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twenty-four schoeni in length, or ninety-six miles, and the width six schoeni, or twenty-four miles, and he similarly fabricates monstrosities about its thickness and its feet and the other mythological tales. and that the Holy Spirit is also itself a female, like Christ, in the manner of a statue above a cloud and standing between two mountains. And I will be silent about the rest, lest I vex the hearing of the readers with mythology. With what words and empty utterances does he later deceive in the book, saying, “Let no one seek the interpretation, but only say these things in prayer,” having allegedly translated them from the Hebrew dialect, as we have partly understood, the things imagined by him being nothing. For he claims to say, “abar anid moïb nochile daasim ane daasim nochile moïb anid abar selam,” which, when interpreted, has this meaning: “Let humiliation that comes from my fathers, 1.222 from their condemnation and their trampling and their suffering, pass away, by a trampling in condemnation through my fathers, from a humiliation that has passed away in a mission of perfection.” But all these things are fulfilled in him. For his power and his error have been emptied out. But if anyone wishes to hear a word-for-word interpretation with minute detail, we would not hesitate to do this, but for the sake of those wishing to hear with minute detail, we shall set forth directly his very words and their interpretations, and it is thus: abar, let it pass away; anid, humiliation; moïb, that from my fathers; nochile, of their condemnation; daasim, and of their trampling; ane, and of their suffering; daasim, by a trampling; nochile, in condemnation; moïb, through my fathers; anid, from humiliation; abar, that has passed away; selam, in a mission of perfection. 5. This heresy, then, of the Ossaeans, mentioned above, which follows the Jewish way of life in observing the Sabbath and being circumcised and doing all things of the law; but only in forbidding the books of Moses, similarly to the Nasaraeans, this one creates a schism, differing from the other six of these seven heresies. It will suffice, then, for its refutation that it is foreign to God *, since the Lord clearly says that “the priests in the temple profane the sabbath.” And what is this profanation of the sabbath? Is it not that no one worked on the sabbath, but in the temple the priests, by performing the sacrifice, broke the sabbath, profaning it through the perpetual sacrifice of animals? And I will pass over this heresy as well. For this Elxai has again joined himself to the Ebionites after Christ, and also to the Nazoraeans who came later. and four 1.223 heresies have made use of him, since they are charmed by his error: that of the Ebionites who came later, and of the Nazoraeans, and of the Ossaeans before him and with him, and of the Nasaraeans previously indicated by me above. This is the sixth heresy of the seven in Jerusalem, which remained until the coming of Christ, and after the incarnate coming of Christ until the capture of Jerusalem, which happened under the emperor Titus, the brother of Domitian and son of Vespasian, in the second year of the reign of his father Vespasian. But after the capture of Jerusalem, both it and the other heresies, being talked of for a short time, persisted, I mean those of the Sadducees and Scribes, and of the Pharisees and Hemerobaptists, and of the Ossaeans and Nasaraeans and Herodians, until, in due course and time, each of them was scattered and dissolved. 6. But it is sufficient from their own madness and from the words of the

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εἰκοσιτεσσάρων μὲν σχοίνων τὸ μῆκος ὡς μιλίων ἐνενηκονταὲξ τὸ δὲ πλάτος σχοίνων ἓξ μιλίων εἰκοσιτεσσάρων, καὶ τὸ πάχος ὁμοίως τερατευόμενος καὶ τοὺς πόδας καὶ τὰ ἄλλα μυθολογήματα. εἶναι δὲ καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα καὶ αὐτὸ θήλειαν, ὅμοιον τῷ Χριστῷ, ἀνδριάντος δίκην ὑπὲρ νεφέλην καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον δύο ὀρέων ἑστός. καὶ τὰ ἄλλα σιωπήσω, ἵνα μὴ εἰς μυθολογίαν φαντασιάσω τὴν ἀκοὴν τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων τίσι δὲ λόγοις καὶ κενοφωνίαις ὕστερον ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ ἀπατᾷ λέγων «μηδεὶς ζητήσῃ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, ἀλλ' ἢ μόνον ἐν τῇ εὐχῇ τάδε λεγέτω», καὶ αὐτὰ δῆθεν ἀπὸ Ἑβραϊκῆς διαλέκτου μετενέγκας, ὡς ἀπὸ μέρους κατειλήφαμεν, οὐδὲν ὄντα τὰ παρ' αὐτῷ φανταζόμενα. φάσκει γὰρ λέγειν «ἀβὰρ ἀνὶδ μωῒβ νωχιλὲ δαασὶμ ἀνὴ δαασὶμ νωχιλὲ μωῒβ ἀνὶδ ἀβὰρ σελάμ», ἅτινα ἑρμηνευόμενα ἔχει τὴν σαφήνειαν ταύτην· «παρελθέτω ταπείνωσις ἡ ἐκ τῶν πατέρων 1.222 μου τῆς κατακρίσεως αὐτῶν καὶ καταπατήματος αὐτῶν καὶ πόνου αὐτῶν, καταπατήματι ἐν κατακρίσει διὰ τῶν πατέρων μου, ἀπὸ ταπεινώσεως παρελθούσης ἐν ἀποστολῇ τελειώσεως.» ἐπ' αὐτῷ δὲ πάντα πληροῦται ταῦτα. κεκένωται γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ πλάνη. εἰ δὲ ἓν ῥῆμα πρὸς ἓν θελήσει τις κατὰ λεπτολογίαν ἀκοῦσαι ἑρμηνευόμενον, καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἂν ὀκνήσαιμεν ποιῆσαι, ἀλλ' εἰς καθῆκον κατὰ πάντα τῶν βουλομένων λεπτολόγως ἀκούειν αὐτὰ δὴ τὰ ῥήματα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς αὐτῶν ἑρμηνείας ἄντικρυς παραθησόμεθα, καὶ ἔστιν οὕτως· ἀβάρ, παρελθέτω· ἀνίδ, ταπείνωσις· μωΐβ, ἡ ἐκ τῶν πατέρων μου· νωχιλέ, τῆς κατακρίσεως αὐτῶν· δαασίμ, καὶ καταπατήματος αὐτῶν· ἀνή, καὶ πόνου αὐτῶν· δαασίμ, καταπατήματι· νωχιλέ, ἐν κατακρίσει· μωΐβ, διὰ τῶν πατέρων μου· ἀνίδ, ἀπὸ ταπεινώσεως· ἀβάρ, παρελθούσης· σελάμ, ἐν ἀποστολῇ τελειώσεως. 5. Αὕτη γοῦν ἡ αἵρεσις ἡ τῶν Ὀσσηνῶν ἄνω προειρημένη, ἡ πολιτευομένη μὲν τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων πολιτείαν κατὰ τὸ σαββατίζειν τε καὶ περιτέμνεσθαι καὶ τοῦ νόμου ποιεῖν τὰ πάντα· μόνον δὲ τῷ ἀπαγορεύειν τὰς βίβλους Μωυσέως ὁμοίως τοῖς Νασαραίοις σχίσμα δὲ ἐργάζεται αὕτη, διαφερομένη πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας ἓξ τούτων τῶν ἑπτὰ αἱρέσεων. ἀρκέσει γοῦν εἰς ἀνατροπὴν ταύτης τὸ εἶναι αὐτὴν ἀλλοτρίαν θεοῦ *, τοῦ κυρίου σαφῶς λέγοντος ὅτι «οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βεβηλοῦσι τὸ σάββατον». ἡ δὲ βεβήλωσις τοῦ σαββάτου τίς αὕτη ἀλλ' ὅτι ἔργον οὐδεὶς εἰργάζετο ἐν τῷ σαββάτῳ, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἱερῷ οἱ ἱερεῖς θυσίαν ἐπιτελοῦντες ἔλυον τὸ σάββατον, βεβηλοῦντες διὰ τὴν ἐνδελεχῆ τῶν ζῴων θυσίαν; Καὶ παρελεύσομαι καὶ ταύτην τὴν αἵρεσιν. συνῆπται γὰρ οὗτος πάλιν ὁ Ἠλξαῒ τοῖς μετὰ τὸν Χριστὸν Ἐβιωναίοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς Ναζωραίοις τοῖς μετέπειτα γεγονόσι. καὶ κέχρηνται αὐτῷ τέσσαρες 1.223 αἱρέσεις, ἐπειδὴ θέλγονται τῇ αὐτοῦ πλάνῃ· ἡ Ἐβιωναίων τε τῶν μετέπειτα γεγονότων καὶ Ναζωραίων, Ὀσσαίων τε τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ καὶ Νασαραίων τῶν ἄνω μοι προδεδηλωμένων. Αὕτη δὲ ἡ ἕκτη αἵρεσις τῶν ἑπτὰ τῶν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις, αἵτινες ἐνέμειναν ἄχρι τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔνσαρκον παρουσίαν ἄχρι τῆς τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ἁλώσεως, ἥτις γέγονεν ὑπὸ Τίτου βασιλέως, ἀδελφοῦ ∆ομετιανοῦ υἱοῦ δὲ Οὐεσπασιανοῦ, ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτει τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Οὐεσπασιανοῦ βασιλείας. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ἅλωσιν ἐπέμεινεν ἥ τε αὐτὴ καὶ αἱ ἄλλαι ὀλίγῳ τῷ χρόνῳ φημιζόμεναι αἱρέσεις, Σαδδουκαίων φημὶ καὶ Γραμματέων, Φαρισαίων τε καὶ Ἡμεροβαπτιστῶν Ὀσσαίων τε καὶ Νασαραίων καὶ Ἡρῳδιανῶν, ἄχρις οὗ κατὰ καιρὸν καὶ κατὰ χρόνον ἑκάστη αὐτῶν διασκορπισθεῖσα διελύθη. 6. Ἀρκετῶς δὲ ἔχει ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς αὐτῶν φρενοβλαβείας καὶ τῶν ῥημάτων τοῦ