Огласительное поучение шестое

[To those preparing in Jerusalem for enlightenment, said without preparation, about the sovereignty of God, in the words: I believe in one God, and about heresies; also to the words of Isaiah: Be silent before Me, O islands; Israel will be saved with eternal salvation in the Lord; you will not be put to shame and put to shame forever and ever, etc. (Isa.41:1; 45:16–17).] 1. Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1:3), blessed is also His Only Begotten Son. For then, when we imagine God in our minds, we must also imagine the Father, so that the glorification of the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit is not performed separately. For the Father has no other glory, nor does the Son have another, but one and the same, just like the Holy Spirit. Since the Son of the Father is the Only Begotten, and when the Father is glorified, the Son also receives glory together. Since the glory of the Son comes from the honor given to His Father, and when the Son is glorified in return, then only the Father of the good Son is majestically honored. 2. The mind imagines very quickly, but language has a need for words and a lengthy explanation of intermediary concepts. The eye instantly embraces a numerous host of stars, but if anyone wants to explain separately what the morning sun is, what the lightning is, and what each star is, he will need many words. Likewise, the mind in an instant embraces the earth and the sea and all the limits of the world, but what it instantly imagines, it explains in many words. True, this example is also important, but it is still weak and insufficient. Because we do not say everything, as much as we should talk about God (for only He knows this), but as much as is possible for human nature and as much as our weakness can bear. For we do not explain what God is, but we sincerely admit that we do not have perfect knowledge of Him. For in Divine things great is the knowledge of being aware of one’s ignorance. So, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together (Ps. 33:4), with our common strength, all (for it is impossible for one); Yes, even if we all unite, then even then we will not do it as we should. I am not talking about you alone, who are here, but even if all the sheep of the entire Ecumenical Church, now existing and future, gathered together, even then they could not worthily sing to their Shepherd. 3. Abraham was great and worthy of honor, but great among men, and when he appears before God, then he openly reveals the truth: I am dust and ashes (Gen. 18:27). Having said that he is earth, he did not stop, so as not to call himself a great element, but added that he is also ashes, in order to represent his frailty and weakness. Is there anything, he says, less and insignificant than ashes? Compare, he says, the ashes with the house, the house with the city, the city with the region, the region with the Roman country, the Roman country with the whole earth and with all its borders, and the whole earth with the sky that contains it; it has the same relation to the sky as the hub has to the whole circumference of a wheel; This is exactly the relationship of earth to heaven. Moreover, imagine that this visible first sky is smaller than the second, and the second - the third; Scripture named so many of them not because there were so many of them, but because we need to know so many of them. And if you knew with your mind all the heavens, then the heavens would not be able to praise God sufficiently, even if their voice were louder than thunder. If the heavens, which are so vast, cannot worthily sing to God, then will dust and ashes, the smallest and most insignificant thing, be able to send up a worthy song to God or worthily say about God: He is the One who sits above the circle of the earth, and those who live on it are like locusts (Is. 40:22)? 4. If anyone intends to talk about God, let him first explore the boundaries of the earth. You live on earth and do not know the end of the earth - your home; how will it be possible for you to properly know its Creator? You see the stars, but you do not see their Creator. Number the stars that you see, and then tell about the Invisible One, who counts the many stars and names them all (cf. Ps. 147:4). Recently falling drops of heavy rain almost drowned us; count the drops that fell on this one city, even I am not talking about the city, only on your house, and count the drops that fell in just one hour, if it is possible for you. But this is impossible; know your weakness, and from this know the power of God. For He gathers up drops of water (Job 36:27) throughout the entire universe, not only those that are now shed, but those that are always shed. It is true that the sun is a great creation of God, but it is very small in relation to the whole sky. First look at the sun with open eyes and then test for its Lord. Do not seek what is too difficult for you, and do not try what is beyond your strength. What is commanded to you, meditate on it (Sir.3:21-22). 5. But someone will say: if the being of God is incomprehensible, then why should you talk about it? But is it really because I cannot drink the entire river that I will not take water from it in moderation for my benefit? Is it really because my eyes are not able to contain all the sun and as much as is necessary for me that I should not look at it? Is it really because I, having entered some large garden, cannot eat all the fruits, would you like me to come out of it completely hungry? I praise and glorify Him who created us. For there is a Divine command to this, saying: Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! (Ps. 150:6). Now I want to glorify the Lord, but not to explore (His being). I know that I am not able to adequately glorify Him; however, I consider it a matter of piety even if I try my best to do so. The Lord Jesus condescends to my weakness when he says: No one has ever seen God (John 1:18). 6. Well, someone will say, isn’t it written: The little angels in heaven always see the face of My Heavenly Father (Matthew 18:10). Angels see God not as He is in Himself, but as much as they can contain. For Jesus Himself says: It is not that anyone has seen the Father except He who is from God; He saw the Father (John 6:46). So, the Angels see Him, as much as they can contain, and the Archangels, as much as is possible for them, and the Thrones and Dominions also see Him, although more than the former, however, less than as much as they should. And only the Holy Spirit can see as it should. For He searches all things, and knows the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10). In the same way, the Only Begotten Son knows the Father together with the Holy Spirit as it should. For no one knows the Father, He says, except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal (Matthew 11:27); He sees God as He should and reveals Him together with the Spirit through the Spirit, as much as everyone can contain. Since the Only Begotten Son, as well as the Holy Spirit, have a common Divinity with the Father, then the One who was born without change before eternal times knows the One who gave birth, and the One who gave birth knows the One who was born. So, when the Angels do not know (for the Only Begotten Son, together with the Holy Spirit, through the Holy Spirit, reveals to everyone according to each one’s ability), then none of the people should be ashamed to admit their ignorance. I speak now, and everyone speaks in due time, but as we speak, we cannot say this; How can I speak to Him who gave the word? I have a soul and cannot explain its properties; How can I express Him who gave the soul? 7. For piety it is enough for us to know only that we have God: the One God, the Existing God, always Existing, always similar to Himself, Who has no Father, Whom there is no one more powerful, Whom no successor deprives of the Kingdom, God with many names and omnipotence and one in His Essence. For because He is called good, and just, and Almighty, and Almighty, He is not different and different. But, being One and the Same, the innumerable actions of the Divine are revealed; He is not more in one property, but less in another, but in everything he is similar to Himself. He is not only great in love for mankind and small in wisdom, but love for mankind is equal to wisdom. He does not see in part and cannot see in part, but He is all eye, all is hearing, and all is mind. Not like us, he partly understands and partly knows. This thought is blasphemous and unworthy of the Divine Being. He knows in advance what happens; He is holy and Almighty and surpasses everyone in kindness, is greater than everyone and wiser than everyone; We cannot explain His beginnings, His image, or appearance. They have never heard His voice, nor seen His face (John 5:37), says the Divine Scripture. Therefore, Moses says to the Israelites: Hold firmly in your souls that you have not seen any image (Deut. 4:15). If it is absolutely impossible to imagine His likeness, then can the mind comprehend His Being? 8. Many have invented many things, and all have gone astray. Some considered fire to be God, while others considered God to be like a winged man, based on these words, well written but poorly understood by them: cover me in the shadow of Your wings (Ps. 16:8). They forgot our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten, Who in a similar way speaks of Himself to Jerusalem: How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to! (Matthew 23:37). For, not understanding that His preserving power is meant by wings, but judging as about human things, they imagined the incomprehensible power in human form. And others dared to assert that He has seven eyes, because it is written elsewhere: seven are the eyes of the Lord, which look around the whole earth (Zech. 4:10). If, in particular, He has seven eyes, then His vision will be partial, and not complete, which means blasphemy to claim about God. For you must believe that God is perfect in everything, according to the voice of the Savior, who says that your Father in heaven is perfect (see Matt. 5:48). Perfect in vision, perfect in power, perfect in greatness, perfect in foreknowledge, perfect in goodness, perfect in justice, perfect in love for mankind, not limited by place, but the Creator of places, is in each of them and is not contained in any of them. His throne is heaven (see Isa. 66:1), but He who sits on this throne is above it, and His footstool is earth (see Acts 7:49), but His power extends to the underworld. 9 . One is everywhere, sees everything, knows everything, does everything through Christ. For through Him all things began to be, and without Him nothing began to be (John 1:3). The source of all good, the greatest and inexhaustible, a river of goodness, eternal light, constantly shining, invincible power, condescending to our weaknesses. Even His name cannot be heard by our ears. Can you find God by research? - says Job. -Can you completely comprehend the Almighty? ( Job 11:7 ). If even the last of creatures are incomprehensible, how can He who created all things be comprehended? Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and what God has prepared for those who love Him has not entered into the heart of man (Is. 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9). If what God has prepared cannot be grasped by our thoughts, then is it possible to grasp with our minds the very One who has prepared? Oh, the depth of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His destinies and unsearchable His ways (Rom. 11:33), says the apostle. If judgments and ways are incomprehensible, then can Himself be comprehensible? 10. So great is God, and even greater is He (for if I turn my whole being into a language, then I will not be able to speak about Him as I should; even if all the Angels unite and they will not speak as they should); God is so good and great, but man, having hewed the stone, dared to say to the stone: You are my god (Is. 44:17). Great blindness to come from such greatness to such humiliation! A tree planted by God, regenerated by rain, and then, when it burns, becomes ashes from the fire, this tree is publicly declared to be God, but the true God is despised. Finally, the evil of idolatry intensified: the cat, the dog, and the wolf began to be worshiped instead of God, and the lion devouring people was worshiped instead of the God who loves mankind, the snake and the dragon were worshiped, representing the one who cast us out of paradise, and the One who planted paradise became despised. I’m ashamed to say, but I will say: some even worshiped the onion. Wine was given to gladden the human heart (see Ps. 103:15), and wine was worshiped instead of God. God created wheat by His word: let the earth produce greenery, grass that yields seed, and a fruitful tree that bears fruit according to its kind (Gen. 1:11), so that bread might strengthen the human heart (see Ps. 103:15), and why did they worship Ceres? Fire still comes from the mutual impact of stones, and where did the creator of fire, Vulcan, come from? 11. Where does the polytheistic Hellenic deception come from? God is incorporeal, why are those whom they call gods accused of adultery? I am silent about Jupiter’s changes into a swan, I am ashamed to talk about his transformation into an ox, for lowing is unworthy of God - an adulterer god was found among the Hellenes, and they are not ashamed. If he is an adulterer, he should not be called a god. They talk about the death of their gods, about disasters, about their defeat by lightning; Do you see from what greatness they descended to where? So, did the Son of God come down from heaven in vain to heal such a wound? Did the Son really come in vain, coming so that the Father might be known? Do you see what prompted the Only Begotten to come down from the throne at the right hand of the Father? The father was despised; It was necessary for the Son to turn away this error, for it was necessary that He who created everything should bring everything to the Lord of all, it was necessary to heal the wound. For what was worse than that disease than to worship a stone instead of God? 12. And not only did the devil try to spread this among the pagans, but many even falsely named Christians, unworthily bearing the sweetest name of Christ, dared to wickedly remove God from His creation. I am talking about heretical, dishonest and godless children who pretend to love Christ, but truly hate Him. For whoever blasphemes the Father of Christ is an enemy of the Son. They dared to assert that there are two Deities: one good, the other evil. Great blindness! If Divinity, then, without a doubt, good. And if it is not good, then why call it Divinity? For if goodness belongs to God, love of mankind, charity, omnipotence are characteristic of Him, then it must be one of two things: either let God be called both by name and by action, or if they want to deprive Him of Divine actions, then let them not call Him God even by name. 13. Heretics dared to say that there are two gods and two sources of good and evil and that they are not born. If both are unborn, then, without a doubt, they are equal, and both are equivalent; How is darkness combined with light? Moreover, are they together or separate? They cannot be together, for what does light have in common with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14), says the apostle. And if they are far from one another, then, without a doubt, both have a special place; if they are in special places, then, without a doubt, in a certain place we are in the possession of one God, and in a certain place, without a doubt, we worship one, even if we succumbed to their madness. Let us examine what they say about the good God. Is He strong or powerless? If He is strong, then how was evil born against His will? And how does an evil being come when He does not want it? If He, knowing this, cannot prevent him, then they accuse Him of powerlessness. And if he can and does not interfere, then he is denounced in agreement with the evil god. Look here at their senselessness; sometimes they say that the evil god does not share with the good one in ruling the world, sometimes they say that he controls only a fourth part. They also say that the good God is the Father of Christ, and Christ is called this (visible) Sun. So, if the world, according to them, came from an evil god, and the sun is in the world, then how can the Son of a good God serve against his will in the possession of an evil god? We defile ourselves by saying this; However, we are saying this so that none of those present will not, out of ignorance, fall into heretical defilement. I know that I will defile my mouth and the ears of my listeners, but for good. For it is much better to hear absurd things when reproaching others, than to fall into them out of ignorance; It is much better for you to know filth and hate it than to fall into it out of ignorance. The teaching of heretical atheism is varied. For when someone turns away from the one straight path, then for the most part he ends up in rapids. 14. The inventor of all heresies is Simon the Magus; the one mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, Simon, who wanted to buy with silver the unsold grace of the Holy Spirit and who heard: You have no part or lot in this (Acts 8:21) and so on. It is written about him: They went out from us, but they were not ours (1 John 2:19). He, after he was rejected by the apostles, being in Rome and taking with him Helen, some kind of harlot, with blasphemous lips was the first to dare to assert about himself that he appeared on Mount Sinai as the Father, then he appeared to the Jews as Jesus Christ not in the flesh, but in a ghost, and after this as the Holy Spirit, whom Christ promised to send as a Comforter, and the city of Rome so deceived that Claudius erected a statue for him with an inscription in Roman: To Simon, the Holy God. 15. When the deception spread, two good men, Peter and Paul, the elders of the Church who arrived there, exposed him, and struck the magnified imaginary god, Simon, with sudden death. For when Simon promised to ascend to heaven and was carried through the air on a chariot of evil spirits, then the servants of God, having knelt down and expressed that agreement about which Jesus said: if two of you agree on earth to ask for anything, then whatever they ask will be done for them (Matthew 18:19), through prayer, shooting an arrow of unanimity at the sorcerer, overthrew him to the ground. And it’s not at all surprising, although, by the way, it’s a marvelous thing. For Peter had with him the keys of heaven, unworthy of wonder; for Paul was also a man who was caught up to the third heaven into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is impossible for a man to utter (2 Cor. 12:4). They brought down an imaginary god from the air to the earth, who was brought down to the underworld. This was the first serpent of evil, but after cutting off one head, the root of evil appeared again with many heads. 16. Cerinthus corrupted the Church, as did Carpocrates, Ebioneus and Marcion - a godless tongue. He preached various gods, one good, another just, contradicting the Son, who said: Righteous Father! (John 17:25). Moreover, he preached another Father, and another Creator of the world, contrary to these words of the Son: God clothes the grass in the field, which is today and thrown into the oven tomorrow (cf. Luke 12:28); He also commands His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). He was the inventor of another evil. The second serpent of evil is Marcion. For, having been convicted by the testimonies of the Old Testament found in the New Testament, the first dared to refute the testimonies and the proclaimed teaching of faith - to leave without testimonies, after he had abandoned God; and as if there were no more preachers, he wanted to weaken the faith of the Church. 17. After him, another rose up, Basilides, a dishonest man of bad morals, preaching debauchery. Valentine, who preached thirty gods, also tried to spread this evil. The Hellenes do not consider many gods, and the one who calls himself a Christian, although he was not one, reached such an error that he admitted as many as thirty. He says that Vit (the abyss) (it is fitting for him, as the abyss of evil, to begin his teaching from the abyss) begat Si-gena (silence) and from Sigena he begat Logos (the word), which is Jupiter among the Hellenes. His Vit is worse than the one who mixed with his sister. For Sigena was the daughter of Vitus. Do you see the absurdity covered by the guise of Christianity? Slow down a little and you will hate wickedness. He says that from Vitus eight aeons (ages) were born, and from those eight - ten, and from these ten - twelve, male and female. Where did they come from? Notice the idle talk of fiction. Where will you find proof of the existence of thirty aeons? It is written that Jesus was baptized when he was thirty years old. What proof is there from these thirty years, even though He was baptized at thirty years old? He broke five loaves for five thousand, is that why there are five gods? Or is it really because He had twelve disciples that there must be twelve gods? 18. And this is still unimportant in comparison with other teachings of wickedness. He says that the last deity is male and female, and this, as he dares to say, is Sophia (wisdom). Oh godlessness! For wisdom is Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, and in his teaching he considered this wisdom to be a woman, the thirtieth element and the last of the line of gods. For he says that Sophia wanted to see the first god and, unable to bear his brilliance, fell from heaven and was rejected from among the thirty; then she began to groan and in her groaning gave birth to the devil, and weeping over her falling away, she brought forth the sea. Do you see wickedness? How can the devil be born from wisdom, evil from reason, and darkness from light? Valentin continues that the devil gave birth to other devils, some of whom created this world, and says that Christ came down in order to distract people from the Creator of the world. 19. To make you hate them more, listen to what they say about Christ Jesus. They teach that after the fall of Sophia, so that the number thirty would not be lost, each of the twenty-nine aeons, taking away the smallest part, produced Christ, and they say about Him that He is male and female. Is there anything more wicked than them? Is there anything more miserable than them? I am telling you about their error so that you will hate them more. So, flee from wickedness and do not greet such a person, lest you join in the fruitless works of darkness. Don't even be curious about them and don't want to engage in conversation with them. 20. Turn away from all heretics, and especially the one who has the name of mania (rabies) and who recently appeared during the reign of Provos (seventy years since this delusion began); Nowadays there are still people who saw it with their own eyes. However, not because he lived in recent times, turn away from him, but turn away from evil dogmas, turn away from the author of evil, the repository of all uncleanness, the one who accepted the worst of all heresies. He, making it an honor to distinguish himself in evil, having collected everything and formed one heresy, full of blasphemy and all lawlessness, corrupts the Church (and especially those outside the Church), walking and devouring like a lion. Do not listen to their flattering words or imaginary humility. For they are snakes, the offspring of vipers. And Judas said: Rejoice, Rabbi! - and betrayed Him. Do not look at the kisses, but beware of the poison. 21. And so that they don’t think that I am denouncing him in vain, I will tell you in brief words who this Manes is, and partly about what he teaches. For all his vile teachings cannot be told as they should in a lifetime. You need to remember what would help you at the right time. What I said before, I will say the same now, so that those who do not know this will know, and those who know will remember it. Manes is not a Christian, no! And neither he nor those who taught the same thing before him were expelled from the Church, following the example of Simon. For he is the thief of other people’s evils, having appropriated them for himself; how and in what way, you need to listen about it. 22. A certain Scythian was in Egypt, a Saracen by origin; he had nothing in common with either Jews or Christians. Having settled in Alexandria and leading his life following the example of Aristotle, he composed four books: one, called the Gospel, which does not contain the deeds of Christ, but has only this name, another, called the book of Chapters, the third - the Sacraments, the fourth, which they still have in their hands - the Treasures. He had a disciple named Terebinth, but when the aforementioned Scythian came to Judea and began to corrupt this country, the Lord, having killed him with a disease, stopped the effect of this infection. 23. And the disciple of evil Terebinth, being the heir of gold and books and heresy, when he arrived in Palestine and in Judea they began to recognize and denounce him, he decided to move to Persia. But so that people here would not recognize him by his name, he called himself Voodoo. However, he also had opponents here in the priests of Mithras, 3 and after many verbal disputes and competitions he was convicted. And finally, being persecuted, he resorted to a certain widow. Then, having ascended to the upper part of the house and called upon the spirits of the air, whom the Manichaeans still call under the cursed fig tree, being struck by God, he fell from the heights of the house and gave up the ghost. Thus, this second beast was also consumed. 24. However, monuments of wickedness remained - his books; the widow was the heir to both his books and his estate. But having neither relatives nor anyone else, she decided to buy a boy named Kuvrika with money and, having adopted him, taught him Persian sciences, like a son, and sharpened an evil sword against humanity. And Kuvrik, the dishonest slave, grew up among philosophers and after the death of his widow he inherited both books and money. Then, so that the slave name would not dishonor him, instead of Kuvrik he called himself Manes, which in Persian means “conversation.” For as he pretended to be some kind of wordsmith, he called himself Manes, as if he were some kind of excellent conversationalist. However, at the time when he wanted to gain fame for himself in the Persian language, the Providence of God, beyond his intention, forced him to be his accuser: so, thinking of honoring himself with his name in Persia, he announced to the Greeks that he took the name out of rage. 25. He dared to call himself a comforter. It is written: but whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness (Mark 3:29). He uttered this blasphemy, calling himself the Holy Spirit. Let him who communicates with such people look at who he communicates with. The slave disturbed the universe, because the earth shakes from three, it cannot bear four: a slave when he becomes a king (Prov. 30:21-22). And finally, speaking on Wednesday, he promised the impossible for a person. The son of the Persian king fell ill; There were many doctors, and Manes promised to heal through prayer, as if he were a pious man. The doctors stopped healing, and at the same time the boy stopped living; The man's wickedness was revealed, and this bound philosopher was thrown into prison. Not because he denounced the king, defending the truth, not because he crushed idols, but because he promised to heal and deceived, or, better, to tell the truth, because he killed the boy. For the one who could have been healed through the efforts of the doctors, he, having removed the doctors, destroyed him, killing him by not caring for the sick person. 26. When I tell you about his many atrocities, remember, firstly, his blasphemy, and secondly, slavery. Slavery is not shameful, but what is bad is that, while in slavery, he imagined himself to be free. Thirdly, deceiving him in his promise; fourthly, the killing of the youth; fifthly, dishonorable imprisonment. And not only dishonorable imprisonment, but also escape from prison. For the one who called himself a comforter and an ascetic of the truth fled; He was not the successor of Jesus, who willingly went to the Cross, but he was an opponent to Him, a fugitive. After that, the Persian king ordered the death of the prison guards. Manes's pride was the cause of the youth's death, and his flight was the cause of the death of the guards. Should the one who was responsible for death be worshiped? Shouldn't he, imitating Jesus, have said: if you seek Me, leave them (John 18:8). Shouldn't he have said to him, following the example of Jonah: take me and throw me into the sea... for my sake this great storm has befallen you (Jon. 1:12). 27. Manes escapes from prison and comes to Mesopotamia, but Bishop Archelaus meets him with the weapon of truth. Having denounced him in front of judges chosen from philosophers, he held a meeting of listeners from the Hellenes, so that the Christian judges would not seem lenient to the judges. Tell me, says Archelaus to Manes, what do you preach? And he, having a mouth like an open tomb, began his speech first by blaspheming the Creator of all things, saying: “The God of the Old Testament is the inventor of evil. He says about Himself: I am a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24).” But the wise Archelaus refuted the blasphemy with these words: “If the God of the Old Testament, according to your words, calls Himself fire, then whose Son is He who says about Himself: I came to bring down fire on the earth? (Luke 12:49). If you blame Him who says: The Lord kills and gives life (1 Samuel 2:6), then why do you honor Peter, who raised Tabitha and killed Sapphira? If you blame Him because He prepared fire, then why don’t you blame Him who says: Depart from Me, you cursed, into eternal fire (Matthew 25:41)? If you blame the Speaker: I... I make peace and cause disasters (Isa.45:7), then explain why Jesus says: I did not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34). So, when both say the same thing, then one of the two must be chosen; either both are good, since they speak in agreement, or if Jesus is not worthy of blame for His words, then why do you slander Him who says the same thing in the Old Testament? 28. Then Manes says to him: what kind of God blinds? And Paul says: for those who do not believe, whose minds the god of this world has blinded, so that the light of godliness should not shine on them (2 Cor. 4:4). Archelaus refuted it well, saying: read the previous one: If the gospel is closed, it is closed to those who are perishing (cf. 2 Cor. 4:3). Do you see that it is hidden only for those who are perishing? For one should not give holy things to dogs (Matthew 7:6). Then, did the God of the Old Testament alone blind the minds of the infidels? But didn’t Jesus Himself say: Therefore I speak to them in parables, because when they see they see not? (Matthew 13:13). Was it out of hatred towards them that He wanted them not to see, or because of their unworthiness, because they closed their eyes? (Matthew 13:15). For where there is spontaneous evil, there is no grace. To everyone who does not have, more will be given and he will have an abundance, but from him who has, even what he has will be taken away (Matthew 25:29). 29. It is possible, as some explain (the explanation, however, is not bad), and then say: if he blinded the minds of the infidels, then he blinded them for a good purpose, so that they would turn to holy deeds. For He did not say: He blinded their souls, but the minds of the unbelievers. What has been said means this: blind the evil thoughts of the adulterer, and the person is saved. Blind the robber's thoughts to robbery and robbery, and the man is saved. But you don't want to understand it that way. There is another explanation. The sun also blinds people who have dull vision, and those with sick eyes are blinded when they are struck by the light, not because the sun tends to blind, but because the eyes do not see due to their condition. Likewise, those who suffer from heart unbelief cannot contemplate the rays of the Divine. He did not say: He blinded their minds so that they would not hear the Gospel, but so that the light of piety about the glory of Christ would not shine for them (2 Cor. 4:4). For all are permitted to hear the gospel, but the glory of the gospel is reserved only for the sincere servants of Christ. The Lord spoke in parables to those who could not listen, and He explained the parables to the disciples in private. The radiance of glory for the enlightened is blindness for the unbelievers. The Church now reveals these secrets to those who come from among the catechumens; there is no custom of revealing them to the pagans. For we do not reveal to the pagan the secrets of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Even before the catechumens, we do not speak openly about secrets, but for the most part we speak about many things in secret, so that the faithful who know it may reflect, and those who do not know will not receive harm. 30. With these and many other words we reflected the serpent. Thus, by bickering, Archelaus Manes won. He who has escaped from prison runs again and from here, having fled from his opponent, comes to the whole unknown, following the example of the serpent, who in paradise, leaving Adam, approached Eve. But the good shepherd Archelaus, taking care of the sheep, when he heard about the flight, immediately, chasing the wolf, hurried to find him. And Manes, having accidentally seen his enemy, hid and ran away; ran away for the last time. For the soldiers of the king of Persia, who were looking for him everywhere, captured the fugitive. And the judgment that he had to accept before Archelaus is brought to him by the royal soldiers. They take Manes, whom his disciples worship, and take him to the king. The king reproached him for deception and escape, ridiculed his slave position, avenged the death of the youth, and accused the guards of the death. According to Persian law, Manes was ordered to be skinned, the remaining body to be given to be devoured by animals, and the container of vile thoughts, the skin, like a bag, was hung in front of the gate, because, calling himself a comforter and declaring that he knew the future, he did not know about his flight and that he would be caught. 31. Manes had three students: Thomas, Vadda and Erma. No one should read the Gospel of Thomas, for it is not the Scripture of one of the twelve apostles, but of one of the three evil disciples of Manes. No one should communicate with the murderers of the Manichaeans, who pretend to be strict fasters by drinking prepared water with their spit; who blame the Creator of food, and devour the best food; who teach that the one who uproots the grass himself turns into it. If the one who plucks up herbs or any of the potions turns into something, then farmers and gardeners will have to turn into what types? The gardener cut so many trees, as we see, which one does he turn into? Truly a ridiculous teaching, worthy of condemnation and shameful! The same man, being a shepherd of sheep, slain a sheep and killed a wolf. What should he turn into? Many of the people caught birds and fish. Which of them should they turn into? 32. Let the children of idleness, the Manichaeans, who themselves do not work and eat what the workers prepare, answer this. They receive those who bring them food with a cheerful look and instead of blessings, they curse them. For when some foolish person brings something to them, he says (Manichaean): stand outside the doors a little, and I will bless you; then, taking the bread in his hands (as those who converted among them admitted it), the Manichaean says to the bread: “I did not create you,” and pronounces a curse on the Most High, and curses the Creator, and thus eats what was created. If you hate food, then why do you look cheerfully at the person who brought it? If you thank the one who brought it, then why do you blaspheme God, Who created and prepared the food? Then he says: “I did not sow you; let the one who sowed you be sowed.” I did not press you with a sickle; let the one who pressed you be reaped. I didn’t bake you on fire, let the one who baked you be baked.” Nice return of gratitude! 33. These atrocities are great, but still unimportant in comparison with others. In front of men and women, I do not dare talk about their baptism; I dare not say what they dip the fig in and give it to miserable people. It is necessary to explain this only with hints. Let men imagine what happens to them in their dreams, and let women imagine what happens during menstrual cleansing. Let us truly pollute our lips by saying this. Are the Hellenes more worthy of contempt? Are the Samaritans more godless than them? Are the Jews more wicked than they? Are fornicators worse than them? The one who has gone astray in one hour commits a deed of lust, and having become defiled, condemns his act, and wants to wash himself, and realizes the vileness of the act. And the Manichaean places this filth in the middle of the altar he reveres and defiles both the tongue and the mouth, and from such and such lips do you, man, receive teaching? When you meet such and such a person, do you hug and kiss him? Besides their other wickedness, should you not run away from filth, from people who are worse than the most dissolute, more vile than any common fornication? 34. The Church announces and teaches you about this; and she touches defilements, so that you will not be desecrated. He speaks of plagues so that you will not be wounded. It is enough for you to just know this, but beware of learning from experience. God thunders, we all tremble, and they blaspheme. God sends lightning, we all fall to the ground, and they curse the heavens with their tongues. Jesus says of His Father that He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). And they say that the rains come from the frenzy of love; they dare to say that in heaven there is some beautiful maiden and a handsome young man and that at the same time, like camels or wolves, they have shameful copulation, that in winter the young man runs furiously at the maiden, they say that she runs away from him, and he chases after her and that is why he sweats, and from his sweat comes rain. This is written in the books of the Manichaeans, we read this, not trusting what they said. For to warn you we were curious about their destructive teaching. 35. But may the Lord deliver us from such error, may he arouse in you enmity against the serpent, so that just as they guard your heel, so you too may trample on their head. Remember what was said: what agreement do you have with them? What does light have in common with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14). What do the purity of the Church and Manichaean filth have in common? Here is order, here is decency, here is holiness, here is chastity, here even looking upon a wife (see Matt. 5:28) for lust is condemned, here marriage is pure, here is constant abstinence, here is virginity in equal angelic dignity, here is food eaten with thanksgiving, here is reverence for the Creator of all, here is the Father of Christ worshiped, here is taught fear and trembling before Him who pours out rain, here is We send praises to the One who thunders and the One who sends lightning. 36. Join the sheep, run away from the wolves, do not separate from the Church, turn away even those who were once suspected of it. And if you don’t find out that they repent for a long time, then don’t entrust yourself to them soon. The truth about the sovereignty of God has been given to you; recognize the teaching like herbs. Be a skillful merchant, hold fast to what is good, and abstain from all kinds of evil (1 Thess. 5:21-22). And if there was once this evil in you, then, recognizing the error, turn away from it. For then you will enter the path of salvation if you vomit up the vomit and if you hate it from the heart, if you renounce them not only with your lips, but also with your soul, if you worship the Father of Christ - the God of the Law and the Prophets, if you know that the good and just is one and the same God, who preserves you all, keeping you free from errors and temptations and firm in the faith, in Christ Jesus, Our Lord; glory to Him forever and ever. Amen. This was the name given to those who worshiped the sun. You might be interested in: