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with a concurrence of both the first season and the fourteenth according to the moon, they think to complete their purpose. Therefore, brother, you see that the Jews also strive for this and have this in common with us, not to seek one day for the rite but many seasons.

7 The fourteenth is a heresy; celebrating the Pascha with the Jews, they themselves have suffered the same as them.

8 The Novatians seem in some other way to imitate our practices slightly; for they themselves are also enslaved to the set time of the Jews, pursuing both the first month, as they reckon it, and the fourteenth day according to the moon which is among them, but they do not stop at this point, but when they are in these things, they also come to the three-day period, even if especially invalidly and not in accordance with ecclesiastical harmony, as will be shown.

9 There is another heresy, that of the Montanists, which supposedly avoids celebrating with the Jews, but with this it has also stood apart from the church to its own peril; for it observes the fourteenth of the first month, that is, of the seventh month according to the Asians, but not the fourteenth of the moon, I do not know from where it received this ordinance. For the only-begotten son of God, during the Pascha of the Jews when the moon was on its fourteenth day in the first month, on this fourteenth day during the Pascha of the Jews [Christ] suffered; from where then did this ill-named heresy take the fourteenth from the solar month and not from the lunar, if not clearly from the deceiving 10 demon? Nevertheless, it too, even if it has fallen from the ecclesiastical reckoning, still from there arrives at the three-day period. And let this one be cast aside; but since I have taught that every heresy hastens supposedly to gather the appointed times, more or less, I wish now to refute the Jews first, and then to explain the reasons for the Christian assembly.

11 This appointed time of the passion is established in the church: the vernal equinox, the fourteenth day, that is according to the moon, and the three-day period: Preparation, Sabbath, Lord's day. We need these things in their proper place, and thus it becomes authoritative, not according to some innovation otherwise but according to the tradition of Moses himself, of the fourteenth according to the moon being observed after the equinox.

12 I have wise Hebrews as witnesses. For one must not now pay attention to the foolishness of the Jews—for they themselves have made all the just ordinances of the law disappear—, but it is fitting to listen to the wise Hebrews who relate the history; and it is necessary for their vote to define and to proclaim these men as transgressors, and to establish our argument, which is sufficiently witnessed from there as well. For the Jews set aside all good things; for instance, they even rejected the scriptures that seventy-two wise men 13 translated. For so many ancient Jews were occupied with such a history before the coming of the savior, chosen from the best by the best for the translation of the scriptures, which were still then in Hebrew characters, with good approval, and the interpretation was approved, and curses were laid by all the Hebrews, if anyone should alter the interpretation.

And for these reasons we treat these with respect, hearing Moses saying, "On the mouth of two and three witnesses every word shall be established", no longer just two, but having welcomed the translation on the basis of seventy-two witnesses. 14 But as long as the wise men of the Jews survived, the things of the translation were held firm; but when the transgression against the savior finally occurred, all beautiful things among the Jews were extinguished. A prophet is the one proclaiming, "Behold, the Lord Sabaoth will take away from Jerusalem and from Judea the strong man and the strong woman, the strength of bread and the strength of water, the giant and the mighty man and the man of war and the judge and the prophet and the diviner

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συνδρομῆς γενομένης τοῦ τε πρώτου χρόνου καὶ τῆς τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτης κατὰ σελήνην δόξωσιν ἀπαρτίζειν τὸ βούλημα. Οὐκοῦν, ἄδελφε, ὁρᾷς ὅτι καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι τοῦτο σπουδάζουσι καὶ κοινὸν ἡμῖν τοῦτο ἐσχήκασι τὸ μὴ μίαν ἡμέραν ζητεῖν πρὸς τὴν τελετὴν ἀλλὰ χρόνους πολλούς.

7 Τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτη δὲ αἵρεσίς ἐστι· σὺν Ἰουδαίοις ποιοῦντες τὸ πάσχα καὶ αὐτοὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐκείνοις πεπόνθασιν.

8 Ναυατιανοὶ δοκοῦσιν ἄλλως πως τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἠρέμα μιμεῖσθαι· δουλεύουσι μὲν γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ τῇ προθεσμίᾳ τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ πρῶτον μῆνα, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι νομίζουσι, καὶ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην κατὰ σελήνην τὴν παρ' ἐκείνοις μετα διώκοντες, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἕως τούτου γε ἵστανται, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἐν τούτοις γένωνται, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν τριήμερον ἔρχονται, εἰ καὶ μάλιστα ἀκύρως καὶ οὐ καθ' ἁρμονίαν ἐκκλησιαστικήν, ὡς δειχθήσεται.

9 Ἔστι τις ἄλλη αἵρεσις ἡ τῶν Μωντανιστῶν, ἥτις δῆθεν μὲν ἀποδύεται τὸ μετὰ Ἰουδαίων ποιεῖν, ἀφέστηκε δὲ σὺν τούτῳ καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας εἰς ἴδιον κίνδυνον· τεσσαρεσκαι δεκάτην γὰρ μηνὸς τοῦ πρώτου φυλάττει, τουτέστι μηνὸς ἑβδόμου κατὰ Ἀσιανούς, οὐ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην δὲ σελήνης, οὐκ οἶδα πόθεν λαβοῦσα τοῦτον τὸν θεσμόν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ μονογενὴς υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐν τῷ πάσχα τῶν Ἰουδαίων τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην ἐχούσης τῆς σελήνης ἐν μηνὶ τῷ πρώτῳ, ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ ἐν τῷ πάσχα τῶν Ἰουδαίων [ὁ Χριστὸς] ἔπαθεν· πόθεν οὖν αὕτη ἡ δυσώνυμος αἵρεσις τὴν τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ μηνὸς οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ σεληνιακοῦ εἴληφεν ἢ δηλονότι παρὰ τοῦ ἀπατήσαντος 10 δαίμονος; Πλὴν καὶ αὐτή, εἰ καὶ ἐκπέπτωκε τοῦ ἐκκλη σιαστικοῦ ἀριθμοῦ, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἔνθεν ἐπὶ τὴν τριήμερον ἤκει. Καὶ ἐρρίφθω μὲν αὕτη· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐδίδαξα ὅτι πᾶσα αἵρεσις σπεύδει δῆθεν τὰς προθεσμίας συναγαγεῖν πλέον ἢ ἔλαττον, θέλω λοιπὸν ἐλέγξαι τοὺς Ἰουδαίους πρότερον, εἶθ' οὕτω τὰς αἰτίας τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν συναγωγῆς ἐξειπεῖν.

11 Ἕστηκεν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὕτη ἡ προθεσμία τοῦ πάθους ἰσημερία ἐαρινή, τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτη μέν, τοῦτο κατὰ σελήνην, τριήμερος δὲ παρασκευὴ σάββατον κυριακή. Τούτων περὶ τὸν τόπον χρῄζομεν, καὶ οὕτω κυρίως γίνεται, οὐ κατὰ καινότητα ἄλλως ἀλλὰ κατὰ παράδοσιν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Μωϋσέως τῆς κατὰ σελήνην τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτης μετ' ἰση μερίαν φυλαττομένης.

12 Ἔχω μάρτυρας σοφοὺς Ἑβραίους. Οὐ γὰρ νῦν τῇ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀφροσύνῃ προσέχειν χρή-πάντα γὰρ τὰ τοῦ νόμου δίκαια ἐξηφάνισαν αὐτοί-, ἀλλὰ τῶν σοφῶν Ἑβραίων ἱστορούντων ἀκούειν προσήκει· καὶ ἐκείνων ἀνάγκη τὴν ψῆφον ὁρίζειν καὶ ἐκκηρύττειν μὲν τούτους ὡς παραβάτας, συνιστάνειν δὲ τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον κἀκεῖθεν ἱκανῶς μαρτυ ρούμενον. Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν γὰρ πάντα τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἐξεχωρίσαντο· αὐτίκα γοῦν καὶ τὰς γραφὰς δύο καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα σοφῶν 13 μεταβαλόντων ἠθέτησαν. Τοσοῦτοι γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ἱστορίαν ἠσχόληντο ἀρχαῖοι πρὸ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος παρουσίας ἀριστίνδην ὑπὸ ἀρίστων ἐξειλεγμένοι πρὸς τὴν μεταβολὴν τῶν γραφῶν ἔτι καὶ τότε ἐν ἑβραϊκοῖς χαρακτῆρσιν οὐσῶν εὐδοκίμως, καὶ ἐδοκιμάσθη ἡ ἑρμηνεία, καὶ ἀραὶ ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν Ἑβραίων ἐτέθησαν, εἴ τις τὴν ἑρμηνείαν παρακινήσειεν.

Καὶ ταύτας διὰ ταῦτα ἡμεῖς περιέπομεν ἀκούοντες Μωϋσέως λέγοντος "Ἐπὶ στόματος δύο καὶ τριῶν μαρτύρων σταθήσεται πᾶν ῥῆμα", οὐκέτι δὲ δύο, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ἑβδομήκοντα δύο μαρτύρων τὴν μεταβολὴν 14 ἀσμενίσαντες. Ἀλλ' εἰς ὅσον μὲν οἱ σοφοὶ περιῆσαν τῶν Ἰουδαίων, τὰ τῆς μεταβολῆς ἐκρατύνετο· γενομένης δὲ λοιπὸν τῆς κατὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος παρανομίας, ἀπεσβέσθη τὰ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις πάντα κάλλη. Προφήτης ἐστὶν ὁ κηρύττων "Ἰδοὺ δὴ κύριος σαβαὼθ ἀφελεῖ ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἰσχύοντα καὶ ἰσχύουσαν, ἰσχὺν ἄρτου καὶ ἰσχὺν ὕδατος, γίγαντα καὶ ἰσχύοντα καὶ ἄνθρωπον πολεμιστὴν καὶ δικαστὴν καὶ προ φήτην καὶ στοχαστὴν