INTRODUCTION.
The same Apostles say that when they (i.e. the Jews) feast, do ye mourn over them with fasting, because in the day of the feast they crucified the Christ ; and when they are mourning, eating unleavened bread with bitter herbs, do ye feast. See p. 99, 1. 29.
CHAPTER III.
The doctrine about women, that they please and honour their husbands only, actively and wisely, attending with diligence to the works of their houses, and that they wash not with the men nor adorn themselves, and become a cause of offence to men nor hunt after them ; that they be chaste and quiet and not quarrel with their husbands.
From Paul the Apostle about the Times of Prayer.
Institute prayer in the morning and at the third hour, and at the sixth hour, and at the ninth hour, and in the evening, and when ye go to sleep, that for protection, and at the cockcrow : in the morning thanking God who has given us light, having made the night to pass and brought the day ; at the third hour because at it our Lord suffered judgment from Pilate ; in that of the sixth hour because in it the Christ was crucified, all created things were shaken, trembling at the daring deed which the wicked Jews did ; He was pierced in His side by a lance, and shed forth blood and water ; in that of the ninth hour because when our Lord was crucified the sun was darkened at mid-day, and the dead arose from their graves ; created things could not bear to see the ignominy of our Lord ; also He gave up His Spirit into the hands of His Father ; in that of the evening thanking God, who gave us the night for rest from the labours of the day ; in that for protection while ye now slumber the sleep of rest from work ; but pray that in sleep and in rest ye leave not this world, and if that should happen, the prayer which ye have prayed will help you in the way that is everlasting; and at cockcrow, because that is the hour in which announcement is made to us of the coming of the day, and for the labour of the works of light.
Commandments from the writing of Addai the Apostle.
(15) The Apostles have also decreed that he who loves the Jews like Judas Iscariot who loved them, or the heathen, who worship the creatures* instead of the Creator, shall not enter among them nor serve ; or if he be among them, they shall not allow him, but he shall be separated from them, and shall not serve with them.
(16) The Apostles have also decreed that if there have come a man of the Jews or of the heathen and been mingled with them, and after he has come and has been received and mingled with them, he have turned and gone again to the sect in which he stood, and again have come and been converted to them for the second time, he shall not be received again, but as the sect in which he was at the first, thus those that know him shall regard him.
CHAPTER XIII.
That no Christian should neglect the assembly of the Church at tlie time of prayer, or of the Eucharist ; not for the sake of the work of the /lands, or any other work of the world; he should not go to a theatrical spectacle, to hear heathen words, dissuading his soul away from the hearing of the words of the Scriptures of life; nor to the foreign assemblies of lieretics. Let those who are children in the Church hear and serve in it without laziness. Let no Christian love idleness from the work of handicraft, which is alien to the Church.
If not, what excuse will ye have before God, for those who have not assembled on the Lord’s day, to hear the Word of Life, and to be nourished with the divine food which endureth for ever? For ye strive to get the things that are for a time, for a day or an hour, but ye neglect those that are eternal ; ye go on providing for bathing, for eating, for drinking, for the belly, and for other things to be nourished ; but for eternal things ye do not care; ye despise your souls and do not hasten to the Church, that ye may hear and receive the Word of God. In comparison with those who err, what apology have ye? for, because the heathen, when they rise from their sleep every day, go in the morning to worship and serve their idols, before all their works and labours they go first and worship their idols, and also they do not neglect their feasts and pilgrimages, but assemble constantly, not only the natives, but also those who come from afar. They also assemble for the spectacle of their own theatre, and all of them come. Thus also those who vainly are called Jews, are idle one day for six, and assemble in their Synagogue. They do not neglect their holidays, they who have deprived themselves of the strength of the Word, because they believe not, nor even of the name by which they have called themselves, i.e. Jews. Jew is interpreted as confession, but they are not confessors, for they do not confess to the murder of the Christ, which they have committed in transgressing the Law, that they may repent and live. If, therefore, those who are not saved strive always for the things in which there is no profit nor help to them, what excuse has he before the Lord God ? he who restrains himself from the assembly of the Church, and does not even imitate the Gentiles ; and because he does not assemble, neglects himself and goes afar, and does iniquities; those to whom the Lord spake by means of Jeremiah, “My laws ye have not kept ; ” but ye have not even walked according to the laws of the Gentiles, and ye have almost excelled them in wickedness. ” Have the nations changed their gods, which yet are no gods ? but My people hath changed its glory for that which doth not profit.” How then can he who is neglectful make excuse, he who is not zealous in the assembling of the Church of God ? If a man gets an excuse on account of secular work and is prevented, let him know that the handicrafts of believers are called works of superfluity ; for the sure work is the fear of God. Do your handicrafts, therefore, as a work of superfluity for your nourishment, but let your real work be the worship of God. Strive, therefore, never to be hindered from the assembling of the Church.
CHAPTER XX.
About the Resurrection of the dead, we are taught not only by the Holy Scriptures, but also by means of demonstrations from the books of the heathen; and by means also of these natural demonstrations let us, being diligent, like believing men who have a sure hope of the Resurrection, not excuse ourselves from martyrdom on account of the Christ, if we are called to it.
Confirmation about the Resurrection, even from the writings of the heathen.
Also those among the Gentiles who read, read and hear, even among the heathen, about the Resurrection from the Sybil, what was said and preached to them thus, ” When everything shall be dust and ashes, the Most High God shall cause the fire which He hath kindled to cease, and then God Himself shall raise the bones and ashes of men, and shall clothe them with their likeness, and raise men as they were before. And then the judgment shall take place, in which God shall judge the wicked in the future world, and the earth shall cover the impious. The just and the righteous shall live in the land of life ; God will give them spirit and goodness, (S. + and life) and thereafter they shall all see one another.” It is not only, my friends, by means of the Sybil that the Resurrection was preached to the heathen, but also by means of the holy Scriptures, before the Lord preached to the Jews and to the heathen and to the Christians together, and announced the Resurrection of the dead which shall come to men.
CHAPTER XXI.
Exhorting every Christian to keep himself from all evil and frivolous conversation, and from all bad and heathenish conduct. About the Holy Fast. About the Passion and Crucifixion of our Lord. About the fourteenth [day] of the Passover of the Jews ; about the Friday of the Passion, and the Sabbath of the Annunciation and the Sunday of the Resurrection of our Saviour. About the mourning of the Sabbath-day of the nation of the Jews, and about the rejoicing of the people of the Christians.
Therefore it is required of the Christian that he keep himself from vain work, and from lascivious and impure words, (S. + even on Sundays when we are glad and rejoice) no one is allowed to say a word that belongs to sport or is foreign to the fear of God. (S. + as our Lord also taught us in the Psalm, in David, and saith thus, ” Now therefore understand, ye kings, and be instructed, all ye judges of the earth ; serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before Him with trembling. Attend to discipline, lest the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the way of justice, because His anger is kindled but a little against you ; blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”) But it is therefore required of us that we keep feasts, and that we make our rejoicing with fear and trembling, for a believing Christian ought not to recite the hymns of the heathen, nor to approach those foreign customs, nor to remember the name of an idol, may this be far from believers ! for the Lord rebuketh in Jeremiah and saith, ” They have forsaken Me, and sworn by those that are not gods,” (S. + and again He saith, ” If Israel will return unto Me, let him return, Jer. iv. i saith the Lord, and if he will take away his abominations from his mouth, and will fear before My face, and will swear as the Lord liveth,” and again He saith, ” I will take the name of the idols from your mouth.” By means of Moses again He saith to them, ” They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is no God, and with their idols they have made Me angry.” And in all the Scriptures He speaketh against these things, and not only concerning the idols.) It is not allowed to believers to swear, not by the sun nor by the moon, for the Lord God hath spoken thus by means of Moses, “My people, if ye see the sun and the moon, be not led astray Deut.iv.i9 by them, nor worship them ; for the Lord hath given them to you for lights upon the earth.” (S. + and by means of Jeremiah again He saith, ” Learn not according to the ways of the heathen, and be not afraid of the signs of heaven.”) And by means of Ezekiel He hath said thus, ” And He brought me into the court of the house of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, and I saw there men with their loins girt towards the temple of the Lord, and their faces opposite the East, and they were worshipping the sun. And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, is this a small thing to the house of Judah to commit these abominations here? and they have filled the land with iniquity. (S. + and they have returned to provoke Me to anger, and they are as mockers. I also will deal in fury ; mine eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity ; even if they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.” Ye see, beloved, how severely and bitterly the Lord giveth judgment in His wrath against those who worship the sun or swear by it.) It is therefore unlawful for the believer to swear either by the sun or by any of the signs of heaven (S. -1- or the elements) ; either to mention the name of an idol with his mouth, or to let a curse go out of his mouth, but only blessings (S. + and psalms, and the authoritative and divine Scriptures, which are the foundations of the truth of our faith), especially in the day of the fast and the holy Passover, in which a;; believers fast (S. + who are in all the world), as our Lord and Teacher said, when they asked Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast, and Thy disciples fast not ? ” And He said unto them, ” The children of the bridechamber cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, (S. + but the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast in those days).” Now then by means of His deeds He is with us (S. + but to sight He is far off, because He hath risen to the heights of Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of His Father). Therefore when ye fast, pray and implore for those who are lost, as we also did when our Lord was suffering ; for while He was yet with us before He suffered, while we were eating the Passover with Him, He said to us, ” This day, in this night, one of you betrayeth Me.” And every one of us said to Him, ” Surely it is not I, Lord ? ” And He answered and said unto us, ” He who stretcheth out his hand with Me in the dish.” He signified Judas Iscariot, who was J one of the twelve. (S. + Then our Lord said unto us, “Verily I say unto you, yet a little while, and ye shall leave Me, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of His flock shall be scattered.” And Judas came with the scribes and with the priests of the people, and delivered up our Lord Jesus. But this was on Wednesday, for when we had eaten the Passover on Tuesday in the evening, we went out to the Mount of Olives, and in the night they took our Lord Jesus ; and on the next day, which was Wednesday, He remained in prison in the house of Cepha the High Priest. In that day the chiefs of the people were assembled, and they took counsel together against Him. Again, the next day, which was Thursday, they brought Him to Pilate the governor, and again He remained in prison with Pilate, in the night after Thursday. And when it dawned on Friday, they accused Him much before Pilate, yet they could show nothing true, but they brought false witness against Him. And they asked Him from Pilate, to put Him to death, and they crucified Him on Friday. At six o’clock therefore on Friday He suffered, and these hours during which our Lord was crucified have been reckoned a day, afterwards it was’ again dark for three hours, and it was reckoned a night ; and again from the ninth hour till the evening, three hours, a day ; and again afterwards the night of Passion Sabbath ; but in the Gospel of Matthew it is thus written, that ” in the evening of the Sabbath, when the first day of the week dawned, came Mary, and another Mary, the Magdalene, to see the Matt, sepulchre. And there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord came down and rolled the stone.” And again the Sabbath-day. Then three hours of the night after the Sabbath, in which our Lord slept [and rose], and the saying was fulfilled (marg. Take heed !) that “it is required of the Son of Man that He should pass through the heart of the earth, three days and three nights,” as it is written in the Gospel. Again, it is written in David, ” Behold, thou hast appointed my days by measure,” because therefore these days and nights are made shorter. Thus it is written, “In the night therefore, as the first day of the week dawned, He was seen by Mary Magdalene, and by Mary the daughter of James ; and in the night of the first day of the week He went in to Levi, and then He was seen also by us.” But He said unto us when He was teaching us, “Will ye fast because of Me in these days ? or do I need that ye afflict yourselves ? but for the sake of your brethren ye have done this, and do it in these days when ye fast ; and on Wednesday, and on Friday at all times, as it is written in Zechariah, ‘ The fast of the fourth and the fast of the fifth,’ which is Friday ; for it is not lawful for you to fast on Sunday, because it belongs to My resurrection ; wherefore Sunday is not counted amongst the numbers of the fast-days of the Passion, but they are counted from Monday, and are five days. Therefore let the fourth fast, and the fifth fast, and the seventh fast, and the tenth fast be to those of the house of Israel. Fast, therefore, from Monday, fully six days, until the night after the Sabbath, and let it be counted to you as a week; but the tenth, because the beginning of My name is a yod, in which is the beginning of the fasts, but is not as a feast of the former people, but as a new covenant which I have appointed to you, that you should fast on their behalf on Wednesday, because on Wednesday they began to destroy themselves and laid hold of Me ; for the night after Tuesday, which was Wednesday, as it is written, that ‘ the evening and the morning were one day,’ the evening [see that thou take heed !] therefore belongs to the day that follows it, for on Tuesday in the evening I ate with you My passover, and in the night they laid hold on Me [fast then], but again also on Friday, fast on their behalf, because on it they crucified Me in the midst of their feast of unleavened bread, as it was foretold by David, ‘In the midst of their feasts they have put their signs, and have not known.’ But do ye fast constantly during these days at all times, especially those who are from the Gentiles ; for because the nation doth not obey I have separated them from the blindness and from the error of idols ; and I have received them in order that by means of your fast, and of those who are Gentiles, and your worship during those days, whilst ye are praying and imploring on account of the error and ruin of the nation, your prayer and entreaty may be accepted before My Father which is in heaven, as from the one mouth of all the believers that are on the earth, and all that they have done to Me may be forgiven them. Therefore also in the Gospel I said before to you, ‘ Pray for your enemies ‘ ; and ‘ Blessed are they who mourn for the perdition of unbelievers.’ ” Therefore know, brethren, that our fast which we keep in the Passover, because our brethren have not obeyed, ye shall keep even if they hate you ; but brethren we are bound to call them, because it is written for us thus in Isaiah, ” Call them brethren that hate you and reject you, that the name of the Lord may be glorified.” On account of them and of the judgment therefore and corruption of the land we are required to fast and mourn, that we may rejoice and be glad in the world to come, as it is written in Isaiah, ” Rejoice, all ye who mourn over Zion,” and again He saith, “to comfort all those who mourn over Zion ; instead of ashes the oil of joy, and instead of the spirit of heaviness the garment of glory.” . It is required of us therefore to have pity upon them, and to believe, and to fast and pray for them ; because that when our Lord came to the nation they did not believe Him when He was teaching them, but they let His teaching pass away from their ears. Because therefore this nation obeyed not, He received you, brethren, who are from the Gentiles, and He opened your ears for the hearing of your heart, as our Lord and Saviour said by means of Isaiah the prophet, ” I was seen of those that asked not for Me ; I was found of those that sought Me not ; and I have said, Behold Me, to a people who have not called [upon] My name.” About whom therefore did He thus speak ? was it not about the Gentiles, because they had never known God, and because they had worshipped idols ? but when our Lord came to the world and taught you, ye believed, ye who believed in Him, that God is one. And again those believe who are worthy, until the number of the saved shall be completed ; a thousand times a thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand, as it is written in David ; but about the nation which did not believe in Him thus He said, ” I have stretched out My hands all the day unto a people who will not be persuaded and are disobedient, and who walk in a way that is not good, and who go after their sins, a people who provoke Me to anger before Me.” See therefore that the people provoked our Lord to anger because they did not believe in Him ; wherefore He saith that “they provoked the Holy Spirit to anger, and turned themselves to enmity.” And again otherwise He saith about them by means of Isaiah the prophet, ” The land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations ; the people that sat [in] darkness, ye have seen a great light, and those who sat in darkness and in the shadows of death, upon them hath the light shined.” ” Those that sat in darkness,” He said, about those from the nation who believed in our Lord Jesus ; for because of the blindness of the nation a great darkness surrounded them ; for they saw Jesus, and they did not know that He was the Christ, and did not understand Him, not from the writings of the Prophets, nor from His works and healings ; but to you of the nation who believe in Jesus we say, that ye have learnt how the Scripture testifieth about us and saith, “they have seen the great light.” Ye therefore who have believed in Him, ye have seen a great Light, Jesus the Christ our Lord. And again those who believe in Him shall see; but those who sit in the shadows of death, are ye who are from among the Gentiles ; for ye have been among the shadows of death, ye who have trusted in the worship of idols, and have not known God; but when Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Teacher, was seen by us, a light dawned upon you, in that ye have gazed on and trusted in the promise of an everlasting kingdom, and ye have removed yourselves from the feasts .and customs of the former error ; and ye worship idols no more as ye worshipped them ; but ye have long since believed and have been baptized in Him, and a great light hath dawned upon you. Thus therefore because the nation did not obey, there was darkness ; but the hearing of your ear, you who are from among the Gentiles, became light. Because of this therefore pray and implore for them, and especially in the days of the passover, that by your prayers they may be found worthy of forgiveness, and may be converted to our Lord Jesus the Christ.)
But it is required of you, my brethren (S. + in the days of the passover), that ye (S. + investigate and) keep your fast with all care, (S. + but commence, when your brethren of the nation keep the Passover) ; because when our Lord and Teacher ate the Passover with us, after that hour He was delivered up by Judas, and immediately we began to be grieved about what we had done to Him ; and the number of the moon is as our number in the numbers of the believing Hebrews. In the tenth of the moon, on Monday, came the priests and the elders to the court of Kaipha, the high priest, and took counsel to kill Him, but they feared, saying, ” Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar of the people,” because every one was attaching himself to Him and they held Him to be a Prophet, on account of the wonders that He wrought amongst them. But Jesus was in that day in the house of Simeon the leper, and we were together with Him ; He also related to us about what was to happen. But Judas had gone out from among us in secret, on that Monday , hoping to deceive our Lord ; and he went to the house of Kaipha, where the High priests and elders were assembled, and he said to them, ” What will ye give me, and I will deliver my Lord unto you, when I have opportunity ? ” And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And he said to them, “Get ready young men armed because of His disciples” (S. + that if he should go out by night to a desert place, I may come and lead you ; then they prepared the young men, and were ready to take Him). But Judas watched when he could find opportunity to betray Him, (S. + because of the crowds of all the people who had come from every city and every village, up to the temple to keep the Passover in Jerusalem). And the priests and elders (S. + considered and) commanded (S. + and decreed) that they should keep the feast with haste, that they might take Him without tumult ; for the people of Jerusalem were occupied in the sacrifice and the eating of the Passover, and all the people from without had not yet come, because they deceived them [about] the days, that they might be reproved before God that they were greatly mistaken in everything. So they anticipated and kept the Passover three days earlier, in the eleventh of the moon on Tuesday ; for they said, because that all the people go astray after Him, now that we have the opportunity to take Him ; and then when all the people have come, we will kill Him before all men for His fault, and this will be known openly, and all the people will turn from after Him. Thus in the night (S. + when Wednesday dawned) Judas delivered up our Lord, but they had given the reward to Judas when he covenanted with them (S. + on the tenth of the moon) on Monday. Therefore it was considered by God, as if they had taken Him from Monday (S. + because that on Monday they consulted how-to take Him and to kill Him), and they accomplished their deed on Friday, as it was said in the Book of Exodus, “The Passover shall be kept by you from the tenth to the fourteenth, (S. + on marg., now pay great attention) and then all Israel shall keep the Passover.” Therefore from the tenth day, which is Monday, during the days of the Passover, ye shall fast, and be nourished by bread and salt and water (S. + only), at the ninth hour, until Thursday. But on Friday and on Saturday ye shall fast completely, and eat nothing; but assemble yourselves, and wake and pray the whole of the night, with prayers and supplications, and with the reading of the Prophets, with the Gospel and the Psalms, with reverence and fear, and intercession, until the third hour of the night after the Sabbath, and then ye shall cease your fast, for it was thus that we also fasted, while our Lord was suffering, in testimony to the three days, and we watched and prayed and implored about the perdition of the nation, because they went astray and did not confess our Saviour. Thus also pray ye, that the Lord may not remember to them their guilt unto the end, on account of the perfidy which they showed unto our Lord, but may give them a place for repentance, and conversion for the pardon of their iniquity ; because he that was a heathen, and a stranger from the Gentiles, Pilate the judge, had no pleasure in the work of their wickedness, but took water and washed his hands and said, ” I am innocent of the blood of this man”; but the people answered and said, ” His blood be upon us and on our children.” Herod commanded that he should be crucified, and our Saviour suffered for us on Friday. Therefore the fast of Friday (S. + and Saturday) is especially required of you, also the watch and vigil of Friday , the reading of the Scriptures and the Psalms, and the prayers and supplications for sinners (S. + and the expectation and hope of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, until the third hour of the night after the Sabbath. Then bring your offerings, and thereafter eat and enjoy yourselves, rejoice and be glad, because the Christ is risen, the earnest of your resurrection). Let that be to you an eternal law until the end of the world. (S. + for those who do not believe in our Saviour, He is dead, because their hope in Him is dead, but for you who believe, our Lord and Saviour is risen, because your hope in Him is immortal, and lives eternally. Fast therefore on Friday, because in it the Nation killed itself in crucifying our Saviour ; and on Sabbath again, because it is the sleep of our Lord, for it is a day when fasting is especially required), as the blessed Moses (S. + the prophet of all this) has thus commanded ; and it was commanded him by God, who knew what the nation was about to do to His Son and His beloved Jesus the Christ ; as they denied Moses and said to him, ” Who hath made thee a chief and a judge over us?” therefore he bound them beforehand in mourning at all times in separating and appointing to them the Sabbath, because they deserved to mourn (S. + who denied their life), who laid their hands upon Him who gave them life, and delivered Him over to death. Therefore He appointed to them beforehand the mourning of their perdition. Let us look and see, my brethren, that most men in their mourning imitate the Sabbath ; thus also those who keep the Sabbath sit in mourning ; for he who is in mourning does not kindle a light, nor do the people of the Jews on account of the commandment of Moses (S. + for thus they were commanded by him. He who is in mourning does not wash himself, nor do the people on the Sabbath. He who is in mourning does not furnish a table, nor do the people on the Sabbath), but they prepare it in the evening and put in order for themselves something to eat, because they have a consciousness of mourning that they were ready to lay hands on the Christ. He who is in mourning does not work nor speak, but sits in sadness ; thus also do the people on the Sabbath ; (S. + for it was said thus to the people about the mourning of the Sabbath) ” Thou shalt not lift thy foot to do any work, nor speak any word from thy mouth.” Who is it therefore that testifieth that the Sabbath is a mourning to them ? The Scripture testifieth and saith, ” Then the people shall lament, tribe by tribe ; the tribe of the Levites apart, and their wives apart ; the tribe of Judah apart, and their wives apart.” As also after the mourning of the Christ even until now, on the ninth of the month of Ab, they read in -the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and assemble, and wail and lament. But the ninth is called 0, for the 0 indicates God ; therefore they lament about God, about the Christ who suffered ; but nevertheless on account of the Christ our Saviour, and about themselves and their perdition. Why, my brethren, doth a man lament, unless he be in mourning? Wherefore mourn ye also for them, on the Sabbath day of the Passover, until the third hour of the following evening ; and thereafter rejoice in His resurrection ; be glad and rejoice on their account ; cease your fast, and the remainder of your fast of six days offer to the Lord God. Let those who abound in worldly goods serve those who are poor and in want, and succour them diligently, that the reward of your fast may be received. Whenever the fourteenth day of the Passover may fall, thus observe it ; for neither the month nor the day corresponds in time every year, but it varies. Therefore ye, when the people keep the Passover, fast” and study to complete your vigil in the midst of their unleavened bread. On Sunday be always glad, for every one who afflicts his soul on Sunday is guilty of sin. Therefore also, except at the Passover, no one is allowed to fast during these three hours of the night which is between Saturday and Sunday, because it belongs to that night of Sunday. But nevertheless in that night only fast those three hours of that night, being assembled together, ye Christians who are in the Lord.
CHAPTER XXIV.
That God hath left the Synagogue of the nation, and hath come to the Church of the Gentiles ; and that Satan also hath removed from the people of the Jews, and doth not tempt them any more ; and he hath also come against the Church, that he may make in it sects and divisions ; and first he raised up in it Simon Magus, afterwards the false Apostles, those from among the Jews who obliged the Christians to act as Jews.
God therefore hath left the nation, and hath filled the Church, and hath considered her the mount of [His] habitation, and the throne of glory, and the house of exaltation ; and as David said, “The mountain of God is a mountain of fat, a mountain of arches. What think ye, ye arched mountains ; this is the mountain which God hath chosen to dwell in ; the Lord will tabernacle in it for ever.” (S. + Ye see therefore how He speaketh to others, “What think ye?” to those who erroneously suppose that there are other Churches), for one only is the Church which is the mountain of the Sanctuary of God. Isaiah also hath said, ” There shall be in the latter days (S. + He shall establish) the mountain of the House of the Lord God of Jacob (S. + in the top of the mountains and higher than the heights), and all nations shall flow unto it, and many peoples shall go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord; let us learn His way and walk in it”; (S. + and again he hath said, “There shall be signs and wonders in the midst of the people from the Lord of Sabaoth, and Him that dwelleth in Mount Zion,” and in Jeremiah also He hath said, “A high throne is the house of our Sanctuary”). Because therefore the Lord hath forsaken the nation of Israel, He hath also abandoned the temple (S. + He hath made them desolate, and cloven the veil of the door), and taken away from it the Holy Spirit (S. + and cast it on those who believe from among the Gentiles, as He hath said by means of Joel, “I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh,”) and the power of His Word, and He hath taken away all service from the nation, and hath established it in the Church of the Gentiles. In like manner also, Satan the Tempter hath gone away from that Nation, and hath come upon the Church, and henceforth he will not tempt that Nation, because the Holy Spirit hath left it, for by their wicked works they have fallen into his hands, but he prepares to tempt the Church, and to do his works in her, and to raise against her afflictions and persecutions and heresies and schisms (S. + and before that time there were in that Nation heresies and sects ; but now Satan, by his wicked energy, sent out those who belong to the Church, and caused heresies and sects).
About Simon Magus.
The beginning of heresies was thus. Satan possessed a man, Simon, who was a magician, and who had formerly been his servant ; and when we, by the gift of the Lord our God and the power of the Holy Ghost, were doing miracles of healing in Jerusalem, and by means of the laying on of hands the gift and fellowship of the Holy Spirit were being given to those who came near, then Simon offered us much silver, and wished that as he had deprived Adam of the knowledge of life by means of the eating of the tree, thus also by the gift of silver he should deprive us of (S. + the gift of) God ; and (S. + by the gift of a possession) should get hold of our mind, so that we might exchange and give him for silver the power of the Holy Ghost ; and we were all shaken about this. Then Peter looked at Satan, him who dwelt in Simon, and said to him, “Thy money go with thee to perdition ; and thou shalt not have any part in this word.
About the false Apostles.
But when we had divided all the world into twelve parts, and had gone out among the Gentiles to preach the Word, then Satan wrought and excited the nation ; and they sent after us false Apostles to destroy the Word ; and they sent out from the nation one whose name was Cle[o]bius, and he adhered to Simon, but also to Theuda, and to Judah the Galilean, as well as to others after them. But Simon’s people adhered to me, Peter, and came to destroy the Word. When he was in Rome, he greatly troubled the Church, and perverted many, and showed himself as if he were ready to ascend to Heaven ; and captivated the Gentiles, exciting them by the power of the energy of his sorceries. One day I went and saw him in the market deceiving the people ; we had a dispute with each other about the Resurrection and about the life of the dead ; and when he was conquered, he pretended to fly in the air, and began to give a sign to his gang to raise him. And when he had risen to a great distance, then I stood and said to him, ” By the power of the name of the Christ, I cut off thy powers that they depart from thee.” Then the demons departed from him, and he fell, and was broken from the heel of his foot, and he died. And many turned from him ; but others, who were worthy of him, remained with him ; thus first his heresies were fixed. But also by means of other false Apostles the Enemy wrought. They all had one Law on the earth ; and they did not recite either the Torah or the Prophets, and they blasphemed against the Father, God Almighty, nor did they believe in the Resurrection ; but also in other things they taught and excited with many opinions ; for many of them taught that no man should take a wife, and said that when a man did not take a wife it was Holiness. By means of holiness, and for its name, they praised the weak opinions of their heresies. Again, others of them taught that a man should not eat flesh, and they said that it is not right for a man to eat anything that has life in it. Others said that he must keep himself from swine, and that he may eat the things that the law cleanses (S. + and circumcise as in the Law). Others again taught otherwise, and made strifes, and troubled the Church.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Showeth that from the first the Apostles turned to the Churches of the Gentiles, as from the beginning of preaching, and in passing among them, they fixed and confirmed them, and appointed Canons among them.
The opinion therefore which we have counselled and considered about those who were formerly in error, and we have sent and decreed, is thus, that we should return again anew, and also go to the Churches a second time, as from the beginning of preaching ; we should also confirm believers, that they should avoid the before-named offences, that they receive not those who come among them falsely in the name of the Apostles, and that they distinguish them by the difference between their words, and the effects of their deeds, because these are those of whom our Lord said that there shall come to you men wearing sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves ; and by their fruits ye shall know them. Beware of them therefore, for false Christs and lying prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many, and because of the greatness of iniquity, the love of many shall wax cold ; but he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved. Those therefore that have not been deceived and those who repent of error, they shall be left in the Church; but those who hold fast the error and repent not, we cut off and appoint that they go out of the Church, and be separated from the believers, because they have heresies, (S. + in order to command the believers, to keep entirely away from them), and they should have no communion with them either by word or by prayer ; for these people are the enemies (S. + and spoilers) of the Church ; for about these our Lord hath commanded us and said unto us, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” ; and ” Into the cities of the Samaritans enter not,” (S. + but the cities of the Samaritans are of heresies), which walk in a crooked way (S. + of which He spake in the Proverbs, “there is a way that men think straight”), “and its end leadeth lower than Sheol.” These are they against whom our Lord decreed severely and bitterly, and said, “They shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come,” (S. + for because of the nation which did not believe in the Christ, and laid hands upon Him, on the Son of man, that laid hands on Him blaspheming ; and our Lord said, ” It shall be forgiven unto them ” ; and again our Lord said about them, “My Father, they know not what they do, nor what they speak ; if it be possible, forgive them ” ; but again also the Gentiles blaspheme against the Son of man, because of the Cross, and to them he hath also given forgiveness), to those who believed (S. + of the nation or) of the Gentiles by means of baptism, and blasphemed, He hath not given the pardon of their wicked deeds, as the Lord the Christ hath said, ” Wherefore I say unto you, that all sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men ; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in that which is to come ; and every one who speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him ; for every one that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, (S. + neither in this world, nor in the world to come). Those who blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, those who against God Almighty hastily and hypocritically blaspheme, (S. + those heretics who receive His holy Scriptures, or who receive them wickedly in hypocrisy with blasphemy, or who blaspheme by wicked words against the Catholic Church, which is the receptacle of the Holy Ghost, are those who before the future judgment and before the Spirit, have from of old been condemned to give answer before the Christ ; for this which He said, that ” it shall not be forgiven unto them,” is a sentence of severe punishment of the condemnation which expels them), and say that the Holy Ghost does not dwell in baptism, nor in the flesh and blood of the Christ. Having decreed and established and confirmed with one mind, each one of us went out and departed to his first portion, confirming the Churches, because the things that had been predicted were fulfilled, and disguised wolves had come, and false Christs and lying prophets had appeared; for this was known and manifest that when (S. + the times) should approach (S. + and His coming be near, there should be more and worse than these, from whom may the Lord God therefore deliver you !) may they also repent of their godless error, and by much admonition and by the word of doctrine of prayer we have cured and healed and forgiven in the Church . Those who restrain the word by the perverted word of error, and there is no cure for them, we put out, that they may not lead the holy Church astray, the pure Church of God ; lest like a hateful leprosy and like a cancerous ulcer it should get to every one ; but that pure and unpolluted and passionless and spotless, the Church may be sealed to the Lord God, they who are in every place and in every city, and in all the habitable part of the world. We make and testify ; and we leave this Didascalia, holy and Catholic, justly and righteously to the Catholic Church, and for the assurance of believers.
Source. DIDASCALIA APOSTOLORUM – TRANSLATED FROM THE SYRIAC BY MARGARET DUNLOP GIBSON M.R.A.S. LL.D. LONDON: C. J. CLAY AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE MARIA LANE. 1903.