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she has spread out all her reasoning and has gaped her mouth, to corrupt the seeds of Adam and Noah, 3.485 in various ways rubbing away modesty and in many ways sowing a spirit of fornication among those who are wronged. For naturally after these heresies another one, foolish and full of all senselessness, rose up again against us, completely ridiculous, having an incoherent mindset, of both deceived men and women. These are called Massalians, which is interpreted as "those who pray." Some time ago, from about the time of Constantius and onward, there were others again called Euphemites or else Massalians, from whom, I think, this one also perhaps got its imitative zeal. But those ones originated from the Greeks, neither adhering to Judaism nor being Christians nor from the Samaritans, but being only supposedly Greeks, and while speaking of gods, they worshiped none of them, but supposedly paid reverence to one alone, whom they called the Almighty. And having constructed for themselves certain houses or open places, like marketplaces, they called these prayer-houses. And in ancient times there were places of prayer both among the Jews outside the city and among the Samaritans, as we also find in the Acts of the Apostles, where Lydia the seller of purple met the company of Saint Paul, as the divine scripture also narrates, for it says, "it was supposed to be a place of prayer"; and the apostles went and taught the women who had gathered at that time. But also a place of prayer in Sichem, in what is now called Neapolis, outside the city on the plain about two milestones away, was thus constructed in the open air and an unroofed place, like a theater, by the Samaritans, imitating all the things of the Jews. 3.486 2. But these former Massalians originating from the Greeks, the ones before those now supposedly originating from the name of Christ, they too, having constructed in some regions certain little places of this sort, called prayer-houses and oratories, and in other places having naturally made for themselves a kind of likeness of a church, gathering in the evening and at dawn with much lamp-lighting and lights, and for a long time making certain recitations by their zealous members and supposed praises to God, as if propitiating God through recitations and praises, they deceive themselves. And ignorance, being a kind of blindness, provides all these things with an appearance of conceit to those who are deceived. Some time ago one of such structures was struck by lightning, but I cannot say in what place, but perhaps we heard this happened in Phoenicia. But also some of the zealous rulers killed many of them, for debasing the truth and mimicking the manner of a church, not being Christians, nor originating from the Jews. I think that Luppicianus the general was one of those who punished these same Euphemites who originated from the Greeks, from which pretext a second error grew up for them again. For some, having taken the bodies of those then killed because of such Greek lawlessness and having buried them in certain places, there again they perform the same praises and have named themselves Martyrians, supposedly on account of those who bore witness for the idols. 3. But others again from among them, thinking something still deeper, as if using their mind as an advisor according to their own foolishness, said: "Satan is great and stronger and performs many evils for men. Why do we not rather flee to him and worship him, and honor him and praise him, so that through flattering worship * he may not work evil things against us, but as we have become his servants, they say, he may spare us?" And so these too named themselves Satanists. 3.487 We have put their heresy together in the same place as the aforementioned

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πάντα ἥπλωσεν ἑαυτῆς τὸν λογισμὸν καὶ κέχηνε τὸ στόμα, τοῦ λυμήνασθαι τὰ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καὶ Νῶε σπέρματα, διαφόρως τὸ σῶφρον ἀπο3.485 τριβομένη καὶ τὸ πορνικὸν φρόνημα πολυτρόπως τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις ὑποσπείρουσα. φύσει γὰρ μετὰ ταύτας πάλιν τὰς αἱρέσεις μωρά τις καὶ πάσης ἀφροσύνης ἔμπλεως ἐπανέστη ἡμῖν ἑτέρα τις, γελοῖος μὲν ὅλη, ἀσύστατον ἔχουσα τὸ φρόνημα, καὶ ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν ἠπατημένων. Μασσαλιανοὶ δὲ οὗτοι καλοῦνται, ἑρμηνευόμενοι εὐχόμενοι. ἦσαν δὲ πρὸ χρόνου τινός, ὡς ἀπὸ τῶν καιρῶν Κωνσταντίου καὶ δεῦρο, ἄλλοι πάλιν Εὐφημῖται εἴτ' οὖν Μασσαλιανοὶ καλούμενοι, ἐξ ἧς τάχα οἶμαι καὶ αὕτη τὸν μιμηλὸν ζῆλον ἔσχεν. ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἐξ Ἑλλήνων ὡρμῶντο, οὔτε Ἰουδαϊσμῷ προσανέχοντες οὔτε Χριστιανοὶ ὑπάρχοντες οὔτε ἀπὸ Σαμαρειτῶν, ἀλλὰ μόνον Ἕλληνες ὄντες δῆθεν καὶ θεοὺς μὲν λέγοντες, μηδενὶ δὲ τούτων προσκυνοῦντες, ἑνὶ δὲ μόνον δῆθεν τὸ σέβας νέμοντες καὶ καλοῦντες Παντοκράτορα. τινὰς δὲ οἴκους ἑαυτοῖς κατασκευάσαντες ἢ τόπους πλατεῖς, φόρων δίκην, προσευχὰς ταύτας ἐκάλουν. καὶ ἦσαν μὲν τὸ παλαιὸν προσευχῶν τόποι ἔν τε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἔξω πόλεως καὶ ἐν τοῖς Σαμαρείταις, ὡς καὶ ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων εὕρομεν, ἔνθα ἡ πορφυρόπωλις Λυδία τοῖς περὶ τὸν ἅγιον Παῦλον ἀπήντηκεν, ὡς καὶ οὕτως τὸ θεῖον γράμμα διηγεῖται, ὅτι, φησίν, «ἐδόκει τόπος προσευχῆς εἶναι»· καὶ προσῆλθον καὶ ἐδίδασκον οἱ ἀπόστολοι τὰς συνελθούσας κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ γυναῖκας. ἀλλὰ καὶ προσευχῆς τόπος ἐν Σικίμοις, ἐν τῇ νυνὶ καλουμένῃ Νεαπόλει, ἔξω τῆς πόλεως ἐν τῇ πεδιάδι ὡς ἀπὸ σημείων δύο, θεατροειδὴς οὕτως ἐν ἀέρι καὶ αἰθρίῳ τόπῳ ἐστὶ κατασκευασθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Σαμαρειτῶν πάντα τὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων μιμουμένων. 3.486 2. Οὗτοι δὲ οἱ πρότερον Μασσαλιανοὶ ἐξ Ἑλλήνων ὁρμώμενοι, οἱ πρὸ τῶν νυνὶ τῶν δῆθεν ἀπὸ ὀνόματος Χριστοῦ ὁρμωμένων, καὶ αὐτοὶ πῆ μὲν ἔν τισι χώραις τοιαῦτα τοπάριά τινα κατασκευάσαντες, ὡς προσευχὰς καλούμενα καὶ εὐκτήρια, ἐν ἄλλοις δὲ τόποις φύσει καὶ ἐκκλησίας ὁμοίωμά τι ἑαυτοῖς ποιήσαντες, καθ' ἑσπέραν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἕω μετὰ πολλῆς λυχναψίας καὶ φώτων συναθροιζόμενοι, ἐπὶ πολύ τε καταλεγμάτιά τινα ὑπὸ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς σπουδαίων καὶ εὐφημίας τινὰς δῆθεν εἰς τὸν θεὸν ποιούμενοι, ὡς διὰ καταλεγματίων καὶ εὐφημιῶν ὥσπερ θεὸν ἐξιλεούμενοι, ἑαυτοὺς ἀπατῶσιν. ἡ δὲ ἀγνωσία τυφλή τις οὖσα πάντα ταῦτα δοκήσει οἰήσεως τοῖς πεπλανημένοις παρασκευάζει. ἐκεραυνοβολήθη δὲ πρὸ χρόνου ἓν τῶν τοιούτων κατασκευασμάτων, οὐκ ἔχω δὲ λέγειν ἐν ποίῳ τόπῳ, τάχα δὲ ἐν τῇ Φοινίκῃ τοῦτο ἠκούσαμεν. ἀλλὰ καί τινες τῶν ἀρχόντων ζηλωταὶ πολλοὺς ἐκ τούτων ἀπέκτειναν, διὰ τὸ παραχαράττειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ ἀντιμιμεῖσθαι ἐκκλησίας τρόπον, μὴ ὄντας Χριστιανούς, μήτε ἐξ Ἰουδαίων ὁρμωμένους. οἶμαι δὲ Λουππικιανὸς ὁ στρατηλάτης εἷς ἦν τῶν τοὺς αὐτοὺς Εὐφημίτας τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὁρμωμένους τιμωρησάμενος, ἐξ ἧς προφάσεως ἐφύη πάλιν αὐτοῖς δευτέρα πλάνη. λαβόντες γάρ τινες τὰ τῶν τότε ἀποκτανθέντων σώματα διὰ τὴν τοιαύτην Ἑλληνικὴν ἀνομίαν καὶ θάψαντες ἔν τισι τόποις, ἐκεῖ πάλιν τὰ αὐτὰ εὔφημά τε ἐπιτελοῦσι καὶ Μαρτυριανοὺς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπωνόμασαν, δῆθεν διὰ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῶν εἰδώλων μαρτυρήσαντας. 3. Ἄλλοι δὲ πάλιν ἐκ τούτων ἔτι βαθύτερόν τι διανοούμενοι, ὡς κατὰ τὴν αὐτῶν εὐήθειαν συμβούλῳ τῇ διανοίᾳ χρώμενοι εἶπον· ὁ Σατανᾶς μέγας ἐστὶ καὶ ἰσχυρότερος καὶ πολλὰ ἐπιτελεῖ κακὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. διὰ τί οὐ μᾶλλον πρὸς τοῦτον καταφεύγομεν καὶ αὐτῷ προσκυνοῦμεν, αὐτόν τε τιμῶμεν καὶ αὐτὸν εὐφημοῦμεν, ἵνα διὰ τῆς κολακευτικῆς θεραπείας * μὴ ἐνεργήσῃ ἡμῖν τὰ πονηρά, ἀλλ' ὡς δούλων αὐτοῦ ἡμῶν γεγονότων, φασί, φείδηται ἡμῶν; καὶ οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι Σατανιανοὺς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπωνόμασαν. 3.487 Ὁμοῦ δὲ τούτων τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐν ταὐτῷ συνεθήκαμεν καὶ τοὺς προειρημένους τοὺς