[That We Ought Not to Sing an Heathen or an Obscene Song, Nor to Swear by an Idol; Because It is an Impious Thing, and Contrary to the Knowledge of God. ]

XII. Nor do the legislators give us only prohibitions concerning idols, but also warn us concerning the luminaries, not to swear by them, nor to serve them. For they say: “Lest, when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, thou shouldest be seduced to worship them.”  75  Deut. iv. 19 Deut. iv. 19 And elsewhere: “Do not ye learn to walk after the ways of the heathen, and be not afraid of the signs of heaven.”  76  Jer. x. 2 Jer. x. 2 For the stars and the luminaries were given to men to shine upon them, but not for worship; although the Israelites, by the perverseness of their temper, “worshipped the creature instead of the Creator,”  77  Rom. i. 25 Rom. i. 25 and acted insultingly to their Maker, and admired the creature more than is fit. And sometimes they made a calf, as in the wilderness;  78  Ex. xxxii. 4 Ex. xxxii. 4 sometimes they worshipped Baalpeor;  79  Num. xxv. 3 Num. xxv. 3 another time Baal,  80  Judg. ii. 13 Judg. ii. 13 and Thamuz,  81  Ezek. viii. 14. Ezek. viii. 14. and Astarte of Sidon;  82  1 Kings xi. 5. 1 Kings xi. 5. and again Moloch and Chamos;  83  1 Kings xi. 7. 1 Kings xi. 7. another time the sun,  84  Ezek. viii. 16. Ezek. viii. 16. as it is written in Ezekiel; nay, and besides, brute creatures, as among the Egyptians Apis, and the Mendesian goat, and gods of silver and gold, as in Judea. On account of all which things He threatened them, and said by the prophet: “Is it a small thing to the house of Judah to do these abominations which they have done? For they have filled the land with their wickedness, to provoke me to anger: and, behold, they are as those that mock. And I will act with anger. Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have mercy; and they shall cry in mine ears with a great voice, and I will not hearken unto them.”  85  Ezek. viii. 17, 18. Ezek. viii. 17, 18. Consider, beloved, how many things the Lord declares against idolaters, and the worshippers of the sun and moon. Wherefore it is the duty of a man of God, as he is a Christian, not to swear by the sun, or by the moon, or by the stars; nor by the heaven, nor by the earth, by any of the elements, whether small or great. For if our Master charged us not to swear by the true God, that our word might be firmer than an oath, nor by heaven itself, for that is a piece of heathen wickedness, nor by Jerusalem, nor by the sanctuary of God, nor the altar, nor the gift, nor the gilding of the altar, nor one’s own head,  86  Matt. v. 34, xxiii. 16. Matt. v. 34, xxiii. 16. for this custom is a piece of Judaic corruption, and on that account was forbidden; and if He exhorts the faithful that their yea be yea, and their nay, nay, and says that “what is more than these is of the evil one,” how much more blameable are those who appeal to deities falsely so called as the objects of an oath, and who glorify imaginary beings instead of those that are real, whom God for their perverseness “delivered over to foolishness, to do those things that are not convenient!”  87  Rom. i. 28. Rom. i. 28.

[Sec. III.—On Feast Days and Fast Days.]

[12] Οὐ μόνον δὲ περὶ εἰδώλων ἀπαγορεύουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ φωστήρων νομοθετοῦντες παραινοῦσιν μήτε ὀμνύειν ταῦτα μήτε μὴν λατρεύειν αὐτοῖς: φασὶ γάρ: «Μὴ ἰδὼν τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας πλανηθεὶς προσκυνήσῃς αὐτοῖς.» Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ: «Κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν μὴ μανθάνετε, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σημείων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μὴ φοβεῖσθε.» Τὰ γὰρ ἄστρα καὶ οἱ φωστῆρες εἰς φαῦσιν ἀνθρώποις, ἀλλ' οὐκ εἰς προσκύνησιν ἐδόθησαν, εἰ καὶ οἱ Ἰσραηλῖται μοχθηρίᾳ τρόπου προσεκύνουν ἀντὶ τοῦ κτίστου τὴν κτίσιν, καὶ τὸν μὲν δημιουργὸν καθυβρίσαντες, τὴν δὲ κτίσιν πλεῖον ἢ δεῖ θαυμάσαντες, καί ποτε μὲν μοσχοποιοῦντες ὡς ἐν ἐρήμῳ, ποτὲ δὲ τὸν Βεελφεγὼρ προσκυνοῦντες, ἄλλοτε δὲ τὸν Βαὰλ καὶ τὸν Θαμμοὺς καὶ τὴν σιδωνίαν Ἀστάρτην, καὶ πάλιν τὸν Μολὸχ καὶ τὸν Χαμώς, καὶ ἄλλοτε τὸν ἥλιον, ὡς παρὰ τῷ Ἰεζεκιὴλ γέγραπται, ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἄλογα ζῶα, ὡς παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις τὸν Ἄπιν καὶ τὸν μενδήσιον τράγον, καὶ θεοὺς ἀργυροῦς καὶ χρυσοῦς, ὡς ἐν Ἰουδαίᾳ. Δι' ἅπερ ἅπαντα ἀπειλῶν αὐτοῖς ἔλεγεν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου: «Μὴ μικρὸν τοῦτο τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰούδα, τοῦ ποιεῖν τὰ βδελύγματα ταῦτα, ἃ ἐποίησαν, ὅτι ἔπλησαν τὴν γῆν ἀνομίας τοῦ παροργίσαι με; Ἰδού, αὐτοί εἰσιν ὡς μυκτηρίζοντες, καὶ ἐγὼ ποιήσω μετὰ θυμοῦ, οὐ φείσεται ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου οὐδ' οὐ μὴ ἐλεήσω, καὶ κεκράξονται ἐν τοῖς ὠσίν μου φωνῇ μεγάλῃ καὶ οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι αὐτῶν.» Ὁρᾶτε, ἀγαπητοί, ὅσα κατὰ τῶν εἰδωλολατρῶν καὶ τῶν σεβομένων ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην ἀποφαίνεται ὁ Κύριος. Διὸ χρὴ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπον ὡς Χριστιανὸν μήτε ἥλιον ὀμνῦναι μήτε σελήνην μήτε ἄστρα, μήτε μὴν οὐρανὸν ἢ γῆν ἤ τι τῶν στοιχείων μικρὸν ἢ μέγα. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ διδάσκαλος περὶ τοῦ ὄντος Θεοῦ παρήγγειλεν ἡμῖν μὴ ὀμνύειν, ὅπως ὁ λόγος ἡμῶν πιστότερος ᾖ τοῦ ὅρκου, μήτε μὴν τὸν οὐρανὸν αὐτόν, ἑλληνικὸν γὰρ τὸ δυσσέβημα, μήτε μὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἢ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἅγια ἢ τὸ θυσιαστήριον καὶ τὸ δῶρον ἢ τὴν τοῦ ναοῦ χρύσωσιν ἢ τὴν οἰκείαν κεφαλήν, ἰουδαϊκῆς γὰρ παραφθορᾶς ἡ συνήθεια, διὸ καὶ ἀπαγορευτέα, εἶναι δὲ τὸ ναὶ ναὶ καὶ τὸ οὒ οὒ τοῖς πιστοῖς παρεγγυᾷ, καὶ τὸ τούτων περισσὸν τοῦ πονηροῦ εἶναι λέγει: πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὑπόδικοι οἱ τὰ ψευδώνυμα ὡς ὅρκια ἐπομνύμενοι καὶ τὰ νομιζόμενα ἀντὶ τῶν ἀληθῶν δοξάζοντες; Οὓς ὁ Θεὸς διὰ μοχθηρίαν παρέδωκεν εἰς ἀβουλίαν, ἐνεργεῖν τὰ μὴ δέοντα.