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Eranistes

OF THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS, ERANISTES OR POLYMORPHUS. PROLOGUE.

There are some who, not having praiseworthy distinction from birth or education or achievements, strive to become famous from wicked practices. Such was that Alexander the coppersmith, who, having nothing notable—no illustrious birth, no skill in speech, no leadership of the people, no generalship, no deeds of valor in war, but only plying a vulgar trade—became known solely from his madness against the most divine Paul. And Shimei again, an altogether obscure and servile man, became very famous from his insolence against the divine David. And they say that the founder of the Manichaean heresy was a slave fit for the lash, and that out of a love for honor he composed that abominable religion. This some are doing even now, and having shunned the toils that lead to the lovely glory of virtue, they have procured for themselves a most inglorious and thrice-wretched distinction. For desiring to become champions of new dogmas, they have collected impiety from many heresies and have put together this pernicious heresy. But I will try to reason with them briefly, both for the sake of their own cure and for the protection of those who are sound in faith. And the name of the treatise is Eranistes or Polymorphus. For having collected their wretched dogmas from many impious men, they put forward this varied and multiform opinion. For to call the Lord Christ God only is from Simon, and Cerdon, and Marcion, and the others who share this abominable neighborhood. But to confess the birth from a virgin, yet to say that this was a mere passage, and that the God-Logos took nothing from the virgin, they have plundered from the monstrous teachings of Valentinus and Bardesanes and those near them. And to call the divinity and the humanity of the Lord Christ one nature they have purloined from the babblings of Apollinaris. Again, to attribute the passion to the divinity of the Lord Christ they have stolen from the blasphemy of Arius and Eunomius, so that this heresy simply resembles the garments stitched together by beggars from different rags. For which reason I call this treatise Eranistes or Polymorphus. The discourse, however, will proceed in the form of a dialogue, having questions and answers, and propositions and solutions and objections, and all the other things that are characteristic of the dialogue form. But the names of those asking and answering I will not place in the body of the text, as the wise men of the ancient Greeks did, but I will write them in the margin at the beginning of the lines. For they offered their writings to those trained in every kind of education and for whom discourse was life; but I wish the reading to be clear and the finding of benefit to be easy even for those uninitiated in letters. And this will be so, as the persons speaking are made clear from the names written in the margin. And the one contending for the apostolic dogmas is named Orthodox, while the other is called Eranistes. For just as we are accustomed to call a beggar one who is fed by the mercy of many, and a money-maker one who knows how to collect money, so also we have given this one this name from his practices. But I ask those who will read this to make their examination of the truth without any prejudice. For we also, taking care for clarity, into three

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Eranistes

ΤΟΥ ΜΑΚΑΡΙΟΥ ΘΕΟ∆ΩΡΗΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΕΡΑΝΙΣΤΗΣ Η ΠΟΛΥΜΟΡΦΟΣ ΠΡΟΛΟΓΟΣ

Εἰσί τινες, οἳ τὴν ἐκ γένους ἢ παιδεύσεως ἢ κατορθωμάτων ἀξιέπαι νον οὐκ ἔχοντες περιφάνειαν, ἐκ πονηρῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἐπίσημοι γενέσθαι φιλονεικοῦσι. Τοιοῦτος ἦν ἐκεῖνος Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ χαλκεύς, ὃς οὐδὲν ἔχων περίβλεπτον, οὐ λαμπρότητα γένους, οὐ δεινότητα λόγων, οὐ δημαγωγίαν, οὐ στρατηγίαν, οὐ τὰς ἐν πολέμοις ἀνδραγαθίας, μόνον δὲ βάναυσον τέχνην μεταχειρίζων, ἐκ μόνης τῆς κατὰ τοῦ θειοτάτου Παύλου μανίας ἐγένετο γνώριμος. Καὶ Σεμεεὶ δὲ πάλιν, ἀφανὴς ἄνθρωπος πάμπαν καὶ ἀνδραποδώδης, ἐκ τῆς κατὰ τοῦ θεσπεσίου ∆αβὶδ θρασύτητος ὀνομαστότατος γέγονε. Φασὶ δὲ καὶ τὸν τῆς Μανιχαϊκῆς αἱρέσεως εὑρέτην μαστιγίαν οἰκέτην γενέσθαι, καὶ φιλοτιμίας ἔρωτι τὴν μυσαρὰν ἐκείνην συγγράψασθαι θρησκείαν. Τοῦτο καὶ νῦν δρῶσί τινες, καὶ τὸ ἀξιέραστον τῆς ἀρετῆς κλέος διὰ τοὺς ταύτης ἡγουμένους ἀποδράσαντες πόνους, τὴν δυσκλεεστάτην καὶ τρισαθλίαν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπορίσαντο περιφάνειαν. Καινῶν γὰρ δογ μάτων προστάται γενέσθαι ποθήσαντες, ἐκ πολλῶν αἱρέσεων ἠρανί σαντο τὴν ἀσέβειαν καὶ τὴν ὀλέθριον ταύτην συνέθηκαν αἵρεσιν. Ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτοῖς βραχέα διαλεχθῆναι πειράσομαι, καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν χάριν θερα πείας καὶ τῆς τῶν ὑγιαινόντων ἕνεκα προμηθείας. Ὄνομα δὲ τῷ συγγράμματι Ἐρανιστής ἢ Πολύμορφος. Ἐκ πολλῶν γὰρ ἀνοσίων ἀνθρώπων ἐρανισάμενοι τὰ δύστηνα δόγματα, τὸ ποικίλον τοῦτο καὶ πολύμορφον προφέρουσι φρόνημα. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ θεὸν μόνον ὀνομάζειν τὸν δεσπότην Χριστόν, Σίμωνός ἐστι καὶ Κέρδωνος καὶ Μαρκίωνος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσοι τοῦ μυσαροῦ τούτου μετέχουσι γειτονήματος. Τὸ δὲ τὴν ἐκ παρθένου μὲν γέννησιν ὁμολογεῖν, παροδικὴν δὲ ταύτην γενέσθαι λέγειν, καὶ μηδὲν ἐκ τῆς παρθένου τὸν θεὸν λόγον λαβεῖν, ἐκ τῆς Βαλεντίνου καὶ Βαρδησάνου καὶ τῶν τούτοις ἀγχιθύρων τερατο 62 λογίας ἐσύλησαν. Τὸ δέ γε μίαν φύσιν ἀποκαλεῖν τὴν θεότητα τοῦ δεσπότου Χριστοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα ἐκ τῶν Ἀπολιναρίου φληνά φων ὑφείλοντο. Πάλιν δ' αὖ τὸ τῇ θεότητι τοῦ δεσπότου Χριστοῦ προσάπτειν τὸ πάθος ἐκ τῆς Ἀρείου καὶ Εὐνομίου βλασφημίας κεκλόφασιν, ὡς ἐοικέναι τήνδε τὴν αἵρεσιν ἀτεχνῶς τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν προσαιτῶν ἐκ διαφόρων ῥακίων συρραπτομένοις ἐσθήμασιν. Οὗ δὴ χάριν Ἐρανιστὴν ἢ Πολύμορφον τόδε προσαγορεύω τὸ σύγγραμμα. ∆ιαλογικῶς μέντοι ὁ λόγος προβήσεται, ἐρωτήσεις ἔχων καὶ ἀπο κρίσεις καὶ προτάσεις καὶ λύσεις καὶ ἀντιθέσεις, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα τοῦ διαλογικοῦ ἴδια χαρακτῆρος. Τὰ δέ γε τῶν ἐρωτώντων καὶ ἀποκρινο μένων ὀνόματα οὐ τῷ σώματι τοῦ λόγου συντάξω, καθάπερ οἱ πάλαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφοί, ἀλλ' ἔξωθεν παραγράψω ταῖς τῶν στίχων ἀρχαῖς. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ τοῖς διὰ παντοδαπῆς ἠγμένοις παιδείας καὶ οἷς βίος ὁ λόγος προσέφερον τὰ συγγράμματα· ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τοῖς λόγων ἀμυήτοις εὐσύνοπτον εἶναι βούλομαι τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν καὶ τῆς ὠφελείας τὴν εὕρεσιν. Ἔσται δὲ τοῦτο, δήλων γινομένων τῶν διαλεγομένων προσώπων ἐκ τῶν παραγεγραμμένων ἔξωθεν ὀνομάτων. Καὶ τῷ μὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν ἀγωνιζομένῳ δογμάτων Ὀρθόδοξος ὄνομα, ὁ δὲ ἕτερος Ἐρανιστὴς ὀνομάζεται. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸν παρὰ πολλῶν ἐλέῳ τρεφόμενον προσαίτην ὀνομάζειν εἰώθαμεν, καὶ χρηματιστὴν τὸν συλλέγειν ἐπιστάμενον χρήματα, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τούτου τήνδε τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἐκ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τεθείκαμεν. Ἀξιῶ δὲ τοὺς ἐντευξο μένους πάσης προλήψεως δίχα ποιήσασθαι τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν βάσανον. Καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς σαφηνείας φροντίζοντες εἰς τρεῖς