Adversus Manichaeos (homilia 1)

OF JOHN THE GRAMMARIAN, FIRST HOMILY AGAINST THE MANICHEES 1. It were good, beloved, to show you in discourse the ascent to the heavens and to describe the way of life which Christ ordained for his disciples, and thus to escort you, as trainers do good athletes, to the wrestling matches of virtue. For with such teachings the Church is accustomed to anoint her devotees | to anoint with teachings. But since some, filled with the madness of Manes, attempt to dig through and disturb the nurslings of the Church, mixing tares with the wheat and sowing mythologies full of ridicule among the right doctrines of the apostles, for the sake of your safety I will briefly take up the war against them and, pulling up the thorns by the roots, I will show the Church's field of grain to be free from impiety. 2. Often indeed has the beauty-hating demon burst in upon the flock of Christ, stirring up introducers of false doctrines against piety, such as were Simon and Marcion and as many as long ago appeared as imitators of their and others' after them monstrous tales and false opinions. But their utterly defiled doctrines have been extinguished, and the nonsense of their myths, and whatever they uttered against impiety with sharpened and God-fighting tongues. But the lawless heresy of the Manichees, having its origins from there, still belches forth a bitter venom against the living God, and opposes the vanity of non-existent things to those that have a real existence; for it sets matter in array against the true and only God, and draws up darkness against the brightness of the light, and says that evil, which is known only in unholy deeds, is of equal weight with the good. Come then, let us, using the full armor of the word of God, pull down the greatest fortress of their godless doctrines, passing over their other impious chatter and all the things they mythically fabricate for us. For once their tower has been demolished, the discernment of the rest of their doctrines, or rather blasphemies, will be accessible even to the very ignorant. 3. These inventors of all impiety, then, say that matter was without beginning, living and uncreated. To them one may respond with this argument: Everything that has a real existence is either body or bodiless, or has come to be from both of these by union. And the intellectual and rational natures are bodiless, while bodies are those things composed of elements; and from each of these two substances the human race has its existence. For the things besides these, such as bitterness and sweetness and whatever is seen or known through colors, belong to the category of quantity or relation or are accomplished through actions; they are by nature non-subsistent in themselves and without the substances that receive them they neither were, nor will be. But the substances, that is, the underlying subjects, are unchangeable into their opposite; for the bodiless substance will not become a body, nor will the body become bodiless. However, the colors and shapes in them, and whatever is seen concerning substance, are changed and altered; for it is not by nature self-subsistent. 4. What, then, of the things mentioned do they say matter is? For if it is bodiless, how has it become body, since substances are unchangeable into their opposite, as has been said. For changes are accustomed to occur concerning qualities and quantities and activities; | for it is possible to see one who has become pale from fear become red, often from anger the

Adversus Manichaeos (homilia 1)

ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΚΩΝ ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΠΡΩΤΗ ΠΡΟΣ ΜΑΝΙΧΑΙΟΥΣ 1. Καλὸν ἦν, ἀγαπητοί, τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἄνοδον ὑμῖν ὑποδει- κνύναι τῷ λόγῳ τε καὶ διαγράφειν πολιτείαν ἣν ὁ Χριστὸς τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς διετάξατο καὶ οὕτως ὑμᾶς, ὡς τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς τῶν ἀθλητῶν οἱ παιδοτρίβαι, τοῖς τῆς ἀρετῆς παλαίσμασι παρα- πέμπειν. Τοιούτοις γὰρ εἴωθεν ἡ ἐκκλησία τοὺς ἑαυτῆς θιασώτας | ὑπαλείφειν διδάγμασιν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδή τινες τῆς τοῦ Μάνεντος ἐμφορηθέντες μανίας διορύττειν καὶ τοὺς τῆς ἐκκλησίας διασα- λεύειν τροφίμους ἐπιχειροῦσι, τῷ σίτῳ παραμιγνύντες ζιζάνια καὶ τοῖς ὀρθοῖς δόγμασι τῶν ἀποστόλων ὑποσπείροντες γέλωτος πλήρεις μυθολογίας, τῆς ὑμῶν ἕνεκεν ἀσφαλείας ὡς ἐν βραχεῖ τὸν πρὸς ἐκείνους πόλεμον ἀναδέξομαι καὶ τὰς ἀκάνθας προρρί- ζους ἀνασπῶν ἐλεύθερον ἀσεβείας τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀναδείξω τὸ λήϊον. 2. Πολλάκις μὲν κατὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ποίμνης ὁ μισόκαλος δαίμων εἰσεκώμασεν ἀναρριπίζων κατὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας ψευδῶν δογμάτων εἰσηγητάς, οἷος ἦν Σίμων τε καὶ Μαρκίων καὶ ὅσοι τῆς ἐκείνων τε καὶ μετ' ἐκείνους τερατολογίας τε καὶ ψευδο- δοξίας μιμηταὶ πάλαι πεφήνασιν. Ἀλλ' ἐκείνων μὲν ἀπέσβη τὰ παμμίαρα δόγματα καὶ τῶν μύθων ὁ λῆρος καὶ ὅσα πρὸς ἀσέβειαν ἠκονημέναις γλώσσαις καὶ θεομάχοις ἐφθέγξαντο. Ἡ δὲ τῶν Μανιχαίων ἄθεσμος αἵρεσις ἐκεῖθεν ἔχουσα τὰς ἀρχὰς ἔτι πικρὸν ἰὸν ἀνερεύγεται τῷ ζῶντι θεῷ καὶ τοῖς οὐσιωδῶς ὑφεστῶσι τὴν τῶν ἀνυπάρκτων ἀντιτιθεῖσα ματαιότητα· ὕλην γὰρ ἀντιστρατεύει τῷ ἀληθεῖ καὶ μόνῳ θεῷ καὶ τὸ σκότος ἀντιπαρα- τάττει τῇ φαιδρότητι τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ τῷ ἀγαθῷ τὸ κακὸν ἰσόρρο- πον εἶναί φησιν, τὸ μόνον ἐν ἀνοσίοις πράξεσι γνωριζόμενον. Φέρε τοίνυν τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου πανοπλίᾳ χρησάμενοι τὸ μέγιστον τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀθέων δογμάτων ὀχύρωμα κατασπάσωμεν, τὴν ἑτέραν τῆς αὐτῶν ἀσεβείας ὑπερβάντες ἀδολεσχίαν καὶ ὅσα μυθικῶς ἡμῖν ἀναπλάττουσιν. Τοῦ γὰρ παρ' αὐτοῖς πύργου κα- θαιρεθέντος, εὐεπίβατος ἔσται τῶν λοιπῶν δογμάτων, μᾶλλον δὲ βλασφημίας, καὶ τοῖς ἄγαν ἀμαθέσιν ἡ διάγνωσις. 3. Φασὶ τοίνυν οἱ πάσης ἀσεβείας ἐφευρεταὶ ὅτι ἄναρχος, ζῶσά τε καὶ ἀγένητος ὑπῆρχεν ἡ ὕλη. Πρὸς οὕς ἐστιν οὕτως ἀπαντῆσαι τῷ λόγῳ· Πᾶν ὅπερ οὐσιωδῶς ὑφέστηκεν ἢ σῶμα ἢ ἀσώματον ἢ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν τούτων καθ' ἕνωσίν ἐστι γεγονός. Καὶ ἀσώματοι μὲν αἱ νοεραί τε καὶ λογικαὶ φύσεις, σώματα δὲ τὰ ἐκ στοιχείων συνεστηκότα· ἐξ ἑκατέρας δὲ τούτων οὐσίας τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑφέστηκε γένος. Τὰ γὰρ παρὰ ταῦτα, οἷον πικρότης τε καὶ γλυκύτης καὶ ὅσα διὰ χρωμάτων ὁρᾶται ἢ γνωρίζεται, τῷ ποσῷ ἢ πρός τι τυγχάνει ἢ διὰ πράξεων ἐπιτελεῖται· ἀνυπόστατα πέφυκε καθ' ἑαυτὰ καὶ ἄνευ τῶν δεχομένων αὐτὰ οὐσιῶν οὔτε ἦν, οὔτε ἔσται. Ἀλλ' αἱ μὲν οὐσίαι, ὅ ἐστι τὰ ὑποκείμενα, ἀμεταβλήτως ἔχουσι πρὸς τοὐναν- τίον· οὐ γὰρ ἡ ἀσώματος οὐσία σῶμα γενήσεται, οὔτε τὸ σῶμα ἀσώματον ἔσται. Τὰ μέντοι ἐν αὐταῖς χρώματά τε καὶ σχήματα καὶ ὅσα περὶ τὴν οὐσίαν ὁρᾶται, μεταβάλλεταί τε καὶ μετατίθεται· οὐ γὰρ πέφυκεν αὐθυπόστατος. 4. Τί τοίνυν τῶν εἰρημένων τὴν ὕλην φασί; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἀσώματον, πῶς γέγονε σῶμα, τῶν οὐσιῶν ἀμεταβλήτως ἐχουσῶν πρὸς τοὐναντίον, ὡς εἴρηται. Αἱ γὰρ μεταβολαὶ περὶ τὰς ποιότητάς τε καὶ ποσότητας καὶ ἐνεργείας | εἰώθασι γενέσθαι· τὸν γὰρ ὠχρὸν ὑπὸ δέους γινόμενον ἐρυθρόν ἐστιν ἰδεῖν, τοῦ θυμοῦ πολλάκις τὸ