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they remained Jews, holding the name, and did not call themselves Christians, but Nazoraeans, supposedly from the name of the place Nazareth, but in all things they are Jews and nothing else. For these use not only the New Testament, but also the Old Testament, just as the Jews do. For the Law and the Prophets and the Writings, as the books are called among the Jews, are not forbidden among them, as they are among those mentioned before; nor do they think anything different, but according to the preaching of the Law and like the Jews they confess everything well, except for supposedly having believed in Christ. For among them the resurrection of the dead is also confessed, and that all things have come from God, and they proclaim one God and his child Jesus Christ. They are precisely trained in the Hebrew dialect. For among them the whole Law and the Prophets and the so-called Writings—I mean the poetical books and Kings and Chronicles and Esther and all the rest—are read in Hebrew, just as indeed among the Jews. But in this alone they differ from Jews and Christians: not agreeing with Jews because they have believed in Christ, and not being of one mind with Christians because they are still bound by the Law, by circumcision and the Sabbath and the other things. But concerning Chr1.330 ist I cannot say if they too, led astray by the wickedness of the aforementioned heretics concerning Cerinthus and Merinthus, consider him a mere man, or if, as the truth holds, they affirm that he was begotten of Mary through the Holy Spirit. This heresy of the Nazoraeans exists in the region of Beroea around Coele-Syria and in the Decapolis in the parts around Pella and in Batanea in the place called Cocabe—but called Chochabe in Hebrew. For from there its beginning came, after the removal from Jerusalem when all the disciples dwelt in Pella, Christ having said to leave Jerusalem and withdraw on account of the siege it was about to suffer. And from such a cause, having settled Perea, they remained there, as I said. From there the heresy concerning the Nazoraeans had its beginning. 8. But these too are deceived, boasting in circumcision, and such people are still "under a curse," being unable to fulfill the law. For how will they be able to fulfill the things spoken in the law, that "three times a 1.331 year you shall appear before the Lord your God, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles and Pentecost," in the place of Jerusalem. For since the place has been shut off and the things in the law cannot be fulfilled, it should be clear to anyone with a mind that Christ came as the fulfiller of the law, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law, and to take away the curse that was defined against the transgression of the law. For after Moses had commanded every commandment, he came to the end of the book and "concluded everything under a curse," saying, "Cursed is he who does not continue in all the words written in this book to do them." Therefore he came, loosing the things bound by the bonds of the curse, and gracing us instead of the lesser things which could not be fulfilled with greater things which do not conflict with one another for the fulfillment of the work as the former things did; for thus, coming to every heresy, we have often elaborated in the relation concerning sabbath observance and circumcision and the other things, how the Lord has graced us with more perfect things. And how will such people be able to have a defense, not having obeyed the Holy Spirit who spoke through the apostles to those from the Gentiles who have believed, "to lay on no burden except for the necessary things: to abstain from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication and from food offered to idols?" And how will they not fall from the grace of God, when Paul the holy apostle says, "if you are circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing," "you who boast in the law, you have fallen from grace"?

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Ἰουδαίων ἔμειναν ἔχοντες τὸ ὄνομα οὔτε Χριστιανοὺς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπωνόμασαν, ἀλλὰ Ναζωραίους, δῆθεν ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ τόπου τῆς Ναζαρὲτ ἐπωνυμίας, τὰ πάντα δέ εἰσιν Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον. χρῶνται δὲ οὗτοι οὐ μόνον νέᾳ διαθήκῃ, ἀλλὰ καὶ παλαιᾷ διαθήκῃ, καθάπερ καὶ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι. οὐ γὰρ ἀπηγόρευται παρ' αὐτοῖς νομοθεσία καὶ προφῆται καὶ γραφεῖα τὰ καλούμενα παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις βιβλία, ὥσπερ παρὰ τοῖς προειρημένοις· οὐδέ τι ἕτερον οὗτοι φρονοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ κήρυγμα τοῦ νόμου καὶ ὡς οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι πάντα καλῶς ὁμολογοῦσι χωρὶς τοῦ εἰς Χριστὸν δῆθεν πεπιστευκέναι. παρ' αὐτοῖς γὰρ καὶ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασις ὁμολογεῖται καὶ ἐκ θεοῦ τὰ πάντα γεγενῆσθαι, ἕνα δὲ θεὸν καταγγέλλουσι καὶ τὸν τούτου παῖδα Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν. Ἑβραϊκῇ δὲ διαλέκτῳ ἀκριβῶς εἰσιν ἠσκημένοι. παρ' αὐτοῖς γὰρ πᾶς ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται καὶ τὰ γραφεῖα λεγόμενα, φημὶ δὲ τὰ στιχηρὰ καὶ αἱ Βασιλεῖαι καὶ Παραλειπόμενα καὶ Ἐσθὴρ καὶ τἄλλα πάντα Ἑβραϊκῶς ἀναγινώσκεται, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ μόνον πρὸς Ἰουδαίους διαφέρονται καὶ Χριστιανούς, Ἰουδαίοις μὲν μὴ συμφωνοῦντες διὰ τὸ εἰς Χριστὸν πεπιστευκέναι, Χριστιανοῖς δὲ μὴ ὁμογνωμονοῦντες διὰ τὸ ἔτι νόμῳ πεπεδῆσθαι, περιτομῇ τε καὶ σαββάτῳ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις. περὶ Χρι1.330 στοῦ δὲ οὐκ οἶδ' εἰπεῖν, εἰ καὶ αὐτοὶ τῇ τῶν προειρημένων περὶ Κήρινθον καὶ Μήρινθον μοχθηρίᾳ ἀχθέντες ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον νομίζουσιν ἢ καθὼς ἡ ἀλήθεια ἔχει διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου γεγεννῆσθαι ἐκ Μαρίας διαβεβαιοῦνται. ἔστιν δὲ αὕτη ἡ αἵρεσις ἡ Ναζωραίων ἐν τῇ Βεροιαίων περὶ τὴν Κοίλην Συρίαν καὶ ἐν τῇ ∆εκαπόλει περὶ τὰ τῆς Πέλλης μέρη καὶ ἐν τῇ Βασανίτιδι ἐν τῇ λεγομένῃ Κωκάβῃ, Χωχάβῃ δὲ Ἑβραϊστὶ λεγομένῃ. ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ ἡ ἀρχὴ γέγονε, μετὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων μετάστασιν πάντων τῶν μαθητῶν ἐν Πέλλῃ ᾠκηκότων, Χριστοῦ φήσαντος καταλεῖψαι τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ ἀναχωρῆσαι δι' ἣν ἤμελλε πάσχειν πολιορκίαν. καὶ ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης ὑποθέσεως τὴν Περαίαν οἰκήσαντες ἐκεῖσε, ὡς ἔφην, διέτριβον. ἐντεῦθεν ἡ κατὰ τοὺς Ναζωραίους αἵρεσις ἔσχεν τὴν ἀρχήν. 8. Πεπλάνηνται δὲ καὶ οὗτοι περιτομὴν αὐχοῦντες, καὶ ἔτι οἱ τοιοῦτοι «ὑπὸ κατάραν εἰσί», μὴ δυνάμενοι τὸν νόμον πληρῶσαι. πῶς γὰρ δυνήσονται πληροῦν τὰ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ εἰρημένα, ὅτι «τρὶς τοῦ 1.331 ἔτους ὀφθήσῃ ἐνώπιον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου, κατά τε τὰ Ἄζυμα καὶ Σκηνοπηγίαν καὶ τὴν Πεντηκοστήν», ἐν τῷ τόπῳ Ἱεροσολύμων. ἀποκλεισθέντος γὰρ τοῦ τόπου καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ μὴ δυναμένων πληροῦσθαι, παντὶ τῷ νοῦν ἔχοντι σαφὲς ἂν εἴη ὅτι Χριστὸς ἦλθεν πληρωτὴς τοῦ νόμου, οὐ τὸν νόμον καταλύσων, ἀλλὰ τὸν νόμον πληρώσων, καὶ ἀφελεῖν τὴν κατάραν τὴν κατὰ τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ νόμου ὁρισθεῖσαν. μετὰ γὰρ τὸ ἐντείλασθαι τὸν Μωυσέα πᾶσαν ἐντολὴν ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸ τέρμα τῆς βίβλου καὶ «συνέκλεισε τὸ πᾶν εἰς κατάραν» λέγων «ἐπικατάρατος ὃς οὐκ ἐμμένει πᾶσι τοῖς γεγραμμένοις λόγοις ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τούτῳ τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτούς». ἦλθεν οὖν λύων μὲν τὰ πεπεδημένα δεσμοῖς τῆς κατάρας, χαριζόμενος δὲ ἡμῖν ἀντὶ τῶν μικρῶν τῶν μὴ δυναμένων πληροῦσθαι τὰ μείζονα καὶ οὐ μαχόμενα θάτερον θατέρῳ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἔργου πλήρωσιν ὡς τὰ πρότερα· οὕτως γὰρ κατὰ πᾶσαν αἵρεσιν φθάνοντες ἐν τῇ περὶ σαββατισμοῦ καὶ περιτομῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων σχέσει πολλάκις ἐπειργασάμεθα, πῶς ὁ κύριος ἡμῖν τὰ ἐντελέστερα κεχάρισται. πῶς δὲ οἱ τοιοῦτοι δυνήσονται ἀπολογίαν ἔχειν, μὴ τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ ὑπακούσαντες τῷ διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων εἰρηκότι τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν πεπιστευκόσι «μὴ βάρος ἐπιτίθεσθαι πλὴν τῶν ἐπάναγκες, ἀπέχεσθαι αἵματος καὶ πνικτοῦ καὶ πορνείας καὶ εἰδωλοθύτου;» πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἐκπεσοῦνται τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ χάριτος, λέγοντος Παύλου τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου ὅτι «ἐὰν περιτέμνησθε, Χριστὸς ὑμᾶς οὐδὲν ὠφελήσει», «οἵτινες ἐν νόμῳ καυχᾶσθε, τῆς χάριτος ἐξεπέσατε»;