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is conducted among us, piety flourishes, and faith prevailing, a good life prevails, and we become friends of the Creator, lest we should come to where he fell from. See what he has done, and how cunningly the contriver of evils has stitched together the war against us, both wise in deceits, and varied in plots, and rich in evil devices. He prepares certain men under the pretext of piety to wage war against the faith, and through them he cast an untimely contentiousness upon all the pious, and a soul-destroying war, and he made the members of the Church to wage war against one another. Let us turn then this very cleverness against his own head, and let us change his gladness into pain and inconsolable grief. Let us mourn for the peace which he hates. Let us abandon quarreling over trifles, and weighing the words of dogma. Let us cease from wanting to be teachers of our teachers. Let us hate wrangling over words to the ruin of the hearers. Let us believe as our fathers have handed down. We are not wiser than our fathers. We are not more precise than our teachers. God has called us in peace, not in battle. As we were called, so let us abide at the mystical 96.512 table, at which we partake of heavenly things. Let us not become at the same time table-companions and plotters against one another; not here partakers in communion, and outside plotters. Of Saint Serapion, from the 23rd epistle. -Heresy has never conquered the Church, and having advanced a little, it is immediately dissolved. Of Clement, from the 8th of the Stromata. -Another place and crowd awaits the troublesome, etc. Of Philo, from the 1st of the Questions on Exodus. -Just as those who have stumbled, being unable to walk with sound feet, fall far short of the end of the road, growing weary; so also the soul is hindered from accomplishing the road that leads to piety, encountering beforehand impious pathlessnesses. For these are hindrances and causes of stumbling, through which the mind, being lame, falls short of the natural path. And the path is that which ends at the Father of all. Of the same. -The earnest inquiries concerning the virtues of God improve the mind, and they contend in contests most pleasant and at the same time most beneficial, and especially when, not as those now who assume a falsely-named calling, they champion the dogmas only for appearance's sake, but with genuine passion combined with knowledge they track down the truth. From the 2nd of the same. -For those attempting to show what is harmonious and rhythmical not in voice but rather in thought, the word of the Wise One shows its beauty not in words, but in the things being signified. From the last of the Questions on Exodus. -Those who read the holy Scriptures ought not to contend about syllables, but before the nouns and verbs to consider the meaning, and the times, and places, and ways, in which each thing is said. For often the same words apply to different and various things, and conversely different words placed upon the same thing are in harmony. From the Questions on Genesis. -They act absurdly, whoever judge the whole from a certain part, but on the contrary the part from the whole. For thus both a body and a matter might be better defined. The divine legislation, therefore, is in a way a unified living creature, which one must survey whole through whole with great eyes, and examine precisely and far-sightedly the counsel of the entire Scripture, not cutting up the harmony, nor disjointing the unity, for deprived of fellowship, they will appear of different form and different kind. From the 4th of the same. -Let there be a law against those who do not deign to see solemn and divine things solemnly and in a manner befitting God, to inflict the punishment of blindness. 96.513 ELEMENT B. TITLE 1. -Concerning a king; that it is unprofitable for the king to go out to war, and better to defend against enemies through mercenaries and gifts, than through himself. Of Saint Ignatius, from the epistle to the Ephesians. - Nothing is better than peace, in which all war is abolished. TITLE 2. -Concerning

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ἡμῖν πολιτευομένης, τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀνθεῖ, τῆς πίστεως δὲ κρατούσης, εὐζωΐα κρατεῖ, φίλοι τε τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ γινόμεθα, ἵνα μὴ ἐπέλθωμεν, ὅθεν ἐκεῖνος ἐξέπεσεν, ὁρᾶτε τί πεποίηκε, καὶ πῶς πανούργως τὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐῤῥαψώδηκε πόλεμον ὁ μηχανοῤῥάφος τῶν κακῶν, καὶ σοφὸς ἐν ἀπάταις, καὶ ποικίλος ἐν ἐπιβουλαῖς, καὶ πλούσιος ἐν τοῖς κακοῖς μηχανήμασι. Παρασκευάζει τινὰς ἐν προσχήματι τῆς εὐσεβείας στρατεύσασθαι κατὰ τῆς πίστεως, καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς εὐσεβέσι δι' αὐτῶν ἄκαιρον φιλονεικίαν, καὶ ψυχοφθόρον ἐνέβαλε πόλεμον, καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὰ μέλη κατ' ἀλλήλων ἐστράτευσε. Στρέψωμεν τοίνυν κατὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ κεφαλῆς τοῦτο δὴ τὸ σοφὸν, καὶ τὴν εὐφροσύνην αὐτοῦ μεταβάλωμεν εἰς ὀδύνην, καὶ πένθος ἀπαρηγόρητον. Πενθήσωμεν τὴν εἰρήνην, ἣν ἐκεῖνος μισεῖ. Καταλείψωμεν τὸ ζυγομαχεῖν, καὶ σταθμίζειν τὰς λέξεις τοῦ δόγματος. Παυσώμεθα τοῦ θέλειν εἶναι τῶν διδασκάλων διδάσκαλοι. Μισήσωμεν τὸ λογομαχεῖν ἐπὶ καταστροφῇ τῶν ἀκουόντων. Πιστεύσωμεν ὡς οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν παραδέδωκαν. Οὐκ ἐσμὲν τῶν πατέρων σοφώτεροι. Οὐκ ἐσμὲν τῶν διδασκάλων ἀκριβέστεροι. Ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἐκάλεσεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς, οὐκ ἐν μάχῃ. Ὡς ἐκλήθημεν, οὕτως προσμείνωμεν τῇ μυστικῇ 96.512 τραπέζῃ, ἐν ᾗ τῶν οὐρανίων μεταλαμβάνομεν. Μὴ γενώμεθα κατὰ ταυτὸν ὁμοτράπεζοι, καὶ ἀλλήλων ἐπίβουλοι· μὴ ἐνταῦθα κοινωνικοὶ, καὶ ἔξω ἐπίβουλοι. Τοῦ ἁγίου Σεραπίωνος, ἐκ τῆς κγʹ ἐπιστολῆς. -Οὐδέποτε αἵρεσις τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐνίκησεν, καὶ κατ' ὀλίγον προελθοῦσα εὐθέως λύεται. Κλήμεντος ἐκ τοῦ ηʹ τῶν Στρωμάτων. -Ἐκδέχεται ἄλλος τόπος καὶ ὄχλος τοὺς ταραχώδεις, κ. τ. ἑ. Φίλωνος, ἐκ τοῦ αʹ τῶν ἐν Ἐξόδῳ Ζητημάτων. -Ὥσπερ οἱ προσπταίσαντες, ἀρτίοις βαίνειν ποσὶν ἀδυνατοῦντες, μακρὰν τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τέλους ὑστερίζουσι προσκάμνοντες· οὕτω καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ τὴν πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἄγουσαν ὁδὸν ἀνύειν κωλύεται, προεντυγχάνουσα ταῖς ἀσεβέσιν ἀνοδίαις. Αὗται γάρ εἰσιν ἐμπόδιοι, καὶ προσπταισμάτων αἰτίαι, δι' ὧν χωλαίνων ὁ νοῦς ὑστερίζει τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ὁδοῦ. Ἡ δὲ ὁδός ἐστιν, ἡ ἐπὶ τὸν Πατέρα τῶν ὅλων τελευτῶσα. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. -Αἱ περὶ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀρετῶν ἐναγώνιοι ζητήσεις βελτιοῦσι τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ ἄθλους ἀθλοῦσιν ἡδίστους ἅμα καὶ ὠφελιμωτάτους, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν, μὴ ὡς οἱ νῦν τὴν ψευδώνυμον κλῆσιν ὑποδυόμενοι, μέχρι τοῦ δοκεῖν ὑπερμαχοῦσι τῶν δογμάτων, ἀλλὰ πάθει γνησίῳ μετ' ἐπιστήμης ἰχνηλατοῦσιν ἀλήθειαν. Ἐκ τοῦ βʹ τῶν αὐτῶν. -Τὸ ἐμμελὲς, καὶ εὔρυθμον, οὐκ ἐν φωνῇ μᾶλλον ἢ διανοίᾳ ἐπιδείκνυσθαι πειρωμένους, ὁ τοῦ Σοφοῦ λόγος, οὐκ ἐν ῥήμασι, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς δηλουμένοις πράγμασιν ἐπιδείκνυσι τὸ κάλλος. Ἐκ τοῦ τελευταίου τῶν ἐν Ἐξόδῳ Ζητημάτων. -Τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας τοῖς ἱεροῖς Γράμμασιν οὐ δεῖ συλλαβομαχεῖν, ἀλλὰ πρὸ τῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ ῥημάτων τὴν διάνοιαν σκοπεῖν, καὶ τοὺς καιροὺς, καὶ τόπους, καὶ τρόπους, καθ' οὓς ἕκαστα λέγεται. Πολλάκις γὰρ αἱ αὐταὶ λέξεις ἑτέροις καὶ ἑτέροις πράγμασιν ἐφαρμόζουσιν, καὶ κατὰ τοὐναντίον διαφέρουσαι λέξεις ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τιθέμεναι πράγματος συνᾴδουσιν. Ἐκ τῶν ἐν Γενέσει Ζητημάτων. -Ἀτόπως δρῶσιν, ὅσοι ἐκ μέρους τινὸς κρίνουσι τὸ ὅλον, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἐκ τοῦ ὅλου τὸ μέρος. Οὕτω γὰρ ἄμεινον καὶ σῶμα καὶ πρᾶγμα δογματίζοιτο ἄν. Ἔστιν οὖν ἡ θεία νομοθεσία τρόπον τινὰ ζῶον ἡνωμένον, ἣν ὅλην δι' ὅλου χρὴ μεγάλοις ὄμμασι περισκοπεῖν, καὶ τὴν βουλὴν τῆς συμπάσης Γραφῆς ἀκριβῶς καὶ τηλαυγῶς περιαθρεῖν, μὴ κατακόπτοντας τὴν ἁρμονίαν, μηδὲ τὴν ἕνωσιν διαρτῶντας, Ἑτερόμορφα γὰρ καὶ ἑτεροειδῆ φανεῖται, τῆς κοινωνίας στερούμενα. Ἐκ τοῦ δʹ τῶν αὐτῶν. -Νόμος ἔστω κατὰ τῶν τὰ σεμνὰ καὶ θεῖα μὴ σεμνῶς καὶ θεοπρεπῶς ὁρᾷν ἀξιούντων, κόλασιν ἐπιφέρειν ἀορασίας. 96.513 ΣΤΟΙΧΕΙΟΝ Β. ΤΙΤΛ. Αʹ. -Περὶ βασιλέως· ὅτι ἀλυσιτελὲς τὸ ἐξιέναι τὸν βασιλέα εἰς πόλεμον, καὶ βέλτιον, διὰ μισθοφόρων, καὶ δώρων τοὺς πολεμίους ἀμύνεσθαι, ἢ δι' ἑαυτοῦ. Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰγνατίου, ἐκ τῆς πρὸς Ἐφεσίους ἐπιστολῆς. - Οὐδέν ἐστιν ἄμεινον εἰρήνης, ἐν ᾗ πᾶς πόλεμος καταργεῖται. ΤΙΤΛ. Βʹ. -Περὶ