[That Christians Must Abstain from All the Impious Practices of the Heathens.]

LXII. Take heed, therefore, not to join yourselves in your worship with those that perish, which is the assembly of the Gentiles, to your deceit and destruction. For there is no fellowship between God and the devil; for he that assembles himself with those that favour the things of the devil, will be esteemed one of them, and will inherit a woe. Avoid also indecent spectacles: I mean the theatres and the pomps of the heathens; their enchantments, observations of omens, soothsayings, purgations, divinations, observations of birds; their necromancies and invocations. For it is written: “There is no divination in Jacob, nor soothsaying in Israel.”  273  Num. xxiii. 23. And again: “Divination is iniquity.”  274  1 Sam. xv. 23, LXX. And elsewhere: “Ye shall not be soothsayers, and follow observers of omens, nor diviners, nor dealers with familiar spirits. Ye shall not preserve alive wizards.”  275  Lev. xix. 26; Deut. xviii. 10. Wherefore Jeremiah exhorts, saying: “Walk ye not according to the ways of the heathen, and be not afraid of the signs of heaven.”  276  Jer. x. 2. [Slaves were bought to be baptized. Elucid., p. 425.] So that it is the duty of a believer to avoid the assemblies of the ungodly, of the heathen, and of the Jews, and of the rest of the heretics, lest by uniting ourselves to them we bring snares upon our own souls; that we may not by joining in their feasts, which are celebrated in honour of demons, be partakers with them in their impiety. You are also to avoid their public meetings, and those sports which are celebrated in them. For a believer ought not to go to any of those public meetings, unless to purchase a slave, and save a soul,  277  Jer. x. 2. [Slaves were bought to be baptized. Elucid., p. 425.] and at the same time to buy such other things as suit their necessities. Abstain, therefore, from all idolatrous pomp and state, all their public meetings, banquets, duels, and all shows belonging to demons.

[Sec. VIII.—On the Duty of Working for a Livelihood.]

[62] Φυλάσσεσθε οὖν τοῦ μὴ συσχολάζειν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις, ὅ ἐστιν συναγωγὴ ἐθνῶν, εἰς ἀπάτην καὶ ἀπώλειαν: οὐδεμία γὰρ κοινωνία Θεῷ πρὸς διάβολον: ὁ γὰρ συναθροιζόμενος μετὰ τῶν τὰ τοῦ διαβόλου φρονούντων εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν λογισθήσεται καὶ τὸ οὐαὶ κληρονομήσει. Φεύγετε δὴ καὶ τὰ ἀπρεπῆ τῶν θεαμάτων, τὰ θέατρά φημι καὶ τὰς ἑλληνικὰς πομπάς, ἐπαοιδάς, κληδόνας, μαντείας, καθαρισμούς, οἰωνισμούς, ὀρνιθοσκοπίας, νεκυομαντείας, ἐπιφωνήσεις, ὅτι γέγραπται: »Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν οἰωνισμὸς ἐν Ἰακώβ, οὐδὲ μαντεία ἐν Ἰσραήλ«, καὶ πάλιν: »Οἰώνισμα ἁμαρτία ἐστίν«, καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ: »Οὐκ οἰωνιεῖσθε, καὶ κληδόσι καὶ μαντείαις καὶ ἐγγαστριμύθοις οὐκ ἐπακολουθήσετε, φαρμακοὺς οὐ περιποιήσετε.« Διὸ παραινεῖ καὶ ὁ Ἱερεμίας λέγων: »Κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν μὴ πορεύεσθε, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σημείων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μὴ φοβεῖσθε.« Διόπερ χρὴ τὸν πιστὸν φεύγειν τὰς συνόδους τῶν ἀσεβῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ Ἰουδαίων καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν αἱρετικῶν, ἵνα μὴ τῷ συσχολάζειν αὐτοῖς παγίδας λάβωμεν ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ψυχαῖς, ὅπως μὴ συναναστρεφόμενοι ταῖς ἑορταῖς αὐτῶν, αἵτινες ἐπὶ τιμῇ τῶν δαιμόνων ἐπιτελοῦνται, κοινωνήσωμεν αὐτοῖς καὶ τῆς ἀσεβείας. Φευκτέαι δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ αἱ πανηγύρεις καὶ τὰ ἐν ταύταις ἐπιτελούμενα παίγνια: πιστὸν γὰρ ἐν πανηγύρει οὐ χρὴ παραβάλλειν πλεῖον τοῦ σωμάτιον πρίασθαι καὶ ψυχὴν περιποιήσασθαι καὶ ἕτερά τινα ὠνήσασθαι τῶν πρὸς σύστασιν ἁρμοζόντων. Ἀπέχεσθε οὖν πάσης τῆς τῶν εἰδώλων πομπῆς, φαντασίας, πανηγύρεως, συμποσίων, μονομαχίας, καὶ πάσης θέας δαιμονικῆς.