210; miracles of, 210; bap-
tizes Faustinianus, 210; ordains
Clement his successor, 218; his
charge to Clement, 219, 220;
martyrdom of, 218; Epistle of,
to James, 215 seq.
Phanes and Pluto, 263.
Pharisees, the, 92 ; refuted, 92.
Philanthropy, 220, 297 ; and friend-
ship, 297.
Philip, address of, 92.
Philosophers, different opinions of,
179 ; Ignorance of, 182 ; errors of,
in regard to morals, 204 ; not
benefactors of men, 205 ; cavils
of, 225; unw^orthy ends of, 253;
false theories of, 255 ; adultery
advocated by, 260.
Philosophy and true religion, differ-
ence between, 309.
Pious frauds, a striking illustration
of, 206-209.
Pitch, how smeared with, 185.
Plagues, the ten, of Egypt, 128.
Plants and animals as illustrating
divine providence, 172.
Plato referred to, 170, 311.
Pluto and Phanes, 263.
Poets, the writings of, 202.
Polyarchy, 275.
Polytheism, Simon Magus argues for,
108; Peter's refutation of, 108;
the serpent the author of, 109;
inexcusable, 109; the folly of,
199 ; exposed, 282.
Polytheists, the inconsistency of, 199.
Polyxena and Achilles, Peleus and
Thetis, Prometheus, 265.
Poseidon, Zeus, and Metis, 264.
Possessions sins, 311.
Poverty not necessarily righteous,
3":
Prayer, inconsistent w'lthgenesis, 168 ;
for enemies, 289.
Prediction and prophecy, the distinc-
tion between, 240.
Presbyters, the duties of the, 219.
Present, the, and the future, 310.
Pretended miracles, uselessness of,
130.
Priest, the true Prophet a, 90.
Priests, what they should be, and
should not be, 60.
Prince of evil, why was he made, or
was he not made ? 183.
Prince, the, of the left hand, and the,
of the right hand, of God, 268.
Probation, the necessity of, before
admission to the Church, 192.
Prometheus, 265.
Prophecies of Christ, 241.
Prophecy, the sure word of, 204 ; two
kinds of, 242.
Prophet, the true, 81, 145, 229, 247 ;
advent of, 88; rejection of, 88;
why called Christ, 89; a priest
also, 90 ; alone knows all things,
iSi, 182; to be sought for by
those who wish to learn, 181 ; all
may judge of the, 230; the test
of, 230; doctrines of, 230; has
appeared in different ages, 242;
teaching of, concerning the
Scriptures, 247, concerning the
Law, 248.
Prophet and prophetess, the, 242, 243.
Prophetic knowledge, constant, 241 ;
Spirit, the, constant, 241.
Prophets, false, to be avoided, 291.
Providence, 309; vindicated, 136;
implied by creation, 168; gen-
eral and special, 168 ; seen in
the motions of the stars and in
earthly things, 171, in rivers
and seas, 171, in plants and
animals, 172, in the germination
of seeds, 172, in the power of
water, 172, in the human body,
173, in the breath and blood
and intestines, 173.
Prudence in dealing with opponents,
98.
Punishment, the eternity of, 150; of
the righteous and of the wicked,
178; fear of, 185; here and here-
after, t86; reformatory, 288.
Pure in heart, the, how they see
God, 122.
Purgatory and hell, 239.
Purification, 290.
Purity, necessity of, 284, 285; out-
ward and inward, 290.
Pyramus, 199.
798 EPISTLES AND CLEMENTINA: INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Queen of the South, the, 291.
Rainbow, the, 176.
Reason and faith, 116.
Recognitions, the, of Clement, char-
acter of, 73 ; relation to the
Homilies, 70, 7^, 213; author-
ship and date, 73, 74; place of
composition, 74; editions of, 74;
quoted by Origen, 74 ; reason of
the title, 161, 162, 190, 191.
Regeneration by water, 155.
Rejection of Christ by the Jews, 90.
Religion, of one's fathers to be aban-
doned if bad, it;o; the true calls
to sobriety and modesty, 151 ;
and philoso])hy, difference be-
tween, 309.
Repentance, the duty of, 204.
Reserve, doctrine of, 215; misrepre-
sentation of, 215.
Responsibility of men, 102, 120; in-
creased by knowledge, 144.
Retribution, future, 186.
Revelation, nature of, 323, 326; the
work of, belongs to the Son,
326; and concealment, 271.
Reverie of Peter, 114.
Rhea, the wife of Saturn, hides her
son Jupiter, to preserve him
from being devoured by his
father, 197 ; and Kronos, 263.
Righteous, the, and the wicked, chas-
tisements of, 178.
Righteous, the, afflictions of, 294.
Righteousness, the way to the king-
dom of God, 102; what it is,
Rivers and seas as illustrating di-
vine providence, 171.
Rome, Gospel preached at, 224.
Rose without a thorn, a, not to be
found, 179.
Rufinus, his preface to the " Recog-
nitions of Clement," 75-76.
Rule, the golden, 268, 285, 299.
Rulers appointed over all orders of
being, 89.
Sacrifices, allowed for a time, 87;
replaced by baptism, 88 ; God
not pleased with, 247.
Sacrificial orgies, 276.
Sadducees, rise of the, 91 ; confuted,
92.
Saints, the, before the coming of
Christ, 91.
Salvation, the way of, 270.
Samaritans, doctrines of the, 92 ;
refuted, 92.
Samson, fall of, an admonition, 63.
Saturn, the family of, 197; devours
his children, 197.
Saul, raises a tumult against the
apostles, 95 ; receives a commis-
sion against the Christians, 96.
Saved, the number of the, 239.
Schaff referred to, 69, 73, 74, 158.
Schliemann referred to, 70, 73.
Scribes, the, refuted, 92.
Scriptures, the, the rule of faith, 95;
false and blasphemous chapters
added to, 236; misrepresenta-
tions of God in, 237, 238 ; some
things in, false, and some true.
238; Simon makes use of the
alleged falsehood of, in argu-
ment with Peter, 239; use of the
falsehoods, 239; uncertainty of,
240; contradictions of, 240, 245-
247 ; how to discriminate the
true from the false in, 247-248 ;
Peter's explanation of contra-
dictions in, 314; the contradic-
tions in, intended to try the
readers of, 315; interpretation
of, 203.
Seas and rivers, illustrating the
providence of God, 171.
Sects of the Jews, 91.
Seeds, the germination of, illustrat-
ing the providence of God, 172.
Seeing or hearing, which the strong-
er, 126.
Seeing God, 122.
Self-love the foundation of good-
ness, 128.
Sense, the sixth, 11 1.
Senses, the testimony of the, more
trustworthy than that of super-
natural vision, 322.
Sepulchres of the gods, 199.
Seres, 178, 187.
Serpent, the, the author of polythe-
ism, 109, of idolatry, 281 ; sug-
gestions of, 147-149; why he
tempts to sin, 281 ; charming of,
288; to be resisted, 152.
Service, the, which God requires,
269.
Sick, the, how to be assisted, 59.
Sidon, Peter comes to, 269; preaches
to the peoples of, 269; Peter
attacked there by Simon, 269;
Simon driven from, 269.
Simon the Canaanite, address of, 93.
Simon Magus, mistakes about, 232 ;
doctrines of, 232 ; history of, 98 ;
once a disciple of the Baptist,
99' ^2>?> ' '1"*^ Dositheus, the con-
test between, for {precedence,
100, 233 ; statement of Nicetas
respecting, and counsel to, 234 ;
proceedings of, 234 seq.; state-
ment of Aquila respecting, 98,
233 seq. ; how Peter was sent to
meet, 96; how he challenged
Peter, 96, 106, 245; postpone-
ment of his discussion with
Peter, 82, 83; the design and
object of, exposed by Peter,
239; a formidable opponent, 98;
wickedness of, 98, 131, 233; pro-
fession of, 99; deception of,
99, 133; thought to be God, 99;
secret of his magic, 100; reason
of his power, 268 ; professes to
be God, 100, loi, 234; professes
to have made a boy of air, loi,
234; knavish tricks of, 233; de-
nies the immortality of the soul,
234 ; hopelessness of the case of,
101 ; discussion with Peter be-
gins, 102-107; his subtlety, 107;
his creed, 107; argues for poly-
theism, 108; his cavils, no, 125;
his view of the supreme light,
1 10; his presumption, in; how
he learned more from the law
what the law was able to teach,
III; his blasphemy, in; how
he learned from the law what
the law does not teach, 112;
objections turned against him-
self, 112, 249; his inconsistency,
113; his god unjust, 113; ad-
journment of Peter's discussion
with, 116, 317; Peter's discus-
sion with, resumed, 117, 318;
accuses Peter of using magic
and of teaching doctrines dif-
ferent from those by Christ,
318; asserts that Jesus is not
consistent with Himself, 319;
asserts that the framer of the
world is not the highest God,
324 ; asserts an unrevealed God,
325; his ignorance and arro-
gance, 1 18; -his subterfuges, 125;
his rage, 126, 327; his vanity,
126; attempts to create a dis-
turbance, 127; confesses his ig-
norance, 326; the -opinions of,
expounded and refuted by Peter,
327, 328 ; retires from the dis-
cussion, 127, 249, 329, 330, 338;
resisted Peter, as the Egyptian
magicians did Moses, 129; a
deserter from the camp of, 130;
sets out for Rome, 131 ; is fol-
lowed by Peter, 130, 249; doings
of, at Tyre, 252; sets out for
Sidon, 252 ; attacks Peter at
Sidon and is driven away, 260;
departs from Tripolis to Syria,
271 ; comes from Antioch to dis-
cuss with Peter the unity of
God, 312; appeals to the Old
Testament to prove that there
are many gods, 313; tries to
show that the Scriptures con-
tradict themselves, 314; strange
transformation wrought by, 206,
343, 344; strives to excite the
people at Antioch against Peter,
206, 345 ; stratagem used against,
by Peter and Cornelius, 206; his
design in bringing about the
transformation of Faustinianus,
206, 207 (Faustus, 344); coun-
terplot of Peter against, 207-
209, 345; is defeated, 209; flight
of, 343-
Simple and compound, 168.
Sin, the cause of suffering, 137, 143;
the punishment of, 178; the
cause of evil, 179, 334; the cause
of pain and death, 336; men
conceived in, 184.
Sinners, the creatures often take
vengeance on, 149.
Sins of ignorance, 337.
Sixth sense, the, in.
Sleep, on curtailment of, 97.
Sobriety and modesty called for by
true religion, 151.
Solomon, fall of, an admonition, 64.
Son of God, the, 183; friends of, 183.
Sophonias, his questions, and Peter's
replies to, 338, 339.
Soul, the, the immortality of, 124;
proved by the success of the
wicked in this life, 124; Clem-
ent's perplexities about, 223,
224 ; the belief of, necessary to
EPISTLES AND CLEMENTINA: INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 799
correct views of God, 231 ; de-
nied by Simon Magus, 234 ;
asserted by Peter, 286.
Sound mind, a, in a sound body,
229.
Spies in the enemy s camp, 236.
Stans, Simon Magus so called, 96,
99, 100, 233.
Stars, the motions of, 171.
Study, diligence in, recommended,
122, 152.
Submission, 292.
Sufferings, sin the cause of, 137, 143 ;
salutary, 137 ; different effects
of, upon heathens and Chris-
tians, 159.
Suggestions of the old Serpent, 147-
149.
Sun, moon, and stars, motions of,
177 ; ministers of good and evil,
177.
Supper, the, of the gods, 202, 203.
Susanna, conduct of, 64.
Susidae, customs of the, 188.
Swine, casting pearls before, 117.
Sword, not peace, but a, 153, 288.
Syro- Phoenician woman, the story of,
amplified, 232.
Tactics, the, of Peter against Simon
Magus, 236.
Teaching, advice about, 58 ; of
Christ, 247.
Temple to be destroyed, 94.
Temptation, the, of Christ, 142, 274.
Ten commandments, the, and the
ten plagues of Egypt, 128.
Ten pairs, the, 130.
Thanks due to God, 150.
Thetis, 197 ; and Peleus, Prometheus,
Achilles, and Polyxena, 265.
Things corruptible and temporary
made by the incorruptible and
eternal, 122.
Thomas, address of, 93.
Thorn, no rose without its, 174.
Thysbe, 199.
Time of making the world, 174.
Tow smeared with pitch, 185.
Tower of Babel, 141.
Traditions from our fathers, are they
to be followed ? 253.
Transformation, a strange, wrought
by Simon Magus, 206, 343, 344.
Tree of life, oil from the, 89.
Trick, the, of Clement upon Appion,
257.
Tripolis, the disciples at, 156; de-
parture from, 157 ; ordination at,
156; Peter at, 270.
Truth, the, being conquered by, 209;
error cannot stand with, 107 ;
not the property of all, 123 ; self-
evidence of, 123; veiled with
love, 129; cannot be found by
man left to himself, 230; vain
search of philosophers for, 230 ;
taught by the prophets, 230; test
of, 247; and custom, 253.
Tumult, raised against the apostles,
94; is stilled by Gamaliel, 94;
raised again by Saul, 95.
Types and forms, 176.
Tyre, Peter at, 267 ; address to the
people of, 268.
Uhlhorn referred to, 69, 70, 74.
Unbelief and faith, 143.
Unclean, the, separation from, n6;
not to be eaten with, 163; spirits,
116.
Union and obedience enjoined, 65.
Unity of God, 108, 109; proved by
Peter from the Old Testament,
.313.315- .
Universe, the, the product of mind,
267.
Unrevealed God, the, of Simon
Magus, 325.
Useless things, why made, 176.
Vengeance often taken by creatures
on sinners, 149.
Venus, the origin of, 198; allegory
of, 201.
Vile things, why made by God, 176.
Virgin, the true, 57.
Virginity, Two Epistles concerning,
55-66; introductory notice to,
53' 54 ! genuineness of, 53 ; au-
thorship of, 53 ; original lan-
guage of, 54 ; literature on,
54-
Virginity, true, to be accomplished
by perfect virtue, 55 ; irksome-
ness and enemies of, 56; divinity
of, 57.
Virgins, true, known by their self-
denial, 55, 56; object and reward
of, 56; mortify the deeds of the
flesh, 57, 58.
Virtue, perfect, necessary for true
virginity, 55; arrangements of
the world to secure the exercise
of, 184.
Visits, rules for, 59.
Voyage, the, of the Church, 221.
War and strife proclaimed by Christ,
105, 106.
Water, the power of illustrating di-
vine providence, 172; born of,
155, 289; baptized with, 290;
regeneration by, 155, 184.
Way of salvation, the, 270.
Ways, the, of God, opposed to man's
ways, 231.
Wedding garment, baptism the. 142.
Wicked, the, the success of, in this
life a proof of immortality, 124;
and righteous, chastisement of,
178; actions to be avoided, 336;
One, the, why appointed over
the wicked by a righteous God,
342 ; why entrusted with power,
335-
Wiles of the devil, 240.
Will, of God, irresistible, 120; free-
dom of the, 1 19.
Wise, the, divine things justly hid-
den from, 335.
Woman, the, of sorrowful spirit, 294 ;
her story, 295.
Womb, the, 173.
Workman, the old, discussions with,
165 seq. ; turns out to be Clem-
ment's father, 191.
Works, good, the necessity of, 155.
World, the, governed by the provi-
dence of God, 167 ; compounded
of four elements, 16S ; made out
of nothing by a Creator, 169;
time of the creation of, why not
made long before, 174; arrange-
ments of, to secure the exercise
of virtue, 184; after the flood,
86.
Worship, of heroes, 141, 276; due to
God only, 146.
Worshijjpers of God, who are, 151;
of the gods, like the gods they
worship, 202.
Zacchaeus, writes to James, 96; wel-
comes Peter at Caesarea, 96;
appointed by Peter bishop of
Caesarea, 151, 250; rescued
Aquila and Niceta from Simon
Magus, 164, 232.
Zeus, Poseidon, and Metis, 264.
Zoroaster, or Mesraim, a son of
Ham, regarded as the author of
the magic art, 140, 275 ; adored,
141, 276.
TWO EPISTLES CONCERNING VIRGINITY, AND
CLEMENTINE RECOGNITIONS AND HOMILIES.
INDEX OF TEXTS.
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Gen. i. I . .
• 84, 314
Lev. viii. . . .
. . 89
Ps. cii. 26, 27 . .
• 314
Matt. V. 14 . .
• 55. 60
i. I, 2 .
• • 154
xi. 44 . .
• • 57
civ. 4 . . .
• 341
V. 14, 15 .
. 166
i. 26 .
108, 315
Num. xi. 16 . .
. . 88
Prov. iii. 3, 4 (LXX.)
. 55
V. 16 . .
• • 55
i. 28 .
• 56
xi. 34 . .
• • 247
iv. 18 . . .
55
V. 17 . .
. 248
i. 31 .
• 336
xii. 6, 7 .
• • 323
vi. 20 . . .
. 64
V. 18 . .
215, 248
?l-7- •
• 341
Deut. iv. 34 . .
• 3^3
vi. 25 . . .
. 64
V. 28, 29 .
• i6s
11. 16, 17
• 313
iv. 39. .
109, 314
vi. 27 . . .
.64
V- 34. 35 •
. 248
ii. 20 .
. 242
vi. 4 . .
109, 249
vi. 28, 29
64
y-37 ■ ■
248, 331
iii. 5 .
108, 313
VI. 13, 109,
146, 280,
viii. 30 . .
315
V. 39-41 .
■ 310
iii. 22 . io»,
245. 3^3
314
xiii. 3 . . .
59
V. 44 . .
. 242
iv. 12 (LXX.
) • 178
viii. II
. 109
XV. 19 (LXX.)
58
V. 44, 45 .
• 249
iv. 26 .
• ^37
X. 14 . .
• 313
xviii. 6 . .
59
V.45 . .
124, 146
V. 24 .
■ 91
x. 14, 15.
. 109
xxi. 23 . .
59
vi. 6 . .
. 248
vi. 2
85, 341
X. 17, 108,
109. 313.
XXV. II . .
59
vi. 13 . .
• 331
vi.3 .
■ 58
314
xxvi. 9 . .
58
vi. 24 . .
• 145
VI. 6
• 245
X. 20 . .
. 109
Eccles. iii. i . . .
229
vi. 33. 103,
no, 119,
vi. 9
• '^l
xii. II
• 87
iii. 2 . . .
337
124, 125
vii. I .
■ 238
xiii. I seq.
■ 315
iii. 7 • . •
59
vii. 2 . .
. 328
viii. 21 .
■ "s^
xiii. 1-3 .
. no
iii. 20 . .
341
vii. 6 . .6:
!, 98, 117
ix. I
. 108
xiii. 6.
71 1
vii. 26
64
329
vii. 7 . .
vii. 9-1 1 .
. 248
. 248
xi. 7 .
xvii. 15 .
• 87
Isa. i. 3 . . . .
xi. 28 .
. 88
xviii. 15 .
. 88
ix. 2 . . . .
55
vii. 12. .
• 299
XV. . .
86,88
xviii. 15-19
. 248
ix. 6 . . . .
3>5
vii. 13, 14
• 329
XV. 13-16
. 246
XXX. 15 .
• 3^9
xxix. 21 . . .
57
vii. 21 . .
• 55
xviii. 4 .
• 341
xxxi. 34 .
. 87
xl. 26, 27 . .
329
viii. 9 . .
. 142
xviii. 21
• 245
xxxii. 7 .
. 241
xliv. 6 . . .
3'4
viii. II
135. 271
XX. 3 .
• 3^i
xxxii. 8 (LX
X.), 180
xlv. 21 . . .
3'4
viii. 24-26
■ 334
xxii.
. 86
xxxii. 12
. 108
xlix. 18 . . .
314
viii. 31 .
• 334
xxii. I .
• 245
xxxii. 39
109, 340
Ivi. 4, 5 . . .
56
ix. . . .
. 88
xxxii. 24
• 341
xxxiv. 6 (LX
X.), 247
lxi.9. . . .
18,63
ix. 13 . . .
87, 248
xxxiv. 7
. 64
Josh, xxiii. 7 (LXX
.), 109
Ixv. I . . .
145
ix. 37> 38 •
60, 135
xli. 5 seq.
• 323
313.314
Jer. x. 11 . . . .31
3.314
X. . . .
88
xli. 25 .
■ 323
Judg. xiii. 25 . ,
• 63
Ezek. ii. 6 ...
178
X. 5 . .
• 92
xlix. 10,
90,
145, 247
I Sam. xvi. 13 .
. 64
xviii. 33 . .
205
X. 8 . .
. 60
Exod. iii. . .
. 86
xvi. 14 .
• 58
Dan. ii. 31 . . .
323
X. II . .
. 98
iv. 3. 4
• 341
2 Sam. xix. 21 .
. 64
iii. 25 . . .
323
X. 12 . .
• 244
vii. I .
. 108
I Kings xvii., xviii
■ • 150
ix. 27 . . .
94
X. 12-15 •
• 105
vii. 9 .
• 342
2 Kings iv. 27 .
• 65
Hos. vi. 6 ... 8
7,248
X. 16 . .
• 63
vii. 19, 2c
• 341
2 Chron. vii. 12
• 87
Ecclus. V. 14 . .
59
X. 25 . .
. 105
vii., viii.
. 128
Ps. xviii. 31 . .
. 109
ix. 4 . . .
64
X. 26 . .
. 118
viii. 19
. 128
xviii. 50 . .
. 84
i.x. 5 . . .
64
X. 28 . .
• 319
xii.
. 128
xix. I . . .
• 314
viii. 9 . .
64
X. 29, 30 .
• 299
xiv. 31
• 135
xxxv. 10 . .
• 313
viii. 12 . .
64
X. 34 . 104,
153, 288
XV. I .
• 6s
xxxix. 12
. 184
Wisd. i. 4 . . . .
i8i
X. 35. 36 •
• 105
xix. 6 .
271
xlv. II . .
• 303
Matt. iii. 12 . . .
124
xi. I . .
• 57
xxii. 28
108, 109,
1. I ...
• 313
iii. 17 . . .
20
xi. 9, II .
• 93
313. 314
Ixxi. 19 . .
. 109
iv
274
xi.25, 136,
271,319.
xxix. . .
. 89
Ixxviii. 2 . .
• 328
iv. 10 . 142, 14
6,280
328
xxxiii. u
• 323
Ixxxii. I . .
• 313
iv. 16 . . .
55
xi. 27 . no,
319. 325
xxxiii. 20
• 123
Ixxxvi. 8. .
109, 313
V.3- • 93.31
1,320
xi. 28 . .
. 248
xxxiv. 29
• 341
Ixxxvii. 4
• 63
V. 8 . 103, 12
I, 122
xi. 30 . .
• 205
xxxv. 3
. 189
Ixxxix. 20 seq.
. 64
V.9 ...
105
xii. 7 • • •
87, 248
800
EPISTLES AND CLEMENTINA: INDEX OF TEXTS.
80 1
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Matt. xii. 25 . . . . 106
Matt, xxviii. 19, 20, 106, 319
John i. 18 .... 316
2 Cor. V. II ... . 62
xii. 26. . .
• 331
Marie i. 13 . . . . 331
iii. 5 .
155,2901
vi. 3 .
62
xii. 33. . .
• .f
iv. 3 .
118
iii. 6 .
57
XI. 3 .
1^
xii. 34 . .
■ 33-
iv. 8 .
143
iii. 31 .
57
XI. 13 .
60
xii. 41 . .
156, 291
iv. 20 .
143
iv. 27 .
65
xi. 14 .
102
xii. 42 . .
156,291
iv. 34 .
336
V. 23 .
no
xi. 29 .
60
xiii. 2, 3 . .
• 251
vi. II .
244
vi. 27 .
60
xii. 13
57
xiii. 3 . . .
. 118
ix. 29 .
57
vii. . .
88
Gal. ii. II
324
xiii. II . .
• 336
X. 5, 6 .
248
viii. 34.
146
iv. 10 .
337
xiii. 17 . .
. 248
X. 18 .
249
ix. 2, 3.
337
iv. 26 .
5^
xiii. 23 . .
• 143
xii. 24.
238
X. 3. .
24S
v. 22
58
xiii. 39 . .
248, 331
xii. 27 .
248
X. 9. .
248
V. 24 .
57
xiii. 46 . .
• 130
xii. 29.
249
X. 12, 13
60
vi. 3. 4 •
55
xiii. 52 .
. 136
xiii. 31
215
xii. 34 .
89
Eph. ii. 2 .
59
XV. 13. .
. 248
Luke iv. . .
274
XX. 17 .
65
iv. 27 .
331
XV. 14 . .
• 59
iv. 8 .
142
xxi. 20
57
V. 6. .
55
xvi. 13 .
• 323
iv. 10 .
280
Acts iii. 22 .
248
V. 15
63
xvi. 16 .
• 323
vi. 20 .
93
iii. 22. 23
87
Phil. ii. 15
6-
xvi. 18 .
• 324
vi. 29 .
310
V- 35-39
94
ii. 15, I
5
5?
xvi. 24 .
• 56
vi. 36 .
146
vii. 37 .
248
iii. 14
5^
xvii. 5. .
. 248
vi. 38 .
328
vii. 60 .
154
iii. 19
60
xvii. 20, 143
151,288
vi. 44 .
56
viii. 9-1
I
252
iv. I
63
xvii. 21 .
• 59
vi. 46 .
13
6, 271
viii. 13
127
iv. 3
57
xviii. 7, 127,
231, 29S
vii. 8 .
142
xiii. .
88
IV. 6
61
xviii. 10 .
• 359
viii. 5 .
118
xiii. 22 .
64
Col. i. 5 .
56
xix. 8 . .
. 248
viii. 18
328
XV. 20 .
143
ii. 8 .
59
xix. 12 .
• 55
X. . .
88
xxii. 5
96
ii. 18
. 59
xix. 16 seq., 325, 329
X. 5 .
244
Rom. i. 20 .
103
iii. 5 .
• 57
xix. 17, 249,318,324
X. 5, 6 .
• 105
ii. 28 .
^^\
iv. 6 .
55
XX. 16. . . . 271
X. 18 .
331
vii. 9
58
2 Thess. ii. i
3
1^
xxi. 22 .
. 138
X.21, 136, 271, 319, 328
vii. 18
57
I Tim. iii. 3
6c
xxii. . .
• 274
X. 22 . 110,319,325
viii. 6
57
V. 13
58
xxii. 2-14
. 142
X. 24 . . . . 248
viii. 7
57
VI. 5
• 57
xxii. 23 .
•. 91
xi. . . .
. 105
viii. 9
57
VI. 10
• H
xxii. 29 .
238, 247
xi. 22 , .
. 114
xi. 34
149
vi. II
• 58
xxii. 30 .
. 122
xi. 31 . .
156, 291
xii. 17
60
2 Tim. ii. 5 .
■ 5
xxii. 32 .
. 248
xi. 32 . .
156, 291
xiii. 14
§7
ii. 7
• s«
xxii. 39 .
• • 299
xi. 52 . 92
no, 328
xiv. 15
62
ii. 15
. 6c
xxiii. . .
• . 105
xii. 6, 7 .
. . 299
xvi. 17-IS
• 58
iii. 5
• SI
xxiii. 2, 3
. 242
xii. 17, 19, 2(
J . 204
xvi. 18
. 60
Tit. :. 7 .
. 6c
xxiii. 3 .
• • 59
xii. 35. .
. . 63
I Cor. ii. 9 .
• 58
I Pet. i. 15
• H
xxiii. 9 .
. . 167
xii. 42 . .
• • 250
ii. 13, 14
• 59
ii. 9
■ 5?
xxiii. 25, 26
• • 155
xii. 49 . .
• • 153
vi. 19.
. 60
ii. 12
• 5.
xxiii. 37 .
. . 242
xii- 51-53
. . 106
vii. 32
• 57
iv. II
• 5S
xxiv. 2
• 87, 241
xii. 53 . .
. . 105
vii. 34
• k^
^•5
• 57
xxiv. 15 .
• • 94
xiii. 29
•135.271
viii. 12, I
3
. 62
V. 8
• 5^
xxiv. 24 .
• • 317
xiii. 34 .
. . 242
ix. 27 .
• 58
Heb. xiii. 4
• ^5(
xxiv. 27-30
• • 249
xvii. I . .
131, 298
X. 4
• 87
xiii. 7
• 57
xxiv. 34 .
. . 241
xvii. 6. .
• • 151
X. 12
. 64
Jas. i. 5 .
• 5S
xxiv. 35 .
• . 215
xviii. 6-8 .
• • 319
X. 20
. 116
1.27 .
• 5i
xxiv. 45-50
. . 249
xviii. 18 seq.
. 325, 329
X. 21
• 143
iii. I .
• 5^
xxiv. 45-51
. . 60
xviii. ig .
. . 249
X. 31
• ^J
iii. 2 .
• 5c
XXV. 2 . .
• • 55
xix. 5 seq.
• • 250
X. 32, 33
. 62
iii. 15
• 5i
XXV. 35, 36
• • 299
xix. 43, 44
. . 241
xi. I .
• 57
iv. 6 .
• 57
XXV. 41 .
•331.342
XIX. 44 .
. . 87
xii. 8-10
• 59
V. 12 .
• 33'
xxvi. 36 .
. . 60
XX. 38 . .
. . 248
xii. 29
• 59
v. 17, 18
• 15c
xxvii. 45, 51
,52 88
xxii. 33 .
• • 215
xiii. I .
59
Rev. ii. 9 .
• 15
xxvii. 51 .
• • 334
xxiii. 34, 154,242,289
xiv. 40
• 55
xii. 7
• 5f
xxviii. 13
. . 88
John i. 1-3 .
• 174
XV. 44
• 59
xiv. 4
• S.
APOCRYPHA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Abbanes, a merchant, buys the Apos-
tle Thomas from the Lord, to be
a carpenter for Gundaphoros, an
Indian king, 535; thrown into
prison by Gundaphoros, 539; re-
leased, 540.
Abel, killed by Cain, 565; buried by
angels, 570.
Abgarus, king of Edessa, suffering
from a disease, sends a letter
to Jesus, 558 ; Jesus sends him an
image of Himself on a towel,
which heals him, 558; Thad-
dseus visits, 558.
Abiathar, the high priest, wishes to
obtain Mary as wife for his son,
371 ; proclaims that a protector
should be sought for Mary, 372;
gives to Mary and Joseph " the
water of drinking of the Lord "
to drink, 373, 374.
Abudem, 447.
Acherusian Lake, the, 578.
Acts of the Apostles, Apocryphal, 354.
Andrew and Matthias, 356,
517 seq.
Barnabas, 355, 493 seq.
John, 357, 560 seq.
Paul and Thecla, 355, 487 seq.
Peter and Paul, 355, 477 seq.
Peter and Andrew, 526 seq.
Philip, 355, 497 seq.
Pilate, 416-434. 439-447-
ThaddjEus, 357, 558 seq.
Thomas, 535 seq.
Acts and Martyrdom of Andrew, 356,
511 seq.
Acts and Martyrdom of St. Matthew,
52S seq.
Adam, in Hades testifies to Jesus,
436; delivered from Hades, 437 ;
brought into paradise, 437, 456 ;
and Eve and the family of, 565 ;
sickness of, 565 ; sends Seth and
Eve for the "oil of mercy," 566;
the death of, 569; the body of,
seen by Eve lying on the face, and
angels praying for, 569 ; raised in-
to paradise, 569 ; funeral rites
for, and burial of, performed by
angels, 570.
Adas, Finees, and Egias, the testi-
mony of, to the ascension of Je-
sus, 422, 425, 432, 445, 447 ; re-
port the resurrection of Karinus
and Leucius, 254.
802
Advent, the second, of Christ, 5S4.
iEgeates, or /Egeas, proconsul, and
the Apostle Andrew, 511; threat-
ens Andrew with crucifixion un-
less he sacrifices to the gods, 512;
threatened with violence by the
people for his harsh treatment of
Andrew, 513; calls Andrew be-
fore his tribunal, and again
threatens him, 513; tortures
Andrew, and orders him to be
crucified, 513 ; the people cry out
against, 514; visits Andrew on
the cross, and desires to release
him, 515; the miserable death of,
516.
Affrodosius, an Egyptian governor,
convinced that the child Jesus is
a god, 377.
Alexander, the Syriarch, falls in love
with Thecla, and brings her be-
fore the governor of Antioch,
489; his atrocious conduct to-
wards her, 490.
Amis, the city of, 558.
Ananias, the high priest of the Jews,
a letter to, from the philosophers
of Hellas respecting Philip, 504;
comes to Hellas to oppose Phil-
ip, 505; discussion of, with Phil-
ip, 505 ; has his hand dried up
and his eyes blinded, 505 ; Jesus
appears visibly before, yet he re-
mains in unbelief, 505; receives
his sight through Philip's prayer,
yet is still impenitent, 506; the
earth swallows him up to the
knees, 506; swallowed up as far
as the neck, 506; a demon cast
out in the presence of, but he
will not believe, 507 ; goes down
into Hades, 507.
Ananias, a cousin of King Abgarus,
sent to Jesus, 558; returns with
the picture of Jesus to the king,
558.
Andrew, Acts and Martyrdom of, 356,
511 seq.; and Matthias, Acts of,
356, 517 seq. ; and Peter, Acts of,
526 seq. ; conversation between,
and ./Egeates, 511; threatened
by .^geates with crucifixion,
512; cited before the tribunal of
yEgeates, 513 ; apostrophizes
the cross, 513, 514; tortured and
crucified, 514; discourses to the
people from the cross, 514 ; ad-
dresses yEgeates from the cross,
514, 515; refuses to be released
from the cross, 515; surrounded
with splendour on the cross —
his dead body taken down by
Maximilla, 515 ; another ac-
count of — Jesus appears to, and
sends him to Matthew, to the
country of the man-eaters, 517;
the Lord, in the disguise of a
pilot, conducts him by sea to
the place of his destination, 518;
requested by the pilot, he relates
the miracles of his Teacher, and
the cause of the Jews' rejection
of Him, 519; gives a curious nar-
rative of the ministry of Jesus,
and of the opposition of men to
Him, 519, 520; carried by the
angels from the boat to the city
of the man-eaters, 520; vision of
his disciples, 521 ; Jesus appears
to, as a child, 521 ; enters the
city of the man-eaters, and visits
Matthew in prison, 521 ; lays
his hands on the men deprived
of sight in prison, and heals
them, 521, 522; walks about the
city, and beholds its abomina-
tions, 522 ■; by prayer stays the
hand of inhuman executioners,
523; rebukes the devil, 523;
sought for by the man-eaters, he
shows himself to them, 523;
dragged repeatedly by ropes
through the city, till his hair and
flesh are torn off, 523 ; causes an
alabaster statue to send forth
water, and flood the city, and
drown the inhabitants, 524;
sends down certain bad men in-
to the abyss, 525; brings to life
the men that were drowned, 525;
when he is leaving the city, Je-
sus appears to him as a child,
and sends him back, 525; caught
up in a luminous cloud, and con-
veyed to a mountain, where were
Peter and others, 526 ; Jesus ap-
pears to, and sends him to a city
of the barbarians, 526 ; what be-
fell him there, 526 seq.
Anemurium, the city of, Barnabas
preaches at, 494.
Angel, an, appears to Anna, 362, 369 ;
APOCRYPHA OF NEW TESTAMENT: INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 803
to Mary, 363; to Joseph, 364,
373 ; to Joachim, 370 ; shows to
the people the vile demon that
dwelt in the temple of Astaruth,
556-
Angels, guardian, give in to God, at
sunsetling, their report of the
conduct of men, 575; good and
evil, attend men at their death,
576.
Angels, the number of, 585.
Anna, the wife of Joachim, bewails
her barrenness, 361, 369; is vis-
ited by an angel, and promised
a child, 362, 369; gives birth to
Mary — her song of praise ; 362,
371; married to Cleophas after
the death of Joachim, 382.
Annas, the son of, killed by the
child Jesus, 378, 395. _
Annas and Caiaphas, various refer-
ences to, 416, 423, 425, 433, 447
seq., 512.
Antichrist, seen by Esdras in Tarta-
rus, a description of, 572, 573 ;
seen and described by John,
582; time of the continuance of,
583-
Apocalypses, Apocryphal, 358.
Apocrypha of the New Testament,
introductory notice to, 349 seq.
Apostles, the, apportion the regions
of the world between them, 535;
miraculously brought together to
Bethlehem to Mary before her
assumption, 5SS; miraculously
conveyed back to their respective
spheres, 594.
Archelaus commits suicide, 473.
Aristoclianus, Bishop, 495.
Ascension of Jesus, the, 422, 432-444.
Assumption, the, of Mary, 359, 591,
594-
Astaruth, an Indian god, silenced by
Bartholomew, 553.
Astreges, brother of King Polymius,
incited against Bartholomew,
persecutes and kills him, 557.
Augustus, the emperor, orders a cen-
sus, 365, 374.
Avenging of the Saviour, the, 354,
472 seq.
Bacchylus, 477.
Baral)bas preferred to Jesus, 420, 442.
Barjesus, met by Barnabas and Mark,
495 , opposes Barnabas, 495.
Barnabas, Acts of, 355, 493 seq. ; the
contention between Paul and,
493' 494- with Mark, 494; comes
to Anemurium, and preaches
there, 494 ; ordains Heracleides
bishop of Cyprus, 495; visits
I^apithus and Lampadistus, 494,
495 ; reaches Paphos, and meets
Barjesus there, 495; visits Cu-
rium, 495; entertained by Aris-
toclianus, 495 ; opposed by Bar-
jesus, 495; comes to Citium,
495; from Citium sails to Sala-
mis, 495; the Jews, excited by
Barjesus, burn him — his ashes
deposited by Mark in a cave,
495-
Bartholomew, when a boy, restored
^to life by the child Jesus, 411 ;
visits with Philip the city of
Ophioryma, 497 ; beaten and
shut up in the temple of the
viper, 499 ; his hands are nailed
to the gate of the temple, 500,
508; delivered, Philip's direc-
tions to, 501, 510; goes to India,
where the god Astaruth is si-
lenced at his presence, 553; the
god Becher acknowledges him
to be a servant of the true God,
553 ; description of, 553 ; casts
out a demon, 554; King Polym-
ius sends for him to heal his
demoniac daughter, which he
does, refusing reward, 554 ;
preaches to the king, 554; com-
pels a demon to confess Christ,
555, and to confess the malicious
works of the devil, 555 ; by a
word destroys the idols, 556; his
prayer to God, 556 ; King As-
treges, incited against him, or-
ders him to be cast into the
sea, 557; martyrdom of, 357, 553
seq.
Becher, an Indian god, acknowledges
the true God, and Bartholomew
as His servant, 553.
Bethlehem, Joseph goes to, with
Mary, and Jesus is born in, 365 :
the cave of, in which Jesus was
born, 365.
Blind man, a, healed by Jesus, bears
witness of Him before Pilate,
419, 428, 442.
Book, the great seven-sealed, seen by
John, 581 ; opened, 584.
Caesarius the deacon, 478.
Caiaphas, the daughter of, 468. (.See
Sarah.)
Cain and Abel, 565.
Cairiel, Peter causes a, to go through
the eye of a needle, and does so
a second time, 527 ; causes a
second, to do so, 527.
Carpenter, Joseph follows the trade
of, and is aided by Jesus, 381,
397. 399. 402, 412.
Cassius, Dion, referred to, 404.
Cave, the, in Bethlehem, in which
Jesus was born, 365.
Christ. See Jesus.
City of God, the, 578.
Claudius Caesar, the letter of Pilate
to, respecting Jesus, 454.
Clement Alexandrinus referred to,
390-
Cleopas, the mother of, and her ri-
val, 410.
Cleophas marries Anna after the
death of Joachim, 382.
Consummation of Thomas the Apos-
tle, 550 seq.
Cowper, H., referred to, 409.
Cromatius and Heliodorus, address
of, to Jerome the presbyter, 368 ;
reply of Jerome to, 368.
Cross, the sign of the, 435, 438, 484,
451 ; Andrew's address to, 470.
Cross, the luminous, which delivered
the people of Ophioryma, who
had been swallowed up in the
abyss, 501.
Cyrinus makes an enrolment, 374.
Darkness, the, at the crucifixion of
Jesus, 443, 462.
David, prophesies in Hades, 457 ;
seen by Paul in the city of God,
578.
Dead, the multitudes of, who rose
with Jesus, 454, 463.
Death, the approach of, with his reti-
nue, to Joseph, the husband of
Mary, 392 ; of Pilate, narrative
of the, 466 seq. ; all must taste,
394-
Demas and Ermogenes, 487 ; their
evil counsel against Paul and
Thecla, 488.
Demas and Gestas, robbers, the his-
tory of, given by Joseph of Ari-
mathasa, 46S ; atrocities perpe-
trated by, 468; their conduct
towards Jesus on the cross, 469 ;
Jesus sends Demas to paradise
— transformation of, 470.
Demon, an unclean, which had tor-
mented a woman five years,
expelled by the Apostle Thomas,
545. 546.
Demon, the, called Becher, acknowl-
edges the true God, and Barthol-
omew as the servant of God,
553 ; describes Bartholomew,
553; is compelled to acknowl-
edge Christ, and confess the ma-
licious deeds of the devil, 555 ;
exhibited by an angel in the tem-
ple black as an Ethiopian, 556.
Demoniacs healed by Jesus, 406, 707 ;
by Matthew, 529; by John, 562.
Descent, the, of Jesus into Hades,
435 seq., 448 seq.
Devil, the, in the likeness of an old
man, stirs up the people against
Andrew, 523; rebuked by An-
drew, 523 ; transforms himself
into the likeness of a soldier,
530; Eve relates how she was
tempted by, 566, 567.
Dioscorus, a shipmaster, sympathizes
with Paul, and, mistaken for him,
is beheaded by the people of
Pontiole, 477.
Domitian the emperor is excited by
the Jews against the Christians,
560 ; issues an edict against the
Christians, 560; sends soldiers
to Ephesus to arrest John, 560 ;
his interview with John, 561 ;
entreats John to heal a female
slave seized by a demon, 562 ;
sends John to Patmos, 562.
Dragon, story of the, which killed a
young man, and is destroyed by
Thomas, 542 seq. ; the fiery,
which pursued the King of Myr-
na, 532.
Dragons adore the infant Jesus,, 376.
Dumachus and Titus, robbers, their
interview with Mary and Jesus
in Egypt, and after-fate, 409.
Dyer, visit of the child Jesus to the
shop of a, and the wonder He
performed there, 412.
Dysmas, or Dismas, or Demas, and
Gestas, the malefactors, cruci-
fied with Jesus, 420, 443 ; history
of, given by Joseph of Arima-
thaea, 468, 469 seq.
8o4 APOCRYPHA OF NP:W TESTAMENT: INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Earth, the, to be burned up and puri-
fied, 584 ; and paradise, to be
made one, 585 ; the blessedness
to be enjoyed in, 586.
Earthquake, the, at the crucifixion of
Jesus, 461.
Edessa, Bartholomew a native of,
558 ; Abgarus, king of, 558 ; vis-
ited by Thaddzeus, 558.
Egypt, the flight into, 376, 389, 400,
406 ; wonders wrought by the
child Jesus in, 376 seq., 406 seq.
Elias met by Paul in paradise, 581.
Elizabeth, Mary's visit to, 395; es-
capes with her son from Herod's
wrath, 366. ,
Emerina, sister of Anna, 3S2.
End, signs of the, 572.
Enoch met by Paul in the place of
the righteous, 578.
Enoch and Elias, themselves, must
die at last, 394, 438.
Esdras, Apocalypse 01,358, 571 seq. ;
the prophet prays to be per-
mitted to see the mysteries of
God, 571 ; pleads with God for
sinners, 571 ; asks to see the day
of judgment, 572 ; is given signs
of the time of the end, 572 ; is
conducted down to Tartarus to
see the punishments of the wick-
ed, 572, 573; his soul is demanded
of him, but the angel sent to
demand it is unable to bring it
forth, 573, 574; God sends His
Son and a host of angels for the
soul of, but he is unwilling to
relinquish it, 574; he submits,
and gives up his soul, 574.
Eusebius referred to, 362.
Eutychus, appointed by John minis-
ter of Ephesus, 563.
Eve, her dream, 565; bears Seth,
565; sympathy with Adam when
'sick — sent by him to paradise for
the " oil of compassion," 566; sees
Seth fighting with a wild beast,
566 ; at paradise, beseeches God
for the "oil of compassion" — the
answer she received, 566; returns
to Adam, and is reproached by
him, 566; relates to her children
the history of her temptation and
fall, 566 seq.; her prayer, 569;
her vision of a chariot of light,
569; her vision of Adam's body,
and the angels praying for him,
569; her death, and burial at the
side of Adam, 570.
Eye of a needle, the, Peter causes a
camel to pass through, 527; causes
a second camel to do so, 527.
Father, an unnatural, 522; the pun-
ishment of, 525.
Fever, a child cured of, by a bandage
from the child Jesus, 410.
Flute-girl, the Hebrew, and the Apos-
tle Thomas, ^36.
Fulvana, Fulvanus, and Erva, demo-
niac nobles, are healed by Mat-
thew, 529; are baptized, 529; the
king is enraged with, 530.
Gabriel, sent to Mary to announce
the birth of Jesus, 364; sent to
Joseph, 389; receives the soul of
Joseph, 392 ; pleads for men,
580.
Gad, the brother of King Gundaph-
oros, his sickness and death,
539, 540 ; caught away by an-
gels, he is shown the heavenly
palace built for his brother by
the Apostle Thomas, 540; is al-
lowed to return to the earth to
obtain the heavenly palace for
the king, 540; is permitted by
the king tc occupy the palace,
540; is sealed by Thomas, 541.
Gaudomeleta, 477.
Girl, a, cured of the leprosy by the
water in which the infant jesus
was washed, 407.
Gospels, apocryphal, list of, 351-354.
Graves, the, of many, opened at the
crucifixion of Jesus, 454.
Guardian angels, 390.
Gundaphoros, king of India, the
Apostle Thomas bought for, as a
carpenter, 535 ; engages Thomas
to build a palace for him, 53S ;
seeing nojjalace built, he throws
Thomas and the merchant who
bought him into prison, 539 ; on
the death of his brother, he re-
solves to put Thomas to death,
540; the brother of, sees the jjal-
ace in heaven built by Thomas,
and obtained liberty to return to
secure it for himself, 540; grants
his brother permission to dwell
in the heavenly palace, 540 ; is
baptized and sealed, 541.
Haag referred to, 393, 429.
Hades, the descent of Jesus into,
premonitory signs of, 435, 448 ;
announced in, by Isaiah and John
the Bajitist, 435, 436, 448 ; an-
nounced by Adam, 449; alterca-
tion between Satan and, when
Jesus was coming down to, 436,
449, 455,456; reply of, to Satan,
436, 449; a voice announces the
approach of Jesus to, which is
taken up by the forefathers, 436,
437,450,456; Satan cast into, by
the King of Glory, 437, 451 ; re-
viles Satan, 451 ; rejoicing of the
saints in, at the anticipated com-
ing of Jesus to, 456 ; Adam and
his descendants delivered from,
437, 452, 457 ; the saints rejoice
in Jesus, and adore Him when
He has come to, 458; Jesus sets
up His cross in the midst of,
458.
Hell, the descent of Jesus into. See
Hades.
Hellas, Philip's visit to, and inter-
view with the philosophers there,
503_seq.
Heracleius, or Heracleides, ordained
bishop of Cyprus, 495.
Heretics, the peculiar place assigned
to, in the region of the damned,
579-
Herod, mocked by the Magi, seeks to
kill Jesus, 3S9, 406; slaughters
the infants in Bethlehem, 366,
376, 420; Jesus sent to, by Pilate,
429; the death of, 3S9; in Tar-
tarus, 572.
Hierapolis, or Ophioryma, 497.
Impotent man, the, before Pilate,
bears witness to Jesus, 419, 428,
442.
Infancy, Arabic Gospel of the Sav-
iour's, 352 ; contents of, 405-415.
Infants, the slaughter of, in Bethle-
hem by Herod, 366, 376, 420;
the number slain, 528.
Isaiah, in Hades, announces the com-
ing thither of Jesus, 435, 448, 456.
Issachar, the high priest, reproaches
Joachim on account of his child-
lessness, 384.
Jairus, 447.
James, Protevangelium of, 351 ; con-
tents of, 361-367 ; healed by the
child Jesus of a viper's bite,
382, 413-
Jephonias jjurposely runs against
the couch on which the bodv of
Mary is carried to burial — his
punishment and forgiveness, 591.
Jerome, referred to, 365 ; the presby-
ter, reply to Cromatius and He-
liodorus, 368.
Jesus, .the nativity of, 365; wonders
which occur at the birth of, 365,
374, 405, 406; angels hymn the
birth of, 374; a bright star shines
over the cave in which He is
born, 375; adored by an ox and
an ass, 375 ; circumcised and pre-
sented in the temple, 375, 405;
Simeon and Anna's words re-
specting, 375, 406: visited by the
Magi, 375, 406; Herod seei<s to
destroy, 366, 389, 400, 406, 420;
is carried into EgyjJt, 376, 389,
400, 406; adored by dragons,
escorted by lions and panthers,
which are tamed and made gen-
tle by Him, 376; causes a tall
palm tree to bend down to His
mother, that she might pluck its
fruit, 377 ; causes a fountain to
spring up at the root of the palm
tree, 377 ; confers a peculiar
privilege on the palm tree, 377 ;
shortens the journey for His par-
ents, 377 ; the idols of Egypt fall
prostrate at His coming, 377,
406; miracles wrought by, in
Egypt, 407, 408, 409; encounter
with robbers, 409 ; return from
Egypt, 378, 400, 409; miracles
wrought by, in Bethlehem, 410;
other miracles wrought by, 411,
412; strikes a boy dead, and
restores him to life again, 378 ;
kilis the son of Annas, 378, 398 ;
makes sparrows and images of
other animals of clay, and causes
them to fly and walk and eat,
378, 395, 398, 400, 412, 414 ; kills
a boy who strikes Him, and re-
stores him to life again, 398, 414 ;
placed in the hands of a school-
master, whom He confounds, 379,
396, 399, 401 ; placed under Levi,
whom He astonishes by His wis-
dom, 379; wonders performed
APOCRYPHA OF NEW TESTAMENT: INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 805
by, at Nazareth, 3S0, 396 seq.,
399, 400, 402 ; tames a lioness
and her cubs, 3S1 ; placed un-
der a second schoolmaster, who,
striking Him, falls down dead,
381, 397, 403; aids His father in
his work, 2S1, 412; sent a third
time to a schoolmaster, and
pours forth His wisdom so as to
excite the admiration of all, 382,
397, 403; raises to life Joseph
of Capernaum, 382; cures His
brother James of a viper's bite,
3S2, 413 ; blesses the food before
any eat of it, 3S2 ; raises to life
a child and a man, 397, 403;
goes with His parents to Jerusa-
lem, and tarries after them, 398,
414; makes a dried fish live,
400; feat of, in the dyer's shop,
412; turns three boys into kids,
413; crowned king by boys, 413;
heals a boy of a serpent's bite,
413, 414; the priests and scribes
conspire against, and accuse be-
fore Pilate, 416 seq., 426 seq.,
468; Judas betrays, 46S, 469;
the standards of the soldiers
bend down before, 417, 440;
message of Pilate's wife respect-
ing, 417, 428, 440; Pilate desires
to release, 417 seq., 427; Nico-
demus and others appear as
witnesses for, 419, 428, 442; is
sentenced to death, 420, 429,
443; is led forth to crucifi.xion,
429 ; the accusation of, placed
over His cross, '420, 443 ; cruci-
fied between two malefactors.
420, 430, 443 ; wonderful events
which occurred at His cruci-
fixion, 421, 430, 431, 443, 461;
Joseph of Arimathasa begs and
takes down the body of, 421, 431,
443 ; the guard placed at the
tomb of, report His resurrection,
and are bribed by the Jews to
lie, 422, 433, 444 ; other witnesses
of His resurrection are also per-
suaded and bribed to be silent,
422, 433. 444. 445; Nicodemus
propo.<es to the council that
search be made for, which is
accordingly done, but in vain,
422, 433, 445 ; lamentation of
Mary and the other women for,
431 ; raised others when He rose
Himself, 435; testimony of those
raised by, 435 seq. ; the descent of,
into Hades,435seq.,456seq.; tri-
umphs over Satan in Hades, 437,
457 ; delivers Adam and his pos-
terity from Hades, 437,451, 557 ;
sets up His cross in Iladcs, 458;
the miracles of, reported by Pi-
late, 460 seq., 462 seq. ; at the
mention of the name of, the gods
fall in the senate-house in Rome,
464; Veronica's portrait of, 466;
seamless tunic of, worn l)y Pilate
in the presence of Tiberius — its
strange effect, 466 ; the wonder-
ful works wrought by, related
by Nathan to Titus, 472, and by
Velosianus to Tiberius, 475.
Jesus, meets Peter departing from
Rome to avoid persecution, and
tells him He is coming to be
crucified for him, 485; appears
to Philip at Ophioryma, and re-
bukes his revengeful spirit, 501,
509 ; Philip's prayer to, 502 seq. ;
appears to Andrew to send him
to the country of the man-eaters,
517; appears again to Andrew
as a pilot, and conducts him by
the sea to the place of his destina-
tion, 518; Andrew's narrative of
the ministry and works of, 519
seq.; appears to Andrew as a
beautiful little child, 521 ; ap-
pears again to Andrew in prison,
524 ; appears to Andrew and Pe-
ter as a child, 527 ; appears as a
child to Matthew on the moun-
tains, 528 ; Abgarus' letter to,
558 ; sends his picture to Abga-
rus, 55S ; appears at the burial
of Mary, 598; raises Mary from
the tomb, and brings her to para-
dise, 598.
Joachim, his wealth, charity, and of-
ferings, 361, 369; taunted by the
high priest on account of his
childlessness — grieved, he goes
away to the mountains, 361, 369,
384; his wife Anna, 361 seq.,
369 ; visited by an angel, who
announces the birth of a child
to him, 362, 370, 384 ; his offer-
ings of gratitude, 362 ; feast of,
361.
John, Acts of, 357, 560 seq.; Apoca-
lypse of, 359, 582 seq. ; informs
Mary of the sentence of death
passed on Jesus, 429; at the cross,
430; visits Ophioryma, and pleads
for Philip and his companions,
500, 508 ; Domitian sends soldiers
to Ephesus to apprehend, 560 ; ac-
companies the soldiers to Rome,
and inspires them with reverence
for him, 560; his interview with
Domitian, 561 ; takes deadly poi-
son before Domitian without
injury, 561 ; restores to life the
condemned criminal whom the
washing of poison cup had
killed, 561 ; cures a slave of the
emperor's who was tormented
by a demon, 562 ; sent to Pat-
mos, 562 ; in the reign of Trajan
goes to Ephesus, 562; his min-
istry in Ephesus, 562 ; appoints
Eutychus minister, 563; strange
disappearance of, 564; sees the
undefiled Godhead, and asks a
revelation, 582 ; sees heaven
opened, and a great seven-sealed
book, 582; the likeness of Anti-
christ revealed to, and the time
of his continuance, 581 ; the
time of the end made known to,
583 ; the resurrection and the
fact of future recognition re-
vealed to, 583; the judgment
revealed to, 584; the burning up
of the earth, and its purification
from sin, revealed to, 584; the
coming of the Lord and His
Church to the earth made known
to, 584; is shown what shall be-
come of the heavens, and the
hosts thereof, 568 ; the depths
of Hades, and the order in
which spirits and nations shall
be judged, revealed to, 585;
abodes of the bad and good
shown to, 585; final happiness
displayed to, 5S6; miraculously
conveyed from Ephesus to Beth-
lehem to Mary, 587.
John the Baptist, saved by his mother
from Herod's wrath, 366; in
Hades announces the coming
thither of Jesus, 435, 449, 456.
John Mark, 493 ; contention between
Paul and Barnabas respecting,
493 ; accompanies Barnabas,
494; comes with Barnabas, on
whose martyrdom he deposits
his ashes in a cave, 495 ; takes
refuge from his enemies, 495;
comes to Alexandria, and la-
bours there, 496 ; relates the
occasion of the change of his
name, 496.
Joseph, son of Jacob, met by Paul
in paradise, 5S0.
Joseph, a rich man in Capernaum,
raised from the dead by the child
Jesus, 382.
Joseph of Arimathasa, begs the body
of Jesus, 421, 431, 47c; seized
and imprisoned by the Jews, but
miraculously liberated by Jesus,
421,444; found by the Jews in
Arimathsa, 423, 445 ; written
to and sent for by the Jewish
rulers, 423, 433, 445; explains
how he was delivered from
prison, 424, 433, 446; effect of
the narrative given by, on the
Jews, 424, 433, 448 ; the " Narra-
tive " of, 468 seq. ; testifies to
the assumption of Mary, 594.
Joseph the husband of Marv, the
iDirth, character, and trade of,
388 ; Mary the Virgin committed
to the care of, by divine inti-
mation — the sign given, 363 ;
distressed at finding Mary preg-
nant, 364; resolves to divorce
Mary privately, but prevented
by an angel, 364, 3S9 ; accused
to the priests of defiling Mary,
364, 373 ; is tested by the " water
of the ordeal of the Lord," and
proved innocent, 365, 373, 374 .•
his visit to Bethlehem, 365, 374 ;
conducts Mary to a cave, and
goes in search of a midwife,
365-374; as a carpenter, is as-
sisted by Jesus in his trade, 381,
413; history of, narrated by
Jesus to His disciples on the
Mount of Olives, 388 seq.; his
prayer before death, 390 ; his
age, 390 ; his lamentation before
death, 390; his address to Jesus,
391 ; manner and circumstances
of his death, 392 ; approach of
death to, with all his retinue,
392 ; words of Jesus to, 392 ;
Gabriel receives the soul of, 392 ;
lamentation for, 392 ; the body
of, rendered incorruptible, 392 ;
the burial of, 393 ; Jesus bewails
8o6 APOCRYPHA OF NEW TESTAMENT: INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
the death of, 393 ; why he, being
the father of Jesus, died, 393 ;
history of, 352 ; narrative of,
354-
Judas Iscariot, not a disciple of
Jesus, but craftily pretends to
be, 46S ; plots against Jesus, 468 ;
covenants with the Jews to de-
liver up Jesus to them, 469; de-
livers up Jesus, 469.
Judgment, the day of, Esdras prays
to see, 571 ; signs of the ap-
proach of, 572 ; foretold to John,
585 ; order of procedure on, 5S5.
Judith, Anna's handmaid, 361.
Just, the place of the, 576, 577 seq.
Justin Martyr referred to, 365, 390.
Juvenalius, Bishop, 47S.
Karinus and Leucius, sons of Simeon,
who were raised from the dead
when Jesus rose, their narrative
of the descent of Christ into
Hades, and the deliverance He
wrought there, 445-452, 454-458.
King, Jesus crowned as, by boys,
413-
Lactantius referred to, 416.
Lampadistus, the city of, 495.
Lapithus, the city of, 494.
Lazarus raised by Jesus, 460, 462.
Leprosy healed by Jesus, 40S, 411.
Letter of Pontius Pilate, 459.
Levi, Rabbi, his testimony to Jesus
before the Sanhedrin, 424, 447.
Licianus commanded by Tiberius to
seize and destroy the Jews who
procured the death of Jesus,
464.
Lioness, a, and cubs, tamed by Jesus,
381.
Lions and panthers worship and es-
cort Jesus, 381.
Losania, the body of Pilate sent
thither to be buried, 467.
Magi, the visit of the, to Jesus, 366,
375-
Mambre, or Malech, Mount, Jesus
seen on, after His resurrection,
422, 444.
Man-eaters, the city of the, the
horrid customs of the citizens,
517 • visited by Matthias, where
his eyes are put out, and he is
cast into prison, 517; the works
of Andrew and Peter in, 518;
blind prisoners, doomed to be
eaten, are restored to sight by
Andrew, 522 ; the citizens eat
the dead warders, 522 ; the citi-
zens collect the old men to eat
them, in lieu of others, 522 ; an
unnatural father in, his punish-
ment, 522, 525; the executioners
miraculously bereft of power,
523; the citizens seek for An
drew, to kill him, 523 ; Andrew
dragged repeatedly by ropes
through the streets of, 523; An-
drew causes an alabaster statue
to send forth water, and flood the
city, 524; the citizens repent,
524; certain of the citizens sent
down into the abyss, 525; the
drowned citizens restored to life
by Andrew, 525 ; a church
founded there, 525.
Mariamne, sister of the Apostle
Philip, 497 ; tortured, 498 ; or-
dered to be stripped naked, but
miraculously transfigured, 499,
508, 509.
Martyrdom of Andrew, 356, 51 1 seq. ;
of Bartholomew, 357, 553 seq. ;
of Matthew, 528 seq.
Mary, the mother of Cleophas, and
her rival, 410.
Mary, Gospel of the Nativity of, 352 ;
contents of, 384-387 ; the Falling
Asleep of, 587 seq. ; the Passing
of, 592 seq. ; the assumption of,
359; the parents of, 361, 362,
369, 370; birth of, 362, 370; pres-
entation of, to the priests, 363,
370; left by her parents in the
temple, 363, 385; is held in great
veneration for her goodness,
371 ; sought in marriage by Abi-
athar, the high priest, for his son,
371 ; is styled "Queen of Vir-
gins," 373 ; daily visited by an-
gels, she resolves to remain a
virgin, 385 ; the priests take
counsel what they shall do with
her, 363, 386; by divine inti-
mation entrusted to the care of
Joseph the carpenter, 363, 372,
386 ; spins the true purple and
the scarlet for the veil of the
temple, 363, 364, 372, 373; an
angel announces to, hei con-
ception, 363, 373 ; visits Eliza-
beth, 364 ; her conception, 364 ;
Joseph's grief on finding her
pregnant, 364, 373; questioned
by Joseph, 364; Joseph resolves
to dismiss her privately, 364, 3S7,
389; the priests, suspecting sin,
administer the ordeal to Joseph
and to her, when both are proved
innocent, 364, 365, 373, 374; her
journey to Bethlehem with Jo-
seph, 365, 374; gives birth to
Jesus in a cave — wonders that
accompany his birth, 365, 374,
375; Salome's doubt as to the
virginity of, punished, 365, 375;
goes into Egypt with Joseph and
the child, 376; Jesus causes a
palm tree to bend down to, that
she may pluck its fruit, 377 ; so-
journ in Egypt, 377, 406 seq.;
adored, 409; with Joseph at his
death, 392 ; informed by John of
the sentence passed on Jesus by
Pilate, 430; at the cross, 430;
goes every day to the tomb of
Jesus to burn incense, and is
invisible to the guards, 587 ; Ga-
briel appears to, and announces
her removal shortly to heaven,
587 ; returns to Bethlehem, and
prays for the presence of John,
who is miraculously conveyed
from Ephesus to, 588 ; all the
Apostles are miraculously
brought together to her, 588,
^93 ; the Apostles tell her, each
m his turn, what the Holy Spirit
had revealed to them concerning
her, 5S8; the glorious and won-
derful occurrences which tgok
place round the house where she
was, 589; hostility shown by the
priests to, and the terrific vision
which confounds them, 589; a
tribune sent against — she is mi-
raculously conveyed to Jerusa-
lem, 589; the Jews at Jerusalem
attempt to burn the house of,
590; visited by the I^ord on
cherubim, and a multitude of
angels, 590; asks Jesus respect-
ing the departure of her soul —
the answer, 592 ; apprised by an
angel that her assumption is now
at hand, 592 ; prepares for her
assumption, 592 ; Christ descends
and receives the soul of, 593 ;
the Apostles carry the body of,
to bury — incidents by the way,
593; Jesus raises the body of,
and takes it to paradise, 598 ;
Thomas sees her body ascending
— her girdle falls to him, 594;
another account of her departure
and assumption, with the attend-
ant circumstances, 595 seq. ;
meets Paul in paradise, and is
worshipped by angels, 5S0.
Masters, the, under whom the child
Jesus was placed, 379, 3S0, 381,
382, 396, 397.
Matarea, or Matariyeh, 409.
Matthew, Acts and Martyrdom of,
528 seq.; the Apostle, on the
mountain visited by Jesus in the
form of a little child, 528; re-
ceives a rod from Jesus to plant
in the city of the man-eaters, to
produce fruit and honey and
water, 528 ; proceeds to Myrna,
and heals demoniacs there, 528 ;
preaches in Myrna, 529; plants
in Myrna the rod given him by Je-
sus— its wonderful growth, 529;
proceeds to the church, 530; the
devil incites the king against,
530, 531 ; the king, struck blind,
is restored to sight by, 531 ; the
king tries in various ways to de-
stroy, 531 ; prays that the fire
may destroy all the idols, which
is done — dies, 532 ; his body is
brought to the palace, and works
miracles, 532 ; is seen rising to
heaven, and crowned, 532 ; his
body is placed in an iron coffin,
and is cast into the sea. 532; is
seen afterwards standing on the
sea, 533.
Matthew, Pseudo, the Gospel of, 351 ;
contents of, 368-383 ; the Acts of,
356-
Matthias and Andrew, Acts of, 356,
517 seq.
Matthias, visits the city of the man-
eaters, who put out his eyes, and
cast him into prison, 517; in the
prison he is miraculously re-
stored to sight, 517; Andrew
sent to, 517; Andrew visits him
in prison, 521.
Maximilla, wife of .^geates, takes
the body of Andrew down from
the cross, 515.
APOCRYPHA OF NEW TESTAMENT: INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 807
Miracles performed by the child Je-
sus, 376, 377, 378, 379, 381, 3S2,
396,399.402.
Misdeus, king of India, and the
Apostle Thomas, 551 ; orders
Thomas to be put to death, 551 ;
a demoniac son of, healed by a
bone of Thomas, 552.
Moses, Apocalypse of, 358, 565 seq. ;
met by Paul in paradise, 580.
"Mother of God," Mary the, 580,
587 ; worshipped in paradise by
angels, 580.
Mule, a young man transformed into,
by magic, restored to his proper
shape by Jesus, 408, 409.
Myrna, the city of the man-eaters,
strange occurrences in, 528 seq.
Nathan, sent to Tiberius, 472; meets
with Titus, and relates to him
the wonderful works of Jesus,
and baptizes him, 473.
Needle, Peter causes a camel to go
through the eye of a, and causes
a second to do so, 527.
Nero, applied to by the Jews to pre-
vent Paul coming to Rome, his
compliance, 477 ; teJls the Jews
that Paul is dead, 477 ; Peter and
Paul accused before, by Simon
Magus, 480 ; is referred by Peter
to a letter of Pilate to Claudius,'
480; discussion between Peter
and Paul and Simon Magus be-
fore, 4S0 ; orders Peter and Paul
to be put to death, 484.
Nicanora, wife of proconsul of Hier-
apolis, converted by Mariamne,
Philip's sister, 498 ; avows her
faith, 498 ; her husband's brutal
treatment of, 49S ; regarded by
her husband as having been be-
witched by the ajjostles, 499; an-
other version of the story of, 507.
Nicodemus, Gospel of, 353; contents
of, 416-45S; appears before Pi-
late in defence of Jesus, 419,
428, 442 ; his conduct after the
crucifixion of Jesus, 421 ; pro-
poses to the Sanhedrin that
search should be made for Jesus,
423, 433, 445; Pilate summons
him before him, 429; the char-
acter of, 508.
Noah met by Paul in paradise, 581.
Onesiphorus receives Paul, 487.
Onesiphorus, a rich man, ill-treats
Peter and Andrew, 527 ; chal-
lenges Peter respecting the words
of Jesus about a camel going
through the eye of a needle, 527 ;
he believes, 527.
Ophioryma, the city of, Philip at, 497 ;
Philip and his companions tor-
tured at, 498; shut up in the
temple of, 499; Philip crucified
at, John comes to, 499 ; the in-
habitants of, swallowed up in the
abyss, but delivered by the Sav-
iour, 501, 508 seq.
Palace, the, built by Matthew the
apostle for King Gundaphoros,
539-
Palm tree, a, made by Jesus to bend
down, that Mary might pluck the
fruit of, 377 ; a spring wells forth
at the root of, 377 ; the privilege
conferred on, by Jesus, 377.
Paphos, 495.
Paradise, Adam and all the just in-
troduced to, by Jesus, 437 ; the
penitent robber admitted to, 438,
470 ; Paul conducted to — a de-
scription of, 580; persons whom
Paul meets there, 580.
Paradosis of Pilate, 354, 465 seq.
Patmos, John sent to, by Domitian,
562.
Paul, Apocalypse of, 358, 575 seq.;
his coming to Rome opposed by
the Jews, 477 ; invited by the
Christians, he sets out for Rome,
and reaches Syracuse, 477 ; the
Jews kill Dioscorus, mistaking
him for, 477 ; his journey to-
wards Rome, 478; his vision at
Tribus Tabernes, 478 ; reaches
Rome, 478 ; the Jews strive to
incite him to speak against Peter
— his reply, 478; appeases the
contentions between Jews and
Gentiles, 479 ; with Peter op-
poses Simon Magus, 481 ; by
prayer arrests the flight of Si-
mon, so that he falls, and is
killed, 484 ; ordered to be put in
irons, 484 ; sentenced to be be-
headed, 484 ; meets Perpetua on
his way to execution, and obtains
a handkerchief from her, which
is miraculously returned, and
restores her sight, 485; the con-
version and martyrdom of his
executioners, 486; received as he
is going to Iconium by Onesiph-
orus— his personal appearance
described, 487 ; converts Thecla,
487; Acts of, and Thecla, 355,
487 seq.; cast into prison by the
governor of Lystra, 489 ; visited
in prison by Thecla, 489 ; cast out
of the city, 489 ; fasts with One-
siphorus, 489; goes with Thecla
to Antioch, 489; contention with
Barnabas, 493 ; the " Revela-
tion " of, found under the foun-
dation of his house at Tarsus,
575; conducted to the " place of
the just," 577 ; conducted to the
" place of the wicked," 578 ; con-
ducted to paradise, 580.
Penitent thief (robber), the, his first
meeting with Jesus, 409 ; charac-
ter and deeds of, 468 ; on the
cross, rebukes his companion,
and confesses Jesus, 469 ; Jesus
promises paradise to, and writes
respecting him to His "arch-
angelic powers," 470 ; with Jesus
in Galilee, seen transformed by
John, 470 ; entrance of, into Ha-
des, 457 ; entrance of, into para-
dise, 438, 452.
Perpetua, tlie story of, 485, 486.
Peter and Andrew, Acts of, 526 seq. ;
and Paul, Acts of, 355, 477 seq. ;
hears with joy of Paul's coming
to Rome, 478 ; the Jews strive to
stir up Paul to speak against,
478; comes to Paul, 479; as-
sailed by the Jews, he defends
himself, 479; Simon Magus
speaks against, 4S0 ; Simon ex-
cites Nero against, 480 ; disputes
with Simon before Nero, 480;
by prayer causes Simon, who at-
tempts to fly, to fall and be killed,
484; sentenced to be crucified,
4S4 ; curious story of the Lord's
meeting him when he was escap-
ing from Rome, 485 ; the burial
of, 485 ; on a mountain with Mat-
thew and Alexander, 526; Christ
appears to, and salutes as bishop
of the whole Church, 526 ; asks an
old husbandman for bread, and
ploughs and sows for him, 526 ;
ill-treated by one Onesiphorus,
527 ; causes a camel to go through
the eye of a needle, 527 ; causes
a second camel to go through
the eye of a needle, 527 ; miracu-
lously conveyed to the couch of
Mary at Bethlehem, 588; heals
Jephonias, 591.
Philip the Apostle, at Ophioryma,
497 ; the sister of, 497, 499 ; his
preaching, 497, 507 ; visited by
Nicanora, wife of the proconsul,
498; tortured by the proconsul
of Ophioryma, 498 ; shut up in
the temple of the viper, 499 ; ven-
geance demanded against, by the
people, 499 ; stripped before the
tribunal, ordered to be hanged,
499, 508; speech of, to Barthol-
omew, 499 ; visited by John, 500,
50S ; restrained by John from in-
flicting vengeance on his ene-
mies, 500; curses his enemies,
who are forthwith swallowed up
in the abyss, 500, 509 ; rebuked
by the Lord for returning evil
for evil, 501, 509; his reply to
Jesus, 501 ; his punishment or-
dained for his unforgiving spirit,
501, 509; from the cross ad-
dresses the Ophiorymites, and
refuses to be released, 501, 502,
509, 510; addresses Barthol-
omew, and gives directions to,
502, 510; prayer of, 502, 503,
510 ; gives up the ghost, while a
voice is heard proclaiming that
he is crowned, 503 ; a vine
springs up, and a church is built
on the spot on which he was cru-
cified, 503 ; is admitted to para-
dise, 503 ; the visit of, to Hellas,
and interviews with the philos-
ophers, 503 ; the philosophers
write to the high priest at Jeru-
salem about, 504 ; the high priest
comes to Hellas to oppose: 504;
discussion with the high priest,
505; shows many miracles be-
fore the high priest, and inflicts
punishment on him to convert
him, but in vain, 505, 506; Acts
of, 355, 497 seq.
Philosophers of Hellas, the, and
Philip, 503 seq.
Pilate, the Jews accuse Jesus to, 416,
439, 441 ; takes the part of Jesus,
418, 440; questions Jesus, 428,
8o8 APOCRYPHA OF NEW TESTAMENT: INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
441 ; declares Jesus innocent, 441 ;
rebukes the Jews, 429, 442 ; sends
Jesus to Herod, 429 ; washes his
hands, 429, 443 ; yields to the
clamour of the Jews, and sen-
tences Jesus to death, 420, 429,
443 ; assembles the chief priests
in the temple to inquire about
Jesus, 453 ; writes an account of
Jesus to the emperor Claudius,
454 ; the letter of, to Tiberius
Caesar, 353, 459; report of, to
Augustus Caesar respecting Je-
sus Christ, 353, 460 seq., 462 seq. ;
sent for by Tiberius Cssar to be
examined on account of putting
Jesus to death, 354, 464 seq. ;
ordered to be beheaded — his
prayer to Jesus, 465 ; according
to another account, cited be-
fore Tiberius, who is magically
calmed by the tunic of Jesus
worn by, 466 ; sentenced to death,
but commits suicide in prison,
354, 467 ; his strange burial, 467 ;
further particulars concerning,
474 seq.; Acts of, 416.
Pilate's wife, her message to Pilate,
417, 428, 440.
Place, of the righteous, the, 576, 577
seq.; of the wicked, 57S seq.
Plato, bishop of Myrna, 529, 533.
Polymius, a king of India, sends for
Bartholomew to heal his demo-
niac daughter, 554; seeks to re-
ward IJartholomew, 554; destroys
his idol, 556; believes and is
baptized, 556 ; the brother of,
persecutes and kills Barthol-
omew, 557 ; is made bishop, 557.
Pontiole, Paul at, 477 ; is swallowed
up on account of the murder of
Dioscorus, 47S.
Potentiana and Perpetua, 486.
Prince, the son of a, cured of the lep-
rosy by the water in which the
child Jesus was washed, 408.
Procla, Pilate's wife, her message to
Pilate, 417, 428, 440.
Punishments of the wicked in hell,
the, 547, 548 ; more fully de-
scribed as witnessed by Esdras,
572, seq., 578 seq.
Purgatory, doctrine of, 390.
Queen of Virgins, Mary the, 373.
Race, an abominable, performed at
Paphos, 495.
Recognition in a future state, 583.
Report of Pilate to Augustus, 460
seq. ; to Tiberius, 462 seq.
Resurrection, the, 496.
Resurrection of Jesus, witnesses of
the, 422, 424, 432 seq. ; of the
saints when Jesus rose, who
they were who participated in,
435 ; some of those shared in,
questioned by the Jews, the tes-
timony of, 435 seq., 448.
Reuben, a Jew, strikes against the
bier on which Mary is carried to
burial — his punishment, 593.
Revelation, the, of Paul, found un-
der the foundations of his house
in Tarsus, 575.
Righteous, the place of the, 576,
577 seq.
Righteous, the, and the wicked, the
manner of the death of, 576 seq.
River, the fiery, in the place of the
wicked, 578.
Robbers, the, met by Jesus and His
parents in Egypt, 409; the two,
crucified with Jesus, 469; the
impenitence of one of, 469 ; the
penitence of the other, and the
promise of Jesus to, 469 seq. ;
the entrance of the latter into
Hades, 457, and into paradise,
43^, 45--
Rod, the, of Joseph the carpenter,
363, 372 ; the miraculous, given
by Jesus to Matthew to plant in
the city of the man-eaters, 528;
the wonderful growth of, 529.
Rubim, or Ruben, the high priest,
rejjroaches Joachim with his
childlessness, 361, 369.
Salome, called in as midwife for
Mary — her unbelief punished,
355' 37 5 > ^^^ hand, which was
dried up, restored by Jesus, 375.
Sarah, daughter of the high priest
Caiaphas, stripped naked by De-
mas, 46S ; accuses Jesus, 468.
Satan and Hades, the altercation be-
tween, when Jesus was about to
descend into Hades, 436, 455 ;
e.xhorts Hades to prepare to re-
ceive Jesus, 449, 456; reviled by
Hades, 451.
Saviour, the Avenging of the, 354,
472 seq. ; the Arabic Gospel of
the Infancy of the, 405-415.
Schoolmasters, the, to whom Jesus
was successively sent, 379, 380,
382, 396, 397.
Sea, the, testifies- against the sins of
men, 575.
Sealing, 489, 541.
Serpent, the, used by Satan in tempt-
ing Eve, 566 ; the curse pro-
nounced on, 568.
Seth, sent by Adam, when dying, to
paradise, to obtain for him the
" oil of mercy," 566; and Adam
in Hades, 436.
Shepherd of Hermas referred to, 390.
Simeon, the two sons of, raised by
Jesus, 448; relate the descent of
Jesus into Hades, and His do-
ings there, 435, 448.
Simeon, the aged, his testimony to
Jesus in Hades, 448 seq.
Simon Magus, his lying miracles,
4S0 ; speaks against Paul, and
e.xcites Nero against him, 480;
disputes with Paul and Peter be-
fore Nero, 4S0; the knowledge
of, tested by Peter, and proved
wanting, 481 ; the trick practised
by, to make Nero believe he had
been beheaded, and had come to
life again, 481, 482; asks Nero
to build for him a lofty tower,
from which he might fly to
heaven, 484; begins to fly, but
is arrested by the prayers of Pe-
ter and Paul, and falls down and
is killed, 484.
Smith referred to, 371,406, 424,467.
Soldiers, the, who guard the tomb of
Jesus, testify to His resurrection,
but are bribed to lie, 432, 444.
Son of man, the, the second advent
of, 584.
Souls of the righteous and the wick-
ed, how they go out of the body,
576.
Sparrows made of clay by the child
Jesus, 378, 414.
Sphin.x, a, in a heathen temple, re-
bukes the unbelief of men in
relation to Jesus, 520 ; the testi-
mony of, to Jesus, 520.
Stachys, 497; receives Philip to his
house, appointed bishop of Ophi-
oryma, 503, 510.
Standards, the Roman, miraculously
bow down to Jesus, 440.
Star seen at the birth of Christ, 375.
Steps, the fifteen, of the temple, 385.
Stratocles, brother of TEgeates, 516.
Sueton referred to, 484.
Sun and moon, the, bear testimony
against the sins of men, 575.
Sunsettirig the time when the angels
give in to God their report of the
conduct of men, 575.
Symeon. See Simeon.
Syracuse, Paul at, 477.
Tartarus, a description of the pun-
ishments endured in, given by a
young woman who had been
raised from the dead, 547, 548 ;
by Esdras, 572; by Paul, 578,
579-
Tartarus, Satan cast into, 457.
Temeluch, the merciless angel, 577.
Thaddffius, Acts of, 357, 558 seq. ; the
Apostle, visits Abgarus — his
ministry in Edessa, 55S ; goes to
the city of Amis, and preaches
Christ there, 558; his miracles,
559; proceeds to Berytus, where
he dies, 559.
Thamyris, provoked by the conduct of
Thecla, his betrothed, 487, 4S8 ;
brings Paul before the governor,
4S8.
Thecla, hears Paul preaching, and is
so entranced by him, that she
hearkens not to mother nor
lover, 487, 488 ; evil counsels of
Demas and Ermogenes against,
488; visits Paul in ))rison, 488 ;
condemned to be burned, but is
miraculously delivered, 4S9; goes
with Paul to Antioch, 489; vile
conduct of Alexander the Syri-
arch towards, 490; condemned
to be thrown to wild beasts, she
receives the sympathy of Try-
phaena, 490 ; thrown to the wild
beasts, but they have no power to
hurt her, 490 ; bound between
two fierce bulls, but remains un-
hurt, 490; is set at liberty, 491 ;
goes to Myra seeking Paul,
491 ; visits her mother at Iconi-
um, 491 ; takes up her abode in
a cave, where she performs many
cures, 491 ; plot laid for her by
certain young men, from which
she is miraculously delivered,
APOCRYPHA OF NEW TESTAMENT: INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 809
492; periods into whicii her life
is divided, and age, 492.
Thomas the Apostle, Acts of, 535
seq. ; Consummation of, 550 seq. ;
India falls to the lot of, 535 ; re-
fuses to go, and is sold by his
Master as a carpenter for Gun-
daphoros, an Indian king, 535 ;
submits to his Master's will,
535; reaches Andrapolis, and is
obliged to attend a royal mar-
riage feast, 535 ; struck by 3,
wine-pourer, 536; the song of,
536; taken by the king to the
bridal chamber to pray for the
married couple, 537 ; the Lord
converses with the bride and
bridegroom in the form of, 537 ;
the king is enraged with, 538 ;
undertakes to build a palace for
King Gundaphoros, 339; ex-
pends the money entrusted to
him for the palace on the poor
and afflicted, 539; the king, find-
ing no palace built, throws him
into prison, resolving to flay and
burn him, 539; curious story of
his release from prison, 540 ;
baptizes King Gundaphoros, 541 ;
continues preaching, 541 ; the
Lord appears to, 542 ; story of,
in relation to the young man and
the dragon, 542 seq. ; a young
woman tormented by an unclean
demon delivered by, 544 seq.;
story of, in relation to the young
man who killed the maiden, 546
seq.; raises the inaiden to life,
■who relates what she saw in the
unseen world, 547 seq. ; his
preaching, miracles, and success,
548 ; martyrdom of, by order of
King Misdeus, 550 seq. ; a bone
of, heals a demoniac son of Mis-
deus, 552; witnesses the assump-
tion of Mary, and receives her
girdle, 594. _
Throne, the, mismade by Joseph,
rectified by the child Jesus, 413.
Tiberius Caesar, Pilate's Letter to,
459 ; Report of Pilate to, respect-
ing Jesus, 460, 462 ; summons
Pilate to Rome, and censures
him for putting Jesus to death,
464 ; commands Licianus to seize
and punish the Jews who pro-
cured the death of Jesus, 464;
orders Pilate to be beheaded,
465 ; sends, according to another
account, Volusianus to Jerusa-
lem, to bring Jesus to heal him,
466; having found that Pilate
had put Him to death, he orders
Pilate to come to Rome, 466;
orders Pilate to be put to death,
467 ; another account of the mis-
sion of Velosianus, 474 seq.
Timon of Anemurium, 495.
Title, the, placed by Pilate over the
cross of Jesus, 420.
Titus, son of Vespasian, afflicted with
a grievous disease, 472 ; told by
Nathan of the power of Jesus to
heal diseases, and how Pilate
had crucified Him, 472 ; believes
in Jesus, and is immediately
healed, and receives baptism,
473 ; sends armies to punish the
Jews for putting Jesus to death,
473 ; inflicts punishment on the
Jews and their rulers, 473, 474.
Titus and Dumachus, robbers, their
interview with Jesus and His
parents when going into Egypt,
409.
Torments of the wicked, the, 547,
572, 578 seq.
Tryphasna, how she befriends Thecla,
489 seq.
Tunic, the seamless, worn by Pilate
when cited before Tiberius — its
marvellous influence on Tibe-
rius, 466 seq.
Veil of the temple, the, Mary spins
the true purple and scarlet for,
363. 372.
Veil of the tribunal, the lowering or
drawing of the, 420.
Veronica, bears witness to Jesus be-
fore Pilate, 419, 442, 474; how
she obtained a picture of Jesus,
466 ; found by Velosianus to
have a portrait of Jesus, 466,
474; taken by Velosianus with
the picture of Jesus, and brought
to Rome — the Emperor Tiberius
healed by the picture, 474 seq.
Vespasian, destroys Jerusalem, 560;
is succeeded by Domitian, 560.
Vienne, Pilate's body sent to be sunk
in the Rhone near, 467.
Vine, a, sprouts up where Philip's
blood dropped, 503.
Viper, the temple of the, 499.
Virginity, a new order of life founded
by Mary, 372, 385.
Virginity and chastity, 510.
Virgins, in the temple, 372, 375 ; five,
assigned to Mary as companions,
372.
Volusianus or Velosianus, sent by
Tiberius to Jerusalem to bring
Jesus to heal him, 466; finds that
Jesus has been crucified, but
meets Veronica, whom, with her
picture of Jesus, he brings to
Rome, 466, 475; his report to
Tiberius, 466, 475; presents Ve-
ronica's picture of Jesus to Tibe-
rius, by which he is completely
healed, 474 seq.
Watch, the, who were placed at the
tomb of Jesus, bribed by the
Jews to give lying testimony,
422, 432, 444.
Wicked, the place and the punish-
ments of, 543, 547. 572 seq.
Witnesses, the, who appeared for
Jesus before Pilate, 419, 428,
440 seq.
Witnesses of the resurrection of Je-
sus, 422, 424, 432. _
Woman, the, with the issue of blood,
healed by Jesus, 460, 462 ; is
Veronica, 428, 442.
Young man, the, killed by a dragon,
and restored to life by Jesus, the
storv of, 542 seq. ; who killed a
maiden, the story of, 546 seq.
Zacchaeus, or Zachyas, a doctor of the
law, Jesus placed under, 379,
396,399.
Zacharias, father of John the Bap-
tist, slain in the temple by or-
der of Herod, 366.
Zelomi and Salome called in as mid-
wives to Mary, 374.
Zeno, a boy, falls from a house and
is killed, but is restored to life
by Jesus, 396.
Zeraduscht, prediction of, 406.
APOCRYPHA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
INDEX OF TEXTS.
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Gen. iii. 6. . . .
510
2 Kings ii. 8. . . .
381
Ps. cxviii. 25 .
• 417
Mai. iv. 2 . .
. . 498
iii. 19
389
ii. II . .
393
cxviii. 26, 433, 437, 590
Bel and Dragon
33-39. 594
V. 24
425
ii. 12-18 .
423
cxviii. 26, 27
• 452
Ecclus. xiv. 9
• • 363
ix. II
521
xxiii. 13 .
422
cxix. 137 .
■ 577
xlviii. 9
• • 574
xii. 3
37
4,479
2 Chron. xxiv. 20-22
366
exxv. 3 . .
• 585
I Mace. iv. 52-5
9 . . 384
xvii. 5
479
[ob iii
391
cxxxii. II .
• 479
2 Mace. X. 1-8
• • 384
xvii. 17
384
Ps. i. I ....
469
cxxxiii. I
• 594
Susanna i. 4 .
• . 361
xviii. 3
370
ii. 9 . . . .
389
cxlvi. 4 (LXX.
) • 583.
Tobit i. 7 .
• • 369
xix. 28
598
iii. 5 (LXX.) . .
533
cxlvii. 5 . .
• 43S
i. 17, 18
. . 468
xxii. 17
572
vii. 15 ...
410
clxxviii. 7 .
• 376
ii. 10 . .
.361, 369
xxiii. 9, 17 . .
520
ix. 17 . . . .
585
Prov. xxi. I . .
. 561
Wisd. xix. 17
. • 598
Exod. vii. 10-14 • •
428
ix. 18 . . . .
585
Eccles. xii. 4 .
• 583
xxxi. .
. . 361
xiii. 2. . . .
406
xviii. II . . .
585
xii. 7. .
• 574
Matt. i. . .
. . 361
xiv. 18 . . .
361
xviii. 41 . . .
585
Cant. ii. 2 . .
• 593
i. 16 .
• • 391
XV. 4 . . . .
377
xix. 15 . . .
434
iv. 14 . .
536,568
i. 18-24
• ; 387
xxiii. 20, 21. .
425
xxiv. 3 . . .
577
Isa. i. 3 . . .
• 375
i. 19 .
.364, 389
XXV. 4 . . .
3^3
xxiv. 7 (LXX.) .
. 537
vi. 3 . . .
• 584
i. 20 .
■ • 364
XXV. 10 . .
453
xxiv. 7 . . .43
6,450
IX. 1, 2 . .
• 435
i. 20-24
. . 389
xxviii. 28
363
xxiv. 8 . . .43
7.450
ix. 2 . . .
• 450
ii. 1-12, 2
66, 376, 406
xxviii. 36-38
362
xxvii. ID . .
38s
xi. 1,2. .
. 386
ii. 13, 14 ^
. . 406
xxx. 23 . .53
6, 568
xxx. 1-6 (Vulg.)
45'
xi. 6 . . .
• 502
ii. 13-15 .
• • 366
xxxiii. 19 .
572
xxxi. 5 . . .
421
xix. I . .
. 377
11. 14 .
• • 376
xxxiii. 23 . .
573
xxxiii. 22 . .
598
xxii. 13 . .
. 576
ii. 14-16
. . 429
xxxiv. 28 .
361
xxxvii. 29 . .
585
xxvi.i9(LXX
) 437. 450
!!■ ^5
. . 407
Lev. xii. 4 . . . .
406
xlviii. 14 . .
452
xxviii. 16 .
• 498
n. 16
• 376, 572
xii. 8 . , .
375
xlix. 14 . . .
585
xxxiii. 22 .
• 425
ii. 19-2
3
• • ^^e
xxiv. 16 . .41
9.428
Ii. 5 . . . .
391
xl.4 . . .
. 584
ii. 26
• . 378
Num. xii. 3 . . .
5S0
li.7 . . . .
584
xl.i2 (LXX.)
• 574
iii. 3
• • 435
xvi. 31-33 •
363
Ii. 19 . . . .
583
xliii. 24 . .
. 56S
iii. 12
• • 513
Deut. ix. 9 . . .
361
Ivii. 6. . . .
410
Ixi. 1-3 . .
• 425
iii. 13-
7
• • 415
xvii. 6 . .
425
Ixv. 9 . . . .
382
Ixiv. 4 . .
• 544
iv. 2
. . 361
xxi. 23 . . .
425
Ixviii. 18 . .
450
Ixv. 25 . .
• 376
V. 5-
• 0 577
XXV. 3 . .41
9,428
Ixxii. 8 . . .
386
Jer. ii. 27 . . .
v. 7.
487. 577
xxvii. 15. .
425
Ixxii. II . . .
447
vi. 20 . .
. 568
v. 8.
487, 555
xxxii.8 (LXX.)
585
Ixxii. 17 . . .
447
ix. 23, 24 .
. 388
V. 18
524
xxxii. 17 . .
5"
Ixxvi. II . , .
3S6
X. II . . .
• 425
V. 28
510
xxxii. 35 . .
421
Ixxxiv. 10 . .
388
xvii. 10 . .
. 481
V. 39
509
xxxiv. 5, 6 . .
425
Ixxxiv. 44, 45 .
583
xvii. 14 . .
. 425
vi. 9
547
xxxiv. 10
573
lxxxvi.8. . .
425
xxxi. 19. .
• 364
vi. 25
544
Josh. iii. 16 . . .
381
Ixxxvi. 13 . .
437
Lam. iii. 41 . .
. 4S1
VI. 34
541
vii. 19, 20 .
423
xcviii. I, 2 . .
451
Ezeli. xxi. 12
• 364
vii. 6
586
Judg. ix. 46 . . .
553
xcviii. 6 (LXX.)
5S3
xxvii. 19 .
536, 568
vii. 7
547
xiii. 16
370
cii. 19, 20 . .
450
Dan. X. 21 . .
• 596
viii. 1-4
419
xiii. 20
370
cii. 26 . . .
585
xii. I . .
• 596
viii. II, i:
469
I Sam. i. 6, 7
361
ciii. 4 . . . .
437
Hos. ix. 14 . .
. 361
viii 26
579
i. 9-18
361
ciii. 14, 16 (LXX.
583
xi. I
• • 407
viii. 29
545
i. II .
362
cvi. 3 . . . .
• 586
xiii. 14 . .
437. 450
ix. 17 .
503
v-3 •
377
cvii. 15-17 (LXX
) 450
Joel iii. 2, 12 .
• 572
ix. 20-22
428
xii. 22
. 425
ex. I . . . .
• 415
Mic. V. 2 . . .
366, 376
ix. 20-26
419
xvii. 44
421
ex. 4 . . . .
• 479
vii. 18-20 .
• . 452
ix. 37 .
501
I Kings ii. 11
• 574
exvi. 15 . . .
• 533
Hab. iii. 13 . .
• • 451
X. 2-4 .
535
viii. 56-58
. 425
cxvi. 16 . . .
• 391
Zech. xiv. 9 . .
. • 425
x. 4 seq.
413
xix.
8
• 361
cxviii. 23 . .42
5.447
Mai. iii. i . . .
• • 425
X. 10
• 50
3,518
Sio
APOCRYPHA OF NEW TESTAMENT: INDEX OF TEXTS. 8ii
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Matt. X. 1 6 . .
. • 521
Luke i. 28 . .
363. 403
John xiv. 30 ... . 596
I Cor. XV. 6 . . . . 432
X. 30 . .
• • 524
i-32, 33 •
. • 3S6
xviii. 17 .
597
XV. 8 .
596
X. 42 . .
. . 3SS
i-33 • •
• 483
xviii. 31 .
428
XV. 10
596
xi. 8 . .
• • 544
i-35 • •
• 3S6
xviii. 33-38
427
XV. 32
576
xi. 10 . .
. . 425
i. 39, 40 .
• ^^
xviii. 36 .
389
XV. 41
5S5
xi. 23 . .
• 573
i- 43. 44 •
• 364
xix. 2, 3 .
429
XV. 52
573
xi. 25 . .
. 540
i. 48 . .
364, 5S9
xix. 6, 7 .
427
^ P- 55
450
xi. 29 . .
. 500
i. 79 • •
• 450
xix. II . .
427
2 Cor. 1. 22 .
489
xi. 30 . .
. 542
ii. I . . .
. 365
xix. 12 . .
429
iv. 17
513
xii. 19 . .
• 513
ii. 1-6 . .
• 374
xix. 13 . .
430
V. 10 .
388
xii. 36 . .
. 3SS
ii. 8-12 .
• 375
xix. 26, 27, 430, 587,
ix. 13
479
xii. 45 . .
• 523
ii. 14 . .
• • 374
. 0 595
X. 17 .
388
xiii.. . .
. 562
ii. 19 . .
. . 380
xix. 28 ... 430
xii. 4 .
575
xiii. 41
• 576
ii. 21-24 ■
• 375
xix. 31-34
• 431
xiii. 15
438
xiii. 43 .
• 5«5
ii. 22-35 •
• 375
xix. 34 .
. 412
Gal. i. I . .
482
xiv. 17
• 546
li. 23 . .
. 406
xix. 38-42
• • 431
ii. 9. .
596
xiv. 25
• 546
ii- 25-35 •
. 424
XX. 19 .
• 594
iii. 13 .
425
xvi. 22
• 511
ii. 25-38 .
. 406
xxi. II
• • 546
Ephes. i. 13 .
489
xviii. 16 .
. 434
ii. 26 . .
. 366
xxi. 22
• 564
i. 21 .
504
xix. 23
• 544
ii.34 . .
• 425
Acts i. 23 .
• 593
iv. 28
548
xix. 24
. 527
ii.35 . .
• 431
iii. 7
. 428
iv. 30
• 489
xix. 28
469, 598
ii. 36-38 .
• 375
iv. 6
• 417
vi. 4 .
482
xix. 29
• 580
ii. 41-52 .
• 398
iv. 12
• 504
vi. 9
• 479
xxi. 8, 9 .
• 417
n. 42-47 .
. 414
V-I5
• 549
Phil. ii. 10
584
xxi. 9 . .
433. 590
ii. 46-52 .
. 415
v. 20-25
. 522
ii. II
. 506
xxi. 22
• 556
ii. 49 . .
■ 398
V.38
419, 428
Col. iii. 9.
546
xxii. 3-14
• 535
iii. 21-23 •
• 415
v-39
• 505
iii. 18-22
482
xxii. II
• 501
iii. 22 . .
• 435
vii. 60
• 430
iii. 25 .
479
xxii. 30 .
• 583
iv. 1-13 .
• 554
viii. 39
• 594
I Thess. IV. 17, ^
[37
,4.
;2, 583
xxii. 42-45
• 415
yn. 37-3S .
. 406
ix. II
• 370
I Tim. iii. 1-4
• 579
x.xiii. 35 .
• 366
ix. 62 . .
. 501
ix. 36
. 394
vi. 8 .
. 482
xxiv. . . .
• 572
X. 21 . .
• 540
X. 4 .
. 384
vi. 17
. 482
xxiv. 30 .
580, 584
xi. 2 . .
• 547
X. II
, 424
vi. 20
• 573
XXV. ^^ .
• 585
xi. 9 . .
• 547
xiii. I
• • 493
2 Tim. i. 14 .
• 573
xxvi. 21 .
• 511
xi. 51 . .
. 366
XV.39
• • 493
ii. 8 .
. 481
xxvii. 13, 14
• 4-7
xii. 24 . .
• 541
xvii. 21
• • 503
ii. 26
• 469
xxvii. 15-26
. 420
xvii. 11-19
. 428
xvii. 30
• 544
iii. 8, 9
• 419
xxvii. 15-18,2
1-23,429
xix. 38
• 590
xviii. 9
• • 530
iv. I .
• 572
xxvii. 19 .
417, 428
XX. 36 . .
• 487
xxiii. 2
• 523
iv. 8
57
2,574
xxvii. 25 .
429, 597
xxi. II . .
. 582
xxiii. 9
• 505
Tit. ii. 13 .
• 572
x.xvii. 29 . .
• 429
xxi. 34. .
• 544
xxiii. II
• 530
I Pet. ii. 4
■ 498
x.xvii. 34 .
436. 572
xxiii. 6-1 1
• 429
x.xvii. 16
• • 477
iii. 9
• 509
xxvii. 40-42
• 430
xxiii.34 .
430, 500
xxviii. .
. 382
Heb. vii. 21
479
xxvii. 46 .
• 524
xxiii. 39-43
. 430
xxviii. I
• 477
X. 23
• 479
xxvii. 48 .
• 430
xxiii. 42, 43
• 452
Rom. i. 25 .
• 425
X. 26
562
xxvii. 53 .
• 435
xxiii. 43 .
• 469
ii. II .
• 479
X. 30
421
xxvii. 56 .
• 389
xxiii. 44-49
• 431
ii. 12 .
479. 585
xi. 5
425
xxvii. 60 .
• 431
xxiii. 46 .
421, 430
vi- 3. 4
. . 498
XI- 37
581
xxvii. 62-66
• 432
xxiv. 10 .
• 389
vii. 34 .
■ 505
xi. 38
576
xxvii. 62 .
• 431
xxiv. 46 .
• 549
viii. 29
546, 549
Jas. ii. I .
479
xxvii. 63 .
• 546
xxiv. 47 . .
• 388
ix. 18 .
• 572
Rev. ii. 23
481
xxviii. 1-8
• 432
xxiv. 49 .
. 388
xii. 2 .
• 487
iv. 4 .
580
xxviii. 5-7
. 421
John i. 14 . .
• 549
xii. 10 .
. 482
V. 6 .
5^^
x.xviii. 11-15
• 432
i. 29 . .
• 435
xii. 19 .
. 426
vii. 17
586
Mark i. 4 . .
• 435
ii. 20 . . .
418, 427
xiii. 13
. 544
xi. 3-12 . ,
394, 437
vi. 3 . .
• 519
iii. 18 . .
• 436
XV. 19 .
. 482
452, 527
vi. 9 . .
503. 518
iv. 6 . .
• 546
xvi. 20
. 546
xii. 5 . .
. 386
vi. 37-44
• 519
^:.5-9 • •
419, 428
xvi. 21
• 493
xiv. 13
576
VII. 34. .
• 531
viii. 56-58
• 379
I Cor. i. 31 .
. 3S8
xix. 10
370
x. 46 . .
• 419
ix. 6, 7 . .
. 428
ii. 9 . .
• 544
xix. 15
389
xi. 25 . . .
. 481
X. 16 . .
• 586
vi. 9 .
• 547
xix. 16
386
XV. 21 , .
• 429
X. 18 . .
• 5"
vi. 18, 15
. 487
xxi. 2
584
XV. 34 . .
• 436
X. 22 . .
. 384
vii. 5 .
. 502
xxi. 4
586
XV. 40. .
• 389
xi. 1-16 .
. 420
vii. 29
• 487
xxii. 2
528
xvi. 15-18 .
422,445
xi. 43 . .
. 428
X. 20, 21
• 511
xxii. 18, 19
393
xvi. 16 , .
432. 436
xii. 5 . .
• 405
xiii. I
• 379
Luke i. 26-38 .
386, 554
xiv. 23 . .
. 586
xiv. 7
379
THE DECRETALS.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Accused, the, on, 637.
Accusers, qualification of, 616; how
to be treated, 617; disqualifi-
cation of, 637.
Age necessary for the ordination of
a presbyter, 640.
Anterus, Epistle of, 626 seq.
Apocrisarii, meaning of, 6io.
Apostles, seal of the, the last instance
in trials against bishops, 609.
Baptism, on promises made in, 621 ;
imposition of the bishops' hands
necessary after, 621.
Benedictus, Epistle of Callistus to,
613.
Bishops, when accused, how to be
tried, 609; the final judgment
to be submitted to the seal of the
apostles, 609, 637 ; on the spoli-
ation or expulsion of certain,
610; to keep within the bounds
of their own parish, 615 seq.;
seats of the, 620; those rejected
by, how to be treated, 620 seq.;
translation of, 626 ; right of,
633 ; not to be accused or hurt
by detraction, 633 seq.
Boniface III. assumes the title of
" Universal Bishop," 602, 642.
Bower referred to, 625.
Brotherly love enjoined, 623.
Bryce quoted, 644.
Callistus, Epistles of, 613 seq., 618.
Charlemagne a lay-Pope throughout
his empire, 603.
Chrism to be made every year, and
the old to be burnt, 632 seq.
Communion, how often to be taken
by the laity in a year, 640.
Conspirators against bishops, how to
be treated, 615.
Constantine, Donation of, 607, 644.
Creed, the Trentine, 643.
Deacons, on the ordination of, 611.
Decrees of Fabian, 640, 641.
Decretals, the, time of fabrication,
601; created papacy, 6oi ; passed
into the organic canon-law by
Nicholas, 603 ; frauds of the,
605 seq.; enforced by Gregory
VII., 642; Dupin on, 603-605;
Milman on, 607 ; introductory
notice to, 601 seq.
De Maistre quoted, 643.
812
Doctors, of accusations against, 613.
Donation of Constantine, 607, 644 ;
Dupin on, 644 ; Bryce on, 644.
Dupin quoted, 603 seq., 644.
Egypt, bishops of, Zephyrinus' Epis-
tle to, 610.
Episcopal seats, on, 626.
Evil, the, to be avoided, 623 seq.
E.xcommunicated persons, how to be
treated, 615.
Fabian, Epistles of, 630 seq. ; Decrees
of, 640, 641.
Fasting, seasons for, 613.
Felix Subscribonius, Epistle of Pon-
tianus to, 622.
Forswearing, how to be treated,
640.
Frauds of the Decretals as demon-
strated by Dupin, 605 seq.
Gallicanism extinguished by Pope
Pius IX., 643.
Gaul, oishops of. Epistle of Callistus
to, 614.
Gregory VII. first to take the title of
" Pope," 642.
Heretics, to be shunned, 630 ; how to
be treated, 631.
Hilary, Epistle of Fabian to, 637 seq.
Implacable persons, how to be treat-
ed, 640.
Imposition of the hands of bishops
necessary after baptism, 621.
John "the Faster" ca;lls himself
" Oecumenical Bishop," 602.
Lapsed, after penitence, may be re-
stored, 617.
Love, brotherly, enjoined, 623 seq.
Marriages, among blood-relations,
forbidden, 616, and unlawful,
616 ; unfitness for, 640 ; relations
of, 640.
Martyrs, records of the, to be kept,
630.
Mass not to be celebrated by an
illiterate presbyter, 641.
Milman quoted, 607.
Nicholas I., the founder of papacy,
601 ; passes the Decretals into
the organic canon-law of the
West, 603, 642.
Oblation of the altar to be made on
the Lord's day, 641.
Ordination of presbyters and dea-
cons, how to be performed, 611 ;
age required for the former, 640.
Papa a name common to all bishops,
602.
Papacy^ how inaugurated, 601 ; not
recognised by the churches of
England and France, 642.
Patriarchate, the, 642.
Petrine fable commences to grow un-
der Boniface III., 602.
Pius IV., creed of, 643.
Pius IX. extinguishes Gallicanism,
and proclaims the Pope "infalli-
ble," 643.
Pontianus, Eiiistles of, 622, 625.
Pope, no, known at the close of the
sixth century, 602 ; title first as-
sumed by Gregory VII., 642.
Presbyters, on the ordination of, 61 1 ;
age required for, 642 ; illiterate,
not to celebrate mass, 641.
Priests, how to be honoured, 622.
Primacy conceded to old Rome,
why ? 602.
Promises made in baptism to be
kept, 621.
Property, ecclesiastical, how and by
whom to be managed, 619 seq.
Rome, historic facts as to the See of,
641 ; Paul and Peter at Rome,
641 ; bishops of, from Clement
to Sylvester, 642.
Seats of the bishop, 620, 626.
See of Rome, historic facts as to the,
641.
Sicil}', bishops of, Zephyrinus, Epis-
tle to, 609.
Trent, Council of, frames the Roman-
Catholic Church, making the
Pope the "Universal Bishop,"
643 ; the creed of, 643.
Unbelievers, how to be treated, 615.
Urban, Epistle of, 619 seq.
Witness, qualification of a, 616.
Zephyrinus, Epistles of, 609 seq., 612.
THE DECRETALS.
INDEX OF TEXTS.
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Ex. xxxiii. 21 .
. . 638
Isa. xxvii. 7 . .
. 627
Matt. v. 10 . .
. 6ii
Rom. xiii. 10 .
• 633
Num. i. 51 . .
• • 634
xlix. 15 . .
. 609
V. 22 . .
• 635
XV. 4
• 630
iii. 32 . .
• • 634
li. 7 . . .
. 611
V. 40 . .
• P^
I Cor. ii. 14
. 621
iii. 45 . .
• . 634
Jer. i. 16 . . .
. 623
vii. 12
• 633
iii. 19
. 621
Deut. xvii. . .
. . 628
ii. 9 . . .
• 623
X. 16 . .
. 631
V. 5 . .
. 620
xxvii. 17 .
• • 634
vi. 16 . .
. 627
X. 23 . .
. 616
V. II . .
. 631
Job xxix. 13-17, \
^ulg. 610
viii. 4 . .
. 617
X. 24 . .
• 636
V. II . .
• 63s
xxix. 15. .
. . 627
xviii. II
. 623
xvi. 19
. 609
vi.7 . .
. 63s
Ps. i. 20 . . .
. . 628
Ezek. xviii. 21, 22
. 617
xvi. 27 .
. 611
xii. . .
• 613
xii. 2-4 . .
. . 611
xviii. 32 .
. 617
xviii. 18 .
. 617
XV. 32 .
. 626
xvi. 5. . .
. . 628
xxxiii. II .
. 617
xviii. 18 .
. 620
XV. 33 .
• 632
xviii. 25, 26
. . 632
Hos. vi. 6 . .
. 627
XX. 28 . .
. 615
XV. 58 .
• 630
xxiv. 4 . .
. . 617
Zech. ii. 8 . .
. 622
xxii. 39 .
• P^^
xvi. 13, 14
• 630
xxiv. 10 . .
. . 618
viii. 1-19.
• 613
xxiii. 23, 24
. 627
2 Cor. vi. 14, 15
. 615
xxxii. I . .
. . 618
Tobit iv. 15 . .
. 6.7
XXV. 40 .
. 625
Gal. V. 21 . .
• 635
xxxiv. 13 .
. .' 639
Wisd. i. . . .
. 628
Mark x. 44 . .
. 615
vi. I, 4 . .
. 617
xxxix. I . .
. . 611
ii. 1-5. .
. 628
xii. 31 . .
• 633
Eph. iv. 29-32 .
. 629
xliv. 21 . .
. . 610
V. 14 . .
• 632
xii- 33 •
. 618
v. I-2I . .
. 629
xliv. 21 . .
. . 611
xii. I . .
. 628
Luke ii. 14 . .
. 623
vi. 10-17 .
• 639
xlviii. 13, 14
. . 629
xii. 2 . .
. 628
vi. . . •
• 633
Col. iii. 2 . . .
. 621
xlviii. 14
. . 612
XV. I, 2 .
. 628
vi. 30 . ,
• 635
2 Thess. li. 15-17
. 629
li. 12 . . .
. . 617
Ecclus. iii. 24, etc
• 63s
X. 16 . .
. 622
iii. 1-3
. 629
li. 13 . . .
. . 617
V. 7-18 .
. 625
John viii. 11
. 618
iii. 4 .
. 629
li.17. . .
. . 617
vi. 1-4 .
. 625
viii. 44. .
. 626
I Tim. ii. 4 . .
. 631
Ixxiii. 1-3 .
. . 623
vii. 29-32
. 636
xiii. 35. .
. 611
ii. 24 . .
• 634
xcii. 7 . .
, . 621
X. 7, etc.
. 636
xiii. 35. .
• . 634
V. 6 . .
. 621
xciv. II . .
. . 611
xi. 7, 8 .
. 636
XX. 22, 23
. 620
vi. 10
. 621
xciv. II . .
. . 626
xvi. 23 .
• 63s
Acts iv. 32 . .
• 633
2 Tim. ii. 24. .
. 610
cxxx. 7 . .
. . 618
xviii. 30
. 614
iv. 32-37 .
. 619
iii. 5 . .
. 627
cxxxiii. I .
. . 611
xxii. 15 .
• 63s
V. I-II . .
. 620
iii. 8 . .
. 627
Prov. xii. 15 . .
. . 611
xxvii. 17-3
0 . 624
Rom. i. 32 . .
■ • 615
Jas. i. 19 . . .
. 638
xiv. 12
. . 611
xxvii. 17-3
0 , 638
i. 32 . .
. . 631
i. 20 . . .
. 638
xviii. 19, .
. . 638
xxviii. .
. 624
111. 3-10 .
. 618
ii. 14 . . .
. 619
xix. 28 . .
. . 632
XXV iii. .
• 639
* iii. 23-26 .
. 618
iii. I, 2 . .
. 619
xxii. 28 .
. . 615
xxxii. 1-3
. 624
vi. 12-19 .
. . 618
iii. 13 . ,
. 619
xxiw» 17, et
c. . 634
xxxiv. 13,
[4 . 628
vii. 2 . .
. . 616
I Pet. iii. . . .
. 6,3
xxvi. 4
. . 614
xx.xv. 1-3
. 624
xii. 19 . .
. 611
V. 1-4. .
. 641
Cant. vi. 9 . .
. . 638
Matt. V. 8 . .
. 623
xiii. 2 . .
. . 636
V. 8 . .
. 630
813
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Abgar, reign of, 702 ; trouble between
Herod and, 702 ; builds Edessa,
702 ; arranges between Ardaches
and his brothers, 703 ; helps
Aretas against Herod the Te-
trarch, 703; sends deputies to
Marinus, 703, hears from them
of Jesus Christ, 703 ; suffering
from a disease, writes a letter to
Jesus, 651, 704 ; copy of the letter
sent by, 652, 704 ; reply of Jesus
to, 652, 704 ; Thadd^us visits and
heals, 652, 653, 704 ; Abgar is con-
. verted, and intends to destroy the
Jews for crucifying Christ, 656,
662 ; writes to Tiberius, 656, 662,
705; answer from Tiberius to,
705; writes to Narses of Assyria
concerning Addjeus, 662, 705,
and to Ardaches concerning Si-
mon, 706 ; is made bishop of
Edessa, 663.
Acts of Sharbil, 676 seq.
Addffius the Apostle, extracts from
various books concerning, 655
seq. ; preaching and teaching of,
at Edessa, 655, 657 seq. ; Assyria
allotted to, 656; heals Abgar and
others, 657 ; builds a church, 660,
671 ; many conversions under the
preaching of, 661, 662; builds
churches in the villages, 663 ;
appoints Abgar bishop of Edessa,
663 ; addresses the nobles and
chief men, 663 ; death of, 664 ;
lamented by Christians and Jews
alike, 664; is buried by King
Abgar, 664, who follows in the
footsteps of, 664.
Aggsus, ill-treated by one of Ab-
gar's sons while preaching, 665,
706; ministry of, in Persia, As-
syria, etc., 671.
Alusis, letter of, in behalf of the
Christians, 688.
Amazons, laws of the, 731.
Ambrose, memorial of, 722, 739;
speaks of his conversion, 739,
of the folly he found in Homer,
739 seq. ; exhorts the Greeks to
be instructed in the word of God,
741.
Andrew, ministry of, in Nicasa, etc.,
671.
Ansus appointed bishop of Rome by
Peter, 675.
814
Apostles, the Teaching of the, 667
seq.; Christ lifted up before the
eyes of, 667 ; go to an upper
room in Jerusalem, 667 ; receive
the Holy Ghost, 667 ; appoint
ordinances and laws, 668 ; their
different fields of labour, 671
seq.
Arabians, laws of the, 731.
Archavir of Persia succeeded by his
son Ardaches, 702.
Ardaches succeeds Archavir as king
of Persia, 702; is maintained by
Abgar, 703.
Armenia, becomes tributary to Rome,
702 ; divided after Abgar's death,
706.
Ascension day to be commemorated,
668.
Assyrians, the country of the, allot-
ted to Addsus, 656.
Astrologers, book of the, 721.
Babai, sister of Sharbil, killed on the
spot where she caught the blood
of her brother, 684; is buried,
684.
Bactrians, laws of the, 731.
Bardesanes, life of, 722; dialogue of,
with Avida, 723 seq.
Barsamya, 685, 688 ; preaches the
Gospel to Sharbil, 676 seq. ; ac-
cused before Lysinus for hav-
ing converted Sharbil, 685; is
brought before the judge, 686; is
imprisoned, 686; brought again
before the judge, 686; refuses to
worship the gods, 6S7 ; martyr-
dom and tortures of, 685, 687 ;
is set free, 688.
Book of the laws of divers countries
by Bardesanes, 723 seq.
Brahmans, laws of the, 730.
Britons, laws of the, 731.
Calendar, Syriac, 666.
Canticle of Mar Jacob on Edessa, 654.
Christians defended, 688.
Church-officers appointed by the
Apostles, 668.
Commandments, only two, given to,
man, 725.
Cureton quoted, 648.
Documents, Syriac, introduction to
647,721 seq.; character of, 648.
East, prayer to be made towards the^
668.
Edessa, the Storyconcerning the King
of, 651 seq.; a Canticle on, 654;
founding of, 702.
Edessaeans, laws of the, 731.
Ephesus allotted to John, 656.
Epiphany, day of, to be celebrated,
668.
Fate, oh, 728; has not the power
over everything, 729.
Forty days before the passion of
Christ should be a fast-day, 668.
Freedom and nature, on, 726.
Friday-evening service appointed by
the Apostles, 668.
Gaul, laws in, 731.
Geli, laws of the, 730.
God, endowed man with freedom of
will, 724; goodness of, great
toward man, 724.
Gospel, reading of the, should be
heard standing, 668.
Guria, martyrdom of, 696 seq. ; ac-
cused, 696; brought before An-
tonius, 697 ; refuses to renounce
Christianity, 697; imprisoned,
697 ; too weak to endure tortures,
is spared, 698 ; brought again be-
fore the governor, 699; con-
demned to death, 699, and
killed, 700; Homily on, 714 seq.
Habib the deacon, martyrdom of,
690 seq., 696; exhorts the Chris-
tians, 690, 700; is sought, 690,
700 ; goes to Edessa, and presents
himself to Theotecna, one of the
governor's officers, 691, 700; is
brought before the governor,
692, 700 ; refuses to sacrifice to
the gods, 692, 700; is tortured,
693 seq., 700, and burnt alive,
694, 701 ; buried beside Guria
and Shamuna, the martyrs, 695,
701 ; Homily on, by Mar Jacob,
708.
Hatra, laws in, 731.
Helena, Abgar's wife, retains the
sovereignty of Mesopotamia,
706; moves to Jerusalem, and
distributes corn during a famine,
707 ; tomb of, seen before the
gate of Jerusalem, 707.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS: INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 815
Hephjestus, shortcomings of, 740.
Herod, wishes to have his statue in
the temple of Armenia, 702; is
refused by Abgar, 702 ; indig
nant, sends his nephew against
Abgar, is killed, 702.
Hoffmann quoted, 708.
Homer quoted, 739.
Homily, on the Fall of Idols, 656; on
Habib the Martyr, 708 seq., on
Guria and Shamuna, 714 seq.
Idols, Fall of the, a Homily by Mar
Jacob on, 656.
Impartiality enjoined, 664.
India, allotted to Thomas, 656 ; laws
in, 730.
James, ruler and guide in Jerusalem,
671.
Jesus, a letter written by Abgar to,
651, 652 ; reply of, 652.
John the Evangelist built a church
at Ephesus, 671.
Jones referred to, 647.
Jupiter, his wicked deeds, 740.
Kronos, his deeds, 740.
Lardner referred to, 647.
Luke, ministry of, in Byzantium and
Thrace, 671; wrote the Acts of
the Apostles, 672.
Man, free-will accorded to, 724.
Mar Jacob, a Canticle of, on Edessa,
654 ; a Homily of, on the Fall of
the Idols, 656; on Habib the
Martyr, 708 ; on Guria and Sha-
muna, 714 seq.
Mara, son of Serapion, Letter of, 722,
735. 742.
Mark, ruler and guide of the church
of Alexandria, 667.
Martyrdom of Shamuna, Guria, and
Habib, 696 seq.
Martvrs, the, to be commemorated,
669.
Mary visits the sepulchre of Jesus,
656.
Metaphrastes, the martyrdom or Sha-
muna, Guria, and Habib, de-
scribed by, 696 seq.
Ministry, qualification for the, 668,
669.
Moses of Chorene, history of Armenia
by, 702 seq.
Nature and freedom, on, 726.
Noldke quoted, 721, 742.
Ordinances and laws made by the
Apostles, 669.
Parthians, laws of the, 731.
Paul beheaded at Rome, 675.
Persians, laws of the, 730.
Pluto, his wicked deeds, 740.
Priests, sons of Jewish, become con-
verted by the preaching of the
Apostles, 670.
Psalms to be used in the Church,
669.
Racami, laws of the, 731.
Rome allotted to Simon, 656.
Sanadroug, wages war with Abgar's
children, 706 ; the feet of, crushed
by a marble column, 706; sends
Helena to Kharan, 706 ; rebuilds
Medzpine, 707 ; meaning of the
name of, 707 ; death of, 707.
Scriptures, which only to be read in
the church, 668.
Seres, laws of the, 730.
Shamuna, martyrdom of, 696 seq.;
accused, 696 ; brought before
Antonius, 697 ; refuses to re-
nounce Christianity, 697; im-
prisoned, 697 ; tortured, 698 ;
prayer of, 698; brought again
before the governor, 699; con-
demned to death, 699, and killed,
700 ; Homily on, 714 seq.
Sharbil, Acts of, 676 seq. ; chief and
ruler of all the priests, is ad-
dressed by Bishop Barsamya,
who preaches Christ to him,
677 ; is converted and baptized,
677 , brought before Lysanias,
is tortured, 678 seq.; last prayer
of, 684 ; death and burial, 684.
Simon Cephas, founded the churches
at Antioch, Rome, in Spain,
Britain, and Gaul, 67 1 ; beheaded
under Nero, 672, 675; teaching
of, in Rome, 773 seq. ; raises a
dead man, 675 ; confounds Simon
Magus, 675; appoints Ansus
bishop of Rome, 675.
Sunday-service appointed by the
Apostles, 668.
Synchronisms of the luminaries, 734.
Syriac Calendar, 666.
Documents, introductory no-
tice to, 647 seq., 721.
Language, 742 ; its impor-
tance, 742, 743.
Teaching, of Addasus, 657 seq. ; of
the Apostles, 667 seq. ; of Simon
Cephas in Rome, 673.
Thaddaus the Apostle, visits Abgar,
his ministry in Edessa, 651, 652 ;
lodges with Tobias, 652 ; heals
Abgar, 653.
Thomas, ruler and guide of the
church in India, 667.
Tiberius, intends to destroy the Jews,
656 ; letter of, to Abgar, 662.
Wake referred to, 647.
Wednesday-service appointed by the
Apostles, 668.
World, this, to stand only 6,000 years
according to Bardesanes, 734.
Wordsworth referred to, 728.
ANCIENT SYRIAC DOCUMENTS.
INDEX OF TEXTS.
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Gen. i. 5 . . .
668
Dan. iv. 35 . . . . 694
John xiv. I . . . . 709
I Cor. XV. 44, 46 . . 731
i. i6 ...
727
Hab. i. 5 . . .
652
xix. 30
659
2 Cor. iv. 16
697
I Sam. ii. 3 . . •
669
Matt. iv. 19 . .
664
XX. 29, 31
652
V. I .
698
I Kings xxi. lo, 13
720
iv. 24 . .
652
Acts i. 12 sqq.
667
viii. 12
688
Job V. 12, 13 . .
670
vii. 6 . .
694
iii. 24 .
669
viii. 23
670
Ps. X. 5 . . . .
681
X. 7-10
664
X- 9-35
667
X. 13-16
675
xxxiv. I . . .
669
X. 28 .
698
xiii. I
672
Gal. ii. 9 . .
673
cxix. 107, 167 .
652
X.33 •
697
xiv. 12
677
V. 7 . .
709
cxlvi. 3 . . .
696
X. 39 .
694
xvi. 4
670
vi. 17 .
683
Prov. xix. 25 . .
65S
xi. 8 .
661
Rom. i. 5-15
67J
Eph. i. 18 .
659
Isa. lii. 15 ...
652
xxiv. 27
668
i. 8 .
674
ii. 14 .
653
lii. IS . . .
659
xxvii. 52
653
v. 4.
683
ii. 14 .
657
liii. I ...
652
Mark i. 16-17
673
vii. 24
658
iv. 30 .
677
Jer. xvi. 16 . . .
673
v. 15 .
661
viii. 18
694
Phil. iii. II .
683
xvi. 20 . . .
677
Luke XV. 6 .
654
viii. 18
701
Heb. X. 33, 34
671
xvii. 5 . . .
693
xvi. 8 .
720
viii. 20
726
Jude 19 . .
731
xvii. 5 . . .
. 668
xxiii. 48
659
XV. 20 .
67s
Rev. XX. 4 .
693
Ezek. xxxiii. 7 . .
xxiv. 29
659
xvi. I .
664
Dan. ii. 12 . . .
. 652
xxiv. 50 sqq
667
I Cor. xi. I .
743
iv. 13 . . .
. 687
John ix. 39 .
652
XV. 19
658
816
REMAINS OF
THE SECOND AND THIRD
CENTURIES.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Alexander of Phrygia, martyrdom
of, 7S2.
Antoninus the emperor is exhorted
by Melitos to acquaint himself
with God, and to seek the way
of truth, 751 seq.
Apology of Melito addressed to
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,
fragments from, 758 seq.
Apollonius, 74S, 775; writes against
Montanism, 775 ; Apollinaris,
Claudius, bishop of Hierapolis,
748, 772.
Aristo of Pella, 747, 749; extracts
from his disputation of Jason
and Papiscus, 749, 750.
Attains, martyr, 779, 781, 782.
Aurelius, Marcus, Lightfoot on, 778.
Believers escape the destruction at
the end of the world, 775.
Biblias, martyrdom of, 7S0.
l!landina,mai-tyrdoni of, 779, 781 seq.
Bush, the, a type of the cross, 759.
Canon of the Old Testament, accord-
ing to Melito, 759.
Christ, on the nature of, 770.
Cross, a discourse by Melito on the,
756.
Corinth, 747, 765 ;
the Roman church,
Dionysius of
writes to
765-
Domitian, treats the Saviour's rela-
tives with contempt, 763 ; puts
a stop to the persecution of the
Church, 763.
Extracts, book of, by Melito, frag-
ments from, 759.
Faith, on, a discourse by Melito, 756.
Gospel of Peter, Serapion on the,
775-
Hegesippus, 747, 762 ; journey of, to
Rome, 764 ; makes a list of bish-
ops, down to Eleutherus, 764.
Images, how and for what purpose
"made, and how they came to be
regarded as gods, 752 seq.;
refutation of those who claim
image- worship, because God
being concealed from their view,
755-
Isaac a type of Christ, 756 seq.
James the Just, his mode of life, and
martyrdom, 762, 763.
Legion, the Thunder-hurling, 772.
Letters of the churches in Vienne
and Lyons to the churches of
Asia and Phrygia, 748, 778 seq.
Lightfoot quoted, 778.
Matter is created, and not the cause
of evil, 767 seq.
Maturus, martyrdom of, 779, 781.
Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem, 748,
766 ; wrote on the " Origin of
Evil," fragments thereof, 767
seq.
Melito the philosopher, bishop of
Sardis, 747, 750; martyrdom of,
751 ; discourses with Antoninus
Caesar on God and the way of
truth, 751 seq.; writes on the
soul and body, 756, on the
cross, 756, on faith, 756 seq.;
fragments from, 758 seq.; cata-
logue of the Old - Testament
books by, 759.
Montanism, Apollonius against, 775
seq.
Oblias, a surname of James the Just,
762.
Old-Testament books, list of the,
according to Melito, 759.
Pantsenus, the Alexandrian philoso-
pher, 748, 776; master of the
catechetical school at Alexan-
dria, 777 ; fragments from, 777.
Passion of the Lord, an oration on,
760 seq.
Passover controversy, on, 758, 772
773. .774-. ^
Persecution in Lyons and Vienne,
description of the, 778 seq.
Peter, Gospel of, Serapion concern-
ing. 775-
Polycarpus, bishop of Ephesus, 748,
773 ; writes to Victor of Rome
concerning the day of keeping
the passover, 773 seq.
Ponticus, martyrdom of, 783.
Pothinus, martyrdom of, 780, 781.
Primus, bishop of Corinth, 764.
Pseud-lrenaeus, 777.
Quadratus, bishop of Athens, 747,
749; extract from the apology
of, 749-
Ram, the, a type of Christ, 759.
Relatives of Christ treated with con-
tempt by Domitian, 763.
Religion of. the fathers, when bad,
ought to be abandoned, 755.
Remains of the Second and Third
Centuries, introductory notice to,
747 seq.
Rhodon, 748, 766; a pupil of Tatian,
766 ; writes against heretics, 766.
Sabek, meaning of the word, 760.
Sanctus, martyrdom of, 779,780,781.
Sects, Christian, 764 ; Jewish, 765.
Serapion, bishop of Antioch, 748, 774 ;
writes to Caricus and Ponticus
concerning the New Prophecy,
775-
Sibylline oracles quoted, 752, 755.
Soul and Body, a Discourse on, by
Melito, 756.
Symeon, the son of Clopas, bishop
of Jerusalem, is martyred under
Trajan, 764.
Thebulis, displeased for not being
made bishop of Rome, 764; con-
nects himself with heretics, 764,
Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea, 748.
774-
Thunder-hurling Legion, 772.
817
REMAINS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD
CENTURIES.
INDEX OF TEXTS.
PAGE
Gen. viii. i . . .
761
viii. 21 . . .
760
xi.3. . . .
76.
xxii. 12. . .
761
xxii. 13 . .
760
Exod. xxviii. 35, 36
773
xxxiii. 14
760
xxxiv. I . .
761
Deut. xxxiii. 2 . .
760
xxxiii. 12
760
Josh. xix. 30. . .
752
1 Sam. XV. II . .
761
2 Chron. xxvii. 3 .
762
Esther x. 12 . . .
761
Job xl. 19
761
Ps. ii. 5 .•
761
V. .
761
viii. 3 .
761
xi.4 .
760
xviii. 9
761
xix. 4 .
777
XX. 4 .
784
xxix. .
761
xliv. 23
761
Ps. xlv. I . ,
xlv. 6. ,
xlv. 13 .
xlvii. 8 ,
Ivii. I . ,
l.\-viii. 23 ■
Ixxvii. 19
ex. 3 . ,
c.xviii. 16
cxxi. 4
Cant. ii. 8
Isa. i. 20 . .
iii. 10, Sept
xxvii. I .
liii. I . .
Ixvi. 2 .
Lam. i. 18
iv. 16 .
Ezek. xxxiii. 11
xxxvii. 27
Dan. vii. 9, 13,
xii. 10
Hos. xiv. 10
Mic. i. 3 . .
760
761
781
761
760
761
761
761
760
761
761
760
762
782
760
761
760
760
7S2
762
760
783
761
761
Hab. iii. 6
Judith iv. 3
Matt. iv. 5
X. 9
xu. 33
XV. 14
xvi. 19
xi.x. 12 .
xxii. 12
xxviii. 20
Mark x. 49
Luke i. 4 .
i. 6.
i.67
X. 4.
xi. 20
xiii. 25
John vii. 38
xiv. 26
XV. 13
xvi. 2
XX. 19, 26
Acts ii. 1 .
V. 29
761
752
763
776
776
752
773
774
782
773
761
777
779
779
752
761
761
780
773
779
779
773
773
774
PAGE
Acts vii. 60 ... . 784
xii. 4 and 12
773
XV. 28 . .
773
XX. 7
773
XX. 16 .
773
XX. 29-31
764
Rom. X. 18 .
751
I Cor. i. 24 .
761
xvi. 2 .
773
xvi. 8.
773
2 Cor. ii. 15 .
781
Phil. ii. 6 . .
7S4
iii. 20 .
773
Col. ii. 16 .
773
I Thess. iv. 15
762
I Tim. iii. 15
779
Heb. iv. 13 .
760
I Pet. V. 6 .
784
Rev. i. 5 . .
784
i. ID. .
773
iii. 14 .
784
xiv. 4 .
779
xxii. II
783
818
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generous support that their undertaking has received. A comprehensive general index to this
entire series will soon be published, at the low price of two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50).
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vol. viii. was frustrated. Professor Riddle has been enabled, by the delay, to enrich his work
very considerably, though it was previously of the greatest utility to the student, and even to
all intelligent readers.
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