Book of Heresies 1 part 7/9

But if the fashion and life and honour and dignity of this world shall cease and be destroyed, then assuredly that heavenly and angelic dignity shall be the thing to be desired, which is to come to believers from Christ's incarnation and passion and resurrection—a dignity not temporal, carnal, and fleeting, like that of the Jews according to the letter, and of other such perishing ones who hope for nothing hereafter. For this reason the Lord says: 'Work for the food which does not perish'—that is, that you believe in me, whom my Father has sent.

Therefore Solomon was not speaking of this carnal food alone while passing over the other, but was announcing the diverse food and glory of holy men: namely, the carnal life of men first in the present age, and after death that heavenly and angelic dignity to come to the just and faithful. And this carnal life he announced as vain and temporal—the justification, that is, of the Jews and other such people, and a life destined to perish—so that they might recognize it to be a shadow, and not be ignorant that the temporal life of the body, soon falling away, is as nothing in comparison with that heavenly and everlasting dignity. Of which food the prophet says: 'Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet.'

There is a heresy that is in doubt concerning the Song of Songs *** judging it likewise to have been proclaimed by him not by the divine Spirit, but for the sake of human affairs and pleasures of men—whereas in fact he taught the human race the truth of heavenly things compared to a human likeness, as it is written in the Gospels and everywhere. And so Christ, for a long time present in the flesh, taught all men in such a way as to call them forth by divine love, to soothe by admonition, to move by mercy, and to bend by goodness.

For He showed Himself as God, He admonished as a father, He pointed out the pasture as a shepherd, and as a king conquering the enemy He showed them to follow His footsteps—that is, those who follow their brother, the Lord Christ coming in the flesh, may together with Him rejoice in the triumph of immortal glory and heavenly merit. And therefore it was called the Song of Songs, so that what was before spoken in the Law in shadow and in part might now, in the light of Christ already present, be opened to believers as a fulfilment—to be celebrated through His passion in the consummation of the mystery—so that, the shadow ceasing, the truth of the heavenly light might already shine forth to every age, kindling the body and soul of man and rousing man's sense to heavenly love.

Those vain men, then, who are entangled in the lusts of the flesh, either pretend that they cannot perceive these things, or, if they are explained to them, scorn to learn, and unwilling to acknowledge the power of the Law, are to be judged no less than Jews or pagans. There is another heresy which says that the command must not be received which our father Adam had received, nor do they suppose it to be of any virtue or usefulness—whereas without that command neither can the Law of Moses be received nor can the perpetual and outpoured and abundant grace of Christ be recognized. For every man, established with a threefold virtue in the body, is taught and admonished and instructed by the divine Law, so that in the first age he may be under the command, in the second under the Law, in the third under the grace of the Saviour.

And therefore the Law is rather an admonition, on account of forgetfulness, of the former command, which our father Adam first received from Christ in paradise—for so it is written. But afterward in the Law: 'Lest,' it says, 'having forgotten the command of the Lord your God, you depart from Him and perish.' Therefore the Law is an admonition and confirmation of that first command. Again, the command and the Law of Christ proclaim the full goodness of grace and His saving presence. And so the Lord says: 'Behold, I who spoke in the prophets am here.' Greater therefore are those ancients who were under the command, who, not having forgotten its grace, announced to their posterity Christ the Saviour and His mystery; and when forgetfulness of it arose among the Jews, the admonition of the letter followed once more.

...so that even in the letter the spiritual knowledge of Christ and His carnal presence, enlightening the age, might be hoped for. And therefore the Law of Moses announced one thing in the sound of the voice, another in what was hidden, containing the saving mystery of Christ. Therefore neither the command without the Law, nor the Law without the command, nor the grace of Christ without the Law and the command ought to be received or believed by anyone. There are certain heretics who, when they read the Scripture where the Lord says: 'Let us make man to our image and likeness,' fall into no small madness, being ignorant first of what is the image and what the likeness of God; and since they do not know what is the image of God by nature of property, and what is the grace of position, they presume to themselves no small pride of dignity.

For the image of God is the soul of every man, made out of nothing; but the likeness, in faith and life, unless it has been acknowledged by God, cannot be called the image like to God. And when anyone esteems himself to be more than he is, he incurs the crime of presumption rather than acquires for himself the merit of dignity. For when a soul is found sinning and is known to be held liable to judgment, how can this be the natural image of God, which is found to be in bondage to diverse sins?

...since there can be no other natural image of God, divine and proper to the Father—not of an angel or of a man—except that of Christ, God the Son of God, who by the nature of an undivided property is the image of the paternal and everlasting substance, properly begotten, not created out of nothing by position of servitude, as man and angel are. And therefore Scripture declared that the soul of all pagans, Jews, heretics, and of all men can be called the image of God in a common generation, and announced its substance to be of one quality of nature; but it declared the likeness to belong not to all, but only to the saints and to Christians.

These, abiding in faith, life, and good works, are promised to attain hereafter the heavenly merits of the angels—such as the patriarchs, prophets, priests, judges, apostles and evangelists and martyrs, who, believing in the Trinity and abiding in an illustrious life, are announced by the Lord to be joined to the glory of the angels. For the true likeness is known by the teaching of the Law, by faith, life, zeal, and work, so that, consenting to the divine Law of the God by whom it was made, by fulfilling the appointed precepts it may hope to be able to attain from Him fellowship in the heavenly kingdom—the Apostle saying: 'But our citizenship is in heaven'; and the Lord again: 'Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.'

And as for the fact that He showed they would be in the day of judgment like the angels, the Lord says the same again concerning the heavenly kingdom: 'Come, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' The likeness, then, is shown to reside in faith in the Holy Trinity, in a good life, and in works that follow, so that on departing they may receive the promised fellowship of angelic dignity, as John says: 'Then shall we be like Him'; and the Lord: 'Be like your Father.' There are certain heretics who say: Why did God not always speak in one way, but proclaimed to the human race in diverse manners and tongues?—whereas He spoke and was seen by men according to the capacity of those who saw and grasped, to see and to hear in this way.

And so, when man had been cast out of paradise and clothed with death, He no longer appeared as before, but spoke from heaven, His voice being heard and obeyed; but in the course of time He deigned even to appear, as to the most blessed patriarch Abraham and to others in order. Under Moses, however, appearing in diverse things, He showed both what was of fear and of error on Mount Sinai, and afterward, in the figure of an angel and in the form of a man—with the signs of His future incarnation going before—He announced His general mercy, and the Lord now showed Himself to the just through dreams in vision, as it is written. But afterward, appearing in the incarnation, He bore witness, announcing to the Jews the things which He had foretold through the prophets.

Since therefore the capacity for seeing the Lord was diverse, He, like a good physician, applied diverse remedies to the infirmities of men, as their weakness required; and so to a languishing age He brought more medicine at the end, both that the surpassing virtue of those first men might be shown, and that the perilous infirmity of our race might be known—the Lord saying: 'The healthy do not need a physician, but those who are sick.' Greater therefore are those former ones, who hearing believed—such as Seth, Enoch, Noah, and the rest—than we, who, both hearing and reading of the mercy of Christ the Lord and His abundant goodness, despise it. For He also spoke in other tongues for the sake of the Jews and others, so that what was foretold might be fulfilled:

'In other tongues and lips will I speak to this people, and not even so will they be believing, says the Lord.' For through Isaiah He says: 'I will send my word into Achaia.' There is another heresy which, when it reads of the four living creatures in the prophets, suffers no small error, supposing that creatures endowed with diverse form praised God, being ignorant that irrational things—that is, things not capable of reason—cannot render praise to God as men do. For God does not seek the praise of cattle, because cattle were not made to the image of God, but men, rational, were created by God and appointed for this.

But because it is a vision, proclaimed also by the divine Spirit of the prophets, here the four diverse virtues of the holy peoples and the diverse contests were being announced as coming to the age in diverse doctrines and virtues, in diversity, sublimity, and the eminence of excellence; namely those of the lion, the calf, the man, and the eagle—whose diverse doctrines and shining merits went before: first in the patriarchs royal authority, then in the prophets the fruitfulness of heavenly knowledge, in the priests strong labour and persistent striving might be discerned:

in the apostles the lofty flight into heaven and eminent dignity might be shown, so that what the former diversity of forms announced—namely the heavenly merits of diverse virtues—might be made manifest in the age at Christ's coming, granted indeed by Him, the Lord and Saviour. For in the lion the kingdom of fortitude is recognized, in the calf surpassing labour, in the man unceasing passion, in the eagle the lofty flight—namely of those who contend and wage war—the Apostle saying: 'Our citizenship is in heaven'; and: 'We shall be caught up into heaven and shall be forever with Christ,' he says. And the Lord deigned to say: 'Father, where I am, I will that these also be with me.'

There are certain heretics who are in doubt concerning the day of the Epiphany of the Lord and Saviour, which is celebrated on the eighth day before the Ides of January, saying that they ought to celebrate only the Lord's birthday on the eighth before the Kalends of January, but not the day of the Epiphany—being ignorant that under the Law and according to [the truth] the Saviour fulfilled all things carnally in Himself and of Himself, so that He was both born on the eighth before the Kalends of January and appeared, as He appeared to the magi after twelve days... in the temple, so that not a shadow but what was true might appear, and thus be adored by the magi. For in due order, for the sake of our salvation, these four days of the yearly greater festivity were appointed: first, that on which He was born; then that on which He appeared, that is, twelve days after; then that on which He suffered at Passover;

and finally that on which He ascended into heaven, around Pentecost—this being indeed the consummation of His victory. He therefore who is ignorant of one and passes it over may also be in doubt about the other days, not having the fullness of the truth: that according to the four seasons of each year, diverse joys thus sprang up for us from Christ the Lord—namely, that on which He was born, then that on which He appeared, thirdly that on which He suffered and rose again and was seen, fourthly that on which He ascended into heaven—so that we may celebrate these throughout the year without intermission, rejoicing in common, and may hold them, keeping them whole and inviolate. But some think the day of the Epiphany to be that of His baptism, others that of the Transfiguration which took place on the mountain.

There are other heretics who, being ignorant of those precepts of the Law given through Moses which were spoken in Leviticus to the Jews carnally, but in our time revealed spiritually, pass over the chief matter of the festivity and the number of those heavenly profits, not knowing what they celebrate, supposing that Moses commanded only concerning the sabbaths and the Passover and the unleavened bread, and not concerning the eight festivals which the catholic Church knows and holds. For blessed Moses speaks thus to the people of the Jews: first concerning the new moon and the sabbaths, second concerning the Passover, third concerning the unleavened bread, fourth concerning the sheaves, fifth concerning the trumpet-blowing, which in Greek are called salpinga, which the Jews celebrate solemnly throughout the year;

sixth the fast, seventh the building of tabernacles, and the eighth is that of the fullness of fruits and the vintage of the orchards of the month of October, the last gathering and consummation of all things. This diversity, also according to the eight months, is celebrated by the Jews according to the letter and according to spiritual knowledge: for, beginning in the month of March and continuing to the eighth month, that is October, all things are brought about in order by Christ the Lord—things which are full pledges of eternal salvation, to be consummated and approved in the faith and work of Christianity.

For even though at that time the Jews were commanded to offer to God the diverse gifts of these months, so that, withdrawing from idols, they might know that all these things were to be offered to God, nevertheless those things had the signs of a spiritual offering, because in the eighth—the perfection of virtues, that is, the full grace of the fruits of the Lord's Day—men were to attain, in faith of the Lord's resurrection, the immortal reward and the pledge of the angelic dignity to be undertaken, no longer offering the gifts of an earthly offering, that is, the sacrifices of carnal life, but hoping indeed to obtain participation in the heavenly glory from Christ the Lord and Saviour.

For offering eightfold the yearly gifts, and recognizing the fullness of the eighth, the Lord's Day indeed, and girded with the fortitude of the divine Spirit—that is, endowed with the supreme perfection of things—and departing from this age thus, they did not despair of being able to attain there the promised glory of the resurrection and to be joined to the fellowship of heavenly dignity; for the Lord deigned to say: 'Then shall you be like the angels,' proclaiming this to all the just and perfect, which David also said, announcing it concerning the eighth. There are heretics who, like the Jews, rejecting the interpretation of the seventy-two holy and wisest men, accept the edition of a certain Aquila, a man of Pontus, who interpreted it many years afterward.

Since they were compelled, by pressing necessity at that time, to omit certain things, they are thought to have dictated discordant readings, and they are praised by certain people—Jews especially—as having understood more, since they did not dictate concerning the Father and the Son as those former ones did from the Law. For the Seventy-two said: 'Against the Lord, and against His Christ'; but Aquila: 'Against the Lord, and against His anointed.' And again: 'Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bear a son,' the Seventy-two said, 'and His name shall be God-with-us.' But Aquila said: 'Behold, a young woman shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and His name shall be Mighty-with-men.'

If indeed these things are received with a pious sense of reading, since none is strong and mighty except Christ, God the Son of God, one understands rightly; but if one is in doubt concerning Him, such an edition is to be cast away and spurned. Hence the Jews do not have the interpretations of the Seventy-two, who, thinking rightly concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, announced one substance, divinity, and majesty, but those of that Aquila, because he did not think so rightly concerning the Son of God, but as though he announced concerning a prophet. Hence his interpretations are never placed in the middle of the books, but are assigned to the right and the left, and are assigned as things contrary, and as contrary and not full of truth are thus read by very many.

But the catholic Church, reading the decrees and counsels of the Seventy-two, always holds and retains them without hesitation; but it judges and esteems those of the other as though superfluous. For this, namely the interpretation of the Seventy-two, was produced under Ptolemy, king of the Egyptians, after Alexander of Macedon, and was entrusted to the Jewish people in Jerusalem, where not many Jews dwelt, being now as it were placed under the subjection of the Egyptian king; and they were asked by Ptolemy himself that interpreters be sent to Alexandria. And when seventy-two wise and prudent men, the interpreters, had come, according to the king's command they interpreted the Hebrew tongue in the Greek language and published it in Greek letters, just as it was done.

And when Ptolemy, king of Egypt, had received them, wishing to test whether the Scripture which the Jews read was divine, he commanded each to be shut up separately in a chamber, and that none should see another except only the scribe who received the interpreter as he dictated; and afterward, daily receiving the interpretation of all, when he found the edition of all agreeing into one, he commanded it to be written down and placed in the temple, so that to those coming from Achaia, from Greece and other provinces—philosophers, poets and historians desiring to read—the opportunity might not be denied.

Hence the philosophers, poets, orators and historians, taking arguments especially, transferred them as they wished to the lies of their paganism, and teaching the untrained souls of children with other names, they hastened to make the divine Law of God void in the world, and they confirmed the seeds of impiety in the sound of words, in dangerous opinions; on whose account the Lord also said that they were thieves and robbers, to be known in all things and by all. There is a heresy which again, after Aquila, accepts the interpretation of Thirty men, not that of those most blessed Seventy-two, who, thinking soundly and inviolably concerning the Trinity, handed down to the catholic Church the most certain foundations, interpreting the Scriptures.

These Thirty, because they followed Aquila in many things, their interpretation is therefore not received by the catholic Church, nor is it contained in the authentic books. There is a heresy which again wishes to follow the interpretation of Six men, published afterward, not that of those former and holy Seventy-two; and since they desire to interpret the decrees and counsels of the Seventy-two in other ways, they incur no small error, likewise thinking diverse things concerning the catholic faith. There are other heretics who likewise follow the interpretation of Theodotion and Symmachus, set forth in a different manner, not that of the most blessed former ones which the catholic Church cherishes and proclaims.

There is another heresy which wishes to follow the books found in a cask, brought forth after the captivity and after the burning, which do not agree with the first interpretation of the holy men—whereas the catholic Church reads, cherishes and proclaims the interpretation of the Seventy-two, but despises and casts away the other things as superfluous and contrary to so great an edition. There are certain heretics who do not understand what the Scripture says: 'You shall not revile foreign gods'; and they so observe it, supposing that it spoke of the vanity of pagans, and thinking thus they sustain no small detriment to their salvation. For when Moses says:

'You shall destroy their temples, you shall break their idols'—and most blessed Abraham, breaking idols, was justified, and Gideon, burning the idols by night and breaking them, merited to obtain from the Lord Christ so much virtue that with a few he conquered countless enemies; and all the just, such as blessed Elijah and others likewise—how then does this imprudent man suppose it spoke of the vanity of idols, and that these should not be reviled? when David says: 'Let those who worship them become like to them.' Here, then, when it says that foreign gods are not to be reviled, that is, the just who from the foundation of the world worshipped true piety—namely, the angels and the other saints dedicated to the true faith—are not to be reviled.

For that all the just reviled idols and broke them, and thereby merited grace—as Moses did, coming down from Mount Sinai—and that the messengers of Christ are gods, as Moses was to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, since the Scripture cries out: 'I said, you are gods'—there is no doubt—namely those who, worshipping the holy Trinity to be adored, proclaim it with strong faith; who indeed are all the just, truly blessed and holy, and are recognized as gods of the unbelievers, because the Lord says: 'To whom the word of God came *** and through whom it was proclaimed'—they are themselves called the gods of the unbelieving, as Paul, Barnabas, and Moses to Pharaoh; who are not to be reviled, but in every way to be praised together, honoured and glorified, as David said:

'But those who fear the Lord He will glorify'; and the Lord: 'Those who glorify me I will glorify.' Not understanding, then, the power of the Scriptures, they consent from the letter to paganism, and are found alien to Christianity. Since therefore the Jews did not believe the just prophets and others like them, these too were judged by the Lord through the Scripture to be aliens, just as the pagans were, and it was thus announced that they should not revile their own teachers and prophets, the just and others. There are certain heretics who, reading in Genesis of Melchizedek the priest and king, who was in the city of Salem—so named at that time—under most blessed Abraham the patriarch, of whom the Scripture says that he was begotten without father, without mother, suppose that it is contrary to think this.

For the Scripture did not deny that he was brought forth by a carnal generation, but declared that he was not begotten of just parents, who by natural zeal, from the former command, merited to attain to so great a knowledge of Christ that, the things which he had not heard from his own parents, he yet by his own zeal recognized through the command, namely the greater mysteries of Christ to be offered—as the Lord says through the prophets: 'Behold, I make new things'; and: 'Before they come, they have been announced to you'; and: 'Do not remember the things of the past' which were spoken carnally in the Law. And the Saviour says: 'What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit.'

For when it says of him 'brought forth without father, without mother,' the Scripture announced that he was an inquirer without the tradition and teaching of parents, and declared him by nature mighty and capable of heavenly wisdom—that is, of the mystery of Christ—perceiving it through the command. Knowing this, the Apostle everywhere proclaimed that the nature of men is capable of heavenly knowledge and piety, thus: 'For when the Gentiles, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things that are of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the Law written in their hearts,' and so on. Which the Lord also said to Peter: that flesh and blood had not revealed it to him, but the Father who is in heaven—showing indeed the faith of the Lord and Saviour.

And therefore the Lord again Himself says: 'Unless one is born again of water and the spirit, he will not enter,' He says, 'into the kingdom of heaven.' And again in the Law: 'Those who said to father and mother, We do not know you, these have kept my command'—when the Lord says this, He commended that the begetting of parents is by no means to be hated, but their pagan impiety is to be spurned and condemned in every way ***, as He says: 'Unless one renounces all his own, he will not be worthy in the kingdom of heaven.' This blessed man, then,

Melchizedek, although he had been brought forth of foreigners—that is, of impious Canaanites—despising the impiety of his parents, since by his own zeal he was capable of the divine and heavenly Law as the image of God, having inquired into the mystery of Christ, having despised his impious parents, merited not only to know Christ the Lord beforehand in the command, but moreover to celebrate His heavenly mystery, beholding and understanding it. And therefore the Apostle also said to the baptized: 'But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.' Of two peoples, therefore...

There was then between Melchizedek and Abraham a union of fellowship as one, since indeed the rationale of uncircumcision and of circumcision was fitting: namely, that Melchizedek bore the person of Christians, just as we live and celebrate in all things, while the circumcision of the Jews appeared in the figure of Abraham, subjected indeed to the faith of Christ and serving his heavenly and saving mystery, just as the blessed Abraham was subject to Melchizedek the great priest.

to whom moreover he did not hesitate to offer tithes of his own goods, and that as to the king and priest of God; just as now the docility of the Jews is made subject to us, so that it is willing to learn and gradually to recognize from us, out of the Law and the Prophets, the mysteries of Christ, and in his Passion to hope for heavenly knowledge from the Law and likewise from the Prophets. There are certain people who read in Zechariah that he says: '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 Israel for joy and gladness.' What then? If anyone should wish to fast for a whole week, or for many months, will he incur prejudice? Far from it. Rather he shall have the greater praise;

as many prophets did, and as very many righteous men do daily. But when it says four fasts, as if appointing four days to be fasted, it did not tell us of any particular month or year, but proclaimed it thus absolutely, so that we might recognize the mysteries of Christianity announced in those four fasts. For throughout the year four fasts are celebrated in the Church: first at the Nativity, then at Pascha, third at the Ascension, fourth at Pentecost. For at the Nativity of the Lord and Savior one must fast, then at the Pascha of Lent likewise, at the Ascension into heaven on the fortieth day after Pascha in the same way, and thence up to Pentecost for ten days or thereafter: