19

He babbles that a scripture was brought down from God to him. Having inscribed certain laughable compositions in his book, he hands down reverence for them in this way. He says that there is one God, the maker of all things, neither begotten nor having begotten. He says that Christ is the word of God and His spirit, but created and a servant, and that He was born of Mary, the sister of Moses and Aaron, without seed. For the word, he says, of God and the spirit entered into Mary, and she bore Jesus, who was a prophet and a servant of God. And that the Jews, having transgressed the law, wished to crucify Him and, having seized Him, they crucified His shadow, but Christ Himself, he says, was not crucified, nor did He die; for God took Him to Himself into heaven because He loved Him. And he also says this, that when Christ had ascended into the heavens, God questioned Him, saying: O Jesus, did you say that I am the son of God and God? And Jesus answered, he says: Be merciful to me, Lord; you know that I did not say it, nor am I too proud to be your servant; but the transgressing men wrote that I said this word, and they lied against me, and they are in error. And God answered him, he says: I know that you did not say this word. And telling many other ridiculous marvels in such a writing, he boasts that this was brought down to him from God. But when we say: And who is there who testifies that God gave him a scripture, or which of the prophets foretold that such a prophet would arise, and when we raise difficulties for them, how Moses received the law from God on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people, when He appeared in cloud and fire and darkness and storm, and that all the prophets from Moses and thereafter foretold concerning the coming of Christ, and that Christ, being God and Son of God, would come in the flesh and, being crucified, would die and rise again, and that He is the judge of the living and the dead, and when we say, how did your prophet not come in this way, with others testifying concerning him, nor did God, in your presence, as He gave the law to Moses while all the people watched the mountain smoking, furnish to him the scripture which you speak of, so that you too might have certainty, they answer that God does whatever He wishes. This we also, we say, know, but we ask how the scripture came down to your prophet. And they answer that while he was sleeping, the scripture came down upon him. And we say to them the ridiculous thing, that since he received the scripture while sleeping and did not perceive the activity, in him was fulfilled the common proverb. When we ask again: Since he commanded you in your scripture to do or accept nothing without witnesses, why did you not ask him, "First you yourself prove through witnesses that you are a prophet and that you came from God, and what scripture testifies concerning you?" they fall silent in shame. To whom we reasonably say: Since it is not lawful for you to marry a wife without witnesses nor to buy nor to acquire property, and you yourselves do not deign to have donkeys or cattle without a witness, you have wives and possessions and donkeys and the rest through witnesses, but you have your faith and scripture alone without a witness; for the one who handed this down to you has no certainty from any source, nor is any previous witness of him known, but he received this while sleeping. But they call us "Associators," because, he says, we introduce an associate to God by saying that Christ is the son of God and God. To them we say that the prophets and the scripture have handed this down; and you, as you insist, accept the prophets. If therefore we speak wrongly of Christ as the son of God, they taught and

19

γραφὴν ὑπὸ θεοῦ κατενεχθῆναι ἐπ' αὐτὸν διαθρυλλεῖ. Τινὰ δὲ συντάγματα ἐν τῇ παρ' αὐτοῦ βίβλῳ χαράξας γέλωτος ἄξια τὸ σέβας αὐτοῖς οὕτω παραδίδωσι. Λέγει ἕνα θεὸν εἶναι ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων, μήτε γεννηθέντα μήτε γεγεννηκότα. Λέγει τὸν Χριστὸν λόγον εἶναι τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, κτιστὸν δὲ καὶ δοῦλον, καὶ ὅτι ἐκ Μαρίας, τῆς ἀδελφῆς Μωσέως καὶ Ἀαρών, ἄνευ σπορᾶς ἐτέχθη. Ὁ γὰρ λόγος, φησί, τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Μαρίαν, καὶ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰησοῦν προφήτην ὄντα καὶ δοῦλον τοῦ θεοῦ. Καὶ ὅτι οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι παρανομήσαντες ἠθέλησαν αὐτὸν σταυρῶσαι καὶ κρατήσαντες ἐσταύρωσαν τὴν σκιὰν αὐτοῦ, αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς οὐκ ἐσταυρώθη, φησίν, οὔτε ἀπέθανεν· ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἔλαβεν αὐτὸν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν διὰ τὸ φιλεῖν αὐτόν. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ λέγει, ὅτι, τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀνελθόντος εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς, ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτὸν ὁ θεὸς λέγων· Ὦ Ἰησοῦ, σὺ εἶπας, ὅτι υἱός εἰμι τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θεός; Καὶ ἀπεκρίθη, φησίν, ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἵλεώς μοι, κύριε· σὺ οἶδας, ὅτι οὐκ εἶπον οὐδὲ ὑπερηφανῶ εἶναι δοῦλός σου· ἀλλ' οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ παραβάται ἔγραψαν, ὅτι εἶπον τὸν λόγον τοῦτον, καὶ ἐψεύσαντο κατ' ἐμοῦ, καί εἰσι πεπλανημένοι. Καὶ ἀπεκρίθη, φησίν, αὐτῷ ὁ θεός· Οἶδα, ὅτι σὺ οὐκ ἔλεγες τὸν λόγον τοῦτον. Καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ τερατολογῶν ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ συγγραφῇ γέλωτος ἄξια, ταύτην πρὸς θεοῦ ἐπ' αὐτὸν κατενεχθῆναι φρυάττεται. Ἡμῶν δὲ λεγόντων· Καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ μαρτυρῶν, ὅτι γραφὴν αὐτῷ δέδωκεν ὁ θεός, ἢ τίς τῶν προφητῶν προεῖπεν, ὅτι τοιοῦτος ἀνίσταται προφήτης, καὶ διαπορούντων αὐτοῖς, ὡς ὁ Μωσῆς τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὸ Σινὰ ὄρος ἐπόψεσι παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ, ἐν νεφέλῃ καὶ πυρὶ καὶ γνόφῳ καὶ θυέλλῃ φανέντος ἐδέξατο τὸν νόμον, καὶ ὅτι πάντες οἱ προφῆται ἀπὸ Μωσέως καὶ καθεξῆς περὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας προηγόρευσαν καὶ ὅτι θεὸς ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ θεοῦ υἱὸς σαρκούμενος ἥξει καὶ σταυρωθησόμενος θνῄσκων καὶ ἀναστησόμενος καὶ ὅτι κριτὴς οὗτος ζώντων καὶ νεκρῶν, καὶ λεγόντων ἡμῶν, πῶς οὐχ οὕτως ἦλθεν ὁ προφήτης ὑμῶν, ἄλλων μαρτυρούντων περὶ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ παρόντων ὑμῶν ὁ θεός, ὡς τῷ Μωσεῖ βλέποντος παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ, καπνιζομένου τοῦ ὄρους δέδωκε τὸν νόμον, κἀκείνῳ τὴν γραφήν, ἥν φατε, παρέσχεν, ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς τὸ βέβαιον ἔχητε, ἀποκρίνονται, ὅτι ὁ θεός, ὅσα θέλει, ποιεῖ. Τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς, φαμέν, οἴδαμεν, ἀλλ', ὅπως ἡ γραφὴ κατῆλθεν εἰς τὸν προφήτην ὑμῶν, ἐρωτῶμεν. Καὶ ἀποκρίνονται, ὅτι, ἐν ὅσῳ κοιμᾶται, κατέβη ἡ γραφὴ ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ. Καὶ τὸ γελοιῶδες πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγομεν ἡμεῖς, ὅτι λοιπόν, ἐπειδὴ κοιμώμενος ἐδέξατο τὴν γραφὴν καὶ οὐκ ᾔσθετο τῆς ἐνεργείας, εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπληρώθη τὸ τῆς δημώδους παροιμίας. Πάλιν ἡμῶν ἐρωτώντων· Πῶς αὐτοῦ ἐντειλαμένου ὑμῖν ἐν τῇ γραφῇ ὑμῶν μηδὲν ποιεῖν ἢ δέχεσθαι ἄνευ μαρτύρων, οὐκ ἠρωτήσατε αὐτόν, ὅτι πρῶτον αὐτὸς ἀπόδειξον διὰ μαρτύρων, ὅτι προφήτης εἶ καὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθες, καὶ ποία γραφὴ μαρτυρεῖ περὶ σοῦ, σιωπῶσιν αἰδούμενοι. Πρὸς οὓς εὐλόγως φαμέν· Ἐπειδὴ γυναῖκα γῆμαι οὐκ ἔξεστιν ὑμῖν ἄνευ μαρτύρων οὐδὲ ἀγοράζειν οὐδὲ κτᾶσθαι, οὔτε δὲ ὑμεῖς αὐτοὶ καταδέχεσθε ὄνους ἢ κτῆνος ἀμάρτυρον ἔχειν, ἔχετε μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ κτήματα καὶ ὄνους καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ διὰ μαρτύρων, μόνην δὲ πίστιν καὶ γραφὴν ἀμάρτυρον ἔχετε· ὁ γὰρ ταύτην ὑμῖν παραδοὺς οὐδαμόθεν ἔχει τὸ βέβαιον οὐδέ τις προμάρτυς ἐκείνου γνωρίζεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ κοιμώμενος ἐδέξατο ταύτην. Καλοῦσι δὲ ἡμᾶς ἑταιριαστάς, ὅτι, φησίν, ἑταῖρον τῷ θεῷ παρεισάγομεν λέγοντες εἶναι τὸν Χριστὸν υἱὸν θεοῦ καὶ θεόν. Πρὸς οὕς φαμεν, ὅτι τοῦτο οἱ προφῆται καὶ ἡ γραφὴ παραδέδωκεν· ὑμεῖς δέ, ὡς διισχυρίζεσθε, τοὺς προφήτας δέχεσθε. Εἰ οὖν κακῶς λέγομεν τὸν Χριστὸν θεοῦ υἱόν, ἐκεῖνοι ἐδίδαξαν καὶ