On The Holy Scriptures
CATECHESIS 4: For candidates for baptism On the Ten Dogmas
Reading: Col 2.8ff: ‘See that no one carries you off through philosophy and empty trickery, according to human tradition, according to the elements of the world…’
1 Vice imitates virtue, and cockle strives to be taken for wheat; but though it looks like wheat, it is betrayed to the discerning by its taste. The devil too changes his appearance to that of an angel of light (cf. 2 Cor 11.14) —not in order to return to the place he came from, but to snare those who live like angels with a blind darkness and a pestilential condition of unbelief. Many wolves go around in sheep's clothing (cf. Mt 7.15); their clothing is that of sheep, but not their claws and their teeth. As they wear the fleece of tame animals, their appearance can deceive the innocent, but their fangs drip with the venom of their impiety. Therefore we need divine grace and a sober mind and seeing eyes, lest, taking cockle for wheat, we eat it in ignorance and come to harm; or mistaking the wolf for a sheep, we become his prey; or assuming the malignant devil to be a good angel, we be devoured. For ‘he goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour’, as Scripture says (1 Pet 5.8). This is the reason for the Church's warnings, for the present instructions, and for the readings which take place.
2 Two things make up a devout way of life: holy dogmas and good works. Just as dogmas without good works are not pleasing to God, so too God does not accept works performed without holy doctrines. For what use is it to have a fine knowledge of the dogmas about God and to be a shameless fornicator? Conversely, what use is the most admirable self-control, if one is an impious blasphemer? Therefore knowledge of the dogmas is a great treasure; it requires a sober mind, for there are many who try to ‘carry you off though philosophy and empty trickery’ (Col 2.8). The Greeks lead one astray by rhetoric, for honey drips from the lips of a harlot; the people of circumcision, on the other hand, deceive their followers by false interpretations of Scripture, which they practise from childhood to old age, growing old in their ignorance. The disciples of the heretics deceive the hearts of the innocent by clever talk and rhetoric; they use the name of Christ like honey to disguise, as it were, the poisoned darts of their impious doctrines. The Lord's words apply to all of these alike: ‘See that no one leads you astray’ (Mt 24.4). This is why you are taught the Creed and have it explained to you.
3 However, before our presentation concerning the Creed, it seems to me a good idea now to provide a concise summary of the necessary dogmas, in case the length of my instructions and the intervening days of holy Lent should lead the simpler-minded among you to forget them. Nevertheless, while we sow the seed thinly in a summary fashion now, we must not lose sight of these teachings when we cultivate them more widely later. At the same time we ask those in the congregation who are more advanced in disposition and whose instincts are already trained to discern right from wrong, to be patient when they hear an introductory talk about more childish things which is like milk for babies. In this way those who need instruction will receive what they need, while those who know these things already will be able to rekindle the memory of what they have already learnt.
ON GOD
4 So to begin with, let your soul have the dogma concerning God as its foundation. There is one God, who is unique, unbegotten, without beginning or change or alteration. He was not begotten by another, and has no one who will succeed to his life. He did not begin his life in time, nor will he ever end it. He is good and just. So if you ever hear a heretic saying that one God is just and another good, you will immediately remember what I say and recognize the poisoned dart. For some people have presumed in their blasphemous teaching to divide the one God: some have distinguished between two Lords and creators, of the soul and bodies respectively—a foolish and irreverent doctrine. For how can one person become the servant of two masters, when the Lord says in the gospels: ‘No one can serve two masters’ (Mt 6.24)? God is therefore one and unique, the Maker of both souls and bodies. The one Creator of heaven and earth is also the Maker of angels and archangels. Though Creator of many beings, he is the eternal Father of one alone, his one, Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom he made all things, both visible and invisible.
5 He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is not circumscribed in space or smaller than the sky. No, the heavens are the work of his fingers, and he holds the whole earth in his grasp (cf. Ps 8.4 (8.3); Is 40.12). He is in everything and outside everything. Do not imagine he is smaller than the sun or its equal; for the one who made the sun ought rather to be, in the first place, incomparably greater and brighter. He foresees the future and is more powerful than anything; he knows everything and acts as he will; he is not subject to the succession of things, or to generation or chance or fate. In everything he is complete, and he contains equally every form of perfection. He does not grow lesser or greater, but is always identical and the same. He has prepared punishment for sinners and rewards for the righteous.
6 Many have strayed away from the one God in various ways: some have made God out to be the sun, so that when the sun sets, they remain godless throughout the night; others have made him out to be the moon, so that they have no God by day; some the other parts of the universe; some the arts; some foods; some pleasures. Some in their lust for women set up on high the statue of a naked woman calling it Aphrodite, and worshipped passion under this visible form. Others have been so smitten by the brightness of gold that they have made a god of it and of other substances. However, if from the beginning you set the teaching about God's undivided power as a foundation in your heart and believe it, you will cut out at a stroke all the corrupting evils of idolatry and heretical error. So in faith set this first doctrine of religion in your soul as a foundation.
ON CHRIST
7 Believe too in God's one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God begotten by God, Life begotten by Life, Light begotten by Light, like in everything to the one who begot him. He did not begin to be in time, but was begotten by the Father before all ages, eternally and inconceivably. He is God's Wisdom and Power and Justice in substantial form. He has been seated at the Father's right hand before all ages. He was not crowned after his Passion, as some have imagined, as if he received from God the throne at his right hand because of what he endured; he has held the royal dignity throughout his existence. He is seated alongside the Father as God and Wisdom and Power, as we have said. He shares the Father's reign, and is the Creator of all things for the sake of the Father. He suffers no diminution in his divine dignity, and knows the one who begot him just as he is known by his Begetter. In short, recall the words of the gospels: ‘No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son’ (Mt 11.27; cf. Jn 10.15).
8 Do not separate the Son from the Father, or construct a compound and believe in a Son-Father. Believe rather that the one God has one Only-begotten Son, who before all ages is God the Word: not an uttered word which is dispersed in the air, or like insubstantial words, but God the Son, the maker of rational beings, the Word who hears his Father and speaks himself. In due time, God willing, we shall explain this to you more fully, for we have not forgotten our intention of providing you now with a summary introduction to the Creed.
ON THE VIRGIN BIRTH
9 You must believe too that this Only-begotten Son of God came down from heaven to earth because of our sins, assumed a humanity subject to the same feelings as ours, and was born of the holy Virgin and the Holy Spirit. The humanity he assumed was not an appearance only or an illusion, but true. He did not pass through the virgin as if through a pipe, but truly took flesh from her and was truly nourished by her milk. For if the Incarnation was an illusion, so too was our salvation. Christ was twofold: man in appearance, and God, but not in appearance. As man he ate truly as we do, for he had the same fleshly feelings as ourselves; but it was as God that he fed the five thousand from five loaves. As man he truly died; but it was as God that he raised the dead body to life after four days. As man he truly slept on the boat; but it was as God that he walked on the waters.
ON THE CROSS
10 He was truly crucified for our sins. For even if you would like to deny it, the place visibly refutes you, this blessed place of Golgotha where we are now congregated because of the one who was crucified here. Besides, the whole world has since been filled with the wood of the cross, piece by piece. It was not for his own sins that he was crucified, but that we might be freed from our sins. As man he was despised then by men and beaten; but he was acknowledged as God by the whole of creation. For when the sun saw its Master dishonoured, it trembled and was eclipsed, because it could not bear the sight.
ON THE BURIAL
11 He was truly placed in the rock tomb as man, but because of him the rocks in terror were split asunder. He went down into the underworld to rescue the just from there. For tell me, would you want the living to enjoy grace, even though the majority are not holy, while those from Adam down who had long been confined should never regain their freedom? The prophet Isaiah shouted aloud and proclaimed so many truths about him; wouldn't you want the king to go down to rescue his herald? David was there, and Samuel, and all the prophets, and even John who asked through his messengers: ‘Are you the one to come, or should we look for another?’ (Mt 11.3). Wouldn't you want Jesus to go down to rescue such men as these?
ON THE RESURRECTION
12 However the one who went down to the underworld came up again; on the third day the buried Jesus truly rose again. If the Jews ever taunt you, confront them at once with this question: Jonah emerged from the whale on the third day; couldn't Christ be raised from the earth on the third day? The dead man rose again after touching the bones of Elisha (cf. 2 Kings 13.21); wasn't it much easier for the maker of mankind to be raised by his Father's power?’ So he truly rose again, and having risen he was seen again by the disciples. The twelve disciples are witnesses to his resurrection, though they did not use flattering words to give their evidence; they fought for the truth of the resurrection to the point of torture and death. Finally, Scripture says that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses any saying shall be held valid’ (Deut 19.15; cf. Mt 18.16); there are twelve witnesses to Christ's resurrection; will you still refuse to believe in the resurrection?
ON THE ASCENSION
13 When Jesus completed his course of endurance, and had redeemed mankind from their sins, a cloud received him and he returned to heaven. Angels stood by as he ascended while the apostles looked on. If anyone does not believe what I say, let them believe the very power of what now lies before their eyes. In general when kings die, their authority is extinguished along with their life; but the crucified Christ is worshipped throughout the world. We proclaim the Crucified, and demons tremble. In the course of history many men have been crucified; but has there ever been another crucified man who has put demons to flight when he is invoked?
14 Let us not be ashamed of Christ's cross. No, even if others hide it, you place it openly as a seal on your forehead, so that demons may see the royal sign and run far away in terror. Make this sign when you eat and when you drink; when you sit down, when you go to bed, when you get up; when you talk, when you walk—in a word, on every occasion. For the one who was crucified here is in heaven above. For if after his crucifixion and burial he had remained in the grave, we would have reason to be ashamed; but as it is, the one who was crucified here on Golgotha ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, which lies to the east. For after he had descended into hell and come up again to us, it was from there that he departed from us and went back to heaven, while his Father spoke to him these words: ‘Sit on my right until I make your enemies your footstool’ (Ps 109 (110).1).
ON THE FUTURE JUDGMENT
15 This same Jesus Christ who ascended into heaven will come again, not from the earth, but from heaven. I said not from the earth; for many antichrists are now destined to come from the earth. Already, as you have seen, many have begun to say: ‘I am the Christ’ (Mt 24.5); and it still remains for the ‘abomination of desolation’ (Mt 24.15) to come, assuming the false name of Christ. But I ask you to wait for the true Christ, God's Only-begotten Son, who will come again not from the earth, but from heaven. He will appear, brighter than any lightning or flashing light and escorted by angels, to judge the living and the dead, and to exercise a heavenly, eternal and everlasting reign. I urge you to be certain about this, because there are many who say that Christ's reign will come to an end.
ON THE HOLY SPIRIT
16 Believe also in the Holy Spirit, and understand him correctly, for there are many who are at variance with the Holy Spirit and teach blasphemous doctrines about him. You have to learn that the Holy Spirit is one, indivisible, and endowed with many powers; his operations are many, but he himself is undivided; he knows the mysteries, he ‘searches all things’ (1 Cor 2.10), even the depths of God. He came down on the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of a dove; he worked through the law and the prophets; now he will seal your soul at the time of baptism. Every rational nature needs the holiness that comes from him. If anyone presumes to blaspheme against him, he will not be forgiven either in this life or in the life to come (cf. Mt 12.32). He receives the honour due to his rank together with the Father and the Son. Thrones and Dominations, Principalities and Powers have need of him. For there is one God, the Father of Christ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of the only God; and one Holy Spirit, who sanctifies and deifies all, who has spoken through the law and the prophets, the Old Testament and the New.
17 So keep always in your mind the seal of which we have now spoken to you summarily, touching on the most important points. However, if the Lord allows it, I shall speak about this later as best I can and give scriptural proof. For where the divine and holy mysteries of the Creed are concerned, one must not teach even minor points without reference to the sacred Scriptures, or be led astray lightly by persuasive and elaborate arguments. Do not simply take my word when I tell you these things, unless you are given proof for my teaching from holy Scripture. For this is the guarantee of our Creed, not clever argument, but proof based on Scripture.
ON HUMAN NATURE
On the soul
18 Now that you have learnt about this sacred, glorious and holy Creed, it remains for you to learn about yourself: that a human being is twofold by nature, consisting of both soul and body; that the same God, as I explained just now, is the Creator of both soul and body. You should know too that you have a self-determining soul, which is God's fairest work, formed in the image of its Maker; it is immortal, because God endowed it with immortality; a living, rational, incorruptible being, because of him who gave it these gifts; with power to do what it chooses. For you are not a sinner by birth or a fornicator by chance; nor, as some say in their madness, do the conjunctions of the stars compel you to devote yourself to wantonness. Why do you avoid acknowledging your own evil deeds, and cast the blame on the innocent stars? I implore you, do not attend any more to astrologers. Holy Scripture says this about them: ‘Let the astrologers of the heavens stand and save you.’ And further on: ‘See, they will all be burnt up in the fire like faggots, and they shall never rescue their soul from the flames’ (Is 47.14).
19 I would have you know this too, that before the soul enters this world, it has committed no sin; but though we arrive sinless, now we sin by choice. Please don't pay attention to anyone misinterpreting the text: ‘If I do what I do not want’ (Rom 7.16); remember the one who says: ‘If you are willing and obey me, you may eat the good things of the land; but if you are not willing and do not obey me, a sword will eat you, etc.’ (Is 1.19–20). And again: ‘Just as you have delivered your bodies as slaves to impurity, and to sin upon sin, so now deliver your bodies as slaves to the righteousness that leads to holiness’ (Rom 6.19). Remember too the text: ‘And since they did not think fit to pay recognition to God’ (Rom 1.28); and: ‘What can be known about God is clear to them’ (Rom 1.19); and: ‘They have closed their eyes’ (Mat 13.15). Remember too how God accuses them again, saying: ‘I planted you to be a fruitful vine, true through and through; how did you turn to sourness and become a wild vine?’ (Jer 2.21 (LXX)).
20 The soul is immortal. All souls are alike, both of men and women; it is only the bodily parts which are different. There is not one class of souls which are by nature sinners, and another of those which by nature live justly. Both are a matter of choice; since for all the structure of the soul is uniform and similar. I realize I have a lot to say, and I have been speaking for a long time; but what is more precious than salvation? Aren't you willing to take the trouble to acquire provisions for facing the heretics? Don't you want to learn the wrong turnings along the way, so as not to be led in ignorance over the edge of a precipice? If your teachers think it no small gain if you learn these truths, shouldn't learners like you put up gladly with the length of my address?
21 The soul determines its own state. Though the devil can tempt you, he can't force you against your will, for he has not power to do so. He represents to you the thought of fornication; if you choose, you consent; if you don't choose, you don't consent. For if you were a fornicator by necessity, why did God prepare hell? If you lived justly by nature and not by choice, why has God prepared indescribable rewards? A sheep is gentle, but it is never rewarded for its gentleness, for it possesses its gentleness not by choice but by nature.
On the body
22 Dearly beloved, you now know as much about the soul as time allows. Listen now as well as you can to the facts concerning your body. Do not allow anyone to say that this body of ours has nothing in common with God. For those who believe the body is something alien, live in it as if in an alien container which they readily abuse by fornication. Why have they found fault with this admirable body of ours? Is it lacking in dignity in any way? Is there anything badly designed in its constitution? Shouldn't they have considered the brilliant construction of the eyes? How the ears, being set at an angle, provide unobstructed hearing? How the sense of smell distinguishes and receives various scents? How the tongue serves two purposes, the sense of taste and the power of speech? How the lungs, though lying hidden, ceaselessly breathe the air? Who installed the ceaseless beating of the heart? Who divided the system into so many veins and arteries? Who strung the bones together with sinews so cleverly? Who devoted part of our food to build up the body and set aside part for decent excretion, concealing the unbecoming members in the more decent places? When human nature was likely to become extinct, who devised intercourse as an easy means for its survival?
23 Don't tell me that the body shares the blame for sin. For if sin is due to the body, why doesn't a corpse sin? Place a sword in the right hand of a man who has just died; no murder will take place. Whatever forms of beauty are displayed before a young man who has just died, no desire of fornication will be felt. Why not? Because the body by itself does not sin; the soul sins through the body. The body is the soul's instrument and, so to say, its clothing and its attire. If the body is given up to fornication by the soul, it becomes unclean; but if it co-exists with a holy soul, it becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. These are not my words, but those of the apostle Paul: ‘Do you not know’, he said, ‘that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit within you?’ (1 Cor 6.19). So respect your body, because it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not pollute your flesh by fornication; do not soil this fairest of robes. But if you have soiled it, wash it now through repentance, for this is the time for washing.
24 Our teaching about chastity should be heeded above all by the order of celibates and virgins, who while in the world live like the angels. A great reward is in store for you, my brothers and sisters; do not forfeit your great glory for the sake of a little pleasure. Listen to the words of the Apostle: ‘Let no one be a fornicator, or profane like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal’ (Heb 12.16). Once you have been enrolled in the angelic register for your vow of chastity, see that your name is not subsequently removed for practising fornication.
25 On the other hand, if you are observing chastity, do not give yourselves airs at the expense of those who have entered into marriage. For ‘let marriage be held in honour and the marriage-bed kept unstained’ (Heb 13.4), as the Apostle says. You have preserved your virginity; but weren't your parents married? Don't despise silver because you have a store of gold. No, those who are married and fulfil their marriage lawfully should live in good hope—those who have made their marriage virtuous and not self-indulgent in unrestrained licence; who know periods of abstinence so that they can give themselves to prayer; who bring clean bodies as well as clean clothes to services in church; who were led into marriage by the desire of children rather than of pleasure.
26 Those who have married only once should not despise those who are living in a second marriage. For continence is a beautiful and admirable thing; but one should be tolerant to those who marry a second time lest their weakness betray them into fornication. For ‘it is good for them if they remain as I am’, said the Apostle. ‘But if they cannot remain continent, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn’ (1 Cor 7.8–9). But everything else should be driven far away: fornication, adultery, and every form of self-indulgence. Keep your body pure for the Lord, to make it fit for his eyes.
On food
27 Your body should be given food for nourishment in order to keep it alive and fit for service, not to indulge it with luxuries. With regard to meals, keep these rules, for many trip up where food is concerned. Some indiscriminately make use of food that has been offered to idols; others practise restraint, but despise those who eat (cf. Rom 14.3). People's souls can become soft in various ways in the matter of food, if they do not know the appropriate reasons when to eat and when not. For we abstain from wine and give up meat not because we abhor them as abominations, but because we look for a reward; so that through making little of material food we may enjoy a spiritual and immaterial table; so that if we ‘sow in tears’ we may ‘reap in joy’ in the next life (Ps 125 (126).5). So don't despise those who eat and take food because of bodily infirmity. Don't find fault with people who take a little wine for the sake of their digestion or because of frequent illnesses (cf. 1 Tim 5.23); do not condemn them as sinners. Do not condemn meat as something alien: for the Apostle's words show that he knew some such people: ‘They forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from food, which God created for the Faithful to share with thanksgiving’ (1 Tim 4.3). Therefore if you abstain from such things, do not do so as if they were abominable, for then you would have no reward; yet excellent as they are, hold them of little account for the sake of the nobler, spiritual things you are promised.
28 Make a firm resolution never to eat anything which has been offered to idols. I know I am not the only one to be concerned with what you eat; the apostles and James the bishop of this church were concerned before me. The apostles and the elders wrote a general letter to all the gentiles, instructing them above all to abstain from food offered to idols, and then from blood and animals that had been strangled (cf. Acts 15.29). For there are many savage people who live like dogs, lap up blood in imitation of the wildest animals, and eat lavish quantities of strangled meat. But you are one of Christ's servants; when you eat, be sure to eat reverently. I have now said enough about food.
On clothing
29 Wear clothes that are plain, for the sake of necessary covering rather than adornment. Don't choose them out of vanity, but to provide warmth in winter and covering for the unseemly parts of the body. But do not, on the pretext of concealing these parts, fall into another form of unseemliness by adopting excessive ornamentation.
On resurrection
30 I beg you, treat your body with respect, in the knowledge that you will rise from the dead with this body to face judgment. If a sceptical thought occurs to you suggesting that this is impossible, let your own case cast light on these hidden truths. Tell me, you yourself, where were you a hundred or more years ago? Think it out. Again, how very small and insignificant was the material from which you grew to your present stature and comeliness. So why can't the one who brought the non-existent into existence also raise up again something which has once existed but has perished? Every year he raises up the wheat which dies once it is sown for our use; why should he be reluctant to raise us up ourselves, for whose sake the wheat was raised? You can see how the trees have remained now without fruit or leaves for so many months; but once the winter is over, they revive intact as if from the dead. Is it not much more to be expected, is it not easier, that we should be restored to life? By God's design Moses’ rod was changed and assumed a nature that was not its own, the nature of a snake; cannot a human being who has succumbed to death be restored again to himself?
31 Do not listen to those who say that this body does not rise again. For it does rise, as Isaiah testifies: ‘The dead will be raised’, he says, ‘and those in their tombs will rise again’ (Is 26.19 (LXX)). And according to Daniel: ‘Many of those who are sleeping in the dust of the earth will rise up, some to eternal life, and others to eternal shame’ (Dan 12.2 (adjusted)). Yet, while rising again is the lot of every human being, their resurrection takes different forms. For though we shall all be given everlasting bodies, they will not all be alike: the just will be given bodies for dancing eternally with the angels, sinners for suffering eternal torment for their sins.
On baptism
32 The Lord foresaw this and so in his mercy gave us baptism as a means of repentance, to enable us to throw off the great, indeed the whole, burden of our sins, and to inherit eternal life by receiving the seal through the Holy Spirit. However, as we said enough about baptism the day before yesterday, let me now go on to the remaining introductory doctrines.
ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
33 This is what the inspired Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments teach us. For there is one God of both testaments, who in the Old Testament foretold the Christ who appeared in the New, and led us to him like children through the law and the prophets. For ‘before the faith came, we were kept in custody under the law’; and ‘the law became our tutor leading us to Christ’ (Gal 3.23, 24). So if you ever hear any heretic blaspheming against the law or the prophets, raise this victory cry against them: ‘Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it’ (cf. Mt 5.17). Be a good student and learn from the Church which the books of the Old Testament and the New are. Please do not read any of the apocrypha; for if you don't know the works which are universally accepted, why do you waste effort over the disputed ones? Read the holy Scriptures, the twenty-two books of the Old Testament which were translated by the seventy-two translators.
34 When Alexander the King of Macedon had died, his empire was divided into the four kingdoms of Babylon, Macedon, Asia and Egypt. Now one of the kings of Egypt, Ptolemy Philadelphus, who was a very scholarly king and had gathered together books from every part of the world, learnt from his librarian Demetrius of Phaleron about the holy Scriptures of the law and the prophets. He decided it was much better not to force people against their will to provide him with books but rather to win the owners over with gifts and friendship; he realized too that what is given perforce and involuntarily is often corrupted, while what is offered voluntarily is an authentic gift. So he sent many presents to Eleazer, who was High Priest at the time, in the Temple here in Jerusalem, and induced him to send him six men from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to serve as translators. Then, wishing to test whether or not the books were inspired, and suspecting that the members of the panel might copy from one another, he allotted to each of the translators who had come a separate room in the island called Pharos which lies off Alexandria, and instructed each of them to translate the whole of the Scriptures. When they had completed their task after seventy-two days, the king compared all the translations, which they had made each in his own room without access to one another, and found they agreed not only in content but even verbally. This was not due to their facility with words or the product of human skills; the holy Scriptures had been dictated by the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit their translation was accomplished.
35 Read the twenty-two books of these Scriptures, and have nothing to do with the apocrypha. Give careful study to these books and to these only; these are the ones in which we have confidence for reading in church. The apostles and the ancient bishops who presided over the Church were much wiser and more devout than we are, and they handed these books on to us. You are a child of the Church; so don't falsify the Church's laws. Study the twenty-two books of the Old Testament, as I say, and, if you are studiously inclined, take the trouble to memorize their names when I tell you them. The books of the law are the first five books of Moses, namely Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; then Joshua and the book of Judges, including Ruth, which is the seventh book. Of the remaining historical books, the first and second books of Kings are treated by the Hebrews as a single book; the same is true of the third and fourth books. In the same way they take first and second Chronicles to be a single book, and first and second Esdras also count as one. The twelfth book is Esther. These are the historical books. There are also five books written in verse: Job, the book of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, which is the seventeenth book. Next come the five prophetical books: one book consisting of the twelve prophets; one of Isaiah; one of Jeremiah, including Baruch, Lamentations and the Letter; one of Ezekiel; and one of Daniel, which is the twenty-second book of the Old Testament.
36 In the New Testament there are four gospels, and only four; any others are spurious and harmful. The Manichees wrote another, the Gospel of Thomas, which, being scented and painted with the name of gospel, corrupts the souls of the simple. You should also accept the Acts of the twelve apostles, and in addition the seven catholic epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude; and finally, to set the seal on them all, the fourteen epistles of Paul, which form the last work of the disciples. Treat any other books as secondary. Those which are not read in churches you should not read privately either, as you have already been told. This is all that needs to be said on this subject.
37 Keep away from all the works of the devil. Don't believe the rebellious serpent, who by his own choice was transformed from his good state. He is able to win over those who consent, but he can't force anyone. Pay no attention to horoscopes, auguries or omens, or to the oracles of the Greeks which are based on myths. As for potions, spells and the evil practices of mediums, do not allow them even to be talked about. Avoid every kind of indulgence; don't be a glutton or a hedonist; and don't descend to any kind of avarice or usury. Don't take part in pagan gatherings and shows, and never use amulets when you are ill. Refuse to frequent degrading taverns. Don't desert to the Samaritans or the Jews, for Jesus Christ has redeemed you for ever. Avoid all sabbath observance or describing harmless food as common or unclean. Above all hold all wicked heretical assemblies in abhorrence. Take every means to safeguard your soul by fasting, prayer, almsgiving and the reading of Scripture, so that after living the rest of your earthly lives in temperance and holy beliefs, you may enjoy the one salvation which comes through baptism. In this way you will be enrolled by God the Father in the heavenly armies and rewarded with a heavenly crown in Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is the glory for ever and ever. Amen.