Chapter XX.

There are, then, among the righteous some who are carbuncles, others sapphires, others jaspers, and others crystals, and thus there is among the righteous every kind of choice and precious stone.  As to the spiritual meaning of the different stones,—what is their nature, and to what kind of soul the name of each precious stone especially applies,—we cannot at present stay to examine.  We have only felt it necessary to show thus briefly what we understand by temples, and what the one Temple of God built of precious stones truly means.  For as if in some cities a dispute should arise as to which had the finest temples, those who thought their own were the best would do their utmost to show the excellence of their own temples and the inferiority of the others,—in like manner, when they reproach us for not deeming it necessary to worship the Divine Being by raising lifeless temples, we set before them our temples, and show to such at least as are not blind and senseless, like their senseless gods, that there is no comparison between our statues and the statues of the heathen, nor between our altars, with what we may call the incense ascending from them, and the heathen altars, with the fat and blood of the victims; nor, finally, between the temples of senseless gods, admired by senseless men, who have no divine faculty for perceiving God, and the temples, statues, and altars which are worthy of God.  It is not therefore true that we object to building altars, statues, and temples, because we have agreed to make this the badge of a secret and forbidden society; but we do so, because we have learnt from Jesus Christ the true way of serving God, and we shrink from whatever, under a pretence of piety, leads to utter impiety those who abandon the way marked out for us by Jesus Christ.  For it is He who alone is the way of piety, as He truly said, “I am the way, the truth, the life.”

Εἰσὶν οὖν τινες τῶν δικαίων ἄνθραξ λίθος καὶ ἄλλοι σάπφειρος καὶ ἄλλοι ἴασπις καὶ ἄλλοι κρύσταλλος· καὶ οὕτω πᾶν γένος ἐκλεκτῶν καὶ τιμίων λίθων εἰσὶν οἱ δίκαιοι. Τὸν δὲ περὶ λίθων νοῦν καὶ τῆς φύσεως αὐτῶν λόγον, καὶ εἰς ποδαπὰς ψυχὰς ἀναφέρεσθαι δύναται ἑκάστου τιμίου λίθου τὸ ὄνομα, οὐ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα καιρόν ἐστι διηγή σασθαι· μόνον δ' ἐχρῆν ὑπομνησθῆναι ἐπ' ὀλίγον τοῦ βουλήματος τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ναῶν καὶ ἑνὸς τοῦ ἐκ λίθων τιμίων νεὼ τοῦ θεοῦ. Ὥσπερ γάρ, εἰ ἐπὶ τοῖς νομιζομένοις ναοῖς ἕκαστοι κατὰ τὰς σφῶν πόλεις ἐσεμνύνοντο πρὸς τοὺς ἑτέρους, ἔλεγον ἂν οἱ ἐπὶ τοῖς τιμιωτέροις ναοῖς μέγα φρονοῦντες τὰ ἐξαίρετα τῶν ἰδίων εἰς ἔλεγχον τῶν ὑποδεεσ τέρων· οὕτως πρὸς τοὺς ἐγκαλοῦντας ἡμῖν, ἐπεὶ μὴ νομί ζομεν δεῖν σέβειν τὸ θεῖον παρ' ἀναισθήτοις ναοῖς, ἀντιπα ραλαμβάνομεν τοὺς καθ' ἡμᾶς ναοὺς καὶ δείκνυμεν τοῖς γε μὴ ἀναισθήτοις μηδὲ παραπλησίοις τοῖς ἀναισθήτοις θεοῖς αὐτῶν ὅτι οὐδεμία σύγκρισίς ἐστιν οὔτε τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἀγαλμάτων πρὸς τὰ ἀγάλματα τῶν ἐθνῶν οὔτε τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν βωμῶν καὶ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, θυμια μάτων πρὸς τοὺς ἐκείνων βωμοὺς καὶ τὰς παρ' αὐτοῖς κνίσσας καὶ αἵματα ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τῶν ἀποδεδομένων ναῶν πρὸς τοὺς ναοὺς τῶν ἀναισθήτων, ὑπὸ ἀναισθήτων ἀνθρώπων θαυμαζομένων καὶ μηδὲ φαντασιωθέντων τὴν θείαν αἴσθησιν, ᾗ αἰσθάνεταί τις θεοῦ καὶ τῶν τούτου ἀγαλμάτων καὶ ναῶν καὶ βωμῶν, πρεπόντων θεῷ. Οὐκ εἰς τὸ πιστὸν οὖν ἀφανοῦς καὶ ἀπορρήτου κοινωνίας καὶ τὸ τοιοῦτο σύνθημα φεύγομεν βωμοὺς καὶ ἀγάλματα καὶ νεὼς ἱδρύεσθαι, ἀλλ' ὅτι εὑρόντες διὰ τὴν Ἰησοῦ διδασκαλίαν τὸν τρόπον τῆς εἰς τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείας φεύγομεν τὰ φαντασίᾳ εὐσεβείας ἀσεβεῖς ποιοῦντα τοὺς ἐσφαλμένους ἀπὸ τῆς διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εὐσεβείας· ὅς ἐστι μόνος "ὁδὸς" εὐσεβείας, ἀληθῶς λέγων τό· "Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή."