Concerning James the Brother of the Lord, and Stephen the First Martyr.
VIII. Now concerning the martyrs, we say to you that they are to be had in all honour with you, as we honour the blessed James the bishop, and the holy Stephen our fellow-servant. For these are reckoned blessed by God, and are honoured by holy men, who were pure from all transgressions, immoveable when tempted to sin, or persuaded from good works, without dispute deserving encomiums: of whom also David speaks, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His holy ones;" [3037] and Solomon says, "The memory of the just is with encomiums:" [3038] of whom also the prophet speaks, "Righteous men are taken away."
Concerning False Martyrs.
IX. These things we have said concerning those that in truth have been martyrs for Christ, but not concerning false martyrs, concerning whom the oracle speaks, "The name of the ungodly is extinguished." [3040] For "a faithful witness will not lie, but an unjust witness inflames lies." [3041] For he that departs this life in his testimony without lying, for the sake of the truth, is a faithful martyr, worthy to be believed in such things wherein he strove for the word of piety by his own blood.
[2972] Matt. x. 32.
[2973] Matt. xxv. 34, etc. Portions of the passage from Matthew are omitted in one V. ms.; and the conclusions beginning with "Then shall they also," is entirely omitted. [The citation is quite accurate; ver. 46 is divided, doubtless for the sake of emphasis, and slightly modified.--R.]
[2974] Acts iv. 6; v. 40, 41.
[2975] Vid. Luke vi. 22, 23.
[2976] Matt. x. 23.
[2977] Matt. v. 11, 12.
[2978] John xv. 20.
[2979] Matt. x. 23, 17; John xvi. 33.
[2980] Matt. x. 22.
[2981] Matt. x. 33; Luke ix. 26.
[2982] Matt. x. 37, xvi. 26.
[2983] Matt. x. 28.
[2984] Job xxxv. 7, 8. One V. ms. reads "piety," instead of "wickedness," in the last sentence.
[2985] John xii. 43.
[2986] Matt. xxvi. 41. [See De Fuga, vol. iv. [272]p. 119.]
[2987] Matt. viii. 12.
[2988] Luke vi. 40.
[2989] Luke xxiii. 46.
[2990] Dan. iii.
[2991] Luke xxi. 18.
[2992] Luke xxi. 19.
[2993] Dan. xii. 2, 3.
[2994] Eccles. xii. 14.
[2995] Ezek. xxxvii. 11, etc.
[2996] Isa. xxvi. 19.
[2997] Isa. lxvi. 24.
[2998] 1 Kings xvii.
[2999] 2 Kings iv.
[3000] Gen. ii. 7.
[3001] Gen. iii. 19.
[3002] The part within parentheses is not in one of the V. mss.
[3003] John v. 25.
[3004] John xi.
[3005] Mark v.
[3006] Luke vii.
[3007] John xi. 25.
[3008] Jonah ii.
[3009] Dan. iii., vi
[3010] [Compare [273]pp. 256, 257, supra.]
[3011] Orac. Sibyl., , l. iv. in fin. [See [274]p. 324, supra.]
[3012] Gen. i. 1.
[3013] Jer. i. 5.
[3014] Zech. xii. 1.
[3015] Gen. i. 26, 27.
[3016] In fin. Job in LXX.
[3017] Job x. 10.
[3018] The words from "Wherefore also" to "possible with God" are omitted in one V. ms., and noticed as spurious in the other.
[3019] Luke xviii. 27.
[3020] Ps. cxix. 73.
[3021] Ps. ciii. 14.
[3022] Ps. cxxxix. 5, 6.
[3023] Ps. cxxxix. 16.
[3024] Isa. lxiv. 8.
[3025] Dan. xii. 3.
[3026] Ps. cxlv. 17.
[3027] Num. xvii. 8
[3028] Matt. ix. 2, etc.
[3029] Mark iii. 1, etc.
[3030] John ix. 1, etc.
[3031] Matt. xiv. 17, etc.
[3032] John ii. 3, etc.
[3033] Matt. xvii. 24, etc.
[3034] Acts i. 3.
[3035] Matt. xxviii. 19.
[3036] Acts i. 9.
[3037] Ps. cxvi. 15.
[3038] Prov. x. 7.
[3039] Isa. lvii. 1, LXX.
[3040] Prov. x. 7.
[3041] Prov. xiv. 5.
Sec. II.--All Association with Idols is to Be Avoided.
A Moral Admonition, that We are to Abstain from Vain Talking, Obscene Talking, Jesting, Drunkenness, Lasciviousness, and Luxury.
X. Now we exhort you, brethren and fellow-servants, to avoid vain talk and obscene discourses, and jestings, drunkenness, lasciviousness, luxury, unbounded passions, with foolish discourses, since we do not permit you so much as on the Lord's days, which are days of joy, to speak or act anything unseemly; for the Scripture somewhere says: "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling." [3042] Even your very rejoicings therefore ought to be done with fear and trembling: for a Christian who is faithful ought neither to repeat an heathen hymn nor an obscene song, because he will be obliged by that hymn to make mention of the idolatrous names of demons; and instead of the Holy Spirit, the wicked one will enter into him.
An Admonition Instructing Men to Avoid the Abominable Sin of Idolatry.
XI. You are also forbidden to swear by them, or to utter their abominable names through your mouth, and to worship them, or fear them as gods; for they are not gods, but either wicked demons or the ridiculous contrivances of men. For somewhere God says concerning the Israelites: "They have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods." [3043] And afterwards: "I will take away the names of your idols out of their mouth." [3044] And elsewhere: "They have provoked me to jealousy with them that are no gods; they have provoked me to anger with their idols." [3045] And in all the Scriptures these things are forbidden by the Lord God.
That We Ought Not to Sing an Heathen or an Obscene Song, Nor to Swear by an Idol; Because It is an Impious Thing, and Contrary to the Knowledge of God.
XII. Nor do the legislators give us only prohibitions concerning idols, but also warn us concerning the luminaries, not to swear by them, nor to serve them. For they say: "Lest, when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, thou shouldest be seduced to worship them." [3046] And elsewhere: "Do not ye learn to walk after the ways of the heathen, and be not afraid of the signs of heaven." [3047] For the stars and the luminaries were given to men to shine upon them, but not for worship; although the Israelites, by the perverseness of their temper, "worshipped the creature instead of the Creator," [3048] and acted insultingly to their Maker, and admired the creature more than is fit. And sometimes they made a calf, as in the wilderness; [3049] sometimes they worshipped Baalpeor; [3050] another time Baal, [3051] and Thamuz, [3052] and Astarte of Sidon; [3053] and again Moloch and Chamos; [3054] another time the sun, [3055] as it is written in Ezekiel; nay, and besides, brute creatures, as among the Egyptians Apis, and the Mendesian goat, and gods of silver and gold, as in Judea. On account of all which things He threatened them, and said by the prophet: "Is it a small thing to the house of Judah to do these abominations which they have done? For they have filled the land with their wickedness, to provoke me to anger: and, behold, they are as those that mock. And I will act with anger. Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have mercy; and they shall cry in mine ears with a great voice, and I will not hearken unto them." [3056] Consider, beloved, how many things the Lord declares against idolaters, and the worshippers of the sun and moon. Wherefore it is the duty of a man of God, as he is a Christian, not to swear by the sun, or by the moon, or by the stars; nor by the heaven, nor by the earth, by any of the elements, whether small or great. For if our Master charged us not to swear by the true God, that our word might be firmer than an oath, nor by heaven itself, for that is a piece of heathen wickedness, nor by Jerusalem, nor by the sanctuary of God, nor the altar, nor the gift, nor the gilding of the altar, nor one's own head, [3057] for this custom is a piece of Judaic corruption, and on that account was forbidden; and if He exhorts the faithful that their yea be yea, and their nay, nay, and says that "what is more than these is of the evil one," how much more blameable are those who appeal to deities falsely so called as the objects of an oath, and who glorify imaginary beings instead of those that are real, whom God for their perverseness "delivered over to foolishness, to do those things that are not convenient!" [3058]
[3042] Ps. ii. 11.
[3043] Jer. v. 7.
[3044] Zech. xiii. 2.
[3045] Deut. xxxii. 21
[3046] Deut. iv. 19
[3047] Jer. x. 2
[3048] Rom. i. 25
[3049] Ex. xxxii. 4
[3050] Num. xxv. 3
[3051] Judg. ii. 13
[3052] Ezek. viii. 14.
[3053] 1 Kings xi. 5.
[3054] 1 Kings xi. 7.
[3055] Ezek. viii. 16.
[3056] Ezek. viii. 17, 18.
[3057] Matt. v. 34, xxiii. 16.
[3058] Rom. i. 28.
Sec. III.--On Feast Days and Fast Days.
A Catalogue of the Feasts of the Lord Which are to Be Kept, and When Each of Them Ought to Be Observed.
XIII. Brethren, observe the festival days; and first of all the birthday which you are to celebrate on the twenty-fifth of the ninth month; after which let the Epiphany be to you the most honoured, in which the Lord made to you a display of His own Godhead, and let it take place on the sixth of the tenth month; after which the fast of Lent is to be observed by you as containing a memorial of our Lord's mode of life and legislation. But let this solemnity be observed before the fast of the passover, beginning from the second day of the week, and ending at the day of the preparation. After which solemnities, breaking off your fast, begin the holy week of the passover, fasting in the same all of you with fear and trembling, praying in them for those that are about to perish.
Concerning the Passion of Our Lord, and What Was Done on Each Day of His Sufferings; And Concerning Judas, and that Judas Was Not Present When the Lord Delivered the Mysteries to His Disciples.
XIV. For they began to hold a council against the Lord on the second day of the week, in the first month, which is Xanthicus; and the deliberation continued on the third day of the week; but on the fourth day they determined to take away His life by crucifixion. And Judas knowing this, who for a long time had been perverted, but was then smitten by the devil himself with the love of money, although he had been long entrusted with the purse, [3059] and used to steal what was set apart for the needy, yet was he not cast off by the Lord, through much long-suffering; nay, and when we were once feasting with Him, being willing both to reduce him to his duty and instruct us in His own foreknowledge, He said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you will betray me;" and every one of us saying, "Is it I?" [3060] And the Lord being silent, I, who was one of the twelve, and more beloved by Him than the rest, arose up from lying in His bosom, and besought Him to tell who it should be that should betray Him. Yet neither then did our good Lord declare His name, but gave two signs of the betrayer: one by saying, "he that dippeth with me in the dish;" a second, "to whom I shall give the sop when I have dipped it." Nay, although he himself said, "Master, is it I?" the Lord did not say Yes, but, "Thou hast said." And being willing to affright him in the matter, He said: "Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for him if he had never been born. Who, when he had heard that, went his way, and said to the priests, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they bargained with him for thirty pieces of silver." [3061] And the scripture was fulfilled, which said, "And they took [3062] the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value, and gave them for the house of the potter." [3063] And on the fifth day of the week, when we had eaten the passover with Him, and when Judas had dipped his hand into the dish, and received the sop, and was gone out by night, the Lord said to us: "The hour is come that ye shall be dispersed, and shall leave me alone;" [3064] and every one vehemently affirming that they would not forsake Him, I Peter adding this promise, that I would even die with Him, He said, "Verily I say unto thee, Before the cock crows, thou shall thrice deny that thou knowest me." [3065] And when He had delivered to us the representative mysteries of His precious body and blood, Judas not being present with us, He went out to the Mount of Olives, near the brook Cedron, where there was a garden; [3066] and we were with Him, and sang an hymn according to the custom. [3067] And being separated not far [3068] from us, He prayed to His Father, saying: "Father, remove this cup away from me; yet not my will, but Thine be done." [3069] And when He had done this thrice, while we out of despondency of mind were fallen asleep, He came and said: "The hour is come, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. And behold Judas, and with him a multitude of ungodly men," [3070] to whom he shows the signal by which he was to betray Him--a deceitful kiss. But they, when they had received the signal agreed on, took hold of the Lord; and having bound Him, they led Him to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, wherein were assembled many, not the people, but a great rout, not an holy council, but an assembly of the wicked and council of the ungodly, who did many things against Him, and left no kind of injury untried, spitting upon Him, cavilling at Him, beating Him, smiting Him on the face, reviling Him, tempting Him, seeking vain divination instead of true prophecies from Him, calling Him a deceiver, a blasphemer, a transgressor of Moses, a destroyer of the temple, a taker away of sacrifices, an enemy to the Romans, an adversary to Cæsar. And these reproaches did these bulls and dogs [3071] in their madness cast upon Him, till it was very early in the morning, and then they lead Him away to Annas, who was father-in-law to Caiaphas; and when they had done the like things to Him there, it being the day of the preparation, they delivered Him to Pilate the Roman governor, accusing Him of many and great things, none of which they could prove. Whereupon the governor, as out of patience with them, said: "I find no cause against Him." [3072] But they bringing two lying witnesses, wished to accuse the Lord falsely; but they being found to disagree, and so their testimony not conspiring together, they altered the accusation to that of treason, saying, "This fellow says that He is a king, and forbids to give tribute to Cæsar." [3073] And themselves became accusers, and witnesses, and judges, and authors of the sentence, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him;" [3074] that it might be fulfilled which is written by the prophets concerning Him, "Unjust witnesses were gathered together against me, and injustice lied to itself;" [3075] and again, "Many dogs compassed me about, the assembly of the wicked laid siege against me;" [3076] and elsewhere, "My inheritance became to me as a lion in a wood, and has sent forth her voice against me." [3077] Pilate therefore, disgracing his authority by his pusillanimity, convicts himself of wickedness by regarding the multitude more than this just person, and bearing witness to Him that He was innocent, yet as guilty delivering Him up to the punishment of the cross, although the Romans had made laws that no man unconvicted should be put to death. But the executioners took the Lord of glory and nailed Him to the cross, crucifying Him indeed at the sixth hour, but having received the sentence of His condemnation at the third hour. After this they gave to Him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. Then they divided His garments by lot. Then they crucified two malefactors with Him, on each side one, that it might be fulfilled which was written: "They gave me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink." [3078] And again: "They divided my garment among themselves, and upon my vesture have they cast lots." [3079] And in another place: "And I was reckoned with the transgressors." [3080] Then there was darkness for three hours, from the sixth to the ninth, and again light in the evening; as it is written: "It shall not be day nor night, and at the evening there shall be light." [3081] All which things, [3082] when those malefactors saw that were crucified with Him, the one of them reproached Him as though He was weak and unable to deliver Himself; but the other rebuked the ignorance of his fellow and turning to the Lord, as being enlightened by Him, and acknowledging who He was that suffered, he prayed that He would remember him in His kingdom hereafter. [3083] He then presently granted him the forgiveness of his former sins, and brought him into paradise to enjoy the mystical good things; who also cried out about the ninth hour, and said to His Father: "My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" [3084] And a little afterward, when He had cried with a loud voice, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," [3085] and had added, "Into Thy hands I commit my spirit," He gave up the ghost, [3086] and was buried before sunset in a new sepulchre. But when the first day of the week dawned He arose from the dead, and fulfilled those things which before His passion He foretold to us, saying: "The Son of man must continue in the heart of the earth three days and three nights." [3087] And when He was risen from the dead, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, then to Cleopas in the way, and after that to us His disciples, who had fled away for fear of the Jews, but privately were very inquisitive about Him. [3088] But these things are also written in the Gospel.