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does Herod look for the expectation of the nations? How was fulfilled among them, "he slept as a lion and as a lion's cub, who will rouse him"? Where did Herod "wash his robe in blood" or "his garment in the blood of the grape," as our Lord Jesus Christ sprinkled his body with his own blood and his garment in the blood of the grape? But "consider what I say. For the Lord will give you understanding in all things." For to show the cleansing power of the Lord's people's condition, he came through his own blood of teaching to cleanse the teeth of men that were defiled with the blood of the savor of fat and unlawful sacrifice. And why should I speak of the multitudes? For there are many, and time does not permit me to prolong the discourse for the refutation of the aforementioned heresies. 3. But these seven were in Israel, in Jerusalem and in Judaea, and the four aforementioned among the Samaritans in Samaria; but most have been suppressed. For no longer are there Scribes, no longer Pharisees, no longer Sadducees, no longer Hemerobaptists, no longer Herodians; but only a few are rarely found, if perhaps one or two Nazarenes above the upper Thebaid and beyond Arabia, and the remnant of the Ossaeans, no longer judaizing but joined to the Sampsites who in succession are located beyond the Dead Sea *; but now they have been joined to the heresy of the Ebionites. And it has come to pass that they have ceased from Judaism, just as a root is cut or the body of a reptile, and from it a two-headed and rootless serpent has grown, sprouted and suspended in one half-cut body. 1.227 Thus far the discussion concerning the four heresies of the Samaritans and the seven of the Jews, of which no more than three of the Samaritans survive, I mean those of the Gorothenes and Dositheans and Sebouaeans, but hardly any of the Essenes, but as if buried in darkness; and among the Jews no longer any but a few separate Ossaeans and Nasaraeans. And the Ossaeans have departed from Judaism into the heresy of the Sampsaeans, who are no longer either Jews or Christians. Let this suffice for me concerning the aforementioned up to this point.

The advent of Christ and of the incarnate presence and face of truth; the one

and only faith of God. 1. And immediately there followed the incarnate presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, which overtook the seven aforementioned heresies in Jerusalem. And his power extinguished and scattered them. And then, after his advent, all subsequent heresies arose, I mean after the annunciation to Mary in Nazareth through Gabriel and simply after the entire incarnate presence of the Lord, that is to say, his ascension. For God was pleased for the salvation of men that his own son should descend and be conceived in a virgin's womb, being the Word from heaven, begotten from the Father's bosom timelessly and without beginning, and having come in the last days, being God the Word truly begotten of God the Father, being of one substance with the Father and in no way changed from the Father, but being immutable and unchangeable, impassible and altogether not suffering, yet suffering with our race, having descended 1.228 from heaven, conceived not from the seed of a man, but through the Holy Spirit, having truly taken a body from Mary, having refashioned for himself the flesh from the womb of the holy virgin and having taken a human soul and mind and everything that a man is, without sin, uniting it to himself in his own divinity, and born in Bethlehem, circumcised in the cave, presented in Jerusalem,

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προσδοκία ἐθνῶν Ἡρῴδην καραδοκεῖ; πῶς δὲ παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐπληροῦτο τό «ἐκοιμήθη ὡς λέων καὶ ὡς σκύμνος λέοντος, τίς ἐξεγερεῖ αὐτόν»; ποῦ δὲ «ἔπλυνεν ἐν αἵματι τὴν στολὴν αὐτοῦ» ὁ Ἡρῴδης ἢ «ἐν αἵματι σταφυλῆς τὸ περιβόλαιον αὐτοῦ», ὡς ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ ῥαντίσας αἵματι τῷ ἰδίῳ καὶ ἐν αἵματι σταφυλῆς τὸ περιβόλαιον αὐτοῦ; ἀλλὰ «νόει ὃ λέγω. δώσει γάρ σοι ὁ κύριος σύνεσιν ἐν πᾶσιν.» ἵνα γὰρ δείξῃ τὸ καθάρσιον τῆς τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ κυρίου καταστάσεως, ἦλθεν διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος τῆς διδασκαλίας καθᾶραι τοὺς ὀδόντας τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοὺς εἰς αἷμα κνίσης καὶ ἀθεμίτου θυσίας μεμολυσμένους. καὶ τί μοι τὰ πλήθη λέγειν; πολλὰ γάρ ἐστι καὶ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ὁ χρόνος πρὸς ἀντίθεσιν τῶν προειρημένων αἱρέσεων ἐπιμηκύνειν τὸν λόγον. 3. Ἀλλ' αὗται μὲν αἱ ἑπτὰ ἦσαν ἐν Ἰσραήλ, ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμκαὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, αἱ δὲ τέσσαρες αἱ προειρημέναι παρὰ Σαμαρείταις ἐν τῇ Σαμαρείᾳ· αἱ πλείους δὲ καθῃρέθησαν. οὐκέτι γὰρ Γραμματεῖς, οὐκέτι Φαρισαῖοι, οὐκέτι Σαδδουκαῖοι, οὐκέτι Ἡμεροβαπτισταί, οὐκέτι Ἡρῳδιανοί· μόνοι δέ τινες ἐν σπάνει εὑρίσκονται εἴπου εἷς ἢ δύο Νασαρηνοὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἄνω Θηβαΐδα καὶ ἐπέκεινα τῆς Ἀραβίας καὶ Ὀσσαίων τὸ λεῖμμα, οὐκέτι ἰουδαΐζον ἀλλὰ συναφθὲν Σαμψίταις τοῖς κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἐν τοῖς πέραν τῆς νεκρᾶς θαλάσσης ὑπερκειμένοις *· νυνὶ δὲ τῇ τῶν Ἐβιωναίων αἱρέσει συνήφθησαν. καὶ γέγονε λῆξαι μὲν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ Ἰουδαϊσμοῦ, ὥσπερ δὲ ῥίζαν τμηθῆναι ἢ σῶμα ἑρπετοῦ καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ φῦναι δικέφαλον καὶ ἄρριζον ὄφιν ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι ἡμιτόμῳ ἐκπεφυκότα καὶ ἐξηρτημένον. 1.227 Ἕως ὧδε ἡ περὶ τῶν τεσσάρων αἱρέσεων τῶν Σαμαρειτῶν διαλογὴ καὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἐξ ὧν οὐκέτι φέρονται ἀλλ' ἢ τρεῖς μόναι τῶν Σαμαρειτῶν, λέγω δὴ ἡ Γοροθηνῶν τε καὶ ∆οσιθέων καὶ Σεβουαίων, Ἐσσηνῶν δὲ οὐ πάνυ, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν σκότῳ τεθαμμένων· παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις οὐκέτι ἀλλ' ἢ Ὀσσαίων καὶ Νασαραίων ὀλίγοι ἀφωρισμένοι. Ὀσσαῖοι δὲ μετέστησαν ἀπὸ Ἰουδαϊσμοῦ εἰς τὴν τῶν Σαμψαίων αἵρεσιν, οἵτινες οὐκέτι οὔτε Ἰουδαῖοι ὑπάρχουσιν οὔτε Χριστιανοί. ταῦτά μοι περὶ τῶν προειρημένων ἕως ὧδε ἐχέτω.

Ἐνδημία Χριστοῦ καὶ ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας καὶ ἀληθείας πρόσωπον· ἡ μία

καὶ μόνη οὖσα τοῦ θεοῦ πίστις. 1. Εὐθὺς δὲ ἐπεδήμησεν κατὰ πόδας ἡ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔνσαρκος παρουσία, ἥτις κατέλαβε τὰς προειρημένας ἑπτὰ αἱρέσεις ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις. ἔσβεσε δὲ ταύτας ἡ αὐτοῦ δύναμις καὶ διεσκέδασε. λοιπὸν δὲ μετὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἐπιδημίαν αἱ μετέπειτα πᾶσαι γεγόνασιν αἱρέσεις, λέγω δὴ μετὰ τὸ εὐαγγελισθῆναι Μαριὰμ ἐν Ναζαρὲτ διὰ τοῦ Γαβριὴλ καὶ μετὰ πᾶσαν ἁπλῶς τὴν ἔνσαρκον τοῦ κυρίου παρουσίαν εἴτουν ἀνάληψιν. ηὐδόκησε γὰρ ὁ θεὸς πρὸς σωτηρίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν ἴδιον υἱὸν κατελθόντα ἐν μήτρᾳ παρθενικῇ συλληφθῆναι, Λόγον ὄντα ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ, ἐκ κόλπων πατρῴων γεγεννημένον ἀχρόνως καὶ ἀνάρχως, ἐλθόντα δὲ ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν, θεὸν Λόγον ὄντα ἐκ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἀληθινῶς γεγεννημένον, ὁμοούσιον ὄντα τῷ πατρὶ καὶ οὐδὲν παρὰ τὸν πατέρα ἠλλοιωμένον, ἀλλὰ ἄτρεπτον ὄντα καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον, ἀπαθῆ τε καὶ ὅλως μὴ πάσχοντα, συμπάσχοντα δὲ τῷ ἡμετέρῳ γένει, κατελθόντα 1.228 ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ, ἐγκυμονηθέντα οὐκ ἀπὸ σπέρματος ἀνδρός, ἀλλὰ διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου, ἀληθινῶς σῶμα ἀπὸ Μαρίας ἐσχηκότα, ἀναπλάσαντα ἑαυτῷ τὴν σάρκα ἀπὸ τῆς μήτρας τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου καὶ ψυχὴν τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν εἰληφότα καὶ νοῦν καὶ πᾶν εἴ τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας εἰς ἑαυτὸν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ θεότητι συνενώσαντα, γεγεννημένον τε ἐν Βηθλεέμ, περιτμηθέντα ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ, προσενεχθέντα ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις,