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20. And first, concerning Christ, it must be said that he is not a mere man. For one born in every way as a man cannot be given to the world as a sign, 1.360 as the Holy Spirit prophesied concerning him, when it said to Ahaz, "Ask for yourself a sign"; and when he did not ask, then the prophet says, "The Lord himself will give you a sign; behold, the virgin shall conceive." But a woman who has joined with a man and been married is not called a virgin, but she would properly be called a virgin who without a man has in truth had the conception of God the Word, as Isaiah himself says in another place, "A voice of a cry from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord rendering recompense, rendering to his adversaries; before she who was in labor gave birth, before the pain of her labor came, she escaped and bore a male child. Who has heard such a thing, or who has seen such things? Has the earth travailed in one day and given birth to a nation at once? For Zion has travailed and brought forth her children; but I gave this expectation, and they were not mindful, says the Lord." But what expectation and what children, other than for the virgin to give birth without labor, which has nowhere happened, and for John, born for his sake from Elizabeth according to the promise, to be a child *, even if John was born through labor? How then do these define the Savior as a mere man from the seed of a man? And how will it not be known, as Jeremiah also says concerning him, that "He is a man, and who will know him?" For the prophet, speaking about him, said, "Who will know him?" For if he were speaking of a mere man, surely his father would have known him, and his mother, relatives and neighbors, tent-mates and fellow citizens. But since the offspring is from Mary, but God the Word came from above, not from the seed of a man, but from the Father above, born in truth without time and without beginning, and in the last days was pleased to be in the womb of a virgin and from her to refashion the flesh for himself, for this reason he says, "And he is a man, but who will know him?" Because God came from above, the only-begotten God the Word. Great is the misery of those who have been deceived, who have abandoned the testimonies of prophets and angels, and have put up with the deceived Ebion, 1.361 who wished to fulfill his own pleasure and handled Jewish matters and was alienated from the Jews. For Gabriel, at once announcing the good news to the virgin, when she said, "How will these things be, since I do not know a man?", proposing the sure thing said, "The spirit of the Lord will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also that which is born of you will be called holy, the Son of God." For in saying "that which is born" he showed that the flesh and the rest of the incarnation were from her, but from above, from the heavens, the power of the Most High and the Holy Spirit overshadowed the holy virgin, and from above had come down the only-begotten Son, God the Word, * and how he became man and how he was born from her in truth. And how many other such things are there? But I am accustomed, as I promised, not to proceed at length, so that I may not bring the treatise to a great bulk. 21. And I will relate in order the other things which they falsely allege against Peter and the other apostles; that, he says, Peter made use of baptisms every day, even before he partook of bread. And see all their calumny and the deceitfulness of their mendicant teaching. For from their being defiled and often doing many things on earth rather lustfully, in persuasion of their own full assurance they use water lavishly, so that, forsooth, they may deceive themselves, thinking that they have purification through baptisms. And they are not ashamed to rage drunkenly with these things against the apostles, although the Lord refutes their depravity in what Peter said, when he came to wash his feet, that "You shall never wash my feet into the

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20. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὅτι οὐ ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος ῥητέον. οὐ δύναται γὰρ ὁ γεννηθεὶς κατὰ πάντα ὡς ἄνθρωπος σημείου 1.360 ἕνεκα τῷ κόσμῳ δοθήσεσθαι, ὡς περὶ αὐτοῦ προεθέσπιζε τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ὅτε τῷ Ἄχαζ ἔλεγεν «αἴτησαι σεαυτῷ σημεῖον»· κἀκείνου μὴ αἰτήσαντος, τότε φησὶν ὁ προφήτης «αὐτὸς κύριος δώσει ὑμῖν σημεῖον· ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει». παρθένος δὲ οὐ καλεῖται ἡ συναφθεῖσα ἀνδρὶ καὶ γαμηθεῖσα γυνή, παρθένος δὲ ἐκείνη κυρίως λέγοιτ' ἂν ἡ ἄνευ ἀνδρὸς τὴν σύλληψιν τοῦ θεοῦ Λόγου κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἐσχηκυῖα, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς Ἠσαΐας ἐν ἄλλῳ τόπῳ φησί «φωνὴ κραυγῆς ἐκ πόλεως, φωνὴ ἐκ ναοῦ, φωνὴ κυρίου ἀνταποδόσεως, ἀνταποδιδόντος τοῖς ἀντικειμένοις· πρὶν ἢ τὴν ὠδίνουσαν τεκεῖν, πρὶν ἢ ἐλθεῖν τὸν πόνον τῶν ὠδίνων ἐξέφυγε καὶ ἔτεκεν ἄρσεν. τίς ἤκουσε τοιοῦτο ἢ τίς ἑώρακε τοιαῦτα; εἰ ὤδινεν ἡ γῆ ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἔτεκεν ἔθνος εἰς ἅπαξ; ὅτι ὤδινεν καὶ ἔτεκεν Σιὼν τὰ παιδία αὐτῆς· ἐγὼ δὲ ἔδωκα τὴν προσδοκίαν ταύτην καὶ οὐκ ἐμνήσθησαν, λέγει κύριος». ποία δὲ προσδοκία καὶ ποῖα παιδία ἀλλ' ἢ τὸ παρθένον γεννῆσαι ἄνευ ὠδίνων, ὅπερ οὐδαμοῦ γεγένηται, καὶ τὸ τὸν δι' αὐτὸν ἀπὸ Ἐλισάβετ κατὰ ἐπαγγελίαν γεννηθέντα Ἰωάννην παῖδα *, εἰ καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης δι' ὠδίνων γεγέννηται; πῶς οὖν οὗτοι ἐκ σπέρματος ἀνδρὸς ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁρίζονται τὸν σωτῆρα; πῶς δὲ οὐ γνωσθήσεται ὡς καὶ Ἰερεμίας περὶ αὐτοῦ φησιν ὅτι «ἄνθρωπός ἐστι, καὶ τίς γνώσεται αὐτόν»; διηγούμενος γὰρ ὁ προφήτης περὶ αὐτοῦ ἔλεγεν «τίς γνώσεται αὐτόν;». εἰ δὲ περὶ ψιλοῦ ἔλεγεν ἀνθρώπου, πάντως ἂν καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτὸν ἐγίνωσκεν καὶ ἡ μήτηρ, συγγενεῖς τε καὶ γείτονες, σύσκηνοί τε καὶ συμπολῖται· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐκ Μαρίας μέν ἐστι τὸ γέννημα, ἄνωθεν δὲ ἦλθεν ὁ θεὸς Λόγος, οὐκ ἀπὸ σπέρματος ἀνδρός, ἀλλ' ἐκ πατρὸς μὲν ἄνωθεν γεννηθεὶς ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ἀχρόνως καὶ ἀνάρχως, ἐπ' ἐσχάτων δὲ τῶν ἡμερῶν εὐδοκήσας ἐν μήτρᾳ γενέσθαι παρθένου καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀναπλάσαι εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὴν σάρκα, διὰ τοῦτό φησι «καὶ ἄνθρωπος μέν ἐστι, τίς δὲ γνώσεται αὐτόν;» ὅτι θεὸς ἄνωθεν ἦλθεν, ὁ μονογενὴς θεὸς Λόγος. πολλὴ δὲ ταλαιπωρία τῶν πεπλανημένων, τῶν καταλειψάντων μὲν προφητῶν μαρτυρίας καὶ ἀγγέλων, καὶ ἀνασχομένων Ἐβίωνος τοῦ πεπλανημένου, 1.361 τοῦ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἡδονὴν βουλομένου πληροῦν καὶ τὰ Ἰουδαϊκὰ μεταχειριζομένου καὶ ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων ἠλλοτριωμένου. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Γαβριὴλ εὐθὺς τῇ παρθένῳ εὐαγγελιζόμενος, αὐτῆς λεγούσης «πῶς ἔσται ταῦτα, ὅτι ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω», τὸ ἀσφαλὲς ὑποτιθέμενος ἔφη «πνεῦμα κυρίου ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι· διὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ἐκ σοῦ ἅγιον κληθήσεται υἱὸς θεοῦ». ἐν τῷ γὰρ εἰπεῖν «τὸ γεννώμενον» ἔδειξε μὲν τὴν σάρκα ἀπ' αὐτῆς εἶναι καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἐνανθρώπησιν, ἄνωθεν δὲ ἀπ' οὐρανῶν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ὑψίστου καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐπισκιάσαι τῇ ἁγίᾳ παρθένῳ καὶ ἄνωθεν καταβεβηκέναι τὸν μονογενῆ υἱὸν θεὸν Λόγον, * καὶ ὡς ἐνηνθρώπησε καὶ ὡς ἀπ' αὐτῆς ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ἐγεννήθη. πόσα δὲ ἄλλα ἐστὶ τοιαῦτα; εἴωθα δέ, ὡς ὑπεσχόμην, μὴ διὰ πλάτους φέρεσθαι, ἵνα μὴ εἰς ὄγκον πολὺν ἀγάγω τὴν πραγματείαν. 21. Περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἑξῆς διηγήσομαι, ὧν τε κατὰ Πέτρου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀποστόλων καταψεύδονται· ὅτι, φησίν, ὁ Πέτρος καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν βαπτισμοῖς ἐκέχρητο, πρὶν ἢ καὶ ἄρτου αὐτὸν μεταλαμβάνειν. καὶ ὅρα τὸ πᾶν αὐτῶν συκοφάντημα καὶ τὸ ὕπουλον τῆς ἀγυρτώδους αὐτῶν διδασκαλίας. ἀπὸ τοῦ γὰρ αὐτοὺς μεμιάνθαι καὶ λαγνιστέρως πολλάκις πολλὰ πράττειν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, εἰς πεισμονὴν τῆς ἑαυτῶν πληροφορίας τῷ ὕδατι δαψιλῶς χρῶνται, ἵνα δῆθεν ἑαυτοὺς ἀπατήσωσι, διὰ βαπτισμῶν ἔχειν τὴν κάθαρσιν νομίζοντες. καὶ ταῦτα εἰς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἐμπαροινεῖν οὐκ αἰσχύνονται, καίτοι τοῦ κυρίου ἐλέγχοντος αὐτῶν τὴν κακοτροπίαν ἐν τῷ τὸν Πέτρον εἰρηκέναι, ὅτε ἦλθεν τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ νίψαι, ὅτι «οὐ μὴ νίψῃς τοὺς πόδας μου εἰς τὸν