[That We Ought to Avoid the Heretics as the Corrupters of Souls.]

XXVI. Do you therefore, O bishops, and ye of the laity, avoid all heretics who abuse the law and the prophets. For they are enemies to God Almighty, and disobey Him, and do not confess Christ to be the Son of God. For they also deny His generation according to the flesh; they are ashamed of the cross; they abuse His passion and His death; they know not His resurrection; they take away His generation before all ages. Nay, some of them are impious after another manner, imagining the Lord to be a mere man, supposing Him to consist of a soul and body. But others of them suppose that Jesus Himself is the God over all, and glorify Him as His own Father, and suppose Him to be both the Son and the Comforter; than which doctrines what can be more detestable? Others, again, of them do refuse certain meats, and say that marriage with the procreation of children is evil, and the contrivance of the devil; and being ungodly themselves, they are not willing to rise again from the dead on account of their wickedness. Wherefore also they ridicule the resurrection, and say, We are holy people, unwilling to eat and to drink; and they fancy that they shall rise again from the dead demons without flesh, who shall be condemned for ever in eternal fire. Fly therefore from them, lest ye perish with them in their impieties.

[26] Ἀπέχεσθε οὖν αἱρεσιωτῶν πάντων, ὦ ἐπίσκοποι καὶ λαϊκοί, τῶν φαυλιζόντων τὸν Νόμον καὶ τοὺς Προφήτας. Θεῷ γὰρ παντοκράτορι ἐχθραίνοντες ἀπειθοῦσι, καὶ Χριστὸν οὐχ ὁμολογοῦσιν Υἱὸν Θεοῦ: ἀρνοῦνται γὰρ καὶ τὴν κατὰ σάρκα αὐτοῦ γέννησιν, τὸν σταυρὸν ἐπαισχύνονται, τὸ πάθος καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἀδοξοῦσι, τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἀγνοοῦσι, τὴν πρὸ αἰώνων αὐτοῦ γέννησιν περικόπτουσιν. Τινὲς δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἑτέρως ἀσεβοῦσι, ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον εἶναι φανταζόμενοι τὸν Κύριον, ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος αὐτὸν εἶναι νομίζοντες: ἕτεροι δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸν ὑποπτεύουσιν, αὐτὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα δοξάζοντες, αὐτὸν Υἱὸν καὶ παράκλητον ὑποπτεύοντες: ὧν τί ἂν εἴη ἐναγέστερον; Ἄλλοι δ' αὖ πάλιν ἐξ αὐτῶν βρώματά τινα φαυλίζουσιν, καὶ γάμον κακὸν σὺν παιδοποιΐᾳ λέγουσιν εἶναι διαβόλου τε μηχάνημα: καὶ διὰ τὴν πονηρίαν αὐτῶν, ἀσεβεῖς ὄντες, οὐ θέλουσιν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῆναι, διὸ καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν διαβάλλουσιν, φάσκοντες, ὅτι σεμνοί τινες ἐσμὲν ἐσθίειν καὶ πίνειν μὴ βουλόμενοι, δαιμόνια δὲ ἄσαρκα φανταζόμενοι ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστήσεσθαι: οἵτινες καταδικασθήσονται δι' αἰῶνος ἐν τῷ αἰωνίῳ πυρί. Φεύγετε οὖν ἀπ' αὐτῶν, ἵνα μὴ συναπόλησθε ταῖς αὐτῶν ἀσεβείαις.