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he says, having the form of a donkey. And when he came out, he says, and wanted to say: Woe to you, what do you worship? the one who appeared to him inside the temple shut his mouth, so that he could not speak. But when his mouth was opened so that he might speak, then he revealed it to them and they killed him. And so, he says, Zacharias died. For this reason the priest was commanded by the lawgiver himself, he says, to have bells, so that whenever he enters to minister, the one being worshipped, hearing the sound, might hide, so that the phantom-like face of his form might not be seen. But the whole practice of their foolishness is easily refuted and full of mockery. For if the one being ministered to was visible at all, he could not have hidden; but if he could hide at all, he was no longer visible. And again, it must be said to them in another way that if he was visible, then he was a body and no longer a spirit; but if he was a spirit, he is no longer examined among visible things. How then did that which is not examined among visible things foresee its own shrinking from the sound of the bells? For having the invisible by nature he would not have been seen, unless he wished. And if indeed he was seen, he no longer appeared by necessity, with nature leading him to appear, but by grace, not through fear and anticipation unexpectedly without a sound making his own vision manifest. And thus in every way their false and fabricated account has fallen apart. And there are many other foolish things which they say. * And yet Zacharias was not killed 1.292 immediately, but even remained after the birth of John and prophesied concerning both John and concerning the coming of the Lord and his birth in the flesh from the holy virgin Mary through the holy spirit, as he says, "And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways," "to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the disobedient to prudence" and the rest. How many other things are there to say about their falsehood and their defilement? 13. But those among them called Levites do not have intercourse with women, but have intercourse with each other. And these are the ones supposedly preferred among them and praised. They then mock those who practice the way of life and purity and virginity as having undertaken the labor in vain. And they put forward in the name of Philip the holy disciple a fabricated gospel, that, he says, "the Lord revealed to me what the soul must say as it ascends into heaven and how to answer each of the powers above; that 'I have known myself,' she says, 'and have gathered myself from everywhere, and have not sown children for the archon, but I have uprooted his roots and gathered the scattered members, and I know you who you are. For I,' she says, 'am from above'." And thus, he says, she is released. But if, he says, she is found to have borne a son, she is held below until she is able to take back 1.293 her own children and return them to herself. And so are their nonsensical and fabulous tales, as they even dare to blaspheme about the holy Elijah and say that, he says, when he was taken up, he was cast down again into the world. For, he says, a certain demon came and seized him and said to him, "Where are you going? For I have children from you, and you cannot ascend and leave your children here." And, he says, he says: "From where do you have children from me, when I have been in purity?" She says, he says: "Yes, when in dreams you were dreaming and often emptied yourself in the emission of the bodies, I was the one who received the seeds from you and bore you sons." But great is the folly of those who say such things; for how can a demon, being an invisible and bodiless spirit, receive from bodies? And if it does receive from bodies and conceives, it is no longer a spirit, but a body. And being a body how is it invisible and a spirit? And great is the absurdity of their foolish talk. For they wish the testimony against them from the epistle of Jude rather for themselves, supposedly

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φησίν, ὄνου μορφὴν ἔχοντα. καὶ ἐξελθόντος, φησί, καὶ θέλοντος εἰπεῖν· οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, τίνι προσκυνεῖτε; ἀπέφραξεν αὐτοῦ τὸ στόμα ὁ ὀφθεὶς αὐτῷ ἔνδον ἐν τῷ ναῷ, ἵνα μὴ δύνηται λαλῆσαι. ὅτε δὲ ἠνοίγη τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ ἵνα λαλήσῃ, τότε ἀπεκάλυψεν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀπέκτειναν αὐτόν. καὶ οὕτως, φησίν, ἀπέθανε Ζαχαρίας. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ ἱερεὺς προσετάγη ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ νομοθετήσαντος, φησίν, ἔχειν κώδωνας, ἵν' ὅταν εἰσέρχηται ἱερατεῦσαι, τὸν κτύπον ἀκούων κρύπτηται ὁ προσκυνούμενος, ἵνα μὴ φωραθῇ τὸ ἰνδαλτικὸν αὐτοῦ τῆς μορφῆς πρόσωπον. ἔστι δὲ τὸ πᾶν τῆς εὐηθείας αὐτῶν ἐπιτήδευμα εὐθυέλεγκτον καὶ χλεύης ἔμπλεον. εἰ γὰρ ἦν ὅλως ὁρατὸς ὁ ἱερουργούμενος, οὐδὲ κρυβῆναι ἠδύνατο· εἰ δὲ ὅλως κρυβῆναι ἠδύνατο, οὐκέτι ἦν ὁρατός. καὶ ἑτέρως πάλιν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ῥητέον ὅτι εἰ ὁρατὸς ἦν, σῶμα ἄρα ἦν καὶ οὐκέτι πνεῦμα· εἰ δὲ πνεῦμα ἦν, οὐκέτι ἐν ὁρατοῖς ἐξετάζεται. πῶς οὖν τὸ οὐκ ἐν ὁρατοῖς ἐξεταζόμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ κτύπου τῶν κωδώνων τῆς ἑαυτοῦ συστολῆς προενοεῖτο; ἔχων γὰρ τὸ ἀόρατον κατὰ φύσιν οὐκ ἂν ὠπτάνετο, εἰ μὴ ἤθελεν. εἰ καὶ ὤφθη δέ, οὐκέτι κατὰ ἀνάγκην ἐφαίνετο τῆς φύσεως αὐτὸν ἀγούσης εἰς τὸ φαίνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ κατὰ χάριν, οὐ φόβῳ καὶ προλήψει παρὰ προσδοκίαν ἄνευ κτύπου εἰς τὸ δῆλον καθιστῶν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ὀπτασίαν. καὶ οὕτω κατὰ πάντα τρόπον διέπεσεν ὁ αὐτῶν ψευδὴς καὶ παραπεποιημένος λόγος. καὶ πολλά ἐστιν ἄλλα ἃ λέγουσι ληρώδη. * καίτοι γε τοῦ Ζαχαρίου μὴ ἀποκτανθέντος 1.292 εὐθύς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιμείναντος μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἰωάννου γέννησιν καὶ προφητεύσαντος περί τε Ἰωάννου καὶ περὶ τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἐνσάρκου γεννήσεως ἀπὸ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου Μαρίας διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου, ὡς λέγει «καὶ σύ, παιδίον, προφήτης ὑψίστου κληθήσῃ· προπορεύσῃ γὰρ πρὸ προσώπου κυρίου ἑτοιμάσαι ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ», «ἐπιστρέψαι καρδίας πατέρων ἐπὶ τέκνα καὶ ἀπειθεῖς ἐν φρονήσει» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. πόσα δὲ ἄλλα ἔστιν εἰπεῖν περὶ τῆς αὐτῶν ψευδηγορίας καὶ τοῦ αὐτῶν μιασμοῦ; 13. Οἱ δὲ Λευῖται παρ' αὐτοῖς καλούμενοι οὐ μίσγονται γυναιξίν, ἀλλὰ ἀλλήλοις μίσγονται. καὶ οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ προκριτέοι παρ' αὐτοῖς δῆθεν καὶ ἐπαινετοί. καταγελῶσι δὲ λοιπὸν τῶν τὴν πολιτείαν ἀσκούντων καὶ ἁγνείαν καὶ παρθενίαν ὡς εἰς μάτην τὸν κάματον ἀναδεδεγμένων. προφέρουσι δὲ εἰς ὄνομα Φιλίππου τοῦ ἁγίου μαθητοῦ εὐαγγέλιον πεπλασμένον, ὅτι, φησίν «ἀπεκάλυψέν μοι ὁ κύριος τί τὴν ψυχὴν δεῖ λέγειν ἐν τῷ ἀνιέναι εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ πῶς ἑκάστῃ τῶν ἄνω δυνάμεων ἀποκρίνεσθαι· ὅτι ἐπέγνων ἐμαυτήν, φησί, καὶ συνέλεξα ἐμαυτὴν ἐκ πανταχόθεν, καὶ οὐκ ἔσπειρα τέκνα τῷ ἄρχοντι, ἀλλὰ ἐξερρίζωσα τὰς ῥίζας αὐτοῦ καὶ συνέλεξα τὰ μέλη τὰ διεσκορπισμένα, καὶ οἶδά σε τίς εἶ. ἐγὼ γάρ, φησί, τῶν ἄνωθέν εἰμι». καὶ οὕτως, φησίν, ἀπολύεται. ἐὰν δέ, φησίν, εὑρεθῇ γεννήσασα υἱόν, κατέχεται κάτω ἕως ἂν τὰ ἴδια τέκνα δυνηθῇ ἀναλαβεῖν 1.293 καὶ ἀναστρέψαι εἰς ἑαυτήν. καὶ οὕτως ἐστὶ τὰ ληρώδη αὐτῶν καὶ μυθώδη, ὡς καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἠλία τολμῶσι βλασφημεῖν καὶ λέγειν ὅτι, φησίν, ὅτε ἀνελήφθη, κατεβλήθη πάλιν εἰς τὸν κόσμον. ἦλθεν γάρ, φησίν, μία δαίμων καὶ ἐκράτησε καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὅτι ποῦ πορεύῃ; ἔχω γὰρ τέκνα ἀπὸ σοῦ, καὶ οὐ δύνασαι ἀνελθεῖν καὶ ὧδε ἀφεῖναι τὰ τέκνα σου. καί, φησίν, λέγει· πόθεν ἔχεις τέκνα ἀπ' ἐμοῦ καὶ ἐγὼ ἤμην ἐν ἁγνείᾳ; λέγει, φησίν· ναί, ὅτε ἐνυπνίοις ἐνυπνιαζόμενος πολλάκις ἐν τῇ ἀπορροίᾳ τῶν σωμάτων ἐκενώθης, ἐγὼ ἤμην ἡ μεταλαβοῦσα ἀπὸ σοῦ τὰ σπέρματα καὶ γεννῶσά σοι υἱούς. πολλὴ δὲ μωρία τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα λεγόντων πῶς γὰρ δύναται δαίμων, πνεῦμα ὢν ἀόρατον καὶ ἀσώματον, ἀπὸ σωμάτων μεταλαμβάνειν; εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ σωμάτων μεταλαμβάνει καὶ κυΐσκει, οὐκέτι ἐστὶ πνεῦμα, ἀλλὰ σῶμα. σῶμα δὲ ὢν πῶς ἐστιν ἀόρατος καὶ πνεῦμα; καὶ πολλὴ ἀτοπία τῆς αὐτῶν μωρολογίας. βούλονται γὰρ τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν μαρτυρίαν τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα μᾶλλον εἰς ἑαυτοὺς δῆθεν