Catechesis VI
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On the Unity of God "Be renewed unto me, you islands. Israel is saved by the Lord, saved forever! They shall never be put to shame or disgraced in future ages."!
(1) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."2 For, with the thought of God, let the thought of Father be joined, that Father and Son may be perfectly and indivisibly glorified. For the Father does not have one glory and the Son another, but both have one and the same. For as the Father's Only-begotten Son, when the Father is glorified, the Son shares in the glory. For the Son's glory stems from His Father's honor; and when in turn the Son is glorified, the Father of so blessed a Son is greatly honored.
(2) Now while the mind's thought is very swift, the tongue needs words and much intermediary discourse. The eye too takes in at once a great company of stars, but when a man wishes to isolate one in particular to identify the morning star, the evening star, and the other individual stars, he must discourse at length. Similarly, the mind in a twinkling comprehends earth and sea and all the bounds of the world. But that which it perceives in an instant it describes in many words. Now, however impressive the example I have given, it is still weak and feeble. For we say about God not what is due (for this is known to Him alone), but as much as man's nature grasps and our weakness can bear. For we do not declare what God is but we frankly confess that we have no lIsa. 45.16, 17 (Sept.).
2 2 Cor. 1.3.
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exact knowledge concerning Him. On the subject of God, it is great knowledge to confess our ignorance. "Glorify," then,
"the Lord with me; and let us together extol his name";3 all of us in union, for one does not suffice; nay, though all of us join together, it will still be inadequate. Nor do I mean you alone who are present, but even if all the children of the universal Church, present and future, should meet together, they could not sing worthily the praises of our Shepherd.
(3) Great and honorable was Abraham, but great in comparison with men; when he came nigh to God he acknowledged truthfully: "I am but earth and ashes."4 He did not say "earth" and stop there, to call himself by that great element, but added, "and ashes," that he might represent his own nature, prone to dissolution and corruption. Is there anything, he says, meaner or more insignificant than ashes?
For compare, he says, ashes with a house, a house with a city, a city with a province, a province with the Roman
Empire, the Roman Empire with the whole earth and all its bounds, and the whole earth with the heaven which encompasses it. The earth, compared to the heaven, is as the hub to the circumference of the wheel (for such is the proportion between earth and heaven); and consider that this first heaven which we see is smaller than the second, and the second smaller than the third; for thus far has Scripture named them,5 not because there are only so many, but because it was expedient for us to know only so many. When you have perceived all the heavens in the mind's eye, then even these will still be unable to praise God as He is, though they ring with a voice louder than thunder. But if such vast expanses of heavens cannot celebrate God worthily, how will earth and ashes, the smallest and least of substances, ever avail to hymn praises worthy of God, who "sits enthroned above the vaults of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers"?6
3 Ps.33.4.
4 Cf. Gen. 18.27.
5 Cf. 2 Cor. 12.2. Cyril speaks of three heavens but suggests there may be more. Some early writers mention three heavens, others seven.
6 Isa. 40.22.
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(4) If any man undertakes to speak of the attributes of God, let him first describe the bounds of the earth. Though you dwell on the earth you do not know the limit of your dwelling place; how then will you be able to form a worthy concept of its Creator? You see the stars, but their Maker you do not see; first, number the stars, which are seen, and then set forth Him who is not seen; "He tells the number of the stars; he calls each by name."7 The recent violent rains all but destroyed us; number the drops of rain in this city alone; rather, not in the city, but number the drops which fell upon your own house in a single hour, if you can. But since you cannot, you acknowledge your own weakness. From this learn the power of God. For "he has numbered the raindrops"B poured down upon the whole earth, not only now but through all time. The sun is a work of God, great indeed, but very small compared to the whole heavens. Fix your attention on the sun first, and then inquire assiduously about its Lord. "What is too sublime for you seek not; into things beyond your strength search not. What is committed to you, attend to."9
(5) But someone will say: if the Divine Nature is incomprehensible, then why do you discourse about these things? Well then, because I cannot drink up the whole stream, am I not even to take in proportion to my need? Or because I cannot take in all the sunlight owing to the constitution of my eyes, am I not even to gaze upon what is sufficient for my wants? On entering a vast orchard, because I cannot eat all the fruit therein, would you have me go away completely hungry? I praise and glorify Him who made us; for it is a divine command which says: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lordl"lo I am endeavoring now to glorify the Lord, not to describe Him, though I know that I shall fall short of glorifying Him worthily; still I consider
7 Ps. 146.4.
8 Job 36.27 (Sept.).
9 Ecclus. (Sir.) 3.20, 21.
10 Ps. 150.6.
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it a godly work to try all the same. For the Lord Jesus encourages my weakness when He says: "No one has at any time seen God." 11
(6) But, I shall be told, is it not written: "The angels of the little ones always behold the face of my Father in heaven"?12 The angels see God, not as He is, but in the measure of their capacity. For it is Jesus Himself who says:
"Not that anyone has seen the Father except him who is from God, he has seen the Father."13 Angels see according to their capacity and the archangels as they are able; and the Thrones and Dominations in a greater measure than the former, but still less than God's real being. Only the Holy
Spirit, together with the Son, can behold Him perfectly. For He "searches all things, even the deep things of God";14 just as even the Only-begotten Son, together with the Holy Spirit, knows the Father perfectly. "Nor does anyone know the Father," He says, "except the Son and him to whom the Son reveals Him."15 For He beholds Him fully and, through the Holy Spirit, reveals God according to the capacity of each; since the Only-begotten Son, together with the Holy Spirit, is a partaker of the Godhead of the Father. He who was begotten without passion16 from all eternity knows Him who begot, and He who begot knows Him who is begotten. Since then angels are ignorant (for to each, according to his individual capacity, does the Only-begotten reveal, with and through the Holy Spirit, as we have said), let no man be ashamed to confess his ignorance. I am speaking now, and all do on occasion, yet how we speak we cannot tell; how then can I describe Him who gave the power of speech? How shall I, who have a soul and yet cannot declare its characteristics, set forth its Giver?
II John 1.18.
12 Cf. Matt. 18.10.
13 John 6.46.
14 I Cor. 2.10.
15 Matt. 11.27.
16 "Without passion" refers especially to the immutability of God.
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(7) This alone will be a sufficient incentive to piety, to know that we have a God, a God who is One, a God who is, who is eternal, who is ever the self-same, with no father, no one mightier than Himself, no successor to drive Him out of His kingdom, who is honored under many names, is allpowerful, and uniform in substance. For although He is called Good, and Just and Omnipotent, and Sabaoth, this does not mean He is diverse;17 but being One and the same,
He fathers the countless operations of the Godhead; not abounding on one side and deficient on another, but being in all things like unto Himself; not great in loving-kindness and little in wisdom, but possessing wisdom and lovingkindness in like measure; not seeing in part and in part deprived of sight, but being all eye and all ear and all mind; not as we, knowing in part and in part ignorant, for such an assertion were blasphemous and unworthy of the Divine
Nature. He has foreknowledge of the things that are, and is Holy and Omnipotent, and surpasses all in goodness and greatness and wisdom. Of Him we can declare neither form nor shape. For "you have never heard his voice, nor seen his face,"18 says Scripture. Therefore, Moses says to the Israelites:
"Be strictly on your guard" because "you saw no form at all."19 For, if it is quite impossible to imagine His likeness, how will thought ever come near His substance?
(8) Many have been the imaginings of many men, but all have failed. Some have thought God to be fire, others like a man with wings, because of the perverse interpretation of a text true in itself: "Hide me in the shadow of your wings."2o
They have forgotten that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Onlybegotten, spoke in similar terms concerning Himself to Jerusalem: "How often would I have gathered thy children
17 Cyril stresses the various titles and attributes of God not merely to refute the heretics but also to protect the more simple among his hearers.
18 John 5.37.
19 Deut.4.15.
20 Ps. 16.8.
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together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but thou wouldst not."21 For, while His protective power is compared to wings, these men, not understanding, and falling to the level of human things, conceived His unsearchable being in terms of human experience. Others have ventured to say that He has seven eyes, because it is written: " ... seven ... eyes of the Lord that range over the whole earth."22
For, if seven eyes, and no more, encircle Him, then He sees in part only and not perfectly, and to say this is blasphemous.
For we must believe that God is perfect in all things, according to the saying of the Savior: "Your heavenly Father is perfect";23 perfect in sight, perfect in power, perfect in greatness, perfect in foreknowledge, perfect in goodness, perfect in justice, perfect in loving-kindness; not limited by space, but the Creator of space, existing in all things but circumscribed by none. The heaven is His throne, but He who sits thereon is above it; the earth His footstool,24 but His power extends even to the things beneath the earth.
