Chapter VII.—Avoid the Docetæ, and persevere in fasting and prayer.

“For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;”41    1 John iv. 3. and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross,42    Literally, “the martyrdom of the cross,” which some render, “His suffering on the cross.” is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan.43    [The original, perhaps, of Eusebius (Hist. iv. cap. 14). It became a common-place expression in the Church.] Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from44    Comp. Jude 3. the beginning; “watching unto prayer,”45    1 Pet. iv. 7. and persevering in fasting; beseeching in our supplications the all-seeing God “not to lead us into temptation,”46    Matt. vi. 13; Matt. xxvi. 41. as the Lord has said: “The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.”47    Matt. xxvi. 41; Mark xiv. 38.

7.1 Πᾶς γάρ, ὃς ἂν μὴ ὁμολογῇ, Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθέναι, ἀντίχριστός ἐστιν· καὶ ὃς ἂν μὴ ὁμολογῇ τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ σταυροῦ, ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστίν· καὶ ὃς ἂν μεθοδεύῃ τὰ λόγια τοῦ κυρίου πρὸς τὰς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας καὶ λέγῃ μήτε ἀνάστασιν μήτε κρίσιν, οὗτος πρωτότοκός ἐστι τοῦ σατανᾶ. 7.2 διὸ ἀπολιπόντες τὴν ματαιότητα τῶν πολλῶν καὶ τὰς ψευδοδιδασκαλίας ἐπὶ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡμῖν παραδοθέντα λόγον ἐπιστρέψωμεν, νήφοντες πρὸς τὰς εὐχὰς καὶ προσκαρτεροῦντες νηστείας, δεήσεσιν αἰτούμενοι τὸν παντεπόπτην θεὸν μὴ εἰσενεγκεῖν ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ κύριος· Τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον, ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενής.