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of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full; I do not desire the whole burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats, nor when you come to appear before me. For who has required these things from your hands?" And through these things he has openly 7.28 shown that he did not legislate these things out of necessity, but condescending to their weakness. For this is what is meant by "Who has required these things from your hands?" Then he added: "You shall no longer trample my court; for if you bring me fine flour, it is in vain; incense is an abomination to me; your new moons and sabbaths and great day I cannot bear; my soul hates your fasting and idleness and your feasts. You have become to me for 7.29 satiety." And these things simply resemble the Davidic melody. For here too in like manner he rejected not only the bulls and the goats and the lambs, but also the fine flour and the fragrance of the spices and the list of the great festivals. And just as through David, having forbidden such sacred rites, he commanded to offer the sacrifice of praise, so also here, having rejected each of these things, he shows them the baptism of incorruption and regeneration and says: "Wash yourselves, 7.30 become clean." And lest they might think that he had commanded to use the customary sprinklings, he necessarily added: "Take away the evils from your souls, from before my eyes." And this clearly alludes to the gift of the all-holy baptism. And in the middle of the prophecy 7.31 again the God of the prophet says through the prophet: "I have not now called you, Jacob, nor have I made you to labor, Israel. You have not brought me the sheep of your whole burnt offering nor in your sacrifices have you glorified me. You have not served me with gifts, nor have I wearied you with frankincense? nor did you buy me incense with silver, nor did I desire the fat of your sacrifices, but in your sins 7.32 and in your iniquities I have stood before you." Thus again having shown the forms of the legal sacred rites to be useless, he promises the forgiveness of sins, which he granted through the all-holy baptism: "I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins." For it is not indeed through praiseworthy works, but through faith alone that we have obtained the 7.33 mystical goods. For this reason the divine apostle also has cried out: "By grace you have been saved; and this is not from you, it is the gift of God, so that no one may boast." Declaring this here also, he has set down "for my own sake." These things he also testifies through Jeremiah, saying: "Gather your whole burnt offerings with your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers nor did I command them on the day that I brought them out of Egypt, concerning whole burnt offerings and sacrifice." 7.34 For what he had commanded concerning these things in the law, was for their lack of perception, not for his own need and will. These things he also says elsewhere: "Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not pleased me." And again he cries out: "Take away from me the sound of your songs, and I will not listen to the voice of your instruments." And it is possible to find very many other such things, 7.35 showing clearly that God, not needing sacrifices nor taking delight in smoke and savory odor and musical instruments, commanded these things to be performed, but providing for their healing. 7.36 Do not think, therefore, to have the counter-accusation as a defense for the accusation against your sacrifices. For indeed the purpose of the law the lawgiver has made clear through the prophets. Porphyry, having encountered these things precisely—for he spent much time on them, fabricating his writing against us—also himself declares sacrificing to be foreign to piety, both doing and suffering something similar to the apes. 7.37 For just as they imitate the practices of men, but are not changed into the nature of men, but remain apes, so this man, having stolen the divine oracles and having placed the meaning of some in his own writings, to learn differently

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θυσιῶν ὑμῶν; λέγει Κύριος. Πλήρης εἰμί· ὁλοκαυτώματα κριῶν καὶ στέαρ ἀρνῶν καὶ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τρά γων οὐ βούλομαι, οὐδ' ἂν ἔρχησθε ὀφθῆναί μοι. Τίς γὰρ ἐξεζήτησε ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν;" Ἄντικρυς δὲ διὰ τούτων δεδή 7.28 λωκεν, ὡς οὐκ ἀναγκαίως ταῦτα νενομοθέτηκεν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐκείνων ξυγκατιὼν ἀσθενείᾳ. Τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τὸ "Τίς ἐξεζήτησε ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν;" Εἶτα ἐπήγαγεν· "Πατεῖν μου τὴν αὐλὴν οὐ προσθήσεσθε· ἐὰν γὰρ προσφέρητέ μοι σεμίδαλιν, μάταιον· θυμίαμα βδέλυγμά μοί ἐστι· τὰς νεομηνίας ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ σάββατα καὶ ἡμέραν μεγάλην οὐκ ἀνέχομαι· νηστείαν καὶ ἀργίαν καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς ὑμῶν μισεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου. Ἐγενήθητέ μοι εἰς 7.29 πλησμονήν." Ἀτεχνῶς δὲ ταῦτα τῇ δαυιτικῇ ἔοικε μελῳδίᾳ. Κἀνταῦθα γὰρ παραπλησίως οὐ μόνον τοὺς ταύρους καὶ τοὺς τράγους καὶ τοὺς ἄρνας ἐξέβαλεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν σεμίδαλιν καὶ τῶν ἀρωμάτων τὴν εὐοσμίαν καὶ τῶν μεγάλων πανηγύρεων τὸν κατάλογον. Ὥσπερ δὲ διὰ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ ἀπαγορεύσας τὰς τοιαύτας ἱερουργίας τὴν τῆς αἰνέσεως θυσίαν προσφέρειν ἐκέλευσεν, οὕτω κἀνταῦθα τούτων ἕκαστον ἐκβαλών, τὸ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας αὐτοῖς καὶ παλιγγενεσίας ἐπιδείκνυσι βάπτισμα καί φησιν· "Λούσασθε, 7.30 καθαροὶ γένεσθε." Καὶ ἵνα μὴ νομίσωσι προστεταχέναι αὐτὸν τοῖς περιρραντηρίοις τοῖς ξυνήθεσι χρήσασθαι, ἀναγκαίως προσ τέθεικεν· "Ἀφέλετε τὰς πονηρίας ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν, ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου." Τοῦτο δὲ σαφῶς τὴν τοῦ παναγίου βαπτίσματος αἰνίττεται δωρεάν. Κἀν τῷ μέσῳ δὲ τῆς προφητείας 7.31 πάλιν ὁ τοῦ προφήτου Θεὸς διὰ τοῦ προφήτου φησίν· "Οὐ νῦν ἐκάλεσά σε, Ἰακώβ, οὐδὲ κοπιάσαι σε ἐποίησα, Ἰσραήλ. Οὐκ ἤνεγκάς μοι πρόβατα τῆς ὁλοκαρπώσεώς σου οὐδὲ ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις σου ἐδόξασάς με· οὐκ ἐδούλευσάς μοι ἐν δώροις, οὐδὲ ἔγκοπόν σε ἐποίησα ἐν λιβάνῳ; οὐδὲ ἐκτήσω μοι ἀργυρίου θυμίαμα, οὐδὲ στέαρ τῶν θυσιῶν σου ἐπεθύμησα, ἀλλ' ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις 7.32 σου καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀδικίαις σου προέστην σου." Οὕτω πάλιν δείξας ἀνόνητα τῆς νομικῆς ἱερουργίας τὰ εἴδη, ὑπισχνεῖται τῶν ἁμαρ τημάτων τὴν ἄφεσιν, ἣν διὰ τοῦ παναγίου βαπτίσματος ἐδω ρήσατο· "Ἐγώ εἰμι, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐξαλείφων τὰς ἀνομίας σου ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ, καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου οὐ μὴ μνησθήσομαι." Οὐ γὰρ δὴ δι' ἔργων ἀξιεπαίνων, ἀλλὰ διὰ μόνης πίστεως τῶν 7.33 μυστικῶν τετυχήκαμεν ἀγαθῶν. Τῷ τοι καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος κέκραγεν· "Χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν, Θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον, ἵνα μή τις καυχήσηται." Τοῦτο κἀνταῦθα δηλῶν, τὸ "ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ" τέθεικεν. Ταῦτα καὶ διὰ Ἱερεμίου διαμαρτύρεται λέγων· "Τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα ὑμῶν συναγάγετε μετὰ τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν καὶ φάγετε κρέα. Ὅτι οὐκ ἐλάλησα πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ὑμῶν οὐδὲ ἐνετειλάμην αὐτοῖς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, ἐν ᾗ ἀνήγαγον αὐτοὺς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, περὶ ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καὶ θυσίας." 7.34 Ἃ γὰρ δὴ περὶ τούτων ἐν τῷ νόμῳ προσετετάχει, τῆς ἐκείνων ἦν ἀναισθησίας, οὐ τῆς αὐτοῦ χρείας τε καὶ βουλήσεως. Ταῦτα καὶ ἑτέρωθι λέγει· "Τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα ὑμῶν οὐκ ἔστι δεκτά, καὶ αἱ θυσίαι ὑμῶν οὐχ ἥδυνάν μοι." Καὶ αὖ πάλιν βοᾷ· "Ἀπόσ τησον ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ἦχον ᾠδῶν σου, καὶ φωνῆς ὀργάνων σου οὐκ ἀκούσομαι." Καὶ ἄλλα δὲ πάμπολλα τοιαῦτα ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, 7.35 δηλοῦντα σαφῶς, ὡς οὐ δεόμενος θυσιῶν ὁ Θεὸς οὐδὲ καπνῷ καὶ κνίσῃ καὶ τοῖς μουσικοῖς ὀργάνοις ἐπιτερπόμενος ταῦτα τελεῖσθαι προσέταξεν, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐκείνων προμηθούμενος ἰατρείας. 7.36 Μὴ τοίνυν τῆς τῶν ὑμετέρων θυμάτων κατηγορίας ἀπολογίαν τὴν ἀντικατηγορίαν ἔχειν νομίζετε. ∆ῆλον γάρ τοι τὸν τοῦ νόμου σκοπὸν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν ὁ νομοθέτης πεποίηκεν. Τού τοις ἀκριβῶς ἐντυχὼν ὁ Πορφύριος-μάλα γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐνδιέ τριψε, τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν τυρεύων γραφήν-, καὶ ἀλλότριον εὐσε βείας καὶ αὐτὸς ἀποφαίνει τὸ θύειν, παραπλήσιόν τι τοῖς πιθήκοις 7.37 καὶ δρῶν καὶ πάσχων. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι μιμοῦνται μὲν τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιτηδεύματα, εἰς δέ γε τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐ μεταβάλλονται φύσιν, ἀλλὰ μένουσι πίθηκοι, οὕτως οὗτος τὰ θεῖα λόγια κεκλοφὼς καὶ ἐνίων τὴν διάνοιαν τοῖς ξυγγράμμασιν ἐντε θεικὼς τοῖς οἰκείοις, μεταμαθεῖν