(9) He is One, everywhere present, seeing all things, understanding all things, fashioning all things through Christ. He is a fountainhead of all good, immense and unfailing, a stream of blessings, light eternal shining unceasingly, power insuperable, condescending to our infirmities; we cannot endure even His name. "Wilt thou find the footstep of God," says
Job, "or hast thou attained to the least things which the Almighty hath made?"25 If the very least of His works are not comprehended, will He who made all things be comprehended? "Eye has not see nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him."26 If the things God has prepared are beyond our comprehension, can we comprehend Him who 21 Matt. 23.27.
22 Zach. 4.10.
23 Matt. 5.48.
24 Cf. Acts 7.49.
25 Job 11.7 (Sept.).
26 I Cor. 2.9.
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has prepared them? "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!"27 If His judgments and ways are incomprehensible, will He Himself be comprehended?
(10) Though God is so great, and even still greater (for if I were to become all tongue, not even then could I speak of Him adequately; nay, more, not even if all angels should gather together, could they speak of Him adequately); though
He is so great, in goodness and majesty, man said to the stone he had himself graven: "Thou art my God."28 0 monstrous blindness, to descend from such majesty to such baseness! The tree which God planted and rain increased, and which afterwards is burned and turned into glowing ashes, this is proclaimed God, while the true God is despised. The wickedness of idolatry abounded still more, and cat and dog29 and wolf were worshiped instead of God; and the man-eating lion was adored instead of the most loving God. Snake and dragon, counterparts of him who caused us to be driven from paradise, were worshiped, while He who planted paradise was scorned. I am ashamed to say it, but say it I will, even onions have been worshiped among some.30 Wine was given
"to gladden men's hearts,"Sl and Dionysus was worshiped in the place of God. God made corn by saying: "Let the earth bring forth vegetation, yielding seed after its kind,"s2 "that bread may fortify man's heart."ss Why then was Demeter worshiped? Even today we still strike fire from flint; how then was Hephaestus the creator of fire?
(II) Whence arose the polytheistic error of the Greeks? God is incorporeal; whence, then, the charges of adultery against 27 Rom. 11.33.
28 Isa.44.17.
29 At Cat. 13.40 Cyril refers to the cult of cat and dog specifically in Egypt.
30 Cf. ]uv., Sat. 15.7ff.
31 Ps. 103.15.
32 Gen. 1.11 (Sept.).
33 Cf. Ps. 103.15.
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their so·called gods? I say nothing about the changes of Zeus into a swan; I am ashamed to speak of his transformation into a bull, for bellowings are unworthy of a god. The god of the Greeks has been proven an adulterer, but they are not ashamed; yet if he is an adulterer, let him not be called a god. They tell of deaths among their gods, and expulsions and thunderbolts. Do you see from what majesty to what depths they have descended? Was it for nothing, then, that the Son of God came down from heaven to heal so great a wound? Was it for nothing that the Son came that the Father might be acknowledged? You realize what it was that moved the Only·begotten to descend from the throne of God's right hand. The Father was being scorned; it behooved the Son to correct the error; it behooved Him, through whom all things were made, to offer them all to the Lord of all. The wound had to be healed; stones were being given the worship due to God: could man's sickness go further?
(12) But apart from these diabolic onslaughts among the pagans, many also of those "Christians" who misappropriate
Christ's sweet name have dared in their impiety to separate God from His own creatures.34 I am referring to the accursed, irreligious brood of heretics, who, while they pretend to be lovers of Christ, hate Him utterly. For he who speaks ill of the Father of Christ is an enemy of the Son. These men have dared to speak of two godheads, one good and one evil. o monstrous blindness! If a Godhead, it is surely good; if it is not good, why is it called Godhead? For, if goodness belongs to God, if loving.kindness, beneficence, omnipotence, are proper to God, then let them choose one of two things: either let them call Him God and then give Him the reality along with the name; or if they must deny Him the reality, let them not bestow the empty title.
(13) Heretics have dared to speak of two Gods and two primal sources of good and evil, respectively. If both were
34 In chapters 12·32 Cyril gives a short history of heresy beginning with Simon Magus. The chapters on Mani (21·32) make fascinating reading.
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primal and un created, both would be equal, both mighty; but how is it, then, that the light destroys darkness? Further, are they in the same place, or apart? They cannot be together, for "what fellowship has light with darkness?"35 says the Apostle. But if they are far from each other, then surely each has its own place. But if they have their own private places, then it is obvious that we are in the dominion of the One
God and worship one God. So we must conclude, even if we give assent to the foolish doctrine of these men, that we must worship one God. Now let us inquire what they say about the good God. Is He powerful, or does He lack power? If He possesses power, how did evil originate against His will?
How does the evil substance intrude itself without His consent? For, if He knows but cannot hinder it, they charge
Him with impotence; but if He can and does not hinder it, they accuse Him of wantonness. See how illogical they are: at one time they say that the evil God has nothing in common with the good God in the creation of the world, but at other times that he has a quarter part. They say also that the good God is the Father of Christ, whom they identify with our sun. If, then, our universe, on their theory, was made by the evil God, and the sun is in the universe, how does the Son of the good God serve against His will in the realm of the evil God? Even to speak of these blasphemous doctrines is a sort of defilement, but speak I must, if I am to save someone perhaps present from falling, through ignorance, into the mire of heresy. I know I have profaned my own mouth and your ears, but it is for the best. For it is far better to listen to others exposing these absurdities, if it saves you from falling victims to them yourselves out of ignorance. Better to know the quagmire and hate it than blindly to plunge into it. The history of godless heresies is a maze; to stray from the one straight way is to find oneself faced with precipices at every step.
(14) The inventor of all heresy was Simon Magus; that 35 2 Cor. 6.14.
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Simon who, in the Acts of the Apostles,3s thought he could buy with money the gift of the Holy Spirit, that is beyond price, and who heard these words: "Thou hast no part or lot in this matter," ... ;37 to whom the text applies: "They have gone forth from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would surely have continued with US."38 After his rejection by the Apostles he came to Rome and, winning over a harlot, Helena, he first dared to say with impious mouth that it was he who had appeared as the Father on Mount Sinai; that afterwards among the Jews, not in the flesh, but in semblance, he had appeared as Christ Jesus; and after this as the Holy Spirit, whom Christ had promised to send as the Advocate. So successfully did he impose upon the inhabitants of the imperial city that Claudius set up his statue, writing beneath it in the Roman tongue: SIMONI
DEO SANCTO, that is, "To Simon the Holy God."39
(15) But when the deception was gaining ground, that noble pair, Peter and Paul, the champions of the Church, arrived on the scene and saved the day; and the supposed god
Simon, as he was displaying his powers, they promptly showed to be no better than a dead man. For when Simon publicly announced that he was to be carried up into the heavens, and was actually borne through the air in a demon's chariot, the servants of Christ, falling on their knees and manifesting that concord of which Jesus said: "If two of you shall agree ... about anything at alI" for which they ask, it shall be done for them,"40 they hurled against Simon the weapon of united prayer and struck him down to earth. And no wonder, though it was wonderful. For Peter was there, the keeper of the keys of heaven.41 No wonder, too, ~or Paul was there; he who had been "caught up to the third heaven"
36 Cf. Acts 8.18, 19.
37 Acts 8.21.
38 1 John 2.19.
39 Justin Martyr (Apol. 2.69, 94) is the authority for this story, apparently confusing Simon with a Sabine divinity, Semo Sancus.
40 Matt. 18.19.
41 Cf. Matt. 16.19.
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and "into paradise, and heard secret words that man may not repeat."42 They brought down that supposed god from the sky to earth, to be led thence to the realms beneath the earth.
This man was the first dragon of wickedness; but when one head had been cut off, the stem of wickedness proved to be many-headed.
(16) The Church was ravaged by Cerinthus, Menander, and Carpocrates; also by the Ebionites and by that mouthpiece of impiety, Marcion. For he who preaches different gods, one the good and another the just, contradicts the Son who says: "Just Father."43 Again, anyone who differentiates between Father and Creator sets himself against the Son when
He says: "But if God so clothes the grass which today is alive in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven";44 and "Who makes his sun to rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust."45 There followed
Marcion, a deviser of fresh mischief. He was the first to dare to cut out the Old Testament testimonies cited in the New-for these brought him to naught-and to leave the preaching of the word without witness. He fancied he had disposed of God with a pair of scissors, and hoped thus to corrupt the faith of the Church-as if there were no kerygmatic tradition to be reckoned with.46
(17) Still another succeeded him, Basilides, of evil name, a formidable customer, a preacher of licentiousness.47 Valentinus vied in iniquity with his doctrine of thirty deities.48
The Greeks do not name so many but Valentinus, a Christian in name only, brought the tally up to thirty. According to him
Bythos, the Abyss (for it was fitting that he who is the abyss 42 2 Cor. 12.2·4.
