23. Persecution is from the Devil.

Seeing therefore that such are the commands of our Saviour, and that such is the conduct of the Saints, let these persons, to whom one cannot give a name suitable to their character,—let them, I say, tell us, from whom they learnt to persecute? They cannot say, from the Saints108    Hist. Arian. §§33, 67.. No, but from the Devil (that is the only answer which is left to them);—from him who says, ‘I will persue, I will overtake109    Ex. xv. 9..’ Our Lord commanded to flee, and the saints fled: but persecution is a device of the Devil, and one which he desires to exercise against all. Let them say then, to which we ought to submit ourselves; to the words of the Lord, or to their fabrications? Whose conduct ought we to imitate, that of the Saints, or that of those whose example these men have adopted? But since it is likely they cannot determine this question (for, as Esaias said, their minds and their consciences are blinded, and they think ‘bitter to be sweet,’ and ‘light darkness110    Is. v. 20.’) let some one come forth from among us Christians, and put them to rebuke, and cry with a loud voice, ‘It is better to trust in the Lord, than to attend to the foolish sayings of these men; for the “words” of the Lord have “eternal life111    John vi. 68.,” but the things which these utter are full of iniquity and blood.’

23 Οὐκοῦν ὅτε τοιαῦτα τοῦ Σωτῆρός ἐστι τὰ παραγγέλματα, καὶ τοιαῦται τῶν ἁγίων αἱ πράξεις, εἰπάτωσαν ἡμῖν οἱ μηδ' ὁτιοῦν ἄν τις εἴποι κατ' ἀξίαν ἑαυτῶν ἀκούοντες, πόθεν ἔμαθον αὐτοὶ τὸ διώκειν; Ἀπὸ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἁγίων, οὐκ ἂν εἴποιεν· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ διαβόλου (τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτοῖς περιλείπεται) τοῦ λέγοντος· «διώξας καταλήψομαι». Καὶ τὸ μὲν φεύγειν ὁ Κύριος προσέταξε, καὶ οἱ ἅγιοι ἔφευγον, τὸ δὲ διώκειν διαβολικόν ἐστιν ἐπιχείρημα, καὶ κατὰ πάντων αὐτὸς αἰτεῖται τοῦτο. Τίνι τοίνυν δεῖ προσθέσθαι, πάλιν λεγέτωσαν· τοῖς τοῦ Κυρίου ῥήμασιν ἢ ταῖς αὐτῶν μυθολογίαις; Τίνων δὲ δεῖ μιμεῖσθαι τὰς πράξεις· τῶν ἁγίων ἢ ὧν ἂν ἐπινοήσωσιν αὐτοί; Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἴσως οὐδὲ ταῦτα διακρίνειν αὐτοὶ δύνανται (πεπήρωνται γὰρ τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ τὴν συνείδησιν, ὡς εἶπεν Ἡσαίας, καὶ νομίζουσι «τὸ πικρὸν εἶναι γλυκὺ καὶ τὸ φῶς σκότος»), παρελθών τις ἐξ ἡμῶν Χριστιανὸς ἐντρεψάτω τούτους μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ λέγων· «ἀγαθὸν πεποιθέναι ἐπὶ Κύριον», ἢ ταῖς τούτων προσέχειν μωρολογίαις. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ Κυρίου ῥήματα ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχει, τὰ δὲ παρὰ τούτων προφερόμενα πανουργίας καὶ αἱμάτων ἐστὶ μεστά.