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6. -Concerning Nepos. Nepos, a bishop of an Egyptian city, in all other respects agreed with the dogmas of the Church, but he erred concerning the divine promises, believing that these would be fulfilled on earth, with food and drink, and Jewish feasts, and periods of a thousand years to be spent in these things. Against him, again, Dionysius, the bishop of Alexandria, wrote, praising him in other respects, but refuting his error in these. These dogmas sprang up between those who denied the humanity of our God and Savior, and those who called a mere man Him who is also 83.409 pre-eternal God. And most of these, having just sprouted, withered, and have remained dry. For who now knows anyone called after Nepos, or Nicolaus, or Noetus, or Proclus? From Montanists, and Novatians, and Quartodecimans, the East has been entirely delivered, and Egypt has been delivered, and Libya, and the West is free of them; but small parts of the Asian and Pontic dioceses have their tares. For neither Polemoniac Pontus, nor Helenopontus, nor the Armenias, nor the Cappadocias, not Lycaonia, not Pisidia, not Pamphylia, not Lycia, nor Caria received these heresies. But the continents are full of those who hold to the truth, and the very ends of the inhabited world are full. For the prophecy of the God of all is true, which he made through the prophetic tongue, saying to the Savior: "Behold, I have given you for a covenant of the people, for a light to the nations, that you should be for salvation to the end of the earth." And the blessed David speaks in harmony with Isaiah: "For he shall have dominion," he says, "from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the inhabited world." Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down, and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tharsis and the isles shall bring presents: the kings of the Arabians and Saba shall bring gifts. -And all the kings of the earth shall worship him, all nations shall serve him." These prophecies received their fulfillment through the Church. But the teaching of the heretics, some has been torn up by the roots, while the rest is no different from half-withered plants, having remained in a few cities and villages, and showing the weakness and falsehood of its composers. For the Lord "frustrates the signs of ventriloquists, and divinations from the heart, and establishes the words of his servant, and shows the counsel of his messengers to be true." And, "He frustrates the counsels of the nations, and sets aside the reasonings of the peoples; but the counsel of the Lord endures forever, the thoughts of his heart to generation and generation. Blessed therefore is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance." THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE COMPENDIUM OF HERETICAL FABLES. Prologue. 1. Concerning Arius. 2. Concerning Eudoxius. 3. Concerning Eunomius and Aetius. 4. Concerning the Psathyrians, and the other heresies descending from Arius. 5. Concerning the Macedonians. 6. Concerning the Donatists. 7. Concerning the Meletians. 8. Concerning Apollinarius. 9. Concerning the Polemians, and the other Apollinarians. 10. Concerning the Audians. 11. Concerning the Messalians, that is, the Euchites, and Enthusiasts. 12. Concerning Nestorius. 13. Concerning Eutyches. PROLOGUE.
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ςʹ. -Περὶ Νέπωτος. Νέπως δὲ, τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς ἐπίσκοπος πόλεως, κατὰ μὲν τὰ ἄλλα πάντα τοῖς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας δό γμασι συνεφώνει, περὶ δὲ τὰς θείας ἐπαγγελίας ἡμάρτανεν, ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτας ἡγούμενος ἔσεσθαι, καὶ βρῶσιν, καὶ πόσιν, καὶ τὰς Ἰουδαϊκὰς ἑορτὰς, καὶ χιλίων ἐτῶν περιόδους ἐν τούτοις δαπανωμένας. Κατὰ τούτου πάλιν συνέγραψε ∆ιονύσιος ὁ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων ἐπίσκοπος, ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπαινῶν, ἐν δὲ τούτοις διελέγχων τὸν πλάνον. Ταῦτα μὲν μεταξὺ τῶν ἀρνουμένων τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα, καὶ τῶν ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀποκαλούντων τὸν καὶ Θεὸν ὑπάρχοντα 83.409 προαιώνιον, ἀνεφύη τὰ δόγματα. Καὶ τούτων δὲ τὰ πλεῖστα, εὐθὺς βλαστήσαντα ἐμαράνθη, καὶ αὖα μεμένηκε. Τίς γὰρ οἶδέ τινα νῦν ἀπὸ Νέπωτος, ἢ Νικολάου, ἢ Νοητοῦ, ἢ Πρόκλου προσαγορευό μενον; Μοντανιστῶν δὲ, καὶ Ναυατιανῶν, καὶ Τεσ σαρεσκαιδεκατιτῶν, ἀπήλλακται μὲν ἡ Ἑῴα παντά πασιν, ἀπήλλακται δὲ καὶ Αἴγυπτος, καὶ Λιβύη, ἐλευθέρα δὲ τούτων καὶ ἡ Ἑσπέρα· μόρια δὲ σμικρὰ τῆς Ἀσιανῆς, καὶ τῆς Ποντικῆς, τὰ τούτων ἔχοντά εἰσι ζιζάνια. Οὔτε γὰρ ὁ Πολεμωνιακὸς Πόντος, οὔτ' Ἑλενόποντος, οὔτε αἱ Ἀρμενίαι, οὔτε αἱ Καππαδοκίαι, οὐ Λυκαονία, οὐ Πισιδία, οὐ Παμφυλία, οὐ Λυκία, οὐ Καρία δὲ, τάσδε τὰς αἱρέσεις ἐδέξαντο. Τῶν δὲ τὴν ἀλήθειαν πρεσβευόντων πλήρεις μὲν αἱ ἤπειροι, πλήρη δὲ καὶ αὐτὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ τέρ ματα. Ἀληθὴς γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἡ πρόῤῥησις, ἣν διὰ τῆς προφητικῆς ἐποιήσατο γλώττης, πρὸς τὸν Σωτῆρα λέγων· "Ἰδοὺ δέδωκά σε εἰς διαθήκην γένους, εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, τοῦ εἶναί σε σωτηρίαν ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς." Συνῳδὰ δὲ τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ καὶ ὁ μα κάριος λέγει ∆αβίδ· "Κατακυριεύσει γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἕως θαλάσσης, καὶ ἀπὸ ποταμῶν ἕως περάτων τῆς οἰκουμένης." Ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ προ πεσοῦνται Αἰθίοπες, καὶ οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ χοῦν λείξουσι. Βασιλεῖς Θαρσεῖς καὶ νῆσοι δῶρα προσοίσουσι· βασιλεῖς Ἀράβων καὶ Σαβᾶ δῶρα προσάξουσι. -Καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν αὐτῷ πάντες οἱ βασι λεῖς τῆς γῆς, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη δουλεύσουσιν αὐτῷ." Αἱ δὲ προῤῥήσεις αὗται διὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸ πέρας ἐδέξαντο. Ἡ δὲ τῶν αἱρετικῶν διδασκαλία, ἡ μὲν πρόῤῥιζος ἀνεσπάσθη, ἡ δὲ τῶν ἡμιξήρων φυτῶν οὐδὲ διενήνοχεν, ἐν πόλεσιν ὀλίγαις καὶ κώμαις μεμενηκυῖα, καὶ τὸ τῶν συντεθεικότων ἀσθενὲς καὶ ψευδὲς ὑποφαίνουσα. Κύριος γὰρ "διασκεδάζει ση μεῖα ἐγγαστριμύθων, καὶ μαντείας ἀπὸ καρδίας, καὶ ἱστᾷ ῥήματα παιδὸς αὑτοῦ, καὶ τὴν βουλὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων αὑτοῦ δείκνυσιν ἀληθῆ." Καὶ, "∆ιασκεδάζει βουλὰς ἐθνῶν, καὶ ἀθετεῖ λογισμοὺς λαῶν· ἡ δὲ βουλὴ τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένει· λογισμοὶ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν. Μακάριον οὖν τὸ ἔθνος, οὗ ἐστι Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς αὐτοῦ, λαὸς ὃν ἐξελέξατο εἰς κληρονομίαν ἑαυτοῦ." ΑΙΡΕΤΙΚΗΣ ΚΑΚΟΜΥΘΙΑΣ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΕΤΑΡΤΟΣ. Πρόλογος. αʹ. Περὶ Ἀρείου. βʹ. Περὶ Εὐδοξίου. γʹ. Περὶ Εὐνομίου καὶ Ἀετίου. δʹ. Περὶ Ψαθυριανῶν, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐκ τῆς Ἀρείου καταγομένων αἱρέσεως. εʹ. Περὶ Μακεδονιανῶν. ϛʹ. Περὶ ∆ονατιστῶν. ζʹ. Περὶ Μελετιανῶν. ηʹ. Περὶ Ἀπολιναρίου. θʹ. Περὶ Πολεμιανῶν, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἀπολι ναριστῶν. ιʹ. Περὶ Αὐδιανῶν. ιαʹ. Περὶ Μεσσαλιανῶν, ἤγουν Εὐχιτῶν, καὶ Ἐνθουσιαστῶν. ιβʹ. Περὶ Νεστορίου. ιγʹ. Περὶ Εὐτύχεος. ΠΡΟΛΟΓΟΣ.