2

the gift given by you and thus to send up the customary prayers to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. All the brothers hope to be strengthened by the prayer made by you on their behalf. We beseech you, who have received the divine grace of the apostles, not to hesitate to impart it. All the little ones who are in the folds send up a prayer to the Mighty One to partake of a spiritual gift from your piety. May you continue strong in the Lord and cheerful in Christ and in the Holy Spirit * the throne given to you and the divine gift until the crown that awaits you. 1.155 The reply written to the presbyters Acacius and Paulus by the same Epiphanius in response to what was written to him by them about his writing against the heresies. To my most honored lords, brothers and fellow presbyters Acacius and Paulus, Epiphanius sends greetings in the Lord. A preface, or rather a discourse, like an inscription, ancient authors by means of a riddle would show a hint of the whole underlying treatise. Wherefore we too, using the same style, begin our preface to you, beloved, summarizing in brief the substance of your request † concerning the heresies. For since we are about to declare to you the names of the heresies and to uncover their lawless practices, which are like venoms and poisons, and at the same time to apply antidotes with them, remedies for those who have been bitten and preventatives for those about to fall into this, we set forth for lovers of good this very preface, interpreting it as a Panarion, or medicine chest for those bitten by wild beasts, which has been written in three books, containing eighty heresies, which are riddles of beasts or of serpents. "one after the eighty" is the foundation of truth and teaching and saving treatise and Christ’s "holy bride" the church, being indeed from eternity, but revealed in the midst of the aforementioned heresies through the incarnate presence of Christ in the succession of time, and set forth by us in 1.156 a memorial through the preaching of Christ, and again after all the wickednesses of these heresies for the refreshment of those who have passed through the toil of the heresies by reading, clearly proclaimed by us with a summary of the argument according to the teaching of the apostles. 2. And be entreated, all you who virtuously read both the preface and the heresies after it and the defense for the truth and the teaching of the truth and the faith of the holy catholic church, to forgive us, being men and striving with toil and divine zeal to make a defense for piety, if anything excessive * for the all-holy and all-venerable name, wishing according to our own ability to defend it excessively, God forgiving us for seeking what is beyond our ability, since our discourse is for the sake of truth and our treatise is for the sake of piety. And further, be entreated to forgive us, if you should find us anywhere—though it is not our custom to mock anyone or to jeer—saying something out of exasperation on account of our zeal against the heresies and to turn readers away, calling some people deceivers or charlatans or wretches. For the very necessity concerning the arguments of the contest prepares for us such a sweat for the turning away of readers and so that we might show their works and mysteries and teachings to be utterly forbidden from our way of thinking, so that from the words and the sharpness of the refutation we might both demonstrate our noble character and turn some away from these things also through what seem to be harsher words. 3. And the things in the entire treatise through the aforementioned three books are,

2

τὴν ὑπὸ σοῦ δεδωρημένην δωρεὰν καὶ οὕτως ἀναπέμψαι τὰς ἐξ ἔθους εὐχὰς πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι. πάντες ἐλπίζουσιν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τῇ ὑπὸ σοῦ εὐχῇ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν γιγνομένῃ στηριχθῆναι. παρακαλοῦμεν μὴ ὀκνῆσαι μεταδοῦναι χάριν θεϊκὴν ἐσχηκότα ἀποστόλων. πάντες οἱ μικροὶ ἐν ταῖς μάνδραις ὄντες εὐχὴν τῷ κρείττονι ἀναπέμπουσι μεταλαβεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς σῆς θεοσεβείας πνευματικὴν δωρεάν. ἐρρωμένος ἐν κυρίῳ καὶ εὔθυμος ἐν Χριστῷ διατελοίης καὶ ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι * τὸν δοθέντα σοι θρόνον καὶ τὴν θεϊκὴν δωρεὰν μέχρι τοῦ σὲ ἐκδεχομένου στεφάνου. 1.155 Ἡ ἀντιγραφεῖσα πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Ἀκάκιον καὶ Παῦλον πρεσβυτέρους ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἐπιφανίου πρὸς τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῶν αὐτῷ γραφέντα περὶ τοῦ κατὰ αἱρέσεων γράψαι αὐτόν. Κυρίοις τιμιωτάτοις ἀδελφοῖς καὶ συμπρεσβυτέροις Ἀκακίῳ καὶ Παύλῳ Ἐπιφάνιος ἐν κυρίῳ χαίρειν. Προοίμιον εἴτ' οὖν λαλιάν, ἐπιγραφὴν ὥσπερ διαγράφοντες παλαιοὶ συγγραφεῖς διὰ τοῦ αἰνίγματος ὑπόφασιν ἐδείκνυον πάσης ὑποκειμένης πραγματείας. ὅθεν καὶ αὐτοὶ τῷ αὐτῷ κεχρημένοι χαρακτῆρι προοιμιαζόμεθα ὑμῖν, ἀγαπητοί, τὰ τῆς κατὰ αἱρέσεων † αἰτήσεως ὑμῶν ἐν ὀλίγῳ τὴν δύναμιν ἀνακεφαλαιούμενοι. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ μέλλομεν ὑμῖν τά τε ὀνόματα τῶν αἱρέσεων δηλοῦν τάς τε παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀθεμίτους πράξεις ἀνακαλύπτειν, ὥσπερ ἰοὺς καὶ δηλητήρια ὄντα, σὺν αὐτοῖς δὲ ἅμα καὶ ἀντιδότους ἐφαρμόσαι, ἀλεξητήρια τῶν δεδηγμένων καὶ προκαταληπτικὰ τῶν μελλόντων εἰς τοῦτο ἐμπίπτειν, τοῖς φιλοκάλοις διαγράφομεν αὐτὸ τοῦτο τὸ προοίμιον, Πανάριον εἴτ' οὖν κιβώτιον ἰατρικὸν τῶν θηριοδήκτων ἑρμηνεύοντες, ὅπερ ἐστὶ διὰ βιβλίων τριῶν συγγραφέν, περιέχον αἱρέσεις ὀγδοήκοντα, αἵτινές εἰσι θηρίων εἴτ' οὖν ἑρπετῶν αἰνίγματα. «μία δὲ μετὰ τὰς ὀγδοήκοντα» ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας βάσις ἅμα καὶ διδασκαλία καὶ σωτήριος πραγματεία καὶ Χριστοῦ «νύμφη ἁγία» ἐκκλησία, οὖσα μὲν ἀπ' αἰῶνος, διὰ δὲ τῆς ἐνσάρκου Χριστοῦ παρουσίας κατὰ τὴν διαδοχὴν τοῦ χρόνου μέσον τῶν προειρημένων αἱρέσεων ἀποκαλυφθεῖσα καὶ ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἐν 1.156 ὑπομνήσει διὰ τοῦ κηρύγματος Χριστοῦ ταχθεῖσα καὶ πάλιν μετὰ πάσας τὰς τῶν αἱρέσεων τούτων μοχθηρίας εἰς ἀναψυχὴν τῶν τὸν κάματον τῶν αἱρέσεων διὰ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως διελθόντων ὑφ' ἡμῶν μετ' ἐπιτομῆς τοῦ λόγου κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἀποστόλων διδασκαλίαν σαφῶς ἀπαγγελθεῖσα. 2. Παρακλήθητε δὲ πάντες οἱ φιλοκάλως ἐντυγχάνοντες τῷ τε προοιμίῳ καὶ ταῖς μετέπειτα αἱρέσεσι καὶ τῇ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπολογίᾳ τε καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ πίστει τῆς ἁγίας καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας, συγγνῶναι ἡμῖν ἀνθρώποις οὖσι καὶ μετὰ πόνου καὶ ζήλου θεϊκοῦ φιλοτιμουμένοις ὑπὲρ θεοσεβείας ἀπολογεῖσθαι, εἴ τι ὑπέρογκον * εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ πανάγιον καὶ πανσεβάσμιον ὄνομα θέλοντες κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν ὑπεραπολογεῖσθαι, τοῦ θεοῦ συγχωροῦντος τὰ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἡμῖν ἐκζητοῦσιν, ἐπειδὴ δι' ἀλήθειαν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος καὶ δι' εὐσέβειαν ἡ πραγματεία. καὶ ἔτι παρακλήθητε συγγνῶναι ἡμῖν, εἴ που εὕροιτε ἡμᾶς, καίτοι γε μὴ ἐν ἔθει ὄντας ἐπισκώπτειν τινὰς ἢ ἐπισκωμματίζειν, διὰ δὲ τὸν πρὸς τὰς αἱρέσεις ζῆλον καὶ εἰς ἀποτροπὴν τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων εἴ που παροξυνόμενοι λέξωμεν, ἢ ἀπατεῶνάς τινας καλοῦντες ἢ ἀγύρτας ἢ ἀθλίους. αὐτὴ γὰρ ἡ ἀνάγκη ἡ πρὸς τοὺς λόγους τοῦ ἀγῶνος παρασκευάζει ἡμῖν τὸν τοιοῦτον ἱδρῶτα δι' ἀποτροπὴν τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων καὶ ὅπως δείξωμεν παντελῶς ἀπηγορευμένας τοῦ ἡμετέρου φρονήματος τὰς ἐκείνων ἐργασίας καὶ μυστήρια καὶ διδασκαλίας, ἵν' ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων καὶ τῆς ὀξύτητος τῆς ἀντιλογίας καὶ τὸ ἡμέτερον ἐλευθέριον ἀποδείξωμεν καί τινας ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐκκλίνωμεν καὶ διὰ τῶν δοκούντων βαρυτέρων λόγων. 3. Καὶ ἔστι τὰ ἐν τῇ πάσῃ πραγματείᾳ διὰ τῶν προειρημένων τριῶν βιβλίων,