43 John 17.25.
44 Luke 12.28.
45 Matt. 5.45.
46 Marcion denied the Gospels. except that of St. Luke. which he mutilated. He represented the Old and New Testaments as revelations of two different gods.
47 On Basilides. cf. Irenaeus. Adv. haer. 1.24.31£.
48 On Valentin us. cf. ibid. 1.1.1.
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of iniquity should base his doctrine on the Abyss), begot Silence, and of Silence begot the Word. This Bythos was worse than the Greeks' Zeus who was united to his sister, for Silence was said to be the daughter of Bythos. There you have absurdity cloaked with a semblance of Christianity. In a moment you will be filled with loathing at his impiety. For he says that there were begotten of this Bythos eight Aeons, and of these ten more, and of these still another twelve, male and female. What proof does he offer of these things? Recognize their nonsense from the arguments they invent. Your proof of the thirty Aeons? It is Holy Writ that Jesus was baptized when He was thirty years of age.49 But what argument is there from the thirty years, even if we grant that He was baptized when He was thirty? Are there five gods because
He broke five loaves among five thousand? Or because He had twelve disciples, must there be also twelve gods?
(18) This however is mere trifling compared to the rest of his impieties. For he says that the last of the deities, which he dares to say is a hermaphrodite, is Wisdom. 0 what impiety! For Christ is "the wisdom of God,"50 His Only-begotten
Son. But Valentinus in his doctrine reduced the Wisdom of God to the female sex, and a thirtieth element, and a last creation. He adds that Wisdom attempted to look upon the first God and, not being able to endure His brightness, fell from the heavens and was cast out of the thirtieth place; then she groaned and of her groans begot the devil; and she wept over her fall and by her tears she produced the sea. Is not that plain impiety? For how is the devil begotten of wisdom? and wickedness of prudence? or darkness of light? He adds that the devil begot others who made the world; and that Christ came to lead men in rebellion against the Creator of the world.
(19) Now let me tell you what account they give of Christ, that you may loathe them all the more. For they teach that 49 Cf. Luke 3.23.
50 1 Cor. 1.24.
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after Wisdom fell, that the number of the thirty might not be incomplete, the twenty-nine Aeons, each contributing a small element, produced the Christ; and He too, they say, is hermaphrodite. Could anything be more impious? anything more pitiful? I am detailing their error to you that you may loathe them the more. Therefore, shun such impiety; you are not to salute such people, that you may "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness";51 do not be over curious nor wish to enter into conversation with them.
(20) Abhor all heretics, but especially him who has the manic name, who arose not long ago under the Emperor
Probus. It is a matter of seventy years since the error originated, and there are men living today who saw Mani with their own eyes. But it is not simply because he lived so recently that you are to abhor the scoundrel; no, but for his impious doctrines, this vessel of all uncleanness, this garbagebin of all the heresies. For, conceiving the ambition to be pre-eminent in evils, combining all into a single heresy brimful of blasphemies and all iniquity, he proceeded to ravage the Church, or rather, those outside the Church, like a lion going about and devouring. 52 Heed not their fair speaking or their mock humility; for they are serpents, a "brood of vipers."o3 Remember that when Judas said, "Hail,
Rabbi,"54 the salutation was an act of betrayal. Don't be deceived by the kiss, but beware of the venom.
(21) To avoid giving the impression of groundless accusations, allow me to digress in order to explain who this
Mani is and to give an account, however incomplete, of his doctrines. For all time could not adequately describe all his foul teaching. You must store up in your memory, to be a help at need, the instruction imparted to former classes and now to be repeated to you; so what I shall say by way of 51 Eph.5.1I.
52 Cf. 1 Peter 5.8.
53 Matt. 3.7.
54 Matt. 26.49.
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instructing the uninformed will serve also to refresh the memory of the instructed. Mani is not of Christian origin,
God forbid! Nor was he, like Simon Magus, cast out of the Church, neither he, nor the teachers before him; for he is a plagiarist of bad authors, and makes their wickedness his own. But how and in what manner, you must hear.
(22) There was in Egypt a certain Scythianus, a Saracen by race, having nothing in common with Judaism or Christianity. Having settled at Alexandria, where he emulated the life of Aristotle, Scythianus composed four books. One he styled a Gospel, although, in spite of the title, it did not contain the acts of Christ; another he called Chapters, and a third Mysteries, and a fourth still being hawked about, the Treasure. This man had a disciple named Terebinthus. Scythianus had determined to come into Judaea and to ravage the region, but the Lord, causing his death by disease, put an end to the plague.
(23) Terebinthus, his disciple in wickedness, being the heir of his gold, his books, and his heresy, came to Palestine, but, on being recognized and condemned in Judaea, he decided to cross over into Persia. To prevent his name betraying him there too, he called himself Buddas. But in Persia also he found adversaries in the ministers of Mithras. Worsted in many arguments and discussions, and at last hard pressed, he sought refuge with a certain widow. Going up on to the roof of her house, and calling upon the demons of the air, which even to this day the Manichaeans invoke over their abominable ceremony of the fig, he was struck by God, cast down from the roof, and gave up the ghost. Thus was the second wild beast cut off.
(24) But the books, the records of his impiety, remained, and the widow became heir to these and to his money. Without relatives and being, indeed, alone in the world, she determined to purchase a boy named Cubricus with the money.
Adopting him, she instructed him as a son in the lore of the
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Persians and thus sharpened a deadly weapon against mankind. Cubricus, the poor house slave, made a brilliant debut in learned circles. Upon the widow's death he inherited her property, including the library. Then, to escape the reproach of his slave name, Cubricus, he changed it to Mani, which in Persian means "discourse." For, since he had some reputation as a dialectician, he styled himself Mani, as one might say,
"prince of talkers." But although his efforts thus secured for him a great name (at least in Persian), Providence so contrived it that he unwittingly pronounced sentence upon himself; for his fancy Persian name proclaimed him, in Greekspeaking countries, a maniac.
(25) He dared to say that he was the Advocate, though it is written: "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness."55 He blasphemed, then, in saying he was the Holy Spirit. Let the man who associates with such heretics see what company he is joining. The servant boy shook the world, since, "Under three things the earth trembles, yes, and under a fourth it cannot bear up: under a slave, when be becomes king . . ."56 Once launched on a public career, Mani pretended to superhuman powers. The son of the king of the Persians was sick, and throngs of physicians were in constant attendance; but Mani promised, as a man of piety, to restore him by prayer. The physicians departed, and with them the life of the child. The impious character of the man was detected, and our fine philosopher was put in chains and cast into prison, not for reproving the king concerning truth, not for shattering the idols, but for the lying promise to save the king's son, or rather, if the truth be told, for committing murder. For, when the child might have been saved by medical treatment, be became his murderer by sending away the physicians, since by denying him medical care, he caused his death.
(26) In this catalog of crimes remember, first, his blas55 Mark 3.29.
56 Provo 30.21, 22.
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phemy; second, his slavery-not that slavery is a disgrace, but it is wicked for a slave to pretend he is free; third, his lying promise; fourth, the child's murder; fifth, the disgrace of imprisonment. Beside the disgrace, there was the flight from the prison. For the self-styled "Advocate" and champion of the truth ran away. He was no successor of Jesus, who went eagerly to the cross, but the very opposite, a runaway. Then, the king of the Persians ordered the guards of the prison to be executed. Mani, by his arrogance, was responsible for the death of the child and, by his flight, for the death of his jailers. Ought an accessory to murder be worshiped? Should he not have imitated Jesus and said: "If, therefore, you seek me, let these go their way."57 Should he not have said, like Jona: "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," for "it is because of me that this violent storm has come upon yoU."58
(27) Escaping from prison, Mani went to Mesopotamia.
But there, he encountered a shield of justice in the person of Bishop Archelaus, who convened a gathering of Gentiles and arraigned him before a jury of philosophers, for he saw that the verdict of Christians might savor of bias. "Tell us what you preach," said Archelaus to Mani. But he whose "throat was an open grave,"59 began first with blasphemy against the Creator, saying: "The God of the Old Testament is the inventor of evils, saying of Himself: I, God, am 'a consuming fire.' "60 Then the wise Archelaus refuted the blasphemy with these words: "If the God of the Old Testament, as you say, calls Himself fire, whose Son is He who says: 'I have come to cast fire upon the earth'?61 If you find fault with Him who says: The Lord killeth and maketh alive,'62 why do you honor Peter, who raised up Tabitha, but visited death upon 57 John 18.8.
58 Jona 1.12.
59 Cf. Ps. 5.10.
60 Deut. 4.24.
61 Luke 12.49.
62 1 Kings 2.6.
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Sapphira?63 1£, again, you find fault because He invented fire, why do you not find fault with Him who says: 'Depart from me . . . into the everlasting fire'?64 1£ you find fault with Him who says: 'I (am God who) make well-being and create woe,'65 explain how Jesus says: 'I have come to bring a sword, not peace:66 Since both speak alike, take your choice: either both are good because of their agreement, or if Jesus, in saying these things, is free from blame, why do you censure Him who in the Old Testament speaks in like manner?"
(28) Mani returned to the charge, saying: "What sort of God is it who causes blindness? For it is Paul who says:
'In their case the god of this world has blinded their unbelieving minds, that they should not see the light of the gospel: "67 But Archelaus made a good rejoinder: "Go back a little, to the verse, 'And if our gospel also is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing:68 It is in the case of the perishing, you see, that it is veiled. For holy things must not be given to dogs. GD Besides, is it only the God of the Old Testament who blinded the minds of unbelievers? Did not Jesus Himself say: 'This is why I speak to them in parables, in order that seeing they may not see'?70 Was it out of hate that He wished them not to see? Or because of the impropriety, when they had closed their own eyes?71 For where there is deliberate wickedness, there is also a withholding of grace: 'For to everyone that hath shall be given';
'but from him who does not have, even that which he seems to have shall be taken away: "72
63 Cf. Acts 9.36; 5.10.
64 Matt. 25.41.
65 Isa.45.7.
66 Matt. 10.34.
67 2 Cor. 4.4.
68 Ibid. 4.3.
69 Cf. Matt. 7.6.
70 Cf. Matt. 13.13; Luke 13.10.
71 Matt. 13.15.
72 Matt. 25.29.
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(29) Possibly we should take the passage, as some laudably interpret it, thus: Though He has blinded their unbelieving minds, He has bJinded them for a good purpose, that they may look to what is good. Paul did not say: He blinded their soul, but "their unbelieving minds." The verse will then mean: "Blind the lustful thoughts of the lustful man, and he is saved; blind the tendency of the robber to plunder and steal, and the man is saved." You will not understand it so? Then there is yet another interpretation. The sun blinds people suffering from poor sight, and those with weak eyes are distressed and blinded by its light; not that the sun of its nature is blinding, but because the human eye cannot look upon it. Similarly, unbelievers, whose sickness is of the heart, cannot look upon the splendor of the Godhead. He did not say: He blinded their minds that they should not hear the gospel, but "that they should not see the light of the glory of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."73 For all may hear the Gospel, but the glory of the Gospel is reserved for those only who are truly Christ's. We find the Lord speaking in parables to them who could not hear, but to His disciples in private He explained the parables. What the enlightened see as a radiant glory dazzles and blinds the unbeliever.
These mysteries which the Church now explains to you who are passing from the ranks of the catechumens are not customarily explained to heathens. For, not before heathens do we declare the mysteries concerning Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, nor do we speak openly of the mysteries before the catechumens. But many things we often speak of covertly, that the faithful who know may understand, but those who do not know may suffer no harm.
(30) By these and many similar arguments was the serpent worsted. Such were the contests in which Archelaus wrestled with Mani and threw him. Our prison-breaker and runaway
73 Cf. 2 Cor. 4.4.
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now took to his heels again and, giving his adversary the slip, came to an obscure hamlet, like the serpent in paradise when he left Adam and approached Eve. But the good shepherd, Archelaus, in his provident care for his flock, when he heard of his flight, at once started in hot pursuit of the wolf. Catching sight of his opponent, Mani in a flash was up and off once more-but on his last flight from justice.
For the royal guards, raising a hue and cry, caught the runaway, and he met at their hands the fate which by rights should have been his at Archelaus' tribunal. Mani, the venerable object of his disciples' worship, was seized and conducted to the king. The king upbraided him for lying and running away, mocked his slavish condition, exacted vengeance for the murder of his son, and held him guilty of the blood of the jailers. He ordered Mani to be flayed in the Persian fashion. While the rest of his body was given over to be food for wild beasts, his skin, the tenement of that vile spirit, was hung up before the gates like a sack. He who called himself the "Advocate" and professed a knowledge of the future, did not foresee his own flight and capture.
(31) Mani had three disciples, Thomas and Baddas and Hermas. Let none read the gospel according to Thomas, for it is the work, not of one of the twelve Apostles, but of one of Mani's three wicked disciples. Let no man attach himself to the soul-destroying Manichaeans, who affect the austerity of fasting on bran and water, and, while they malign the Creator of meats, gorge themselves with the daintiest; who teach that he who plucks this or that plant is changed into it.
If the man who cuts herbs or any vegetable is transformed into the same, into how many different plants will farmers and gardeners be changed? We daily see the gardener using his sickle on a great variety of such plants; into which will he be transformed? The doctrine is obviously ludicrous, shameful, self-condemned. Suppose a shepherd successively sacrifices a sheep and kills a wolf; into which, tell me, is he changed?
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Many men have netted fish and snared birds; into which of their victims are the hunters changed?
(32) Manichaeans, those scions of sloth, who will not work themselves yet eat up the fruits of those who do, receive with smiling countenances those who bring them food, and repay them with curses instead of blessings. For when some simple soul offers them anything, the Manichaean says: "Stand off a little, and I will bless you." Then, taking the loaf in his hands (as converts from the sect have confessed), he says: "I did not make you"; next, he heaps maledictions upon the Most High, curses the Maker of the bread, and finally eats it.
If you hate the food, why did you look with smiling countenance upon the bearer? If you are grateful, why do you blaspheme God, who made and created it? Next, "I did not sow you," he says, "may he be sown who sowed youl I did not reap you with sickle; let him be reaped who reaped youl
I did not bake you; may he be baked who baked youl" A fine thanksgiving indeed!
(33) These are great evils, but small compared with the rest. I dare not describe their baptism before men and women.
I do not dare say in what they dip the fig they give to their wretched communicants. I can indicate it only indirectly; let men think of the delusive dreams of the night, and women of the menses. In truth, we defile our lips in speaking of such things. Are Greeks more detestable than they? Are
Samaritans more impious? Are Jews more profane? Are fornicators more impure? For the fornicator satisfies his lust in an hour, but soon condemns his deeds, realizing that, as one defiled, he is in need of washing, and he acknowledges the foulness of his action. But the Manichaean puts his macabre offering in the middle of the "altar," and defiles his lips and his tongue. Who would accept instruction from such lips? Who would, under any circumstances, kiss him on meeting? Quite apart from the sin against religion that that would involve, will you not shun the defilement and men
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worse than profligates, and more abominable than any prostitute?
(34) This is the Church's traditional instruction; she touches the mire to save you from defilement. She speaks of the wounds to save you from actual wounds. For you the knowledge is enough; avoid the experience. God thunders and we all tremble, but they blaspheme. God hurls lightnings and we fall to the ground, but they utter maledictions about heaven. Jesus says of His Father: "Who makes his sun to rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and unjust."74 But they say the rains arise from erotic passion; and they dare to say that there is a beautiful maiden with a beautiful youth in heaven; and in the way of the camel and the wolf, they have seasons of base desire, so that, in the winter time, the youth rushes furiously after the maiden, while she flees; he pursues her and, in pursuing her, sweats, and from his sweat comes the rain. These things are written in the books of the Manichaeans. We have read them there ourselves, not believing those who told us of them; for your safety we have made a thorough examination of their pernicious doctrines.
(35) May the Lord save you from such error, and may a hatred of the serpent be granted you that, as they lie in wait for your heel, you may crush their head.75 Be mindful of my words. What agreement can there be between your affairs and theirs? What fellowship has light with darkness,76 or the majesty of the Church with the abomination of the Mani· chaeans? Here is order, here is discipline, here is majesty, here is purity, here it is a sin to look upon a woman with lust;77 here is the high holiness of marriage, here steadfast continence, and the angelic dignity of virginity; here men give thanks when they eat, showing courtesy to the Creator
74 Cf. Matt. 5.45.
75 Cf. Gen. 3.15.
76 Cf. 2 Cor. 6.14.
77 Cf. Matt. 5.28.
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of all things. Here the Father of Christ is worshiped; here are inculcated fear and trembling of Him who sends the rain; here we sing the praises of Him who causes thunder and lightning.
(36) Abide with the flock; flee from the wolves; depart not from the Church. Shun too those suspected of such things, and unless you are satisfied of their lasting repentance, do not be hasty in trusting yourself to them. The truth of the Unity of God has been delivered to you; distinguish the pastures of doctrines one from another. Be a sound banker, holding fast that which is good, and abstaining from every kind of evil,78 If at any time you were such as they, now that you have acknowledged your error, abhor it. There is a way of salvation if you spew forth the vomit, if you hate it from the heart, if you turn away from them, not only with your lips, but with your soul; if you worship the Father of Christ, the God of the Law and the Prophets; if you acknowledge the Good and the Just to be one and the same God. May He keep all of you, protecting you from falling and stumbling, firm in the Faith, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
78 Cf. 1 Thess. 5.21, 22.