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Mount Sion, so called to this day, but also where the oak of Mamre is, where the calf was set before the angels. But if Abraham set the preparation of meat before angels, he himself was not lacking a share in them. 3. But also of the lamb that was sacrificed in the land of the Egyptians the tradition is still celebrated among the Egyptians and among the idolaters. For at the time when the Passover took place there and this is the beginning of spring, when the first equinox occurs 1.217 all the Egyptians in their ignorance take red ochre and anoint the sheep, and they anoint the trees too, the figs and the others, spreading the word and saying that, they say, fire once on this day burned up the world; and the fiery appearance of the blood is an amulet against such a great plague. And from where can we not show, concerning the sequence, that even to this day the remains of Noah's ark are shown in the land of the Cardyaeans. And certainly if one were to seek and investigate, he would also find the remains of the altar, since it is consistent, at the foot of the mountain, where Noah stayed after coming out of the ark and offered of the clean animals and the fat to the Lord God when he heard "behold I have given you all things as the green herbs of the field, sacrifice and eat." But I will again pass over this adventitious and foolish aspect of the heresy, being content with the few words already spoken, sown here by our brevity in opposition to the error of the aforesaid heresy.

Against the Ossaeans, the tenth heresy from Judaism, and the nineteenth in order.

1. After this again another heresy interwoven with these, the one called that of the Ossaeans. These are Jews like the ones mentioned before, hypocrites in their manner, clever in their thought. These originated, as the tradition that has come down to us holds, from the country of Nabataea and Ituraea, and of Moabitis and Ariēlitis, the regions lying beyond the valley of the salt sea, so called in the divine scripture; and this is the so-called Dead Sea. 1.218 This race of the Ossaeans is interpreted through the translation of the name as a "sturdy race." And afterwards there was joined to them the man called Elxai in the times of the emperor Trajan after the coming of the Savior, who became a false prophet. This man composed a book supposedly according to prophecy or as if by divine wisdom; and they say that a certain Iexaeus was his brother. This man became one who was deluded in his manner, deceitful in his mind, originating from the Jews and thinking the things of the Jews, but not living according to the law, but introducing other things in place of others and fabricating his own heresy for himself, having appointed for them as an object of worship salt and water and earth and bread and heaven and ether and wind as an oath; and at another time again appointing seven other witnesses, I mean heaven and water and holy spirits, as he says, and the angels of prayer and the oil and the salt and the earth. And he abominates virginity, and hates continence, and compels marriage; and he introduces certain phantasms supposedly from a revelation, and he teaches hypocrisy, saying that it is not a sin, if one happens to worship idols when a time of persecution is at hand, as long as one does not worship in conscience, and whatever one may confess with the mouth, but not in the heart. 2. And the deceiver is not ashamed to introduce a certain witness, saying that a certain Phinehas 1.219 a priest from the family of both Levi and Aaron and of the ancient Phinehas in Babylon

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ὄρος Σιὼν ἄχρι τῆς δεῦρο οὕτω καλούμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅπου ἡ δρῦς τῆς Μαμβρῆ, ἔνθα τοῖς ἀγγέλοις παρετέθη ὁ μόσχος. εἰ δὲ Ἀβραὰμ ἀγγέλοις παρέθετο κρεῶν τὴν ἑτοιμασίαν, ἀποδέων οὐκ ἦν αὐτὸς τῆς τούτων μετοχῆς. 3. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ προβάτου τοῦ τυθέντος ἐν τῇ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων χώρᾳ ἔτι παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις τυγχάνει ᾀδομένη ἡ παράδοσις καὶ παρὰ τοῖς εἰδωλολάτραις. ἐν γὰρ τῷ καιρῷ, ὅτε τὸ πάσχα ἐγίνετο ἐκεῖσε ἀρχὴ δὲ αὕτη γίνεται τοῦ ἔαρος ὅτε ἡ πρώτη ἰσημερία ἐκ μίλτεως 1.217 λαμβάνουσι πάντες οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι κατὰ ἀγνωσίαν καὶ χρίουσι μὲν τὰ πρόβατα, χρίουσι δὲ καὶ τὰ δένδρα, τὰς συκᾶς καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, φημίζοντες καὶ λέγοντες ὅτι, φησί, τὸ πῦρ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ κατέφλεξέ ποτε τὴν οἰκουμένην· τὸ δὲ σχῆμα τοῦ αἵματος τὸ πυρωπὸν ἀλεξητήριόν ἐστι τῆς τοσαύτης πληγῆς καὶ τοιαύτης. πόθεν δὲ οὐκ ἔχομεν δεῖξαι περὶ τῆς ἀκολουθίας, ὡς ἔτι καὶ δεῦρο τὰ λείψανα τῆς τοῦ Νῶε λάρνακος δείκνυται ἐν τῇ τῶν Καρδυαίων χώρᾳ. καὶ πάντως δὲ εἰ ἐπιζητήσειέ τις καὶ ἀνερευνήσειε, καὶ τὰ λείψανα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἐπείπερ ἀκόλουθόν ἐστιν εὕροι ἂν ἐν τῇ ὑπωρείᾳ τοῦ ὄρους, ὅπου ἔμεινε Νῶε ἐξελθὼν ἀπὸ τῆς κιβωτοῦ καὶ προσενέγκας ἀπὸ τῶν ζῴων τῶν καθαρῶν καὶ τῶν στεάτων κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ ὅτε ἤκουσεν «ἰδοὺ δέδωκά σοι τὰ πάντα ὡς λάχανα ἀγροῦ, θῦσον καὶ φάγε». παρελεύσομαι δὲ καὶ ταύτης πάλιν τὸ ἐπείσακτον καὶ ἠλίθιον τῆς αἱρέσεως, ἀρκεσθεὶς ταῖς προειρημέναις ὀλίγαις λέξεσιν, ἐνσπαρείσαις ὑπὸ τῆς ἡμῶν βραχύτητος ἐνταῦθα πρὸς ἀντίθεσιν τῆς πλάνης τῆς προειρημένης αἱρέσεως.

Κατὰ Ὀσσαίων, ἀπὸ Ἰουδαϊσμοῦ αἱρέσεως ˉ, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉιˉθ.

1. Μετὰ ταύτην πάλιν ἄλλη τις αἵρεσις ταύταις παραπεπλεγμένη, ἡ τῶν Ὀσσαίων καλουμένη. Ἰουδαῖοι δὲ οὗτοι ὡς καὶ αἱ προειρημέναι, ὑποκριταὶ τὸν τρόπον δεινοὶ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν. ὡρμῶντο δὲ οὗτοι, ὡς ἡ εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐλθοῦσα περιέχει παράδοσις, ἀπὸ τῆς Ναβατικῆς χώρας καὶ Ἰτουραίας, Μωαβίτιδός τε καὶ Ἀριηλίτιδος, τῶν ἐπέκεινα τῆς κοιλάδος τῆς ἁλυκῆς οὕτως ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ κληθείσης ὑπερκειμένων χωρῶν· ἔστι δὲ αὕτη ἡ νεκρὰ καλουμένη θάλασσα. τοῦτο 1.218 δὲ τὸ γένος τῶν Ὀσσαίων ἑρμηνεύεται διὰ τῆς ἐκδόσεως τοῦ ὀνόματος στιβαρὸν γένος. συνήφθη δὲ τούτοις μετέπειτα ὁ καλούμενος Ἠλξαῒ ἐν χρόνοις βασιλέως Τραιανοῦ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος παρουσίαν, ὃς ἐγένετο ψευδοπροφήτης· συνεγράψατο δὲ οὗτος βιβλίον δῆθεν κατὰ προφητείαν ἢ ὡς κατὰ ἔνθεον σοφίαν· φασὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλον τινὰ Ἰεξαῖον εἶναι ἀδελφὸν τούτου. γέγονε δὲ οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος πεπλανημένος τὸν τρόπον ἀπατηλὸς τὴν γνώμην, ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων ὁρμώμενος καὶ τὰ Ἰουδαίων φρονῶν, κατὰ νόμον δὲ μὴ πολιτευόμενος, ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων παρεισφέρων καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν αὑτῷ αἵρεσιν πλάσας, ἅλας καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν καὶ ἄρτον καὶ οὐρανὸν καὶ αἰθέρα καὶ ἄνεμον ὅρκον αὐτοῖς εἰς λατρείαν ὁρισάμενος· ποτὲ δὲ πάλιν ἄλλους μάρτυρας ἑπτὰ ὁρισάμενος, τὸν οὐρανόν φημι καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ πνεύματα, ὥς φησιν, ἅγια καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους τῆς προσευχῆς καὶ τὸ ἔλαιον καὶ τὸ ἅλας καὶ τὴν γῆν. ἀπεχθάνεται δὲ τῇ παρθενίᾳ, μισεῖ δὲ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, ἀναγκάζει δὲ γαμεῖν· φαντασιώδη δέ τινα ὡς δῆθεν ἐξ ἀποκαλύψεως παρεισφέρει, ὑπόκρισιν δὲ διδάσκει, φήσας μὴ εἶναι ἁμαρτίαν, εἰ καί τις παρατύχοι εἴδωλα προσκυνήσας καιρῷ ἐνστάντος διωγμοῦ, ἐὰν μόνον ἐν τῇ συνειδήσει μὴ προσκυνήσῃ, καὶ ὅ τι δἂν ὁμολογήσῃ στόματι, ἐν δὲ τῇ καρδίᾳ μή. 2. μάρτυρα δέ τινα παρεισφέρων οὐκ αἰσχύνεται ὁ ἀπατεών, λέγων Φινεές τινα 1.219 ἱερέα τῶν ἀπὸ γένους Λευί τε καὶ Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοῦ ἀρχαίου Φινεὲς ἐν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι