Panarion (Against Heresies) 1 part 82/82

the body having truly been buried and having remained soulless for the three days, breathless and motionless, wrapped in the linen cloth, laid in the tomb, shut in by the stone and the seal that were set upon it — it was not the divinity that was shut in, nor the divinity that was buried, but [the divinity], descending together with the holy soul into the regions beneath the earth, seizing from there the captivity of souls, breaking the sting of death, bursting the bolts and the adamantine bars, and loosing the birth-pangs of Hades by its own authority; ascending together with the soul, the soul not being left in Hades, nor the flesh having seen corruption, the divinity raising it up; that is, the Lord himself, God the Word and Son of God, having risen with soul and body and the whole vessel [of humanity], the vessel thereafter united into spirit, the very body having become spiritual — that [body] which had once been subject to touch, and delivered to scourges by the voluntary will of the divinity, and permitted to be tempted by Satan, and to draw near to hunger and sleep and toil, and to grief and distress;

that very holy body, now united with the divinity, the divinity being present without interruption with the holy body that had suffered these things;

for he arose and united it to himself, into one spirit, into one unity, into one doxology, into his own one divinity;

for he truly appeared, and was touched by Thomas, and ate and drank together with the apostles, and lodged together with them forty days and forty nights;

but he entered when the doors were shut, and after entering he showed his sinews and bones, the mark of the nails and the mark of the spear, [proving] that it was truly the [same] body; but that it was joined into one unity and one divinity, no longer expected to suffer, no longer dying — as the holy apostle says: 'Christ is risen, he dies no more, death no longer has dominion over him';

that which was [once] capable of suffering remains forever impassible — the divine [reality] — together with body and soul and the whole incarnation;

being himself very God, having ascended into the heavens he sat down at the right hand of the Father in glory, not having laid aside the body, but having united it into the spiritual, in the perfection of one divinity — just as our bodies too are destined, though now sown as natural [ensouled], to be raised spiritual; though now sown in corruption, to be raised in incorruption; though now sown in death, to be raised in immortality.

If, then, our own [bodies] are thus, how much more that holy and ineffable and incomparable [body], pure, united to God, now being one, of a single form? Even as the apostle also bears witness to this, saying: 'Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.'

not that he divided the flesh from the divinity, but rather that the flesh, while it still exists and is united to God, no longer exists 'according to the flesh,' but 'according to the spirit,' as he says: 'according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, of our Lord Jesus Christ' — this [flesh] having God together with it, impassible yet having suffered, and having been buried and risen and ascended in glory, coming to judge the living and the dead, as he truly says, of whose kingdom there shall be no end.

For indeed our mother, this holy Church herself, believes — even as it has been truly proclaimed to her and truly commanded to her — that we shall all fall asleep and shall rise again with this [same] body, with this [same] soul, with our whole vessel, so that each one may receive according to what he has done.

[the resurrection] of the dead, and eternal judgment, and the kingdom of heaven, and rest laid up for the righteous, and the inheritance of the faithful, and a chorus with the angels for those who have kept the faith and purity and hope and the commandments of the Lord — it is true, and it has been proclaimed, and it has been made secure, and it is believed, that these shall rise unto eternal life, according to what is written in the gospels.

for whatever the apostle says, and all the holy Scriptures, is indeed true, even if it is understood otherwise by those who have disbelieved and thought wrongly.

but for us this is the faith, and this is the honor, and this is our mother the Church, saving through faith, strengthened through hope, and perfected by the love of Christ, both in confession, and in the mysteries, and in the cleansing power of the washing; because he says, 'go and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' — that is, in the name of the divine Trinity, the name having no difference, but God being one for us, proclaimed in the Law and the Prophets and the Gospels and the Apostles, in the Old and New Testament proclaimed and announced and believed: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the divinity being no kind of fusion, but truly being a perfect Trinity — the Father perfect, the Son perfect, the Holy Spirit perfect; one divinity, one God, to whom be glory, honor, and power, now and always and unto the ages of ages.

This is the faith, the business of our life; this is the foundation of the truth; this is Christ's virgin, and the guileless dove;

this is the life, and the hope, and the assurance of incorruption.

but I beseech all of you who read this to pardon my lowliness and the weakness of my very feeble mind, which has been numbed and made to feel revulsion by the great poison of so many heresies, spitting them out, as it were, and feeling nauseated — on account of which I have either been carried away and borne along in harsh words against some, or have called certain men wretches or charlatans, or deceived men or deceivers.

for on account of the great pain of the poison, although we do not have the habit of readily mocking anyone, we have found it necessary to treat them with such words, in order to turn away the mind of some, lest they suppose that, because we have openly published and disclosed what is said or done among them, we hold some part of a mind consenting to the false opinion held by each of the heresies.

And I have also made a brief preface at the beginning of the treatise, guarding beforehand concerning these very matters and asking pardon, lest anyone should cast some displeasure upon us, thinking us overcome [by passion] and rushing headlong into mockery.

And in the preface we also showed concerning which heresies we were about to speak, and into how many books we divided the whole treatise, and in each book about how many and which [heresies] we spoke of — just as here again, calling this to mind, I likewise indicate it, for the benefit in every way of those who read [this work].

And there are three books, in seven volumes;

and in the first book, forty heresies are set forth, arranged according to the number of names, and in sequence from the first and second unto the last one that occurs, arranged throughout the book — such that the first book contains forty heresies in three volumes, the second book twenty-three heresies in two volumes, and the third book eleven heresies in two volumes.

All of you, then, who labor together with our labor, and who patiently persevere in reading and going through our zealous work, be exhorted, and be counted worthy to gain the benefit, and to turn away from your mind the unpleasant things of the heresies.

for we have disclosed [these things] not for harm, but for benefit and for the caution [needed] not to fall into the enticement of the aforesaid [heresies].

and having gone through the whole labor, or even parts of it, pray for us, and be so kind as to ask that God may give us a part in the holy and only catholic and apostolic Church, and in the true and life-giving and saving faith, and deliver us from every heresy;

...inasmuch as we, being [but] men, are not able to extend [our discourse] to the limit of the incomprehensible and ineffable divinity, but, being constrained and forced in a human manner to give an account on behalf of God, we have been carried along with boldness; even as God is forgiving, do you yourselves also forgive [us].

And again pray earnestly that the Lord may grant us the portion we have asked for in his holy faith, the only faith free from every contrariety, and that he may grant forgiveness of our own many sins, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages.

And what this one only catholic Church, the guileless dove, holds concerning the faith — she being one to her husband, as it is said, 'my dove is one' — and likewise concerning the countless maidens without number, we have stated briefly; concerning the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and concerning the incarnate and perfect presence of Christ, and other parts of the faith.

But concerning the ordinances of this same [Church], it is again necessary for me to set forth briefly, in part, the form of these same ordinances — as many as have by nature been kept in her and are [still] kept, some by [express] commandment, others by acceptance of [free] choice — God rejoicing over the virtue of his own Church.

And first, the foundation, and, so to speak, the [first] rank in her, is virginity, practiced and kept by many, and glorified.

and following upon this same virginity is the solitary life, [practiced] by the greater number of monks and nuns.

after this, continence, pressing on toward the same course.

and then widowhood, with all attentiveness and unblemished conduct.

and following upon these ranks is honorable marriage, held in great esteem — especially [marriage] in monogamy and in the careful keeping of the commandments.

but if anyone, after his wife has died, or a woman whose husband has died, desires it, it is permitted to be joined to a second [spouse] — that is, to a second husband or a second wife — after the death of the first.

but the crown of all these, or, so to speak, the mother and progenitrix, is the holy priesthood, arising for the most part from virgins, but if not from virgins, then from monks.

but if there are not enough [qualified men] for this service from among monks, then from those who practice continence with their own wives, or from those widowed after a single marriage.

but it is not permitted in her to receive a twice-married man into the priesthood, even if he be [now] continent or a widower — from the very outset of the ranks of bishop and presbyter and deacon and subdeacon.

After this priesthood comes next the order of readers, [drawn] from all the ranks — that is, from virgins and monks and the continent and the widowed, and those still in honorable marriage;

and if there be need, even from those who, after the death of a first wife, have been joined to a second.

for indeed the reader is not a priest, but is, as it were, a scribe of the word.

and deaconesses too are appointed, for the service of women only, on account of propriety, should the need arise for the sake of bathing or the inspection of bodies.

and these too are women once married who have practiced continence, or who have been widowed after a single marriage, or who are perpetual virgins.

then, next after these, exorcists, and interpreters from language to language, whether in the readings or in the homilies.

and finally also the copiatae, who prepare the bodies of those who have fallen asleep, and doorkeepers, and the whole [system of] good order.

And the assemblies that are held have been ordained by the apostles [to take place] on the fourth day [Wednesday], and on the day before the Sabbath [Friday], and on the Lord's day [Sunday];

and on the fourth day and on the day before the Sabbath [these are kept] in fasting until the ninth hour, since it was as the fourth day was dawning that the Lord was seized, and on the day before the Sabbath that he was crucified;

and the apostles handed down [the tradition] that fasts be kept on these [days], the saying being fulfilled that 'when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days';

which he himself took upon himself for our sake, and so that, on behalf of our sins, our fasts might be well-reckoned to us before God.

and thus throughout the whole year the fast is kept in this same holy catholic Church — I mean on the fourth day and on the day before the Sabbath, until the ninth hour — except only for the whole fifty days of Pentecost, during which neither kneeling takes place nor is fasting prescribed; but instead of the assemblies at the ninth hour on the fourth day and the day before the Sabbath, the assemblies are held in the morning, as on the Lord's day;

and further, during the fifty days of Pentecost, as I said before, there is neither fasting nor kneeling; nor is it permitted to fast on the day of Epiphany, when the Lord was born in the flesh, even should it happen to fall on the fourth day or the day before the Sabbath.

but out of good [personal] resolve, her ascetics fast continually, except on the Lord's day and during Pentecost, and continually keep vigils.

and this holy catholic Church regards all the Lord's days as festive, and holds assemblies from early morning, but does not fast;

for it is inconsistent to fast on the Lord's day.

and likewise this same Church is accustomed to keep the forty days before the seven days of the holy Passover, continuing in fasts, but not the Lord's days at all, not even within this Lenten period itself;

and during the six days of Passover all the people continue in dry-eating — I mean, using only bread and salt and water, and that toward evening [only].

but the zealous also extend [the fast] double, and triple, and even fourfold, and some [continue] the whole week until the crowing of the cocks as the Lord's day dawns, and they continue in vigils throughout the six [days].

and again, they hold assemblies for these same six days, and throughout the whole forty days [of Lent], from the ninth hour until evening.

but in certain places, they keep vigil through [the night] following the fifth day, as it dawns into the day before the Sabbath, and [likewise] the Lord's day alone.

and in certain other places, the service of the [Paschal] dispensation is held on the fifth day at the ninth hour, and thus [the congregation] is dismissed, while [the people] remain in the same dry-eating fast.

In other places the service of the dispensation takes place only when the Lord's Day is just dawning, at which time the vigil is dismissed about the crowing of the cocks on the day of the resurrection; and there is a great festival on the day of Pascha, as has been ordained.

But the other mysteries, concerning the washing and the inner mysteries, are celebrated just as the tradition of the Gospel and of the apostles holds.

For those who have died, they make commemorations by name, offering prayers and the service of the dispensation.

Morning hymns take place continually in this holy church, and morning prayers, and lamp-lighting psalms together with prayers.

Some of her monastics dwell in the cities, while others settle in monasteries and withdraw far away.

It has pleased some also to wear long hair, allegedly for the sake of a [devout] way of life, out of their own private notion—the Gospel not having commanded it, nor the apostles having accepted it;

for the holy apostle Paul cut off this practice.

There are also other exceptional ways of life kept within this same catholic church—I mean the abstaining from all meats, both of quadrupeds and of birds and of fish, and from egg and cheese—and other various ways of life, since each will receive a reward according to his own labor.

And some abstain from all of these, while others abstain from quadrupeds only, but partake of birds and of the things after these;

others abstain from birds as well, but partake of eggs and fish;

others do not even partake of eggs, while others [partake] of fish only;

others abstain from fish as well but partake of cheese, while others do not even partake of cheese.

Indeed, others even abstain from bread, while others also abstain from nuts and boiled foods.

Many also sleep on the bare ground, while others do not even wear sandals.

Others wear sackcloth hidden [beneath their garments]—those who wear it rightly do so for the sake of virtue and repentance;

for it is unseemly to go about in sackcloth openly, as some do, and it is likewise unseemly, as we have said, to go about wearing collars, as it has seemed [good] to some.

But most abstain from the bathhouse.

They have renounced [worldly] life, devising for themselves simple and unburdensome crafts, so that they might neither continue in an idle life nor eat bread earned through burdensome toil.

Most are trained in psalmody and continual prayers, in the readings of the holy scriptures, and in memorization.

Concerning hospitality to strangers, love of mankind, and almsgiving toward all, the ordinance of this holy catholic and apostolic church has been proclaimed to everyone.

And the washing holds, in Christ, the place of the circumcision that has grown old; and she keeps her rest on the great sabbath instead of the little sabbath.

She abstains from communion with all heresies;

she renounces fornication and adultery and licentiousness and idolatry and murder and all lawlessness, and sorcery and the mixing of poisons, astrology, divinations by omens, the observance of bodily twitches, incantations, and amulets—those things indeed called phylacteries.

She renounces theatres and beast-hunts and horse-races, and musical shows, and all evil-speaking and slander and all strife and blasphemy, and injustice and greed and the taking of usury.

She does not approve of tradesmen who deal for gain, but regards them as inferior to all.

She receives offerings from those who do not commit injustice nor transgress the law, but who live righteously.

She is continually enjoined to send up prayers to God with all frequency and fervor and the bending of knees, at the appointed hours, both by night and by day.

In some places they also hold assemblies on the sabbaths, but not everywhere;

but among the most scrupulous it is kept as a rule not to swear at all, nor to revile, nor to curse—in accordance with the command of the Savior himself—nor even to lie, so far as is possible.

Most sell their possessions and give to the poor.

This is the character of this our holy mother, together with the faith already declared above; and these are the ordinances that are maintained within her.

For this is the character of the Church, gathered together from the Law and the Prophets and the Apostles and the Evangelists, like a good antidote compounded from many perfumes, prepared unto salvation for those who use it, by the will of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

These are the characteristics of this venerable bride of Christ; this is the dowry and the covenant of inheritance and the will of her bridegroom and heavenly king, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom and with whom be glory, honor, and might to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages.

All the brothers here with us greet your honored self, especially Anatolius, who through shorthand notes and rough drafts was deemed worthy, with much labor and the finest resolve, to write and correct [the treatise] concerning these heresies—the eighty, I mean—together also with Hypatius, the most honored fellow deacon, who made the fair copy from the drafts in four volumes; on whose behalf also do deign to pray, most honored and truly most beloved brothers.

The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and grace, and truth, according to his own command, be with you all, most excellent and beloved brothers who love what is good.