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of the enemy." And it is possible to find countless other proofs, through which it is easy to learn that the devil, having been created good, willingly inclined to wickedness. The punishment threatened against him is also sufficient to show the voluntary nature of his evil. For it is not characteristic of a just God to punish one who became wicked by necessity. IX. — Concerning man. We say that man was formed, not by certain angels according to the myths of Basilides and Cerinthus, nor by Ialdabaoth according to the madness of the Sethians, nor yet by Saklas according to the derangement of Manes; but by the divine and all-holy Trinity that fashioned all things. For we have heard the divine Scripture saying, as the God of all things said: "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness." And in harmony with this, the blessed David also said: "For your hands, he says, have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, and I will learn your commandments." We understand the hands of God not as some bodily members, but as his creative power. For the bodiless and uncircumscribed nature is not composite, according to the madness of Audaeus, but simple and formless and without shape, and containing all things. Hearing, therefore, the Mosaic history relating that God took dust from the earth and formed man, we seek the meaning of the letter, and we understand the disposition which the God of all things has in a special way concerning the human nature. For the great prophet, making this clear, said that the God of all things made other things by a word, but man He formed with His hands. Neither in those cases do we understand the command as a spoken word, but as counsel and will; nor here do we understand the formation of the body as the work of hands, but as the greater disposition concerning this creation. For just as now, by His will, the embryo is created in the womb, and nature follows the laws established by Him from the beginning, so then, when He willed it, a human body was formed from the earth, and the clay became flesh, and blood, and skin, and fat, and nerves, and veins, and arteries, and brain, and marrow, and the framework of bones, and the coats of the eyes, and the purity of the pupil, and the spiral passages of the ears, and the perception of smells, and the rational instrument of the mouth, in which the teeth fulfill the function of strings, 83.480 and the tongue imitates the plectrum, and the mind the right hand of the musician. But who is able to wonder worthily at the formation of this living creature, which many others attempt to slander, not least the successors of Manes? For which reason, they say that it was not God who formed this, but Saklas, the ruler of matter. But the wise men of the Greeks, Socrates, and Hippocrates, and Plato, and Xenophon, and Aristotle, and Galen, and countless others, are exceedingly amazed at the harmony of the human body, and they marvel at the function of each part, and confess that the word of praise is defeated by the wisdom of the Master-craftsman of all things which is observed in this creature. So much better are they than the ill-named heretics, who have neither received prophetic cultivation, nor enjoyed apostolic guidance, but have entrusted the knowledge of divine things to reason alone. And I say these things, not making an apology for the polytheistic error of the so-called philosophers, but showing that those who pride themselves on the name of Christ are more impious not only than the philosophers, but also than the demons. For what is more unholy than these, who make everything an occasion for blasphemy against the Creator? But we have been taught to give praise for all things, not only for the

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τοῦ ἐχθροῦ." Καὶ ἄλλα δὲ πάμπολλα ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, δι' ὧν ῥᾴδιον μαθεῖν ὡς ἀγαθὸς δημιουργηθεὶς ὁ διάβολος, ἑκὼν εἰς πονηρίαν ἀπέκλινεν. Ἀρκεῖ δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀπειληθεῖσα κόλασις αὐτῷ δεῖξαι τὸ τῆς κακίας αὐθαίρετον. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἴδιον δικαίου Θεοῦ, κολάσαι τὸν ἀνάγκῃ γενόμενον πο νηρόν. Θʹ. -Περὶ ἀνθρώπου. Τὸν δέ γε ἄνθρωπον διαπλασθῆναί φαμεν, οὐχ ὑπ' ἀγγέλων τινῶν κατὰ τοὺς Βασιλίδου καὶ Κηρίνθου μύθους, οὐδὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰαλδαβαὼθ κατὰ τὴν τῶν Σηθιανῶν ἐμβροντησίαν, οὐδέ γε ὑπὸ τοῦ Σακλᾶ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Μάνεντος παραπληξίαν· ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς θείας καὶ παναγίας Τριάδος τῆς πάντα τεκτηναμένης. Ἠκούσαμεν γὰρ τῆς θείας λεγούσης Γραφῆς, ὡς ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἔφη Θεός· "Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν ἡμετέραν." Συνῳδὰ δὲ καὶ ὁ μακάριος ἔφη ∆αβίδ· "Αἱ χεῖρές σου γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐποίησάν με, καὶ ἔπλασάν με· συνέτισόν με, καὶ μαθήσομαι τὰς ἐντολάς σου." Χεῖρας τοῦ Θεοῦ νοοῦμεν, οὐ σωματικά τινα μόρια, ἀλλὰ τὴν δημιουρ γικὴν αὐτοῦ δύναμιν. Οὐ γὰρ σύνθετος ἡ ἀσώματος καὶ ἀπερίγραφος φύσις κατὰ τὴν Αὐδαίου φρε νοβλάβειαν, ἀλλ' ἁπλῆ καὶ ἀνείδεος καὶ ἀσχημάτι στος, καὶ περιληπτικὴ τῶν ὅλων. Ἀκούοντες τοίνυν τῆς Μωσαϊκῆς ἱστορίας διηγουμένης, ὅτι ἔλαβεν ὁ Θεὸς χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὴν τοῦ γράμματος ἐπιζητοῦμεν διάνοιαν, καὶ νοοῦ μεν, ἣν ἔχει διαφερόντως περὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν διάθεσιν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός. Τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ μέγας προ φήτης δηλῶν. τἄλλα μὲν εἶπε λόγῳ πεποιηκέναι τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, τὸν δὲ ἄνθρωπον, ταῖς χερσὶ διαπλά σαι. Οὔτε δὲ ἐν ἐκείνοις ῥῆμα νοοῦμεν τὸ πρόσταγμα, ἀλλὰ βούλημά τε καὶ θέλημα· οὔτε ἐνταῦθα χειρῶν ἐργασίαν τοῦ σώματος τὴν διάπλασιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν πλείονα περὶ τὸ ποίημα τοῦτο διάθεσιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ νῦν βουληθέντος αὐτοῦ τὸ ἔμβρυον ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ δη μιουργεῖται, καὶ ἡ φύσις τοῖς ἐξ ἀρχῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ τεθεῖσιν ὅροις ἀκολουθεῖ, οὕτως τότε ἀνθρώπινον ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐθελήσαντος αὐτοῦ συνεπάγη σῶμα, καὶ ὁ πηλὸς ἐγένετο σὰρξ, καὶ αἷμα, καὶ δέρμα, καὶ πιμελὴ, καὶ νεῦρα, καὶ φλέβες, καὶ ἀρτηρίαι, καὶ ἐγκέφαλος, καὶ μυελὸς, καὶ τὰ τῶν ὀστῶν ὑπερείσματα, καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν οἱ χιτῶνες, καὶ τῆς γλήνης ἡ καθαρότης, καὶ τῶν ἀκοῶν οἱ ἑλικοειδεῖς πόροι, καὶ τῶν ὀδμῶν ἡ ἀντίληψις, καὶ τὸ λογικὸν τοῦ στόματος ὄργανον, ἐν ᾧ οἱ μὲν ὀδόντες τῶν χορδῶν πληροῦσι τὴν χρείαν, 83.480 ἡ δὲ γλῶττα μιμεῖται τὸ πλῆκτρον, ὁ δὲ νοῦς τὴν τοῦ μουσικοῦ δεξιάν. Ἀλλὰ τίς γὰρ ἱκανὸς ἀξίως θαυ μάσαι τὴν τοῦ ζωτικοῦ τούτου ζώου διάπλασιν, ἣν πολλοὶ μὲν καὶ ἄλλοι διαβάλλειν ἐπιχειροῦσιν, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ οἱ τοῦ Μάνεντος διάδοχοι; Οὗ δὴ χάριν, οὐ τὸν Θεὸν τοῦτο διαπλάσαι φασὶν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Σακλᾶν, τῆς ὕλης τὸν ἄρχοντα. Ἑλλήνων δὲ οἱ σοφοὶ, Σω κράτης, καὶ Ἱπποκράτης, καὶ Πλάτων, καὶ Ξενοφῶν, καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης, καὶ Γαληνὸς, καὶ μυρίοι ἕτεροι, ὑπεράγανται μὲν τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου σώματος ἁρ μονίαν, θαυμάζουσι δὲ ἑκάστου μορίου τὴν χρείαν, καὶ ὁμολογοῦσιν ἡττᾶσθαι τὸν ἐπαινοῦντα λόγον τῆς ἐν τῷδε τῷ ζώῳ θεωρουμένης τοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἀριστο τέχνου σοφίας. Τοσούτῳ κρείττους τῶν δυσωνύμων αἱρετικῶν, οἱ μήτε προφητικὴν δεξάμενοι γεωργίαν, μήτε ἀποστολικῆς ἀπολαύσαντες ποδηγίας, τῷ λογι σμῷ δὲ μόνῳ τὴν τῶν θείων ἐπιτρέψαντες γνῶσιν. Καὶ ταῦτά φημι, οὐχ ὑπὲρ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης τῶν καλουμένων φιλοσόφων ἀπολογούμενος, ἀλλὰ δεικνὺς τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ Χριστοῦ προσηγορίᾳ σεμνυνομένους, οὐ μόνων τῶν φιλοσόφων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων δυσ σεβεστέρους. Τί γὰρ ἀνοσιώτερον τούτων, οἳ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἀφορμὴν ποιοῦνται τῆς κατὰ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ βλασφημίας; Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ὑμνεῖν ἐδιδάχθη μεν, οὐ μόνον ἐπὶ τοῖς