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a Holy Spirit and urges on the holy Luke to bring up the mind of the deceived from the deepest depth and to undertake again the things 2.257 left behind by the others. But lest any of the deceived should think that he expressed the birth mythically, he refers the work to higher things, and for the sake of accuracy he goes through the whole account in detail and for the presentation of the truth he brings in as witnesses those who became servants of the word, saying "inasmuch as many have undertaken," in order that he might show some to be mere attempters, I mean those around Cerinthus and Merinthus and the others; then what does he say? "it seemed good to me also, having followed in order from the beginning those who became eyewitnesses and servants of the word, to write to you, most excellent Theophilus," whether he said this writing then to some Theophilus or to every man who loves God, "that you may know," he says, "the certainty of the things in which you were instructed"; and he said the instruction was set forth before, as having already been instructed by others, but not having learned the accuracy from them with certainty. Then he says "In the days of Herod the king, there was of the division of Abijah the high priest a certain priest named Zacharias, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, whose name was Elizabeth." And he begins before Matthew; for Matthew indicated a thirty-year period from the beginning, but Mark arranged the things after the thirty years, the account that took place in truth at the Jordan, similar to Matthew and to Luke. But Matthew made his narrative from a thirty-year period before the account of the Jordan and the baptism; but Luke indicated the time from six months before the time of the Savior's being conceived in the womb, and again nine months and a few days of the conception of the Lord, so that the whole time is thirty-one years and beyond. And he narrates also that of the shepherds on account of the divine vision of the angels who brought good tidings, and how he was born in Bethlehem and was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger and was circumcised on the eighth day, and how in forty days according to the law they performed an offering for him 2.258 and how Simeon received him in his arms and how Anna gave thanks, the daughter of Phanuel, and how he went away to Nazareth and how he went up yearly to Jerusalem with his parents, performing for him the things according to the law, none of which was elaborated by Matthew nor by Mark nor indeed by John. 8. Whence also some others of the Greek philosophers, I mean Porphyry and Celsus and Philosabbatios, the one who comes from the Jews, a terrible and deceitful serpent, proceeding to the overthrow of the evangelical account, accuse the holy evangelists, being soulish and carnal, and warring according to the flesh and being unable to please God and not having understood the things spoken through the Spirit. For each of them, stumbling at the words of truth because of the blindness of ignorance in him, falling into this, they were saying: how can the same day of the birth in Bethlehem itself also have the eight-day circumcision and after forty days the ascent to Jerusalem and the things accomplished for him by Simeon and Anna, when on the night in which he was born an angel, he says, appeared to him, after the coming of the magi who came to worship him and opened their bags and offered, as he says "an angel appeared to him, saying: 'Arise, take your wife and the child, and go to Egypt, because Herod is seeking the life of the child'." If, therefore, on the very night on which 2.259 he was born he was taken into Egypt and was there, until Herod died, how can he remain for eight days and be circumcised? or how after forty * is Luke found lying, as they say, blaspheming against their own head, because he says "on the fortieth day

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ἅγιον πνεῦμα καὶ ἐπινύττει τὸν ἅγιον Λουκᾶν ὡς ἀπὸ βάθους κατωτάτου τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν ἠπατημένων ἀνενέγκαι καὶ τὰ 2.257 ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων καταλειφθέντα αὖθις ἐπιβάλλεσθαι. ἵνα δὲ μή τις τῶν πεπλανημένων ἡγήσηται μυθωδῶς αὐτὸν ἐκφράσαι τὴν γέννησιν, ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω ἀναφέρει τὸ ἔργον, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀκρίβειαν λεπτομερῶς τὴν πᾶσαν πραγματείαν διέξεισι καὶ εἰς παράστασιν ἀληθείας ἐμμάρτυρας τοὺς ὑπηρέτας τοῦ λόγου γενομένους παρεισάγει φάσκων «ἐπειδήπερ πολλοὶ ἐπεχείρησαν», ἵνα τινὰς μὲν ἐπιχειρητὰς δείξῃ, φημὶ δὲ τοὺς περὶ Κήρινθον καὶ Μήρινθον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους· εἶτα τί φησιν; «ἔδοξε κἀμοὶ καθεξῆς παρηκολουθηκότι ἄνωθεν τοῖς αὐτόπταις καὶ ὑπηρέταις τοῦ λόγου γενομένοις γράψαι σοι, κράτιστε Θεόφιλε εἴτ' οὖν τινὶ Θεοφίλῳ τότε γράφων τοῦτο ἔλεγεν ἢ παντὶ ἀνθρώπῳ θεὸν ἀγαπῶντι, ἵνα ἐπιγνῷς περὶ ὧν, φησί, κατηχήθης λόγων τὴν ἀσφάλειαν»· καὶ τὴν μὲν κατήχησιν προτεταγμένην ἔφασκεν, ὡς ἤδη ὑπὸ ἄλλων μὲν κεκατηχῆσθαι, οὐκ ἀσφαλῶς δὲ παρ' αὐτῶν μεμαθηκέναι τὴν ἀκρίβειαν. εἶτά φησιν «ἐγένετο ἐν ἡμέραις Ἡρῴδου τοῦ βασιλέως ἐξ ἐφημερίας Ἀβιὰ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως ἱερεύς τις ὀνόματι Ζαχαρίας καὶ γυνὴ αὐτῷ ἐκ τῶν θυγατέρων Ἀαρών, ᾗ ὄνομα Ἐλισάβετ». καὶ ἄρχεται πρὸ τοῦ Ματθαίου· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ματθαῖος ἐσήμανε τριακονταετῆ χρόνον ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ὁ δὲ Μάρκος τὰ μετὰ τὰ τριάκοντα ἔτη ἔταττεν, τὴν ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ γενομένην ἐν ἀληθείᾳ πραγματείαν, ὅμοια τῷ Ματθαίῳ καὶ τῷ Λουκᾷ. ὁ δὲ Ματθαῖος ἀπὸ τριακονταετοῦς χρόνου πρὸ τῆς ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ καὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος πραγματείας τὸ διήγημα ἐποιεῖτο· Λουκᾶς δὲ πρὸ τοῦ χρόνου τοῦ συλληφθῆναι τὸν σωτῆρα ἐν γαστρὶ ἀπὸ ἓξ μηνῶν τὸν χρόνον ἐδήλου, καὶ ἐννέα μηνῶν πάλιν καὶ ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν τῆς συλλήψεως τοῦ κυρίου, ὡς εἶναι τὸν πάντα χρόνον τριάκοντα ἓν ἔτος καὶ ἐπέκεινα. διηγεῖται δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν ποιμένων διὰ τὴν τῶν εὐαγγελισαμένων ἀγγέλων θεοπτίαν, καὶ ὡς ἐγεννήθη ἐν Βηθλεὲμ καὶ ἐσπαργανώθη ἐν φάτνῃ καὶ τῇ ὀγδόῃ περιετμήθη, καὶ ὡς ἐν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέραις κατὰ τὸν νόμον προσφορὰν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἐπετέ2.258 λουν καὶ ὡς ὁ Συμεὼν αὐτὸν ἐν ἀγκάλαις ἐδέχετο καὶ ὡς Ἄννα ἀνθωμολογεῖτο θυγάτηρ Φανουήλ, καὶ ὡς ἐν Ναζαρὲτ ἀπῄει καὶ ὡς κατ' ἔτος ἀνῄει εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἅμα τοῖς γονεῦσι τελοῦσιν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τὰ κατὰ τὸν νόμον, ὧν οὐδὲν τῷ Ματθαίῳ ἐπείργασται οὐδὲ τῷ Μάρκῳ ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ. 8. Ὅθεν καί τινες ἄλλοι ἐξ Ἑλλήνων φιλοσόφων, φημὶ δὲ Πορφύριος καὶ Κέλσος καὶ Φιλοσαββάτιος, ὁ ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὁρμώμενος δεινὸς καὶ ἀπατεὼν ὄφις, εἰς τὴν κατὰ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς πραγματείας διεξιόντες ἀνατροπὴν τῶν ἁγίων εὐαγγελιστῶν κατηγοροῦσι, ψυχικοὶ καὶ σαρκικοὶ ὑπάρχοντες, κατὰ σάρκα δὲ στρατευόμενοι καὶ θεῷ εὐαρεστῆσαι ἀδυνάτως ἔχοντες καὶ τὰ διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος εἰρημένα μὴ νενοηκότες. ἕκαστος γὰρ αὐτῶν προσκόπτων τοῖς λόγοις τῆς ἀληθείας διὰ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ τύφλωσιν τῆς ἀγνωσίας, εἰς τοῦτο ἐμπίπτοντες ἔλεγον· πῶς δύναται ἡ αὐτὴ ἡμέρα εἶναι τῆς ἐν Βηθλεὲμ γεννήσεως αὐτὴ καὶ περιτομὴν ἔχειν ὀκταήμερον καὶ διὰ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν τὴν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἄνοδον καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ Συμεῶνος καὶ Ἄννας εἰς αὐτὸν τετελεσμένα, ὁπότε ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ᾗ ἐγεννήθη πέφηνεν αὐτῷ, φησίν, ἄγγελος, μετὰ τὴν τῶν μάγων ἔλευσιν τῶν ἐλθόντων προσκυνῆσαι αὐτῷ καὶ ἀνοιξάντων τὰς πήρας καὶ προσενεγκάντων, ὥς φησιν «ὤφθη αὐτῷ ἄγγελος λέγων· ἀναστὰς λάβε τὴν γυναῖκά σου καὶ τὸ παιδίον, καὶ πορεύου εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ὅτι ζητεῖ Ἡρῴδης τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ παιδίου». εἰ τοίνυν ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ νυκτὶ ᾗ 2.259 γεγέννηται παρελήφθη εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ ἐκεῖ ἦν, ἕως ὅτου ἀπέθανεν Ἡρῴδης, πόθεν δύναται ἐπιμεῖναι καὶ ὀκταήμερον καὶ περιτμηθῆναι; ἢ πῶς μετὰ τεσσαράκοντα * εὑρίσκεται Λουκᾶς ψευδόμενος, ὥς φασι βλασφημοῦντες κατὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν κεφαλῆς, ὅτι φησίν «ἐν τῇ τεσσαρακοστῇ ἡμέρᾳ