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a presbyter? this one differs in no way from that one; for there is one order, he says, and one honor and one dignity. A bishop, he says, lays on hands, but so does a presbyter; a bishop gives the bath, likewise also a presbyter; a bishop performs the worship of the economy, and the presbyter likewise; a bishop sits on the throne, and the presbyter sits also.” In this he deceived many, who have had him as their leader. 3.335 Then he says: What is the Pascha that is celebrated among you? You are again adhering to Jewish fables. For one must not, he says, celebrate the Pascha; “for Christ our Pascha has been sacrificed.” Then afterwards: For what reason, he says, do you name the names of the dead after death? For if, he says, the living prays or made a provision, how will the dead be helped? But if a prayer of those here helps those there at all, then surely let no one be pious nor do good, but let him acquire some friends, in whatever way he wishes, either by persuading with money or by asking friends at his death, and let them pray for him, so that he might suffer nothing there nor the incurable sins committed by him be investigated. But neither, he says, shall there be a set fast. For these things are Jewish and “under a yoke of bondage”; “for the law is not laid down for the just, but for parricides and matricides and the rest.” For if I wish to fast at all, on whatever day I choose for myself I will fast, on account of freedom. Whence among them it is esteemed rather to fast on a Sunday, but to eat on Wednesday and Friday. And often they also fast on Wednesday, not by ordinance, but by their own choice, he says. And in the days of Pascha, when among us there are sleepings on the ground, purifications, hardships, dry-food diets, prayers, vigils and fastings, and all the salvations of the souls * of the holy Pascha, they themselves from morning buy meat and wine, filling their own veins, and they roar with laughter, mocking those who perform this holy service of the week of Pascha. For even if these have adopted an ascetic way, it is not practiced among them, but much meat-eating and wine-drinking occurs, except if perhaps some rare few among them from their own choice should wish to do this. Rather the majority of them are given to abundant feasts of meat-eating and wine-drinking, as I have often said. These are the things spewed forth into the world by Aerius. 4. He shows, therefore, his thought and his disbelief and the things thunderously introduced by him again into the world as a mischievous art. And 3.336 we will come to the counter-arguments against him, narrating a few things and so passing on. And that the whole thing is full of foolishness is clear in this to those who possess understanding: his saying that a bishop and a presbyter are equal. And how will this be possible? For the one is an order that begets fathers; for it begets fathers for the church, but the other, not being able to beget fathers, through the regeneration of the bath begets children for the church, but not fathers or teachers. And how was it possible for the presbyter to appoint a bishop, not having the laying on of hands for ordaining, or to say he is equal to the bishop? But his own caviling and zeal deceived the aforementioned Aerius. And he brings to his own error and that of his listeners that the apostle writes “to the presbyters and deacons,” and does not write to bishops, and to the bishop he says, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which you received through the hands of the presbytery,” and again in another place “to the bishops and deacons,” so that, he says, the bishop is the same, the presbyter is the same. And he who is ignorant of the sequence of the truth and has not encountered the deepest histories does not know that while the preaching was new the holy apostle wrote according to the circumstances. For where there were bishops already appointed, he wrote to bishops and deacons; for the apostles were not able to establish everything at once. For there was need of presbyters and

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πρεσβύτερον; οὐδὲν διαλλάττει οὗτος τούτου· μία γάρ ἐστι τάξις καὶ μία, φησί, τιμὴ καὶ ἓν ἀξίωμα. χειροθετεῖ, φησίν, ἐπίσκοπος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ πρεσβύτερος· λουτρὸν δίδωσιν ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, ὁμοίως καὶ ὁ πρεσβύτερος· τὴν λατρείαν τῆς οἰκονομίας ποιεῖ ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, καὶ ὁ πρεσβύτερος ὡσαύτως· καθέζεται ὁ ἐπίσκοπος ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου, καθέζεται καὶ ὁ πρεσβύτερος». ἐν τούτῳ πολλοὺς ἠπάτησε, οἳ καὶ ἀρχηγὸν τοῦτον 3.335 ἐσχήκασιν. εἶτά φησι· τί ἐστι τὸ Πάσχα, ὅπερ παρ' ὑμῖν ἐπιτελεῖται; Ἰουδαϊκοῖς πάλιν μύθοις προσανέχετε. οὐ γὰρ χρή, φησί, τὸ Πάσχα ἐπιτελεῖν· «τὸ γὰρ Πάσχα ἡμῶν ἐτύθη Χριστός». Εἶτα μετέπειτα· τίνι τῷ λόγῳ μετὰ θάνατον ὀνομάζετε, φησίν, ὀνόματα τεθνεώτων; εἰ εὔχεται, γάρ φησιν, ὁ ζῶν ἢ οἰκονομίαν ἐποίησε, τί ὠφεληθήσεται ὁ τεθνεώς; εἰ δὲ ὅλως εὐχὴ τῶν ἐνταῦθα τοὺς ἐκεῖσε ὤνησεν, ἄρα γοῦν μηδεὶς εὐσεβείτω μηδὲ ἀγαθοποιείτω, ἀλλὰ κτησάσθω φίλους τινάς, δι' οὗ βούλεται τρόπου, ἤτοι χρήμασι πείσας ἤτοι φίλους ἀξιώσας ἐν τῇ τελευτῇ, καὶ εὐχέσθωσαν περὶ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μή τι ἐκεῖ πάθῃ μηδὲ τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γενόμενα τῶν ἀνηκέστων ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκζητηθῇ. Ἀλλ' οὔτε νηστεία, φησίν, ἔσται τεταγμένη. ταῦτα γὰρ Ἰουδαϊκά ἐστι καὶ «ὑπὸ ζυγὸν δουλείας»· «δικαίῳ γὰρ νόμος οὐ κεῖται, ἀλλὰ πατρολῴοις καὶ μητρολῴοις καὶ λοιποῖς». εἰ γὰρ ὅλως βούλομαι νηστεύειν, οἵαν δ' ἂν αἱρήσομαι ἡμέραν ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ νηστεύων διὰ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. ὅθεν παρ' αὐτοῖς πεφιλοτίμηται μᾶλλον ἐν κυριακῇ νηστεύειν, τετράδα δὲ καὶ προσάββατον ἐσθίειν. πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τὴν τετράδα νηστεύουσιν, οὐχὶ θεσμῷ, ἀλλὰ ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει, φησίν. ἔν τε ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ Πάσχα, ὅτε παρ' ἡμῖν χαμευνίαι, ἁγνεῖαι, κακοπάθειαι, ξηροφαγίαι, εὐχαί, ἀγρυπνίαι τε καὶ νηστεῖαι, καὶ πᾶσαι τῶν ψυχῶν * αἱ σωτηρίαι τῶν ἁγίων Πάσχων, αὐτοὶ ἀφ' ἕωθεν ὀψωνοῦσι κρέα τε καὶ οἶνον, ἑαυτῶν τὰς φλέβας γεμίζοντες, ἀνακαγχάζουσί τε γελῶντες, χλευάζοντες τοὺς τὴν ἁγίαν ταύτην λατρείαν τῆς ἑβδομάδος τοῦ Πάσχα ἐπιτελοῦντας. καὶ γὰρ εἰ καὶ ἀποτακτικὸν ἐσχήκασιν οὗτοι τρόπον, οὐκ ἤσκηται παρ' αὐτοῖς, πολὺ δέ τι κρεωφαγιῶν καὶ οἰνοποσιῶν γίνεται, ἀλλ' εἰ ἄρα τινὲς σπάνιοι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν ἀπ' ἰδίας προαιρέσεως βούλοιντο τοῦτο ποιεῖν. μᾶλλον δέ εἰσιν οἱ πλείους αὐτῶν κεχρημένοι δαψιλέσιν ἐδωδῶν σαρκοφαγίαις καὶ οἰνοποσίαις, ὡς πολλάκις ἔφην. ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ παρὰ Ἀερίου τῷ βίῳ ἐξεμεθέντα. 4. Ὑποδεικνύει τοίνυν τὴν ἔννοιαν καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπιστίαν καὶ τὰ δι' αὐτοῦ πάλιν τῷ βίῳ εἰς κακομήχανον τέχνην ἐμβροντηθέντα. εἰς 3.336 δὲ τὰς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀντιθέσεις ἐλευσόμεθα, ὀλίγα διηγούμενοι καὶ οὕτως παρερχόμενοι. καὶ ὅτι μὲν ἀφροσύνης ἐστὶ τὸ πᾶν ἔμπλεων, τοῖς σύνεσιν κεκτημένοις κατὰ τοῦτο δῆλον τὸ λέγειν αὐτὸν ἐπίσκοπον καὶ πρεσβύτερον ἴσον εἶναι. καὶ πῶς ἔσται τοῦτο δυνατόν; ἡ μὲν γάρ ἐστι πατέρων γεννητικὴ τάξις· πατέρας γὰρ γεννᾷ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἡ δὲ πατέρας μὴ δυναμένη γεννᾶν διὰ τῆς τοῦ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας τέκνα γεννᾷ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, οὐ μὴν πατέρας ἢ διδασκάλους. καὶ πῶς οἷόν τε ἦν τὸν πρεσβύτερον ἐπίσκοπον καθιστᾶν μὴ ἔχοντα χειροθεσίαν τοῦ χειροτονεῖν, ἢ εἰπεῖν αὐτὸν εἶναι ἴσον τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ; ἠπάτησε δὲ τὸν προειρημένον Ἀέριον ἡ αὐτοῦ ἐρεσχελία καὶ ὁ ζῆλος. Φέρει δὲ εἰς ἑαυτοῦ πλάνην καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀκουόντων ὅτι ὁ ἀπόστολος γράφει «πρεσβυτέροις καὶ διακόνοις», καὶ οὐ γράφει ἐπισκόποις, καὶ τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ φησί «μὴ ἀμέλει τοῦ ἐν σοὶ χαρίσματος, οὗ ἔλαβες διὰ χειρῶν τοῦ πρεσβυτερίου», πάλιν δὲ ἐν ἄλλῳ τόπῳ «ἐπισκόποις καὶ διακόνοις», ὡς εἶναι, φησί, τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπίσκοπον, τὸν αὐτὸν πρεσβύτερον. καὶ οὐκ οἶδεν ὁ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀγνοήσας καὶ ἱστορίαις βαθυτάταις μὴ ἐντυχὼν ὅτι νέου ὄντος τοῦ κηρύγματος πρὸς τὰ ὑποπίπτοντα ἔγραφεν ὁ ἅγιος ἀπόστολος. ὅπου μὲν ἦσαν ἐπίσκοποι ἤδη κατασταθέντες, ἔγραφεν ἐπισκόποις καὶ διακόνοις· οὐ γὰρ πάντα εὐθὺς ἠδυνήθησαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι καταστῆσαι. πρεσβυτέρων γὰρ ἐγίνετο χρεία καὶ