Panarion (Against Heresies) 1 part 9/82

But if Jesus himself also is from the angels, and the Demiurge is one of those angels, then indeed all will fall into the very same absurdity into which the angels themselves have fallen, and their whole fabrication would be incoherent, filled full of poison and stuffed with every kind of venomous teaching.

Turning this back again, then—as though crushing a dragon's head to the ground with the wood of faith and of truth—and drawing near also to the other beast-shaped heresies, let us, for the sake of our promise, compel ourselves to press on to their destruction.

Against the Cerinthians, or Merinthians: [Sect] 8, but 28 in the overall series.

Cerinthus, in turn—from whom those called Cerinthians take their name—comes bearing his venom to the world, from this same beast-like seed;

and he brings forth scarcely anything different from the aforementioned Carpocrates, but spews out to the world the very same harmful drugs.

For having slandered Christ with the very same falsehoods as the aforementioned man, this one too expounds that Christ was begotten of Mary and of the seed of Joseph, and that the world likewise came to be through angels.

For this man differed in nothing from the first in the presentation of his teaching, except only in this one point: that he adhered in part to Judaism.

This man asserts that the Law and the Prophets were given by angels, and that the one who gave the Law was one of the angels who made the world.

This Cerinthus lived, spending his time in Asia, and there too he made the beginning of his preaching.

We have already spoken about this man, that he too preached that the world did not come into being from the first and highest power, but that afterward, from the God above, after Jesus—who had been born of the seed of Joseph and Mary—had grown to maturity, the Christ descended upon him, that is, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, at the Jordan, and revealed to him, and through him to those with him, the unknown Father.

And because of this, since power came upon him from above, he performed mighty works;

and that when he suffered, the being that had come upon him from above flew back up away from Jesus, while Jesus himself suffered and was raised up again; but the Christ, who had come upon him from above, flew away unaffected—that is, the one who had descended in the form of a dove—and thus Jesus is not the Christ.

This man too has fallen away, as all you lovers of truth can see.

For he asserts that the one who gave the Law was not good—the very Law which he himself appears to obey, evidently as though it were good;

How then did an evil one give a good law? For if it is a good thing not to commit adultery, and a good thing not to commit murder, how much more excellent must be the one who commanded it, if indeed the one who does not do these things is acknowledged to be good;

and how will he who counsels the good and gives a good law be accused of doing evil deeds? But the man is raving mad who undertakes such [an argument].

This man, beloved, is one of those who caused the disturbance in the days of the apostles, when those around James wrote a letter to Antioch, saying: 'We have learned that some from among us went out to you and troubled you with words, though we gave them no such instructions.'

And this man is one of those who opposed the holy Peter, at the time when Peter went in to the holy Cornelius, when Cornelius had sent for him, having been deemed worthy of a vision of an angel, and Peter hesitated, and saw the vision of the sheet and what was in it, and heard from the Lord that he should call nothing common or unclean.

This man, then, when Peter had gone up to Jerusalem, stirred up the multitudes of those from the circumcision, saying that Peter had gone in to men who had uncircumcision.

Cerinthus did this before he preached his own preaching in Asia and fell into the still deeper pit of his own destruction.

For because he himself was circumcised, seeking, on the pretext of a dispute in defense of circumcision against those faithful ones in uncircumcision, he hunted for an occasion by means of circumcision.

But since the Lord always exercises care for humanity and secures the clarity of truth in the sons of truth, and gave to the holy apostle Peter the task of making his refutation against him and his followers, the folly of Cerinthus is made manifest.

For the holy Peter says: 'I was in the city of Joppa, and I saw, in the middle of the day, about the sixth hour, a sheet descending, bound at its four corners, in which were all the four-footed animals and creeping things;'

'Lord, by no means, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'

And a voice came from heaven a second time:

'What God has cleansed, do not you call common.'

'And immediately, behold, two men stood at the house, and the Spirit said to me:'

'Go with them, doubting nothing.'

And he goes on to relate how these things were spoken to him as in a parable, and how he doubted at the time, until the Lord clearly showed him, through both words and figures, what he was teaching him.

For as soon as he opened his mouth, when he came to Caesarea, the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius;

and Peter, seeing this, said: 'Can anyone forbid the water, so that these who have been deemed worthy to receive the Holy Spirit, just as we ourselves did from the beginning, should not be baptized?' And this whole matter was a mystery and a work of God's love for mankind, so that the holy Peter, and indeed everyone, might know that the salvation of the Gentiles is not from men, but from God.

For God had already, beforehand, given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the vision of the angel, and had accepted the prayer and fastings and good deeds, so that the apostles—especially the holy Peter and the rest of the apostles—to whom this trust had been given, might not deprive the one who had truly been called by God.

Now these things were then brought about, set in motion by the aforementioned false apostle Cerinthus, just as also on another occasion he and his followers stirred up a disturbance in Jerusalem itself, when Paul went up with Titus, and this man said that Paul had brought in with him uncircumcised men—speaking now, of course, of Titus—and said that he had defiled the holy place.

Wherefore Paul also says: 'But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised;'

'but because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out the freedom which we have in Christ, in order to bring us into bondage—to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour;'

'And to those in uncircumcision, giving them instruction, he said: Do not be circumcised;'

'for if you are circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.'

Circumcision endured for a time, serving its purpose, until the greater circumcision arrived, that is, the washing of regeneration, as is clear to everyone and is shown more plainly from what was said by the apostles, especially by the holy apostle Paul:

For he speaks thus: 'to whom we did not yield in submission even for an hour.'

For anyone willing to consider carefully what was then done among the apostles, it remains to marvel how the things wrought in this heresy by the inspiration of a spirit of error display the character of those who, through these heresies, produced disturbance among the apostles.

For when these men had apostatized and turned into false apostles, and had sent other false apostles—as has already been said—to Antioch at the beginning and to other places, saying, 'Unless you are circumcised and keep the law of Moses, you cannot be saved,' no small disturbance arose at that time, as has been said before.

And these are the ones called by the apostle Paul 'false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.'

For they make use of the Gospel according to Matthew—only in part, and not the whole of it, but for the sake of the fleshly genealogy—and they bring this as testimony, saying again from the gospel that it is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher.

'What then?' he says. 'Jesus was circumcised—be circumcised yourself as well.'

'Christ,' he says, 'lived according to the law—do likewise yourself.'

Hence some, seized as though by poisons, are persuaded by these plausible arguments on account of Christ's having been circumcised.

But they reject Paul because he does not agree with circumcision, and indeed they cast him out because he said, 'You who are justified by the law have fallen from grace,' and, 'If you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.'

This Cerinthus, foolish and a teacher of fools, again dares to assert that Christ suffered and was crucified, but has not yet risen, and is to rise only when the general resurrection of the dead takes place.

These things, then—both the words and the ideas—are inconsistent among them.

Hence the apostle also, astonished, said to those who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead that is to come, 'If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,' and, 'Let us eat and drink,'

'for tomorrow we die,' and, 'Do not be deceived:'

'Bad company corrupts good morals.'

Again, to those who say that Christ has not yet risen, he likewise brings his refutation, saying, 'If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain, and our faith is also in vain.'

'And we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, if in fact he did not raise him.'

—as though the apostles preached that Christ had not yet been raised, and that the dead are not raised.

For in this homeland, I mean Asia, and also in Galatia, their school flourished greatly, among whom a certain tradition has come down to us: that when some among them died beforehand without baptism, others were baptized in their place, in their name, so that when they rose again at the resurrection they might not pay the penalty of punishment for not having received baptism, and might not become subject to the power of the maker of the world.

And on account of this, the tradition that has come down to us says that the same holy apostle said, 'If the dead are not raised at all, why then are people baptized on their behalf?' But others, rightly interpreting the saying, say that those who are about to die, if they are still catechumens, are on this hope deemed worthy of the washing before their death, showing that the one who has died will also rise, and therefore has need of the remission of sins through the washing.

Among these, some have preached that Christ has not yet risen, but will rise together with everyone else, while others have preached that the dead will not rise at all.

Wherefore the apostle, proceeding as a mediator between these two positions and the remaining heresies, in one single work accomplished their overthrow, on the subject of the resurrection of the dead, and in the testimonies which, expounding them with precision, he set forth the firm establishment of the resurrection of the dead, and of salvation, and of hope, saying, 'This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality,' and again, that 'Christ has risen, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,' so that, having refuted both attitudes of the heresies, he might teach in truth, out of the unstained proclamation of the teaching, those who wish to know the truth of God and the saving doctrine.

From every side, then, Cerinthus and those around him may be exposed—the wretched man, deceived himself and having become the cause of destruction for others—since the divine Scriptures clearly instruct us in detail concerning all these matters.

For Christ was not of the seed of Joseph; otherwise, how could his birth still be a sign, and how would what was said through Isaiah still be established, as the Lord himself said, 'The Lord himself will give you a sign:'

'Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb and bear a son,' and so forth.

And how, further, would what was said by the holy virgin to Gabriel still be fulfilled—'How shall this be, since I do not know a man?'—and his saying, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,' and so forth? And how again would their folly not be refuted, since the Gospel plainly says that 'she was found to be with child before they came together'? And it may be clearly known that they did not come together at all.

For it must not be said that they did; otherwise, after the cross, he would not have thought to entrust her to John, the holy virgin, saying, as it is written, 'Behold your mother,' and to her, 'Behold your son.'

—rather than to Joseph's children, if indeed they were hers as well, that is, to James and Joses and Jude and Simeon, who were sons of Joseph by another wife.

For he never had relations with the virgin at all—far be it!

For after having given birth, the virgin is found to be undefiled.

But concerning these matters I have already treated clearly in another discourse, and will treat further.

But here I have spoken of their case only in part, as in passing, lest, while wishing to bring healing for other bites and a remedy and antidote for other poisons, I divert my readers into other matters.

Nevertheless, to anyone at all who possesses understanding, it will be established that their teaching, worthy of ridicule, is vain—being refuted by the apostles, condemned by the intelligent, and cast out by God and by the very proclamation of the truth.

Again, these people are called Merinthians, as the report that has come down to us states.

For whether this same Cerinthus was also called Merinthus, we do not know very clearly; or whether Merinthus was some other person, a fellow-worker with him by that name—this is known to God.

For we have already said that not only did he himself often oppose the apostles in Jerusalem, but so also did those with him, even in Asia.

But whether it be he himself, or another fellow-worker with him, thinking the same things as he and acting together toward the same ends, it makes no difference.

For the whole depraved character of their teaching bears this same stamp, and these people are called both Cerinthians and Merinthians alike.

And having gone through these things concerning this dreadful and serpentine wickedness, we proceed again to what follows, giving thanks that we have swum safely across the sea of these evil doctrines, and praying that, as we encounter what follows, we may not be harmed as though falling upon stormy and beast-infested reefs, but may attain the salvation that comes from the truth that is yet to be shown to us by guidance, in that we set forth both this truth itself and expose the vain talk concerning it.

For to one who wishes to observe and set down in writing their ideas, this heresy too will truly be compared to a certain two-headed serpent, because of its double name, and to the so-called 'sēps,' a putrefying viper, which is covered over its whole body with red hairs, yet possesses neither the nature nor the hide of a goat or a sheep, but that of a reptile, and works ruin through its bite upon those who encounter it, overturning those who are persuaded by it—in one respect effacing the things of the New Testament by means of the old religion, in another respect, through false words, as though from the New Testament, spreading its slanderous falsehoods against the apostles who believed in Christ out of circumcision. Having struck and crushed its putrefaction, its venom, and its teeth with the wood of truth, let us hasten on, as I said before, to proceed to what follows, in the power of God.

Against the Nazoraeans, [heresy] 9, but 29 in the sequence.

The Nazoraeans follow next in order after these, existing either alongside them, or even before them, or together with them, or after them—nevertheless, contemporaries.

For I am not able to state with greater precision which succeeded which.

For as I said, they were contemporaries of one another, and they hold opinions similar to one another.

For these gave themselves a name that was neither 'of Christ' nor even the very name 'of Jesus,' but 'Nazoraeans.'

But at that time all Christians were likewise called Nazoraeans.

For a short time they also came to be called Jessaeans, before the disciples began to be called Christians at Antioch.

And first, that an oath before God is nothing other than this: 'I have sworn by myself, says the Lord'? For God swears by no one greater than himself.

But indeed the Divine does not swear at all; rather, the statement has the force of a demonstration of confirmation.

But I will pass over the multitude of testimonies, lest I bring the discourse to excessive bulk, as indeed I have said before.

For not a single word of the holy Scripture of God falls to the ground.

For at the coming of Christ, the rulers who succeeded one another from the line of Judah came to an end.

For until him there were rulers, but the order collapsed and was transferred from the time he was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Alexander, who was of priestly and royal descent.

From this Alexander this inheritance collapsed, from the times of Salina, also called Alexandra, in the times of Herod the king and Augustus the Roman emperor.

This Alexander also placed a diadem upon himself, being one of the 'anointed ones' and rulers.

For when the two tribes—the royal and the priestly, that is, Judah, and Aaron together with the whole tribe of Levi—had been joined together, they appointed kings and priests.

For nothing has failed to correspond to the enigmatic indication of holy Scripture.

—he being called 'the Lord's brother' because of having been raised together with him.

For this James was a son of Joseph by Joseph's first wife, not by Mary, as has been said by us in many places and has been treated more clearly by us elsewhere.

Moreover, we have also found that he exercised the priesthood according to the old priesthood.

For which reason it was also permitted to him, once a year, to enter into the Holy of Holies, just as the law commanded the high priests, according to what is written.

For thus many before us have recorded concerning him, both Eusebius and Clement and others.

Indeed, it was even permitted him to wear the frontlet-plate upon his head, as the aforementioned trustworthy men have testified in the same records.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, as I have said, is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, and likewise a king according to the order from above, so that he might transfer the priesthood together with the legislation.

For it was necessary that he now transfer the order of the kingship that existed then.

For indeed his kingdom is not from the earth, as he said in the Gospel to Pontius Pilate, 'My kingdom is not of this world.'

For since Christ fulfills all things through enigmas, the prior arrangements reached only up to a certain measure.

For he who reigns forever did not come in order to make progress toward a kingdom.

But he granted the kingship to those appointed by him, so that he might not be thought to be advancing from lesser things to greater.

For 'Jesus,' in the Hebrew tongue, means 'healer,' that is, 'physician' and 'savior.'

Nevertheless, before they were called Christians, they had already acquired this name as their appellation.

But at Antioch, as we mentioned above and as the true account has it, the disciples and the whole church of God began to be called Christians.

You could find, O lover of learning, the account of these matters too, if you consult the memoirs of Philo in his book entitled 'On the Jessaeans,' where, describing their way of life and their praises, and recounting their monasteries in the district around Lake Mareia, the man is recounting, not about certain others, but about Christians.

For he, having come to that region—they call the place the Mareotis—and having lodged among them in the monasteries in that district, was benefited.

For being there during the days of Pascha, he observed their manner of life, and how some continued postponing food throughout the whole holy week of Pascha, while others ate every second day, and others only in the evening.

And all these things had been treated by the man with a view to the subject of the faith and way of life of the Christians.

By race they are Jews, adhering to the law and possessing circumcision, but like certain people who, watching from a distance, see a fire and do not understand for what reason those who kindled this fire kindled it—whether for some useful purpose, or preparing the provisions of their life for eating by means of the fire, or for the destruction of some burnable timber or brushwood that is usually consumed by fire—so also these men, imitating without understanding, kindled a fire and burned themselves up.

For merely upon hearing the name of Jesus and seeing the divine signs that were being performed through the hands of the apostles, they too believed in Jesus.

And knowing that he was conceived in the womb at Nazareth and raised in the house of Joseph, and that for this reason he is called in the Gospel 'Jesus the Nazoraean,' just as the apostles too say, 'Jesus the Nazoraean, a man attested among you by signs and wonders,' and so on—they apply this name to themselves, so as to be called Nazoraeans—not Nazirites, which, being interpreted, means 'consecrated ones.'

For this was of old the dignity belonging to the firstborn who were consecrated to God, of whom Samson was one, and many others both after him and before him; and John the Baptist too was likewise one of those consecrated to God.

For he drank neither wine nor strong drink.

For this manner of life was prescribed for such persons as fitting to their dignity.

But neither did they call themselves 'Nasaraeans.'

For the sect of the Nasaraeans existed before Christ, and did not know Christ.

But rather all people called the Christians 'Nazoraeans,' as I said before, just as they say when accusing the apostle Paul: 'We have found this man a pest, one who stirs up dissension among the people, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazoraeans.'

The holy apostle does not deny the name—not confessing the sect of these men, but gladly accepting the name that had been imposed on him because of Christ by the malice of his opponents.

For he says before the tribunal: 'Neither in the temple did they find me disputing with anyone, or causing any gathering of a crowd; nor have I done any of the things of which they accuse me.'

But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship, believing all things that are written in the law and in the prophets.

And it is no wonder that the apostle confessed himself a Nazoraean, since at that time all people called Christians by this name, because of the city of Nazareth, there being at that time no other use for the name, so that people called those who had believed in Christ 'Nazoraeans'—concerning whom it is also written that 'he shall be called a Nazoraean.'

For even now people likewise call all the sects—I mean the Manichaeans and the Marcionites, the Gnostics and others—'Christians,' though they are not Christians; and yet each sect, although it is called by another name, gladly accepts this, because it is adorned by that name.

For they suppose that they are honored by the name of Christ, though not indeed by faith and works.

In the same way, the holy disciples of Christ at that time called themselves disciples of Jesus, as indeed they were.

But when they heard themselves called Nazoraeans by others, they did not refuse it, seeing the intent of those who called them so—that they called them this because of Christ, since our Lord Jesus himself was called 'the Nazoraean,' as the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles have it, because he was raised in the city of Nazareth (now a village), in the house of Joseph, having been born according to the flesh in Bethlehem, of Mary the ever-virgin who was betrothed to Joseph, who had settled in that same Nazareth after moving there from Bethlehem, when he came to dwell in Galilee.

They remained keeping the name of the Jews, and did not name themselves Christians, but rather Nazoraeans, ostensibly from the name of the place Nazareth; yet in all things they are Jews and nothing else.

They use not only the New Testament, but also the Old Testament, just as the Jews do.

For among them the legislation and the prophets and the writings—the books so called among the Jews—are not forbidden, as they are among those mentioned before.

Nor do they hold any other opinion, but in accordance with the teaching of the law, and like the Jews, they confess everything correctly—except for their claim to have believed in Christ.

For among them the resurrection of the dead is confessed, and that all things came into being from God; and they proclaim one God and his Son Jesus Christ.

They are precisely trained in the Hebrew language.

For among them the whole law and the prophets and the so-called Writings—I mean the poetic books, and Kingdoms, and Chronicles, and Esther, and all the rest—are read in Hebrew, just as indeed also among the Jews.

But only in this do they differ from the Jews and from the Christians: they do not agree with the Jews because they have believed in Christ, and they are not of one mind with the Christians because they are still bound by the law—by circumcision and the Sabbath and the rest.

But concerning Christ, I am not able to say whether they too, being led astray by the wickedness of those aforementioned in connection with Cerinthus and Merinthus, consider him a mere man, or whether, as the truth holds, they firmly affirm that he was born of Mary by the Holy Spirit.

For their origin began from there, after the removal of all the disciples from Jerusalem, when they had settled in Pella, because Christ had told them to leave Jerusalem and withdraw on account of the siege it was about to suffer.

And on this account, having settled in Peraea, they dwelt there, as I have said.

From there the sect concerning the Nazoraeans had its beginning.

These men too have gone astray, boasting in circumcision, and such people still remain under the curse, being unable to fulfill the law.

For how will they be able to fulfill what is said in the law, that 'three times a year you shall appear before the Lord your God'—at the feast of Unleavened Bread, and of Tabernacles, and of Pentecost—in the place of Jerusalem?

For since the place is shut off and the things prescribed in the law cannot be fulfilled, it should be clear to everyone of sound mind that Christ came as the fulfiller of the law, not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, and to remove the curse that had been decreed against the transgression of the law.

For after Moses had commanded every commandment, he came to the end of the book and shut up the whole under a curse, saying, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the words written in this book, to do them.'

He came, then, loosing what had been bound by the fetters of the curse, and graciously granting to us, in place of the small things that could not be fulfilled, the greater things—things that do not conflict with one another in the fulfillment of the work, as the former things did.

For thus, arriving at each sect in turn, we have often worked through, with regard to Sabbath-keeping and circumcision and other such matters, how the Lord has graciously given us the more perfect things.

It will suffice, then, in the case of this sect too, for us to give a brief discussion.

For such people are easily refuted and easily caught out, being rather Jews and nothing else.

But these are exceedingly regarded as enemies by the Jews.

For not only do the children of the Jews harbor hatred toward them, but also, rising at dawn, at midday, and about evening—three times a day—when they perform their prayers in the synagogues, they curse them and pronounce anathema upon them, saying three times a day, 'May God curse the Nazoraeans.'

For, it seems, they bear a special grudge against these, because, being themselves from among the Jews, they proclaim Jesus to be the Christ—which is contrary to those who are still Jews, who have not received Jesus.

They have the Gospel according to Matthew in its most complete form, in Hebrew.

For among them this is clearly still preserved, just as it was written from the beginning, in Hebrew letters.