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as it is said in scripture that “There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens without number; my dove, my perfect one, is but one.” As we have spoken from the beginning, therefore, about these eighty concubines, the names of Barbarism and Hellenism and Scythianism and Judaism and Samaritanism, who are not lawful wives nor endowed by the king nor are their children able to inherit in the testaments for by nature there are seventy-five, and of these the mothers are five, like Hellenism, from which are the Hellenes, and Judaism, from which are the Jews, and the Samaritan heresy, from which is Samaritanism, and Christianity, from which the separated heresies were broken off like branches, called by the name of Christ, but not being his, but some being very far removed from him, and others for some very small thing having made themselves disinherited and strangers to him, and their children of those who are not lawful, but have gone outside, only having been called by the name of Christ there will be left for us the demonstration concerning the truth, and of the dove herself, the most solitary, praised by the bridegroom. 11. And having come to leisure and having earnestly beseeched God we will make in what follows a defense on behalf of the truth, brief in its discussion, but secure in its tradition, it not being last, but first, and already having been recalled by us in the highest degree before the heresies in the sojourn of Christ; but now being first * and the holy bride joined to Christ from his incarnate coming and that of his coming, which was formed with Adam and proclaimed in the patriarchs before Abraham and believed with Abraham and revealed through Moses and prophesied in Isaiah, but shown forth in Christ and existing with Christ, but in a later time praised by us. For it is necessary for one who contends to first engage in the contest, both in the toil and in the other struggles of the contest, so that later, having received the crown, he may continue in exultation with the crown, the crown not being last, but being set before the wrestling, but given afterwards for joy and for exultation to the one who has labored. Having said these things about these matters, let us proceed to the aforesaid 3.496 arguments, wishing to show how there are eighty concubines, and sixty queens, how there is one virgin and pure one and bride, at once both dove and lamb, and a holy city of God and “the pillar and foundation of the truth” and “a solid rock, against which the gates of Hades will not prevail.” For at once, in all things, calling upon God and having called upon him, we succeeded in the proclamation to fulfill the promise, I mean, that against all heresies, by which proclamation we have arrived even at the heresy of the Massalians. And having trampled it underfoot with the shoe of the gospel, like a many-footed, unsightly, shapeless chameleon, breathing foul odor, let us give thanks to God in all things, glorifying the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father, with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. A brief, true discourse concerning the faith of the catholic and apostolic church. 1. Having taken up the manifold and multiform and much-divided rash teachings of the perverse counsels of the adversaries, and having divided them by kind and genus, we have refuted them as vain and stale by the power of God, and having swum through the infinite flood of blasphemies and foul speech and most unpleasant mysteries from each heresy, with great difficulty having solved the problems * completely and having overcome their wickedness, we have approached the calm regions of the truth, having crossed every difficult sea, and having endured every storm and foam and swelling of the waves, and, so to speak, surge and dizziness, and having seen no ordinary shallows and beast-infested places, and having become experienced in these things through our discourses, the

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γραφῇ εἰρημένον ὅτι «ἑξήκοντά εἰσι βασίλισσαι, καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα παλλακαί, καὶ νεάνιδες ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός· μία ἐστὶ περιστερά μου, τελεία μου». ὡς οὖν περὶ τῶν παλλακῶν τούτων τῶν ὀγδοήκοντα εἰρηκότες ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, Βαρβαρισμοῦ καὶ Ἑλληνισμοῦ καὶ Σκυθισμοῦ καὶ Ἰουδαϊσμοῦ καὶ Σαμαρειτισμοῦ ὀνομασίας, τῶν οὐκ οὐσῶν ἐνθέσμων γυναικῶν οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως πεπροικισμένων οὐδὲ ἐν διαθήκαις τῶν τέκνων αὐτῶν κληρονομεῖν δυναμένων φύσει μὲν γάρ εἰσιν ἑβδομήκοντα πέντε καὶ τούτων αἱ μητέρες πέντε, ὥσπερ Ἑλληνισμός, ἀφ' οὗ Ἕλληνες, καὶ Ἰουδαϊσμός, ἀφ'οὗ Ἰουδαῖοι, καὶ αἵρεσις Σαμαρειτική, ἀφ' οὗ Σαμαρειτισμός, καὶ Χριστιανισμός, ἀφ' οὗ ἐξεκλάσθησαν ὥσπερ κλάδοι αἱ ἀφορισθεῖσαι αἱρέσεις, εἰς ὄνομα Χριστοῦ κληθεῖσαι, μὴ οὖσαι δὲ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' αἱ μὲν ἀπὸ μήκοθεν αὐτοῦ πολὺ διεστῶσαι, αἱ δὲ διά τι ἐλάχιστον ἀποκληρονόμους καὶ ξένας αὐτοῦ ἑαυτὰς καταστήσασαι καὶ τὰ αὐτῶν τέκνα τῶν οὐκ οὐσῶν ἐνθέσμων, ἔξω δὲ βεβηκυιῶν, μόνον δὲ τὸ ὄνομα ἐπικεκλημένων Χριστοῦ περιλειφθήσεται ἡμῖν ἡ περὶ ἀληθείας ἀπόδειξις, αὐτῆς τε τῆς περιστερᾶς τῆς μονωτάτης ὑπὸ τοῦ νυμφίου ἐπαινουμένης. 11. Καὶ ἐν σχολῇ ἡμῶν γενομένων καὶ σφόδρα ἱκετευσάντων θεὸν σύντομον μὲν τῇ διαλογῇ, ἀσφαλῆ δὲ τῇ παραδόσει καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἀπολογίαν ἐν τῷ ἑξῆς ποιησόμεθα, οὐκ αὐτῆς ὑστέρας οὔσης, ἀλλὰ πρώτης καὶ ἤδη δὲ τῶν πρὸ τῶν αἱρέσεων ἐν τῇ ἐνδημίᾳ Χριστοῦ ἀνωτάτω ἡμῖν ὑπομνησθείσης· νῦν δὲ πρώτην οὖσαν * καὶ Χριστῷ συνημμένην ἁγίαν νύμφην ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνσάρκου αὐτοῦ παρουσίας καὶ τὸ τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας, ἥτις ἐστὶ σὺν τῷ Ἀδὰμ πεπλασμένη καὶ ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ πατριάρχαις κεκηρυγμένη καὶ μετὰ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ πεπιστευμένη καὶ διὰ Μωυσέως ἀποκαλυφθεῖσα καὶ ἐν Ἠσαΐᾳ προφητευομένη, ἐν Χριστῷ δὲ ἀναδειχθεῖσα καὶ σὺν Χριστῷ ὑπάρχουσα, ἐν ὑστέρῳ δὲ καιρῷ ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἐγκωμιαζομένη. δεῖ γὰρ τὸν ἀγωνιζόμενον πρῶτον ἐνίστασθαι τῷ ἀγῶνι τῷ τε καμάτῳ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῦ ἀγῶνος παλαίσμασιν, ἵνα ὕστερον τὸν στέφανον κομισάμενος μετὰ τοῦ στεφάνου ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει διατελοίη, οὐ τοῦ στεφάνου ὑστάτου ὄντος, ἀλλὰ προκειμένου μὲν τῆς πάλης, ὕστερον δὲ διδομένου εἰς χαρὰν καὶ εἰς ἀγαλλίασιν τῷ κεκμηκότι. ταῦτα δὲ περὶ τούτων εἰρηκότες ἐπὶ τοὺς προειρημένους 3.496 παρέλθωμεν λόγους, δεῖξαι θέλοντες πῶς ὀγδοήκοντα μέν εἰσι παλλακαί, ἑξήκοντα δὲ βασίλισσαι, πῶς μία ἡ παρθένος καὶ ἁγνὴ καὶ νύμφη ὁμοῦ καὶ περιστερὰ καὶ ἀμνάς, πόλις δὲ ἁγία θεοῦ καὶ «στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας» καὶ «πέτρα στερεά, ἐφ' ἧς πύλαι Ἅιδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν». ὁμοῦ γὰρ ἐν πᾶσι θεὸν ἐπικαλούμενοι καὶ ἐπικαλεσάμενοι ἐτύχομεν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας πληρῶσαι τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν, τὴν κατὰ αἱρέσεων πασῶν φημι, ᾗτινι ἐπαγγελίᾳ καὶ ἄχρι τῆς τῶν Μασσαλιανῶν ἐφθάσαμεν αἱρέσεως. καὶ αὐτὴν δὲ καταπεπατηκότες τῷ ὑποδήματι τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, ὥσπερ χαμαιλέοντα πολύπουν, ἀειδῆ, ἄμορφον, δυσοδμίαν πνέουσαν, ἐν πᾶσι θεῷ εὐχαριστήσωμεν, δοξάζοντες πατέρα ἐν υἱῷ, υἱὸν ἐν πατρί, σὺν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ἀμήν. Σύντομος ἀληθὴς λόγος περὶ πίστεως καθολικῆς καὶ ἀποστολικῆς ἐκκλησίας. 1. Τὰ μὲν πολυειδῆ καὶ πολύτροπα καὶ πολυσχιδῆ τῶν σκολιῶν βουλευμάτων τῶν ἐναντίων διαλαβόντες προπετῆ διδάγματα καὶ πρὸς εἶδος καὶ γένος διελόντες φροῦδα καὶ ἕωλα δυνάμει θεοῦ διηλέγξαμεν, τόν τε ἄπειρον τῶν ἀπὸ ἑκάστης αἱρέσεως βλασφημιῶν καὶ αἰσχρολογιῶν καὶ ἀηδεστάτων αὐτῶν μυστηρίων κλύδωνα διανηξάμενοι, μάλα μόλις τῶν ζητημάτων * πάντη ἐπιλυσάμενοι καὶ τὴν τούτων μοχθηρίαν ὑπερβεβηκότες, τοῖς τῆς ἀληθείας γαληνίοις ἐπλησιάσαμεν χωρίοις, πάντα μὲν τόπον δυσθαλάττιον διαπεράσαντες καὶ πᾶσαν ζάλην καὶ ἀφρισμὸν καὶ κυμάτων κύρτωσιν ὑπομεμενηκότες, σάλον δὲ ὡς εἰπεῖν καὶ ἴλιγγας, βράχη τε οὐ τὰ τυχόντα καὶ θηριοβόλους τόπους θεασάμενοι, ἐν πείρᾳ τε τούτων διὰ τῶν λόγων γεγενημένοι, τὸν