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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 07 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 27.01.07 Lecture VI Part 2
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15. As the delusion was extending, Peter and Paul, a noble pair, chief rulers of the Church, arrived and set the error righthyperlink ; and when the supposed god Simon wished to shew himself off, they straightway shewed him as a corpse. For Simon promised to rise aloft to heaven, and came riding in a daemons' chariot on the air; but the servants of God fell on their knees, and having shewn that agreement of which Jesus spake, that If two of you shall agree concerning anything that they shall ask, it shall be done unto themhyperlink , they launched the weapon of their concord in prayer against Magus, and struck him down to the earth. And marvellous though it was, yet no marvel. For Peter was there, who carrieth the keys of heavenhyperlink : and nothing wonderful, for Paul was therehyperlink , who was caught up to the third heaven, and into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful far a man to utterhyperlink . These brought the supposed God down from the sky to earth, thence to be taken down to the regions below the earth. In this man first the serpent of wickedness appeared; but when one head had been cut off, the root of wickedness was found again with many heads.
16. For Cerinthushyperlink made havoc of the Church, and Menanderhyperlink , and Carpocrateshyperlink , Ebioniteshyperlink also, and Marcionhyperlink , that mouthpiece of ungodliness. For he who proclaimed different gods, one the Good, the other the Just, contradicts the Son when He says, O righteous Fatherhyperlink . And he who says again that the Father is one, and the maker of the world another, opposes the Son when He says, If then God so clothes the grass of the field which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the furnace of firehyperlink ; and, Who maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjusthyperlink . Here again is a second inventor of more mischief, this Marcion. For being confuted by the testimonies from the Old Testament which are quoted in the New, he was the first who dared to cut those testimonies outhyperlink , and leave the preaching of the word of faith without witness, thus effacing the true God: and sought to undermine the Church's faith, as if there were no heralds of it.
17. He again was succeeded by another, Basilides, of evil name, and dangerous character, a preacher of impuritieshyperlink . The contest of wickedness was aided also by Valentinushyperlink , a preacher of thirty gods. The Greeks tell of but few: and the man who was called-but more truly was not-a Christian extended the delusion to full thirty. He says, too, that Bythus the Abyss (for it became him as being an abyss of wickedness to begin his teaching from the Abyss) begat Silence, and of Silence begat the Word. This Bythus was worse than the Zeus of the Greeks, who was united to his sister: for Silence was said to be the child of Bythus. Dost thou see the absurdity invested with a show of Christianity? Wait a little, and thou wilt be shocked at his impiety; for he asserts that of this Bythus were begotten eight Aeons; and of them, ten; and of them, other twelve, male and female. But whence is the proof of these things? See their silliness from their fabrications. Whence hast thou the proof of the thirty Aeons? Because, saith he, it is written, that Jesus was baptized, being thirty years oldhyperlink . But even if He was baptized when thirty years old, what sort of demonstration is this from the thirty years? Are there then five gods, because He brake five loaves among five thousand? Or because he had twelve Disciples, must there also be twelve gods?
18. And even this is still little compared with the impieties which follow. For the last of the deities being, as he dares to speak, both male and female, this, he says, is Wisdomhyperlink . What impiety! For the Wisdom of Godhyperlink is Christ His Only-begotten Son: and he by his doctrine degraded the Wisdom of God into a female element, and one of thirty, and the last fabrication. He also says that Wisdom attempted to behold the first God, and not bearing His brightness fell from heaven, and was cast out of her thirtieth place. Then she groaned, and of her groans begat the Devilhyperlink , and as she wept over her fall made of her tears the sea. Mark the impiety. For of Wisdom how is the Devil begotten, and of prudence wickedness, or of light darkness? He says too that the Devil begat others, some of whom created the world: and that the Christ came down in order to make mankind revolt from the Maker of the world.
19. But hear whom they say Christ Jesus to be, that thou mayest detest them yet more. For they say that after Wisdom had been cast down, in order that the number of the thirty might not be incomplete, the nine and twenty Aeons contributed each a little part, and formed the Christhyperlink : and they say that He also is both male and femalehyperlink . Can anything be more impious than this? Anything more wretched? I am describing their delusion to thee, in order that thou mayest hate them the more. Shun, therefore, their impiety, and do not even give greeting tohyperlink a man of this kind, lest thou have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darknesshyperlink : neither make curious inquiries, nor be willing to enter into conversation with them.
20. Hate all heretics, but especially him who is rightly named after maniahyperlink , who arose not long ago in the reign of Probushyperlink . For the delusion began full seventy years agohyperlink , and there are men still living who saw him with their very eyes. But hate him not for this, that he lived a short time ago; but because of his impious doctrines hate thou the worker of wickedness, the receptacle of all filth, who gathered up the mire of every heresyhyperlink . For aspiring to become pre-eminent among wicked men, he took the doctrines of all, and having combined them into one heresy filled with blasphemies and all iniquity, he makes havoc of the Church, or rather of those outside the Church, roaming about like a lion and devouring. Heed not their fair speech, nor their supposed humility: for they are serpents, a generation of vipershyperlink . Judas too said Hail! Masterhyperlink , even while he was betraying Him. Heed not their kisses, but beware of their venom.
21. Now, lest I seem to accuse him without reason, let me make a digression to tell who this Manes is, and in part what he teaches: for all time would fail to describe adequately the whole of his foul teaching. But for help in time of needhyperlink , store up in thy memory what I have said to former hearers, and will repeat to those now present, that they who know not may learn, and they who know may be reminded. Manes is not of Christian origin, God forbid! nor was he like Simon cast out of the Church, neither himself nor the teachers who were before him. For he steals other men's wickedness, and makes their wickedness his own: but how and in what manner thou must hear.
22. There was in Egypt one Scythianushyperlink , a Saracenhyperlink by birth, having nothing in common either with Judaism or with Christianity. This man, who dwelt at Alexandria and imitated the life of Aristotlehyperlink , composed four bookshyperlink , one called a Gospel which had not the acts of Christ, but the mere name only, and one other called the book of Chapters, and a third of Mysteries, and a fourth, which they circulate now, the Treasurehyperlink . This man had a disciple, Terebinthus by name. But when Scythianus purposed to come into Judaea, and make havoc of the land, the Lord smote him with a deadly disease, and stayed the pestilencehyperlink .
23. But Terebinthus, his disciple in this wicked error, inherited his money and books and heresyhyperlink , and came to Palestine, and becoming known and condemned in Judaeahyperlink he resolved to pass into Persia: but lest he should be recognised there also by his name he changed it and called himself Buddashyperlink . However, he found adversaries there also in the priests of Mithrashyperlink : and being confuted in the discussion of many arguments and controversies, and at last hard pressed, he took refuge with a certain widow. Then having gone up on the housetop, and summoned the daemons of the air, whom the Manichees to this day invoke over their abominable ceremony of the fighyperlink , he was smitten of God, and cast down from the housetop, and expired: and so the second beast was cut off.
24. The books, however, which were the records of his impiety, remained; and both these and his money the widow inherited. And having neither kinsman nor any other friend, she determined to buy with the money a boy named Cubricushyperlink : him she adopted and educated as a son in the learning of the Persians, and thus sharpened an evil weapon against mankind. So Cubricus, the vile slave, grew up in the midst of philosophers, and on the death of the widow inherited both the books and the money. Then, lest the name of slavery might be a reproach, instead of Cubricus he called himself Manes, which in the language of the Persians signifies discoursehyperlink . For as he thought himself something of a disputant, he surnamed himself Manes, as it were an excellent master of discourse. But though he contrived for himself an honourable title according to the language of the Persians, yet the providence of God caused him to become a self-accuser even against his will, that through thinking to honour himself in Persia, he might proclaim himself among the Greeks by name a maniac.
25. He dared too to say that he was the Paraclete, though it is written, But whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath no forgivenesshyperlink . He committed blasphemy therefore by saying that he was the Holy Ghost: let him that communicates with those heretics see with whom he is enrolling himself. The slave shook the world, since by three things the earth is shaken, and the fourth it cannot bear,-if a slave became a kinghyperlink . Having come into public he now began to promise things above man's power. The son of the King of the Persians was sick, and a multitude of physicians were in attendance: but Manes promised, as if he were a godly man, to cure him by prayer. With the departure of the physicians, the life of the child departed: and the man's impiety was detected. So the would-be philosopher was a prisoner, being cast into prison not for reproving the king in the cause of truth, not for destroying the idols, but for promising to save and lying, or rather, if the truth must be told, for committing murder. For the child who might have been saved by medical treatment, was murdered by this man's driving away the physicians, and killing him by want of treatment.
26. Now as there are very many wicked things which I tell thee of him, remember first his blasphemy, secondly his slavery (not that slavery is a disgrace, but that his pretending to be free-born, when he was a slave, was wicked), thirdly, the falsehood of his promise, fourthly, the murder of the child, and fifthly, the disgrace of the imprisonment. And there was not only the disgrace of the prison, but also the flight from prison. For he who called himself the Paraclete and champion of the truth, ran away: he was no successor of Jesus, who readily went to the Cross, but this man was the reverse, a runaway. Moreover, the King of the Persians ordered the keepers of the prison to be executed: so Manes was the cause of the child's death through his vain boasting, and of the gaolers' death through his flight. Ought then he, who shared the guilt of murder, to be worshipped? Ought he not to have followed the example of Jesus, and said, If ye seek Me, let these go their wayhyperlink ? Ought he not to have said, like Jonas, Take me, and cast me into the sea: for this storm is because of mehyperlink ?
27. He escapes from the prison, and comes into Mesopotamia: but there Bishop Archelaus, a shield of righteousness, encounters himhyperlink : and having accused him before philosophers as judges, and having assembled an audience of Gentiles, lest if Christians gave judgment, the judges might be thought to shew favour,-Tell us what thou preachest, said Archelaus to Manes. And he, whose mouth was as an open sepulchrehyperlink , began first with blasphemy against the Maker of all things, saying, The God of the Old Testament is the author of evils, as He says of Himself, I am a consuming firehyperlink . But the wise Archelaus undermined his blasphemous argument by saying, "If the God of the Old Testament, as thou sayest, calls Himself a fire, whose Son is He who saith, I came to send fire on the earthhyperlink ? If thou findest fault with Him who saith, The Lord killeth, and maketh alivehyperlink , why dost thou honour Peter, who raised up Tabitha, but struck Sapphira dead? If again thou findest fault, because He prepared fire, wherefore dost thou not find fault with Him who saith, Depart from Me into everlasting firehyperlink ? If thou findest fault with Him who saith, I am God that make peace, and create evilhyperlink , explain how Jesus saith, I came not to send peace but a swordhyperlink . Since both speak alike, of two things one, either both are good, because of their agreement, or if Jesus is blameless in so speaking. why blamest thou t Him that saith the like in the Old Testament?"
28. Then Manes answers him: "And what sort of God causes blindness? For it is Paul who saith, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the Gospel should shine unto themhyperlink ." But Archelaus made a good retort, saying, "Read a little before: But if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that are perishinghyperlink . Seest thou that in them that are perishing it is veiled? For it is not right to give the things which are holy unto the dogshyperlink . Again, Is it only the God of the Old Testament that hath blinded the minds of them that believe not? Hath not Jesus Himself said, For this cause speak I unto them in parables, that seeing they may not seehyperlink ? Was it from hating them that He wished them not to see? Or because of their unworthiness, since their eyes they had closedhyperlink . For where there is wilful wickedness, there is also a withholding of grace: for to him that hath shall be given; but from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he seemeth to havehyperlink .
29. "But if some are right in their interpretation, we must say as followshyperlink (for it is no unworthy expression)-If indeed He blinded the thoughts of them that believe not he blinded them for a good purpose, that they might look with new sight on what is good. For he said not, He blinded their soul, but, the thoughts of them that believe nothyperlink . And the meaning is something of this kind: `Blind the lewd thoughts of the lewd, and the man is saved: blind the grasping and rapacious thought of the robber, and the man is saved.' But wilt thou not understand it thus? Then there is yet another interpretation. The sun also blinds those whose sight is dim: and they whose eyes are diseased are hurt by the light and blinded. Not that the sun's nature is to blind, but that the substance of the eyes is incapable of seeing. In like manner unbelievers being diseased in their heart cannot look upon the radiance of the Godhead. Nor hath he said, `He hath blinded their thoughts, that they should not hear the Gospel:' but, that the light of the glory of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ should not shine unto them. For to hear the Gospel is permitted to all: but he glory of the Gospel is reserved for Christ's true children only. Therefore the Lord spoke in parables to those who could not hearhyperlink : but to the Disciples he explained the parables in privatehyperlink : for the brightness of the glory is for those who have been enlightened, the blinding for them that believe not." These mysteries, which the Church now explains to thee who art passing out of the class of Catechumens, it is not the custom to explain to heathen. For to a heathen we do not explain the mysteries concerning Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, nor before Catechumens do we speak plainly of the mysteries: but many things we often speak in a veiled way, that the believers who know may understand, and they who know not may get no hurthyperlink .
30. By such and many other arguments the serpent was overthrown: thus did Archelaus wrestle with Manes and threw him. Again, he who had fled from prison flees from this place also: and having run away from his antagonist, he comes to a very poor village, like the serpent in Paradise when he left Adam and came to Eve. But the good shepherd Archelaus taking forethought for his sheep, when he heard of his flight, straightway hastened with all speed in search of the wolf. And when Manes suddenly saw his adversary, he rushed out and fled: it was however his last flight. For the officers of the King of Persia searched everywhere, and caught the fugitive: and the sentence, which he ought to have received in the presence of Archelaus, is passed upon him by the king's officers. This Manes, whom his own disciples worship, is arrested and brought before the king. The king reproached him with his falsehood and his flight: poured scorn upon his slavish condition, avenged the murder of his child, and condemned him also for the murder of the gaolers: he commands him to be flayed after the Persian fashion. And while the rest of his body was given over for food of wild beasts, his skin, the receptacle of his vile mind, was hung up before the gates like a sackhyperlink . He that called himself the Paraclete and professed to know the future, knew not his own flight and capture.
31. This man has had three disciples, Thomas, and Baddas, and Hermas. Let none read the Gospel according to Thomashyperlink : for it is the work not of one of the twelve Apostles, but of one of the three wicked disciples of Manes. Let none associate with the soul-destroying Manicheans, who by decoctions of chaff counterfeit the sad look of fasting, who speak evil of the Creator of meats, and greedily devour the daintiest, who teach that the man who plucks up this or that herb is changed into it. For if he who crops herbs or any vegetable is changed into the same, into how many will husbandmen and the tribe of gardeners be changedhyperlink ? The gardener, as we see, has used his sickle against so many: into which then is he changed? Verily their doctrines are ridiculous, and fraught with their own condemnation and shame! The same man, being the shepherd of a flock, both sacrifices a sheep and kills a wolf. Into what then is he changed? Many men both net fishes and lime birds: into which then are they transformed?
32. Let those children of sloth, the Manicheans, make answer; who without labouring themselves eat up the labourers' fruits: who welcome with smiling faces those who bring them their food, and return curses instead of blessings. For when a simple person brings them anything, "Stand outside a while," saith he, "and I will bless thee." Then having taken the bread into his hands (as those who have repented and left them have confessed), "I did not make thee," says the Manichee to the bread: and sends up curses against the Most High; and curses him that made it, and so eats what was madehyperlink . If thou hatest the food, why didst thou look with smiling countenance on him that brought it to thee? If thou art thankful to the bringer, why dost thou utter thy blasphemy to God, who created and made it? So again he says, "I sowed thee not: may he be sown who sowed thee! I reaped thee not with a sickle: may he be reaped who reaped thee! I baked thee not with fire: may he be baked who baked thee!" A fine return for the kindness!
33. These are great faults, but still small in comparison with the rest. Their Baptism I dare not describe before men and womenhyperlink . I dare not say what they distribute to their wretched communicantshyperlink . . . . Truly we pollute our mouth in speaking of these things. Are the heathen more detestable than these? Are the Samaritans more wretched? Are Jews more impious? Are fornicators more impurehyperlink ? But the Manichee sets these offerings in the midst of the altar as he considers ithyperlink . And dost thou, O man, receive instruction from such a mouth? On meeting this man dost thou greet him at all with a kiss? To say nothing of his other impiety, dost thou not flee from the defilement, and from men worse than profligates, more detestable than any prostitute?
34. Of these things the Church admonishes and teaches thee, and touches mire, that thou mayest not be bemired: she tells of the wounds, that thou mayest not be wounded. But for thee it is enough merely to know them: abstain from learning by experience. God thunders, and we all tremble; and they blaspheme. God lightens, and we all bow down to the earth; and they have their blasphemous sayings about the heavenshyperlink . These things are written in the books of the Manichees. These things we ourselves have read, because we could not believe those who told of them: yes, for the sake of your salvation we have closely inquired into their perdition.
35. But may the Lord deliver us from such delusion: and may there be given to you a hatred against the serpent, that as they lie in wait for the heel, so you may trample on their head. Remember ye what I say. What agreement can there be between our state and theirs? What communion hath light with darknesshyperlink ? What hath the majesty of the Church to do with the abomination of the Manichees? Here is order, here is disciplinehyperlink , here is majesty, here is purity: here even to look upon a woman to lust after herhyperlink is condemnation. Here is marriage with sanctityhyperlink , here steadfast continence, here virginity in honour like unto the Angels: here partaking of food with thanksgiving, here gratitude to the Creator of the world. Here the Father of Christ is worshipped: here are taught fear and trembling before Him who sends the rain: here we ascribe glory to Him who makes the thunder and the lightning.
36. Make thou thy fold with the sheep: flee from the wolves: depart not from the Church. Hate those also who have ever been suspected in such matters: and unless in time thou perceive their repentance, do not rashly trust thyself among them. The truth of the Unity of God has been delivered to thee: learn to distinguish the pastures of doctrine. Be an approved bankerhyperlink , holding fast that which is good, abstaining from every form of evi lhyperlink . Or if thou hast ever been such as they, recognise and hate thy delusion. For there is a way of salvation, if thou reject the vomit, if thou from thy heart detest it, if thou depart from them, not with thy lips only, but with thy soul also: if thou worship the Father of Christ, the God of the Law and the Prophets, if thou acknowledge the Good and the Just to be one and the same God . And may He preserve you all, guarding you from falling or stumbling, stablished in the Faith, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Footnotes
59 "Justin says not one word about St. Peter's alleged visit to Rome, and his encounter with Simon Magus." But "Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History (c. A.D. 325), quotes Justin Martyr's story about Simon Magus (E. H. ii. c. 13), and then, without referring to any authority, goes on to assert (c. 14) that `immediately in the same reign of Claudius divine Providence led Peter the great Apostle to Rome to encounter this great destroyer of life,
0' and that he thus brought the light of the Gospel from the East to the West
0' (ibidem).
Eusebius probably borrowed this story "from the strange fictions of the Clementine Recognitions and Homilies, and Apostolic Constitutions." See Recogn. III. 63-65; Hom. I. 15, III. 58; Apsot. Constit. VI. 7, 8, 9 . Cyril's account of Simon's death is taken from the same untrustworthy sources.
60 Matt. xviii. 19.
61 Ib. xvi. 19.
62 It is certain that S. Paul was not at Rome at this time. This story of Simon Magus and his `fiery car
0' is told, with variations, by Arnobius (adv. Gentes, II. 12), and in Apost. Constit VI. 9.
63 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4.
64 Cerinthus taught that the world was not made by the supreme God, but by a separate Power ignorant of Him. See Irenaeus, Haer. I. xxvi., Euseb. E. H. iii. 28, with the notes in this Series.
65 Menander is first mentioned by Justin M. (Apolog. I. cap. 26): "Meander, also a Samaritan, of the town Capparetaea, a disciple of Simon, and inspired by devils, we know to have deceived many while he was in Antioch by his magical art. he persuaded those who adhered to him that they should never die." Irenaeus (I. xxiii. 5) adds that Meander announced himself as the Saviour sent by the Invisibles, and taught that the world was created by Angels. See also Tertullian (de Animâ, cap. 50.)
66 Carpocrates, a Platonic philosopher, who taught at Alexandria (125 A.D. circ.), held that the world and all things in it were made by Angels far inferior to the unbegotten (unknown) Father (Iren. I. xxv. 1; Tertullian, Adv. Haer. cap. 3).
67 Irenaeus, I. 26:
"Those who are called Ebionites agree that the world was made by God: but their opinions with respect to the Lord are like those of Cerinthus and Carpocrates."
68 On Marcion, see note 5, on Cat. iv. 4.
69 John xvii. 25.
70 Luke xii. 28.
71 Matt. v. 45.
72 Marcion accepted only St. Luke's Gospel, and mutilated that (Tertullian, Adv. Marcion. iv. 2). He thus got rid of the testimony of the Apostles and eye-witnesses, Matthew and John, and represented the Law and the Gospel as contradictory revelations of two different Gods. For this Cyril calls him `a second inventor of mischief,
0' Simon Magus (§ 14) being the first.
0' And when he has said this to himself, he says to the Catechumen, `'I have prayed for thee,
0' and so he goes away."
0'"" referring apparently as here to 1 Thess. v. 21, 22, "try all things, &c." (See Euseb. E. H. VII. ch. 6 in this series: Suicer. Thesaurus, Trapezi/thj: and Resch. (Agrapha, pp. 233-239.)
73 Basilides was earlier than Maricon, being the founder of a Gnostic sect at Alexandria in the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 117-138). His doctrines are described by Irenaeus (I. xxvii. 3-7), and very fully by Hippolytus (Refut. omn. Haer. VII. 2-15). The charge of teaching licentiousness attaches rather to the later followers of Basilides than to himself or his son Isidorus (Clem. Alex. Stromat. III. cap. 1) and against which Agrippa Castor wrote a refutation. Origen (Hom. I. in Lucam.) says that Basilides wrote a Gospel bearing his own name. See Routh, Rell. Sacr. I. p. 85; V. p. 106: Westcott, History of Canon of N. T. iv. § 3.
74 "The doctrines of Valentinus are described fully by Iren§us (I. cap. i.) from whom S. Cyril takes this account. Valentinus, and Basilides, and Bardesanes, and Harmonious, and those of their company admit Christ's conception and birth of the Virgin, but say that God the Word received no addition from the Virgin, but made a sort of passage through her, as though a tube, and made use of a phantom in appearing to men." (Theodoret, Epist. 145.
75 Luke iii. 23.
76 Irenaeus I. ii. 2.
77 1 Cor. I. 24.
78 Irenaeus, l. c., and Hippolytus, who gives an elaborate account of the doctrines of Valentinus (L. VI. capp. xvi. - xxxii.), both represent Sophia, "Wisdom," as giving birth not to Satan, but to a shapeless abortion, which was the origin of matter. According to Irenaeus (I. iv. 2), Achamoth, the enthymesis of Sophia, gave birth to the Demiurge, and "from her tears all that is of a liquid nature was formed."
In Tertullian's Treatise against the Valentinians chap. xxii., Achamoth is said as by Cyril to have given birth to Satan: but in chap. xxiii. Satan seems to be identified (or interchanged) with the Demiurge.
79 The account in Irenaeus (I. ii. 6) is rather different: "The whole Pleroma of the Aeons, with one design and desire, and with the concurrence of the Christ and the Holy Spirit, their Father also setting the seal of His approval on their conduct, brought together whatever each one had in himself of the greatest beauty and preciousness; and uniting all these contributions so as skilfully to blend the whole, they produced, to the honour and glory of Bythus, a being of most perfect beauty, the very star of the Pleroma, and its perfect fruit, namely Jesus."
Tertullian, Against the Valentinians, chap. 12, gives a sarcastic description of this strange doctrine, deriving his facts (chap. 5) from Justin, Miltiades, "Irenaeus, that very exact inquirer into all doctrines," and Proculus.
80 This statement does not agree with Irenaeus (I. vii. 1), who says that the Valentinians represented the Saviour, that is Jesus, as becoming the bridegroom of Achamoth or Sophia.
81 John 10, 11: "Neither bid him God speed" (A. V..): "give him no greeting" (R. V.)
82 Ephes. v. 11.
83 Eusebius in his brief notice of the Manichean heresy (Hist. Eccles. vii. 31) plays, like S. Cyril, upon the name Manes as well suited to a madman.
84 Marcus Aurelius Probus, Emperor A.D. 276-282, from being an obsucre Illyrian soldier came to be universally esteemed the best and noblest of the Roman Emperors.
85 Routh (R. S. V. p. 12) comes to the conclusion that the famous disputation between Manes and Archelaus took place between July and December, A.D. 277. Accordingly these Lectures, being "full 70 years" later, could not have been delivered before the Spring of A.D. 348.
86 Leo the Great (Serm. xv. cap. 4) speaks of the madness of the later Manichees as including all errors and impieties: "all profanity of Paganism, all blindness of the carnal Jews, the illicit secrets of the magic art, the sacrilege and blasphemy of all heresies, flowed together in that sect as into a sort of cess-pool of all filth." Leo summoned those whom they called the "elect." both men and women, before an assembly of Bishops and Presbyters, and obtained from these witnesses a full account of the execrable practices of the sect, in which, as he declares, "their law is lying, their religion the devil, their sacrifice obscenity."
87 Matt. iii. 7.
88 Ib. xxvi. 49.
89 Heb. iv. 16.
90 Cyril takes his account of Manes from the "Acta Archelai et Manetis Disputationis," of which Routh has edited the Latin translation together with the Fragments of the Greek preserved by Cyril in this Lecture and by Epiphanius. There is an English translation of the whole in Clark's "Ante-Nicene Christian Library."
91 The Saracens are mentioned by both Pliny and Ptolemy. See Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography.
92 There is no mention of Aristotle in the Acta Archelai, but Scythianus is stated (cap. li.) to have founded the sect in the time of the Apostles, and to have derived his duality of Gods from Pythagoras, and to have learned the wisdom of the Egyptians.
93 These four books are stated by Archelaus (Acta, cap. lii.), to have been written for Manes by his disciple Terebinthus.
94 In allusion to this name the history of the Disputation is called (Acta, cap. I.) "The true Treasure."
95 The true reading of this sentence, proairou/menon to\n skuqiano/n, instead of to\n pro/eirhme/non Sk., has been restored by Cleopas from the Ms. in the Archiepiscopal library at Jerusalem. This reading agrees with the statement in Acta Archel. cap. li.: "Scythianus thought of making an excursion into Judaea, with the purpose of meeting all those who had a reputation there as teachers; but it came to pass that he suddenly departed this life, without having been able to make any progress."
96 This statement agrees with the reading of the Vatican Ms. of the Acta Archelai, "omnibus quaecunque ejus fuerunt congregratis."
97 In the Acta there is no question of Palestine, but only that he "set out for Babylonia, a province which is now held by the Persians."
98 Clem. Alex. (Strom. i. 15): "Some also of the Indians obey the precepts of Boutta, and honour him as a god for his extraordinary sanctity."
99 Cf. Acta Arch. cap. lii.: "A certain Parcus, however, a prophet, and Labdacus, son of Mithras, charged him with falsehood." On the name Parcus and Labdacus, see Dict. Chr. Biogr., "Barcabbas," and on the Magian worship of the Sun-god Mithras, see Rawlinson (Herodot. Vol. I. p. 426).
100 See below, § 33.
101 Cf. Acta Arch. cap. liii."A boy about seven years old, named Corbicius."
102 See a different account in Dict. Chr. Biogr., "Manes."
103 Mark iii. 29.
104 Prov. xxx. 21, 22.
105 John xviii. 8.
106 Jonah i. 12.
107 The account of the discussion in this and the two following chapters is not now found in the Latin Version of the "Disputation," but is regarded by Dr. Routh as having been derived by Cyril from some different copies of the Greek. The last paragraph of § 29, "These mysteries, &c.," is evidently a caution addressed to the hearers by Cyril himself (Routh, Rell. Sac. V. 199).
108 Ps. v. 9.
109 Deut. iv. 24.
110 Luke xii. 49.
111 1 Sam. ii. 6.
112 Matt. xxv. 41.
113 Is. xlv. 7.
114 Matt. x. 34.
115 2 Cor. iv. 4, noh/mata, "thoughts."
116 2 Cor. iv. 3.
117 Matt. vii. 6.
118 Matt. xiii. 13. Both A. V. and R. V. follow the better reading: "because seeing they see not &c."
119 Matt. xiii. 15.
120 Ib. xxv. 29: Luke viii. 18.
121 Instead of the reading of the Benedictine and earlier editions, ei' de\ dei= kai\ w!j tinej e'chgou=ntai tou=to ei'pei=n, the Mss. Roe and Casaubon combine dei kai wj into the one word dikaiwj, which is probably the right reading. Something, however, is still wanted to complete the construction, and Petrus Siculus (circ A.D. 870) who quotes the passage in his History of the Manichees, boldly conjectures e!sti kai\ ou!twj ei'pei=n. A simpler emendation would be - ei\ de\ dikai/wj tine\j e'chgou=ntai, dei= touto ei'pei=n - which both completes the construction and explains the reading dei! kai\ w 9j.
122 noh/mata, 2 Cor. iv. 4.
123 Matt. xiii. 13.
124 Mark iv. 34.
125 See the note at the end of Procatechesis.
126 Disput. § 53. Compare the account of Manes in Socrates Eccles. Hist. I. 22, in this series.
127 The Gospel of Thomas, an account of the Childhood of Jesus, is extant in three forms, two in Greek and one in Latin: these are all translated in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library. The work is wrongly attributed by Cyril to a disciple of Manes, being mentioned long before Hippolytus (Refutation of all Heresies, V. 2) and by Origen (Hom. I. in Lucam): "There is extant also the Gospel according to Thomas."
128 In the Disputation § 9, Turbo describes these transformations: "Reapers must be transformed into hay, or beans, or barley, or corn, or vegetables, that they may be reaped and cut. Again if any one eats bread, he must become bread, and be eaten. If one kills a chicken, he will be a chicken himself. If one kills a mouse, he also will be a mouse."
129 See Turbo's confession, Disput. § 9: "And when they are going to eat bread, they first pray, speaking thus to the bread: `I neither reaped thee, nor ground thee, nor kneaded thee, nor cast thee into the oven: but another did these things and brought thee to me, and I am not to blame for eating thee.
130 On the rites of Baptism and Eucharist employed by the Manichees, see Dict. Chr. Biogr., Manichean
131 The original runs: Ou' tolmw= ei'pei=n, ti/ni e'mba/ptontej th\n i'sxa/da dido/asi toi=j a'qli/oij. dia\ sussh/mwn de\ mo/non dhlou/aqw. a!ndrej ga\r ta\ e'n toi=j e'nupniasmoi=j e'nqumei/sqwsin, kai\ gunai=kej ta\ e'n afe/droij. Miai/nomen a'lhquj to\ sto/ma k. t. l.
132 O me\n ga\r porneu/saj, pro\j mi/an w!ran d e'piqumi/an telei= th\n pra=cin0 kataginw/skwn de\ th!j pra/cewj w 9j mianqei\j oi\de loutrou= e'pideo/menoj, kai\ ginw/skei th=j pra\cewj to\ musaro/n. 9O de\ Manixai=oj qusiasthri/on me/son, ou\ nomi/zei, ti/qhsi tau=ta, kai\ miai/nei kai\ to\ sto/ma kai\ th\n glw=ttan. para\ toiou/ton sto/matoj, a!nqrwpe k. t. l.
133 ou\ nomi/zei. The Manichees boasted of their superiority to the Pagans in not worshipping God with altars, temples, images, victims, or incense (August. contra Faustum XX. cap. 15). Yet they used the names, as Augustine affirms (l. c. cap. 18): "Nevertheless I wish you would tell me why you call all those things which you approve in your own case by these names, temple, altar, sacrifice."
134 Ka'kei=noi peri\ ou'ranw=n ta\j dusfh/mouj e!xousi glw/ssaj. 0Ihsou=j le/gei peri\ tou= patro\j au'tou= Ostij to\u h$lion au'tou= a'nate/llei epi\ dikai/ouj kai\ a'di/kouj, kai= bre/xei e'pi\ ponhrou\j kai= a'goqou/j. ka'kei=noi le/gousin, o!ti oi 9 u 9etoi\ e'c e'rwtikh=j mani/aj gi/nontai, kai\ tolmw=si legein, o!tie'sti/ tij parQenoj e'n ou/ranw= eu'eidh\smeta\ neani/skou euQeidou=j, kai\ kata\ th\n tw=n kamhlw=n h@ lu/kwn kairo\n, tou\j th=j ai'sxra=j e'piqumi/aj kairou\j e!xein, kai\ kata\ th\n tou= xeimw=noj kairon, maniwdw=j au'to\n e'pitre/xein th= parqe/nw, kai\ thn me\n feu/gein fasi/, to\n de\ e'pitre/xein, ei\ta e'pitre/xonta idrou=n, a'po\ de\ tw=n i 9drw/twn au'tou= ei\/ai to\n u 9eto/n. Tau=ta ge/graptai e'n toi=j tw=n Manixai/wn Bibli/oij : tau=ta h 9mei=j a'ne/gnwmen, k. t. l.
135 2 Cor. vi. 14.
136 Gr. e'pisth/uh. See note on Introductory Lect. § 4.
137 Matt. v. 28.
138 semno/tatoj is the reading of the chief Mss. But the printed editions have semno/thtoj, comparing it with such phrases as sto/ma a'qeo/thtoj (vi. 15), and meta/noia th=j swthri/aj (xiv. 17).
139 This saying is quoted three times in the Clementine Homilies as spoken by our Lord. See Hom. II. § 51; III. § 50; XVIII. § 20 : "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 experience bankers. Now the need of bankers arises from the circumstance that the spurious is mixed up with the genuine."
On the same saying, quoted as Scripture in the Apostolic Constitutions (II. § 36), Cotelerius suggests that in oral tradition, or in some Apocryphal book, the proverb was said to come from the Old testament, and was added by some transcriber as a gloss in the margin of Matt. xxv. 27, or Luke xix. 23. Dionysius of Alexandria, Epist. VII., speaks of "the Apostolic word, which thus urges all who are endowed with greater virtue, `Be ye skillful money-changers,
140 Compare § 13 of this Lecture, where Cyril seems to refer especially to the heresy of Manes, as described in the Disputatio Archelai, cap. 6: "If you are desirous of being instructed in the faith of Manes, hear it briefly from me. That man worships two gods, unbegotten, self-originate, eternal, opposed one to the other. The one he represents as good, and the other as evil, naming the one Light, and the other Darkness."